Esther Dyson is editor at large at CNET Networks, where she is responsible for its monthly newsletter, Release 1.0, and PC Forum, the high-tech market's leading annual executive conference. She recently published a review of the K-12 Ed Tech market space for Release 1.0.

At Release 1.0 and in her private investment activities, Dyson focuses on emerging technologies, emerging companies and emerging markets. In 1994, she had already explored the impact of the Net on intellectual property. In 1997, she wrote a book on the impact of the Net on individuals' lives, Release 2.0: A design for living in the digital age.

Dyson is also an active player in discussions and policy-making concerning the Internet and society. From 1998 to 2000, she was founding chairman of ICANN (the organization responsible for overseeing the Domain Name System).

Henry Hirschberg was named President of McGraw-Hill Education in November 2002, having joined the company as Group President for Higher Education, Professional, and International in January 1999. His move to McGraw-Hill followed a long and distinguished career in publishing, both in the U.S. and abroad, with Prentice Hall/Simon & Schuster International.

After serving that company in important sales positions covering the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East between 1972 and 1977, Henry became Prentice Hall Europe's Editor of Computer Science and Business at their main office in London. In 1979 he was promoted to Executive Editor and in 1982 to Managing Director for the United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Still based in London, he was named President of Simon & Schuster International in 1985. In this position he made Simon & Schuster International the No. 1 publisher in the marketplace.

Frank Catalano joined Pearson Education's U.S. Assessments & Testing Group as senior vice president of marketing in fall 2004 and has marketing responsibility for Pearson Educational Measurement, Pearson Knowledge Technologies, Pearson NCS and Pearson Assessments. Previously, Frank was principal of Catalano Consulting for a dozen years and held long-term interim marketing executive assignments for MetaMetrics, Boxer Learning, iCopyright and McGraw-Hill, as well as advising many technology-related companies in education, computing and publishing. He is the author of two books on marketing, has published hundreds of essays and is frequently quoted on trends by national and local news media.

Gerry oversees a staff of 45 professionals and consultants who handle strategic planning and consulting; market research; marketing plan development and implementation; inside sales, customer service and relationship marketing. Gerry’s 20 years of experience in the education marketplace includes various positions with venerable industry powerhouse Educational Testing Service, five years as co-director of national evaluations with the Children's Television Workshop (Sesame Street, The Electric Company), and a decade of educational consulting. Gerry’s experimental research work has been cited by the What Works Clearinghouse as exemplary design.

Benjy Burditt recently joined Special Situations, a fund group currently focused on the micro cap US equity markets. He is building a crossover fund that will focus on both early stage emerging private companies and small publicly traded companies looking for hands on operational support and growth capital. He continues to make education an area of focus, especially on the private side. At Scripps Venture LLC, he oversaw a venture fund with $90 million invested in over 30 early stage companies including enterprise and small business software, content syndication and enabling technology businesses. Burditt has been responsible for identifying attractive early stage companies, screening business plans and conducting due diligence with company management teams and negotiating term sheets and closing documents. Prior to Scripps Ventures he worked at United Media, a division of the E.W. Scripps Company, as a Senior Vice President overseeing strategy for newspaper syndication and worldwide licensing including the evaluation of potential acquisition targets. Burditt also served as a Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company and an Associate at Prudential-Bache Securities.

John Campbell has experience as VP of Software for a hardware manufacturer (Commodore International, the maker of the VIC-20, C-64, and Amiga), General Manager of a software start-up (Insight), Director of Technology for a division of a large media company (Tribune Education), COO of a small reading company with a technology component (Breakthrough to Literacy), business unit head at one of the education industry leaders (McGraw-Hill), and now Senior VP of K-12 Strategy and Development at one of the knowledge solutions leaders in ProQuest. He started a company from scratch and has been on both sides of the acquisition table. John also serves on the Education Board for SIIA.

