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Board of Directors

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Eric C. "Ric" Andersen , Chairman of the Board of Directors

Mr. Andersen has served as Chairperson of the Board since May 2020. Since 2015, Mr. Andersen has been with PeakEquity, a lower middle market private equity firm that specializes in making investments in enterprise software companies, where he served as a general partner and investment committee member from 2015 until January 2022 and now serves as an operating executive. Prior to joining PeakEquity, Mr. Andersen was a partner at Milestone Partners, a private equity firm, from 2011 to 2015. From 2006 to 2011 Mr. Andersen served as a Managing Director of private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, before which he worked in the consulting industry with IBM Business Consulting Services (BCS), serving as Managing Partner, Asia Pacific responsible for IBM’s business solutions and business process outsourcing business across Asia Pacific. Before working with IBM, Mr. Andersen was a senior partner at PwC Consulting, where he served in a variety of positions. Mr. Andersen has served as a director of Vertex (Nasdaq: VERX), a software company focused on delivering comprehensive tax solutions, since January 2008, and currently serves as Vertex’s lead independent director. Mr. Andersen also currently serves on the board of directors of a private company that is a portfolio company of PeakEquity, as well as an Adjunct Professor at the Villanova School of Business.

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Granetta B. Blevins , Director

Ms. Blevins has worked as an independent consultant/contractor since January 2000, working in a variety of capacities for non-profit and for-profit start-ups to mid-size businesses in multiple industries. From October 2018 to September 2019, Ms. Blevins served as Chief of Staff, LRNG at Southern New Hampshire University, where she was responsible for managing strategy, budget and resources for the LRNG learning platform. She also served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief of Staff of the non-profit social enterprise Collective Shift, which created the LRNG platform, from January 2015 until its acquisition by Southern New Hampshire University in October 2018. In addition, she served as Chief Financial Officer of Education Design Studio, a fund investor and business incubator for education technology start-up companies, from December 2012 until December 2019, and Chief Financial Officer of GlassLab, Inc., a non-profit that creates digital games for learning and assessment, from May 2014 to December 2016. Prior to 2000, Ms. Blevins held senior level finance and corporate planning positions with both public and privately held companies. Ms. Blevins currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky and Chairs the Finance Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee. Ms. Blevins is also on the Board of Directors for CHI Saint Joseph Health, part of CommonSpirit Health, and serves on the Audit and Compliance Committee and the Credentials Committee. Ms. Blevins has previously served on and chaired boards of other nonprofits and been a board member of another for-profit privately held company.

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Michael D. Braner , Director

Mr. Braner has served as a founding Managing Member and as Chief Compliance Officer at 325 Capital LLC, a long-term, significant, minority owner of small public companies, since March 2019, where he is involved in investment research and overseeing compliance. Previously, Mr. Braner served as a Partner at Sagard Capital Partners LP, pursuing a similar investment strategy to 325 Capital, from 2005 to May 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Braner served as a Partner in JB Investment Partners, an investment company he founded in 2003, from 2003 to 2004. Earlier in his career, Mr. Braner served for more than 10 years at Bain & Company Inc., a management consulting company, where he consulted large corporations and private equity investors. Mr. Braner also currently serves as a Board Trustee and Chairman Emeritus of the board of directors of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, an organization dedicated to celebrating, preserving, and protecting the iconic buildings and unique neighborhoods of New York City, since May 2014, and as Board Trustee of Arbor Rising, a non-profit dedicated to funding promising social entrepreneurs to secure a path out of poverty, since 2014.

