APPOINTS KAREN C. FRANCIS CHAIRMAN AND CEO
Mountain View, Calif. (April 6, 2010) – Leading education marketing company AcademixDirect (www.academixdirect.com), has announced the appointment of Karen C. Francis as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. In this role, Francis will manage the company’s continued growth in the booming online higher education industry.
“The online education industry is retraining America, educating nearly ten percent of workers in this country. This is a time of unprecedented growth,” said Francis. “As a leading education marketing company, AcademixDirect is poised to meet the needs of students seeking new careers in the 21st century economy.”
Francis brings a valuable combination of marketing, technology and educational experience to the company. She was most recently Chairman and CEO of Publicis & Hal Riney, an advertising agency based in San Francisco and owned by global holding company Publicis in Paris, France. Prior to that, she held senior executive positions with Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Internet Capital Group and Bain & Company management consulting. Francis received her Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, where she served on the school’s Board of Trustees, completing her nine-year term in 2009. Karen is also on the Board of Directors of Mamapedia.com, and has contributed as an advisor to technology companies for the last ten years including comScore, XLTech Group, Redloop Media, and Scanscout.
“Karen’s impressive credentials in executive management, consumer marketing, and academia uniquely qualify her to steer the company to greater growth as it expands its roster of partner colleges and universities, as well as the types of technology enrollment solutions it offers,” said Javier Rojas, Managing Director of Kennet Partners, which supplied $10 million in Series A equity funding to the company in 2009.
About AcademixDirect
As the leading innovator in education marketing focused entirely on higher education, AcademixDirect is a trusted partner creating tailored solutions for improving university enrollment. AcademixDirect strives to innovate better ways to connect college-bound students with the schools that will help them succeed. To that end, the company deploys advanced technology that incorporates a proprietary matching algorithm, data purity assurance, lead scoring and targeting capabilities, as well as a unique customer-centric approach to create value for both educational institutions and students.