Dr. Joseph Wise, CEO, has a longstanding record of helping school districts, school boards and school leaders make rapid improvements to support student achievement. “Every young person deserves a fighting chance to earn the high school diploma that will open the door to higher education and a rewarding career. I’m proud that EdIncites and  Acceleration Academies can partner with American school districts to provide that opportunity.”

Steve founded EdIncites® in 2015 and served as CEO focusing on enabling K-12 school districts to harness the advances in information technology to quantitatively improve student achievement and teacher effectiveness.

When EdIncites merged with Acceleration Academies in April of 2021, Steve became COO to manage the integration and operational aspects of the joined organization. In this role, Steve continues to oversee the Technology division and guide the innovation of the organization.

Steve is a visionary for utilizing technology to streamline processes and increase efficiency. He has authored, contributed to or sponsored 13 patents for innovative use of information technology in the areas of advanced decisioning, data warehousing and retail credit. EdIncites was formed to create a set of technology capabilities, beginning with an advanced formative assessment technology platform, that would address the technology shortcomings and disappointing user experiences of the non-integrated “point” solutions in the market today. Over the years, the Incite® Teaching & Learning Platform’s functionality expanded to bring together all the people, tools and resources needed to support the complete teaching and learning process.

Steve has an extensive background, including over 29 years of experience applying technology to solve challenges across diverse industries including K-12 education, technology, finance, banking, e-commerce and telecommunications. He has served as Chief Information Officer for several technology and financial services companies such as ProVest, LendingTree, First Residential Mortgages and Titanium Holdings.

During his time as CIO at LendingTree, Steve served as a member of the executive management team and helped raise over $150 million in capital including an Initial Public Offering, and eventually sold the business to USA Interactive for $733 million.

Campbell has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute State University.

Campbell was recognized for his leadership and vision by the EdTech Awards 2021, named as a finalist in the “Founder/CEO of a Startup” category.

Chris Killackey has over sixteen years of private equity experience in addition to his seven years of middle market lending experience. He currently serves as Partner in Prairie Capital, and is responsible for investment origination, due diligence, deal structuring, and negotiation, along with fundraising and investor relations.

Chris also has portfolio management responsibility for Prairie Capital, and is currently a director for four Prairie Capital portfolio companies. Prior to joining Prairie Capital in 1999, Chris was a Director of Chicago-based Banc One Mezzanine Corporation (now part of Chase Mezzanine), a $100 million wholly owned subsidiary of Bank One Corporation that made subordinated debt investments in middle-market companies nationally. Prior to joining Banc One Mezzanine in 1998, Chris spent seven years with American National Bank, most recently as a Vice President.

Chris graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in finance. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago with concentrations in finance, accounting, entrepreneurial finance and strategic management

Steve King formed Prairie Capital with Bryan Daniels in 1997, and shares overall management responsibility for Prairie. Steve is responsible for deal generation and overseeing due diligence, deal structuring and negotiation, along with fundraising and investor relations.

Steve will serve as a Board Member for Education Incites^®. He also has portfolio management responsibilities, and currently participates on the board of six additional Prairie Capital’s portfolio companies, including R3 Education. Prior to founding Prairie Capital, Steve led the formation of ANB Mezzanine Corporation (then a subsidiary of First Chicago Corporation), serving as its initial President. Steve graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in Finance. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago and his JD from Loyola University.

Bryan Daniels formed Prairie Capital with Steve King in 1997, and shares overall management responsibility for Prairie. Bryan is responsible for deal generation and overseeing due diligence, deal structuring and negotiation, along with fundraising and investor relations.

Bryan also has portfolio management responsibility for Prairie Capital, and is currently a director for seven Prairie Capital investments, including R3 Education. Prior to establishing Prairie Capital, Bryan was a Senior Vice President of commercial banking at American National Bank & Trust Company, an $8 billion subsidiary of Bank One (now part of JP Morgan Chase). Overseeing more than $70 million in preferred stock investments in this division, he also served on the Investment Committee of ANB Mezzanine.

