Executive Officers

David Noble, 44
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Chairman and Director

Dr. Noble has served as the founder and a board member of Zatoichi Co., a private technology venture firm, since August 2017 and Associate Professor In-Residence in the Department of Management at UConn since May 2019. Dr. Noble served as Assistant Professor In-Residence at UConn from August 2012 to May 2019, and Co-Executive Director of the of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Consortium at UConn from March 2016 to December 2107. Dr. Noble is regarded as a leader in higher education innovation, and is developing a modern university-wide approach to entrepreneurship and curriculum that is making entrepreneurial education, opportunities and experiences a part of every students’ experience while at UConn, and beyond. Since 2018, Dr. Noble has served as a director of the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UConn, where he facilitates partnerships and builds relationships spanning schools, industries and traditional fields of study to provide exceptional opportunities for students, faculty and alumni while advancing the University’s strategic commitment to inclusive entrepreneurship. Dr. Noble currently serves on the board of advisors of Bastion Health, a digital health startup, Girls With Impact, an education-based non-profit dedicated to entrepreneurship and business education for high school girls, and The Stamford Partnership. Dr. Noble earned a Ph.D. degree in Strategic Management/Entrepreneurship from the University of Alabama, a Master of Business Administration degree from Elon University, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami and a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Northeastern University.

Peter Barkman, 54
President, Co-Chairman and Director

During his twenty-five year career, Mr. Barkman has gained extensive expertise creating and developing new businesses while identifying and extracting value out of companies’ data assets. Mr. Barkman has served in various vice president positions at Solita, a Finnish technology, data and design company that operates in six countries and twelve cities across Europe. Mr. Barkman currently serves as Executive Vice President of International Expansion and the Chief Marketing Officer at Solita, roles he has held since January 2020. Prior to his current position, Mr. Barkman served as Senior Vice President of the Private Sector Business Unit from July 2017 to January 2020 (also serving as the Chief Marketing Officer of the Private Sector Business Unit from August 2019 to January 2020) at Solita. Before that, he served as chairman and senior consultant, and later Chief Executive Officer (from 2014 to 2017) of PALMU Inc., a company that he co-founded with 2 partners and which was acquired by Solita in 2017. Mr. Barkman currently serves as the chairman of the board for Yellow Film&TV Oy and Sisua Digital Oy, and has previously served as a board member of Örum Oy (formerly known as Mercantile Oy ab) from May 2016 to September 2019, Tana Oy from May 2013 to September 2019, and Kahdeksas päivä Oy (formerly known as Suomen Asuntopalvelut Oy/HUOM!) from June 2015 to October 2017. Mr Barkman is involved with several companies in Finland as an angel-investor and is a former visiting scholar at the University of Connecticut. Mr. Barkman earned a Master of Science degree in Accounting, with minors in Business Law and Marketing from Svenska Handelshögskolan I Helsingfors (SHH) in Helsinki.

Angelo Biasi, 51
Vice President and Director

Mr. Biasi currently resides as Founder/Director of MassiveU, Inc. where he recently also served as Chief Executive Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer, since 2013. He is a pioneer/operator of next generation digital ‘authentic’ learning and assessment solutions through award-winning, innovative problem and project based social learning technologies. His efforts led to the asset sale of two products, Solvably and dlab, to Talogy in early 2022, where he served as Vice President, Innovative Learning Solutions. Mr. Biasi has focused his career on rethinking, developing and bringing to market integrated learning platforms and solutions that advance college and career success for lifelong learners. He previously served as an Instructor/Instructional Designer at New York University, where he created the first course taught online over mobile phones, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Mr. Biasi also serves as the President of Smart Marketing Solutions, LLC, a role he has held since August 2021; he also served as President from April 2003 to January 2014. Mr. Biasi earned an Executive Certification in Leadership and Innovation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Connecticut and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Andrew Bilbao, 54
Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Bilbao is a seasoned corporate finance and business strategy executive with an extensive background in mergers and acquisitions within the education technology sector. He has experience building and leading teams, developing financial and operation plans, conducting financial analyses and leading due diligence. Mr. Bilbao served as Global Head of Corporate Development at JWS, a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions, from 2017 to 2021, and Vice President, Planning and Development of JWS from 2010 to 2017. During his tenure at JWS, Mr. Bilbao was responsible for leading numerous global corporate development initiatives and directed the evaluation, structure, negotiation and execution of JWS’ global mergers and acquisitions, executing more than $1.3 billion in buy-side transactions for the company. Prior to joining JWS, Mr. Bilbao held a variety of roles with The Nielsen Company, Emazing.com, a Sony Group company, Times Mirror Magazines, Inc., IDG Newsletter Corporation, Shearson Lehman and J.T. Moran Financial Corporation. Mr. Bilbao earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Boston College and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Sociology from Skidmore College.

