Jonathan Harber has been pushing for innovation in learning long before it became such a necessity during the pandemic. As someone who has started a charter school, as chairman of StartEd Inc, and as a board member of the Fund for Public Schools, he supports a community of innovators looking to find the pain points in education - and solve them.

Perhaps nowhere is this more important than in New York City, where a large, diverse student body faces many challenges in getting an equitable education while having to learn remotely. Harber is arguing for, among other things, an innovative approach to repurposing school gyms and cafeterias for distanced learning.