Leadership

Blake Garrett

Founder and CEO

Blake is the Founder and CEO of Aceable, a mobile-first education platform that transforms stale institutional knowledge into practical understanding. Since founding Aceable in 2012, the company and it's family of brands has educated over 13 million customers and has raised $100 million dollars from HGGC, Sageview Capital, Silveron, Floodgate, and a slew of other angels. Blake started his career as a systems integration consultant for Ernst & Young. While at EY, Blake developed his passion for education by founding the EY Austin college MAP program that helps high school juniors and seniors get through graduation and into college. After six years at EY, Blake decided to follow his passion for education and his entrepreneurial instincts to start Aceable.

Hometown: Los Gatos, California
Education: B.S. in Management, concentration in Accounting, from Boston College.
Favorite Aceable Value: I can't pick a favorite as they are all invaluable in my personal and professional life.
Hobbies/Interests: My wife and daughter, reading, traveling, staying in shape so I feel great when I'm 100, home improvement projects, chess (although I'm mediocre, at best).
Favorite Taco: Carne asada, guacamole, peppers & onions, lime juice, homemade tortillas.

Eric Wood

Chief Technology Officer

Eric landed in Austin 16 years ago through his first job at IBM. Eric joins us from MyFitnessPal, where he most recently led the Engineering team through their spin-out from Under Armour. At UA, Eric was responsible for Data and Platform Engineering, building the team that helps tens of millions of people live healthier lives. He was also a founding co-chair of UA Unified, UA’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group, where they brought UA into its first Pride parades (in SF, Austin, Baltimore, and World Pride NYC), helped UA launch its first Pride apparel lines, and got UA to 100 on the HRC Consumer Equality Index.

Hometown: San Jose, California
Education: B.S. & M.S. in Computer Science from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Favorite Aceable Value: #BeAuthentic
Hobbies/Interests: Training at Atomic Athlete, paddleboarding, mountain biking and snowboarding.
Cake or Pie?: This is hard. I’m a huge fan of cheesecake...isn’t that a cake-pie hybrid!?

Peter Brumme

VP and General Manager, Real Estate

Peter is responsible for the growth and success of the Real Estate vertical at Aceable. Prior to Aceable, he was the Vice President and General Manager of BDX at Builder Homesite Inc. where he led several businesses that attract and engage new home shoppers, including NewHomeSource, the largest demand generating platform in the US for new construction homes. He was VP of Global Digital Marketing for SolarWinds and held executive roles at Kodak Gallery and Intuit in direct-to-consumer marketing. Peter started his career as a management consultant, where he led strategic projects for both Sapient Corporation (now Publicis Sapient) and KPMG Consulting.

Hometown: Mahopac, New York
Education: B. Commerce from McGill University and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Favorite Aceable Value: #CreateDelight
Hobbies/Interests: Guitar/Music, Biking, Cooking, Red Wine, and Travelling.
Favorite Condiment: Spicy Deli Mustard.
Favorite Taco: Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos - Yum!

Leslie Cleaver

General Counsel

Leslie leads the Legal Department at Aceable, Inc. Prior to joining Aceable, she was Senior Counsel for the Houston Astros and Crane Capital Group, Inc. As Senior Counsel, she managed all legal matters related to the team and its parent company. Prior to this position, Leslie was counsel for Ignite Restaurant Group, Inc., a publicly traded restaurant company that operated over 150 restaurants domestically and internationally. She also worked as a corporate associate at three international law firms in New York and Houston.

Hometown: Houston, Texas
Education: J.D. from Cornell Law School and B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
Favorite Aceable Value: #BeAuthentic
Hobbies/Interests: Traveling. My favorite countries traveled to are Iceland and New Zealand.
Favorite Taco: Trailer Park from Torchy's Tacos.

Emily Lawrence

VP of Learning Experience

Emily oversees course strategy, development, and production. Previously, as SVP of Content and Production at Craftsy, Emily grew an online education business from its inception to 12M members, partnering with 800+ instructors and creating 1300+ classes across 16 verticals. The company was acquired by NBC Universal in 2017 and rebranded Bluprint in 2018.

Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
Education: B.A. in Religious Studies from Haverford College and an MFA in Dance Documentation and Criticism from The Ohio State University.
Favorite Aceable Value: #SeekToUnderstand
Cake or Pie: Fluffy diner chocolate cake for my birthday, sour cherry pie for my half-birthday.
Favorite Taco: Veracruz Migas Taco.

Nancy Spencer

VP of Finance

Nancy is responsible for all things Finance and Accounting. She previously spent nearly three years in the Google Finance organization and over 10 years at Ernst & Young, where she was a Senior Manager in Assurance Services. An experienced accounting and finance leader, Nancy has a demonstrated history of working in multiple industries with a focus in tech and real estate.

Hometown: Austin, Texas
Education: Certified Public Accountant with a B.B.A and MPA from the University of Texas at Austin’s Red McCombs School of Business.
Favorite Aceable Value: #BeAuthentic
Favorite Taco: TacoDeli - Sausage, Papas, Cheese.
Most Memorable Teacher: Mr. W in the 4th Grade lifted up a shy and uncomfortable young girl with words of encouragement and acknowledgement, making math really fun and engaging.

Kristen Haga

VP of Customer Experience

Kristen ensures that Aceable is a delight for our students! She leads Customer Support and Fulfillment teams responsible for delivering memorable and valuable customer experiences to our students. With over 15 years’ experience leading customer teams in high growth, early-stage companies, Kristen thrives helping organizations anticipate and decode complex growth stages during critical seasons of change.

Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Education: B.A. in Sociology from the University of Michigan.
Favorite Aceable Value: #SeekToUnderstand
Cake or Pie: Frosting! Skip the cake...go straight to the good stuff!
Favorite Taco: No more tacos! Breakfast bagel sandwich instead!

Erica Holland

VP of Corporate Development

Erica helps to make strategic decisions around growing the Aceable business, whether it’s pursuing a new educational vertical or buying a company. Erica started her career in Investment Banking, and prior to joining Aceable, spent six years in Private Equity. Throughout her career, Erica has gained corporate finance and operating experience across multiple industries, from financial services to technology, and even from construction services to industrial manufacturing.

Hometown: El Paso, Texas
Education: B.S. in Economics, Minor in Cultural Anthropology, and Certificate in Markets & Management Studies from Duke University.
Favorite Aceable Value: #PursueGrowth
Favorite Taco: I could eat the Migas taco from Veracruz all day every day.
Cake or Pie? Cheesecake! (Is it cake or pie?).