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Anna Fabrega , Director

From October 2021 to November 2022, Ms. Fabrega served as Chief Executive Officer of fresh prepared food subscription service company Freshly, LLC, after joining Freshly as Chief Commercialization Officer in January 2021. Prior to Freshly, Ms. Fabrega spent nine years in roles of increasing seniority with Amazon, most recently as Managing Director, Amazon Convenience Stores, which includes Amazon Go, Amazon’s cashless convenience and grocery stores, from January 2020 through January 2021, and previously as Director, Amazon Go, from 2014 through January 2020. During her Amazon Go tenure, Ms. Fabrega helped launch Amazon Go Grocery, the first “Just Walk Out” grocery store, and scale the business to 28 stores across four cities. She earlier served as Senior Manager, Marketing and Third Party Marketplace, Sporting Goods, and General Manager, Sports and Outdoors, Amazon’s $4 billion sports and outdoors business, after joining Amazon in 2011. Before Amazon, Ms. Fabrega served as a Senior Product Manager, Brand Management and Relationship Marketing, and then Senior Manager, Global Brand Strategy, at Microsoft from 2008 through 2011, Director, Brand Management and Financial Services, for Stripes Convenience Stores, a convenience store chain then owned by Susser Holdings Corporation, from 2004 through 2008, and Inventory Control Manager at J&L Industrial, an industrial distribution and supply company then owned by Kennemetal, from 2002 to 2003. Ms. Fabrega began her career in distribution and operations at McMaster-Carr Supply Company, a hardware, tools, and materials supplier, in 1999.

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Jean C. Halle , Director

Since 2010, Ms. Halle has worked as an independent consultant and since April 2018, Ms. Halle has served on the Maryland State Board of Education, including as a Vice President since July 2019. From September 2013 until May 2014 she served as the Acting Chief Operating Officer for Curiosityville, a digital early learning company. From 2002 to 2010, Ms. Halle was the Chief Executive Officer of Calvert Education Services, a provider of accredited distance education programs and educational support services. From 1999 to 2001, Ms. Halle was the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of New Business Development for Times Mirror Interactive, a digital media subsidiary of the former Times Mirror Company. From 1986 to 1999, Ms. Halle held a number of positions with The Baltimore Sun Company, including Vice President of New Business Development, Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance, President of Homestead Publishing, a subsidiary of The Baltimore Sun Company, and Director of Strategic Planning. From 1983 to 1986, Ms. Halle was the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance for Abell Communications, and Assistant Treasurer of A.S. Abell Company, the former parent company of The Baltimore Sun Company. From 1979 to 1983, Ms. Halle was a Senior Management Consultant with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, now Deloitte, an international accounting and professional services firm. Ms. Halle previously served on the advisory board of Stevenson University, the board of the Loyola University School of Education, and the Board of Trustees of Catholic Distance University, and currently serves on the Board of Directors and as the Vice President of the Women’s Education Alliance.

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James Kenigsberg , Director

Mr. Kenigsberg has served as Senior Strategic Advisor to 2U Inc., the world’s leading education technology company, since January 2022, and before that served as 2U’s Chief Technology Officer, a role in which he was integral in starting and growing the company from a start-up to a global, publicly traded company, since 2008. Mr. Kenigsberg has since August 2022 also served as a Venture Partner with Emerge Education, a European seed fund investing in startup education companies. Prior to 2U, Mr. Kenigsberg’s served as a Product Development Manager and later Vice President of Application Development at The Princeton Review, an education services company, from 2000 to 2008, where he led technology and product development teams. He was also formerly a part of technology and product development teams at Thomson Reuters and Ogilvy & Mather, and has served and continues to serve as an outside advisor to a number of education and technology companies.

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Dr. Barbara L. Kurshan , Director

Dr. Kurshan is the Senior Innovation Advisor (previously Executive Director of Academic Innovation) and a Senior Fellow in Education at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, a position she has held since 2012. At the University of Pennsylvania, she has among other things run the Milken-GSE Business Plan Competition and overseen the Master’s in Education Entrepreneurship program. In addition, from 2013 to 2019, she was Chair of the Board of Education Design Studio, Inc., a seed fund, and incubator for education entrepreneurs operated in collaboration with the university. She currently manages the Global Innovation Certificate Program. Dr. Kurshan also provides consulting services in the areas of education, technology, and innovation through Educorp Consultants Corporation, a company she has owned and operated since 1989. In addition, she was previously the Co-CEO of a private equity fund, Core Learning Fund at SPO Partners, which invested in education technology companies. Dr. Kurshan has had an over 40-year career as both an academic and award-winning entrepreneur. She also currently serves on the board of directors of an educational technology company, Fablevision. She has been recognized for her board service through the Globant Women that Build International Award and Women Inc.’s Most Influential Corporate Board Directors.

