About

Matt Spathas is passionate about transforming the 150 year old educational delivery system to better prepare students for the flat world and global economy. In 1999, Matt founded the educational resource web site ibrary.com to facilitate and share best practices, ideas and innovation in education. Matt is a frequent speaker in educational forums on the topic “Engaging, Empowering and Preparing Students for the 21st Century.” To learn more, see Speaking.

Matt is a partner with SENTRE, a real estate investment company and CEO of Bandwidth Now, which creates buildings of the future. Matt has acquired, developed or managed or facilitated in excess of $2 billion of real estate transactions. In 2004, Matt journeyed to seek out next generation real estate and best practices, touring 38 buildings in 5 countries and 12 cities. This tour also included visiting two K thru 12 international schools, the Western Academy of Beijing and Concordia International School of Shanghai.

He has participated on several real estate thought leadership panels throughout the US including Realcomm, UNC Charlotte, Cisco, and Intel.  SENTRE’s leading edge next generation buildings  have been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, Cisco’s IQ Magazine and Fast Company Magazine.  Matt’s vision for education has been profiled in the University of San Diego Horizons Magazine and the Voice of San Diego  – 21st Century School House and Trashing the Chalkboards.

Matt’s work in public education includes:

• Appointed by SDUSD Superintenant to lead & chair District’s 5 year transformation plan i21now.com
• Led initiative to launch Live Homework Help, a free online tutoring service for San Diego students
• Member of the San Diego County Office of Education Strategic Planning Committee
• Served on team to create San Diego Unified School District  virtual high school “ihigh”
• Co-Chair of San Diego Unified School District Prop S – a $2.1 Billion Bond Measure
• Independent Citizens Advisory Committee, San Diego Unified School District
• Superintendent Search Committee 2010, San Diego Unified School District
• Online Math Pilot, a one-to-one web-based curriculum and assessment for grades 5 to 8

Matt serves on the Board of Directors of e3 Civic High, a new public charter high school located in the recently completed San Diego Public Library. This urban mixed use project is believed to be the first of its kind in the US – a school inside of a public library building.

Matt also serves on the University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education (SOLES) Advisory Board. He is past President of Big Brothers Big Sisters San Diego and the Point Loma Cluster Schools Foundation.

Matt is a graduate of Oregon State University, Class of 1980.

• In 2008, he was honored by the Oregon State University College of Business at its 100th year anniversary of Innovative Global Leaders which honored 100 graduates.
• In 2015 Matt received Oregon State College of Business with the Distinguished Service Award.

He and his wife Kris have 4 children all educated in K-12 public schools.