Ariel Sokol

Consultant

Areas of Expertise: Ariel Sokol brings deep M&A and strategic advisory expertise across higher education, K–12, and workforce development. He began his career on the sell side at Wedbush Morgan Securities and UBS, where he covered the for-profit education sector and developed a strong foundation in financial analysis and market dynamics.

Ariel later joined Pearson, serving for six years as Vice President of Strategy in its virtual schools division. In this role, he sourced and evaluated acquisition opportunities, supported divestitures, led diligence workstreams, and partnered with executive leadership on long-range strategic planning initiatives.

He has written extensively on consolidation trends and financial pressures in higher education and previously served on the board of a publicly traded for-profit education company, bringing a nuanced understanding of both market forces and institutional strategy.