Bryan graduated magna cum laude from Wabash College with a BA in Mathematics and Chemistry. He received a MBA from the University of Chicago, with concentrations in finance and accounting, and thereafter completed his MS in Computer Science at the University of Chicago.

As Senior Vice President at Discovery Education, Coni Rechner partners with the country’s largest, urban school districts to support their strategic goals and provide customized professional learning and digital solutions that transform teaching and learning. With more than 20 years of experience supporting educators, Rechner’s leadership and commitment to improving student achievement have positively impacted school districts across the country. Focused on the unique needs of urban students and educators, she works closely with administrators to design customized solutions to engage students with digital resources, enhance curriculum, provide personalized learning opportunities, and prepare students for college and the workforce.

Rechner joined Discovery Education from United Learning, where she served in a variety of positions and was part of the leadership team that launched unitedstreaming. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from the Marquette University and a master’s degree in business education from the University of St. Thomas.

After the merger of EdIncites with Acceleration Academies, Michelle transitioned to the role of Chief Strategy & Accountability Officer where she supports the development and execution of strategic initiatives that ensure the financial growth of the combined organization. She also leads the Client Success and Support Team to ensure that clients experience smooth implementation, training, and exceptional ongoing support. Michelle also manages the Academic Design Team which consists of our Course Development Team that creates quality digital courses and curricular resources and our Assessment and Item Development Team that writes standards-aligned assessment items and creates psychometrically-sound assessments.

Prior to the merger, Michelle served as Chief Marketing Officer at EdIncites where she was responsible for developing and executing the marketing strategy to increase revenue and drive client engagement and retention. Michelle built the brand from the ground up, created and enforced all brand standards, and managed the evolution of the EdIncites brand through multiple mergers and acquisitions.

Michelle has over 30 years of experience leading marketing, communications, product, training, and support teams. She has demonstrated experience developing and executing integrated marketing programs that build sales pipeline and drive revenue, while increasing brand exposure. She is an expert in utilizing marketing automation for lead generation, revenue growth, and client retention. Previously, Michelle served as Vice President of Marketing for a K-12 education technology provider, where she led the Marketing, Product Management, and Training Teams.

Michelle has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Communications focusing on marketing communications and public education from The Ohio State University.

As one of the founding Education Incites team members, Landon leads our Data Architecture and Analytics efforts. Landon helps school districts store and analyze their various data points and present them in an understandable format that enables them to make smart data-driven decisions. He supports the setup of client databases and the management and analysis of data input and output. Landon developed and manages all Education Incites reports and custom dashboards.

Landon has 10 years of experience in the Ed Tech industry with extensive experience managing school data, with relational database management systems, data warehousing, reporting and BI analytics. He has been a technical support analyst, data analyst, Database Administrator and business intelligence developer.

Landon has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Appalachian State University in Business Management.

As a Software Developer at Education Incites, George utilizes the latest technologies to design, code and develop innovative software applications for the education industry. In his development work, he strives to deliver software that is easy to use, intuitive and is architected for high speed and performance.

Based out of Romania, George previously worked as a software developer for numerous global clients, including four years with Ed Tech providers.

George has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and a Master’s Degree in Advanced Programming and Databases from University “1 December 1918” from Alba Iulia, Romania.

Lisa Meckley, Chief Enrollment Officer, leads the enrollment division in elevating the Acceleration Academies brand and driving student enrollment, retention and engagement. She brings more than 20 years of experience in strategic marketing and enrollment management to the organization. Most recently, she served as Senior Director for Strategic Marketing at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, leading the University’s brand positioning and marketing strategy to enhance the institution’s national recognition and reputation among all key stakeholders. For 10 years prior, she served as the Director of Enrollment Communications, shaping the enrollment management lifecycle, directing the marketing strategy and communicating to students throughout their enrollment and on to graduation.

Josh is responsible for customer implementation, ongoing technical support, and ensuring that the best possible experience is achieved when using the Incite® Platform. Josh has supported clients in the education industry for over 8 years with a primary focus on client satisfaction and success.

