Ronald J. Packard, Chairman of the Board, founded K12 Inc. in 2000 and has served on its Board of Directors since that time. He has also served as K12's Chief Executive Officer since May 2007. Previously, Mr. Packard served as Vice President of Knowledge Universe and as Chief Executive Officer of Knowledge Schools, a provider of early childhood education and after school programs. Mr. Packard has also held positions at McKinsey & Company and Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, Mr. Packard served on the Advisory Board of the Department of Defense Schools from 2002 to 2008, and is a member of the board of the Fairfax Education Foundation. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Packard served as a director of Academy 123. Mr. Packard holds B.A. degrees in Economics and Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and he was a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Executive vice president of worldwide business development at K12, Bruce J. Davis ran his own strategy consultancy in the education industry prior to joining K12. His clients included premier organizations as Laureate Education Inc., Discovery Communications, Pearson Publishing, Sylvan Learning Systems, Educate Inc., AICPA, and USAID. Mr. Davis has also been chief executive officer of Medasorb Technologies Inc, a biotechnology company, and Mindsurf Networks, a wireless educational system provider. He has extensive operational experience and was Chief Operating Officer of Prometric, the leader in computer test administration worldwide. Prior to that, he was a senior consultant with Deloitte and Touche's Information Systems Strategy group where he managed their IT practice in Egypt. He maintains special regional expertise in Central Asia and the Middle East. Mr. Davis holds an M.B.A from Columbia University and a BS in computer science from Loyola College.
Dr. Michael Geisler is vice president for Language Schools, Schools Abroad, and graduate programs, and C.V. Starr Professor in Linguistics and Languages at Middlebury College. He also served as Middlebury’s dean of Language Schools and Schools Abroad, as Associate Dean of the Faculty, Chair of the Foreign Language Division, and Chair of the German Department. From 2010 until October 2012, Dr. Geisler served as chief education officer for Middlebury Interactive and led efforts to translate Middlebury College’s premier world language curriculum to the digital setting for Middlebury Interactive’s award-winning courses. Dr. Geisler holds a Staatsexamen from the University of Mannheim and a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.
Vice president for finance and treasurer, Patrick J. Norton is the chief financial officer of Middlebury College where he oversees its financial and business operations. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, Mr. Norton is a certified public accountant with an M.A. from Columbia University. Mr. Norton has spent his career in finance and accounting, focused in higher education and healthcare at Middlebury College, Columbia University (Teachers College), Planned Parenthood of New York City and New York University Medical Center. In addition to his board position for Middlebury Interactive, he currently serves as a director of Porter Medical Center and is on the advisory board of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
Executive vice president of product development at K12, Maria Szalay brings over 19 years of strategy and development capability to K12. Ms. Szalay joined K12 in 2000, and has served in a variety of roles including product management, operations, strategy and corporate development. Prior to joining K12, Ms. Szalay served as practice director at Operon Partners, an e-business consulting firm. At Operon Partners, Ms. Szalay led consulting teams assisting clients with turnkey eBusiness strategy, product management and business transformation consulting services. She worked directly in client organizations developing business plans to obtain funding, and also assisted with the implementation of online initiatives, with specialized expertise in integrated these solutions with their brick & mortar business. Prior to joining Operon Partners, she worked at Telecom New Zealand rolling out the company's Online Solutions Business, where she was instrumental not only in developing the online strategy and implementation plan for Telecom Broadband, but also in executing to the implementation plan. Prior to that, Ms. Szalay worked for eight years as a management consultant at KPMG, assisting clients with systems implementations, product marketing and placement initiatives, including new product and service launches. Ms. Szalay started her career at Shearson Lehman. She holds a B.S./B.A. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University and an M.B.A. from American University.
Executive vice president and chief marketing officer at K12, Celia M. Stokes brings more than 20 years of branding and marketing experience to K12. Ms. Stokes came to K12 from Independence Air where, as vice president of marketing, she presided over all aspects of the largest and fastest brand launch in aviation history. The brand achieved a #1 ranking out of all US airlines in customer satisfaction. Before joining Independence Air, she consulted to organizations such as Fox TV, PBS, the National Gallery of Art, JWalter Thompson, and ADP on subjects ranging from brand strategy and new revenue stream development to packaging and content acquisition. Prior to that, Ms. Stokes was the vice president of marketing for TELE-TV, a joint venture of Bell Atlantic (now Verizon), Pacific Telesis, and NyNex (now Verizon), where she not only managed the marketing launch for the wireless cable initiative, but also oversaw one of the largest video-on-demand pilots in the country. Ms. Stokes developed the foundations for her career at an Ogilvy & Mather Direct company, where she was responsible for business development and marketing strategy for clients such as Ciba-Geigy, Cellular One and U.S. Robotics. She holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia.
Dr. Marna C. Whittington was chief executive officer of Allianz Global Investors Capital, a diversified global investment firm, from 2002 until her retirement in January 2012. She was chief operating officer of Allianz Global Investors, the parent company of Allianz Global Investors Capital, from 2001 to 2011. Other highlights of Dr. Whittington's distinguished career in financial services and higher education include terms as COO of Morgan Stanley Investment Management and executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania. She also served as finance secretary for the State of Delaware and deputy commissioner of education for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to her board position for Middlebury Interactive, she currently serves as a trustee of Middlebury College and on the boards Macy's and Phillips 66. Dr. Whittington earned both a M.S. and Ph.D. Quantitative Methods from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Delaware.