Board of Directors

Chris Adams is a Principal with Francisco Partners, a leading technology-focused private equity firm, where he focuses primarily on investments in the software industry. Previously, he worked at American Securities Capital Partners, where he executed private equity transactions in a variety of industries including energy, defense, and industrial technology. Prior to that, he was with Bain & Company as a strategy consultant. Adams currently serves on the board of directors of three private technology companies: QuadraMed, a provider of clinical and financial software systems to hospitals, Quantros, a provider of web-based patient safety and quality applications for hospitals, and Discrete Wireless, a provider of web-based fleet management solutions for local vehicle fleets. Over the past four years, Adams has worked with GreatSchools in various financial advisory capacities. He earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his BS in computer engineering from Georgia Tech, with summa cum laude honors.

Anthony J. Colón is widely respected as one of the nation's most forthright diversity advocates and has been instrumental in bringing education reform to the Hispanic community and increasing recruitment and professional development opportunities for minority educators. In 2008 he cofounded the AVANTI Strategy Group, LLC, a strategic planning and consulting firm serving small businesses, nonprofits, and Latino-driven health and education initiatives. In 2007, drawing on his extensive background in education and his ongoing work with nonprofits, he formed AJ Colón Consulting, LLC., a firm dedicated to training and helping educational systems for low-income, minority, and underserved children. Colón was vice president of the National Council of La Raza's Center for Community Educational Excellence. He has 30 years' experience as a teacher and school administrator in public, private, and parochial schools and has served on the faculty of Lehman College at the City University of New York and at Fordham University's Department of Bilingual Services. Colón is a founding member of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, serves as chair of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, and served as vice chair of the DC Public Charter School Board. He holds a master's degree and professional diploma in educational administration from Fordham University in New York and a bachelor's degree in sociology from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York.

Ann Fuell's work as a board member for the Almaden Country School in Northern California has allowed her to see the importance of strong school leadership and the crucial role of the Board in strategic planning. Following a move overseas in 2008, Ann was elected to serve on the Board of Governors at the International School of Amsterdam, expanding her understanding of international education, the International Baccalaureate Program, and teachers unions. She has worked in program management and consulted for KPMG Consulting and KPMG's Center for Leadership Development. She holds a Master's Degree in Higher Education, with a specialization in Student Personnel Administration from New York University. Her family, with elementary and middle school children, returned to the US in 2010.

Eric A. Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He is also chair of the executive committee for the Texas Schools Project at the University of Texas at Dallas and a member of the CALDER Management Team. He is chair of the board of directors of the National Board for Education Sciences, a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Koret Task Force on K-12 education. Hanushek has been a leader in the development of economic analysis of educational issues, with a special emphasis on the determinants of student achievement. He was the first researcher to measure teacher effectiveness by the learning gains of the teacher's students. His books on education include Courting Failure: How School Finance Lawsuits Exploit Judges' Good Intentions and Harm our Children, Handbook on the Economics of Education, The Economics of Schooling and School Quality, Improving America's Schools: The Role of Incentives, Making Schools Work: Improving Performance and Controlling Costs, Educational Performance of the Poor, and Education and Race, along with more than 200 professional articles. Hanushek's government service includes posts as the deputy director of the Congressional Budget Office, senior staff economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, and senior economist for the Cost of Living Council. Hanushek is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he earned his BS degree. He received his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Karen Hill-Scott is a nationally recognized child development expert for early education systems and a consultant for children's media and television content. A former UCLA professor of urban planning, Dr. Hill-Scott brings a multi-faceted approach to improving the lives of young children. Previous to her positions at UCLA, she chaired the California School Readiness Master Plan and co-founded Crystal Stairs, California’s largest child development agency. While she continues to teach for the UCLA Anderson School of Management executive training programs, she also Chairs the Board of Crystal Stairs, serves on the boards of the Foundation for Child Development and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation of Southern California. Dr. Hill-Scott received her Ed.D. in Child Development from UCLA where she was a Danforth Fellow, a Chancellor’s Fellow, Outstanding Graduate Student of Year, and was named the Tom Bradley Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award in 2007.

