Endorsements for June Herold

Saywire, SVP Product Marketing & Business Development
“I had the privilege of having June Herold on the Saywire team during our product rebuild. June brought an extensive array of valuable insight, knowledge, and experience with her during this time of development. Whether discussing the application UI or laying the foundation for future enhancements to the program, June never failed to provide invaluable recommendations based on her vast experience in education technology. June was also instrumental in coordinating several efforts with key members of the education technology field and guided these projects through to their completion thoroughly and in a timely fashion. In the infancy of our company, June stepped in and was able to instantly align us with several key publications for exposure and press coverage in a manner that only experience and credibility in this industry can afford. Interestingly and most notably, June's experiences in educational software development as well as achievements in her personal career, while impressive, do not interfere with her ability to embrace and build upon thoughts and ideas yet unproven and tested. It was in these circumstances that her willingness to listen, coupled with her knowledge and experience in the industry, propelled the incubation process into a deployed reality.”
--Josh Hoover, CTO & Founder, Saywire
managed June at Saywire

ePals Inc., SVP Product and Creative Development
“June and I worked together for the past 5+ years at ePals and at AOL. She left AOL to help me launch new curriculum based products and build infrastructure here at ePals. As is common in companies of this size June also contributed her expertise in marketing, business formulation and recruiting, both through her contacts and within the Senior executive team. Prior to ePals, June reported me in similar roles at AOL. I know June to be a dedicated, committed and principled professional. Many of the success my teams have derived over the years stem directly from June's energy, leadership and will to win. I strongly recommend June for any Senior position involving creation and deployment of innovative online products and services.”
--Ed Fish, President & CEO, ePals Inc.
managed June at ePals

“June's expertise and knowledge base in the k12 elearning space is impressive. At ePals, I had the fortunate opportunity to witness and experience not only her product marketing and development prowess, but also her deep passion for the field and related commitment to excellence. I look forward to collaborating with and learning from her during the process.”
--Jason Wingard, PhD., was SVP, Regional Markets and CEO, ePals Foundation
worked with June at ePals. He currently is Managing Partner of The Zoeza Group

“I have worked for June since 1999 (ICQ, AIM, AOL Personal Finance, AOL Premium Education Services and most recently, ePals Inc.) She evokes excellence from her employees by encouraging and enabling it. At ePals, I was her director of product development. She gave me freedom to execute a complicated online e-learning service. She gave me the time to do it right, ensured organizational distractions stayed at bay, and patiently read and vetted nearly all documentation, adding important insights that bettered the product in many ways. She encouraged me to take the time I needed to participate in the school activities of my kids, which meant a lot to my family and me. Finally, I can't count the number of times June went to bat for me. Given opportunities over the last eight years,I have always leapt at the chance to work closely with her. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
--Will Schermerhorn, Product Development Director, ePals
reported to June at ePals

“June recruited me into ePals for my position as VP of Education, after getting to know my work when I consulted for her at AOL Education Services. At ePals, June's coaching was instrumental in getting me up to speed quickly by explaining company strategy and processes. She kept me informed of decisions, projects and progress toward our goals so that I had information that would help me do my job better -- even though I didn't report to her. She was always professional, respectful and encouraging. When I consulted for June at AOL, I was impressed with her business plan and strategy for developing a home-to-school connection for supplemental elearning products and services. She understands what it takes to make products that families and schools will use and then she makes them engaging and fun. She is a highly skilled communicator and asks deep questions about core issues. Through her multiple work experiences, she has gathered much knowledge and insight that she applies to new challenges.”
--Rita Oates, Vice President, ePals
worked indirectly for June at ePals


VP/GM AOL Consumer and Education Services
“June did an excellent job in helping establish the education business at AOL. She was there all along the way, from formulating the strategy, to determining the initial product areas, to shaping the design of the products, to shepherding them through construction and then launching them successfully into the market. The products she launched were all first rate (e.g., Writing Wizard, etc.), and some even garnered industry awards. June has unique breadth of skill, able to handle marketing, product and engineering management. I think she is a real talent, and I would gladly work with her again.“
--John McKinley, AOL CTO and President, AOL Digital Services
the consumer and education services were in AOL's Digital Services division

“I consulted on June's strategic and tactical plans for AOL premium education services and also for the K12 portal StudyBuddy.com These projects represented significant efforts to advance the home-to-school connection for supplemental middle school skills and drills applications. The free StudyBuddy.com was an innovative web and database-driven search engine that caught the attention of companies selling subscription based content. June is a results oriented executive. She sets aggressive timelines and meets them. She has extensive knowledge in the consumer education field based on the research conducted at AOL. June's product development background on the web is extensive and would be an asset to any company moving to the internet for distribution.”
--Terry Crane, is a former vice president of AOL Education and was also president of Compass Learning, SVP of Apple Inc.'s Education and Worldwide Strategic Marketing groups. She is a former co-chair of the national CEO Forum for Education and Technology. She currently is the Chairman of the Board of Nobel Learning Communities and is a director on the board of Tutor.com and Questia Media.

