HopSkipDrive Supports Continued Growth Ahead of 2024/2025 School Year with Three Key Executive Hires in Safety, Finance, and Data
2024年7月24日 - 11:00PM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
Company reports that women comprise over half
of the leadership team
HopSkipDrive, a leading technology company solving complex
transportation challenges where there is a heightened need for
safety, equity, and care, today announced three new additions to
its executive team. Jen Brandenburger joins as Senior Vice
President of Safety, Richa Mehta as Vice President of Finance and
Strategy, and Lacey Plache as Vice President of Data Science and
Analytics. These new executives strengthen the leadership team at
HopSkipDrive, bringing proven and seasoned expertise from
world-class organizations and industry leaders including Airbnb,
TikTok, Lyft, Age of Learning, Deloitte, and more.
HopSkipDrive supports more than 10,000 schools across 13 states
to optimize school transportation despite chronic bus driver
shortages, budget cuts, and rising absenteeism rates. The proven
experience of these three accomplished executives will bolster
HopSkipDrive’s leadership in business operations, product
development, and the company’s top priority, safety. These women
join the rapidly growing team that understands the importance of
getting kids where they need to go. HopSkipDrive is women-founded
and woman-led. In addition, 65 percent of hires this year and over
half of the leadership team are women.
"HopSkipDrive has grown tremendously in recent years, and we’re
focused on adding leaders with expertise to continue our trajectory
and momentum," said Joanna McFarland, CEO and co-founder of
HopSkipDrive. "Each of these women brings a passion for our mission
and a wealth of knowledge to help us address the opportunities in
our business and the challenges the company is solving for student
transportation."
As Senior Vice President of Safety, Jen Brandenburger
leads the company’s safety strategy and execution, building on
HopSkipDrive’s industry leadership across products, policies, and
procedures. HopSkipDrive was the first company in the industry to
roll out numerous safety initiatives and offerings, including
real-time ride monitoring by a dedicated Safe Ride Support team,
publishing a Safety Report, and the industry's first and only
real-time, proactive safety solution, Proactive Ride Intervention,
which enables HopSkipDrive to detect risky driving behavior using
mobile telematics and intervene before a ride begins. Brandenburger
will continue championing this industry leadership, raising the bar
for all student transportation. She recently served as Head of
Product Policy, U.S. Data Security at TikTok. Before that,
Brandenburger spent a total of eight years at Lyft in various
roles, including building and scaling Lyft’s first Trust &
Safety organization, and ultimately serving as the company’s Head
of Policy Development and Research, where she played a critical
role in translating business objectives into actionable policy at
the local, state, and national levels. She holds a B.A. from the
University of Colorado at Boulder and a J.D. from the Seattle
University School of Law.
Joining as Vice President of Finance and Strategy, Richa
Mehta oversees the FP&A and Strategic Finance teams and
drives high-priority initiatives to deliver continued strong
performance and growth for HopSkipDrive. Focusing on both short-
and long-term results for the company, Mehta aims to continue
fortifying the company’s position in the market and support its
scaling efforts. She will also be expanding and growing the finance
function and will play a key role in guiding the company’s
priorities and accomplishments. Mehta has extensive experience in
strategy, operations consulting, and investment banking. She brings
a wealth of technology investment expertise across various
companies, including a six-year tenure at Airbnb, where she worked
in Strategic Finance, FP&A, and Corporate Development/M&A,
and most recently led Finance for Airbnb Experiences, a key growth
vertical for the company. Prior to Airbnb, she was in Corporate
Development/M&A at FireEye, which was since acquired by Google.
She holds a B.A. from New York University and an M.B.A. from The
Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Lacey Plache is joining as Vice President of Data Science
& Analytics, where she will continue building
HopSkipDrive’s industry-leading approach to leveraging data,
artificial intelligence, and analytics tools to solve the biggest
challenges facing schools and school districts. Her focus area will
be on accelerating the company’s use of data to make decisions,
spearheading first- and third-party research initiatives that
advance understanding of transportation’s impact on learning
outcomes, and enhancing how HopSkipDrive uses data to make an
impact on the communities it serves. In addition, Plache will play
a key role in integrating AI and machine learning models into its
business, including in RouteWise AI™, the company’s flagship
software and advisory product. Her prior experience includes
building and growing the Data teams at Age of Learning, an
education technology innovator, and PatientPop, a healthcare
technology start-up. Her teams produced data-driven insights that
improved customer acquisition and retention and enhanced product
development. Plache also served as Chief Economist at Edmunds,
where she was a nationally recognized thought leader in automotive
economics and spearheaded the use of data science to optimize
online car buying. She earned a Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA and a
B.A. in Political Science from Tulane University. She has a passion
for education and her volunteer efforts include co-founding a
successful public middle school.
About HopSkipDrive
HopSkipDrive is a technology company that solves complex
transportation challenges where there is a heightened need for
safety, equity, and care. HopSkipDrive is modernizing the $30
billion school transportation industry in two ways: HopSkipDrive’s
marketplace arranges care-centered transportation to supplement
school buses and existing transportation options by connecting kids
to highly-vetted caregivers on wheels, such as grandparents,
babysitters, and nurses. HopSkipDrive also builds software and
offers advisory services that solve the biggest transportation
challenges facing schools and school districts around the country,
including budget cuts, bus driver shortages, and reaching climate
goals. HopSkipDrive currently partners with school districts across
13 states, supporting more than 10,000 schools. More than three
million rides over 61 million miles have been completed through
HopSkipDrive since the company was founded in 2014 by three working
mothers.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240724167691/en/
Media Contact: pr@hopskipdrive.com