Senior Management

Ron Packard, chief executive officer and founder of K12, was previously a vice president of Knowledge Universe, and CEO of Knowledge Schools, which provides high-quality childhood education in community and employer-sponsored centers, and invests in, incubates, and operates several charter school companies. Previously, Mr. Packard worked for McKinsey & Company as well as for Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Packard holds a B.A. in economics and mechanical engineering (with honors) from the University of California at Berkeley. As a Hughes scholar, he spent his undergraduate summers writing an image-processing language. He holds an M.B.A. (with honors) from the University of Chicago and he is a chartered financial analyst. Mr. Packard currently serves on the Department of Defense Educational Advisory Committee.

John F. Baule, chief operating officer and chief financial officer,   joined K12 in March 2005. His dual titles give him responsibilities not only in finance, but also in marketing, product development, information technology, logistics, human resources, and legal. Prior to joining K12, Mr. Baule spent five years with James Martin Company (later renamed Headstrong), a global consulting and services firm. He served from September 1999 through July 2001 as senior vice president of finance, and thereafter through November 2004 as chief financial officer. During his tenure, he was instrumental in helping the company raise $191 million in a private equity placement, and also orchestrated the merger of Headstrong with an India-based offshore services firm. Prior to joining Headstrong, Mr. Baule spent nine years with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), initially joining their corporate internal audit division. He then spent six years with BMS based in the Asia Pacific region, first in Manila as the director of finance for BMS Philippines, and then in Hong Kong as the regional finance director for BMS Asia-Pacific. He finally ended up as director of international finance for the BMS Nutritional Division. Mr. Baule began his career at KPMG in the audit services practice. He holds a BBA in accounting from the College of William and Mary, and is also a C.P.A.

Bror Saxberg, chief learning officer,  previously served as vice president for Knowledge Testing Enterprises, where he was responsible for technology, testing, and operations. He was also the publisher and general manager for DK Multimedia, Inc., the North American multimedia arm of the educational and reference publisher Dorling Kindersley. Dr. Saxberg also worked with McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients on semiconductors, telecommunications, network systems, and business information services. Dr. Saxberg holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); an M.D. from Harvard Medical School; an M.A. in mathematics from Oxford University; and a B.S. in electrical engineering and a B.S. in mathematics (with honors) from the University of Washington.

Bruce Davis, executive vice president of worldwide business development, 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.

Celia Stokes, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, 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.

Chip Hughes, executive vice president of school services, joined K12 in July 2007. From 1997 until joining K12, Mr. Hughes was a co-founder and managing director of Blue Capital Management, L.L.C., a middle-market private equity firm. He previously served as a partner of McKinsey & Company, Inc., a global management consulting firm, in McKinsey’s Los Angeles and New Jersey offices, where he was a member of the firm’s Strategy and Health Care practices. Mr. Hughes serves on the National Board of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, and on the Board of Councilors of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences at the University of Southern California. Previously he was a member of the Board of Trustees at Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles and of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Morris, Bergen, and Passaic Counties (New Jersey). Mr. Hughes holds a B.A. in Economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Southern California and an M.B.A. with high honors from Harvard University.

Howard D. Polsky, senior vice president and general counsel, has a unique combination of legal and public policy experience. As vice president and general counsel of Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, he managed a wide range of legal matters including antitrust, telecommunications, employment, commercial contracts and transactions, litigation management, mergers and acquisitions, foreign joint ventures, intellectual property, and corporate governance and compliance. From 1992-2000, Mr. Polsky was at COMSAT and held both legal and government relations positions. He spent four years on the senior management team as vice president of federal policy and regulation. In that capacity, he developed critical corporate policy initiatives and advocated extensively before the FCC, Executive Branch, Congress, and within intergovernmental organizations. Regulatory risk assessment and communications with institutional investors on policy matters was also his responsibility. For the prior nine years, Mr. Polsky was a partner at Wiley, Rein & Fielding where he represented a variety of U.S. and international communications clients in administrative and judicial proceedings. He began his legal career at the FCC and Kirkland & Ellis. He received his J.D. from Indiana University and was an editor of the Indiana Law Review, holds a B.A. from Lehigh University, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Polsky is admitted to practice in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia (corporate counsel), and the District of Columbia.

Bryan W. Flood, senior vice president of public affairs, joined K12 in 2002. Mr. Flood previously served as a public affairs strategist, consultant, and spokesman for corporations, interest groups, and senatorial, gubernatorial, and presidential campaigns. As vice president at the MPGH Agency, a Virginia-based public affairs consulting firm, he advised clients ranging from high tech start-ups to Fortune 500 firms, including several leading education companies. Mr. Flood helped clients like MCI, The Learning Company, and Achievement Technologies win complex public policy and opinion battles by designing and managing advocacy campaigns at the local, state, and national levels. While serving at MPGH in 1999, Mr. Flood helped direct a sweeping review of the military recruitment process for the United States Department of Defense. Mr. Flood was chief spokesman for Michigan Governor John Engler’s successful reelection campaign in 1994, and was national spokesman for United States Senator Lamar Alexander’s presidential campaign in 1995-96. Mr. Flood holds a B.A. in public policy from New College of Florida.

