As Wonderschool Expands its Mission, Six New Leaders Join Team

New Leaders Join Innovative Company Aiming to Ensure Every Child has Access to Early Education that Helps Them Realize Their Potential

News provided by

Wonderschool

Jun 29, 2021, 09:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wonderschool, an innovative online platform that connects families to a diverse set of child care options and supports child care providers, today announced it is adding six new employees to its leadership team. The appointments signal the company's continued growth and commitment to ensuring every child has access to early education that helps them realize their potential.

"Wonderschool needs a slate of experts to help guide the expansion of its mission to serve not only individual home-based providers but also statewide and community early childhood systems, and in turn, the families and children who need services most," said Wonderschool CEO Chris Bennett. "We are thrilled to welcome these new leaders, and we look forward to learning from their expertise."

Leaders joining the Wonderschool team include:

Rupal Shah, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing: Shah, a seasoned operational executive with more than 20 years of experience growing technology companies, will be responsible for building and scaling Wonderschool's partnerships in multiple markets to affect change in early child care. Shah previously worked at companies like Accenture, Oracle, Blackbaud and Civitas Learning, and he has led partnerships on large-scale transformation efforts with organizations like the University of Texas System, University of California System, the American Red Cross, the Puerto Rican government, UNICEF, and YMCA of America, among others.
Carol Miller, Head of Employer Partnerships: Miller, who brings more than 20 years of experience working in employer-sponsored child care, will be responsible for building the company's partnerships with employers seeking to support working parents with high-quality and innovative child care solutions. Prior to joining Wonderschool, Miller worked for Bright Horizons in regional business development. She began her employer-focused career at Children's Creative Learning Centers, which was acquired by Knowledge Universe/KinderCare Education. Through various roles, she helped employers determine employee child care demand, as well as develop and operate on-site or near site child care programs, and she strategically managed several client accounts across a variety of industries.
Naveen Koorakula, Vice President of Product: Koorakula, a serial entrepreneur and seasoned product executive with over 20 years of experience building consumer products, will be responsible for building and scaling Wonderschool's suite of products to help teachers, directors, and other key players in the early childhood sector. Prior to Wonderschool, Koorakula founded multiple successful startups in marketplace, social, and web search spaces. He brings a wealth of experience scaling hyper growth marketplaces from his time at Groupon, Yahoo, and Next Force Technology to Wonderschool.
Holli Pritchard, Head of Customer Success, Directors: Pritchard will help Wonderschool ensure it is successfully expanding access to quality early childhood education for all. Following her career as a special education teacher in Atlanta Public Schools, Pritchard led the customer success team at educational startups IO Education and Illuminate Education.
John Brody, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering: Brody will drive Wonderschool's product growth and evolution. Brody has had individual and leadership roles on engineering teams at six previous venture-backed startups, including Glint (acquired by LinkedIn), Flurry (acquired by Yahoo), and DeviceAnywhere (acquired by Keynote Systems), and Speakeasy, which he also co-founded.
Adrian Lai, Chief of Staff: Lai will support the Wonderschool CEO by building alignment across teams and leading cross-functional initiatives. Most recently, Lai served on the product team at Spin, where he pioneered Spin Pass, a major revenue channel for the electric scooter sharing industry. Lai has also led SEO at Houzz, acted as a strategy consultant at McKinsey and Company, and analyzed data at Facebook. While at Facebook, he created the first network AB test designed to quantify the effects of receiving "likes" from friends.

Today's announcement follows efforts by Wonderschool to continue to expand both its product offerings and its partnerships. Earlier this year, for example, the company expanded its platform, which has traditionally served home-based care and education providers, to serve child care centers. It also announced the appointment of former Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter as a senior advisor to help identify and develop new partnerships with governments and organizations.

About Wonderschool
Wonderschool is building the largest network of high-quality early education programs. Wonderschool offers a diversity of options and combines engaged teachers and thoughtful education with the warmth of a family program while maintaining standards that go above and beyond state requirements. By providing dedicated support, technology, training, mentorship, and community, Wonderschool lets teachers focus on what they do best— teaching—and allows them to earn a sustainable living in the field they love. Named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in Education in 2019, Wonderschool is based in San Francisco and venture-backed by Andreessen Horowitz, First Round, Omidyar, Unusual Ventures, and Gary Community Investments, among others. Learn more at www.wonderschool.com.

SOURCE Wonderschool