Leadership Team

Executive Team

Jim Marshall

President and CEO

Jim joined Spectrum K12 School Solutions in March 2007 as President and CEO. He brings more than 30 years of enterprise-focused experience leading high technology companies to profitability and market growth. Prior to Spectrum K12, he assumed the responsibilities of CEO at Agentis Software in February 2005 and led funding rounds, a management buyout and several large new sales transactions.

Prior to Agentis, Jim was Vice President of Named Accounts at FileNet. In this position he created, deployed and managed a Mid-Market plan and unit for the Corporation.

Prior to that assignment, Jim was Vice President of Apple’s US Education Division, leading the overall Education effort at Apple. This unit of Apple accounted for approximately 25% of the company’s annual revenues. 

Jim has also held executive positions at Informix, Oracle Corporation, NeoMedia Technologies, Tandem Computers and Burroughs. He has extensive experience in helping technology companies build and develop accomplished management, sales, marketing, professional services and channels teams.

He is an active member of the Cobb County Education Foundation, where he works to help raise funds and drive awareness programs for the counties school system. Jim is also a Director for the Florida Council on Economic Education which is charted with teaching fundamental finance and business concept to High School Students.

During his career, he has been invited to give numerous keynote presentations, educational talks, speeches and seminars. Jim has received public recognition from the governors of Michigan, Maine and Florida for his work in those states and has been recognized by the Georgia state school system for his contributions.

He holds a B.A. in Management and General Sciences from the University of South Florida.

Scott Cary

Senior Vice President of Marketing

Scott Cary has over 20 years’ experience in product management and marketing in the technology industry, and has led over 50 product launches. Prior to joining Spectrum K12, Scott founded the Product Management Institute, where for the past 10 years he specialized in providing organizations with the expertise necessary to transform product management into product performance. Scott has also led marketing, product management and business unit teams at various software companies including Legent, Best Software and British Telecom. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Scott holds a B.S. in Systems Engineering with a concentration in management information systems.

Steve Benfield

CTO and VP Product Management

Steve Benfield brings more than 20 years experience as a proven technology visionary, evangelist, architect, and educator. Steve joined Spectrum K12 School Solutions in June 2007 and is responsible for product management, technology innovation, and cultivating strategic partnerships. Most recently, Steve served as CTO of Agentis Software which developed advanced artificial intelligence-based process management systems. Before Agentis, Steve helped establish ClearNova as an early player in the Web 2.0 application development space which led to a successful acquisition by Infor. Steve was also Chief Technology Officer of SilverStream a publicly traded pioneer of Java Application Servers. Steve established SilverStream as a visionary in Web Services and SOA Business Processing resulting in a successful acquisition by Novell. Prior to Silverstream, Steve served in executive management positions for several start-up ventures & IT consultancies.

 Ed Garnett

Senior Vice President Sales and Services

Ed Garnett has over 14 years of Professional Services and Project Management experience in the technology sector. Ed joined Spectrum K12 in September 2005 and leads the services organization with a focus on customer satisfaction and streamlined implementations of the ENCORE product line. Prior to joining Spectrum, Ed served as a Division Manager at SAIC, a leading systems, solutions and technical services company, where he focused on both State and Federal government contracts. In addition, Ed has led services teams at Advance PCS, CommerceRoute and CMSI. He is PMP certified and holds a B.S. in Commerce & Engineering from Drexel University and an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School.

Senior Management Team

Searetha Smith-Collins

Vice President Education Strategist

Dr. Smith-Collins joined Spectrum K12 in 2007. She is a lifelong educator and business woman. Prior to joining Spectrum K12, she was the Senior Education Consultant for Promethean, Inc.. and President of SEA-S Consultants. She was also manager of strategic initiatives at Apple Computer. For 37+ years, she has worked in a variety of positions in education and leadership in various roles including teacher, principal, curriculum executive director, deputy/associate superintendent and chief academic officer in large urban and suburban districts. Dr. Smith-Collins holds a doctorate degree in Policy, Governance, and Administration and a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a BE degree in English and education from Seattle University.

