Everything we do, every day, is rooted in opportunity. It's embedded within our corporate purpose, our people and our culture. Together, we have a remarkable opportunity to educate the world.
What drives us
Our passion is rooted in enhancing student experiences and building partnerships that reflect our strong values and ethical stewardship. We believe our success is directly linked to the success of every student.
Shorelight was founded on the belief that higher education is experiencing a period of profound transformation. Innovative universities across the country are considering new models and initiatives that will benefit from a vested education partner who shares their vision, values, and ambitions.
Shorelight creates extraordinary opportunities for students, universities, and counselors from all over the world. Together, we're changing the face of higher education in the United States for international students.
Tom Dretler Chief Executive Officer + Co-Founder
Tom Dretler
Chief Executive Officer + Co-Founder
Tom is Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Shorelight Education.
Prior to founding Shorelight, Tom was CEO at Eduventures, a best-practices and benchmarking research firm that works with U.S. universities. Previously, Tom was an executive-in-residence at Sterling Partners, a private equity firm that invests in education, health care, and business services companies.
Tom is a co-founder, former president, and board chair of the Alliance for Business Leadership, an association of progressive business leaders dedicated to growth and opportunity in Massachusetts. Tom currently serves as a Leadership Fellow for Johns Hopkins University. He is the co-author of the Sterling Partners/Bain & Company white paper, The Financially Sustainable University.
Tom is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University where he was a Rhodes Scholar candidate and Phi Beta Kappa member. He also holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where he was awarded the Goldsmith Fellowship.
Basil Cleveland Executive Vice President + Co-Founder
Basil Cleveland
Executive Vice President + Co-Founder
Basil Cleveland is Executive Vice President & Co-founder of Shorelight.
Basil brings years of expertise in international education to his role as Executive Vice President of Shorelight Education. Prior to co-founding Shorelight, Basil helped build Kaplan's global business while establishing 60+ transnational degree programs as senior vice president of Kaplan Global Solutions. At Kaplan, he developed partnership programs in Hong Kong, China, and Singapore, including complex consortia relationships with elite U.S., U.K., and Australian universities.
Basil holds a Ph.D. in literature and philosophy from Boston University, where he also earned an M.F.A. under the tutelage of three-time U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. In addition, he is one of the founding editors of Antilever Press, a nonprofit publisher of contemporary poetry.
Pamela Bates Chief Operating Officer
Pamela Bates
Pamela serves on Shorelight's leadership team as Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Pamela is responsible for managing and delivering on all operations across the organization.
As a former senior managing director at Kaplan International, she is well versed in leading operations for higher education programs and English language schools. During her tenure at Kaplan, she managed a staff of more than 100 and oversaw operations for U.S.-based pathway programs.
Prior to joining Shorelight, Pamela oversaw U.S. operations for EC English Language Centers. Starting her career in international education at a young age, Pamela served as an intern for global women's issues at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.
Pamela received a bachelor's degree in international relations and political science from Wheaton College, where she continues to volunteer and serves as class president.
Lynnet Conley Chief Financial Officer
Lynnet Conley
Lynnet brings over 25 years of leadership in financial management and international operations to her role as Chief Financial Officer.
As an operationally minded, results-oriented leader, Lynnet has significant experience with high-growth global organizations. Before joining Shorelight, she most recently served as Chief Financial Officer for Vistra, a global business services provider specializing in corporate, company formation, international expansion, and administrative trust and fiduciary services, overseeing a team of 200 finance associates worldwide.
Lynnet has held several leadership positions advancing global organizations, including Radius, Inc., Automatic Data Processing, Inc., ES-Major Account Services and Employer Services International.
Conley received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Masters in Business Administration with distinction from Babson College.
Johan De Muinck Keizer SVP & General Counsel
Johan De Muinck Keizer
SVP & General Counsel
Johan is the Senior Vice President & General Counsel at Shorelight Education.
