Regent Education

Jim joined Regent as President and then was elevated to the role of Chief Executive Officer. In this role he is responsible for leading Regent's growth strategy and overseeing all aspects of solution and implementation development, client success, and business performance and planning.

Jim is a 20-year veteran of education technology and education services and has built significant relationships with both education institutions and other education partners over this time period. Previously, Jim was with Blackboard in numerous executive leadership positions including serving as the General Manager, Blackboard Analytics; the Senior Vice President, Product Management for Blackboard Learn; and the Senior Vice President of Global Services. Previously, Mr. Hermens served as the Chief Executive Officer of Educate Online, and the Vice President of Product Management and Services of Spectrum K12 School Solutions, Inc. Jim began his education industry career with Sylvan Learning / Laureate Education, where he served as both a Director, Business Development, and the Vice President, Operations of Sylvan International (Laureate) Universities.

Mr. Hermens is an Air Force veteran who served both in Desert Storm and in support of INF treaty implementation within the former Soviet Union. Mr. Hermens received an AB degree from Princeton University and an MBA degree from the Darden School, University of Virginia. He was named a Shermet Scholar for outstanding academic achievement.

Mr. Otten is an experienced CEO and CFO.  In addition to his role at Regent, he is Board Chair for Orion Energy Systems (NSADAQ: OESX).  Previously, he was CEO of Versar, Inc. (NYSE American: VSR), a DOD-focused federal government contractor, providing global program and project management services from 2010 - 2017.  He stepped down in November 2017 after leading a process to take the Company private, having served as CEO for eight years and two years as an outside board member. Prior to Versar, he spent approximately ten years in the distressed arena, most recently as an Operating Partner with a hedge fund focused on value-oriented investments, primarily in traditional industries within the middle market. He has served as CRO in a number of situations, including a court-appointed CRO for a financial factoring company.  Mr. Otten has held senior management positions with Marriott Corporation and Cabot Corporation, including Managing Director of Cabot Safety Corporation, based in Manchester, England.   During his career, Mr. Otten has managed over 30 acquisitions, both domestically and in Europe. 

His industry experience, in addition to SaaS, includes Government contracting; Light manufacturing; Distribution/Services; Financial services (factoring); and, GC/Construction.
 
Mr. Otten received a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a minor in Economics.  He has done graduate course work at the London School of Economics and has a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he focused on energy and environmental economics.  Mr. Otten lives in Washington, DC with his wife and has one daughter.  He is an avid fly fisherman and squash player.

Ron Dinwiddie, Chief Product Officer for Regent Education with more than 25 years of product development and product management experience within diverse industry sectors and is regarded as an expert in education technologies. 

Ron has served in a variety of executive roles in the educational space.  Directly responsible for all product development activities as well as network infrastructure and cloud technologies.  Ron has worked in areas of providing institutions with solutions to drive, support, and track students' efforts in obtaining gainful employment throughout their educational experience, providing direction and strategies on delivering the next generation platform for adaptive learning, and developed eLearning and Campus ID card products/solutions for colleges and universities.  Ron has worked for companies like Blackboard, Apollo, and Carnegie Learning. 

A native of Arizona, he earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a BS in computer information systems and justice studies from Arizona State University. Ron holds several professional designations and is a member of the Project Management Institute and the Product Development and Management Association.

Michael Shollenberger is an award-winning technology leader with over 25 years of experience in software development. As Vice President of Product Development at Regent, Michael oversees the product development team, driving innovation and collaboration to deliver exceptional solutions for customers and partners.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland.

Katie Blot is our interim Vice President, Delivery Services. 
She is responsible for furthering Regent’s client implementation and consulting initiatives as well as pushing forward our company strategy. 

