Executive Management

James Rhyu, Chief Executive Officer, joined Stride in June 2013 and became CEO in January 2021. He has more than 20 years of financial management experience in various global industries

Mr. Rhyu works with leaders across the company to expand the market for Stride and reach new students. He also drives product innovation and improvements in the customer experience that are designed to attract more students to the company’s services. Prior to his CEO role, Mr. Rhyu served as Stride’s President of Corporate Strategy, Marketing, and Technology, Chief Financial Officer, and President of Product and Technology. In these positions, Mr. Rhyu led the development of marketing and messaging to support market expansions and executed on merger and acquisition opportunities that support Stride’s growth strategy.

Before his tenure at Stride, Mr. Rhyu served as CFO and Chief Administrative Officer of Match.com, a subsidiary of publicly traded IAC/InterActiveCorp. In those roles, he was responsible for overseeing a broad range of functions, including human resources, legal, information technology and operations, and certain international operations and product development.

Prior to his roles at Match.com, Mr. Rhyu was a SVP of Finance at Dow Jones & Company where he ran the global financial function. Previously, he served for three years as the Corporate Controller of Sirius XM Radio Inc. and its predecessor company, XM Satellite Radio, as well as serving in the same role for Graftech International. Mr. Rhyu also spent six years with Ernst & Young LLP in the United States and South America.

Mr. Rhyu holds a bachelor’s degree from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from London Business School.

Kevin P. Chavous, President of Academics, Policy, and Schools, joined Stride in November 2017. Mr. Chavous is a noted education reform leader and innovator with a well-chronicled track record of empowering families with education choice and driving change and opportunity for children of all backgrounds and circumstances.

Mr. Chavous has worked to advance quality education programs around the nation, most notably as the Education Committee Chair of the Council of the District of Columbia, where he helped to shepherd the charter school movement into the nation’s capital. In addition, he was the founding Board President of Washington Latin Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Chavous is the founder of Democrats for Education Reform and a founding board member of the American Federation for Children. He has been instrumental in advancing charter school and education choice programs around the country, and in 2016, he was inducted into the District of Columbia Hall of Fame. In addition, he received the distinguished Outstanding Alumni Award from his alma mater, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory High School in Indianapolis.

Additionally, Mr. Chavous is an accomplished author, having published four books, including Serving Our Children: Charter Schools and the Reform of American Public Education; Voices of Determination: Children that Defy the Odds; and Building a Learning Culture in America, as well as his first novel, The Plan, a political thriller. A prolific writer and inspirational speaker, Mr. Chavous’ opinion editorials have appeared in many major newspapers, and he has given education reform speeches in nearly every state.

Mr. Chavous graduated from Wabash College, where he was an NCAA District All-American in basketball. He was inducted into the Wabash Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. Mr. Chavous graduated from the Howard University School of Law, where he was president of his graduating class.

Timothy Medina, Stride’s Chief Financial Officer, is a proven leader in finance and capital markets with more than three decades of experience. He has an extensive background—both domestically and internationally—in accounting and operations, management and strategy, and a deep knowledge of high-growth technology sector companies. As CFO, Medina informs Stride’s efforts to lead the future of innovation in education—particularly in the career readiness space.

Prior to his current role at Stride, Medina served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of TPx Communications, a premier managed services company where he helped drive a six-fold increase in revenues while steering the strategic transition of the company. During his tenure, Medina was integral in ten merger and acquisition transactions, including the sale of TPx to Siris Capital Group.

Previously, Medina served as CFO of ECI Conference Call Services, an audio and web conferencing services provider. He has also served as CFO, and in senior leadership positions for Independent Wireless One Holdings, Verizon Communications, CTI Holdings, CANTV, and GTE Corporation.

Mr. Medina earned his bachelor’s degree from the George Washington University and a master of science in taxation from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Vincent Mathis is Stride’s General Counsel and Secretary. Prior to joining Stride, Vincent served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Corporate Secretary for the AES Corporation, a Fortune 500 global energy company. In this role, Vincent advanced the AES policy agenda, managed corporate governance, and led a team of attorneys in providing legal counsel to the Board of Directors and cross-functional business areas. During his tenure at AES, Vincent also successfully negotiated numerous domestic and global agreements related to asset sales, vendor supply, leases, tax incentives, and human resource issues.

