Leadership

The Excent^® team is made up of former education professionals, skilled developers, and experienced support technicians, all passionately committed to your success and attuned to the unique requirements of educators and students with general or special needs.

Our Management Team

Scott Shickler, Chief Executive Officer

Scott is responsible for the vision and leadership of Excent®. He focuses his energy on assembling a team of experts, forming strategic alliances, and providing the direction and inspiration for strategic growth. The Wall Street Journal has described Scott as both a serial and parallel entrepreneur with the experience of starting and growing several ventures in diverse industries. In the late 1980s, Scott was an early pioneer as Vice President of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. In the 1990s, he founded Educational Designs that Generate Excellence (EDGE) and later sold that company. In the last 10 years, Scott has acquired four education companies and remains focused on providing leading solutions for educators, administrators, and students. Scott has been featured on NBC News, CNN, and in a host of publications, including the NY Times and Inc. Magazine. Scott is considered one of the nation's leading experts in youth entrepreneurship and has authored eight books on the subject. He is also the founder of the Magic Wand Foundation - a non-profit organization that inspires youth to live their dream.

David Craig, President

David has over 20 years of management experience in enterprise software. Prior to joining Excent®, David served as Senior Vice President of Sales with Servigistics, a service supply chain company, where he managed sales for the Americas. During David's three-year tenure, the company experienced significant organic revenue growth, increasing from $18 million to $45 million. David was a key member of the management team that led a successful exit for the company in 2009. Prior to Servigistics, he served as Vice President of Retail Solutions for Oracle and in sales management with SAP.  David currently serves as Chairman of the Board at High Meadows School, an independent IB World School based in Roswell, GA.

Marcia Ritter, Chief Financial Officer

Marcia is a senior level professional with over 25 years managerial, financial accounting, and reporting experience. She has held positions as a Chief Financial Officer, Controller, Accounting Manager, Project Manager, Consultant, and Business Owner. Marcia served over 10 years as Principal with Tatum CFO Partners and Jefferson Well International where she managed $3.3 billion in billing and receivables with $250-$300 million in projects around revenue planning, development, process improvement, implementation, and execution for clients such as Coca-Cola, Regions Bank, and Prudential Healthcare Insurance Company. She also served as interim CFO for Continuum HealthCare, a $200 million revenue healthcare company. Marcia has managed staff of up to 40 people over the span of her career.

Jeff Waller, Executive Vice President, Ultimate Life Institute

Jeff oversees all aspects of Excent® Youth and Educator Training Programs and the Magic Wand Foundation. He served previously as a senior financial and operational executive with Accenture Consulting and IXL Enterprises, working with companies such as Chase Bank, Compaq Computer, Merrill Lynch, and Amoco on new business concepts, capitalization strategies, organizational models, and financial and operational plans. Jeff holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

David Larson, Ph.D., Education Management Consultant

David has been a classroom teacher, principal, and district superintendent. He has been involved in designing record management and administrative software systems for school districts since 1980. David works closely with Excent® customers to determine their districts' needs and develop solutions to meet those needs. He was the founder and Vice President of Reunion Software Solutions prior to the merger of Reunion and Horizon in 1998. David holds a Ph.D. in School Administration from the University of Denver and a B.S. in Elementary Education from Black Hills State College.

Carmen Cavolo, Founder of My Graduation Plan & Excent Sales VP

Carmen W. Cavolo has a Masters of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University and has been working in the education software industry since 1997. Prior to Excent®, Carmen has helped drive significant growth at three other K-12 software firms. Carmen's passion to help students succeed and graduate led him to create and launch MyGraduationPlan. Carmen is applying his long history of sales success in K-12 with Excent® comprehensive online solution offerings and direct service youth programs.