Personnel Moves, Investments, and Acquisitions

By Guest Contributor Lisa Wolfe

Q2 K-12 Market Highlights

In the second quarter of 2022, the K-12 education market saw a lot of personnel moves, with people joining the industry, being promoted to new roles and moving to new positions at other education companies. As schools and the market continue to adjust to the changes brought on by the disruptions of the past few years, many companies saw new investments and completed acquisitions as they realigned their offerings to meet the evolving market needs. In fact, even celebrities are getting involved in the action! Here are the highlights:

  • Guild Education, which offers companies employee education programs ranging from master’s degrees to high school diplomas, closed a $175 million Series F round, with Oprah Winfrey as one of the investors.
  • Riverside Insights, a developer of research-based assessments and analytics, acquired Aperture Education, a provider of K-12 social emotional learning assessments.
  • Pearson has appointed Sulaekha “Sue” Kolloru as its new chief strategy officer.
  • Otus, a student performance platform, added two K–12 ed tech professionals to its executive team: Heather Adams as vice president of people and operations and Kevin Gallman as vice president of sales.
  • Hussey Seating Company, a manufacturer of seating for education, named Brian Deveaux as president.
  • Torch, a coaching and mentoring platform, raised $40 million in a series C funding round.
  • Parallel Learning, a telehealth special education assessment and tutoring company, raised $20 million in a fundraising round.
  • Zayo Group Holdings, a global communications infrastructure platform, completed the acquisition of Education Networks of America (ENA), a provider of managed network connectivity, communications and cybersecurity services to K-12 school districts participating in the E-Rate program.
  • Total public elementary and secondary school enrollment for prekindergarten through grade 12 students declined 3 percent between fall 2019 and fall 2020, erasing a decade of steady growth, according to The Condition of Education 2022, released by the National Center for Education Statistics. This was the largest single-year decline in total public school enrollment since 1943.
  • Education Advanced, a K-12 workflow solutions company, acquired Standard for Success, a software and services company.
  • Amplify, a K-12 curriculum publisher, acquired Desmos, a digital math tool and curriculum developer. Desmos’ calculators will spin off into a public benefit corporation called Desmos Studio.
  • Promethean named Jennifer Foreman chief marketing officer.
  • Kari Stubbs joined Stages Learning, a company that develops materials for learners with autism, as vice president, brand strategy and industry alliances.
  • Family Zone, the parent company of Linewize, a platform management and monitoring services company, acquired Qustodio, a parental controls company, for $52 million.
  • zSpace, an augmented reality education company, announced it will be publicly traded.
  • EDmarket announced two new team members. Heather Tuley is now program and content manager and Kelly Fisher joined as director of  marketing.
  • Antonio A. Fierro is Tools 4 Reading’s first chief academic advisor.
  • Carnegie Learning, a provider of AI-assisted assessments for K–12 schools, named Doug McCollum as chief product officer. Quinn O’Brien also joined the company as chief marketing officer.
  • Code.org named seven new members to its board of directors: Alberto Carvalho, superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District; Sharon Contreras, superintendent of Guilford County Schools (NC) ; Jhone Ebert, Nevada superintendent of public instruction; Kevin Scott, CTO, Microsoft; Aileen Tang, former Google group product manager; David Treadwell, Amazon senior vice president; and Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube.
  • Securly, a student safety and wellness company, acquired Rithm, a K12 student wellness platform.
  • Abre.io, a K-12 administration platform provider, appointed Kelly Havens as senior vice president, finance and operations, and Aubrey Escobar as vice president, strategic partnerships.
  • Trish Sparks is the new CEO of Clever, a K-12 provider of single sign-on technology.
  • SchoolStatus, an education communications platform provider, named Scott Mitchell as chief financial officer.
  • SchoolMint, a K-12 strategic enrollment management company, acquired Enrollhand, a provider of personalized marketing solutions for K-12 schools and districts.
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company completed its sale to Veritas Capital, a private equity investment firm.
  • Charles Salter is the new CEO of the News Literacy Project, a nonprofit that provides educators programs and resources to teach news literacy.
  • Katie McClarty is the new chief academic officer at McGraw Hill.
  • Curriculum Associates promoted Katie Nicholson to chief product officer.
  • Amit Sevak was named president and chief executive officer at ETS.
  • DreamBox Learning named Dianna Winegarden as chief customer officer.
  • Cambium Learning Group appointed Ashley Andersen Zantop CEO and chairman.
  • Texthelp, a literacy and assistive technology company, named Cathy Donnelly chief people officer.
  • The National Association for the Education of Young Children named Michelle Kang CEO.
  • Scholastic announced Cristina Juvier is its new chief people officer.

Summer is often a bit quieter in our market, but who knows these days? Come back in September to find out!

Lisa Wolfe is the president of L. Wolfe Communications. Founded in April 2000, L. Wolfe Communications offers its clients a network of senior, experienced public relations executives with a variety of complementary experience and expertise in public relations and communications for the education and library markets.