Josh began his career with an Assessment Software Company, where he started in a Support role and moved into a Client Services and Training role. He then worked for another Assessment Software Company where he was responsible for Client Support, Account Management, Implementation and Training. Josh has spent his entire career helping K-12 school districts select, implement, conduct district-wide training, and successfully utilize assessment platforms. He understands the associated challenges and is uniquely qualified to help districts overcome those challenges.

Josh earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Sarah Burk, Executive Director of Project Implementation, oversees and manages the company’s strategy around alternative education options for underserved populations. Burk brings extensive experience and leadership in alternative education to EdIncites. Prior to joining the team, she was the Director of Alternative Education for two juvenile justice centers, a behavior day school and a mental health hospital. She began her career as a special education teacher, later serving as an instructional coach, supervisor and director. As part of her role, she is responsible for the expansion of career and technical education programs into the Acceleration Academies model.

Dan is responsible for the look and feel of Education Incites’ applications. He ensures that our design decisions yield a user-friendly, intuitive and consistent experience for our clients.

Dan started his career as a print designer for a newspaper in Romania. He designed his first website and immediately fell in love with web design. He became a designer and theme developer for an Italian web agency where he gained expertise in web technologies. He shifted his focus to user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design for a U.S.-based company. Since then he has been creating websites and web and mobile app interfaces with usability in mind.

In 2016, Dan and his wife moved from Romania to the U.S. to work for Education Incites.

As a Software Developer at EdIncites, Charlie is responsible for tackling both design and code as they go hand in hand for ensuring a smooth and satisfying user experience.

Charlie understands the importance of friendly online interfaces in education software. Working behind the scenes, he strives to deliver useful information in a performative package.

Earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and East Asian Studies, Languages, and Cultures from the University of Virginia, his drive to better students’ education in the classroom found him as a representative speaker at the National Pedagogy Summit. Charlie hopes to make his passion for school evident through his work providing for the students of today.

Dean is responsible for customer implementation, ongoing technical support, and ensuring that the best possible experience is achieved when using the platform. He has been with EduTrax for over 11 years overseeing the Help Desk and Database staff. Dean works closely with all levels within customer organizations, from administrative support, to teachers and director-level.

Dean has worked in the Technical Customer Service Field for most of his career. He started working in the support field during High School and subsequently moved to cellular phone component level repair and customer support. He began his career in the education field 10 years ago, supporting multiple customers on a newly launched instructional management program. Dean has a degree in Computer/Network Management from Southern Crescent Technical College.

Andrew has been with EduTrax for over two years, where he has managed client communications, provided project management support for client implementation and training, and assisted in marketing efforts. He will continue to help manage custom development projects to ensure client success.

Prior to EduTrax, Andrew gained 10 years of customer service and support experience where he learned that customers are a business’ greatest asset and the importance of taking care of them. He brings this attitude and attention to each client that he serves.
Andrew has a bachelor’s degree with duel majors of Marketing and Management from the University of West Georgia.

Sarah Campbell, Executive Director of Enrollment Marketing, supports the Chief Enrollment Officer with all aspects of student recruitment marketing for Acceleration Academies. She supports all aspects of the student lifecycle from enrollment to graduation. She brings 8 years of education marketing experience to Acceleration Academies, spanning strategy, brand management, content creation and video production. Prior to this role, she worked in higher education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as the Director of Enrollment Communications. There, her team implemented critical communications to students, parents and visitors that contributed to the university’s highest enrollment. She is passionate about optimizing communications in order to reach as many students as possible and educate them on the benefits of a diploma and the Acceleration Academies model.

As a Software Developer, Sanjeev focuses on the design, development, coding and testing of Education Incites’ software applications. He provides post-implementation, application maintenance and enhancement support to ensure that our software exceeds client expectations.

Based out of Noida, India, Sanjeev has over twelve years of experience working as a Software Engineer and Lead Architect for numerous global clients.

Sanjeev has a Master of Computer Applications (MCA) from Marhashi Dyanad University in India.