Prior to joining Shorelight, he was executive vice president and chief acquisitions officer at Kaplan, where he built and led a sophisticated legal department, delivering expert service globally. Johan was part of the management team that grew Kaplan from a $240 million test-prep company to a web-centric $3 billion diversified multinational corporation with more than 30,000 employees.
Raised in the Netherlands, Johan moved to the United States to attend university. Johan holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from Brown University and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law.
Jim Sheehan Senior Vice President of Finance
Senior Vice President of Finance
Jim is Senior Vice President of Finance.
Prior to joining Shorelight, Jim was the chief financial officer and treasurer of edX Inc., a leader in online learning and massive open online courses, where he was responsible for all financial, human resources, information technology, and facilities operations. He brings more than 30 years of financial and operations management experience in the service, software, and manufacturing industries.
Prior to working for edX, Jim was the senior vice president and chief financial officer of Ember Corporation, which was sold to Silicon Laboratories in July 2012. He has extensive strategic and operational experience as well as strong backgrounds in financing and mergers and acquisitions. Jim has also held senior finance positions at Demantra (acquired by Oracle), BISYS Networking Services, Network Integrity, EMC, and Epoch Systems.
Jim holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from St. Bonaventure University.
Chris Hoehn-Saric GM, Shorelight LIVE and Postgraduate
Chris Hoehn-Saric
GM, Shorelight LIVE and Postgraduate
Prior to joining Shorelight, Chris was a principal and deputy chief of staff to the chairman at the Parthenon Group, a global strategic advisory firm. He led growth strategy, branding, and merger and acquisition–related efforts with large higher education and health care clients.
Since 2016, Chris has led the incubation and development of Shorelight Live. In his current role at Shorelight, Chris is responsible for overall strategy, management, and development of products, distribution, and technology for Shorelight Live.
Chris graduated with honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Marc Guerrasio Chief Technology Officer
Marc Guerrasio
Marc brings 20 years of expertise to his role as the Chief Technology Officer at Shorelight.
Well seasoned in both the higher education and technology industries, Marc has extensive experience helping rapidly growing companies innovate, scale, and serve students through technology. Working with leading U.S. institutions, Marc builds innovative degree programs, both in the U.S. and our students' home countries, that help students thrive and create a new generation of successful, globally minded alumni.
Before joining Shorelight, Marc held positions as the Chief Technology Officer of Ntrecept Communications, as well as the Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Product Officer at Connections Education. Marc is highly skilled in E-learning, educational technology, and program management.
Chris Hoehn-Saric Chairman
Chris Hoehn-Saric is chairmain of the Shorelight board of directors, co-founded Sterling Partners in 1983 and is co-chair of the investment committee.
As chairman of the board of directors, he works on all aspects of the deal process including identification and due diligence of prospective acquisitions, and management and oversight of the active portfolio. He currently works on the following portfolio companies: Keypath Education, Meritas, I/O Data Centers, Spartan College, and Tribeca Flashpoint Academy.
Immediately prior to rejoining the investment team at Sterling, Chris was chief executive officer of Educate Online. Prior to this position, he was the chair and co-CEO of Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc.
Chris attended Johns Hopkins University, where he now belongs to the boards of trustees for both Johns Hopkins University and Sheridan Libraries. He also serves on the board of managers of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Andrew Cohen Board member
Andy Cohen is the Chief Investment Officer and Co-founder of Cohen Private Ventures, LLC. He manages the family office for Steven A. Cohen, investing and overseeing a portfolio of private investments among other responsibilities at the firm since 2010.
Prior to this position, Andy was an analyst and portfolio manager for S.A.C. Capital Advisors from 2002 to 2005, where he invested in public equities and debt securities. Then, from 2005 to 2009, he was a partner of Dune Capital Management LP, an investment management firm based in New York City. Andy began his career at Morgan Stanley, where he was an analyst in the real estate principal investing group and then an associate in the mergers and acquisitions group after business school.
