Leadership
Jay Cohen
Founder, Executive Director
A graduate of Temple with a B.A. in Economics and an M.A. in Urban Studies with a focus on the Digital Divide, Jay spent over 10 years as the Director of Educational Technology at WHYY Public Broadcasting and then Educational Technology and FamilyNet Manager in the School District of Philadelphia. At WHYY, Jay acquired and managed the Education Connection Project, which became one of the first programs in the country to test the use of used and low-cost computers in the home as a way of enhancing student academic achievement. With the School District of Philadelphia, Jay worked on developing programs and technologies that helped empower communities and bridge the Economic & Digital Divide, coordinating technology training to thousands of parents in the community and increasing general access to technology. Jay also designed, programmed and maintained an Excel-based inventory system to manage District equipment, directed a Computer Refurbishing Initiative which delivered over 3,500 computers to schools in Philadelphia, co-authored a survey and analysis on computer ownership and Internet access in homes of students, and created numerous spreadsheet-based applications to assist the District in the analysis of data. Leading from this experience, Jay has now spent the last 5 years creating and directing xSoTec, an information systems company using Google Spreadsheets and Scripts to provide schools and non-profits with accessible and low-cost data management solutions.
Eliana Cohen
Chief Technology Officer, Senior Developer
A proud product of the Philadelphia public school system, Eliana joined xSoTec in the summer of 2016 after two years at Johns Hopkins University to follow her passion in actually creating and utilizing software in the real world. She now oversees all of xSoTec’s paid school development projects, and is establishing herself in the Google Developer community as a Sheets formula master.
Gail Joan Cohen
Chief Operations Officer
Gail Cohen is responsible for xSoTec operations and finances. She received her Degree in Dental Hygiene from Temple University and spent 31 years in dentistry alongside her husband. She has always been passionately devoted to children, and has written a book called, “Guiding Children”. She currently lives in a beautiful senior community where she has served on the board as treasurer and public relations.
Gary Cohen
Chairman of the Board, PhillyParents, LLC
Gary brings expertise from his many years in all aspects of marketing. Having helped in the family retail store, Gary grew up observing how his father and brother managed a successful business. After receiving his professional degree at Temple University, Gary spent many years as a practicing dentist establishing state of the art offices in Philadelphia and Elkins Park, PA where he was an entrepreneur with 14 employees. Not to hold him down after an early retirement, Gary decided to establish a unique personable practice 12 additional years with his wife, Gail, in Lebanon, PA. Gary has continued to work as an advisor to xSoTec and a regular volunteer in his community.
Chava Cohen
Administrative Assistant
A current senior at Temple University studying recreational therapy, Chava joined xSoTec in December of 2019. As a future recreational therapist she has developed skills in organization and management that she uses to coordinate the internal systems of the business and assist the team with day to day tasks.
Amber Wang
Strategy and Design
A current sophomore at University of Pennsylvania studying finance, marketing, and fine arts, Amber joined xSoTec in September of 2019. As someone that wants to go into consulting, she enjoys assisting xSoTec with solving business problems and utilizes her graphic design skills in doing so.