About Elevate K-12
At Elevate K-12, our goal is to enable high-quality, live teaching for every learner in the United States, so they receive the education they need to identify and pursue their unique passions in life. Amid crisis-level teacher shortages, we are expanding access to live education in classrooms across the country, so no student is without a teacher, no matter where they live or what their circumstance.
Meet the CEO
Piyush Lumba
Piyush brings over 20+ years of executive leadership experience from companies like Microsoft, Amazon & CommerceIQ. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, an M.S in Computer Engineering from Boston University, and an MBA from MIT Sloan. As CEO of Elevate, Piyush is dedicated to deepening support to our district partners, teachers, and students by understanding their needs and ensuring we deliver impactful and innovative solutions, as well as fostering a collaborative company culture to empower the Elevate K-12 team.
Meet the Founder
Shaily Baranwal
Shaily is the Founder and Chief Learning Ambassador of Elevate K-12. Before Elevate K-12, Shaily founded two other companies, including a chain of preschools for low-income students in rural India, and is a former classroom teacher herself. She has degrees in Industrial Engineering, Early Childhood Education, and an MBA from the University of Michigan where she was awarded the Dean’s Entrepreneurial Scholarship. Shaily serves on the boards of the University of Michigan Zell Lurie Institute and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
Leadership Team
Our team is passionate about building a new, innovative category in education!
Jonathan Young
SVP of Customer Success & Revenue Operations
Jonathan oversees Customer Success and Operations for Elevate. He holds extensive executive experience from companies like CommerceIQ, Kantar, and Merrill Lynch.
Lindsay Donikian
SVP of Marketing & Teacher Community
Lindsay leads the teams responsible for attracting, retaining and developing Elevate’s teachers. Her background includes Marketing leadership roles at Amazon & Wayfair.
Lauren Holliday
SVP of Product
Lauren leads Product Management at Elevate. She brings over 20 years of product leadership experience from companies like 2U, edX, Amazon, and LinkedIn.
Shailendra Soni
SVP & Global Head of Engineering
Shailendra leads Elevate’s global technology teams. He brings over 20 years of diverse experience building technology products for companies like Amazon and Verizon.
Molly Messenger
Chief of Staff & SVP of Strategy Operations
Molly leads strategy operations at Elevate. Her background includes experience at SoFi, as well as several EdTech companies including Udemy, ClassroomConnect, and GlobalEnglish.
Cindy Boynton
VP of Customer Success
Cindy leads our Customer Success team, leveraging her experience scaling operations at Amazon and iAcquire to ensure all Elevate programs run seamlessly.
Kim Kays
VP of Academic Product & Sales Enablement
Kim leads Academic Products & Sales Enablement at Elevate, bringing over 17 years of experience in urban education and school leadership.
Carolyn Lanctot
VP of Teacher Success
Carolyn leads our Teacher Success team, drawing on 10 years of experience as an educational leader to ensure our LIVE teachers deliver exceptional instruction to students.
Jake Galey
VP of Finance
Jake leads Finance and Accounting at Elevate K-12. His background includes finance leadership roles for companies like CloudKitchens and Uber.
Ryan Byrnes
VP of People
Ryan leads the People function at Elevate. His previous experience includes roles at Czarnowski, Guaranteed Rate and PeopleFoundry.
Tim Schmucker
VP of IT & Security
Tim leads IT & Security at Elevate, ensuring that all Elevate programs meet the highest standards of privacy and security. He brings nearly 30 years of IT experience from Tenneco.
We 💚 Educators as Elevaters!
We’re proud to have so many former K-12 educators on our Elevate team. Their expertise shapes our products, services, and district partnerships with a deep understanding of K-12 education.
Meet some of our team members whose educational backgrounds help us deliver REMARKABLe learning experiences:
Annie Kim
Director of Product
Brian Worden
Sr. Academic Solutions Engineer
Ashley Goolsby
Sr. Director of Customer Success
Nick Acosta
Academic Product Manager
Dr. Jina Blount
Strategic Partnership Manager
Laura Martinez
Sr. Manager, Academic Produicts
Robin Anderson
Teacher Onboarding Manager
Nakeia Jones
Strategic Partnership Manager
Ashley Burke
Communications Manager
Sarah Vance
Sales Enablement Manager
Lindsay McKinney
Sr. Manager Teacher Success
Dan Devine
Sr. Customer Success Manager
Dana Cotton
Academic Solutions Engineer
Phillip Dugliss
Partnerships Manager
Lindsay Salomon
Certification Manager
Carolyn Lanctot
VP of Teacher Success