Before joining AES, Vincent served as General Counsel and Executive Vice President at CountourGlobal LP, as well as in legal leadership roles at Shearman and Sterling; the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti.

Vincent earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond. He is admitted to practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Dr. Shaun McAlmont, President of Career Learning Solutions, manages all aspects of Stride’s growing Career Readiness programs including the Destinations Career Academies and other Career Learning programs. He is responsible for providing career readiness and workforce development solutions for students around the country that go beyond jobs traditionally aligned with vocational education to emerging new collar jobs of the future.

Prior to joining Stride, Shaun served as CEO of Neumont College of Computer Science and prior to that as President and CEO of Lincoln Educational Services, a provider of professional skills training with multiple “Lincoln Tech” locations across the country. Originally hired to manage distance learning programs, Shaun eventually oversaw all aspects of the company including operations, sales and marketing, and government and investor relations. Before his decade-long tenure at Lincoln Educational Services, Shaun served as President of the Online Learning Division at Alta Colleges.

A former NCAA and international athlete, Shaun leveraged his success in athletics to inform his business career trajectory, notably writing his doctoral dissertation on advising collegiate athletes on academic and career success. Shaun earned a doctoral degree in higher education, graduating with distinction, from the University of Pennsylvania. He has a master’s degree in education administration from the University of San Francisco, and a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. Shaun currently serves on the BYU Marriott School of Management National Advisory Council and the Board of Directors of Nepris, a company connecting industry and students online.

Rob Banwarth, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, has more than 20 years of experience leading large development and infrastructure organizations both domestically and internationally. Rob is responsible for Stride's Information Technology strategy, deploying solutions that align with the overall company goals and objectives, and managing Stride's infrastructure platforms to be highly scalable and available.

Prior to joining Stride, Mr. Banwarth served as Chief Information Officer for Smartlink LLC, a nationwide recruiting and site development company focused on delivering solutions for new and existing carrier communications infrastructures. In this role, he successfully designed, delivered and supported the technology strategy that drove profitability. This included the delivery and execution of Smartlink LLC's Information Technology enterprise class applications, infrastructure and support services that drive customer acquisition, revenue, CRM, SFA, HRIS, analytics, billing, and financial reporting functions.

Before joining Smartlink LLC, Mr. Banwarth served as Vice President of Commercial Operations at GXS, where he was responsible for delivery and support for datacenters, network, infrastructure and support applications globally. Prior to that, he was Vice President of IT Operations for SiriusXM Satellite Radio and its predecessor company, XM Satellite Radio. Mr. Banwarth has held leadership positions with Sprint Nextel, XO Communications and MCI Communications.

Mr. Banwarth holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Strayer University.

Leilani M. Brown, Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Stride Inc., has decades of marketing, brand, and communications experience. Leilani leads Stride’s expanding development of public and private-sector partnerships. In addition, she manages several cross-functional strategic initiatives on behalf of the chairman such as the company’s strategic investment in Tallo—a career platform that connects high school students, college students and young adults to career and higher education opportunities.

Prior to joining Stride, Leilani served as Chief Marketing Officer of Starr Companies, a global insurance and investment organization. She has also held leadership roles at other major companies including the Economist Group, MetLife, and American International Group.

Leilani is the author of From Campus to Cubicle: 25 Tips for Your First Professional Year, a career guide for young professionals and recent graduates. She serves on the board of Middlebury College, her alma mater and the Executive Leadership Council, the premier membership organization for global black executives. She is also a graduate of New York University.

Bryan W. Flood, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, joined Stride 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 BA in Public Policy from New College of Florida.

Todd Goldthwaite, Chief Marketing Officer at Stride Inc., has more than 25 years of experience in technological innovation, marketing, operations management, and enterprise sales. At Stride, Todd leads enrollment, marketing, and sales efforts designed to improve the overall student experience. He’s also focused on expanding the company’s capacity to provide personalized digital learning options that are accessible and engaging.

