TRINITY EDUCATION GROUP, INC.
CLARKSVILLE, MD

Hugh backed into his career in marketing and business strategy from his intended career of . . . well, let’s be honest, Hugh never intended to have a “career”. He wanted to be a writer, but he also wanted to eat, dress warmly and keep his marriage intact—all things many writers have trouble with. So after receiving his MFA, he began teaching at Emerson College in Boston, MA. When he needed more money (to support his responsible-married- adult-life addiction) he took on some work in Emerson’s Continuing Education Division, where he quickly became Director of Academic Programs and led the Continuing Ed Division’s revenue growth of 350% in three years. Seeing as he had become a sell-out, Hugh figured he might as well go make some real money in the real world. Over many years, Hugh worked for a financial services enterprise (aka “bank”), a federal government contract-training company, and Lesley University, where he served as VP of Marketing & Strategic Initiatives until 2005. In those years, he learned many valuable lessons, including: How almost everyone really does care about doing a good job, even when they talk like they don’t. Hugh learned other lessons, including how to develop and execute business strategy, communicate with customers, create meaningful partnerships and acquisitions, lead large teams and improve profitability, blah, blah, blah. In 2005, Hugh left Lesley to become the Vice President of Business Development and External Relations for Laureate Education, Inc., former Sylvan Learning Systems, one of the largest world-wide providers of higher education. Later that same year, Hugh and his wife had their first child. After more than 70 round-trip plane rides in only 18 months, Hugh knew that the time had come to make a change in his career so as not to miss the changes in his family (cue Harry Chapin!). With his wife pregnant with their second child, Hugh left Laureate in 2007. Today, Hugh describes himself as “allergic” to large organizations (to be fair, they are probably allergic to him as well). Through projects like NOTA, iPASOS and Parents K-12, Hugh is more convinced than ever of the potential to disruptively innovate within the K-12 system in order to improve how kids learn. He enjoys working very near his family on a daily basis, having less than 100 e-mails a day, and working in a focused and productive way on Projects-That-Can-No-Will-Change-The-World. Within several years, he helped develop some of the most influential projects in ed tech including CyberFair, World Links for Development with the World Bank, and ThinkQuest. It was here that Clyde learned what kids could actually accomplish given the right platform, the right tools and the freedom to create. Those principles for collaborative design became the foundation for the “Harnessing the Power of the Web” which he co-authored with Al Rogers and was distributed to over a quarter of a million students worldwide. The grant money came to an end and the promise of fame and fortune drew Clyde to Silicon Valley. As Vice President of Product Design at ezBoard, Clyde helped grow the online community from 1 million to 7 million members within a year using the same strategies he used working with learning communities in Africa. As Senior Art Director for Lightspan, Clyde helped pioneer the development of educational online games with Sony and Disney. But for all the energy and enthusiasm, expense budgets out of control and business plans written on the back of matchbooks, Clyde grew restless and began to miss the simpler days of working on projects with meaning. In 2001, as the dot.com bubble popped, Clyde headed back to the classroom. Taking all that he had learned as a product designer, tech leader and community builder, Clyde set out to change how students learned online. As VP of Business Architecture at Laureate Education, Clyde was responsible for defining the overall student experience. For six years, Clyde helped reorganize all student-facing agencies around the needs of the students, designed and implemented systems that supported the entire student lifecycle, and helped integrate Universities from around the world into a unified platform. But, once again, Clyde grew restless. In the process of defining enterprise level systems and processes, he felt disconnected from those he set out to serve. So in 2007, after a conversation with his friend and future business partner, Hugh Norwood, Clyde thankfully said goodbye to the corporate world and set out on a new adventure; one that he believes can help change the way kids learn. Christine earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Business Administration from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She then went on to earn her Master of Business Administration in Knowledge and Learning Management from Walden University, Minneapolis. She started her career working with the Governor of Colorado as the Deputy Director of Boards and Commissions. She soon set her sights on a new horizon and left Colorado to pursue new opportunities in Maryland. Christine worked with Fairfield Residential and Archon Group then joined Laureate Education. Within Laureate Education, Christine worked as Enrollment Advisor, External Sales and Business Development Operations Manager, and Senior Data Analyst. She was responsible for helping grow enrollments, support the operations of the External Sales and Business Development team, and provide detailed views into the organization’s data for making budget and business strategy decisions. In 2008, Christine joined the adventure known as Trinity Education Group. TEG has given Christine the opportunity to be a part of an amazing group of people working to make a difference in the world of K-12 education. Being involved in all aspects of the business results in a never-ending supply of challenges to conquer. As a mother and a professional, Christine is able to make a difference in her children’s lives and the lives of other children by helping develop, implement, and maintain ongoing TEG projects.