Senior Management

As a teacher in the U.S. and China in the late 1980s, Bill came to recognize the extraordinary influence that parents have over their children's education. Then, as an Internet entrepreneur in the 1990s, he recognized the extraordinary potential of the Internet as a communications medium to engage and support parents. He founded GreatSchools in 1998 to tap the power of this new medium to help parents be more effectively involved in their children's education. An avid school volunteer, Bill is a member of the California P-16 Council and serves as secretary of the Parent Association Council at Chinese American International School and a volunteer at Miraloma Elementary School. He has also served as a director of the San Francisco Education Fund and as treasurer for two San Francisco school financing measures and a school board campaign. Bill holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Yale University and is a graduate of the San Francisco Coro Fellows Program. As the former president of the Scientific Society at Phillips Exeter Academy, Bill loves hearing about his two daughters' elementary school science experiments.

Prior to joining GreatSchools, Matthew cut his online teeth as a founding member of Wired Digital, where he launched one of the first ad-supported websites, HotWired. Later he co-founded Organic, an interactive communications and advertising agency, where he helped develop first generation websites for brands like Levi's, Nike and Saturn. Organic IPO'd in early 2000, reaching a market cap of $6B. Matthew then brought his digital expertise to improve operations and management systems at several non-profits, including Tides and, most recently, Aspire Public Schools, a charter management organization of top performing public schools serving underserved communities throughout California. Matthew earned his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Matthew's freshman debut in Battle of the Bands at Nicolet High School was a formative step in his ongoing obsession with playing live music.

As a design leader, Gretchen has an extensive background creating experiences that delight people. Gretchen has designed and developed a wide array of interactive education, healthcare, technology, and consumer lifestyle products during her career. For GreatSchools' parents and user community, Gretchen helps shape coherent products with seamless digital experiences. Previously, Gretchen worked for some of San Francisco's top design consultancies including frog design, Cooper, and Punchcut. She is active in the design community, speaking and giving workshops on product design and development that truly make a difference in peoples' lives. Gretchen graduated with honors from Harvard University with a degree in History and Literature. She's an alumni of Alameda High School , where she distinguished herself as a nerd who wrote poetry and was involved in theater and cheerleading.

Lilly was one of the first recruits of Teach for America, where she taught second grade in Oakland, California. Lilly earned her BA in political science and economics from Wellesley College and her MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School. She led the financial metrics and evaluation efforts at the Stupski Foundation, a private philanthropic institution dedicated to improving urban public schools nationwide, and later became the finance director of an online subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. She has also held finance positions at PriceWaterhouse, Oracle, and AT&T. Lilly attended Mills High School in Millbrae, California, where she earned the coveted "top car washer" title for the National Honor Society fundraiser.

As the Executive Editor for GreatSchools, Carol brings a wealth of editorial expertise to the organization. Prior to GreatSchools, Carol was an award-winning weekly columnist from the San Francisco Chronicle for ten years and headed the education section as an editor at Salon.com. In 2009, she received a mini-fellowship on Global Health Reporting from the Kaiser Foundation for her coverage of neglected diseases published in the San Francisco Chronicle and Seed Magazine. Her journalism on culture, education and family life has been widely published and anthologized for the past 15 years, appearing in The New York Times Magazine, This American Life radio show, Salon.com, The Los Angeles Times, and the SF Weekly as well as being featured on NPR's Talk of the Nation, PRI's The World and KQED's Forum and To the Best of Our Knowledge. Her bestselling book "Creating a Life Worth Living" was published in 1997 by Harper Collins. It was at the York School in Monterey, California where she tried to balance the mind-money-body conundrum by reading Chaucer, starting a catering company and continually trying to learn to surf.

Karissa has over 16 years of experience in the web analytics, online marketing, SEO/SEM, and web production fields. Her keen analytical sense combined with her marketing intelligence help make GreatSchools one of the leading technology nonprofits in the education sector today. Prior to joining GreatSchools, Karissa was a Senior Marketing Analyst for MarketTools, and held various positions in product management at Bridgeline Software (formerly iapps), Raffa P.C., and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. While Karissa has worked in both the private and nonprofit sectors, she has always gravitated towards improving technology systems for nonprofits. She has a B.A. in Communications Studies from Hollins University and lives with her family in Berkeley, California. As a high school basketball star at Taft High School, she was known for drawing fouls from the opposing team and never missing a free throw.

Vidya has an extensive background in business leadership and program strategy. She leads GreatSchools' market research and social impact assessments. Joining GreatSchools in 2006, she has also been responsible for new product development and fund development activities. Prior to joining GreatSchools, Vidya drove new investment opportunities in Internet media at Claremont Creek Ventures and founded a teen media website. Vidya has led software development at both consumer and enterprise Internet start-ups. She holds a degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, a Masters in Public Policy from UCLA, and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. Vidya is engaged in the performing arts as a classical Indian dancer. She's an alumni of Pinole Valley High School , where she was on the debate team and held the distinction of National Forensics League Point Leader.

Molly brings to GreatSchools over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit, for-profit and higher education sectors, with a focus on improving college access for minority and low-income students. Previously, she was the national director of outreach and alliances at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the associate director of Stanford University's Center for Latin American Studies. She graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in international studies and earned a PhD in Latin American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Her diverse experience began at a tiny international school in Brazil. During high school she played the lead role in several of the city's English-speaking community theatre productions.