Cleveland born, Boston bred, Austin led — Welcome Heather Buffo to the Republic family

Republic has grown significantly from the 25 person team it was back when I joined in 2018. Now with an international team and three acquisitions later, Republic has globally over 120 team members and counting. We are more conscious than ever of who we’re bringing on board to continue our mission of democratizing access and we are pleased to announce that Heather Buffo has joined our Venture Growth and Partnerships team full time in the Austin office.

If you haven’t seen her around, Heather has a demonstrated track record of being a Jack / Jill of all trades. Graduating from Harvard with a degree in neurobiology, Heather has a deep technical background that affords her sharp insights and an inquisitive nature. She balances her passion for scientific discovery and inquiry with her mission driven focus on building and supporting strong communities.

At Harvard she was a teacher and executive producer for CityStep, where she led Harvard’s largest undergraduate service organization. After graduating, she traded in her red hoodie for a red jacket by joining City Year as an AmeriCorps member in the Boston Public Schools. Several years later, her enthusiasm for school improvement strategies motivated her to move to the funding side of the table at the Boston Foundation, where she saw firsthand how capital deployed to the proper organization can make an outsized impact.

On the education team, she helped manage a $2M budget allotted across the educational pipeline from early childhood education through higher ed. She led two successful Boston EdTalks events at Boston’s two local NPR stations where teachers shared their big ideas for advancing student excellence in the classroom. She also pioneered an Early Childhood Coffee and Conversation series, where early childhood grantees working on cross-sector partnerships presented their work to donors and peers to foster a more collaborative ecosystem to support families and their babies and toddlers’ healthy development.

Though she was proud to lead these initiatives that allowed families and children better access to high quality education and services, she saw limitations in the philanthropic model. Thanks to Heather’s personal relationships with founders and startup…