Meet the Scientific Learning Leadership Team
Robert C. Bowen
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Bowen is currently the Chairman of the Board. He was recently the Chief Executive Officer from 2002 - 2008 and from 2012 - 2018. Mr. Bowen was also the Executive Chairman in 2009 and Chairman in 2010. Mr. Bowen has more than four decades of career success in building market leadership and shareholder value in the education market. In his last assignment as president of NCS Education Software and Services, he built this K-12 business into the market leader of enterprise software solutions with a 40 percent market share. NCS was sold to Pearson PLC in the fall of 2000.
Mr. Bowen has also held senior executive positions with other leading education companies including seventeen years with McGraw-Hill. He last served as executive vice president of McGraw-Hill's Education and Training group, which included seven divisions with total revenues of approximately $350 million. Early in his career, Mr. Bowen was a high school math teacher, a coach, and a school district administrator. Mr. Bowen received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.
Jeffrey D. Thomas
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Jeffrey D. Thomas joined us as co-CEO in March 2018 and is the CEO as of August 1, 2018. He joined us as a director in November 2008. From February 2002 until February 2013, Mr. Thomas served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Ambassadors Group, Inc., an educational travel company that organizes and promotes international and domestic educational travel and sports programs for youth, athletes and professionals. From November 2001 through February 2013, Mr. Thomas served as a member of the board of directors of Ambassadors Group, Inc., and Mr. Thomas served in executive positions of increasing responsibility at Ambassadors Group and its predecessors starting in 1995, including as President and Chief Executive Officer of Ambassador Programs, Inc. from 1996 to 2002; President of Ambassadors Education Group, Inc. from 1997 to 2002; and Chief Financial Officer to Ambassadors International from 1995 to 2002. Mr. Thomas holds a BA from Dartmouth College.
Christopher J. Brookhart
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Christopher J. Brookhart joined us in June 2012. Prior to joining us, he was an Associate General Counsel at Ancestry.com, a subscription-based SaaS and content internet company. Previously, he served as Sr. Corporate Counsel at Novell, Inc., an enterprise software company, as a Senior Transaction Attorney at Honeywell Aerospace and as a corporate associate at the law firm of Dow, Lohnes & Albertson, PLLC.
Mr. Brookhart holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a law degree from Brigham Young University.
Steve Nathan
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Steve Nathan joined Scientific Learning in January 2012. Mr. Nathan has over 7 years of experience leading finance and accounting in large and small software companies, including ACCPAC/Best Software and Ositis Software. Prior to joining us, he was Sr. Corporate Controller and Director of Finance at Wente Family Estates, a family-owned winery and hospitality company. Mr. Nathan has held Controllership roles over the last 15 years. He started his career at Ernst & Young LLP, serving as Senior Auditor for high technology companies such as AMD, Tandem, Frame Technology Software, ComputerLand and Cirrus Logic.
Mr. Nathan holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University East Bay (Hayward) and holds a CPA (inactive) license in the state of California.
