Derek Hamner
President and Chief Executive Officer

Co-founder of Learning Objects, Derek has nearly a decade of experience as an entrepreneur and technologist. Derek co-founded Collaborative Systems Research, Inc., a pioneer in the synchronous virtual classroom space. He later sold the company to Tutornet, Inc., whose technology was subsequently acquired by Blackboard, Inc. At Blackboard, Derek managed and contributed to large software projects. Software derived from his work is in use today at thousands of institutions worldwide. Derek holds a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and he is co-author of Java Network Programming from Manning Publishing.

Hal Herzog
Vice President, Product Development

Hal is a co-founder of Learning Objects and leads its product development team. Hal has 8 years experience as a software engineer and system architect, and has deep technical expertise in the field of distance learning. Hal worked for several years at Blackboard, Inc., as Principal Consultant and Quality Assurance Manager. Prior to Blackboard, Hal worked at marchFirst and at IntraActive (now Bantu). Hal has been a presenter at several education technology conferences and is a contributing author of Intranets Unleashed from Sams.net. Hal holds a degree in Information Systems from American University.

Susan Laws
Chief Financial Officer

Prior to joining Learning Objects, Susan worked for several years as an independent consultant, providing strategy and finance consulting to small businesses and individuals. Susan previously worked in China in private equity investment and real estate development, and she worked with Lehman Brothers in derivative products research. Susan graduated from Harvard College and received her MBA degree from Harvard Business School. She is a member of the CFA Institute and the Washington Society of Investment Analysts.