CLAS

Failed

Class Acceleration Corp.

Underwriter: Oppenheimer
Raised
$225M
CIK
1826855
SPAC Ticker
CLAS.U
Focus
Education, Technology, Media, Entertainment
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Joseph E. Parsons is our Co-Executive Chairman and a Director . Since January 2015, he has served as a managing member of 1913 Ventures LLC, a private investment firm. Between March 2010 and January 2014, he served as a member of the management committee and as an advisor to Bridgewater Associates, where he was a leader in the transition from a founder led organization to an institutional quality enterprise, with specific focus on the recruitment of key talent and the transformation of existing business functions. Previously, between 1997 and 2010, Mr. Parsons served in multiple roles at GE, including as CEO of four business units at GE Capital (GE Global Investment Management; GE Real Estate/Americas; GE Private Equity; and GE e-Business). Earlier in his career, Mr. Parsons held leadership roles at Merrill Lynch, KPMG and Sovereign National Management, advising and structuring transformative acquisitions, leading integration activities and building high performance teams. Mr. Parsons’ board experience includes serving as a director of both public and private companies including KnowledgeShares.Org, Regency Centers Corp. (NYSE:REG), Wine.com and MetaProp NYC (since January 2019). Mr. Parsons also worked frequently with the GE Capital board of directors while at GE. Mr. Parsons is also on the University of Connecticut’s Foundation board of directors. Mr. Parsons holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Connecticut School of Business and an M.B.A. from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. We believe that Mr. Parsons’ experience makes us well suited to identify, source, negotiate and execute an initial business combination.

Robert C. Daugherty is our Co-Executive Chairman and a Director . Since September 2015, Mr. Daugherty has served as dean of the Forbes School of Business & Technology (FSTB). He is responsible for defining FSTB’s strategic priorities and for providing the resources and management to pursue them. Since 2000, Mr. Daugherty has served as a member of the investment committee for Hudson Pacific Group, a multi-family office focused on value oriented, growth investing. From May 2010 to December 2011, he served as CEO of the Jack Welch Management Institute. From January 2002 to March 2010, Mr. Daugherty was a managing director at Knowledge Investment Partners Education Company LLC, an investment management firm focused on the education sector. Between August 2013 and December 2018, Mr. Daugherty served a five-year term as a Fulbright Scholar Specialist, a program funded by the U.S. State Department with a focus on Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Daugherty also writes a regular column for Forbes China on investing, education and leadership. Mr. Daugherty holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University, an M.Phil in Management from the University of Cambridge and an MALS in American Studies from Columbia University. We believe that Mr. Daugherty is well qualified to serve as a director due to his extensive investment and private equity experience.

Michael T. Moe is our Chief Executive Officer and a Director . Since November 2010, Mr. Moe is the founder and CEO of GSV Asset Management (GSV), a growth focused investment platform based in Silicon Valley. Mr. Moe is an advisor to and on the Investment Committee of the GSV Ventures fund, a fund investing in the emerging education technology sector. GSV Ventures has invested in companies such as Coursera, Course Hero, Photomath, and Guild Education. He is also the co-founder of the ASU GSV Summit conference, a conference in the education sector. Prior to GSV, from June 2001 to September 2008, Mr. Moe was the co-founder and CEO of ThinkEquity Partners LLC, a growth focused investment firm. From 1998 to 2001, he was head of global growth research at Merrill Lynch and was voted to be on the Institutional All American Research Team and named “Best on the Street” by the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Moe is a board member at SharesPost, Whittle Schools, OzyMedia, BookClub.com, a board observer at Coursera and Class Dojo an advisor to TAL Education Group and Arizona State University. Since 2020, Mr. Moe is also chairman of the Center for Education. Since April 2020, he is also the founder of GSV University and GSV MBA, an accredited graduate program for entrepreneurs. Mr. Moe is the author of two books, “Finding the Next Starbucks” and “The Global Silicon Valley Handbook.” Mr. Moe holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Minnesota. Mr. Moe also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. We believe that Mr. Moe is well qualified to serve as a director due to his extensive investment and advisory experience.