Todd previously served as Senior Vice President of School Services for Stride’s Managed Public Schools. In this position, he amplified best practices and drove improvements in academic performance, teacher effectiveness, and student retention.

Prior to joining Stride, Todd managed operations for Blackboard Student Services. He also spent 18 years in the telecommunications field. This includes a position at MCI Communications where he launched operations for the company’s emerging telemarketing and customer service business, established call centers across the country, and expanded the company’s global sales and service footprint to five international locations.

Valerie Maddy, Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Stride Inc., brings more than 20 years of global leadership and innovation in the full range of human resources disciplines. At Stride, Ms. Maddy is leading the development and implementation of new systems, processes, policies and programs aimed at maximizing every employee's contribution to student academic success. As part of that effort, she is working with business teams to drive alignment, clarity and competitive advantage across the company and plan, acquire, develop and retain the talent required to achieve organizational goals.

Prior to joining Stride, Ms. Maddy was Vice President, Global Human Resources Operations for Ciena Corporation, a global leader in next-generation network infrastructure, where she introduced reliable automation to HR systems, significantly increasing efficiency levels, and led the HR due diligence efforts and integration activities of eight acquisitions. Before rising to this position, Ms. Maddy served in a number of leadership roles at Ciena in the areas of Global Total Rewards and Global Risk Management.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Maddy held leadership roles in Human Resources and Finance at Crown Vantage, a specialty paper manufacturer and distributor. Prior to that, she served in Human Resources and Auditing roles at SAFECO and American General, both providers of financial and insurance services.

Ms. Maddy is a graduate of Humboldt State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She holds a certificate in Global Benefits Management, a designation from Fellow Life Management Institute, and is also a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist and Certified Internal Auditor.

Doug McCollum joined Stride as Senior Vice President, Products in May 2017. As the head of the Stride’s Curriculum and Products organization, his focus is on delivering strong student outcomes by producing and implementing standards-aligned solutions that will significantly accelerate students' growth—especially in math and reading--and drive success on high-stakes assessments. Other key areas of focus include providing strong teacher, parent, and administrator support; increasing student engagement; supporting flexible usage models; and facilitating collaboration.

Prior to joining Stride, Doug worked at Pearson, where he held many different roles, serving as Senior Vice President for 6-12 and Pre-K-12 Product Development, as General Manager of the Literacy business, and most recently as the General Manager of Intervention, ELL, Supplemental, and Pre-K businesses. He has extensive experience in all grade spans and curriculum areas including reading/ELA, math, social studies, science, special education, world languages, CTE, and AP. Throughout his career, much of Doug's focus has been on digital solutions. He has designed and developed dozens of digital courses--releasing his first suite of digital solutions in 1995, producing many award-winning programs, and building adaptive solutions proven to deliver strong student gains.

Doug holds a BA degree in English writing from St. Lawrence 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 Stride academic program.

In the past seven years Mr. Stewart has helped develop large-scale, public e-learning programs in sixteen states that currently serve over 100,000 courses annually.

Prior to joining Stride in 2000, 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.

Mr. Stewart holds a BA in English from Williams College, and an MA from Columbia University Teachers College.

For more than a decade, Jeanna Pignatiello, Senior Vice President of School Services, has served in multiple leadership positions at Stride. Most recently, as Vice President of Academic Services, Product and Program Management, Pignatiello oversaw the development and implementation of the organization’s Academic Excellence Framework—a vital tool that helps structure the personalized learning curriculum. Pignatiello currently leads academic services, operations, talent and community development, and product and program management teams for our managed public schools. This includes training, mentoring, and professional development initiatives for Stride-powered teachers and academic leaders.

Pignatiello previously served as the Deputy Regional Vice President of Stride’s Central Region Schools. She also held positions in regional academics, as a school leader and teacher at a Stride-powered virtual academy, and as a middle school principal. In this position, she played a key role in developing an online program that helped nearly 2,000 students succeed in the blended and online classroom environment. She also led a schoolwide focus on measuring student outcomes with clearly defined policies and practices.

