David Rogier

David Rogier is an American entrepreneur who founded and serves as chief executive officer of MasterClass, and was included in 'Fortune's "40 Under 40" list in 2020.
David Rogier was born in Los Angeles and raised in the Westside. Both of his parents were lawyers who became artists after retirement. His Jewish grandmother and great-grandmother emigrated to the United States from Poland to avoid persecution by the Nazis. His great-grandfather died at a Russian labor camp. After being rejected by a number of medical schools, Rogier's grandmother was eventually accepted into New York Medical College and became a pediatrician. She shared her experience with Rogier when he was in elementary school and emphasized the importance of education.
Rogier developed a Web search engine as a teenager, which he later sold. In 2001, he graduated from the Crossroads School (Santa Monica, California)|Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California. Rogier graduated from the arts and sciences program at Washington University in St. Louis in 2005. He earned his Master of Business Administration from Stanford University's Stanford Graduate School of Business|Graduate School of Business in 2011.
Early in his career, Rogier helped Tesco expand Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, a new U.S. grocery store chain, into the United States. He left the project in May 2009 to attend Stanford. Rogier was an intern at the design and consulting firm IDEO.
After graduating from Stanford, Rogier worked for one of his business school professors, Michael Dearing, at the venture capital firm Harrison Metal for approximately one year. Inspired by his grandmother's story and value of education, Rogier left Harrison Metal to start a company focused on learning.fortune He founded the holding company Yanka Industries, named after his grandmother. Dearing was the angel investor who provided the initial funding. Rogier launched MasterClass in May 2015, and continues to serve as chief executive officer (CEO). He has been credited with raising $6.4 million for MasterClass, including $1.9 million in seed money and $4.5 million in a Series A round. The company has gone on to raise $240 million, following a $100 million round of Series E funding in May 2020.
Rogier was announced as a featured speaker at South by Southwest in February 2019. In 2020, he was included in 'Fortune's "40 Under 40" list as well as Variety list of "Hollywood's New Leaders".
In January 2019, Rogier became an angel investor for the workforce management platform Hone. He also participated in a $6.4 million Series A round for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's HitRecord platform. Rogier participated in a $46 million round of funding for the esports organization Gen.G in April 2019. In November 2020, Rogier became an investor in Blacktag, a digital platform for Black content and creators.
{[Section|Personal life}}
Rogier has been open about having a stutter.
==See also==
* List of Stanford University people
* List of stutterers
* List of Washington University alumni
Category:Living people
Category:American chief executive officers
Category:American company founders
Category:American entrepreneurs
Category:People from Los Angeles
Category:Stanford University alumni