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Penn Foster Executive Team
Stuart Udell is the Chief Executive Officer of Penn Foster, Inc. From 2002 - 2007, Stuart served as President of Kaplan K12 Learning Services, a division of Kaplan Inc. and part of The Washington Post Company. Kaplan K12 was a leading provider of curriculum, technology, and services to many of the nation's largest urban school districts. From 1997-2001, Stuart was President of the School Renaissance Institute, the training, publishing, and research subsidiary of Renaissance Learning.

Stuart is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of the Software and Information Industry Association, where he also serves on the Education Division board. In addition, he serves as Chairman of the Board of the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network and is on the Board of Directors of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. Stuart has a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science from Bucknell University.

Connie Dempsey, Chief Academic Officer, joined Penn Foster in 1988. Prior to joining the Company, she was a teacher and served in various positions in education, business, and industry. In 2005, Ms. Dempsey transitioned from Director of Compliance and Academic Affairs to her current position, where she is responsible for academic policies, oversight of faculty, instructional activities, regulatory compliance, and strategic direction. Ms. Dempsey received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education from Bloomsburg University and a Master of Science Degree in Correlated Business from the University of Scranton. She is currently serving a third appointed term on the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools and is a member of the Research and Educational Standards Committee of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC).

Joseph Piazza, Chief Financial Officer, joined Penn Foster in 1983 and has held a number of positions including International and Domestic Controller. He assumed the senior finance position in 1999 and was promoted to CFO in 2005. In this role, he is responsible for financial planning, acquisitions and oversees Distribution, Purchasing, Lettershop/Printing, Data Processing, Financial Services/Collections, Facilities and all accounting functions. Prior to joining Penn Foster, he was a financial analyst at Prudential Insurance Company. Mr. Piazza received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Scranton and a Master of Business Administration in Business Information Systems from Marywood University.

Sharon Thole Haverlak, Vice-President Human Resources, became part of Penn Foster in 2004. Prior to joining the Company, she served in Human Resource positions at Fresh America Corp., Heinz Pet Products, the Atlanta Regional Commission, Pathmark Stores, and, most recently, was Director of Human Resources at RCN Corporation. She is currently responsible for all four of Penn Foster's facilities in the U.S. and Canada. She oversees employee and labor relations, payroll, benefits, and 401(k) administration. Ms. Haverlak received a Bachelor of Arts in English from The Catholic University of America, with a minor in Human Resources Management and a Master of Sciences in Human Resources Administration from the University of Scranton. She is a certified SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) with the Society for Human Resource Management.

 

Tom O’Keefe, Executive Vice President, joined Penn Foster in 2003 to facilitate a realignment of the company with the changing education marketplace. In the latter half of 2005, his strategic planning responsibilities were extended to the marketing department where he championed the Penn Foster rebranding and aggressively shifted the company's promotional efforts to the internet. Tom began his career in 1980 at several New York publishing companies including Forbes and Fairchild Publications. In 1992 Tom was named President of Lighthouse Publishing Services where he provided marketing and software consulting services for clients such as Time Inc., National Geographic, L’Express (Paris), and MacWorld. He authored a weekly column on marketing and was a regular speaker at numerous business planning seminars for individual companies as well as large organizations such as the Canadian Direct Marketing Association. Most recently Tom served as Group Vice President at Cowles Enthusiast Media and later Group Vice President at Primedia after their acquisition of Cowles. Mr. O’Keefe earned his Bachelor of Arts from New York University and attended New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Dr. Ferrin, President of Penn Foster College, joined Penn Foster in November 2005. Prior to joining the Company, he served in a variety of executive positions at Kansas Wesleyan University, Whitworth College, Maryville College, the Knoxville Museum of Art, The Wakefield Connection, and, most recently, was President of Salem International University. Dr. Ferrin has a Bachelor of Arts from Barrington College, a Master of Education from Rhode Island College, a Doctorate from Stanford University, and participated in a postdoctoral  program at Harvard University.

Robert Bruno, Chief Technology Officer, joined Penn Foster in 1997 as Senior Analyst and Project Leader. Prior to joining the Company, he worked at Dana Perfumes as a Senior Analyst and LAN Administrator. In 2003, he became Director of IT and in 2007 he was promoted to Chief Technology Officer. His current responsibilities include data warehousing, telephony, PC support, ERP and CRM development, website development and administration. Mr. Bruno received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from King’s College, Pennsylvania.

Jeffrey Orr, Director of Product Development, joined Penn Foster in 1994 as a Project Manager in Workforce Development. He subsequently served as Project Manager for Core Products and Lead Project Manager. He was promoted to his current position in 1999 and became responsible for the design, production and maintenance of instruction content. This responsibility includes all intellectual property acquisition and digital asset management for Company-owned content. Prior to joining Penn Foster, Mr. Orr was a Design Engineer and Quality Assurance Manager at High Energy Corporation. He received a Bachelor of Science in Technology Education from Millersville University and a Pennsylvania State Teaching Certificate in Technology Education.