George Cigale has served as Tutor.com's Chairman and CEO since co-founding the Company in 1998. George brings 20 years of experience in education technology, tutoring and test-preparation markets, most recently as Vice President of The Princeton Review. George has assembled an accomplished management team and Board of Directors who have guided the Company through a successful launch and rapid but calculated growth. George has raised over $17MM in venture capital and secured strategic partnerships with top education companies. He serves on the Board of the Education Industry Association, and is an active member of the Americans for Libraries Council.

Managing Director Richard Close leads the firm's education services research effort. Richard was selected as one of The Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street" in 2000 and 2002, an annual survey that ranks analysts by their recommendations, including being named to "The Home-Run Hitters" list in 2000. Additionally, Richard was ranked in the top-ten of stock pickers in Starmine's 2002 annual rankings of sell-side research analysts. He also has been featured in a broad array of industry periodicals and media outlets including Assessment and Accountability Forum, Bloomberg TV, Investor's Business Daily, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Prior to joining Jefferies, he served at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey as a senior research analyst covering the privatization and education services industries.

Kevin Custer offers over 17 years of experience in technology and telecommunications and is a recognized leader in launching and growing successful technology businesses in the online and enterprise markets. He has been the primary architect in the launching of five startups, four of which achieved over $10 million in revenues within their first 3 years. Kevin serves as a Principal in Arc Capital Development who invest in and operate emerging market companies. Previously he took a small Internet company, Brainium Technologies, public through a reverse-takeover of Canada¹s seventh-fastest growing public company. In his previous position at Infonautics, he led the creation of Electric Library, an Internet-based subscription service that grossed over $20 million in its first 30 months. Kevin also served as the chairman of both the e-business and the education section of the Software & Information Industry Association.

Jeff Fromm has 15 years of experience as an international executive and corporate lawyer. Jeff, founder and President of KnowledgeQuest was appointed as a Principal of MarketingWorks and the KnowledgeQuest division in January 2004. Prior to founding KnowledgeQuest in 1998, he was a senior manager at Quadrant Management, Inc., a New York-based investment group, and served as vice chairman and general counsel of an international Pepsi-Cola bottling company. Previously, he was an attorney at O'Sullivan Graev & Karabell, a New York law firm that specializes in venture capital, corporate, and securities transactions. Mr. Fromm is a frequent author, speaker and moderator on education and training industry topics. He serves on the Education Board for SIIA.

Harber has extensive experience in the education technology market and has proven past success as an entrepreneur. Mr. Harber was the co-founder and Chairman of NewKidCo, a children’s video game publishing company based on licenses such as Sesame Street, Disney, Tiny Toons, and Tom and Jerry. Previously, Harber founded the award-winning children’s educational software company KinderActive. Harber was the Co-founder and President of Diva, a publisher of software to the multimedia and education markets. Harber began his career as an investment banker working for Merrill Lynch in corporate finance and decision support.

Jeanne Hayes has analyzed the education market since she started QED in 1981. A former educator and database researcher, she looks at current demographic trends, technology drivers, and economic factors that are changing the K-12 market while advising companies on growth strategies and opportunities.

Ms. Hewitt has been a corporate development executive in the publishing and Internet industries for eleven years, where she was actively involved in a number of successfully completed transactions on both the buy and sell side. Most recently she was Vice President of Business Development at Prodigy, the internet service provider. Ms. Hewitt has held senior development positions at Simon & Schuster, John Wiley & Sons and Macmillan U.S. She holds an M.B.A. from The Darden School of the University of Virginia and is a graduate of Williams College.

Andrew E. Kaplan has spent his 17-year career at leading education companies. Prior to joining Quad, Andy was a senior executive at Kaplan, Inc. Before joining Kaplan, he served as Director of the Educational Technology Group at Scholastic. He holds an M.B.A. from NYU's Stern Business School and a B.A. in Computer Science from Brandeis University. Additionally, he has served on the board of the Software and Information Industry Association's Education Division.