John Holdren, senior vice president of content and curriculum, came to K12 from the Core Knowledge Foundation, one of the country's most trusted and respected education centers, where he was vice president and director of Research and Publications. Mr. Holdren (along with E. D. Hirsch, Jr.) oversaw development of the Core Knowledge Sequence and co-edited the Core Knowledge Series of resource books. He taught literature and writing at the University of Virginia and Harvard University, as well as high school English at an independent school in Charlottesville, Virginia. Mr. Holdren holds a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and a M.A. in English and American Literature from the University of Virginia.

John Olsen, senior vice president of high school programs and classroom solutions, joined K12 in March 2004 and served as senior vice president, operations through October 2006. From October 2004 to March 2006, he also headed K12’s marketing department. Prior to joining K12, he was vice president of performance improvement for America Online's Broadband, Premium, and Advanced Technology Services. Mr. Olsen previously served as a management consultant at Diamond Technology Partners where he practiced in the telecommunications, financial services and consumer products industries. He also served eight years in the U.S. Navy as a Supply Officer in activities ranging from aviation logistics to major weapons systems acquisition. John holds a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy and an M.B.A from the University of Michigan.

Maria Szalay, senior vice president of product development, brings over 17 years of strategy and development capability to K12 . Ms. Szalay previously 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 and implementing online initiatives and worked to integrate these solutions with their brick & mortar business. Prior to that, she worked at Telecom New Zealand rolling out the company’s Online Solutions Business, where she was instrumental in developing the online strategy and implementation plan for Telecom Broadband. Prior to that, Ms. Szalay worked for eight years as a management consultant at KPMG assisting clients with systems implementations, process improvements and product 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 & State University and an M.B.A. from American University.

Peter Stewart, senior vice president of school development, works with parents, teachers, community groups, school districts, school boards, departments of education, and policy makers across the United States and internationally to start new high-tech schools that use the K12 academic program. In the past seven years he has helped develop large-scale, public e-learning programs in sixteen states that currently serve over 100,000 courses annually. Prior to working for K12, Mr. Stewart was a head of school, a teacher, a school principal, and a curriculum director with ten years experience working in urban, rural, and international schools. He holds a B.A. in English from Williams College, and a M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College.

Ray Williams, senior vice president of systems and technology, brings a broad range of experience gained over an 18-year career in the software industry. Prior to joining K12, he held the position of senior vice president of product development and operations for Ruckus Network, where he was responsible for all managing content integration, systems, and software development. At America Online, Mr. Williams served in numerous roles, most recently as senior technical director of the "You've Got Pictures" program. During his time at AOL, he was also a member of the development team for the America Online Windows client versions 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 4.0. After the release of the America Online 4.0 client, Mr. Williams transitioned into management, where he headed teams responsible for building a Modem Connectivity Lab and managed the Host Infrastructure Team. He also held the role of director for the AOL TV program, where after one year he was promoted to senior technical director. Shortly afterwards, he took on the role of running the AOL Irvine office in California. Mr. Williams' previous experience in the software industry includes a position at Software A.G. where he was a software developer for six years. He is also an instrument rated pilot and attended Rochester Institute of Technology.

Charles Zogby, senior vice president of education and policy, served as secretary of education for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania prior to joining K12 in 2003. In this position, Mr. Zogby managed the agency that oversaw kindergarten through college education with a $10 billion budget and more than 800 personnel. During his tenure, Mr. Zogby won passage of a first-in-the-nation virtual charter school law, implemented the state’s plan for the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and led the state’s takeover of the Philadelphia School District. Prior to his position as secretary of education, Mr. Zogby served as director of the Office of Policy for Governor Tom Ridge. There he was responsible for coordinating policy development and initiatives across 18 executive branch agencies. Mr. Zogby also helped to put in place several education reforms, including the state’s charter school law, performance-based education funding, a value-added assessment pilot program, and high-stakes academic accountability systems for Pennsylvania school districts. Mr. Zogby holds a B.A. in economics from St. Lawrence University and a J.D. with distinction from the George Mason University School of Law.

Janet Matricciani, senior vice president of corporate development, has held a variety of senior executive positions in her professional career, most recently as Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Strategic Planning at Countrywide Financial Corporation. Prior to that, Janet was a Director of Global Financial Services at Capital One Financial Corporation where she managed the US-based International Corporate Development team and later ran Capital One’s Installment Loans business. Earlier in her career, she spent ten years in management consulting, most recently with McKinsey & Company where her clients covered a breadth of industry sectors, from telecom to financial services to retail. She has also worked in investment banking at J.P. Morgan in New York, and, at the start of her career, as an engineer for Ove Arup & Partners in London. Janet speaks six languages and has work experience in over twenty countries. Janet has been a speaker at industry conferences and has been quoted in the Harvard Business Review. She holds an MBA from Wharton Business School with an international fellowship and London Chamber of Commerce scholarship, and a B.A. and M.A. with honors in engineering from Cambridge University.