About Us

Burck Smith

Burck Smith is the CEO and founder of StraighterLine. Before launching StraighterLine, he was the founder and CEO of SMARTHINKING, the dominant online tutoring provider for schools and colleges. In addition to building StraighterLine, Burck is writing chapters for two books on education policy for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He is a member of the American Enterprise Institute's Higher Education Working Group. Burck worked as an independent consultant who contracted with for-profit and non-profit educational organizations, including clients such as the Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Computer Curriculum Corporation, the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, the Milken Exchange on Education and Technology, Teaching Matters Inc., Converge Magazine and others. As a writer about education and technology issues, Burck has been published by Wired Magazine, Wired News, Converge Magazine, University Business and the National School Boards Association. In the early 1990's, he wrote articles on a variety of subjects including creating community telecommunication networks, electronic access to political information, telecommunications deregulation and the ability of utilities to serve as telecommunications service providers. Burck holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. from Williams College. Recent publications include:

• Public Policy Barriers to Post-Secondary Cost Control - Prepared for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conference, "Increasing Accountability in American Higher Education," November 17, 2009. To be published as part of a book sponsored by the Gates Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
• Price Competition and Course-Level Choice in K-12 Education: Lessons from Higher Ed - Prepared for the American Enterprise Institute Conference, "More Than Just Schools: Rethinking the Demand for Educational Entrepreneurship," December 7, 2009. To be published as part of a book sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute.
• College by Subscription - American Enterprises Institute, September, 2009.

David Parento

David Parento serves as Chief Operating and Financial Officer at StraighterLine, where he is responsible for managing the company's day-to-day operations, including overall financial, administration, legal and corporate development activities. He has spent the last twelve years building early-stage and growth companies as a venture capitalist and attorney. Most recently, David was a venture capitalist at Chrysalis Ventures, a leading technology and healthcare-focused venture capital fund doing early and growth-stage investments, where he focused on education and training sector investments, such as Regent Education, Techskills and ThirdForce. Earlier in his career, David was corporate finance and transactional lawyer with Davis Polk & Wardwell in California, London and New York, where he worked extensively in the firm's venture capital, private equity, capital markets and M&A practices. David has a BA from Yale University, a JD from Vermont Law School and a MSc, Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was a Sloan Fellow.

Josef Katz

Josef Katz serves as the Vice President of Marketing for StraighterLine. He is responsible for putting in place marketing plans, strategies, partners and systems to bring the StraighterLine programs to market. Josef is a veteran marketer within the educational industry and has a proven track record of success. Prior to StraighterLine Josef was the Vice President of Marketing for Trump University where he drove the University's growth and international expansion. Before joining Trump University, he served as the Executive Director of Integrated Marketing for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions. While in this role he was an integral part of their direct mail, email, Internet, and relationship marketing initiatives. Josef's other experiences include providing direct marketing and data strategy for leading brands such as Intel, NASDAQ, Nestle, Volvo, Philips Electronics, New Balance, and Rogaine while working for Draft Worldwide and Fuel NA (part of the Euro RSCG agency network). Mr. Katz was elected to serve on the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Ethics Operating Committee. He is a member of the DMA's CRM Segment Advisory Committee and has presented at the DMA's annual conferences. Josef has judged the DMEF Collegiate Echo awards and is a member of Direct Marketing Idea Exchange. You can read Josef's marketing blog to learn more or follow him on Twitter and start a conversation.

Joseph Thibault

Joseph Thibault is the Course Manager for StraighterLine's catalog of online college courses.  He is responsible for the ongoing maintenance and development of current and future course offerings.  Before joining StraighterLine, Joseph worked for three years managing the course catalog of 80+ courses at GlobalClassroom.us, a low-cost provider of professional development courses for K-12 teachers throughout the US.  In his spare time he works to advance open education and content and manages a growing eLearning technology news site (http://moodlemonthly.com).  Joseph received his Bachelors and M. Ed. from the University of Vermont. 

Andrew Hoon

Andrew Hoon serves as the Course Advisor to StraighterLine's students. He is responsible for helping students progress through their online college courses and reach their educational goals. Andrew graduated from Roanoke College in 2008 with a Bachelor's of Business Administration. He joined the StraighterLine team in January 2010. Andrew is also currently enrolled at Loyola University where he is working towards his M.B.A.