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Grockit Adds New VP of Engineering

Roy Gilbert — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:05:41 +0000

Here at Grockit, we’ve been searching for a fantastic VP of Engineering for a long time. Anyone entering this dojo of supersmart Ruby on Rails ninjas needs to be a true craftmaster. For these reasons, this has been a challenging position to fill.

We had an imaginary dream candidate: he or she needed absurd technical skills, solid leadership talent, and (most importantly) they needed to be imbued with awesome Grockity values. Gamer with a passion for disrupting education? Major bonus points.

That is why I am so excited and honored to have Chris Henley join us as our VP of Engineering. He’s joining Grockit after a successful career at Roost, SGN, Hughes, and NASA (yes, he is a rocket engineer). Chris impressed all of us with his eagerness to learn and improve our team.

Here’s the official press release sent out moments ago:

Grockit Hires Chris Henley as Vice President of Engineering

Henley brings social gaming expertise and engineering leadership to Grockit

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – September 13, 2011 - Grockit, a social learning company, today announced the hiring of Chris Henley, vice president of engineering, to lead the company’s engineering efforts and scale technology development as Grockit continues to grow and increase its product offerings. Chris will focus on product development across new platforms and new geographies. He will also work with partners to launch new co-branded products.

“We’re thrilled to have Chris on board,” says Roy Gilbert, Grockit CEO. “He is a gifted leader, skilled technologist, and his background in building social products that engage millions of users is a perfect fit for Grockit.”

Chris was most recently the VP of engineering at Roost where he led engineering and helped shape product operations. Prior to Roost, Chris served as the founding director of engineering and executive producer at Social Gaming Network, an early pioneer in social gaming. He helped grow the company from three people to more than one hundred in just over a year, while overseeing the technology and operations behind SGN’s Facebook and iPhone games that had a combined reach of over 50 million users.

Grockit Welcomes Rusty Greiff as Chief Strategy Exec

Grockit Team — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:53:33 +0000

Grockit is excited to welcome Rusty Greiff as Chief Strategy and Development Officer! With 15 years of working in the test prep and education technology world, Rusty joins an ambitious group to help expand Grockit’s brand including licensing agreements for large education companies.

New Team Members

brian buser — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:49:24 +0000

It’s time to welcome some outstanding new additions to the Grockit team. We are excited to have the crew below on board. They all add unique skills to the mix. And best of all they are already doing great work. Welcome to the team Jake, Thomas, Will and Alex!

Jake – Academic Director

Prior to joining Grockit, Jake was a part-time Grockit GMAT tutor and full-time research assistant for antitrust lawsuits. Back in the day he earned a degree from Tufts University in Quantitative Economics. Jake once traveled around South America for 6 months, four of which were spent teaching English in a small Ecuadorian town. About working at Grockit, he says, “I enjoy the freedom to be creative and see various peoples’ ideas implemented in a growing organization with a real product. When everyone is invested in the same goals, the product is better and we have a better time getting there. The sunshine, view of Bernal Heights, dogs and delicious lunches are not bad either.”

Thomas – Data Analysis Specialist

Thomas recently completed his Ph. D in Applied Math from the University of Maryland. He has too many degrees to list. But prior to Maryland he studied Computer Science at Harvard. What Thomas likes about Grockit, “I could go with the fact that we really are using quantitative analyses to drive decisions, or that I think we’re really providing an amazing platform for a variety of educational content…but I think what I like best is that I get to work with really incredible people, with a variety of different strengths. I find myself constantly impressed by the people here. And that makes this a great place to work.”

Will – Software Engineer

Will is a native of Britain who studied at the American School in London. He was an engineer at Topspin before joining Grockit. Will has a serious book habit and boasts a backlist of 40 books right now, ranging from Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things to Dictionary of the Khazars. He joined our team at Grockit because he wanted “…to do good work for a company that benefits people in some way”. He also likes “…that Grockit’s ethos and practices support sustainable, aware software development”.

Alex – Software Engineer

Prior to Grockit, Alex worked at 2K Games in Novato, CA. He graduated from Cal Poly with a Computer Engineering degree in 2004. One of his favorite hobbies is to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so tread carefully around him. Alex thinks “…working at Grockit is great, the group is very close knit, and the environment is fun. Very different from other jobs I’ve had in the software industry. The work atmosphere is relaxed, but very productive and collaborative.”