Pignatiello graduated magna cum laude from Arizona State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in justice studies and social work and a post-baccalaureate in elementary education. She also earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University.

Mike Kraft, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Stride, brings more than 30 years of experience in driving team performance, improving business operations, and achieving financial goals.

At Stride, he is responsible for developing the company's communications strategy, leading a world-class team to execute it, working closely with the company’s leadership on strategic communications activities related to Stride’s brand and reputation, crisis communications, and serving as the company’s chief spokesperson. He also oversees the company’s investor relations, executive communications, and employee communications functions.

Prior to joining Stride in 2013, Mike was the Chief Operating Officer for Applus Technologies, Inc. where he oversaw that company’s move into vehicle telematics. He has also held senior leadership positions in high growth technology companies, managing communications, finance, marketing and business operations functions, including XO Communications, Teligent, MCI Communications and Nortel.

Mike holds an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Goizueta School of Management at Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Rochester.

Darren Reed, Senior Vice President, Regional School Services for the Northern Region, has nearly three decades of educational teaching and leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. Most recently, he was Stride's Vice President of School Leadership Development and School Support where he led the design, development, and implementation of programs and resources to help build world-class leadership across the schools we serve. Earlier in his career, Mr. Reed served as the original Vice President of Blended Schools, where he designed innovative school models in Chicago, San Francisco, and San Jose, California.

Prior to his current employment with Stride, Mr. Reed served as Executive Director for the Aspiring Principals Program at New Leaders in New York. He also served in school leadership roles within the Alexandria City, Fairfax County, and Newport News Public Schools earlier in his career.

Mr. Reed has received numerous recognitions as an award-winning teacher and school leader. He is a guest lecturer at The George Washington University where he holds an EdS in educational leadership. He also holds a master's degree in educational leadership, policy, and planning from The College of William and Mary and a bachelor's degree from Hiram College in Ohio.

Dr. Jodi Marshall, Senior Vice President, Regional School Services for the Southern Region, has more than 20 years of experience in K–12 and higher education. Most recently, she was President and Chief Executive Officer of Florida Virtual School (FLVS). During her tenure at FLVS, Dr. Marshall also held roles as Executive Vice President of Business and School Solutions, Chief Academic Officer, Vice President of Instruction, and Instructional Leader as well as a variety of other positions.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Marshall served as a middle school literacy teacher in Florida where she worked with underserved students who read below grade level. She was also a reading specialist for at-risk students in a junior high school in Los Angeles, California, where she was the first in her district to earn National Board Certification. She also authored a book on Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), and experienced great success with her students.

Dr. Marshall is a lifelong learner with a passion for education. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Florida, a master's degree in English education from the University of Central Florida, an EdS in educational leadership and administration from Nova Southeastern University, and a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Miami. Dr. Marshall also recently earned a Master of Business Administration in innovation and entrepreneurship from Florida International University.

Todd Thorpe, Senior Vice President, Regional School Services for the Central Region, has held a variety of leadership roles at Stride over the past 13 years. In his current position, he leads multiple operations and compliance initiatives for Stride's Managed Public Schools in the central region.

Mr. Thorpe previously served as Stride's Senior Director of Business Development. In this position, he played an instrumental role in creating new business ventures across the country, developed training opportunities for partner boards, and strengthened key relationships with policymakers.

Mr. Thorpe has also served as the Director of Operations of Stride's Western Region Schools, provided support as the interim school leader at three different Stride-powered schools, managed the transition of school leadership in various states, and successfully negotiated several charter school renewals and new charter applications.

Prior to earning a master's degree in project management from Colorado Technical University, Mr. Thorpe earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Whittier College.

Karen Ghidotti, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, joined Stride in 2002. She leads efforts to drive a positive experience for students and their families—from their first interaction with Stride, through their entire school journey to graduation day. Ms. Ghidotti also spearheads initiatives across teams and departments to design and implement new tools that will help strengthen the customer experience.

