We believe that all colleges should provide all students with a direct path to a great career.
To that end, Podium partners with colleges and universities to deliver online programs that provide soft-skilled students with the in-demand hard-skills that lead to great employment outcomes.
Our Culture & Values
- Student outcomes are our north star
- In life and work, run with purpose
- Curiosity is a pre-req for innovation
- The future is built with dirty hands
- Shiny objects are for the birds
Our Team
Brooks Morgan
Co-Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur at heart, Brooks has devoted his career to building companies that help people improve the trajectory of their lives. Brooks sold his first company, GetAccepted, to The Princeton Review, where he continued as the Chief Revenue Officer. Before this, Brooks held roles as COO of Uversity and Venture Partner at Learn Capital. Now, through Podium, Brooks is bringing his considerable experience in education to helping students accelerate their careers through in-demand tech skills.
Alex Ricken
Co-Founder & CPO
For 10 years, Alex has focused on one thing: changing lives through access to education. At Arizona State University, he led the Global Freshman Academy, which gave open access to ASU undergraduate courses for credit. He transformed this program to Earned Admission, which further increased access to education by providing a new pathway into ASU for those who could prove it today. Living at the intersection of design, technology and learning science, Alex brings years of experience creating cutting-edge digital education products that truly push the boundaries of what’s possible.
Chris Parrish
President, University Partnerships
Chris is an optimist who sees a bright future in higher education and is fiercely driven to deliver that future. After jobs in investment banking and consulting, Chris began his career in higher education as one of the first dozen employees at 2U, where he quickly stood out to become the Senior Vice President of University Partnerships. Chris brings deep experience in designing and launching data analytics programs with dozens of universities including UC Berkeley, Rice, and Pepperdine.
Robert Alvarez, Ph.D.
Head of Data Science and Curriculum Chair, Analytics Programs
Robert is that rare mix of somebody who has profound real-world experience, but combines it with the heart of a true teacher. His students say he has a special knack for breaking down technical concepts to make them clear and understandable. Before joining Podium, he was an Adjunct Professor at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business. And during his time at Intel, he tackled issues in data center optimization, market sizing and forecasting, and improved data-driven decision making in a top five global supply chain. Robert also maintains a role as an Artificial Intelligence advisor at NASA’s Frontier Development Lab.
Ifeoluwa Babatunde
Data Analytics Instructor
Ifeoluwa (Ife) is currently pursuing her PhD in information systems and has a master’s in informatics. Ife has expertise in human sciences and healthcare analyzing large, complex, and multi-dimensional data sets using Python, R, Excel, and other tools. Currently, she works as a Client Analytics Consultant researching and analyzing complex health data. When not in the classroom herself, Ife teaches a coding class called Kode with Kehinde to students ranging from 8th grade – university level.
Orly Bartour
Director of Learning Design
Orly is passionate about designing learning experiences that change lives. She completed her Ed.M in Technology, Innovation and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has worked with higher-ed institutions like the Harvard Teaching and Learning Center, Boston University, and Harvard Medical School to create online courses for a variety of purposes. She also led the design of curriculum at multiple education startups, including a tech bootcamp.
Lauren Bauml
VP, Partner Sucess
A Mission-driven leader, Lauren Bauml is deeply committed to education. In her most recent leadership role with Flatiron School and Skills Fund, Lauren equipped thousands of adult learners with technical skills to help them grow their long-term professional opportunities. Before this, Lauren served as a defense acquisition policy and strategic marketing manager at Airbus, with a career spanning from Washington, D.C., to Munich, Paris, London, and Ottawa. At Podium, she leads our efforts in helping our partners succeed and grow.
Rita Biagioli, Ph.D.
Data Analytics Instructor
Rita loves diving into difficult analytical problems. In 10+ years as a researcher, analyst, and teacher of research skills, she has sought to uncover insights about the world in different contexts, making conceptual and practical sense of ambiguity. Rita holds a PhD in cultural psychology and psychological anthropology and a master’s in history of religions, both from UChicago, and a BA from Northwestern. She has worked in market research strategy consulting and in full-time consultative research and design positions in UChicago’s Provost’s Office and Booth School of Business.
