James Tieng

James Tieng is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Lumos Capital Group, a growth equity firm focused on education and human capital development.  

With over 15 years of investing experience, James has led and completed 20 platform transactions (majority and minority deals), having deployed over $1.6 billion of equity in education, software, business services, and digital media companies. His investments have ranged in enterprise value from less than $10 million to over $1 billion. James has served on the boards of over 15 public and private companies.

His current and prior investments in the education and human capital development sectors include: OnlineMedEd, Ironhack, Ellevation, Trilogy Education (sold to 2U), Watermark, Rubicon International (sold to Faria Systems), Cayuse (sold to Primus), Tasktream (sold to TCV), Interfolio (sold to Insight), Endeavor Schools (sold to Leeds Equity), Inside Higher Ed, ILSC Education, and TargetX (sold to Liaison).  

Prior to co-founding Lumos, James was a Principal at Quad Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on the education sector. Previously, he was with Apax Partners, where he focused on financial, business and digital services investments around the world. Prior to Apax, James was an investment professional at Irving Place Capital. He began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he worked on strategy, M&A and corporate finance engagements across a variety of industries.

James received an MBA from Harvard Business School and earned an AB in Economics from Princeton University with certificates in Finance and Political Economy. James lives in Manhattan with his wife (K-12 educator) and 2 rambunctious boys who love playing chess and the piano.