With over 25 years of experience in the education industry in both the private and public sector and 16+ years in organizational leadership, Katie is passionate about helping organizations whose mission is to help people access and benefit from education. She served as the CIO of the Federal Student Aid Division at the Department of Education. Following this, Katie served in numerous executive roles at Blackboard, including the Senior Vice President of Global Education Services, and, later, Chief Strategy Officer. Following Blackboard, Katie served as the COO and Chief Strategy Officer of income-share agreement provider, and more recently has consulted with multiple higher education organizations including Kaplan Higher Education and the University of Colorado system. 

Katie has a BA in Economics from The Johns Hopkins University and lives in Bethesda, MD with her husband and three children.

With over 25 years of experience in higher education Chris has worked with several organizations including Sallie Mae and most recently CampusLogic before joining Regent Education. Chris has helped schools modernize their financial aid process and improve efficiency in both the financial and enrollment office. Chris is passionate about partnering up with colleges to help them reach under-served populations of students with a combination of technology and communications to make the financial aid process more attainable.

Chris’s drives organizational results by leveraging data and analytics to make decisions that improve student engagement and student experience.

While Chris has worked with schools throughout the nation, he has spent the past 15 years residing in Phoenix, AZ while working with schools in Arizona, California, and the West Region.

Heather is an experienced B2B marketing executive and adjunct professor with over 25 years of experience in Education. In her role as Vice President, Marketing, Heather leads the strategy development and execution of Regent Education’s go-to-market strategies and integrated marketing programs in support of business growth. 

Heather’s career is rooted in Education, where she serves as both a marketing leader and an educator. Heather has successfully led education technology marketing teams for InSpace Proximity, 42 Lines, Liaison International, Parchment, Inc., and Blackboard where she applied her deep education expertise to successfully launch new products and execute multi-channel marketing programs that increased brand awareness and supported sales growth. In addition, Heather serves as an adjunct professor at Johnson & Wales University and Southern New Hampshire University, where she teaches online marketing courses. 

Heather earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing as well as her MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. She also holds certifications in numerous marketing disciplines including Digital Marketing, Digital Advertising, Social Media, and Product Marketing.

Jim joined Regent as President and then was elevated to the role of Chief Executive Officer. In this role he is responsible for leading Regent's growth strategy and overseeing all aspects of solution and implementation development, client success, and business performance and planning. 
Jim is a 20-year veteran of education technology and education services and has built significant relationships with both education institutions and other education partners over this time period. Previously, Jim was with Blackboard in numerous executive leadership positions including serving as the General Manager, Blackboard Analytics; the Senior Vice President, Product Management for Blackboard Learn; and the Senior Vice President of Global Services. Previously, Mr. Hermens served as the Chief Executive Officer of Educate Online, and the Vice President of Product Management and Services of Spectrum K12 School Solutions, Inc. Jim began his education industry career with Sylvan Learning / Laureate Education, where he served as both a Director, Business Development, and the Vice President, Operations of Sylvan International (Laureate) Universities. 

Mr. Hermens is an Air Force veteran who served both in Desert Storm and in support of INF treaty implementation within the former Soviet Union. Mr. Hermens received an AB degree from Princeton University and an MBA degree from the Darden School, University of Virginia. He was named a Shermet Scholar for outstanding academic achievement.

Greg Baroni is the Founder and CEO of Attain Partners. In 2009, Mr. Baroni co-founded Attain, LLC. Following the sale of Attain’s Federal business division in 2021, he launched Attain Partners, with a continued—and expanding—dedication to the education, nonprofit, healthcare, and state and local government markets. He also is the founder and CEO of Attain Capital Partners and Attain Sports and Entertainment.

Before founding Attain, Mr. Baroni held various leadership roles at Unisys Corporation, including corporate senior vice president of the company and president of its Federal Systems and Global Public Sector Unit. During his tenure, the Federal Systems group achieved extraordinary results, doubling its revenue while achieving industry standard operating margins.

