Power Moves: Malvern’s Frontline Education has a new CEO

Power Moves is a column where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, new gig or promotion? Email us.

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Frontline Education, the PACT Enterprise Award-winning school administration software, announced their newest CEO on Tuesday: Mark Gruzin.

Previously, Gruzin held roles at Blackboard, another education technology company, and IBM software. He has also served as the chairman of the board for National Fragile X Foundation and works as a Special Olympics coach. In a statement released Monday, Gruzin said that as a special needs parent and advocate, he feels deeply aligned with the software company’s mission.

“This role provides the opportunity to have a lasting impact on our clients in the education community through the solutions and services we provide,” Gruzin said. “I am excited to build upon the vital work that Frontline Education is doing to support and strengthen educational organizations across the country.”

Gruzin is the third recent hire for Frontline, in addition to Chief Product Officer Kevin Haugh and Chief Client Success Officer Garland Hall. Frontline’s board chairman, Charles Goodman, said the new recruits are part of the company’s commitment to supporting their K-12 clients.

“Having strong and focused leadership is an integral part of the growth plan and we have enormous trust and belief in all that Mark Gruzin can accomplish on behalf of the K-12 community as the leader of this organization,” Goodman said.

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In other school news, education nonprofit City Year Philadelphia has a new vice chair of its board, Kerri Strike-Stahller. By day, Strike-Stahller works as the area director for T-Mobile, but has served on the board since 2011. She said that a commitment to diversity is a big first step in her new role to better represent the 19 public schools City Year partners with.

“An initiative I’m looking forward to strengthening is more diversity of our board so it further aligns with the students we support in Philadelphia,” Strike-Stahller said.

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Thursday, Aug. 8, marks the fourth annual SustainPHL awards for green work in Philadelphia, and some familiar Philly tech faces made the cut. From coworking spaces to food apps, here are a few of the local biz and tech nominees helping out Mama Earth:

• Impact Business Leader — Mt. Airy Nexus
• Impact Business Leader — Infrastructure Solution Services
• Business Innovation — Wearwell 
• Social Impact — Tiffany Yau, FulPhil
• Climate Hero — Amy Kate Failing, Community Energy, Inc
• Sustainability Mentor — Alisa Shargorodsky
• #FuturePHL — Megha Kulshreshtha, Food Connect

See the rest here.

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1776 said goodbye to Senior Director of Programming Tamra Thompson just before it announced its plans for an incubator location in North Bethesda, to open this winter.

Luckily for the coworking space network, as CEO Jenn Maher pointed out in an email, it’s only a “see you later” as Thompson joins 1776 member Tern Water — check out last week’s coverage on the startup’s crowdfunded smart faucet — as its director of sales and marketing.

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Some other notable career climbers:

• The cofounder of NewSpring and former general board member of the University City Science, Center Mike DiPiano, is now its newly elected chairman. President Steve Zarrilli said DiPiano has been key to the board’s growth over the last eight years, especially in its Impact Report. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia CEO Patrick T. Harker was elected also as a Science Center board member in June.
• The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia’s Arts and Business Council has a new executive director: Diana Lind. Lind currently runs the Fels Policy Research Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, and previously worked as the EIC at Next City. Chamber CEO Rob Wonderling said Lind will help take the council to the “next level of leadership.” Here’s looking at you, Lind.