About Naiku
At Naiku, we believe that all students deserve the opportunity to reach their full potential. When teachers understand the needs of individual students and students are more engaged in their own learning, the results are higher achievement for everyone.
Our mission is to provide innovative formative and summative assessment solutions that give teachers information to help students achieve their academic goals. Naiku provides the tools needed to make teachers more effective at delivering quality learning and assessment experiences for all of their students. Using Naiku technology to deliver assessments and collect student achievement data provides a rich array of information that were previously unavailable.
History
Naiku was founded by Corey Thompson, Adisack Nhouyvanisvong, and Kevin Sampers as a way to positively contribute to the nation’s educational system. Naiku, which translates to “teacher” in Lao, is a mobile learning company that delivers innovative assessment solutions to schools.
We don’t see ourselves as just a technology company – Naiku is made up of a team of educational assessment and technology veterans who know how to leverage the best in psychometric theory and computing technology into a state-of-the-art educational assessment system. Our mission is about student achievement and teacher effectiveness.
Management & Staff
Corey Thompson, Chief Executive Officer
Corey Thompson was most recently with PLATO Learning as Director of Software Development where he led learning management system development, technology integration, and implemented process improvement programs that dramatically shortened product development cycles while improving productivity. Mr. Thompson has more than 12 years of experience in systems and software development during which he led large product development organizations. Previously he was a Product Manager at RESoft, a real estate vertical startup that was acquired by Oracle. He has a Computer Science undergraduate degree and an MBA from the University of Minnesota with emphasis in Finance and Strategy.
Adisack Nhouyvanisvong, Ph.D., President and VP, Research
Dr. Nhouyvanisvong has spent the last twelve years in the educational testing industry. Most recently, he served as a senior director of psychometric quality for a large-scale testing company. He has created and ensured the psychometric integrity of large-scale educational assessments for the Minnesota Department of Education and for professional and certification organizations. He is an expert in computer-based tests (CBT) and computer-adaptive tests (CAT). He has taught at the University of Minnesota and is an adjunct faculty at Metropolitan State University. Dr. Nhouyvanisvong has published in peer-reviewed measurement journals and regularly speaks at national educational measurement conferences. He has a PhD in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.
Greg Wright, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Mr. Wright has extensive experience in providing sales, marketing, business development, and general management leadership to technology based companies. Most recently he was Vice President, Sales and Marketing, for Calypso Systems where he led the promotion of network based hardware/software solutions for multimedia rich classrooms. Prior to Calypso, he was Sr. Vice President & General Manager with Renaissance Learning, where he was responsible for the AlphaSmart Neo and 2Know! product lines used principally for writing / keyboarding skill development and student assessment. Mr. Wright is passionate about the use of technology to accelerate student learning, and has been an active presenter and participant at industry conferences. He has an MBA from Loyola College, and BSEE and MSEE degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins University.
Orrin Broberg, Director, Market Development
A leader in business development, Mr. Broberg’s experience includes over 20 years of developing marketing strategies to help companies meet their revenue growth targets. Mr. Broberg recently served as VP of Sales with Activeon, where he redefined the business and sales strategy. At Naiku, Mr. Broberg focuses on developing business in strategic markets.
Dan McGuire, Client Services
Dan has more than twenty years experience implementing new teaching and learning techniques and tools in schools. For the last fifteen years he’s worked in the Minneapolis Public Schools, where he used Moodle (he’s a co-manager of the MN Moodle Users Group), Google.docs and various other technology tools for reading and math assessment and instruction. He’s eager to assist you and your colleagues as you use the Naiku platform to enhance teamwork and collaboration.
Advisor
Richard Daly, is the President of Consatech, a management, consulting and investment firm that serves emerging companies. He has served as advisor to over 100 start-up and emerging computer software and service companies, has founded six firms, and is on the boards of several. Mr. Daly has broad experience in planning and implementation of business and product strategies with particular emphasis on market-driven, high-growth rate environments. He is highly knowledgeable in developing and implementing financial plans to successfully meet both.