Management Team

Matthew Leavy,
Chief Executive Officer
As chief executive officer (CEO) of eCollege, Matthew Leavy oversees all daily operations, including new business development, account management, customer care, professional services, product engineering technology and product management. Prior to his appointment as president of eCollege, Matthew was responsible for mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnering activities in addition to numerous internal strategic and operating projects for Pearson Education. Matthew was previously the president of the Pearson Education Latin America Group and has held positions in corporate strategy and technology management both in Pearson and Prodigy Internet. Matthew also serves as a member of the Board of Safari Books Online, a Pearson joint venture and market leader in the online delivery of computer book content. Matthew has also worked as an investment banking associate with Veronis, Suhler and Associates.

Vance Allen,
Chief Technology Officer
As chief technical officer (CTO), Allen oversees production and infrastructure, software architecture, program administration and all development activities for eCollege as well as Quality Assurance and offshore development operations. Mr. Allen, who joined eCollege in 1997 as a software engineer, helped build eCollege's first course management system, has since played a critical role in the advancement of eCollege's technology infrastructure. Prior to his promotion to CTO, Allen served as vice president and managing director of Software and Technology where he was responsible for software development. Allen holds a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Pomona College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado.

Andrew Bergad,
Vice President, Educational Partner Operations
Andrew Bergad joined the eCollege team in 2004 as the vice president of Professional Services. In 2006, Mr. Bergad was given additional duties as the vice president of Educational Partner Operations where he is responsible for the day to day activities for Client Services, Help Desk, Academic Services and Technical Consulting. Prior to his experience with eCollege, Mr. Bergad had six years of finance and product experience. Mr. Bergad has a BA in Economics from Northwestern University, a MA in Finance and Strategy from J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Brian Burson,
Sr. Director of Software Engineering
As Sr. Director of Software Engineering, Mr. Burson oversees software development activities on all product lines and technical consulting projects at eCollege.  Mr. Burson, who joined eCollege in 2000, has worked as a Software Development Manager and Director, focusing on the Teaching Solutions and Evaluation Services product lines prior to his promotion to his current position.  Mr. Burson has over 22 years of software engineering programming and management experience, producing software for engineering, financial, and insurance companies.  He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University.

Scot Chadwick,
Vice President, Account Management
A member of the eCollege team since 2004, Scot Chadwick is responsible for leading the sales team that manages all of eCollege’s client relationships. This team is responsible for engaging with senior leadership at institutions to develop and implement strategic growth plans. This partnership-focused approach enables eCollege clients to grow and expand their online programs ahead of the industry and with the highest quality and innovation in the market. Prior to joining eCollege, Chadwick spent three and a half years with Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Mr. Chadwick also spent over seven years with a leading information management company where he worked closely with several prestigious institutions including Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. He holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

John Dobbertin,
Vice President, Engineering Services
As vice president of Engineering Services, John Dobbertin is responsible for eCollege’s entire hosting infrastructure, as well as all eCollege hardware. Dobbertin has been with eCollege since September of 1998. In addition to being one of the first members of eCollege’s quality assurance department, he was eCollege’s first systems integration engineer. Prior to joining eCollege, Mr. Dobbertin was a teacher in the Atlanta Public Schools system. John has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and French from Niagara University, and completed several technical education tracts at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Kendrick H. McLish,
Vice President, Product and Marketing
As vice president of Product and Marketing at eCollege, Kendrick McLish leads the development of product strategy and requirements, as well as the company’s positioning in the marketplace. Previously, Mr. McLish was eCollege’s senior director of Operations, where he was responsible for collaborating with the other eLearning departments in the implementation and management of eLearning solutions and packaging. Mr. McLish also worked collaboratively to grow online programs with some of eCollege’s most successful customers as director of Account Management. Prior to eCollege, Mr. McLish worked at Routledge Inc, an academic publisher that was a part of International Thomson Publishing. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and a Master of Business Administration from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Cindi Taylor,
Senior Director of Program Management
As senior director of program management, Ms Taylor oversees all product development projects for the eCollege platform. She initially came to eCollege in 2001 to implement software development lifecycle methodologies, having successfully launched these methodologies at two previous companies. Ms. Taylor has over 18 years of experience leading software initiatives as a software engineer, development manager, project manager and user interface architect. She also has over 25 years leadership and management experience in the technology industry as well as the United States Air Force.  Ms. Taylor earned her bachelor’s degree from Park University.

John E. Vice II,
Vice President of Information Technology
As vice president of Information Technology, John Vice coordinates all information technology related activities across the eCollege production and corporate platforms, collaborates with multiple business units and divisions and works with eCollege’s executive leadership to define and implement a vision for the future of information technology within the company. Mr. Vice joined the eCollege team in 1999 as a systems administrator. He has held numerous positions during his tenure at eCollege including manager of Information Technology, director of Production Operations and senior director of Information Technology. Prior to joining eCollege, Mr. Vice was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, working for the Air Command and Staff College in Alabama in their distance learning division. Mr. Vice earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Human Behavior and Leadership from the United States Air Force Academy in 1991.