Advanced Academics Management Team

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The Management Team

Click the names below to learn more about our management team.

Mr. Elliott joined Advanced Academics in 2002 serving as Chief Operating Officer until September 2003 when he was named President and Chief Executive Officer. From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Elliott was with Seattle-based Wright Group, where he served as Vice President of Business Development overseeing three divisions of this leading educational publishing company. While at Wright Group, he successfully integrated and managed international acquisitions, including publishing operations in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In 1996, Mr. Elliott joined newly formed Tribune Education Company as Director of Strategic Planning and Development. There, he was responsible for the company’s strategic planning as well as identifying and executing acquisitions and joint ventures. From 1983 to 1996 Mr. Elliott rose through the ranks at Chicago Tribune Company in a variety of management roles. Mr. Elliott is a graduate of University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Dale F. Jordan - Vice President of Finance/Administration

Mr. Jordan has more than 18 years experience in acquisitions, financing and pro forma modeling. Mr. Jordan comes to Advanced Academics after serving six years as CFO for Dominion Venture Group of Edmond, Oklahoma, a global conglomerate in the real estate development, construction, textile manufacturing, and aviation industries. In 1985, Mr. Jordan graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration, with a major in Accounting, from Texas Christian University. Mr. Jordan is a certified public accountant both in Oklahoma and Texas, and he has a long, distinguished record of involvement and membership in several professional and community groups including Oklahoma Venture Forum, Oklahoma City Arts Festival, Junior Achievement, and United Way.

Rob York - Vice President of School Development/Operations

In addition to leading our national sales force, Mr. York also oversees all customer support and client service functions. Mr. York joined Advanced Academics after serving as Vice President of Sales for San Francisco-based Simpata Group, an Application Service Provider (ASP) offering an HR Management and Benefits Transaction platform for the small-and mid-sized employer market. From 1999 to November 2002 he managed a direct sales team of 22 that helped secure more than 1,000 customers in first two years, garnering approximately 15% market share. From 1996 to 1999, he founded Concourse C developer of www.education-world.com, the leading Web site for K-12 educators. Mr. York’s successful business development efforts included profitable partnerships with Microsoft, Cisco, Discovery Channel and Education Associations. His career began with American Fidelity Group in 1984, where he led the national sales effort for the Education Services — the company’s largest division — marketing insurance products to more than 5,000 school districts nationwide. Mr. York graduated Summa Cum Laude from San Diego State University.

Steve Franklin - Vice President of Information Technology

Upon graduating from the University of Tulsa in 1997, Steve went to work for Comark Inc. as an IT liaison with the Williams Companies in Tulsa, OK. He left Tulsa to become a consultant in Oklahoma City working with a variety of clients. From there, he became a Senior Developer at Worldcom Inc. building on demand graphing applications for their various frame relay and ATM services. After leaving Worldcom, Steve went to work for Advanced Academics as Director of Information Technology where he helped to design and oversee the development of two versions of their custom learning management system. He has been involved with Advanced Academics ever since. Over the years, Steve compiled a broad range of experience working with different companies and eventually decided to found a technology consultancy. Thus Roundcore Technology was born in 2003. Steve spent the next four years building Roundcore Technology working with clients of all sizes and technology needs until mid 2007 when he took the opportunity to return to Advanced Academics as Vice President of Information Technology.

Andy Scantland - Vice President of Marketing and Research

Andy joined Advanced Academics in early 2008 and is responsible for the student recruitment, overall marketing efforts, and research at AAI. He has more than 20 years experience in marketing including more than five years in a senior management position at post-secondary education provider Alta Colleges. Andy started his career with advertising agency giant Ogilvy & Mather, where he managed accounts in the financial services, retail, hospitality, travel and office products categories. During that time, he won a CLIO, advertising’s version of the Oscar, for his work with United Way. Andy has also served as vice president of marketing for luxury travel company Destination Hotels & Resorts as the company tripled its portfolio of properties. Andy has extensive experience with direct and online marketing as well as managing customer service operations. He is a graduate of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and Clemson University.

Roberta McKerlie - Director of Education

Ms. McKerlie serves Advanced Academics as the lead student advocate and directly manages the education and counseling staff. Roberta has worked in education for ten years in the traditional classroom environment and seven years in the online environment. She worked at Luther Public Schools where she began the Spanish and Computer Application classes. She left education at the end of ten years to begin and administer a physician service organization for a group of physicians. After running their organization for seven years, she returned to the education arena and became Advanced Academics online Spanish teacher/developer. In 2006, she was promoted to the Education Department Manager and in 2008 as Director of Education. Roberta holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and Business Management from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri and is currently working on a Master of Education in School Leadership degree.

Faith Carriere - Director of Administration

From September 2000 to August 2001, Ms. Carriere served as Advertising Director for McGraw Hill Children’s Publishing where she was responsible for overseeing marketing materials for multiple brands. From 1998 through 2000, Ms. Carriere was Advertising/Public Relations Director for Instructional Fair Group, a division of Tribune Education. From 1996-1998, Ms. Carriere was Special Marketing Director for RAFFI, the leading children's entertainer in North America. From 1991-1996, Ms. Carriere was Vice-President of Moyers, the largest educational dealer in Canada where she directed all purchasing and marketing functions. Prior to 1991, she was a successful music teacher. Ms. Carriere is a graduate of The Royal Conservatory of Music at The University of Toronto with an ARCT - Organ Performance (Gold Medalist) and an ARCT - Piano Teacher.

Melissa Myers - Director of Curriculum

Melissa has been with Advanced Academics for the past four years. As Director of Curriculum, Melissa leads a dedicated team of subject matter experts, writers, editors, instructional designers, multimedia developers, and content packagers to develop rigorous online instructional content for both the middle and high school level. She and her team are responsible for ensuring that course content is aligned to national and state education standards. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Masters Degree in Instructional Technology in 2005 and also holds degrees in Psychology and Multimedia Design from Cameron University. She has a keen interest in assessment design, motivation in online learning, and project management. Prior to joining Advanced Academics, Melissa worked as a multimedia developer for the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and developed several multimedia products as a freelance developer.