Leadership

Kathleen Gibson is the CEO and Founder of APL nextED, a comprehensive academic operations platform that provides workflow support and links faculty and student data to optimize teaching, advising and mentoring to increase student success.

Kathleen has worked as a lawyer, college dean, program developer, professor, and writer. She is a wife, mother, avid reader and yoga enthusiast. Kathleen has studied and written about trends in higher education for the last 20 years.

Kathleen has been described as an audacious leader who knows how to solve big problems by building executable plans and by assembling strong, talented teams. Kathleen has a contagious passion for connecting diverse people around a common vision.

Chris is a extremely versatile systems architect. He has spent the past 20 years in the web development industry developing large scale applications to meet client needs. Chris is a very creative and skilled developer, and is outstanding at working with clients and understanding requirements.

Chris excels at developing state of the art applications from scratch. He has advanced level expertise with Mac and Linux server administration, and has designed and administered multiple large scale physical and cloud data centers. He succeeds in creating platforms that are both fully scalable and fully redundant, providing cost efficient alternatives in achieving service level agreements to clients.

Kurt Knipp is a broadly experienced C-level leader skilled in delivering positive outcomes in difficult situations to enhance shareholder value. Kurt has 20+ years of line-management and advisory roles driving revenue growth and operations optimization initiatives for primarily middle-market companies. He is a strategic thinker, creative problem solver, team builder, and best-practices implementer. Kurt consistently demonstrates an entrepreneurial spirit, measured risk-taking and a natural curiosity for learning.

As VP of Sales and Marketing, Amy is responsible for APL nextED’s communications and marketing strategy. She also partners with institutions to identify operational pain points and prioritize technology solution.

Amy spent a decade in higher education developing integrated marketing and communication for a wide range of audiences. She most recently served as Senior Director of Marketing and Communications leading a creative team and vast portfolio including marketing strategy and creative execution for advancement, athletics, executive, and professional colleges. Amy led digital transformations across digital/social platforms, SEO, and brand marketing during her time at Valpo. Prior to working in higher ed, Amy worked in the television and radio industry as an editor and producer for a PBS affiliate.

Marie is an experienced partner success leader and marketing associate with a demonstrated history of working in the education technology industry. Marie advises and guides APL's customers, ensuring they implement APL nextED successfully, adopt it widely, and are continually using the platform to its fullest potential. She is skilled in Project Management, Leadership, Content Marketing, and Customer Success and Support.