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Daniel Pianko , Director

Mr. Pianko has served on the Board since June 2020. Mr. Pianko is the founder of and currently serves as an investor and Managing Director for Achieve Partners, since January 2019. Since April 2011, he has served as an investor and Managing Director for University Ventures, which he also founded. Mr. Pianko is a frequent commentator on higher education and his insights have been featured in national media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, TechCrunch, Inside Higher Ed, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Prior to founding University Ventures, Mr. Pianko established a student loan fund, served as chief of staff for the public/private investments in the Philadelphia School District, and worked as a hedge fund analyst. Mr. Pianko began his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Harlem Village Academies.

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William G. Robinson, Jr. , Director

Mr. Robinson has served on the Board since June 2016. Since October 2018, Mr. Robinson has served as president of Broadgate Human Capital, LLC, a human resources consulting firm. From December 2013 through September 2017, Mr. Robinson served as executive vice president and chief human resources officer of Sabre Corporation, a travel technology company, where he was responsible for leading Sabre’s global human resources organization, including talent management, organizational leadership, and culture. Prior to joining Sabre in December 2013, Mr. Robinson served as the senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Coventry Health Care, a diversified managed health care company that then had 14,000 employees, from 2012 to 2013. From 2010 to 2011, Mr. Robinson served as senior vice president for human resources at Outcomes Health Information Solutions, a healthcare analytics and information company specializing in the optimization and acquisition of medical records. Prior to that, from 1990 to 2010, he worked for General Electric, where he held several human resources leadership roles in diverse industries including information technology, healthcare, energy, and industrial, including as the human resources leader within the GE Enterprise Solutions division, where he led a global team in an organization of 20,000 employees in 200 locations worldwide. Mr. Robinson has served as a director of Clover Health Investments, Corp. (Nasdaq: CLOV), a health technology company focused on improving health outcomes for America’s seniors, since March 2021.

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Angela Selden , CEO, American Public Education, Inc., Member Board of Directors

Ms. Selden has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board since September 2019. Ms. Selden previously served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of DIGARC, LLC, an education technology provider to higher education institutions, from 2016 to 2019. From July 2015 until April 2016, Ms. Selden was Interim Chief Executive Officer of Skybridge Americas, a global contact center and provider of fulfillment solutions, and served as a member of its board of directors from July 2015 through December 2018. Prior to Skybridge Americas, Ms. Selden served as Chief Executive Officer of Workforce Insight, LLC, a global provider of strategic workforce management, from 2014 to April 2015, after Workforce Insight’s acquisition by Baird Capital Partners, where Ms. Selden served as Executive in Residence from April 2013 to April 2014 and led the acquisition of Workforce Insight. Prior to her role at Baird, Ms. Selden served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Co-Chairman of Arise Virtual Solutions, Inc., a virtual workforce solutions outsourcer. Earlier in her career, Ms. Selden spent 18 years at Accenture, including serving as the Managing Partner, leading Accenture’s North American Consumer and Industrial Products group to significant growth. Ms. Selden co-founded and has served as Chairman of DinerIQ, a provider of a mobile marketing technology platform for the hospitality industry, since August 2015, and has served on the board of directors of Talent Wave, a provider of independent contractor compliance and workforce solutions, since July 2015, and on the University of St. Thomas, Opus College of Business’ Strategic Board of Governors since April 2012. From July 2013 to March 2015, Ms. Selden served as Executive Chairman and Director of Call Assistant/Strategic Fundraising, Inc., a global call center platform and services business.