Kal Raman
Kal is the CEO of GlobalScholar.com. Prior to joining GlobalScholar.com, he was
the SVP of WW hardlines at amazon.com since Aug 2004. At amazon.com, Kal was in
charge of the world wide hardlines business and also in charge of retail technology
and online marketing for the entire company. Kal held variety of jobs at drugstore.com
from 1998-2004. He was the CEO of drugstore.com from 2001-04 and also served as
COO and CIO. While Kal was the CEO of drugstore.com, the revenues grew 70% to $246
M and the company achieved EBITDA profitability for the first time in Q4, 2003.
As one of the early members of the senior management team at drugstore.com, Kal
was involved in building the team/company from inception and was involved in various
rounds of fund raising including taking the company public in 1999 (NASDAQ:DSCM).
Prior to drugstore.com, Kal has served as the CIO of NationsRent and Senior Director
of technology at Blockbuster and as Director of Technology at Wal-Mart.
Laurent Burman
Laurent is Vice President of Marketing and Business Development of GlobalScholar.com.
Prior to joining GlobalScholar.com, Laurent was the Vice President of Web for Helio,
the most advanced wireless service in the U.S., where he helped launch the company
and built the online brand, built and managed helio.com, their award-winning website,
and managed all e-commerce. Prior to Helio, Laurent served as the General Manager
of the Wireless business for Amazon.com. He has also served as the Vice President
of Business Development for GetConnected, a transaction service provider to the
Wireless and Broadband industries, and worked in product development for over 8
years with Procter and Gamble and IBM. Laurent holds an MBA from the Harvard Business
School and a BS in Engineering from Queen’s University.
Muru Subramani
Muru is the CTO of GlobalScholar.com. Prior to joining GlobalScholar.com, he was
a Research Software Design Engineer at Microsoft Research. While at Microsoft Research,
Muru was involved in a variety of research projects and published numerous research
papers as part of the Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group. Prior to Microsoft,
Muru worked at Valve Corporation, where he helped build the companies online game
distribution platform, at Drugstore.com as a core member of the original engineering
team that built the companies ecommerce platform and at Intel Corporation as a senior
software engineer. Muru holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science
from University of Madras, India.
Chaks Appabattula
Chaks is Director of Development and Operations for School Districts at GlobalScholar.com.
Prior to joining GlobalScholar.com, he was Vice President of Consulting and Product
Planning at AskMe Corporation, where he drove successful implementations of knowledge
management technology and services to Fortune 500 customers that included Intel,
Boeing, Timken, Bureau of Census, Dept of Commerce, and Coke. During his tenure
at AskMe, Chaks held a variety of roles in areas as diverse as product planning,
program management, development, consulting, and sales. Prior to AskMe, Chaks worked
at Microsoft where he was responsible for shipping Microsoft Word 2000 and Publisher
2002 to South Asian and Middle East markets. Chaks holds a Bachelors of Technology
in Computer Science & Engineering and was a gold medalist from the National Institute
of Technology, Warangal, India.
Deva Kannan
Deva is Director of Product Development of GlobalScholar.com. Prior to joining GlobalScholar.com,
Deva was at Amazon.com, where he managed the Advantage program, built and supported
the loyalty programs for Amazon Japan and led the global rollout of new front end
technologies. Prior to Amazon.com, Deva held various positions in Blockbuster including
managing program/product teams to roll out key initiatives including subscription
programs and revenue sharing programs with the studios. Deva holds an engineering
degree from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India.
William Zaggle
William is President of ExcelsiorSoftware.com. In 1986 William Zaggle co-founded
Excelsior which has since established itself as the leading provider of assessment
management software. In a prior role he was Vice President of Elite Software Development,
Inc. of Bryan, Texas, leading the development and marketing of PC software for Mechanical
Engineers worldwide. William built his first computer at age thirteen, and in 1980
graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer
Science with a minor in Electrical Engineering.
Hari Verma
Hari Verma is General Manager of Consumer Business at GlobalScholar.com. Prior to
joining GlobalScholar.com, Hari was the Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at
3i-Infotech. Prior to 3i-Infotech he was the co-founder of G4 Technologies Inc.,
an Enterprise Integration and Payment Solutions provider. While at G4 Technologies,
Hari was instrumental in raising capital, creating alliances, driving sales and
creating a strong customer base in over 12 countries. G4 technologies was acquired
by 3i-Infotech in June 2006. Hari has also served in several roles spanning project/program
management, pre-Sales and account management at Tata Technologies, working for them
in India and Singapore. Hari is a PGDIM from National Institute of Industrial Engineering,
Mumbai, India.
Thomas C. Boysen, Ed.D
Dr. Thomas C. Boysen, Vice President for Professional and Institutional Relations
of GlobalScholar, has served with distinction as a teacher and administrator in
the schools of five states. He began teaching in a remote boarding school in Kenya.
Later he served as a school superintendent for 20 years in Washington State, New
York and California, culminating in his work as San Diego County Superintendent
of Schools.
As the first Kentucky Commissioner of Education, Dr. Boysen led the implementation
of the landmark Kentucky Education Reform Act. After leaving Kentucky, Dr. Boysen
has served as Senior Vice President of the Milken Family Foundation, Chief Operating
Officer of the Los Angeles Unified School District and Senior Vice President of
K12 Inc., a learning systems company.
Dr. Boysen has served on numerous national boards and commissions and speaks and
writes on school reform matters. Dr. Boysen received his Bachelor's degree from
Stanford University and his Doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.