Richard currently serves as CEO of TeachTown. Prior to joining TeachTown, Richard most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of DIGARC, a leading provider of higher education software and services, where he led DIGARC’s business transformation, growth strategy and successful sale to Modern Campus. Prior to DIGARC, he held various senior leadership roles at Stack Sports, Blackbaud and Equifax. With over 20 years of experience, Richard has an exceptional track record of driving transformation and growth in mission-based SaaS technology companies, success working with K-12 education clients, and building businesses with a culture rooted in high performance and innovation.
Ashley has served as Chief Financial Officer of TeachTown since June 2021. Ashley previously served as Senior Vice President of Finance at Jobcase, Inc.. Ashley also held senior financial roles at several high-growth, technology companies such as TripAdvisor and LegalZoom. She began her career in public accounting at EY. Ashley holds a B.S. in Management and Accounting from UNC Asheville. She is a Certified Public Accountant.
Phil serves as Chief Revenue Officer for TeachTown. In his 15+ year career he has served in various education sales and sales leadership roles. Most recently, he ran Sales and Account Management for the #1 college and career readiness software, Naviance, and industry leading student success software Starfish. After delivering significant YOY growth, both product lines were acquired in early 2021. Phil holds a BA in Secondary Education from The University of Illinois. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Amy, and their two sons, Nathan and Patrick.
Margaret currently serves as the Chief Product Officer at TeachTown and is responsible for overseeing product management, curriculum, user experience, engineering and research. Margaret has spent the past two decades building education, software and analytics for Healthcare and Social Good. Prior to joining TeachTown, Margaret served as the SVP of Strategy and Product at Intelerad. Prior to Intelerad, Margaret held various executive roles at Relias Learning where she led the product and go-to-market business transformation. Margaret has a MS in Computer Science from The Citadel, a BS in Business Administration from The College of Charleston and an AS in Computer Technology from Trident Technical College.
Joe currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of TeachTown. Prior to joining TeachTown, Joe served as the Director of Demand Generation at Frontline Education. Drawing on his 20+ years of experience, Joe is a seasoned, award-winning marketing leader who has helped numerous companies identify, meet and exceed their sales and marketing goals through top-notch demand generation, sales funnel optimization, digital marketing and building high-performance teams. Joe holds both an MBA and BA from La Salle University.
Kim has spent over 23 years in the education industry. She has held a number of management positions for companies at the start up stage to companies with annual revenues of $200M. Prior to joining TeachTown, she spent 6 years with Cambium Learning Group as Vice President of Operations where she was responsible for the Customer Service, Purchasing, Planning and Distribution. Kim spent 8 years as Chief Administrative and Operating Officer with Kurzweil Educational Systems, a company focused on students and individuals with learning and reading disabilities. Kim received her BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts in 1987.
Caitie is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and former classroom teacher who has worked with early childhood, K-12, and transition-aged populations of students with disabilities. Her past students and clients have included students with autism, intellectual disabilities, and/or developmental delays, as well as students with high incidence disabilities, such as ADHD and Specific Learning Disabilities. She has over 15 years of experience in the field of special education as an educator, behavior analyst, and curriculum developer. Caitie previously taught in both self-contained special education classrooms and in inclusion-based special education models. She has also worked as a home-, school-, and community-based BCBA serving students with autism. Caitie earned her BS (Early Childhood Special Education) and MEd (Comprehensive Special Education and Applied Behavior Analysis) from Vanderbilt University. She currently holds teaching certifications in Special Education for PreK through transition-aged populations. Caitie has co-authored research and practice articles that have been published in the following peer-reviewed journals: Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities and Teaching Exceptional Children.
Matt currently serves as VP of Engineering and is responsible for engineering, user experience, quality assurance and program management at TeachTown. Matt has over 25 years of technical experience including learning management systems and has served in senior leadership roles at companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to Series A stage startups. He previously served as Head of Engineering at AnswerHub solidifying the company’s knowledge base software platform to accelerate on-boarding and increase effective collaboration among technical professionals. Matt holds a BS in Computer Science from The College of William and Mary and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Virginia.
