ThinkCERCA Leadership

Eileen Murphy Buckley is the Founder of ThinkCERCA. She became passionate about the role technology could play in 21st-century education as the director of curriculum and instruction for more than 100 high-performing schools throughout the Chicago Public Schools system.

Prior to joining the district office, Eileen was the founding English department chair at Walter Payton College Prep, the No. 1 ranked high school in Illinois, and taught English for 15 years. She is also the author of 360 Degrees of Text: Using Poetry to Teach Close Reading and Powerful Writing (National Council of Teachers English, 2011). In 2013, ThinkCERCA was the recipient of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Literacy Courseware Challenge grant, and in 2012, Eileen was accepted into the inaugural class of Impact Engine, Chicago’s first social impact investment fund and accelerator. She is an Unreasonable Fellow and a Pahara-Aspen Fellow. She also serves as an industry advisor to a number of multinational education firms.

Josh Tolman is a Chief Technology Officer at ThinkCERCA and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Eileen Murphy Buckley is the Founder of ThinkCERCA. She became passionate about the role technology could play in 21st-century education as the director of curriculum and instruction for more than 100 high-performing schools throughout the Chicago Public Schools system.

Prior to joining the district office, Eileen was the founding English department chair at Walter Payton College Prep, the No. 1 ranked high school in Illinois, and taught English for 15 years. She is also the author of 360 Degrees of Text: Using Poetry to Teach Close Reading and Powerful Writing (National Council of Teachers English, 2011). In 2013, ThinkCERCA was the recipient of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Literacy Courseware Challenge grant, and in 2012, Eileen was accepted into the inaugural class of Impact Engine, Chicago’s first social impact investment fund and accelerator. She is an Unreasonable Fellow and a Pahara-Aspen Fellow. She also serves as an industry advisor to a number of multinational education firms.

Eileen Murphy Buckley is the Founder of ThinkCERCA. She became passionate about the role technology could play in 21st-century education as the director of curriculum and instruction for more than 100 high-performing schools throughout the Chicago Public Schools system.

Prior to joining the district office, Eileen was the founding English department chair at Walter Payton College Prep, the No. 1 ranked high school in Illinois, and taught English for 15 years. She is also the author of 360 Degrees of Text: Using Poetry to Teach Close Reading and Powerful Writing (National Council of Teachers English, 2011). In 2013, ThinkCERCA was the recipient of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Literacy Courseware Challenge grant, and in 2012, Eileen was accepted into the inaugural class of Impact Engine, Chicago’s first social impact investment fund and accelerator. She is an Unreasonable Fellow and a Pahara-Aspen Fellow. She also serves as an industry advisor to a number of multinational education firms.