Teachstone Leadership

Karlo Young serves as the CEO of Teachstone, leading its mission to enhance classroom quality and educator support through innovative, research-based solutions. Previously, he was President and COO at Concentric, an edtech company tackling chronic absenteeism in K-12 schools.

With 20+ years in education, M&A, consulting, and technology, Karlo specializes in leadership, digital transformation, and scaling businesses for growth. As SVP/GM at 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU), he oversaw $250M+ in revenue and led 500 employees across North America and EMEA, driving impact through online learning partnerships with Syracuse, Morehouse, Northwestern, London School of Economics (LSE), Cambridge, and others. Earlier, he held investment banking and consulting leadership roles at Signal Hill Capital, KPMG, and Deloitte.

Karlo is deeply engaged in service and mentorship. He is President of the Board for the Baltimore Educational Scholarship Trust (B.E.S.T.), Vice President of The Gilman School’s Board, and Co-Director of the Gilman Black Alumni Leadership Institute (GBALI). His recognitions include DiversityMBA Magazine’s “Top 100 Under 50 Emerging Leaders”, “40 Under 40” honors from the Baltimore Business Journal and Drexel University, “Rising Star” accolades from NABA and the Living Classrooms Foundation, and as a “Kellogg Youn Impact Scholar.” Karlo is also a member of YPO and past President of NABA Baltimore.

He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BS from Drexel University.

Franco DeBlasio serves as Chief Financial Officer at Teachstone, overseeing financial strategy, capital planning, and enterprise performance management. He partners with executive leadership and the board to guide long-term financial planning, resource allocation, and strategic growth decisions.

Prior to his engagement with Teachstone, Franco served as CFO and COO at Clear Automation. His previous executive tenure includes serving as CFO for Sallyport Global Holdings, Inc., a $200 million international firm, as well as holding vital turnaround roles for Omega Engineering and A. Stucki Company. In addition to his corporate roles, Franco is a Managing Partner of DeBlasio & DeBlasio Associates, providing M&A consulting, compliance, and interim CFO services to Fortune 1000 clients. He brings more than two decades of leadership experience across finance, operations, and corporate strategy in growth-stage and complex, multi-entity organizations. His background includes serving as CFO in multiple environments, leading M&A transactions, capital structuring, due diligence, and financial integration initiatives across domestic and international markets.

Franco holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Duquesne University and a Bachelor of Science (BS) from Robert Morris University and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Pennsylvania.

Francine Oliver serves as Chief Growth Officer at Teachstone, where she leads enterprise growth strategy across client experience, partnerships, and revenue expansion. She brings more than 15 years of leadership experience at Teachstone, driving customer engagement, operational excellence, and scalable growth in education-focused organizations.

Francine has held multiple senior leadership roles at Teachstone, including Senior Vice President of Client Experience and Vice President of Client Success, where she built and scaled high-performing teams focused on customer retention, service delivery, and long-term client impact. Earlier in her career, she led development and implementation initiatives at CaseNEX and began her professional journey in classroom assessment and professional development.

She brings deep institutional knowledge, strong operational acumen, and a client-centered growth mindset to Teachstone’s next phase of scale.

Cheryl Toto serves as Chief Operating Officer at Teachstone, where she leads day-to-day operations and provides executive leadership across Product and Engineering.

Cheryl brings more than two decades of transformational leadership experience across education, edtech, media, and publishing. Most recently, she served as COO of World Education Services (WES), where she led more than 300 employees across 30+ countries and oversaw operations serving over 500,000 learners annually. She previously held senior leadership roles at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where she drove digital transformation initiatives and scaled multiple business units to significant revenue growth.

At Teachstone, Cheryl focuses on cross-functional alignment, operational rigor, and enterprise efficiency to support revenue growth and scalable digital solutions.

Nadja Shaw serves as Chief of Staff at Teachstone, where she supports enterprise-wide strategy, operational excellence, and cross-functional alignment as the company scales.

Nadja brings more than a decade of experience leading strategic operations across education and edtech organizations. She previously held executive leadership roles at 2U and Concentric Educational Solutions. As Vice President at 2U, she led more than 100 global teams, launched high-impact partnerships including the Netflix technical bootcamp, and delivered significant cost efficiencies while maintaining strong customer satisfaction outcomes.

In addition to her corporate leadership experience, Nadja founded Collective Ideation Consulting, advising mission-driven organizations on growth strategy and organizational transformation.

At Teachstone, Nadja partners closely with executive leadership to drive strategic initiatives, ensure operational rigor, and strengthen alignment across priorities, culture, and execution.

