Charles Thornburgh, Founder and CEO

Charles discovered a passion for education while teaching high school students on the weekends during his undergraduate days at Stanford, and upon graduating translated that passion into the founding of multiple education start-ups. These early ventures included ClickSafety.com, an online safety training company, and Testakers.com, the first rich-media, diagnostic and prescriptive test prep tutoring application online. In 2002 his business was acquired by Kaplan, where he spent the next nine years as an in-house entrepreneur, launching several edtech businesses in the K12 and higher education markets.

Charles is a two-time CODiE Award recipient for excellence in software development and a former director on the Education Board of the Software & Information Industry Association. He is also named on the "16 People Changing the Landscape of Online Education Forever" list by Find Education Online. He is a frequent speaker at education events around the country, when he is not home in Austin, TX enjoying the outdoors with his wife and two young sons.

Tom Warmbrodt, Vice President of Engineering

As Vice President of Engineering, Tom oversees Civitas Learning's development and information technology teams while working closely with partners to guarantee seamless and secure integrations. Most recently, he served higher education and K-12 for a decade as the chief technologist for Digital River Education Services, JourneyEd.com, and Academic Superstore. Prior, he built and managed the development team at Austin-based online learning pioneer NotHarvard.com. Tom got his start as a developer, delivering websites and applications for numerous Fortune 1000 clients including Altoids, Barnes&Noble, Bloomberg, Dell, and IBM.

Tom's work on the Altoids e-commerce site garnered a Communication Arts Award of Excellence in 2000. He attended UT Austin and majored in Physics. He is an ardent fan of sabermetrics, e-sports, tacos, and barbecue. He has a wonderful wife, three beautiful daughters, and one obnoxious cat.

Laura Malcolm, Vice President of Product

As Vice President of Product Management, Laura drives our product vision, requirements and user-interface design. Laura is passionate about helping others improve their lives through education. She began her career as a high school teacher in Austin and then discovered her natural talent for designing educational tools. Prior to Civitas Learning, she spent ten years in executive leadership roles directing the design and development of innovative Educational Technology products.

Laura is a two-time CODiE Award recipient for product design and received her BA & BFA from University of Texas at Austin, and MA in Learning, Design and Technology at Stanford University. She and her husband are happy to be back in Austin, relishing the laid-back outdoor lifestyle Austin offers and spending time with their adorable puppy.

Dr. Mark Milliron

Mark is currently the Chancellor of Western Governors University Texas, the nonprofit university founded by the state of Texas to provide its citizens accredited, high-quality, online and blended competency-based degrees. Prior to taking this position, he served as the Deputy Director for Postsecondary Improvement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading efforts to increase student success in the US postsecondary education sector.

Dr. Milliron is an award-winning leader, author, speaker, and consultant where he has worked with universities, community colleges, K-12 schools, corporations, associations, and government agencies across the country and around the world. He received a BS and MA from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in educational leadership from the University of Texas. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and four children.

Adam Dell

Adam Dell, Venture Partner, joined Austin Ventures in May 2010. Adam has been a successful entrepreneur, academician, and has more than 12 years of experience in the venture capital industry. He will focus purely on early-stage venture investments in the information technology and business services areas.

Most recently, Adam was Founder and Managing General Partner of Impact Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on information technology investments. Prior to founding Impact, Adam was a partner with Crosspoint Venture Partners in Northern California, and a senior associate with Enterprise Partners in Southern California. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, he worked as a corporate attorney in Austin, Texas, with the law firm of Winstead, Sechrest & Minick.

His prior investments include OpenTable (OPEN), Buzzsaw (ADSK), Ingenio (T), and Hotjobs (YHOO). Dell founded and served as chairman of the board of MessageOne, which was acquired by Dell, Inc. in 2008. Adam teaches a class on the role of law in innovation at the University of Texas School of Law.

Charles Thornburgh, Founder and CEO

Charles discovered a passion for education while teaching high school students on the weekends during his undergraduate days at Stanford, and upon graduating translated that passion into the founding of multiple education start-ups. These early ventures included ClickSafety.com, an online safety training company, and Testakers.com, the first rich-media, diagnostic and prescriptive test prep tutoring application online. In 2002 his business was acquired by Kaplan, where he spent the next nine years as an in-house entrepreneur, launching several edtech businesses in the K12 and higher education markets.

Charles is a two-time CODiE Award recipient for excellence in software development and a former director on the Education Board of the Software & Information Industry Association. He is also named on the "16 People Changing the Landscape of Online Education Forever" list by Find Education Online. He is a frequent speaker at education events around the country, when he is not home in Austin, TX enjoying the outdoors with his wife and two young sons.