Danielle Brager, Ph.D.
Data Analytics Instructor
Danielle enjoys teaching students, and loves witnessing students’ confidence grow as they learn. She is a mathematician with ten years of teaching experience. She recently earned a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Arizona State University where she conducted research in Mathematical Biology and taught undergraduate mathematics courses. Before joining Podium and beginning her graduate studies, she taught high school Algebra in Texas.
Landon Cotham
Program Advisor
Landon loves helping people learn, and as one of our Program Advisers, he gets to do just that, ensuring students have a smooth experience through the entire course. Landon helps our students with the enrollment process and supports them during the actual course, making sure every student is maximizing value. Before joining Podium, he spent three years as an English teacher in Spain, followed by four years as a student advisor for study abroad programs.
Lauren Crider
Data Analytics Instructor
Lauren is a mathematician and Ph.D. candidate in the theoretical mathematics program at Arizona State University, where she also received her B.S. and M.A. degrees. In teaching at Arizona State, Lauren discovered that her favorite part of mathematics is teaching and working with students of all levels and from all backgrounds. She’s a passionate champion for women and girls, as well as other underrepresented minorities in mathematics and truly believes everyone can learn to enjoy mathematics.
Paige Denzler
Data Analytics Instructor
Paige loves learning about humans, and earned three undergraduate degrees in the process. In graduate studies, she merged her love of data with her interest in human behavior in order to study various biases. She hopes to teach her students to maximize the effectiveness of their data-based storytelling and how to avoid the biases of the brain when creating and consuming statistical analyses or visualizations.
Lauren Dickman Ph.D.
Data Analytics Instructor
Lauren loves finding ways to help students have their own individual “light bulb” moments. She recently earned her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Arizona State University, where she was able to dig into the world of mathematical oncology. In her time at ASU, Lauren taught a variety of undergraduate mathematics courses and found a passion for helping students recognize their ability to succeed.
Isaac Gomez
VP, Technology
Isaac finds joy in discovering and building simple solutions to complex problems. With over 15 years of education technology experience, Isaac has helped improve outcomes for over one million students. Prior to Podium Education, Isaac served as Chief Software Architect for Glynlyon, an online homeschooling platform used by 3000 public school districts. At Glynlyon he led the technology transformation from a monolith to microservices in the cloud.
Maddie Hume
Program Advisor
Maddie is passionate about making education accessible and impactful for students of all backgrounds. Before joining Podium, she spent time studying and working in Chile, then transitioned back to the US where she managed study abroad programs in Latin America and advised students to become thoughtful global citizens. When not focused on helping students reach their full potential and home or abroad, you can find her spending time in nature, cooking, and traveling.
Emily Hussey
People Ops Specialist
Emily loves being part of a team that works tirelessly to empower students! At Podium, Emily focuses on recruiting and supporting team growth. Prior to Podium she spent her career recruiting technical talent for top tech companies. A proud liberal arts grad, Emily believes in the value of a liberal arts education combined with learning marketable tech skills. Outside of work, you’ll likely find Emily at the dog park, running, or listening to a podcast (sometimes all at the same time!)
Lusine Kamikyan
Data Analytics Instructor
Lusine believes that no matter the background everyone can learn anything if they put their mind to it. Before joining Podium, Lusine was a graduate teaching assistant at the Purdue math department teaching various math courses to undergraduate students from different backgrounds. While at Purdue, Lusisne received master’s degrees in Applied Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Lusine’s favorite part of teaching is seeing the spark in her students’ eyes when they understand concepts they once thought were beyond their capabilities.
Lara Kattan
Data Analytics Instructor
As one of our instructors, Lara is an integral part of our course experience. Prior to Podium, she taught a full-time data science bootcamp with a focus in Python at Metis. Before that she built risk models as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. She holds a master’s from the University of Chicago, where she had the privilege of thinking about tough problems at the edge of econometrics.