In her most recent role as the Senior Vice President of the Southern Region, Ms. Ghidotti was instrumental in launching nine Stride-powered schools and an active member of numerous teams that changed state code guidelines across the South to pave the way for Stride's signature, personalized approach to education. Under her leadership, enrollment for the Southern Region grew to more than 30 thousand students. She was also the Operations Manager and then Head of School for Arkansas Virtual Academy.

Throughout her career, Ms. Ghidotti has demonstrated a consistent, passionate devotion to professional development and to strengthening the hiring process. She led the development of the first-ever Stride Heads of School Boot Camp. She also supported the creation and pilot implementation of HireVue as a hiring tool.

Prior to joining Stride, Ms. Ghidotti worked with the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.

Megan Sandoval, Senior Vice President of Regional School Services for the Western Region, has two decades of experience in education, customer service, and business management. In her current position, Ms. Sandoval supports various academic, operations, and compliance programs for Stride-powered schools in California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, and Washington State.

Ms. Sandoval has held multiple leadership roles at Stride. Prior to her current position, she served as Vice President of Students First, in which she led programming efforts that focused on student persistence and academic success. Ms. Sandoval also served as Deputy Regional Vice President for the Southern Region and Head of School for Arizona Virtual Academy, where she spearheaded the development of blended learning sites in 18 locations across the state and played a pivotal role in launching Insight Academy of Arizona.

Prior to Stride, Ms. Sandoval was the Principal of Primavera Online High School in Chandler, Arizona. She credits her seven years of experience as an English and social studies teacher in both public district and charter schools for helping her learn the importance of meeting students' individual needs.

Ms. Sandoval earned a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision with a focus in business from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s degree in history and English from the State University of New York at Geneseo.

Scott Durand, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Private Schools and Software Sales oversees the growth of the company's Software Sales and Private Schools businesses—both domestically and internationally.

Prior to this role, he served as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of Workforce Partnerships at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) where he built the university’s B2B and strategic partnership team. Most notably, he was instrumental in driving key partnerships with some of the country's leading organizations, including Walgreens, Major League Soccer, and the United Service He was also SNHU’s Vice President of Marketing and Student Recruitment, where his team drove historic growth at the nation's largest non-profit university. Mr. Durand was also integral in driving all new student revenue for SNHU's Global Campus, providing strategic direction and leadership for all aspects of marketing and brand development, and launching more than 200 new online programs for the university. During his tenure at SNHU, he also led the university's Graduate Admissions Program.

Mr. Durand earned a bachelor's degree in business communications from Southern New Hampshire University and a master's degree in secondary education, history from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Dr. Charles A. "Tony" Bennett, Senior Vice President, Academics and External Relations, has more than three decades of experience in school management, strategic planning, and operations. As one of the nation's foremost experts in education policy, he manages and implements a diverse portfolio of initiatives and programs that support, measure, track, and ultimately improve student academic achievement and growth across Stride-powered schools.

Dr. Bennett began his career as a high school science teacher and rapidly ascended to leadership roles in two of the country's pioneering education reform states: Florida and Indiana. He served as Commissioner of Education in Florida before starting TBX2, Inc./Education Reform Strategies, a consulting company that focuses on supporting education reform across the country.

Prior to TBX2, Inc., Dr. Bennett served as State Superintendent in Indiana. During his tenure, the state saw record high- school graduation rates and participation and success rates in Advanced Placement® courses and exams, student achievement on the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) assessment rose dramatically, and improvement in the state's National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) results was ranked among the top three in the United States.

Dr. Bennett previously held roles in Indiana as School Corporation Superintendent for Greater Clark County Schools and Assistant Superintendent for Administration and Operations at New Albany Floyd County Schools. He also served on the board of the Council of Chief State School Officers, the governing board of the Partnership for the Assessment for Readiness for College and Career (PARCC), and was a founding member and former chair of Chiefs for Change.

Dr. Bennett holds a doctoral degree in education and a superintendent license from Spalding University. He earned his certification in secondary administration and supervision, a master's degree in secondary education, and a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Indiana University Southeast.