Dr. Bridget Hamre is the Board Chair and co-founder of Teachstone. Bridget is committed to ensuring Teachstone advances its mission of transforming children’s lives through great teaching. She also holds a position as an Associate Research Professor at the University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL). Bridget’s areas of expertise include student-teacher relationships and classroom processes that promote positive academic and social development for young children. She is deeply committed to working with education leaders to help bridge the “research to practice” divide.

As she said when she joined Teachstone, “The evidence is clear that interactions matter. What is less clear is how we achieve that mission at scale — how we ensure that every child has access to life-changing teachers, year after year. That’s why I came to Teachstone, a company at the forefront of taking on that challenge.”

Bridget received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master’s and doctorate in clinical and school psychology from the University of Virginia. She is a Fellow of the 24th class of the Pahara – Aspen Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Rebecca Berlin, PhD is the President of Gryphon House and SVP of Intellectual Property at Kaplan Early Learning Company.  Dr. Berlin has 30 years of experience as an educator, researcher, and strategic leader in for-profit, not-for-profit, and public organizations focused on Infant, early childhood and elementary, and special education, as well as parent and community partnerships. 

She has held many roles in education throughout her career in public and private schools as an early interventionist, an early childhood teacher, an early childhood special education teacher, an autism specialist, and a school administrator. She holds a doctorate in research, policy, and administration from the University of Virginia, where she has also worked as a teacher preparation faculty member and researcher. 

She was previously the Chief Learning Officer at the Start Early leading their workforce education strategy including overseeing the Office of Head Start National Center for Parent, Family, and Community Engagement. Dr. Berlin serves as the Chair of the Albemarle County Public School Board in Virginia.

Mark Chernis is a distinguished education technology executive with more than 30 years of leadership across scaling, M&A-driven, and international education businesses. He is currently an Operating Partner at both New Markets Venture Partners and Falfurrias Capital Partners, where he supports emerging education and workforce-technology companies with expertise in scaling, strategic partnerships, and exit planning.

Most recently, Mark served as Chief Operating Officer of 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU), leading more than 4,000 employees across marketing, technology, content development, data science, student engagement, and corporate development. During his tenure, he played a central role in the acquisition and integration of edX and Trilogy Education—two transformative transactions that expanded 2U’s global reach and platform capabilities.

Earlier in his career, Mark was President and COO of PowerSchool, SVP Strategic Partnerships and Investments at Pearson, President and COO of Schoolnet, Inc. (acquired by Pearson), and also President of The Princeton Review, where he led the company from the startup years to being a NASDAQ publicly traded company with over 200M in annual revenue. 

A seasoned education-industry and board leader, Mark has served on boards of public, private, and government organizations and has been instrumental in three IPOs and multiple successful company exits. He is recognized for driving profitable business growth through tech-enabled innovation and for fostering teams that balance educational quality with sound business performance. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Vassar College and attended The Bronx High School of Science. Mark is based in New York City.

Ebony Lee is an outcomes-oriented executive leader with over 20 years of experience developing innovative growth strategies, managing large P&Ls, and delivering superior financial results within technology-centered businesses undergoing significant transformation. Currently the Chief Strategy Officer for Kaplan North America, she utilizes her deep operational and financial acumen to lead strategic planning, accelerate organizational transformation, and drive new growth initiatives. Her career has been dedicated to establishing clear strategic vision and aligning execution to achieve market leadership and profitable scale.

A core pillar of her expertise is operational excellence and P&L leadership, most recently demonstrated during her four-year tenure at 2U Inc. as EVP, Head of Learning Product and Managing Director of Degree Programs. In these roles, she held P&L accountability for the company’s largest segment, generating approximately $600M in revenue and $180M in EBITDA—a 30%+ revenue growth and profitability improvement of 30X during her tenure. She drove significant transformation across a portfolio of over 3,000 offerings (generating nearly $1 billion in total FY22 revenue) by developing innovative new business models, including a flexible pricing model and a data-driven degree portfolio management strategy that drove profitability.

Furthermore, Ebony brings extensive experience in strategic deal-making, investments, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). As Senior Vice President of Strategic Development at Comcast Cable, she identified and executed growth opportunities through internal incubation, strategic partnerships, and M&A, diversifying the business portfolio into emerging domains like IoT and cybersecurity. She managed the deployment of over $500M in strategic capital for new ventures and played a foundational role in establishing the joint venture that laid the groundwork for Xfinity Mobile, which grew into a $900M business. Her background in both organic and inorganic growth is a critical capability she now leverages to fuel strategic partnership and M&A opportunities at Kaplan.

She graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Commerce and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She lives in Washington, DC.

