K12 names executive chairman, chief academic officer

Online education company K12 Inc. has appointed Nathaniel Davis as its executive chairman and named national assessment expert Margaret Jorgensen as chief academic officer.

Davis has been chairman of the board, but will now expand his responsibilities to include oversight of all operational and corporate functions of the company.

Ron Packard, who founded the company in 2000, will remain CEO, reporting to Davis.

Davis joined the K12 board of directors in 2009 and was named chairman in June 2012. He has been managing director of RANND Advisory Group, which advises venture capital and telecommunications firms. He previously served as CEO and president of XM Satellite Radio and led the company through its merger with Sirius Satellite Radio. He also served as president and chief operating officer of XO
Communications Inc. and other executive positions with Nextel Communications Inc., MCI Communications and MCIMetro.

In the newly created chief academic officer position, Jorgensen will be responsible for helping develop state-of-the-art curriculum, technology, learning systems and teacher support; improving performance for all students, but especially among at-risk students; and using assessments that reflect student progress and can be used to improve learning and accountability.
Jorgensen has a patent for achievement test design and founded Measure2Learn in 2006 to develop technology products that combine assessment and instruction and to provide psychometric consulting services to companies and educational institutions.

She was previously managing director at Battelle for Kids, a nonprofit organization that focused on educational reform, including teacher effectiveness and developing strategies to help low-performing schools.
In addition, in executive positions at Harcourt Assessment Inc., she developed a series of education and assessment products. She also was vice president for development at ACT Inc. and was a senior
examiner for the Educational Testing Service.

Jorgensen earned her doctorate in measurement, evaluation and statistical analysis at the University of Chicago and an MBA at the University of Texas at San Antonio.