Bill Jackson is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GreatSchools, an independent, non-profit organization that helps parents be champions of their children's education. A former teacher in China and the U.S., Bill also spent time as a high-tech entrepreneur. He later felt the need to harness digital media to engage parents in their children's education by founding GreatSchools. Under his leadership, GreatSchools has become the premier source of education and parenting information on PreK-12th schools for parents nationally. He's deeply involved in the education of his own children, always seeking out the best new technology applications to help his children learn and serving as a member of the Parent Association at his children's school. He also serves on the board of directors of the Mandarin Institute and the Yale-China Association. Bill holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Yale University and is a graduate of the San Francisco Coro Fellows Program. As a high school student, Bill was the president of the Scientific Society at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Larry Kane is a partner in the emerging company practice group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. He represents both emerging and public companies in several areas, including formation and structuring, financing, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and private and public offerings of securities. For the past 17 years, Kane has also served as volunteer head coach of the wrestling team at Galileo Academy of Science, where he has led hundreds of wrestlers to both athletic and academic success. He also serves on the San Francisco Library Commission and ran for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Education in 2004. Kane serves on the board of Aim High, the San Francisco School Alliance, and Pivot Education, and he counsels pro bono a number of community groups and organizations, including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. Kane earned his JD from the Columbia University School of Law and his BA from Columbia University.

Leanna Landsmann was president of Time for Kids, a magazine reaching more than 4.2 million students nationwide. Before joining Time, she was editor and publisher of Instructor, the nation's leading magazine for teachers, and director of Harcourt Brace Children's Books. She founded Leanna Landsmann Inc. (LLI), a company that helped corporations and organizations contribute successfully to schools. She was founding volunteer director of New York City's Principal for a Day and founding board member of PENCIL (Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning). She writes "A+ Advice for Parents," a weekly column syndicated by United Features. She helped launch the Canandaigua New York Lake Watershed Alliance Education Program. She is co-chair of the Scripps Florida Council in Jupiter, Florida. The council is dedicated to supporting basic research in disease prevention and cures at the Scripps Research Institute, the world's leading not-for-profit biotechnology center. Landsmann started her career as a teacher in West Africa.

Gilman Louie is a partner of Alsop Louie Partners, a venture capital fund. He is the founder and former CEO of In-Q-Tel, a strategic venture fund created to help enhance national security by connecting the CIA and U.S. intelligence community with entrepreneurial companies. Gilman built a career as a pioneer in the interactive entertainment industry having developed the Falcon F-16 flight simulator as well as being the visionary who licensed Tetris, the world's most popular computer game, for the U.S. market. Gilman was also founder of Spectrum Holobyte which ultimately was acquired by Hasbro Corporation, where he served as chief creative officer of Hasbro Interactive. Gilman has a keen interest in education, serving on the boards of NewSchools.org, the Mandarin Institute and the Chinese American International School in San Francisco. He is also a former president of The San Francisco School Volunteers. Gilman has completed two advanced business programs at Harvard Business School and earned his BS in Business Administration from San Francisco State University.

Clesont Mitchell has spent over 25 years in the field of parent involvement and education. He believes that, through true collaborations at all levels; we can help all our children succeed. He has fostered the idea of parent partnerships to better reflect the true ideal of working together to help our children succeed. Mitchell has served as president of LaGuardia High School of Music and Art Parents Association, president of the Council of Specialized High Schools, president of the Manhattan Federation of Parent Associations, and vice president and chairman of the executive board of United Parents Associations of NYC, Inc. He has also worked as the program coordinator and outreach director of the New York Urban League's Citywide Parent Engagement in School Leadership Teams. Mitchell has served on the Parent Advisory Panel for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition. He is currently a member of the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE) and the National Coalition for Parents of English Language Learners (NCPELL) and serves on the boards of GreatSchools and Citizens for Effective Schools.

Sean Ryan is the Director of Game Partnerships at Facebook. He is also the non-executive chairman of Meez, a leading social entertainment company he founded which combines avatars, games, and a virtual world. Prior to Facebook and Meez, Sean served as Vice President of music services at RealNetworks, where he managed the music division after selling Listen.com to Real in August 2003. As CEO of Listen.com, Ryan helped lead the development and roll-out of the award-winning Rhapsody subscription music service. Sean has also ran business development for online game company SegaSoft Networks, spent several years at the GAP helping launch the successful Old Navy clothing line, and worked at Chemical Bank. Ryan holds an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management and a BA from Columbia University.

Michael Schmier is vice president of media and audience products at Focus.com, a leading B2B media company providing open, peer-powered expertise to all business and IT professionals. Previously, Schmier held a wide range of executive positions including vice president of products and marketing at BabyCenter, the leading online destination for new and expectant parents, and vice president of product marketing and business development at Merced Systems, a market leader in enterprise performance management and analytics systems. He has also served as practice manager at the Advisory Board Company, an industry research and consulting company. He has extensive experience in developing and marketing online products as well as managing online commerce, media, and SaaS business models. Schmier received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.