Management Team

Matthew Leavy,
Chief Executive Officer
As Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pearson eCollege, Matthew Leavy oversees all daily operations, including new business development, account management, customer care, professional services, product engineering technology and product management. Prior to his appointment as CEO of Pearson eCollege, Mr. Leavy was responsible for mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnering activities in addition to numerous internal strategic and operating projects for Pearson Education. He was previously the President of the Pearson Education Latin America Group and has held positions in corporate strategy and technology management both in Pearson and Prodigy Internet. Mr. Leavy also serves as a member of the Board of Safari Books Online, a Pearson joint venture and market leader in the online delivery of computer book content and previously worked as an investment banking associate with Veronis, Suhler and Associates. Matthew earned his bachelor's degree in Spanish with a minor in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University.

Vance Allen,
Chief Technology Officer
As Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Vance Allen oversees production and infrastructure, software architecture, program administration and all development activities for Pearson eCollege, as well as Quality Assurance and offshore development operations. Mr. Allen, who joined Pearson eCollege in 1997 as a software engineer, helped build Pearson eCollege's first course management system, has since played a critical role in the advancement of Pearson eCollege's technology infrastructure. Prior to his promotion to CTO, he served as Vice President and Managing Director of Software and Technology where he was responsible for software development. Mr. Allen holds a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Pomona College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado.

Andrew Bergad,
Vice President, Educational Partner Operations
Andrew Bergad joined the Pearson eCollege team in 2004 as Vice President of Professional Services. In 2006, Mr. Bergad was given additional duties as Vice President of Educational Partner Operations where he is responsible for the day-to-day activities for Client Services, Help Desk, Academic Services and Technical Consulting. Prior to his experience with Pearson eCollege, he had six years of finance and product experience. Mr. Bergad has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Northwestern University and a MA in Finance and Strategy from J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Scot Chadwick,
Vice President, Account Management
A member of the Pearson eCollege team since 2004, Scot Chadwick is responsible for leading the sales team that manages all of Pearson eCollege’s client relationships. This team is responsible for engaging with senior leadership at institutions to develop and implement strategic growth plans. This partnership-focused approach enables Pearson eCollege clients to grow and expand their online programs ahead of the industry and with the highest quality and innovation in the market. Prior to joining Pearson eCollege, Mr. Chadwick spent three and a half years with Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. He also spent over seven years with a leading information management company where he worked closely with several prestigious institutions including Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Mr. Chadwick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

John Dobbertin,
Vice President and Director, Product and Infrastructure
As Vice President of Engineering Services, John Dobbertin is responsible for Pearson eCollege’s entire hosting infrastructure, as well as all Pearson eCollege hardware. Mr. Dobbertin has been with Pearson eCollege since September of 1998 and, in addition to being one of the first members of Pearson eCollege’s quality assurance department, was Pearson eCollege’s first systems integration engineer. Prior to joining Pearson eCollege, he was a teacher in the Atlanta Public Schools system. Mr. Dobbertin has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and French from Niagara University and has completed several technical education tracts at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Michael P. Jackson,
Vice President of Software Development
As Vice President of Software Development, Mike Jackson is responsible for the Pearson eCollege Software Development organization; including software engineering, quality assurance engineering, sustaining development and software development services. With over a decade of development and management experience with one of the largest names in the software industry, Oracle (formerly PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards), he is a valuable addition to the Pearson eCollege team. At Oracle, Mr. Jackson acted as a senior director within the application division for some of the company’s most sophisticated products. He also oversees Pearson eCollege’s offshore software development. His extensive offshore development and management experience at Oracle (formerly PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards) has helped Pearson eCollege successfully partner with a Sri Lankan development team, now Pearson eCollege Lanka. Mr. Jackson earned his degree in business administration with an emphasis in computer information systems from the University of Northern Colorado.

Anne Keough Keehn,
Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing and Business Development, Higher Education and K-12
As Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing and Business Development for Higher Education and K-12, Anne Keehn leads Pearson eCollege’s global sales efforts, marketing strategies and business development. With more than 25 years of experience in educational technology, Ms. Keehn has a proven record in building and managing international businesses, sales forces and market expansions ahead of the product development curve. Prior to her work with Pearson eCollege, she was the president and CEO of Quantum Thinking, a technology and leadership consulting firm that served the education market and venture capital community globally. In addition, she has served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Innovation, New Product Development, Business Development and Marketing for SunGard Higher Education, formerly SCT. She was the early stage Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Market Development and Client Relations for Blackboard. Ms. Keehn has also served as Vice President for PeopleSoft’s Education and Government IBU and Regional Sales Manager for Datatel. Early in her career, she was in telecommunication sales and was Director of Development for Prescott College in Arizona. Ms. Keehn has been a keynote speaker at conferences in the US and internationally and has held several board positions for education and technology companies. With Savannah College of Art & Design, she co-developed a new Master of Arts & Master of Fine Arts program in Design Management launched in the fall of 2007.

Kendrick H. McLish,
Vice President, Product and Strategy
As Vice Pesident of Product and Strategy at Pearson eCollege, Kendrick McLish leads the vision, planning and strategy for Pearson eCollege’s suite of eLearning tools. Mr. McLish works with internal software development and IT teams, various Pearson Education entities and Pearson eCollege partners to enhance Pearson eCollege’s K-12 and Higher Education offerings with world-class collaboration, communication, analytics and assessment tools. Previously, Mr. McLish was Pearson eCollege’s Director of Account Management and worked directly with leading online education organizations in developing and delivering their online programs. Prior to Pearson eCollege, Mr. McLish worked in Product Management and Sales at Routledge, an academic publishing division of Thomson, Inc. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Vermont and a Master of Business Administration from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Matthew Mermagen,
Vice President of Finance
As Vice President of Finance, Matthew Mermagen is responsible for all aspects of financial reporting and control, performance management, budgeting and strategic planning at Pearson eCollege. Prior to joining the Pearson eCollege team, Mr. Mermagen was the Finance and Operations Director for Pearson Education, Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean. During his career at Pearson, he worked internationally in a number of business management positions. Mr. Mermagen was previously with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1999.