EXECUTIVE TEAM
Dr. Mike Matwick, Founder and CEO
Dr. Mike Matwick is founder and chief executive officer of Pinnacle Education, an online charter school that since its founding has helped more than 35,000 students with their high school education.
Matwick has guided the charter school since the first group of 300 students began taking classes in August 1995. During that time, he has overseen the increase in the number of Pinnacle Education’s campuses, the dramatic rise in the student population and the increasing demand for Pinnacle’s online classes.
Pinnacle began with two campuses, one in Tempe and another in Mesa, but now the online charter school has five campuses, including one in Nogales and another in Casa Grande. The number of students who take classes with Pinnacle each year has steadily risen over the years, and now more than 10,000 enrolled in at least one course with Pinnacle in 2007. At any given time during the year, more than 4,000 students are taking classes with Pinnacle.
Curt Feldtkeller, President
Curt Feldtkeller has been a board member with Pinnacle Education since 2004, but has a much longer history working directly with Dr. Matwick. In 1992, Mr. Feldtkeller was the Regional Sales Manager for Jostens Learning Corporation, and was involved with Dr. Matwick in the creation of the Peak Performance Center at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Arizona.
In its second year of operation, the PPC became a national demonstration site for Jostens Learning, hosting over 300 visiting educators per year for on-site visits related to program design and implementation. Mr. Feldtkeller was promoted to National Director of Sales for Alternative Education, ultimately replicating the alternative school implementation model 287 times in a three year period. Mr. Feldtkeller subsequently worked as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Invest Learning. More recently, Mr. Feldtkeller held key executive positions with Insight, EDS, and most recently Siemens, where he had responsibility for selection, development, training, and performance of an international sales, marketing and support group.
F.C. Brigham, Chief Innovation Officer
F.C. Brigham is the Chief Innovation Officer of Pinnacle Education. As the CIO, Mr. Brigham oversees Pinnacle’s Information Technology, eCommerce, Marketing, and Registration/Enrollment departments. He also is responsible for ensuring the highest quality internal and external customer experience within Pinnacle Education.
Betty Duarte-Matwick, Director of Personal and Career Explorations
Betty Duarte-Matwick is the Director of Personal and Career Explorations (PCE) and the World of Work. Mrs. Matwick initiated the PCE program in 1996, creating the foundation for the program on the principles of respect and responsibility. Trained in a variety of skill areas, including support group facilitation, substance abuse detection and related teen topics, Mrs. Matwick has turned the PCE program into the cornerstone of the personal and social skill development program at Pinnacle Education. In addition to the program of direct instruction, Mrs. Matwick has also brought a variety of community resources to the students at Pinnacle, including the Army National Guard, diversity training delivered by United Front, disability awareness, pregnancy and parenting issues, domestic violence and gang issues. Working in conjunction with the staff and administration at the sites, the PCE program has become a safe place for students to deal with their personal challenges and to find a support system to encourage positive choices.
Mrs. Matwick earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education from Arizona State University and is a certified support group facilitator. Prior to her experience with Pinnacle, Mrs. Matwick taught physical education and dance at Mesa High School and McClintock High School. In addition, Mrs. Matwick coached cross country and girls basketball, and is recognized as the first female girls basketball coach to take her Mesa High School team to the state championship game in the Arizona 5A conference.
Georgette Proestakis, Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Development
Georgette Proestakis is the Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Development for Pinnacle Education. The primary responsibility for Ms. Proestakis is ensuring the alignment of people strategies with those of Pinnacle Education focusing on creating an exceptional educational experience.
Prior to joining Pinnacle Education, Ms. Proestakis worked at Horizon Distributors, Inc. and Metris Companies as their Vice President of Human Resources. Her extensive experience in the distribution and financial services industries have provided her with a varied background in leading HR teams to maximize employee performance and development. As a strategic thinker and business partner to senior management teams, she successfully implemented employee recruitment, development, compensation, and benefit programs to identify, secure and retain top talent. Ms. Proestakis played an integral part in the strategic planning team at Horizon working collaboratively to identify and execute strategies to meet company objectives. Her experience in acquisitions in both privately held and publicly held companies has proven valuable to the growth and success of organizations she has worked with.
Ms. Proestakis maintains her SPHR through the Human Resources Certification Institute and holds degrees in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Utah.
Carin C. Wolph, Vice President of Finance
Carin C. Wolph is the VP of Finance for Pinnacle Education. As Vice President, Ms. Wolph is responsible for all accounting and finance functions. In this role, she oversees financial reporting, internal control compliance, external reporting, tax, budgets and financing.
She joined Pinnacle in 2009 after 15 years at Insight Enterprises, Inc. where she held leadership positions as a Director in accounting, internal audit and operations, as well as serving on executive leadership committees. This experience included oversight of accounting departments including financial reporting, payroll, internal audit and operations. Additionally, she has extensive project management experience in which she coordinated projects in system design, implementation and roll-out during integrations due to Insights expansion via acquisitions.
Prior to Insight, Ms. Wolph was with the public accounting firm of Ernst & Young. She earned her B.S. degree in Accounting from Arizona State University and is a Certified Public Accountant. She is actively involved in community events supporting the YMCA and local schools as well as serving on the Finance Committee for St. John Bosco Interparish School. She currently lives in Phoenix with her family.
Lois Salmon, Vice President of Instructional Operations
Lois Salmon serves as Vice President of Instructional Operations responsible for all areas of academics including online instructors, guidance counselors and curriculum. Mrs. Salmon has more than 19 years of experience as a teacher and principal in both classroom and online environments.
Mrs. Salmon has worked throughout the country training administrators, teachers and support personnel in the improvement of student achievement, and has developed and designed various assessments with Evans Newton Incorporated. ENI specializes in helping school districts improve student achievement through customized curriculum alignment and software management products.
While at the University of Phoenix, Mrs. Salmon served as the Assistant Dean for the College of Education. She oversaw the academic quality and operational aspects of the teacher and educational administration programs. Her supervision of these programs also included e-education and educational counseling. During her tenure, she monitored academic and program delivery standards, assessed necessary academic requirements, provided information and resources for other campus personnel, and coordinated curriculum development and revision.
At Grand Canyon University, Mrs. Salmon served as the Assistant Dean for the College of Education and was responsible for directing and working with faculty chairs in the areas of curriculum needs and assessments and for providing academic leadership in the development, guidance and reform of undergraduate and graduate curriculum. In this position, she managed the Director of field Placement, the Compliance Project Manager, faculty and College of Educating administrative staff. She was then promoted and responsible for establishment of the Center for Educational Excellence where as the Director she developed the Center including budgeting and oversight of ongoing operations.
Mrs. Salmon currently serves as a Commissioner for the Commission of Postsecondary Education and is a board member for the Arizona Private School Association and House of Refuge.