Board of Directors

Leah Jewell, 56
Director Nominee

Ms. Jewell co-founded and serves as the President of UPSKLS, Inc., a role she has held since June 2020. Ms. Jewell was at Pearson for 32 years (through various corporate acquisitions starting at Prentice Hall) where she held roles in sales, marketing, product management and executive leadership. From January 2016 to March 2020, she served as the Managing Director of Employability Solutions and Services, where she built innovative, scalable digital/SaaS global learning solutions in lifelong learning, career success and industry certifications, along with leading a 100-person team and managing a $7 million capital budget; from January 2014 to January 2016, she served as the Managing Director of Workforce Readiness, where she led a 150-person team to develop learning solutions in health care, information technology, career/college readiness, vocational careers, and high school career and technical education; from September 2009 to January 2014, she served as President of Health Science and Careers, where she led a 100-person team and managed external partnerships around employer certifications and stacked credentials; and from January 2002 to September 2009, she served as Editorial Director of Social Sciences, where she created digital and print educational solutions for all humanities and social science disciplines for higher education and select high school courses. Ms. Jewell previously served as a board member of the IoT Talent Consortium from August 2014 to December 2019. Ms. Jewell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Media Studies from the University of New Mexico and is completing her Master of Science degree in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at HEC in Paris.

Harvey R. Koeppel, 72
Director Nominee

Mr. Koeppel served as the President and Principal Consultant of Pictographics, Inc., an executive advisory and management consulting firm that provides executive-level support to industry and academia, from July 1979 to October 2021. Mr. Koeppel also served as an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University from May 2020 to October 2021 and Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania from January 2016 to October 2021. From October 2007 to June 2012, Mr. Koeppel co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the Center for Chief Information Officer Leadership, a global community to redefine the role and advance the Chief Information Officer profession. From May 2004 to June 2007, Mr. Koeppel served as the Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Citigroup’s Global Consumer Group, where he developed the strategic direction for the group’s operations and technology. Mr. Koeppel has served on numerous advisory boards of Fortune 500 companies, including IBM (NYSE: IBM), Samsung (OTC: SSNLF), AT&T (NYSE: T), Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), Unisys (NYSE: UIS), Fortinet (Nasdaq: FTNT), Blue Coat (Nasdaq: BCSI) and many others. Mr. Koeppel earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.

John Malfettone, 66
Director nominee

Mr. Malfettone served as the Senior Managing Director at Clayton Dubilier & Rice from December 2010 to December 2018, where he was responsible for the procurement of the company’s portfolio of companies. From March 2004 to December 2010, Mr. Malfettone was the Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Oak Hill Capital Partners. He served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial officer of MacDermid from 2002 to 2003. Mr. Malfettone served as the Managing Director at GE Capital from 1996 to 2001, where he started and ran a line of businesses responsible for investing in commercial and service industries, as the Chief Financial Officer from August 1994 to August 1996, where he was the lead finance individual for 10 businesses of the company focused on lending, leasing and insurance, as the Corporate Controller from August 1992 to August 1994 and as Assistant Corporate Controller from August 1990 to August 1992. Mr. Malfettone has served as a board member of UConn Proud since December 2020, a Senior Advisor at Alvarez & Marsal since October 2020, chair of the Cardinal Shehan Center board of directors since June 2020 and a board member from December 2018 to June 2020, a board member of New Mountain Finance SLF I Inc. since June 2019, a board member of TheoBuild since September 2020, and chair of the University of Connecticut Foundation board of directors from October 2018 to October 2020 and a board member from October 2010 to October 2020. Mr. Malfettone earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Connecticut.