Andy currently serves as a board member for a number of private companies, including the New York Mets baseball club. He received his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
William Hansen Board member
Bill Hansen has more than 30 years of experience in education at the K–12 and postsecondary levels.
Prior to becoming USA Funds' president and chief executive officer in July 2013, Bill worked for 15 years in the public sector and 20 years in the corporate and nonprofit sectors.
Most recently, Bill was chair and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C., consulting firm Madison Education Group. He also served as president of Policy Impact Communications, a Washington-based public relations and government affairs firm. Bill served as deputy U.S. secretary of education from 2001–2003 and previously served as assistant secretary for management and budget and as chief financial officer.
Bill's previous private sector experience includes service as president and chair of Scantron Corporation and Global Scholar. He has been an advisory board member for the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education, Brigham Young University–Idaho, the George W. Romney Institute of Public Management at BYU, and Southern Virginia University. A graduate from George Mason University in Virginia, Bill also attended Idaho State University, which recognized him as a distinguished alumnus in 2003.
James Roth Board member
James Roth
Jim Roth serves as chief executive officer, president, and member of the board of directors of Huron Consulting Group Inc.
Before taking on these roles at Huron in 2009, he served as the company's vice president and practice group leader of its Health and Education Consulting segment.
With more than 30 years of consulting experience, Jim has worked with many of the premier research universities and academic medical centers. Moreover, under his leadership Huron has been named by Consulting magazine as one of the "Best Firms to Work For" (2011–2014) and been ranked number three on four Modern Healthcare's lists of "Largest Healthcare Management Consulting Firms."
Jim is a frequent speaker in national forums on matters relating to higher education and academic medical centers. In March 2013, he was appointed to the board of Aviv REIT, a self-administered real estate investment trust specializing in skilled nursing facilities. He received a B.A. in political science and economics from Vanderbilt University and an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.
Jeffery Keith Board member
Jeffery Keith
Jeffery Keith has more than 25 years of executive and board experience in private and nonprofit organizations and education.
He has founded or co-founded multiple successful companies in various sectors including education, retail, manufacturing, financial services, and commercial real estate.
Currently, Jeffery is a senior operating partner at Sterling Partners, a $5 billion private equity fund that invests in education. He is the chairman of the board for multiple Sterling education companies including Spartan College and Tribeca Flashpoint College, and serves on the board of the National Research Center for College and University Admissions and Amerigo Education. Jeffery is a special peer reviewer for the WASC Senior College and University Commission. Additionally, he serves on the board of the University of Dubuque, Alliant International University, and Calumet College of St. Joseph.
Jeffery was the chief visionary and architect of the TCS Education System where he served as an executive. TCS was the first Type II SO nonprofit system created in education and includes various colleges and universities (the Chicago School, Saybrook University, Pacific Oaks College, Dallas Nursing Institute, and the Santa Barbara and Ventura Colleges of Law). He holds an M.B.A. and B.S. in economics and management from Purdue University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. (A.B.D.) from the Stuart Graduate School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Additionally, Jeffery has a graduate certification in financial law from the Kent College of Law and attended Harvard's Graduate School of Education IEM program.
Luis A. Ubiñas Board member
Luis A. Ubiñas
From 2008–2013, Luis A. Ubiñas was president of the Ford Foundation, the second-largest philanthropic foundation in the United States.
Prior to joining this organization, Luis was a director at McKinsey & Company, leading the firm's media practice on the West Coast. He served technology, telecommunications, and media companies, working with them to develop and implement strategies and improve operations.
Luis has served on several multilateral, government, and nonprofit boards and advisory committees, including the U.S. Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiation, the advisory committee for the U.S. State Department's 100,000 Strong Initiative in China; he also chairs the northeast regional committee for the White House Fellows program. He currently serves on the boards of the New York Public Library, Electronic Arts, and Valassis Communications.
Luis is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.
The latest from Shorelight and our University programs across the globe
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