Paul Eichen’s founding of Kid Spark Education was inspired by the toy company he created in 1995, Rokenbok Toy Company. Rokenbok was a for-profit business that produced construction and robotics toys for engineering play. After ten years in business, parents and teachers were regularly sharing stories about how Rokenbok toys had inspired children to select STEM majors in college. It was these stories that led to the founding of Kid Spark Education as a nonprofit social enterprise to employ the Rokenbok System in educational settings.
Mr. Eichen was founder and CEO of Proxima Corporation (multimedia data projection, 1982 -1995), founder and CEO of Rokenbok System (engineering toys, 1995-2015). He received his Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the University of San Diego in 2012. He was also a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Leadership and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Learning and Teaching at the University of San Diego.
Mr. Eichen continues to participate in product and program development at Kid Spark, “I love collaborating in our innovations to make STEM ever more fun and accessible to students and teachers.” He has served on a variety of nonprofit boards including San Diego Coastkeeper, San Diego Foundation, and Little Village Foundation. He is married to Susan Flieder and has four children – Noah, Rachel, Roberto and Ana Rosa, and two grandchildren.