Joy Chen will be one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Ms. Chen was the founder and advisor for FirstLeap Future Leaders Institute, which she founded in April 2008 and which was acquired by TAL Education Group (TAL) in August 2015. Thereafter, Ms. Chen started Joy Education in September 2015, which produced videos of interviews with U.S. teenagers, educators, young entrepreneurs, successful businessmen and businesswomen, community leaders and others to assist the next generation of future entrepreneurs and leaders. Since February 2017, Ms. Chen has served as the U.S. chief investment officer and executive advisor at TAL, supporting TAL’s U.S. investments, business development and strategic partnership development. Since 2016, Ms. Chen has served as a limited partner at Blue Elephant Capital and since 2019 she has also served as a limited partner at EdBeta fund, two early-stage ventures in the China education industry. Earlier in her career, she worked for Ernst & Young and Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft and Verizon. Ms. Chen holds a M.A. from the Indiana University School of Education. Ms. Chen also attended an executive education program at Stanford University in 2015. Ms. Chen is also an author, having published three books, and is a columnist for three magazines. Her writing focuses on parenting and education. We believe that Ms. Chen is well qualified to serve as a director, due to her background in education technology and education technology investments.

Rachael Jarosh will be one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Since 2016, Ms. Jarosh has served as president and CEO of Enactus, a non-profit experiential learning platform dedicated to developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators. Previously, between 2013 and 2016, Ms. Jarosh founded and operated Isles Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm focused on working with philanthropic organizations. Earlier in her career, Ms. Jarosh held roles as president of the foundation at Pentair plc, where she also led global marketing and communications, a senior counselor in the corporate practice at Carmichael Lynch Spong and an investor relations officer at Supervalu, Inc. (now UNFI) and worked in investment research and banking. She began her career as an attorney in 1991. Since 2020, Ms. Jarosh has served on the board of directors of Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: LCUT). We believe that Ms. Jarosh is well qualified to serve as a director due to her experience in education technology and in her extensive work in developing entrepreneurs and social innovators.

James W. Runcie will be one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Since 2017, Mr. Runcie has served as the CEO and co-founder of the Education Finance Institute (EFI), a non-profit organization committed to supporting social mobility through the strengthening of post-secondary institutions that serve low-income, first generation and under-resourced students and families. Between 2009 and 2017, Mr. Runcie served as the chief operating officer of Federal Student Aid (FSA), having been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Earlier in his career, between 1991 and 2009, Mr. Runcie worked in investment banking at major domestic and international financial institutions including UBS, Bank of America and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Mr. Runcie has served on several non-profit boards relating to education or youth development. Mr. Runcie is a current board member of the Student Freedom Initiative and local community serving organizations. Mr. Runcie is also an investment committee member of the College Board. Mr. Runcie holds an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Mathematics from the College of Holy Cross. We believe that Mr. Runcie is well qualified to serve as a director, due to the combination of his commitment to education and his background in investment banking.

Lev Gonick will be one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Since 2017, Mr. Gonick has served as chief information officer of Arizona State University. Between 2013 and 2017, he served as CEO of OneCommunity, a non-profit organization that accelerates the use of information technology in Northeast Ohio. From 2016 to 2017 he also served as CEO of DigitalC, a civic technology collaboration that advances technology innovation and data for community benefit. Between 2001 and 2013, Mr. Gonick served in multiple roles for California State University, Long Beach, including as vice president for information technology, chief information officer and professor of integrated science and technology. He also serves on the board of directors of ClassEDU (since 2020), State of Arizona Information Technology Advisory Committee (since 2019), Luminance/Magnum (since 2016), Coalition for Local Internet Choice (since 2015) and US Ignite (since 2013). Mr. Gonick holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from York University, Toronto, an M.A. in Political Science from Binghamton University, and a B.A. in Political Science from Ohio State University. We believe that Mr. Gonick is well qualified to serve as a director due to his background in education and extensive leadership experience in information technology.