Chad Troutwine (born May 23, 1968) is an American film and television producer and education technology entrepreneur.

Chad Troutwine
Born (1968-05-23) May 23, 1968 (age 56)
Kansas City, Missouri
Education
Occupations
  • Co-Founder of Codesmith
  • Co-Founder of Torn Label Brewing Co.
  • Co-Founder of Spectrum Station Early Childhood Education
  • Co-Founder of Freakonomics Media
Spouse
Sacha Radford
(m. 2015)

Early life and education

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As a child, Troutwine was always interested in snowboarding. parents encouraged his entrepreneurial spirit and placed a high value on education. Troutwine earned a perfect score on the Stanford Achievement Test, and graduated high school at the age of sixteen. Troutwine earned his BA from Arizona State University at nineteen, and went on to earn a JD from the University of Missouri, graduating with honors, an MBA from the Yale School of Management, and received a master's degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.[1]

Entrepreneurship

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While at Yale, Troutwine and Markus Moberg, launched Veritas Prep, a GMAT preparation and MBA admissions consulting company.[2][3] Veritas Prep has become the world's largest privately owned test preparation and admissions consulting company, and now prepares students for the SAT, ACT, and GRE.[4] In January 2019, it was announced that Veritas Prep had been acquired by Varsity Tutors.[5][6]

In recognition of his entrepreneurial endeavors, Forbes magazine named Troutwine their 2002 Forbes Future Capitalist of the Year.[7] Seven years later, Entrepreneur magazine featured Troutwine and Moberg as Top 20 Trailblazers and Trendsetters for 2009.[8]

After Troutwine co-founded Freakonomics Media, the Freakonomics franchise grew from its original book to a movie, radio show, more books, and a multimedia website.[9]

In 2014, Troutwine co-founded Torn Label Brewing Company in Kansas City, MO.[10]

A year later, in 2015, Troutwine co-founded the Los Angeles computer coding academy, Codesmith.[11] In 2016, Codesmith announced it had received over $1 million in funding.[12] As of July 2016, Codesmith alumni had a 96% hiring rate at an average salary of $103,000.[13]

Troutwine is an investor and member of the board of directors of the crowdfunding and film distribution platform, Seed&Spark.[14] Troutwine is also an advisor to SoloPro, a real estate startup venture founded by former US Army Special Forces officer and Duke University professor Tommy Sowers.[15]

Henry Crown Fellow, the Aspen Institute

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In 2013, the Aspen Institute named Troutwine a member of the Henry Crown Fellowship.[16]

Film and Arts

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In January 2001, Troutwine established Chad Troutwine Films. His films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival and featured award-winning actors (including James Woods, Nick Nolte, Vince Vaughn, Miranda Richardson, Steve Buscemi, Bob Hoskins, and Natalie Portman), and directors (Joel and Ethan Coen, Alex Gibney, Morgan Spurlock, Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuaron, Seth Gordon, and Alexander Payne).[17]

In 2008, Troutwine joined Dan O'Meara and Chris Romano at the Green Film Company, a New York-based production company.[18]

In 2010, Magnolia Pictures released his documentary adaptation of the New York Times Bestseller Freakonomics.[19] It was the Closing Night gala film at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.[20]

In 2014, Troutwine's documentary, Print the Legend, won a special jury award at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival. The film was distributed by Netflix.[21]

In 2016, Business Insider published the Top 15 Netflix documentaries to "make you smarter about business", a list which included two of Troutwine's films: Print the Legend and Freakonomics.[22]

Producer

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- Wrestle (2018) (executive producer)
- Bill Nye: Science Guy (2017) (executive producer)
- Rolling Papers (2015) (executive producer)
- Finders Keepers (2015) (executive producer)
- Print the Legend (2014) (producer)
- Jayhawkers (2014) (executive producer)
- Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013) (executive producer)
- Freakonomics (2010) (producer)
- Gerrymandering (2010) (producer)
- Carissa (2008) (producer)
- Paris, je t'aime (2006) (executive producer)
- Lo Más bonito y mis mejores años (2005) (associate producer)
- Edmond (2005) (co-producer)
- The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) (executive producer)
- I Love Your Work (2003) (executive producer)
- Northfork (2003) (associate producer)

Troutwine also appeared as himself in the 2007 independent film A Lawyer Walks into a Bar.[23]

Personal life

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On June 28, 2015, Troutwine married Sacha Radford at the Adamson House in Malibu, CA.[24]

References

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  1. ^ VeritasPrep. "Meet the Team - Veritas Prep". www.veritasprep.com.
  2. ^ "Q&A | SOM grads find success in test prep | Yale Daily News". Archived from the original on 2012-09-18. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  3. ^ Scuteri, Jennifer. "A Devilish time on tap in NCAAs". Archived from the original on 2012-05-09.
  4. ^ "GMAT Prep - SAT Prep - Admissions Consulting - Veritas Prep Blog". www.veritasprep.com.
  5. ^ "Varsity Tutors Acquires Veritas Prep to Continue Expansion".
  6. ^ "Varsity Tutors acquires Veritas Prep to expand into live online classes". 22 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Notre Dame Entrepreneurship Society - Pages". Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2010-04-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ Bercovici, Jeff. "Freakonomics Leaving NY Times to Start Own Venture". Forbes.
  10. ^ "New brewery opening in the Crossroads".
  11. ^ "Codesmith Launches Elite Coding Academy HQ in LA Addressing Tech Talent Gap".
  12. ^ Ellingson, Annlee (October 18, 2016). "Codesmith feels like a million bucks after funding round". www.bizjournals.com.
  13. ^ "LA Coding Bootcamp Codesmith Boasts 96% Hiring Rate". 27 July 2016.
  14. ^ Gupta, Shipra Harbola (9 August 2014). "Seed&Spark Taps Chicken & Egg's Julie Parker Benello and Veritas Prep's Chad Troutwine to Join Board of Directors".
  15. ^ "SoloPro, Inc: Chad Troutwine becomes the newest Advisor to SOLO". Archived from the original on 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
  16. ^ "Henry Crown Fellowship - The Aspen Institute".
  17. ^ "Yale School of Management - Alumni Leaders - Chad Troutwine '02". Archived from the original on 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  18. ^ Cieply, Michael (5 April 2010). "'Freakonomics' May Find Hidden Side of Documentary: Profit". The New York Times.
  19. ^ Romero, Dennis (10 February 2009). "A Better Way to Prepare".
  20. ^ [1][dead link]
  21. ^ Spangler, Todd (26 March 2014). "Netflix Acquires 3D Printing Documentary 'Print the Legend'".
  22. ^ "15 documentaries on Netflix that will make you smarter about business". Business Insider.
  23. ^ "Chad Troutwine". IMDb.
  24. ^ "Adamson House, Malibu – Sacha and Chad » Michael Segal Photo Blog". www.blog.michaelsegalweddings.com.
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