Portfolio News| August 2018

Teachers Pay Teachers Names Joe Holland as CEO; Adam Freed to Become Executive Chair

New York - Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT), the site that more than 70% of U.S., Canadian, and Australian teachers turn to for their educational needs, today announced that Joe Holland, TpT’s current President and COO, will take over as TpT’s new CEO from Adam Freed. Freed, who has led TpT since 2014, will take on the new position of Executive Chair, both leading the board of directors and doing long range, special projects with TpT and TpT’s millions-strong community of educators.

This leadership change allows TpT to maintain continuity as TpT expands its offerings, making educator-created resources available to an ever-broader audience. As CEO, Holland will combine strategic and operational leadership of TpT, and will also join the board. Holland, a digital business veteran, has served as TpT’s President since he joined TpT in 2014.

“I am thrilled for the next phase of TpT’s growth under Joe’s leadership,” said Freed. “Joe has played a critical role in helping TpT become the world’s most popular online destination for resources that help educators support every student with every need. I am confident that Joe is the best person to build on this momentum as we start to sell directly to schools. He is a brilliant strategist, a trusted leader, and deeply committed to our mission.”

“This is an incredible time to be at TpT,” said Holland. “I am excited to work with this amazing team, to continue to partner with Adam, and to continue to empower educators to teach at their best. I look forward to serving our educators and students more deeply in the years to come.”

TpT has thrived under Freed and Holland’s leadership to date. “More than 1 billion resources have been downloaded by teachers, administrators, and parents,” said Freed. “I am incredibly proud of everything our team has accomplished. We have grown our company from a handful of dedicated folks to a thriving company of more than 100, serving a community of 5 million educators worldwide. I look forward to continuing working with and for our inspiring community of educators and authors to elevate their powerful work.”

Before joining TpT, Holland worked for over four years as the CFO and EVP of Strategy at WeddingWire. While there, he helped WeddingWire grow from a small start-up to company of over 300 employees, and oversaw numerous strategic partnerships and acquisitions. Prior to that, he was the VP of Finance and Strategy at Martha Stewart. At TpT, Holland has been instrumental in helping TpT build a platform that provides educators with access to over 3 million paid and free resources. “TpT will continue on our journey to make high quality, teacher-tested resources available to teachers, administrators, students, and parents around the world,” Holland said.

Content contained in this blog post is not intended to and does not constitute investment advice. Your use of the information in this blog post and materials linked is at your own risk. Spectrum Equity does not make any guarantee or other promise as to any results that may be obtained from using this content. No one should make any investment decision without first consulting his or her own financial advisor and conducting his or her own research and due diligence. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and there is a possibility of loss in connection with an investment in any Spectrum Fund. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Spectrum Equity disclaims any and all liability in the event any information, commentary, analysis, and/or opinions prove to be inaccurate, incomplete or unreliable, or result in any investment or other losses. The specific companies identified above does not represent all of Spectrum’s investments, and no assumptions should be made that any investments identified were or will be profitable.