Jonathan Grayer

In 2019, Grayer launched The Grayer Family Foundation to target three areas of need: to provide financial support for cancer care and research, to increase access to higher education for under resourced students, and to create more nutritional options for underprivileged kids before and after school. Sophie Grayer is the Foundation’s Chief Giving Officer.

In January 2018, Weld North announced it had sold KKR's stake in Weld North Education to Silver Lake Partners. In February 2021, Onex agreed to make a significant investment in Weld North Education.

In June 2016, The Kaplan Educational Foundation honored Grayer with the 2016 Leadership Award in recognition of his role as founder of the foundation when he was CEO of Kaplan, Inc. The Kaplan Educational Foundation, founded in 2006, helps disadvantaged black and Latino community college students complete their associate degrees and transfer to top U.S. colleges and universities.

Jonathan Grayer is the Chairman and CEO of Imagine Learning, a leading digital education technology company focused on developing digital curriculum and tools for pre-K–12 students. Grayer founded the company in January 2010 as a partnership with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). In January 2018, the company announced a new strategic partnership with Silver Lake Partners. Grayer previously served as the Chairman and CEO of Kaplan, Inc., a global education company and test prep provider that has been owned by Graham Holdings Company (formerly the Washington Post Company) since 1984. Grayer, named CEO in 1994, grew Kaplan's revenues from $80 million to $2.3 billion when he retired from the company in 2008.

Grayer founded Weld North in 2010 in partnership with KKR to invest in education, health and wellness, media, marketing and consumer services companies. Since its founding, Weld North has made over 30 investments in growth stage companies.

In 2004, BusinessWeek named Grayer one of the best managers of the year for his leadership in establishing Kaplan as The Washington Post Company’s "financial crown jewel". The company’s growth under his leadership has been reported on by other national and international media including Fortune, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. On November 19, 2008, Grayer announced his resignation from Kaplan, stating that he plans to pursue "entrepreneurial activity, investment and philanthropy".

Grayer now serves on the boards of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Columbia Global Reports. In September 2005, he was named by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to the Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

When Grayer first became CEO of Kaplan in 1994, the company was an $80 million test preparation business. Through a series of strategic acquisitions that brought Kaplan into the higher education and professional training markets, he was able to diversify Kaplan into a company that provides lifelong learning and had more than $2 billion in revenue in 2007.

Grayer graduated with a B.A. from Harvard College in 1986 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Over the course of his college career, he served as a summer intern in the corporate development department at The Washington Post Company. Upon completing his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School in 1990, he joined the marketing department of Newsweek, another Washington Post company, where he was eventually named the director of marketing. Grayer joined Kaplan in 1990 as regional operations director, and held several titles before becoming president and CEO in July 1994. He was named Chairman and CEO of the education company in February 2002.(The Washingtonian, June 2005)