“As often happened at AOL, two different divisions of the company had products and services in the eLearning market. When June took the reins of the group responsible for creating new paid-for services and also free education products, she reached out to me to form a partnership that would combine our efforts and win for both of us. Our teams worked together and ensured that we leveraged our strengths and resources. As an example of this collaboration, when June secured external resources to launch a new search engine, StudyBuddy.com, she extended them to cover search improvements AOL@School needed as well. Our teams could have fought against each other but June made it easy for us to combine forces and for us both to be on a winning path. I look forward to working with June in the future.”
--Mark D. Stevens, Executive Director/ GM AOL@SCHOOL
worked with June at AOL

“June led negotations and then product development for AOL Writing Wizard, which was the first consumer application of ETS's essay writing assessment technology. The AOL product put my Family Business Initiative on the map at ETS and proved ETS could find new markets for its assets. June ensured the product's integrity would match ETS's standards. June also helped my group analyze other products it was working on. She values her partners and wants to help ensure their success. June is a detail-oriented, forward-thinking leader. She understands the application of vision to real-market situations. I enjoyed working with her.”
--Chuck Cascio, VP Public Affiars, the Educational Testing Service
was a business partner of June's

“I worked with June to create AOL Step by Step Math, for which my company Academy 123, provided the technology, front end build and content. In addition to negotiating the deal between AOL and Academy, June's expertise in how students and parents would need to navigate and use the service provided invaluable to making an award-winning product. Her understanding of how to get products successfully marketed on the web also lead to good adoption of the service by families. Academy eventually was sold to Discovery Communications and the success, of AOL Step by Step Math was an important asset for that sale.”
-- Daniel Bouganim, CEO, Business Realtime Inc.
was a business partner of June's

“June is a true advocate for the user. She quickly and determinedly designs through tough trade-offs to make a product work for its audience, and she aligns her team and partners behind her on that mission. June's high standards made us reach higher as a company.”
--Jay Budzik, CTO, MediaRiver Inc.
was with another company when working with June at AOL

“June identified StudyDog, out of a pack of other, more well known, contenders, as the best partner for the AOL Ready Set read product her group was to launch. She was willing to take the risk of going with a better product but from a relatively unknown provider because she wanted the best experience for beginning readers. The partnership for Study Dog opened up new doors for our company that we couldn't realistically expect to realize on our own. The interaction between June's team and mine yielded a great experience for beginning readers. And we learned alot about adapting a school-based product for the home market.”
--Deme Clainos, CEO, StudyDog

“There are people who talk and dream, and then there are people who get things done. June is a person who gets things done. One of the great things about working with June was her ability to shift from the strategic to the tangible, while keeping within the confines of schedule and budgets... My design teams supported June in developing various application and content areas for the AOL AIM service, and she was always open to new ideas and continuous improvement. We were able to push the envelope for design and functionality, and the collective teams always walked away feeling proud of the work we accomplished.”
--Dan Giordan, was Director of Design, AOL Time Warner and is currently Creative Director at Sears Holdings Management Co.

“June's boundless energy, unique insight into consumer needs and behaviors, and passion for excellence makes her a remarkable manager. I learned a lot while working for June; she possesses a rare combination of vision and the ability to execute. I have no doubt that she'll continue to excel professionally.”
--Stephanie Sharis, Director of Business Development, AOL
reported to June at AOL

“June was great to work with at AOL. She focused in providing a good user experience for our users while at the same time met the business needs of our partners. She always had a great balance in maintaining the integrity of the products she managed and at the same time creating unique solutions for our media and publishing partners to generate revenue for the company.”
--Phyllis Sudman, VP, AOL Media Networks, America Online Inc.
worked with June at AOL


KinMix Inc.
“It was a privilege to be able to work with June during my tenure as COO of BrainPOP. She provided invaluable guidance to Brainpop on how to adopt a web 2.0 strategy to bring a web services model to the company. June also counseled us on how to make our technology and front end more scalable and dynamic, and she offered insights on adapting social networking tools for developing a learning community. So, I wholeheartedly recommend working with June to any company looking to position itself as a leader in the evolving online world and to any executive looking to make the transition to web 2.0 and 3.0.”
-- Michael Salort, COO, BrainPop Inc.

“When June Herold saw how crazy our customers are about our jigsaw puzzles she suggested we set up a social network for puzzlers on the web. I was clueless on how to do this. And within a week she had us up and running at stavepuzzlenuts.com. Her grasp of retention marketing as well as her advice on how to leverage widgets and other web 2.0 tools is much appreciated. June is a really bright and talented go-getter and we are fortunate to have her helping us out. The puzzle community she set up for us is way more successful than what I had imagined it would be. Our customers love it.”
-- Steve Richardson, CEO, Stave Puzzles Inc.

“June is a very high energy, creative mind. It is always a pleasure to have the opportunity to have June work on projects and brainstorm with.“
-- Ramona Pierson, CEO, Synapticmash Inc.