In my first job, I was very green, so I asked a lot of questions. One time, my mentor was too tired to respond. He said, "Davis, you are a project manager; figure it out."
In that job, I learned practical skills from real-world challenges and progressed ten times quicker than in school. After this apprenticeship experience, I dropped out of university and never returned. My wife Laura had a similar experience in school.
The school search for our son was grim; education has not changed. Still a 19th-century system in the 21st century.
Until YouTube recommended an interview with Jeff Sandefer, and after watching it, I knew what had to be done. I said to Laura, "I have found the school for our son, but we will have to create it ourselves."
Jeff and his wife Laura are the creators of the Acton Academy school network, and we have just discovered education as it should be in the 21st century. My wife and I both knew that Acton Academy is the school for our family, and we have to have it here in Latvia.
Acton Academy Riga is located in the Center of Riga at Kronvalda Boulevard 1, Riga, LV-1010.
Davis's background comes from an interest in technology which led to a career in IT project management and ultimately entrepreneurship in the IT field. Sharpened skills in many aspects of business management have helped him to make successful investments by identifying innovative companies with great future potential.
Laura's background comes from an interest in people's psychology and behavior which led to a career in HR and management roles in IT and crypto companies, currently working as a COO in a crypto market making & liquidity provision company, helping the team to grow in the areas of HR, Operations, and Marketing.
Jeff Sandefer lives a dual life as an entrepreneur and a Socratic Guide. As an entrepreneur, he founded his first company at age 16 and went on to found or co-found seven successful businesses. As a Socratic teacher at the University of Texas, Jeff’s students five times voted him the school’s Outstanding Teacher and Businessweek named him one of the top Entrepreneurship professors in America.
Jeff went on to co-found the Acton School of Business, an MBA program perennially ranked by the Princeton Review among the best in the nation. In 2012 The Economist honored him as one of the top fifteen Business School professors in the world.
Jeff is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he served for over twenty years on the school’s governing committees. He was a longtime director of the Philanthropy Roundtable and National Review magazine and one of the youngest members ever elected to the Texas Business Hall of Fame.
Laura lived on both US coasts and in between as a child, then settled into Vanderbilt University for her undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Science. After being awarded the highly competitive Walter Wattles Fellowship at Lloyd’s of London, Laura worked in the aviation insurance industry in New York City.
Deciding to follow her calling into the world of education, Laura returned to Nashville and earned her Master of Education at Peabody College. This led her to her work at the Oklahoma Arts Institute, creating fine arts education programs for teachers and talented high school students.
Laura married Jeff Sandefer and is the happy mother of Sam and Charlie and step-mother to Taite. It is the inspiration of these children that led Laura and Jeff to co-found Acton Academy.
Her greatest hero is her mother who was a Master Teacher. Her wisest mentor is her father who sent her off to college with two words of advice: "Be curious."
Begin a Hero’s Journey,
Discover precious gifts and a commitment to mastery.
Become a curious, independent, life-long learner.
Embrace the forging of a strong character.
Cherish the arts, the physical world, and the mysteries of life.
Treasure economic, political, and religious freedom.
We believe each person has a gift that can change the world in a profound way;
We believe in learning to learn, learning to do, and learning to be.
We believe in a closely connected family of life-long learners.
We believe in economic, political, and religious freedom.
