Established 1999
protecting students for 25+ years
Mission driven
(not VC/PE backed)
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6M+ students
kept safe currently
30+ full-time
safety team members
7,990+ lives saved
since we started tracking during the 2018-2019 school year
Student safety &
mental well-being
is our sole focus
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Proactive &
comprehensive
mental health support
Jeff Patterson
Founder & CEO
Jeff Patterson has been starting businesses since he was five. Some were failures while others were marginal survivors, and those prior businesses set the groundwork for the success of Gaggle. Seeking a solution to manage student safety issues, Jeff founded Gaggle as a secure student email provider in 1998. As trends in risky student behavior like self-harm, violence toward others, cyberbullying, and explicit content grew, he expanded Gaggle’s offering to include products that help schools create safe learning environments. Unable to find investors when he first launched the company, Jeff has enjoyed not having a boss for the past two decades and uses this freedom to express his creativity and sense of fun—all while helping save kids.
Heather Durkac
Chief Innovation Officer
Heather Durkac’s current role is serving as the Chief Innovation Officer and is responsible for connecting the innovation strategy to the business strategy at Gaggle. Heather has a diverse background in customer service, account management, and leadership roles within corporate settings. She has over 16 years of experience driving transformation at Gaggle and in the edtech industry in general. She brings a blend of strategic vision and operational expertise to the CINO role. Passionate about pushing boundaries, Heather thrives on identifying opportunities for growth, fostering creativity, building scalable processes, and leading cross-functional teams toward achieving innovative solutions that redefine educational experiences.
Ron Zoibi
Chief Financial Officer
Ron Zoibi brings to Gaggle more than 30 years of experience in public accounting, consulting, human resources, technology, and tax strategies for closely held businesses. Prior to joining Gaggle, Ron served as CFO of ghSMART, the gold standard in management advisory services to private equity and Fortune 500 companies, as well as CFO of Pro Financial Services Inc, the largest specialty disability insurance agency in North America. Along with the responsibility of leading strategy, finance, recruiting, and HR for Gaggle, Ron is an active member of the American Institute of Public Accountants, the Illinois CPA Society, and the National Society of Tax Professionals. Ron holds a CPA, an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management, and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois.
Kevin Eckert
Vice President, Customer Experience
Kevin Eckert is the Vice President of Customer Experience at Gaggle. In this role, he serves as leader of the Customer Success, Implementation and Technical Support Teams who are responsible for supporting the student safety initiatives at districts and schools across the country. He is passionate about working in mission-driven organizations that use technology to enhance the lives of others. Prior to joining Gaggle, Kevin worked as a Customer Success executive at two start-up organizations and built several teams from the ground-up, positioning both companies for successful private equity exits.
Todd Schmid
Vice President, Sales
Todd Schmid brings more than 25 years of K-12 education experience to his role as Vice President of Sales for Gaggle. Todd has successfully led sales and customer success teams for K-12 edtech providers such as Blackboard, Achieve3000, BrightBytes, and most recently as part of the Google for Education team. Todd has negotiated statewide partnerships to help scale the impact of educational technology, while keeping student success at the core of every engagement. At Gaggle, Todd leads a team of strategic sales advisors that engage with districts to leverage purpose-built technology in support of their student safety initiatives.
Heather Gunsallus
Vice President, Marketing
Heather Gunsallus serves as Vice President of Marketing at Gaggle, bringing a career grounded in education, innovation, and supporting the whole child. A former mathematics teacher, Heather transitioned into EdTech leadership roles where she guided product development, marketing, sales strategy, professional learning, and district partnerships for organizations such as McGraw-Hill, the Museum of Science Boston, and Riverside Insights. Heather has led large teams through transformation, developed award-winning educational products, and built GTM strategies that center on the needs of educators and students.
Jack Kora
Chief Technology Officer
Jack Kora serves as Chief Technology Officer at Gaggle, bringing more than 25 years of experience scaling engineering organizations at high-volume consumer platforms and B2B companies. Prior to joining Gaggle, Jack served as the senior-most engineering leader at Dscout, the leading user experience research platform serving Fortune 1000 enterprises. Jack is passionate about building strong engineering cultures and remains hands-on with the technical work, still prototyping and architecting code himself. At Gaggle, Jack leads technology and product management, with a focus on advancing the company's unified platform vision and AI transformation work.
Lydia Pert
Vice President, People & Culture
Lydia Pert is the Vice President of People & Culture at Gaggle, where she leads the company's people strategy and ensures team members have the support they need to do their best work. Prior to Gaggle, she led human resources initiatives in the cybersecurity industry, supporting global workforces through periods of rapid growth and organizational change. Lydia holds a Master's in Human Resource Development and a Doctor of Strategic Leadership. At Gaggle, she partners closely with leaders across the company to strengthen engagement, development, and retention. She is passionate about building a workplace where people feel valued.
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