Daniella Kisza
Senior Product Manager
Daniella has spent her career helping hundreds of thousands of students learn in-demand skills. At both General Assembly and Codecademy, Daniella designed products and services that taught coding to learners from non-technical backgrounds. At Podium, Daniella is responsible for designing the software and products that provide personalized skills training at scale.
Natalie Laurence
Program Advisor
Natalie delights in nurturing students along the path of personal and professional growth. Before Podium, Natalie coached students through their decision to study abroad, ensuring they were self aware of their goals and fully equipped and empowered to pursue them. At Podium, Natalie continues to do just that through supporting students’ potential and fostering perseverance in their acquisition of in-demand skills.
Eric Mackintosh, Ph.D.
Director of Product Delivery
A former US Peace Corps volunteer and university instructor, Eric is passionate about tertiary education, information and communication technology, and student outcomes assessment. At Podium, Eric builds the systems and processes that support student learning. Prior to Podium, Eric was the AVP of Research and Data Analytics ISA, an education abroad provider. Eric received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Tulane University, where he taught both upper- and lower-division courses.
Tatyana Mann
Content Marketing Manager
Tatyana is a designer and strategist by trade and a storyteller by nature. Tatyana has 5+ years experience creating and producing narratives through written, digital and print designs. Tatyana strives to be the bridge between reason and innovation by collaborating with people who value creativity as much as function; diversity as much as data. In her free time, Tatyana serves as the Diversity and Inclusion Chair for the Young Women’s Alliance, and as the Digital Specialist for Friends of Elementary Arts, Inc.
Aled Owens
Head of New Partnerships
Aled has spent 15 years helping universities grow and innovate in their approach to student recruitment and curriculum development. He is passionate about developing ways for institutions to improve student access to new content, skills, and employment opportunities through technology. Originally from Wales, Aled was previously a Vice President at QS; establishing their presence in North America and leading key strategic initiatives on behalf of US and Canadian business schools around the world.
Moyo Oyelola
Creative Director
Moyo is a modern day renaissance man at the intersection of art and technology. From designing programs at the Carver Museum and Exhibit, to numerous roles as a creative director in various startups, Moyo brings a vast array of design experience to the Podium team. At Podium, Moyo is responsible for defining the aesthetic for the production of partner and student facing media.
Shaina Pollak
Director of Operations
Shaina is one of those rare people that has the ability to transform deep passion into meaningful action. And at Podium, she does just this; connecting people, systems, and processes that make our products a delight for students. Whether directing enrollment operations at Princeton Review, or working with young professionals at Ronald McDonald House Charities, Shaina has always focused her considerable talent toward endeavors that make a real difference in people’s lives.
Marshall Puls
Director of Enrollment & Advising
Marshall has always demonstrated a passion for helping students succeed. Before Podium, he was an elementary school teacher and prior to that, an Enrollment Manager at The Princeton Review. At Podium, he ensures every student is supported throughout their journey.
Jourdan Rahschulte
Graphic Designer
Learning is one of Jourdan’s favorite things to do so it’s only fitting that she’s joined Podium. As an art student turned graphic designer Jourdan loves being creative and visual storytelling. Before Podium, Jourdan designed for a non-profit organization and has worked with several startup companies. When she’s not pushing pixels, she can be found hiking, baking or listening to podcasts.
Andrew Way
Data Analytics Instructor
Andrew is a stage actor turned recruiter turned data scientist. His atypical career trajectory helps him approach analytics from a human-centered angle. Andrew received his Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre from Baldwin Wallace University and his Data Science certification from Metis. Andrew is a strong advocate for creating pathways into data analytics for students from non-traditional backgrounds.
Mike Yi, Ph.D.
Curriculum Writer
Mike has a multidisciplinary background, covering mathematics, statistics, physics, cognitive science, machine learning, and data analysis. He is always eager to learn new and interesting things, and to put his knowledge together to solve problems and puzzles. At Podium, Mike plays an integral role in ensuring our curriculum is the best-in-class and engaging for the students.
Where We Work
Austin
Phoenix
