Babak Mostaghimi is a Partner at LearnerStudio, where he works alongside Kim Smith and a network of education leaders and innovators to rethink the underlying architecture of American education. His work focuses on moving beyond incremental improvements to the existing system and creating learning environments designed around agency, lifelong learning, and human flourishing.
Babak’s path into education began far from the classroom. After studying economics and international relations, he started his career as a defense contractor working in counterterrorism and national security. Over time, he began questioning whether the country was investing enough in its own communities and expanding opportunity for every young person. That question led him to Teach For America and a classroom in rural Mississippi, an experience that fundamentally changed his understanding of education, equity, and the barriers that prevent too many students from accessing the opportunities of the future.
After completing his doctorate at Harvard, Babak joined Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia. He eventually rose to Assistant Superintendent, helping the district build new schools, establish a system for innovation, and develop a K–12 AI learning framework. The urgency of that work crystallized when a superintendent told him, “I think we’re Blockbuster Video, and Netflix is coming.” For Babak, preparing schools for an AI-shaped future was never only about teaching technical skills. It was also about strengthening the distinctly human capabilities students need to think critically, solve unfamiliar problems, collaborate, adapt, and act with agency.
Today, Babak advocates for a third horizon of education: one that moves beyond both the industrial factory model and reforms constrained by that model’s structures. At LearnerStudio, he helps advance a vision in which every young person, regardless of zip code, background, or family circumstances, is inspired and prepared to flourish in life, career, and democracy.
Babak’s family came to the United States as refugees from Iran, arriving with very little and producing multiple Harvard graduates within one generation. That family experience continues to inform his belief in the transformative power of opportunity. He lives in Georgia with his wife and children.
Find Babak Mostaghimi:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/babakmostaghimi/
LearnerStudio: https://learnerstudio.org/