Jodie Butler

Vice President of Government Relations

Jodie joined Spectrum K12 in June 2007. Her experience includes leadership roles in state government, education, Apple Computer, nonprofit organizations, and statewide education associations. In the 1990s, Ms. Butler, a former teacher, served as the Iowa governor’s education policy director for five years, helping him initiate innovative technology programs for Iowa schools. While at Apple Computer, Jodie served as a manager of state-level initiatives and key accounts. Ms. Butler was also the Director of the Center for Public Policy and Governmental Relations for the Washington Education Association, where she designed, led and accomplished the organization’s most significant advocacy efforts in a decade, including a major compensation package for teachers. Ms. Butler is a graduate of Wayne State College and holds a Masters Degree from the University of Iowa. Her civic and community activities range from being a graduate of the Association of Business and Industry’s state-level Leadership Iowa program, to the Des Moines Club of Rotary International.

Ram Venkataraman

Vice President of Research and Development

Ram Venkataraman has over 15 years of experience in technology innovation and technology management. Prior to going Spectrum K12 Ram was the Director Of Product Management at Red Hat where he was responsible for the complete product lifecycle of the core middleware products that included JBoss AS, Hibernate, JBoss Seam and JBoss Portal. Before Red Hat he was the co-founder and CTO at ClearNova where he was responsible for providing the overall technology vision and direction for the companies product lines. ClearNova was as an early player in the Web 2.0 application development space and had some key innovations which led to a successful acquisition by Infor. Prior to joining ClearNova, Ram lead numerous teams that delivered mission critical applications for Fortune 500 clients as a consultant for Unisys and BravePoint. Ram is a graduate of University of Bombay with a degree in Electronics Engineering.

Gerry Stefhon

Vice President of Solutions

Gerry has been part of the Spectrum K12 team for three years and is currently leading the Educational Solutions Group. Prior to joining the realm of Educational Technology, he worked in the public school setting over 10 years championing for children with special needs as a Teacher of the Deaf and Elementary School Principal. Gerry has worked as a Bilingual Inclusion Teacher, certified interpreter for the Deaf, a Facilitated IEP trainer, and has given numerous presentations, educationally related talks, and conducted many workshops across the nation. Gerry has worked in Educational Technology for the last 5 years and most recently served as the Director of Professional Services for TetraData Corporation. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas Tech University and holds a MEd (Mid-Management) from the University of North Texas.

Carmi Paris

Vice President of Corporate Development

Carmi Paris, Vice President of Corporate Development of SpectrumK12, is a life-time educator and learner who began her career as a science teacher, high school track coach and curriculum adviser for text book adoptions.  From teaching in the classroom, Carmi expanded her pedagogical experience through publishing. As co-founder of Review Publishing Inc., she managed the editing division which published journals, magazines, books and educational textbooks. During this time, she was awarded the prestigious World Monuments Philanthropy Grant from American Express for successfully promoting ecological responsible cultural studies through responsible tourism to endangered world monument sites on five continents.

Carmi continued in educational publishing where she developed curriculum for at-risk youths, creating a program called I AM, WE ARE that helped minority students celebrate their ethnicity and family heritage.

Carmi joined Riverdeep as National Director of Corporate Partnerships in 2000 and then moved to SchoolNet in 2005, a Performance Management Solutions company, to become Director of Corporate Development.

Advisors

Chuck Amos

Executive Vice President Strategic Business Development

Before joining Spectrum K12, Amos served as CEO of Atomic Learning where he refined and enhanced the organizational structure, product development methodology, business planning processes, budgeting processes and sales programs that resulted in significant year-over-year growth every year since joining the company in 2003. Also, under his leadership, the company experienced significant decrease in time-to-market, growth in new markets such as international and higher education and significant growth in its worldwide customer base. Amos continues as chairman of the board of Atomic Learning. Prior to Atomic Learning, Amos spent eight years with Apple Computer where he was regional manager for the central U.S. Throughout his long career Amos has been committed to assisting schools with a wide range of technology related needs including hardware, software, networking and training solutions.