Jodie currently serves as the Director of Program Research at TeachTown. She has been researching and evaluating new and existing educational programs and services in public school settings for the past 17 years. Prior to joining TeachTown, Jodie worked at the Cambium Learning Group for 10 years where she developed educational program assessment systems and was co-investigator for “Colleague in the Classroom” and evaluator for “Language Essentials for Teaching Reading and Spelling,” two nationally funded research and development projects. She received her doctoral degree in cognitive neuropsychology at the University of Denver and received a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in cognitive neuroscience. She was Principal Investigator of “Analyzing the Language Profile in Fragile X Syndrome and Autism Study,” a nationally funded grant. Her career in research psychology has focused on characterizing the cognitive processes that underlie language and social communication behaviors in developmental disorders.
Jessica Godsey, Ph.D., currently serves as TeachTown’s Senior Editorial Director of Curriculum Development. She received her master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from The University of Memphis and her Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. Prior to joining TeachTown, Jessica served students with language and literacy disorders in a variety of clinical and school settings. She also taught courses in language development and disorders and supervised students at Western Michigan University. Additionally, Jessica has co-authored a reading program for students with dyslexia and speaks frequently about the Science of Reading.
Abby currently serves as an Editorial Director for TeachTown. Abby is a Licensed Behavior Specialist with 20+ years of working with early childhood through transition-aged students. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from Case Western Reserve University and a Master’s Degree in the Psychology of Education in Applied Developmental Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining TeachTown, Abby worked on developing assessments for online learners, taught in an Applied Behavior Analysis focused partial-hospital setting for students ages 3 to 18 with autism and/or developmental delays, created and oversaw the scope and sequence of curriculum for home- and school-based learners, and was part of direct clinical care teams working with adolescents living in residential treatment facilities.
Michael has over 25 years of experience in both online and print media as a manager, producer, illustrator and designer. He joined TeachTown in October 2009 as Vice President of Production overseeing all creative design and production of their digital, print and animation products for children with special needs, including Teachtown Basics, Social Skills, Encore, Transitions and many others. Prior to joining Teachtown he worked at the Walt Disney Co. for 10 years developing content, games and sales collateral for domestic and international markets for such properties as Cars Online, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mickey Mouse, Disney’s Magic English and a variety of animated feature film titles. As international liaison, he worked directly with teams in Japan, Europe, China and South America to manage content production and distribution. Michael received his BA in Industrial Design and Graphic design from California State University, Northridge.
Ross is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and former public school special education teacher and administrator. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. His research includes how problem behavior is assessed in public school settings, as well as teacher feedback on assessment methodologies. Ross has publications in the following peer-reviewed journals: Behavior Analysis in Practice and Review Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders.
Emily is a Product Enablement Specialist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst at TeachTown. Prior to TeachTown, Emily worked in both public and residential schools as a Special Education Teacher certified in severe special education. Emily also worked as a BCBA consultant to public schools as well as in home and clinic services for clients from preschool through adulthood. Emily has a Master’s Degree in Severe Special Education from Simmons University and a post-graduate certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis from Fitchburg State University.
Lorena is a Product Enablement Specialist at TeachTown. She previously served as a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT), delivering support to students with moderate to severe disabilities across various environments such as homes, schools, and clinics. Being fluent in Spanish, Lorena nurtured a strong aspiration to aid students with disabilities in their native language, which motivated her to pursue certification in Bilingual Education (K-6th Grade) and Special Education (EC-12th Grade) in 2019. Lorena has a profound dedication to education and to attending to the individual needs of students. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Texas at Austin in 2020. In her free time, Lorena finds enjoyment in practicing yoga, reading, and taking long walks with her husky, Goli.
Ann has worked in the clinical and educational setting since 2003, beginning her career as a paraeducator and an interventionist providing direct ABA services. After earning her California Moderate/Severe Teaching credential in 2009, she worked for 7 years as a consultant providing behavior and educational services as part of the IEP team for a variety of Public School Districts across 6 counties in the San Francisco Bay Area serving students pre-K through age 22. After becoming a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) in 2014, she stepped into the role of a supervising clinician for an ABA service provider, and a consultant for adult group homes. For 2 years, Ann was the Director of ABA services for a home and clinic based ABA provider, designing interventions for and overseeing the transition of services from early start to insurance funded ABA services. Prior to coming to TeachTown in 2021, Ann worked for over 3 years as a Behavior Specialist for a public school district in Northern California. Ann earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from University of the Pacific in 2005 and a Master’s in Special Education with a concentration in Emotional & Behavior Disorders from Walden University in 2009.
