EducationInvestor July/August 2020

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EXECUTIVE MOVES

executive moves Aspen New York-headquartered education technology holding company Aspen has appointed Doug Kass and Mike Koehneman to its board, while Malcolm MacLean IV has resigned. Kass will serve on the regulatory committee, and Koehneman will serve on the audit committee and corporate governance committee. Aspen’s total board membership is now eight, with six independent directors. Kass is a board member of MVC Capital and is the founder and president of Seabreeze Partners Management, a privately-owned hedge fund sponsor. He has more than 45 years of experience with various investment firms. He began his career as an analyst at Kidder Peabody and spent nearly a decade at Putnam Management as an analyst and economist. He was a member of the board of directors of Empire Resources, a distributor of value-added, semi-finished metal products, from 2011 until 2017, when it was acquired by Ta Chen Stainless Pipe Co. Koehneman was global advisory chief operating officer and human capital leader at PwC, where he led worldwide operations for the advisory business, overseeing 50,000 professionals. He

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was previously US advisory operations leader responsible for oversight of advisory’s services for PwC, including business unit performance, finance, investments, human resources, acquisitions, and administration. Previously at PwC, he was the lead engagement partner for financial statement audits and internal control and security reviews. Koehneman is a CPA.

Barnes & Noble Education Barnes & Noble Education, the provider of educational products and services for higher education and K12, has appointed Lowell W Robinson to its board as an independent director and as a member of the board’s audit committee. Robinson has significant public company board experience, including in the education sector. He is an experienced digital, education, and turnaround and M&A executive. He has served as a member of the board of Medley Capital Corporation since 2018, where he sits on the audit committee and special committee of the board. He previously served on the board of Aratana Therapeutics from 2018 until its sale to Elanco

in 2019. He also previously served on the board of Evine from 2014 to 2018 where he was chairman of the audit committee and served on the finance committee. He also served on the board of HigherOne, a fintech education services company, from 2014 until its sale in 2016, where he chaired the audit committee and was on the risk management committee. From 2006-2009 Robinson was chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Miva, a digital marketing company. He was on the board of Edison Schools from 2002 to 2004, where he chaired the audit committee and was lead director; while on the board of Edison Schools, he was interim chief financial officer for NYU Polytechnic. From 2000 to 2002, he served as senior vice-president and chief financial officer of HotJobs, which was acquired by Yahoo. Robinson has also served on the board of the University of Wisconsin Business School, the Council for Economic Education, the University of Wisconsin Economics Department, the Harvard Business School Club of New York, and the New York Academy of Sciences. Barnes & Noble Education is based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

EducationInvestor Global • July/August 2020


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