Founder Dan Amos appoints Lainey Franks as CEO and moves into Chief Product Officer role.
Lainey Franks and Dan Amos
New CEO Lainey Franks, with Founder Dan Amos at the Tools for Schools HQ in Bristol, U.K.
BRISTOL, England, January 23, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Tools for Schools, the company behind the multi-award winning EdTech tool 'Book Creator', announced today that Lainey Franks has been appointed as their new Chief Executive Officer. Franks, who has served as VP of Partnerships at Tools for Schools since 2020, brings a wealth of education and management experience to her role, alongside a passion for positively impacting the lives of students, teachers and administrators.
Since 2011, Tools for Schools has committed to working alongside educators to help learners thrive. Book Creator is the simplest, most inclusive way to create content in the classroom. No matter the age, ability or literacy level, Book Creator drives authentic engagement, inclusion and learning across the curriculum.
Founder Dan Amos - who originally built Book Creator as a tool to support his young son with dyslexia, will become Tools for Schools' Chief Product Officer. Amos has grown the company over the last 10 years, establishing Book Creator as a much-loved tool across the world. Over 100 million books have been made in Book Creator, and 2 million teachers have signed up to Book Creator to help their students demonstrate learning, express their creativity, and share their work beyond the classroom. As yet, the company has not needed to take on any outside investment and has remained profitable throughout Amos' tenure as CEO.
"Now the 'startup' phase is complete, we have to think ahead to the next 10 years - how do we grow the team and the organization to have an ever-increasing impact on education?" said Dan Amos. "I've reflected on how I personally can best serve teachers and students—and also how I can best serve my colleagues. I thought back to those early days of building Book Creator and realized that that is where my energy and passion lie and where I can best contribute.
"So I am delighted to promote Lainey Franks as the next CEO of Book Creator, and step aside to focus on being Chief Product Officer, going back to doing what I love every day - making Book Creator the very best it can be.
"Lainey has the vision, the skills, the energy and enthusiasm to do the job, and most of all, she lives and breathes the mission of Book Creator: to allow students of all ages and abilities to actively engage in the joy of learning. I couldn't imagine someone better to lead the company into our next phase."
"As an educator, and the child of an educator, I know firsthand how important it is to ignite a student's love of learning, to enable each of my students to access the learning in the way that best suits them, and to have a simple-to-use tool that delivers on these goals," said Lainey Franks. "Having worked with this incredibly motivated and talented group of people for over two years, as well as many of our customers, I am thrilled to lead the company through its next stage of growth."
Franks is a vastly experienced educator and leader. Joining Tools for Schools in late 2020 as VP of Partnerships, she was instrumental in leading the sales and teacher success teams through a period of rapid growth. Working closely with school districts in the USA - she helped grow the customer base from 450 to 1,100 schools and districts.
Originally from Atlanta, Georgia (USA), Lainey currently lives in the U.K. and has worked in multiple countries. She possesses global business experience in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and South America, including senior leadership roles at Lonely Planet and EdTech nonprofit Breteau Foundation.
With a degree in Computer Science from Harvard University and a more recent Post Graduate Certificate of Education gained in the U.K., Lainey has over 10 years of experience teaching math, computing and digital learning.
About Book Creator
Book Creator is the simplest, most inclusive way to create content in the classroom. A Common Sense Top Pick for Education and multi-award winning app, Book Creator is used in classrooms around the world. Over 2.5 million books are made in Book Creator each month - with over 100 million books made since 2011. Book Creator is used by students of all ages and abilities, allowing them to combine text, images, drawings, audio, and video to create interactive books across the curriculum.
Teachers can use Book Creator for free by creating an account. A premium subscription at $12 per month or $120 per year offers more features and increased capacity for making books. Schools and districts can purchase the app for their teachers with volume discounts.
For more information about Book Creator, visit bookcreator.com.
Tools for Schools is exhibiting Book Creator at the FETC conference in New Orleans, LA, from 23-26 Jan. and at the TCEA conference in San Antonio, TX, from 30 Jan. to 2 Feb.
Contact Information:Dan Kemp
Marketing Director
[email protected]
+44 7957419746
Original Source: Tools for Schools Appoints Lainey Franks as New Chief Executive Officer