Aletta is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with a passion for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and special education. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Lesley University in Boston, MA, and her Master’s Degree from Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, FL. Aletta has dedicated the last decade to working with special needs children, with the last four years working as a BCBA in a clinical, home and school setting. In her free time, she enjoys baking and reading novels.
Lena Kazaryan is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). She graduated with her Master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) from the Florida Institute of Technology in 2019. She has been working in the field of ABA for over 11 years and has experience working in the school setting for over eight years. Her passion is in early interventions with a focus on functional communication. When Lena is not working, she enjoys hiking, shopping, and spending time with her two boys.
Megan has been passionate about working with students, especially those with learning and behavioral differences, since high school. Megan received her undergraduate degree in Low Incidence and Severe Disabilities in 2004, and her graduate degree in High Incidence Disabilities with an emphasis on Behavior Disorders and Applied Behavior Analysis in 2006 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. For eight years, Megan taught middle and high school students who received special education services across a variety of classroom settings including self-contained, resource, and general education in New York City. In 2014, Megan relocated to Texas and became an Instructional Coach for one of the largest school districts. During this time, Megan had the pleasure of working with schools across the district and teachers to assist in implementing school wide PBIS systems, Response to Intervention (RTI) practices, district-wide professional development, as well as provide ongoing support of several special education behavioral programs for students on the Autism Spectrum and individuals with emotional and behavioral challenges K- age 22. For the last 5 years, Megan has had the pleasure to be able to work as a school-based Board Certified Behavior Analyst providing support to students, families, teachers, and schools.
Lauren is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and Special Educator. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Utah State University in Special Education-Severe Disabilities and her Master’s Degree from Utah State University in Special Education-Transition to Adulthood. She worked as a Life Skills middle school teacher for six years before she went back to school and earned her Ph.D. in Autism and Developmental Disabilities from the University of Texas at Austin. While obtaining her Ph.D., she supervised undergraduate special education interns and student teachers in PreK to Post High settings. In addition, she worked in home and clinic settings as a BCBA and eventually as a consultant for a school district. Lauren is passionate about helping students with disabilities reach their potential through inclusive and evidence-based practices.
Rachel is a Special Educator who worked in public education for 9 years in Baltimore and Florida before joining the team at TeachTown. Rachel received her Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Maryland and her Master’s Degree in Special Education from Towson University in the Teacher as Leader in Autism Spectrum Disorders (TALA) Program. In Baltimore, Rachel helped pilot an inclusion-based program for autistic pre-k and and kindergarten students and it set the stage for a career working with teachers to provide equitable, accessible instruction for all learners. In her free time, Rachel enjoys running, reading, memes, and making up songs with her two sons.
Erika is currently positioned as the Product Enablement Specialist for Hawaiʻi, leveraging her expertise to facilitate the successful execution of the implementation of TeachTown across the state. Holding an Ed.D. from Baylor University with a focus on learning and organizational change, she has over 12 years of experience in both public and private educational institutions within Hawaiʻi. Erika’s scholarly pursuits center on innovative methodologies such as art-integrated mathematics, alongside her contributions to the discourse on culturally relevant and sustainable learning practices, as evidenced by her published work. Beyond her professional endeavors, Erika indulges in leisure activities such as painting, reading, and embarking on exploratory journeys across the Hawaiian Islands, accompanied by her beloved canine companions, Bruno, Nori, and Daisy.
Nancy is a Product Enablement Specialist at TeachTown. Prior to TeachTown, Nancy taught students with a wide variety of disabilities, grades K-12, in her hometown of Evanston, IL for five years. Nancy has a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Special Education from the University of Illinois, where she obtained her licensure as a Learning Behavior Specialist II with certifications in Multiple Disabilities and Transition. Nancy is extremely passionate about equipping students with the skills and support they need to succeed beyond the classroom, and has a particular interest in helping individuals with disabilities access their environment through educational and assistive technology.
Samantha is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with over 7 years of extensive experience delivering Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services across various environments including homes, schools, and clinical settings. Holding a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Special Education from The University of Texas at Austin, Samantha is passionate about advocating for ABA practices and empowering educators to implement them effectively in their classrooms. Based in Brooklyn, NY, she finds joy in exploring Prospect Park on long walks and spending quality time with her two affectionate orange cats.