Meet Our Team

During his 16-year career in Chicago city government, Ron helped tackle many of the challenges municipal governments face in a variety of positions, including:

• Nine years in the Chicago Police Department — advancing to Assistant Deputy Superintendent, where he created the country’s most advanced policing technology system and developed innovative, community-based strategies that helped decrease crime.
• Executive Director of the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications — where Ron created the state-of-the-art Operations Center, which provides real-time intelligence to public safety and homeland security officials.
• Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard M. Daley — appointed to direct the operations of Chicago’s 49 civic departments. His new citywide performance management system greatly improved service delivery.
• President of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) — instituted a company-wide turnaround plan based on performance management principles.
• CEO and Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools — where Ron initiated sweeping reforms such as online student assessments and a transformative student safety plan.

After leaving public service, Huberman was co-founder of a company dedicated to research-based, data-driven K-12 education talent management.

Ron received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned his M.B.A. from the Booth School at the University of Chicago along with a Master’s in Social Service Administration, where he was an Albert Schweitzer Fellow. Additionally, Huberman is a graduate of the Senior Management Institute of Policing from the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).

Sarah has spent most of her career helping government agencies transform their business operations to become more operationally efficient. At Benchmark, she is President and COO, overseeing the company’s product, engineering and customer operations activity. Her former positions have included:

• Business Development executive with both IBM Global Business Services and CB&I — hired to direct smarter cities technology platforms at the municipal level.
• Member of Mayor-elect Rahm Emmanuel’s transition team and First Deputy Budget Director at the City of Chicago – where she focused on building out the new administrations budget and financial plans including opportunities for government transformation.
• Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley — where she focused on large-scale transformation and government reform, technology and digital divide policy, and human capital issues.
• Vice President for Performance Management at the Chicago Transit Authority.
• Chief Performance Officer for Chicago Public Schools — where Sarah managed building processes and systems for data-driven decision-making . . . from the Central Office to the classroom.
• Chief Operating Officer of TeacherMatch — where she directed the company’s product and M&A strategy and helped lead the successful exit of the company to Vista Equity.
• Director of an international development start-up at the University of Chicago, responsible for building out a scalable social impact consulting organization.

Sarah holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English and creative writing from the University of Iowa — and a Master of Public Policy from The Harris School at the University of Chicago, where she was a Dean’s Fellow.

Bob is a seasoned marketing pro with deep entrepreneurial experience across multiple disciplines. He has been a key functional partner in numerous start-up enterprises. Bob brings a creative sensibility to his marketing management skills — he is as passionate about developing go-to-market business strategies, as creating compelling brand stories that start with the next “big idea”.

Most recently, Bob served as Vice President of Marketing at PeopleAdmin, formerly TeacherMatch — a company offering a data-based, analytics-driven product suite for K-20 education talent management addressing everything from screening and hiring to onboarding, induction and professional development.

Before TeacherMatch, Bob was Chief Marketing Officer at Modern Teacher — an educational professional services start-up, which remains a leader in the digital convergence space that supports school districts through the transition from traditional classrooms to modern learning environments.

Bob has also served as Managing Partner at an integrated marketing consulting firm and Vice President of a Chicago-based marketing services agency representing top consumer brand clients.

Nick brings his vast experience in the development and implementation of research-based data pipelines addressing all aspects of R&D for companies and organizations working in the public sector. His previous positions and accomplishments include:

• Chief Research Officer at PowerSchool — oversaw data science research and development
• SVP/Chief Research Officer at PeopleAdmin — built a mission-driven analytics organization and proprietary multi-platform, multi-network, multi-tenant data pipeline for universities and K-12 education institutions across the United States and Canada
• Chief Research Officer at TeacherMatch — planned, resourced, and executed on the development of machine-learning and research-based assessments for school districts to hire high-performing staff
• Founding CEO UChicago Impact — built an agile company providing research-based products to improve school culture, student literacy and college graduation in over 4000 schools nationally
• Associate Director/Senior Researcher at the University of Chicago — designed interactive research-visualization tools for school leaders, automated analyses of school improvement measures and studied the affects of school district policy
• Consultant at CGI-AMS — built data pipelines and human interaction systems for the federal government’s Medicare provider enrollment and linking 50 states claims processing systems

Nick hold’s a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Brown University and a Master’s Degree in Education Research Methods and Policy from the University of Michigan.

Scott Barnes brings over 20 years of experience in finance and operations from Big Four accounting firms to Fortune 100 companies to private equity-backed businesses. As CFO, Scott oversees the accounting, business support, financial planning and analysis, treasury, internal audit and tax functions for Benchmark Analytics. Combining financial expertise with operational leadership and commercial acumen, Scott has a proven record of helping drive both top- and bottom-line growth across a number of tech-enabled businesses.

Prior to joining Benchmark, Scott most recently served as General Manager for ExamFX, a leading provider of online learning content, software, simulation and analytics for the financial services industry. Previously, he held finance leadership roles at Ascend Learning, Kinetic Concepts, Sprint and EY.

Scott holds a Master of Accounting and Information Systems from the University of Kansas, where he was named an Ernst & Young Student Fellow.

