Linda Burch is a co-founder and the Chief Education and Strategy Officer of Common Sense Media, a not-for-profit dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and the independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology. Linda leads Common Sense Media’s education efforts, new program and strategy development.   She is the architect of Common Sense Media’s K-12 Digital Literacy and Citizenship program that is now being used in over 35,000 schools across the country.  Her current focus is on steering strategic development of Common Sense Media’s new learning ratings initiative and establishing international partnerships to bring Common Sense Media’s digital literacy and citizenship programs to countries around the globe.   

Prior to Common Sense, Linda was Senior Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Planning at SyStemix, a biotechnology company that she helped build and then sold to Novartis. From 1985 to 1990 she was a strategic management consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York, where she served healthcare and consumer-products companies and prior to that she spent five years in investment banking at Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch, where she negotiated joint ventures between U.S. technology companies and the People's Republic of China.  Linda received her MBA from Stanford University and her bachelor's degree from Yale.  She has two kids who love media as much as they love being outside.