The Campus Explorer Team
Jerry Slavonia
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
"The individuals who comprise our core team know how to balance good times with hard work. We have built up a trust over the years which helps create an atmosphere where we're each able to focus on our core discipline to move the company forward." –Jerry Slavonia
Alma Mater: San Francisco State University
Notable College Moment: Jerry Slavonia thought he had found the perfect college when he began his first semester at Gonzaga University. That was until his second long Washington winter dragged on and the California-native realized there was probably a better campus for him. Jerry transferred to San Francisco State University and earned a top-notch TV and radio degree, along with a valuable lesson he teaches his kids: There's a lot more to a diploma than what the course catalog promises.
Brian Hartnack
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
"We're creating a service that some other kid like me who's got an unusual interest, can use to find the school of his or her dreams." – Brian Hartnack
Alma Mater: Cornell University
Notable College Moment: Brian Hartnack spent his high school summers fly-fishing and when it came time for his college search, he scouted for aquatic acreage and reeled in his first choice, Cornell University, in upstate New York. Later, while mentoring local high school students in a summer business training program, Brian saw the glaring inequities inherent to the college process. The students he met received very little help from their high school when it came to navigating their higher education options. He was also surprised to discover that nobody had tried to streamline the college search and application process the way that he and Jerry Slavonia envisioned for Campus Explorer.
Stephen Caldwell
Chief Technology Officer
“I want our site to get to know you so well, that you find yourself in a college like I did – never wanting to leave.” –Stephen Caldwell
Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania
Notable College Moment: Stephen Caldwell began preparing for college on his first day of high school. By his senior year he had an array of colleges to choose from, so he decided to attend college on the East Coast. Steve received first-rate bachelor’s degrees in history and English at the University of Pennsylvania. How he ended up as a computer programmer back home in California after graduation is another story.
Eric Hammond
Senior Vice President, Technology
"I love the fact that we've created a site that is so user-friendly. We have so many more ideas we'd like to build into the site; you're going to see it grow." –Eric Hammond
Alma Mater: University of Cincinnati
Notable College Moment: Eric Hammond is the only member of the Campus Explorer team to receive recruitment mailings from 400 colleges when he was a rising upperclassman in high school. After much deliberation, Eric wound up attending the University of Cincinnati for computer science on a full scholarship. Programming since age 12 – he wrote the code for his high school's student information database – and he’s now considered one of the tallest startup technologists west of the Mississippi.
Brian Keigley
Senior Vice President, Business Development
"I worked hard, but loved the college life more than anything. Now I get to help build an application that will help people find the right fit in a school, which will steer them through life. What I do now isn't work. It's fun." – Brian Keigley
Alma Mater: Louisiana State University
Notable College Moment: For Brian Keigley, football and family tradition factored into his decision to attend Louisiana State University, but scoring the right field of study proved another matter altogether. First Brian tried accounting and then landscape architecture. Five years and 57 credits later, the Florida-native clinched a bachelor's in civil engineering – a degree he used professionally before coming to a life-changing realization: He didn't want to build bridges because he wanted to build businesses. When Jerry asked him to help construct the largest portal of college information ever – it took him a fraction of a second to say yes.
Nick Roberts
Senior Vice President of Marketing
“I've always had a strong entrepreneurial sensibility and being in the digital space and working in a startup comes very natural to me.” –Nick Roberts
Alma Mater: University of California - Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Notable College Moment: Nick Roberts grew up in Los Angeles and started his higher education at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It only took one visit to see friends at University of California - Santa Barbara (UCSB) – where the curriculum, surroundings and the surfing were better – for Nick to realize he needed to move further away from home and transfer schools his freshman year. During sophomore year, while pursuing a degree in business economics, Nick founded the Egghead Restaurant in Isla Vista, which is adjacent to campus. The restaurant, which Nick sold when he graduated, remained an Isla Vista institution for 15 years. Nick first discovered his love of business and startups in college, so it is only fitting that he brings that passion to Campus Explorer.