Board of Directors

The K¹² International Academy is led by experienced professionals with the qualifications, passion, and determination needed to help students reach their xPotential. Furthermore, the K¹² International Academy is backed by a Board of Directors who shares that passion and exuberance for shaping kids’ futures and impacting families’ lives on a daily basis.

Ron Packard, K¹²
Chief Executive Officer and Founder of K12
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.

Darby Carr, K¹²
Headmaster
Darby Carr, headmaster for K12 International Academy has over 10 years experience in the charter school movement as an advocate for school reform and school choice. For the last 8 years she has worked for K12 in various roles. Darby served as the head of school for K12’s pioneer virtual academy in Pennsylvania, she directed K12’s Accountability Program which included both school improvement planning and quality assurance visits to K12 virtual academies across the country. Most recently, Darby was senior director for K12’s high school offering, working on the development and implementation of this new and exciting program. Prior to joining K12 she served as the Chief Administrative Officer and School Principal for a brick and mortar elementary school in Philadelphia that served a large at risk student population. Darby was elected as an officer and served on the Executive Board of the PA Coalition of Charter Schools. She was a founding member of the Philadelphia Consortium of Charter Schools and has testified often before the Senate and House Education Committees. Today, she is a member of the North American Council of Online Learning (NACOL), the Board of Directors for Saint David’s Nursery School in Wayne, PA, as well as, the Executive Board of East Goshen Elementary School. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bates College in Psychology and Economics with a minor in Computer Studies.

Bruce Davis, K¹²
Executive Vice President of Worldwide Business Development
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.

Chip Hughes, K¹²
Executive Vice President of School Services
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.

Celia Stokes, K¹²
Chief Marketing Officer
Celia Stokes, chief marketing officer, brings more than 20 years of branding and marketing experience to K12. Celia 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, J. Walter Thompson, and ADP on subjects ranging from brand strategy and new revenue stream development to packaging and content acquisition. Prior to that, Celia 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 interactive television pilots in the country. Celia 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.

John Olsen, K¹²
Senior Vice President of High School Programs
John Olsen, senior vice president, high school programs, joined K12 in 2004. Prior to that 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. Before receiving his MBA from the University of Michigan, he served in the U.S. Navy as a Supply Officer in activities ranging from aviation logistics to major weapons systems acquisition to duty as a White House Social Aide. Mr. Olsen holds a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy.

Scott Holland, K¹²
Vice President of Operations
Scott Holland is the vice president of operations for K12. Mr. Holland oversees the supply chain function as well as the call center operation for the Company. K12’s supply chain, which includes prototyping, sourcing, purchasing and distribution of both student/classroom materials and computers, has fulfilled over 3.5M separate units this past year, 99%+ accurately and 98% on-time. K12’s call center operations handles more than 350,000 calls per year, and provides enrollment assistance, customer and technical support to prospective and current families and students. Prior to K12, Mr. Holland worked as senior director for Philips Semiconductors Asia/Pacific where he led the rollout and integration of a unified ERP/MRP system for 7 assembly and test factories in China and Taiwan. Prior to joining Philips, Mr. Holland started his career and worked for 14 years at Gap, Inc in a variety of domestic and international roles in distribution, merchandise planning, catalog call center operations and information technology for all of Gap Inc brands, including Gap, Gap Europe, GapKids, Banana Republic and Old Navy. Mr. Holland holds a B.A. in Geography from University of California.

Sheila Leverone, K¹²
Vice President Product Marketing and Research
Sheila joined K12 in May 2007, following a 6-month strategy consulting engagement with the company. Prior to joining K12, Ms. Leverone spent 8 years at AOL, most recently as vice president, Strategic Marketing Programs, where she oversaw the development of pricing strategy for AOL’s flagship service, and launched the company’s Hispanic marketing program. As vice president, Strategic Businesses, she provided general management for AOL’s “You’ve Got Pictures ” digital imaging and American Greetings’ e-card businesses. At Weather Services International (WSI), Ms. Leverone oversaw b-to-b and consumer marketing and product initiatives as vice president of Marketing and Product Management. Prior to WSI, she spent 4 years at Bell Atlantic Video Services and its subsequent joint venture, TELE-TV, supporting the development and marketing of digital media services in a variety of roles including vice president, Marketing Programs and vice president, Project Management. Previously, Ms. Leverone held several b-to-b marketing roles in the National Accounts division of MCI Communications Corporation. She began her career with GE Information Services, where she held several product management positions following completion of a corporate management training program. Ms. Leverone holds an M.B.A. with Distinction from Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management) and a B.B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame.

Laurie Erdman, K¹²
Vice President Administration
Ms. Erdman has ten years of experience advising school boards, superintendents and principals on a variety of legal matters. She has assisted schools on issues of student discipline, student handbooks, policy governance, privacy, teacher and staff employment, and contracting. Ms. Erdman has also spent the last five years assisting virtual schools in launching school operations, licensing curriculum, hiring teachers and staff, recruiting students, managing student records and numerous other operational and educational matters. Ms. Erdman has also instructed middle school students for a non-profit organization. Prior to coming to K12 Inc., Ms. Erdman was a partner at Dillingham & Murphy and an associate at Ruiz & Sperow where she represented clients in the retail, satellite, technology, insurance, governmental and education sectors. Ms. Erdman holds a J.D. from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, an M.S. from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. from University of California, Davis. Ms. Erdman has served as K12 Inc.’s associate general counsel and now serves as vice president, administration.

John Baione, K¹²
Vice President of Finance
John M. Baione, vice president of Finance, joined K¹² in July 2003. He has overall financial responsibilities for the School Management and Services operations of K¹². Prior to joining K¹², Mr. Baione spent twenty seven years with Xerox Corporation. During his tenure at Xerox, Mr. Baione held senior finance positions in both domestic and international operations. Prior to joining Xerox, Mr. Baione began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (formerly Price Waterhouse & Co.) in the audit services practice of their New York office. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from St. John’s University, an MBA in Finance from Pace University, and he is also a C.P.A.

Laura Ginnetti, K¹²
Director of Human Resources
Laura Ginnetti graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in Economics. She began her career at M&T Bank Corporation in Buffalo, NY. During her five years with M&T Bank, Laura held positions in Sales, Marketing, and eventually Human Resources where she managed the company’s Management Development Program and the M&T Intern recruiting efforts. Laura left M&T Bank and Buffalo to join Ruckus Network, an online entertainment company in Herndon, VA as the Director of Campus Marketing. While with Ruckus, she helped launch the first nationwide college campus marketing campaign, which eventually led to over 500,000 users. Laura joined K12 Inc. in February of 2006 as a director of Human Resources.