Bios

Andrew Neil Sherman, CEO

Andrew was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His interest in private school start-ups, Latin America, and investment strategies are products of his personal experience, academic preparation and professional situations.

Mr. Sherman is actively involved in school development efforts. Andrew’s work consistently focuses on Latin America and this permits his involvement in schools in more than a dozen countries. He co-founded Gamut Education consulting firm dedicated to supporting school start-up projects by implementing initiatives in market studies, government regulatory compliance, facilities design, and school financing strategies. Projects include school turn-around initiatives with GEMS AMERICAS, leadership development with the Galapagos Conservancy, change management and a leadership transition at an international school in Texas, enrollment growth and financing with The American School of Vitoria, Brazil, and post-acquisition merger leadership at Nord Anglia Education.

Mr. Sherman earned a graduate degree in International Education at Harvard University. His other academic work includes advanced graduate studies in Latin American History, Organizational Leadership, and Educational Administration. Andrew received a Fulbright Fellowship for international study and lived in Costa Rica. He was also a fellow at the Klingenstein Center for Private Education at Columbia University.

Andrew has led three different school communities in Latin America. In Mexico City, Andrew was College Dean and Headmaster of Westhill Institute, a for-profit U.S. accredited preschool to university, a multilingual educational institution serving an international student population. At Colegio Menor San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, a private international preparatory school focused on providing primarily an Ecuadorian student population an English based Liberal Arts education, Mr. Sherman. as the Chief Education Officer, led efforts to open a new market in Guayaquil, Ecuador and develop an internationally minded, U.S. accredited, multi-campus school system. As Superintendent at the American School of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Andrew worked to inject new energy through an institutional identity campaign, competitiveness study, and branding platform to reposition an eighty-year-old school in a high-end niche market.

Andrea Penn Buffara, COO

Andrea Buffara is a lifelong educator caught up in a rapidly changing world. She has worked as a special needs teacher, academic services coordinator, principal, and school director. In her many roles, she has implemented, monitored,  evaluated, and designed projects and programs in the private school sector.  The bulk of her career was spent in two international schools- Graded School in São Paulo and EARJ in Rio de Janeiro before embarking upon school start-ups. Most recently,  she co-founded two schools: Escola Americana de Vitoria and Kruger School Primaria. Her recent work is defined by an entrepreneurial role in school start-ups, investment, and advising through Gamut Education. 

Andrea is a licensed educator that holds a BA in Political Science from Barnard College/Columbia University, an M.Sc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, and an ED.M from Teacher’s College/Columbia University in Education Leadership with a concentration in Private School Leadership.   

Andrea views herself as a progressive educator and has engaged in continuous professional development over the years. The Klingenstein Center at Columbia, where she was awarded a fully funded fellowship as an early career teacher, has shaped her views of education.  Her interests lie in educational innovations and she is currently an Academy member at Hundred.org, a global organization specializing in education innovation. 

Co-founding and designing schools enables her to try to transform education by creating environments that focus on innovation, equity, personalization, authentic work, and collaborative culture.  Andrea is a change agent creating learning organizations at the forefront of educational transformation. Her unwavering commitment is to making a positive difference in children’s lives.