Previously, Mr. Baroni spent nearly 20 years at KPMG Consulting, departing the company as its senior vice president of Public Services, serving nonprofit, education, healthcare, and government clients. In this capacity, Mr. Baroni advised numerous organizations on critical business areas such as strategy, cost optimization, and distributed learning. He also led development, implementation, and integration projects involving enterprise-wide packaged solutions and development of software solutions, including grants management, cost allocation, property management, space utilization, and effort reporting software. In 1997, he helped to launch a distributed learning group known as Blackboard—now part of Anthology—that became a first-mover and an industry leader.
For more than 15 years, he served on the Board of AIR, leading the Investment, M&A, and Finance Committees as Chair. During his time on the Board, AIR saw revenue grow by 5X, established a capture and business development program, launched a proposal center, and went through three iterations of strategic planning.

Mr. Baroni has received numerous industry leadership awards such as the Fed 100, Fast Company’s Fast 50, Consulting Magazine’s Top 25, the Greater Washington Government Contracting Awards’ Executive of the Year, NVTC Tech 100 Executives, and the EY Entrepreneur of The Year in the Government Services, Small category for Greater Washington. He also led Attain to be recognized among Consulting Magazine’s 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 Fastest Growing Firms and the publication’s 2017 and 2019 Best Firms to Work For, as voted on by the employees.

An active leader in the professional association community, Mr. Baroni also continues to actively serve the missions of our local charitable and industry organizations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Southern California.

Robb Doub joined New Markets Venture Partners in 2003 and is a General Partner. Robb is the lead administrative partner and serves as a board director for eCoast Marketing, PresenceLearning and Regent Education, and is lead partner or board observer for K2 Intelligence and Kroll Bond Ratings.

Robb has been investing in high growth companies since 1993. Prior to New Markets, Robb was a Managing Director of the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF), a $200 million managed emerging market venture capital company. Robb served on the board of SEAF portfolio companies in industries including pharmaceutical distribution, cable television, internet services, food retail and distribution, biotechnology, and enterprise software. Prior to SEAF, Robb was an Associate of Private Equities at the Calvert Group, a $10 billion socially responsible mutual fund and has worked for two start-up companies. Robb was a visiting professor at the University of Warsaw ‘s School of Business teaching finance to MBA candidates and has been a guest speaker the at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern and at the Johnson School of Business at Cornell.

Robb graduated from the University of Vermont, with a major in History, and received a MBA with Honors from the Georgetown University. Robb is married with three children.

William E. “Brit” Kirwan is chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland (USM) and serves as the Special Advisor to the Board of Directors and CEO. He is a nationally recognized authority on critical issues facing higher education. He served as chancellor of USM for 13 years (2002-2015), president of the Ohio State University for four years (1998-2002) and president of the University of Maryland, College Park for 10 years (1988-1998). Prior to his presidency, he was a member of the University of Maryland mathematics faculty for 24 years.

He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Kentucky in 1960 and his master's and doctoral degrees in mathematics from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in 1962 and 1964 respectively. He has been elected to the Alumni Hall of Fame of both institutions.

With extensive experience leading global technology and business consulting units, I am passionate about delivering enterprise-wide transformations and creating shareholder value. I have successfully navigated challenging environments in several CEO and Business Unit President roles, developing strategies and solutions that have consistently met targeted results.

My hands-on approach is rooted in servant leadership, absolute integrity, and a deep understanding of global businesses and cultures. I am driven to align top-line growth initiatives with operational and organizational objectives, always leading from the front. Accountability is a core value I bring to each role - grounded in two fundamental principles: honesty and humility.

I deeply understand global technology services and enterprise software across all industries, focusing on revenue growth and margin expansion. Additionally, I have extensive experience in ITO and BPO services and the Ed Tech industry. My ability to enhance client relationships has been instrumental in driving business development.

Among my achievements, I am proud to have successfully led multi-billion-dollar business turnaround scenarios, M&A activities, and the scaling of start-ups. I have also served on the boards of several companies, where I have played a key role in improving financial performance and driving successful divestitures.

I want to continue leveraging my expertise and experience to make a difference. I am committed to utilizing my leadership skills and strategic mindset to drive positive change and create value for organizations and their stakeholders.