Tony Thomas

FOUNDER

Tony has been a programmer and entrepreneur for too long, from his start at AT&T Bell Labs, to co-founder and CEO of AdventNet (now Zoho), to co-founder or angel investor in other technology companies. His passion is building software, and he is excited by the potential for software to help teachers in the classroom. Tony got a lifelong appreciation for the teaching profession after teaching a summer course at Johns Hopkins during his PhD. He's back to learning from school teachers again, this time about what they want or don't want from software. In his spare time, Tony tries not to look too goofy pursuing his latest hobby, tandem biking.

Francis Joy

FOUNDER

Francis has worked in the technology industry for three decades. He has long been interested in problems facing education, from Illich's 'Deschooling Society' onwards. Now, with Edcite, he realizes the today's technology does provide some of the solutions that weren't possible earlier: learning webs, effective tools and resources contributed and maintained by communities of teachers and students. Francis has formal degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from IIT Kanpur and IISc Bangalore, and has discovered that he really enjoys MOOCs from universities all around the world. Outside education, his other interest is in natural farming, which some say consists of doing nothing while wild boars dig up everything on his farm.

Julia Sweeney

DIRECTOR OF SALES

Julia earned her BA from the University of the Pacific with a major in Political Science and a minor in pre-law. She taught with Teach For America in the Mississippi Delta for two years, where she worked at a KIPP school teaching middle school English and Social Studies. Julia has worked with Teach For America’s Summer Training Programs for the past three years and loves working to support teachers and students. Julia moved to Ireland in August of 2013 and began creating content for Edcite and reaching out to Irish teachers. Besides her love for education, Julia loves good chats, spin classes, and flowers!

Josie Mittleman

MANAGER OF CUSTOMER SUCCESS

Josie Mittleman is a seasoned educator who has spent over 20 years serving the field of education. Josie began her career by studying Elementary Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She continued her journey by teaching elementary school in New York City at both public and private schools for many years. Throughout Josie's career, she has worked for a variety of well-renowned educational publishers including Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill, and The College Board. Because of her passion for helping teachers shift toward digital learning in the classroom, Josie joined the Edcite team in 2014. In addition to being passionate about the field of education, Josie is a mom to her daughter Dalia and her two dogs Speckles and Jasper.

Brian McIntosh

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT AND PRODUCT PARTNERSHIPS

Brian majored in Economics at Harvard College. His favorite high school teacher, Mrs. Stuckey, got him excited about math and inspired him to teach. After Harvard, Brian joined Teach for America in the Bay Area and taught Algebra 1 and 2 at KIPP San Jose Collegiate then at Gateway High School in San Francisco. In the Summer of 2013, he worked at Harvard Education Innovation Laboratory developing a year of 6th grade Common Core curriculum for use in their nationwide tutoring program. As Director of Product, Brian works with educators and engineers to improve Edcite, Edcite Schools and to develop the new Edcite Data Hub. Working in product partnerships is an extension of this role, looking at ways to maximize what Edcite does as an assessment platform through integrations with SIS, rostering solutions, back-end reporting solutions and more. Brian still coaches high school soccer at Gateway High School in San Francisco!

Sam Matthews

SOFTWARE ENGINEER

After studying sociology at the University of San Francisco, and working with technology startups in the city, Sam decided to pursue his desire to understand more about computer science by studying web development in New York City. As a software engineer and user experience designer at Edcite, Sam loves collaborating with teachers and administrators to build intuitive tools that enhance learning experiences. Outside of education and technology, Sam enjoys spending his time creating music, traveling, reading, and spending time in natural environments.

Sowmya Panjaje

PLATFORM OPERATIONS

Sowmya is an engineer by training from MSRIT, India and has experience developing software for the automotive industry. While taking graduate courses in business at the University of Houston, she began to appreciate the possibilities of education technology in furthering outcome-driven instruction. She joined Edcite to be able to dabble in both technology and content for K-12 learners. At work and otherwise, she enjoys reading, writing, and talking about brewing coffee and solving the world’s problems.

Parinita Mysore

CONTENT OPERATIONS

Parinita has done her Bachelors in Engineering from MSRIT (India) and has previously worked in the IT industry. Wanting to work in the education sector, she then took a different turn and worked on creating content for helping students crack competitive exams. Combining her passions for technology and education, she joined Edcite to help steer the content initiative. Outside work, she loves nature, enjoys traveling, and is a voracious reader. Which of course means picking up a book, walking to the swing on the porch and trying to map out Middle Earth.

Nicole Bixler

COMMUNITY MANAGER

Nicole studied Film & TV Production at Ball State University and worked as an assistant at a Hollywood studio and agency before deciding to become a teacher. Nicole taught English language arts in Los Angeles for nine years and received a "Teacher of the Year" award from the city of Carson, CA for creating a theater program at her school. She became very interested in engaging students with educational technology while in the classroom, which brought her to Edcite. Aside from spreading the word about Edcite, Nicole loves baking healthy treats and hiking in the Southern California Mountains.