Stewart Alsop
Stewart Alsop is a founder of Alsop Louie Partners - a
partnership between Stewart Alsop and Gilman Louie designed to
provide venture capital to the most promising entrepreneurs. Prior
to Alsop Louie, Stewart was a general partner with New Enterprise
Associates and led that firm's investments in companies such as
TiVo, Portola Communications (sold to Netscape), Netcentives, Glu
Mobile, and Xfire. During that time, he also wrote a column for
Fortune. Before he became an investor, Stewart was a business
editor and pundit. He was editor in chief of InfoWorld, a weekly
newspaper for information-technology professionals. He also
published PC Letter, a fortnightly newsletter for computer industry
insiders, and produced the Agenda and Demo conferences for
executives of companies in the computer industry. Way back when he
was young(er), he learned to be an editor at Inc. magazine, where
he was executive editor.
Karen Buckner
Karen is a Partner and Chief Operating Officer at MK Capital.
Karen leads the firm's education technology investment practice.
Karen has initiated and managed several venture investments for the
Productivity Fund III and the Productivity Fund IV and served as a
public equity research analyst in emerging markets at First
Analysis Corporation. Her areas of expertise include operational
management and business and financial analysis. Prior to founding
MK Capital, Karen served as Vice President of Operations at
I-Works, a venture-backed internet services company, where she was
responsible for building the organization and its related
infrastructure. Karen currently sits on the board of directors of
Apex Learning, Smoothstone Communications, Retention Education, and
Enhancescape. She also holds an observer seat at PECO Pallet. Karen
is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Kellogg's Graduate
School of Management.
Tony DiGiovanni
Tony DiGiovanni has more than 25 years in senior executive roles
with the leading for profit post secondary education providers.
Tony currently holds a key executive marketing role with EDMC, one
of the largest providers of private post secondary education in
North America. Prior to EMDC, Tony served as president of Classes
USA, an Experian company that provided a leading online higher
education portal. Tony also served as president of Corinthian
Colleges and was CEO of University of Phoenix Online.
Chris Girgenti
Chris joined New World Ventures in 1996 and has served as
managing partner since 1998. During this time, he has led the
organization and capital formation for four technology venture
funds and has led or overseen investments in more than 40
companies, including eCollege. His prior experience includes the
corporate finance departments of two regional investment banking
firms, The Chicago Corporation and Kemper Securities, Inc. and the
merger and acquisition group of KPMG Peat Marwick. Chris currently
serves on the Boards of Advantage Optics, Inc., HyperQuest, Inc.,
Univa Corporation, and Sportvision, Inc. and as a board observer of
The Active Network, Inc. and Firm58, Inc. Chris graduated with a BS
in applied mathematics-economics from Brown University and earned
his MBA in finance and accounting from Columbia Business School.
Chris is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Doug Kelsall
Doug Kelsall is the president and chief financial officer for
Educational Sales Management (ESM), an education sales company
based in Denver. Prior to ESM, Doug was president and CEO of
eCollege, the NASDAQ-traded online learning services provider that
was recently acquired in a $538 million merger. The former director
of the Colorado Institute of Technology, he brings more than 28
years of experience in operations, technology, financial
management, sales, and marketing for start-ups and large private
and public companies in multiple industries including online
education, software development, and financial services. He is a
graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned his
MBA at the University of Denver.
Matthew Schnittman
Matthew joined TopSchool in April 2008. From 1999 to 2008,
Matthew was with eCollege, leading provider of on-demand eLearning
solutions to the education industry. At eCollege, Matthew served in
a variety of executive roles, including president from August 2004
until his departure. During his tenure, eCollege was named to the
Deloitte and Touche "Fast 50" for four years running, until its
2007 acquisition by Pearson, LLC. Prior to eCollege, Matthew worked
in the consulting industry at CCD LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers'
management consulting strategy group where he worked with Fortune
500 companies. Matthew was recently named one of the 25 most
influential people in the Career College Sector. Matthew is a
graduate of the University of Arizona, and holds a Master of
Business Administration from The Kellogg School at Northwestern
University.
David Gold
(Board Observer)
David Gold is a venture partner at Access Venture Partners.
Previously, David was founder and CEO of ProSavvy, an eProcurement
and online marketplace company which grew to profitability and a
merger. David has also served in the executive office of the
President of the United States where he was responsible for
oversight of the U.S. Weather Satellite Program and the National
Institute of Standards and Technology. He also was an engineer for
NASA and spent time as a manufacturing consultant. David earned a
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with Special Honors
from the University of Colorado and was a National Science
Foundation Fellow while earning master's degrees in both Aerospace
Engineering and Technology Policy from M.I.T.