Meet the Team
Bernie Kluger, CEO
Bernie has a proven track record as an entrepreneur at the crossroads of
education and technology. Bernie has provided IT leadership at Columbia
University and McKinsey. Bernie was co-founder and president of Omnipod,
an enterprise IM and file-sharing ASP. Omnipod was acquired by MessageLabs
in October 2005. Bernie holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.B.A.
from Columbia University.
Jerry Altzman, CTO
Jerry is a technologist with over 20 years of active development and operations
experience in the private sector and higher education. Most recently, he was
Director of Operations and Senior Engineer at Omnipod, an enterprise IM and
file-sharing ASP. Jerry holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Physics from Columbia
University and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the City University of New York.
Kirsten Thien, SVP, Consulting Services
No stranger to the challenges faced by university officers, Kirsten has held a
broad range of management roles at Kaplan and Columbia University spanning
financial aid, admissions, and student information systems. Kirsten graduated
from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Business Administration.
Christian Portilla, Director of Product Development
Christian Portilla has over 7 years of IT experience as a business analyst, IT
project manager, and data architect at Columbia University. With a deep
understanding of institution-wide reporting, Christian has led numerous
initiatives to improve financial and student reporting across the University.
He has provided analysis and advisement on university-wide reporting application
options and has worked with several Business Intelligence vendors to guide proof
of concept delivery and the evaluation of large proposals. Christian graduated
from The School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, with a Bachelor
of Science in Information Management and Technology.
Ross Whiting, CFO
Serving as Chief Financial Officer of FairChoice Systems, his responsibilities
include strategic planning and partnership development. Ross is an experienced
investor whose investments have included Global Educational Technologies
(www.excent.com) and Omnipod. Ross served for 15 years as a senior partner of
the Cincinnati-based Growth & Income Fund. Ross holds a B.A. in Economics from
Drew University and a Masters in Technology Management from Polytechnic University.
Kathryn Clark, Product Management
Kathryn holds fifteen years' management experience with the student health service
at Columbia University Medical Center, where she pioneered the first computer-assisted
healthcare tracking system for diagnosis, treatment, and utilization management.
Kathryn has presented at the American College Health Association (ACHA) and Symposium
for Medical Informatics. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.