Neil has represented participants in more than eighty mergers and acquisitions, including eight transactions in the technology and education industries. Neil has published several articles, including an article in the November 2003 edition of Mergers & Acquisitions on risk allocation in the sale of postsecondary education companies. Neil has also spoken on mergers and acquisitions and related topics to education industry participants. He is a partner in the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP, which has offices in Washington, D.C. and New York.

Roszell Mack is a founding Partner of Ascend Venture Group, LLC. Prior to the formation of Ascend, Mr. Mack was an Associate Director at Peter J. Solomon Company ("PJSC"). At PJSC, Mr. Mack was responsible for implementing new business development initiatives for the retailing and consumer products sectors in addition to numerous other client related activities. Prior to his experience at PJSC, Mr. Mack held investment banking positions with Salomon Smith Barney, Prudential Securities and Goldman Sachs. Throughout his investment banking career, Mr. Mack executed numerous mergers and acquisitions on behalf of strategic buyers and sellers. Mr. Mack has also gained extensive marketing experience working in Goldman Sachs' Asset Management Division marketing equity and fixed income products to institutional clients.

Lou Pugliese leads all of ETS's Elementary and Secondary Education product development and customer-facing activities including professional development, technology products and services and assessments. Pugliese was previously with Learning Diagnostics Inc., an education holding company and consulting organization serving fortune 500 organizations involved in global e-learning initiatives. From 1998 to 2000, Pugliese was chief executive officer of Blackboard, Inc., in Washington, D.C. He also held positions with Scholastic New Media, and Turner Broadcasting where he helped launch CNN's start-up venture in the education market through the creation of CNN Newsroom. He is a member of the SIIA Education Board, the Executive Board of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Commission on Adult Education and Training, and was appointed by Governor George W. Bush to serve on his state IT Steering Committee.

Michael manages all of Blackboard’s external communications activities with investors, equity and industry research analysts and the media. Most recently, he was an integral member of the Blackboard management team leading the company’s public offering in June, 2004. Prior to joining Blackboard, Michael led corporate public relations and investor relations efforts on behalf of dozens of publicly traded companies while at Citigate Dewe Rogerson, a London based communications consultancy. At Citigate, Michael gained extensive experience in designing and implementing investor relations strategies. Prior to Citigate, Michael worked as an Associate at Stanton & Associates, a boutique government relations firm in Washington, D.C. Michael has also worked as a financial analyst and manager of investor relations at CCA Companies. Michael began his career at the U.S. House of Representative where he served as Legislative Floor Assistant to Members of Congress.

Trace Urdan covers education and corporate training stocks for Robert W. Baird & Co, including K-12, post-secondary, and corporate training companies. He also edits a newsletter, Class Notes, which reviews events each week in the education market. Urdan has covered the education sector since 1997 when he first joined Alex. Brown. He joined WR Hambrecht + Co. in 2000 where he co-authored a widely-read report on the corporate e-learning sector titled Corporate E-Learning: Exploring a New Frontier. From 2001-2004, Urdan was a principal and senior analyst at ThinkEquity Partners LLC, also covering the for-profit education industry. Mr. Urdan is a frequent contributor to various business and industry publications and also speaks frequently on the topic of education and e-learning.

Robin Warner is a Partner at The van Tulleken Company, which acts as advisors for mergers and acquisitions in the publishing and information industries. The van Tulleken Company has offices in New York and London and many of its transactions are international in scope. Based in its New York office, Ms. Warner has been in mergers and acquisitions for six years and is active in selling both electronic and print-based media companies. Ms. Warner has held numerous positions in publishing including Executive Vice President/Publisher at Western Publishing Company; Vice President of Marketing at Simon & Schuster for both their Adult Trade Paperback and Children's Divisions; Group Product Manager Children's Division and Mass Market Sales Manager at Grosset & Dunlap Publishing Company.