Matthew Marceron is President and CEO of Kaplan Early Learning Company, a top provider of early childhood educational products and solutions. Under his leadership, Kaplan promotes learning through play in classrooms and care settings worldwide, positively impacting early education. He joined Kaplan in 1989.

A graduate of High Point University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Accounting, Matthew is a collaborative, solution-focused leader and financial expert with a broad background in public accounting, private industry, and real estate development. He is a member of the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of CPAs.

 Matthew chairs the Board of Sunshine House, one of the country’s largest regional childcare and early education providers. He also sits on the boards of AlphaBEST Inc. and Guidecraft, Inc. Matthew is active locally, serving on Truist’s Local Advisory Board and the Family Services board. Previously, he served on the Advisory Board of The Arc of Winston-Salem, the Board of Trustees of New Philadelphia Moravian Church, and as a member of Rotary International and Kiwanis International.

Robert Pianta, PhD and Co-Founder of Teachstone, is the former dean of the Curry School of Education, a Novartis US Foundation professor of education, a professor of psychology, and the founding director of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia. Dr. Pianta‘s research and policy interests focus on the intersection of education and human development. In particular, his work has been influential in advancing the conceptualization of teacher-student interactions and relationships and documenting their contributions to students’ learning and development. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 articles, 50 chapters, and 10 books, and has led research and training grants totaling over $60 million. He is the past editor of the Journal of School Psychology and an associate editor for AERA Open. 

Dr. Pianta has led research and development on measurement and improvement tools that help teachers interact with students more effectively and that are used widely in the United States and around the world. He received a BS and a MA in special education from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in psychology from the University of Minnesota. He began his career as a special education teacher and joined the University of Virginia faculty in 1986. An internationally recognized expert in both early childhood education and K-12 teaching and learning, Dr. Pianta regularly consults with federal agencies, foundations, universities, and governments. He was named a fellow of the American Education Research Association and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota in 2016.

John White is currently Chief Executive Officer at Great Minds, a leading developer of curriculum solutions including Eureka Math, Wit & Wisdom, Geodes and PhD Science. In this role he oversees customer success, professional services, research, and public–policy teams—driving implementation across millions of U.S. students. 

Previously, John served as State Superintendent of Education for the state of Louisiana (2012–2020). During his tenure he led transformative initiatives to unify early‐childhood systems, modernize curriculum, professionalize teacher preparation, and expand pathways to prosperity for high‐school graduates. Under his leadership, Louisiana’s class of 2019 featured 5,000 more graduates than the class of 2012, with 5,000 more earning the TOPS college scholarship—and the state later ranked #1 in the nation for improvement in 8th‐grade math on the NAEP. 

Before his time as superintendent, John held positions including Superintendent of the New Orleans Recovery School District (post-Hurricane Katrina), Deputy Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein, and Executive Director of Teach For America in both Chicago and New Jersey. 

John co-founded Propel America, a nonprofit startup connecting recent high-school graduates with strong first jobs, and he is a co-founder of the consultancy Watershed Advisors, which helps governments scale high-impact education initiatives. 

He earned a Bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Virginia, a Master’s in Public Administration from New York University, and holds a Doctorate in Education from Johns Hopkins University. He resides in New Orleans with his wife and three children.

Karlo Young serves as the CEO of Teachstone, leading its mission to enhance classroom quality and educator support through innovative, research-based solutions. Previously, he was President and COO at Concentric, an edtech company tackling chronic absenteeism in K-12 schools.

With 20+ years in education, M&A, consulting, and technology, Karlo specializes in leadership, digital transformation, and scaling businesses for growth. As SVP/GM at 2U, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU), he oversaw $250M+ in revenue and led 500 employees across North America and EMEA, driving impact through online learning partnerships with Syracuse, Morehouse, Northwestern, London School of Economics (LSE), Cambridge, and others. Earlier, he held investment banking and consulting leadership roles at Signal Hill Capital, KPMG, and Deloitte.

Karlo is deeply engaged in service and mentorship. He is President of the Board for the Baltimore Educational Scholarship Trust (B.E.S.T.), Vice President of The Gilman School’s Board, and Co-Director of the Gilman Black Alumni Leadership Institute (GBALI). His recognitions include DiversityMBA Magazine’s “Top 100 Under 50 Emerging Leaders”, “40 Under 40” honors from the Baltimore Business Journal and Drexel University, “Rising Star” accolades from NABA and the Living Classrooms Foundation, and as a “Kellogg Youn Impact Scholar.” Karlo is also a member of YPO and past President of NABA Baltimore.

He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BS from Drexel University.