About Us

Board of Directors

Hunt Broyhill

Mr. Hunt Broyhill serves as the Chief Executive of Broyhill Asset Management, LLC and has served as president of several other corporations including Broyhill Investments, Inc., Broyhill Timber Resources, Inc., Broyhill Family Foundation, Inc. and Broyhill Realty, Inc.. Mr. Broyhill has served on various boards of directors including the High Street Banking Company, Swisher International, Capital South Partners, LLC and Peak 10, Inc. In addition, Mr. Broyhill has served on civic boards of directors including the Caldwell Community College Foundation (Investment Committee Chair), Executive Board - Piedmont Council, Boy Scouts of America and the North Carolina Community College Foundation. A graduate of Wake Forest University, he is currently involved in the State of North Carolina’s Economic Development Board.

Richard V. Dempster (Board Member Emeritus)

A graduate of Harvard University (B.B.A., M.S., and Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School), Mr. Dempster has enjoyed a 30-year career with Black and Decker Corporation, where he also served as chairman of the board of directors for Black and Decker International. Subsequent to his career there, Mr. Dempster became president, CEO and chairman of the executive committee of Environmental Air Control, Inc., a firm that specialized in designing and building cleanrooms for microelectronics and pharmaceutical applications. During his time with Environmental Air Control, he acquired additional companies that manufactured ultra-pure air products for industrial, laboratory and medical applications. Since selling these acquired companies to Honeywell, Mr. Dempster has served as director and founding investor of Telecom Assets Management Corp. (TAMCO) and director of Lightstream Catalytic, LLC. He has spent considerable time on various business-related activities including serving as Chairman Emeritus for the Business Council for Indoor Air, as well as past president and honorary director of The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Today, Mr. Dempster remains active on various civic boards.

Jim Kirchner

Jim Kirchner, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of LearningStation, co-founded the company in 1997. As a seasoned technology executive and successful entrepreneur, Mr. Kirchner brings leadership, vision and execution to the team. Tactically, he has helped establish many core customers of LearningStation, has developed channel and vendor relationships and manages the growth and development of the company’s sales, operations, support, finance and administration teams. Strategically, Mr. Kirchner serves the stakeholders of LearningStation by providing vision, developing strategic initiatives, developing strategic partnerships and managing the company’s corporate assets.

Prior to starting LearningStation, Mr. Kirchner had a distinguished military career as a Captain in the United States Marine Corp, where he received two Navy Commendation Medals and a Navy Achievement Medal He is most noted in awards for his stellar leadership and significant contributions to upgrading of USMC deployment and logistics management systems. Upon leaving the USMC, Mr. Kirchner worked as a sales manager at Osprey Systems and General Manager for Sonata Systems, a spin-off of Osprey Systems. In 1996 Mr. Kirchner, co-founded Computer Network Power (CNP), a successful local and wide area network installation and support integrator.

Mr. Kirchner graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelors of science degree in Economics.

Philip J. Kirk, Jr.

Mr. Phil Kirk is Vice President for External Relations with special responsibilities in the Ralph W. Ketner School of Business and the department of teacher education at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina. He is also a consultant and professional speaker. Formerly, Mr. Kirk served for 16 years as the President and CEO of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, the state chamber of commerce and the state manufacturing association. Mr. Kirk is Chairman Emeritus of the State Board of Education after serving as Chairman for six years. He also served as Vice Chairman of the State Board of Community Colleges for five years.

Mr. Kirk has served as Chief of Staff to several political figures including North Carolina Governors Jim Holshouser and Jim Martin and U. S. Senator Jim Broyhill. Kirk was also elected to the North Carolina State Senate and served twice as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Human Resources. Before entering politics, he worked as an English and journalism teacher in North Carolina public schools.

Mr. Kirk has held positions on numerous North Carolina-based boards and commissions. He is Chair-elect of the Public School Forum of North Carolina and a member of the Meredith College Board of Trustees, the UNC-TV Board of Trustees, the North Carolina Economic Development Board, and the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching Foundation Board and the Alliance for Tomorrow Board.

In addition to his numerous board memberships and community involvement, Mr. Kirk has won a number of awards for his work and dedication to improving education. His honors include the I. E. Ready Award, the top award given by the North Carolina Community College System; the Holderness-Weaver Award given by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for outstanding public service; and The Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award given by the Public School Forum of North Carolina for extraordinary leadership and service.

Craig Larsen

Mr. Craig Larsen was a co-founder of LearningStation in 1997 and was with the company until 2005. Prior to LearningStation, Mr. Larsen worked with Ernst & Young, LLP in finance and information systems and was the controller for Osprey Systems, a systems integration firm in Charlotte, NC and co-founder of Computer Network Power (CNP). By utilizing his passion for technology and his financial expertise, Mr. Larsen architected LearningStation to offer the most cost-effective technology solutions for education facilities across the nation. Mr. Larsen holds a bachelor of arts degree in accounting from North Carolina State University.

Dale Mann, Ph.D.

Dale Mann, Ph.D., is managing director, Interactive, Inc. and professor emeritus, Teachers College, Columbia University. Since 1985, he has concentrated in developing and evaluating the gains from e-learning, a field in which Mr. Mann has been identified as one of America’s ten most influential leaders. Interactive, Inc. produced the first interactive computer simulations for at-risk children and youth (drop-outs and basic math skills) and has developed simulations for municipal decision-makers for the Environmental Protection Agency. Interactive, Inc.’s current and recent evaluation research clients include:

• Sun Microsystems
• Texas Instruments
• Bertelsmann
• Compass Learning
• Scholastic
• Kyoto Computer Gakuin
• Barksdale Reading Institute
• Classwell Learning Group
• e-Sylvan
• NYC Department of Education
• NYC Department of Health
• Homeroom.com
• World Conservation Society
• Milken Family Foundations
• U.S. Department of Education
• States of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maine and Arizona
• CELT Corporation

Dr. Mann has been involved with school reform since the 1960’s when his Washington service included responsibility as special analyst for education in the executive office of President Lyndon Johnson and work implementing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Dr. Mann is the author of books and articles on school reform including Policy Decision Making in Education and Making Change Happen. He is the founding chair of the International Congress for School Effectiveness, an organization with members from 65 countries focused on improving schools for the most needy children. With support from the Soros Foundations and the World Bank, Dr. Mann has created networks of reform-oriented school administrators in 8 countries of the former Soviet Union