Sherry brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, specializing in scaling operations to enable heavy enterprise growth. Highly skilled in strategic planning, transformational leadership, and organizational development. Significant career achievements include:

• Executive leadership across Customer Operations, Product, and Engineering
• Led technology strategy and ground-up development of enterprise platform applications in a highly regulated industry, supporting $250M of revenue. NextGen capabilities included big data, SaaS, APIs, and shared services
• Optimized software development processes across large, mid-size, and small companies – resulting in significant improvements to stability, predictability, quality, and acceptability
• Named “Woman of Influence” by HousingWire (2021)
• Former President of the CoreLogic Women’s Business Council
• Sherry graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from Saint Leo University and earned her M.B.A. with an emphasis in Technology from East Tennessee State University

Chris has spent the majority of his career developing high-performing sales teams using a variety of coaching techniques and his own enterprise experience. Notable positions include:

• Director of Sales Operations, ReliaQuest – Chris focused on adding predictability to the revenue stream and increasing the efficacy of the sales team. Owned pipeline, forecasting, and accompanying key performance indicators. Managed sales technical stack from a strategic and administrative perspective
• Sr. Manager of Sales Enablement, Barcodes, Inc. – Responsible for overseeing training, systems, and tools to provide improved performance and consultative approach to client relationships. Develop unique training content tailored to onboarding and continuing education with a focus on solution-based processes
• Signal Processing Engineer, GE Healthcare – Performed market analysis and competitive comparisons to support next generation GE cardiograph. Completed GE Certified Six Sigma Greenbelt training and utilized Six Sigma methodologies to streamline AAMI testing procedures

Chris holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Sarah has deep experience in scaling products and product management organizations in growing companies, evolving internal processes to meet customer needs and cutting through complex systems to identify root challenges and find practical solutions. Highlights of her accomplishments include:

• Launched a successful online specialty food B2B marketplace startup, a subsidiary of Gordon Food Service
• Developed and owned TravelAds sponsored listings ecosystem — from consumer-facing ad experience and real-time CPC auction to advertiser bidding portal, ad performance analytics and sales tools
• Collaborated with core eCommerce Global Product Organization on ad optimization, through A | B testing and detailed data analysis
• Developed new pricing models and pricing methodology for the package insurance business — along with performance metrics reporting systems

Sarah earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and History from Wellesley College and completed her Master of Commerce at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Steve brings nearly two decades of experience in leading the creation and commercialization of insurance risk solutions for quoting, underwriting, loss control and claims management. Highlights of his impressive accomplishments include:

• Architected the formation and growth of CoreLogic’s insurance risk analytics division —the industry’s strategic partner of choice for property risk assessment, valuation, underwriting and claims workflow solutions
• Developed strategy, roadmap and go-to-market approach to deliver Trusted Property Moments™ — enabling insurers to reduce cost while enabling next generation digital experiences for policyholders
• Led the build, deployment and maintenance of a global, competitively differentiated risk analytics solution portfolio spanning high-definition, spatially precise risk models describing forensic, deterministic and catastrophic property risk
• Gained hands-on experience in all phases of the system development lifecycle with Deloitte’s public sector practice — successfully developing custom-built enterprise systems which delivered to-be process automation and superior user experience for state and local government entities

Steve graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science of highest distinction in Chemical Engineering — where he was also excelled in Varsity Crew.

Dr. Jones is responsible for evolving the machine-learning infrastructure at Benchmark Analytics — along with conducting rigorous research in policing and collaborating with our development team in product advancements. Highlights of her impressive professional and academic experience include:

• Designed and managed the expansion of a data warehouse for literacy courseware for the K-12 education field — and set data privacy policies, monitoring, data governance, information security, compliance, etc.
• Formulated analyses on the Chicago City of Learning (CCOL) infrastructure — using statistical analyses and interactive visualizations to reveal patterns within the log data
• Led the research and design of interventions to engage minority youth in computer science learning opportunities and created a computational pathway that supported teen participation in computing activities
• Created online games containing embedded assessments of student-learning strategies for Stanford University —School of Education
• Wrote chapter on “Designing Synchronous Blended Learning Environments to Support Distributed Mentorship” published in the book, Moving Students of Color From Consumers to Producers of Technology

Dr. Jones holds degrees for Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Master of Science in Computer Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University in Stanford, CA.

David Gehant is a data-driven leader who has vast experience building and supporting all aspects of the end-to-end customer journey — from pre-sales
engagement through software deployment/implementation and customer satisfaction/retention.

Highlights of his 20+ year career include:

• Transforming company-wide culture, processes, tools, and metrics to support SaaS/customer success mindset — introducing management layers and role specialization to drive efficient scalability aligned with
  sales velocity
• Leading and developing multi-disciplined, multi-tiered and geographically distributed organizations responsible for onboarding, training, adoption, support, and retention with focus on an improved customer experience
• Ensuring service delivery commitments and SLA compliance requirements are met — as well as identifying, designing, prioritizing,and implementing continuous process improvement initiatives

David holds a Bachelor of Arts in Pre-Medicine from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and earned his M.B.A. from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Chuck Ramsey has had a highly respected career in law enforcement that spans over 45 years. His impressive accomplishments include:

• Chicago Police Department patrol officer from 1970-1976 — promoted to sergeant in 1977, lieutenant in 1984 and captain in 1988.
• Commander of Chicago’s Narcotics Section from 1989-1992, and appointed Deputy Superintendent of the CPD in 1994.
• Chief of Police in Washington, D.C. from 1998-2006, where crime rates declined about 40 percent during his tenure. He also expanded community policing and traffic safety programs — as well as improved recruiting, hiring and training standards.
• Police Commissioner of Philadelphia from 2008-2016 — where the city’s homicide rate dropped 37 percent and violent crime decreased by 31 percent during his tenure.
• Co-Chair of the President’s 2014 Task Force on 21st Century Policing
• President of the Police Executive Research Forum and the Major Cities Chiefs Association

Ramsey is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Lewis University. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Lewis University and Northwestern University.