Meet the passionate educators and engineers behind JumpRope

Justin Meyer

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder

Portland, Oregon

Justin is involved in just about every aspect of JumpRope. He leads product design and security and privacy ― making sure that the product is easy to use and keeps data safe. He supports large, complex district implementations. And he even pitches in with the Customer Success team at the beginning of the school year. But his favorite work is in schools ― training teachers on the software, learning from how they use JumpRope, and getting their feedback on new features and designs.

He is passionate about making learning meaningful for students. He had some great teachers along the way ― like Mr. Weber, who taught high school chemistry through engaging projects involving cannons and explosions. But his K-12 education was too often about handing in enough work to get a decent grade, rather than about deep learning. Though he got really good at the “game of school,” Justin now believes that school might have been more challenging and led to more meaningful learning through a standards-based approach.

Justin earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Portland.

He lives with his wife and two daughters in Portland. Whenever he can get away, he loves to go splitboarding, surfing, or wakeboarding.

Jesse Olsen

Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder

New York, New York

While teaching high school math at Validus Preparatory Academy in New York City, Jesse wanted to find a better way to give his students feedback on their mastery of the standards. After wrestling with his school’s traditional gradebook and pushing the limits of Microsoft Excel, he began writing the software that would eventually become JumpRope.

As CTO, Jesse still drives JumpRope’s development, even writing code and building new features. He enjoys orchestrating the infrastructure required to manage a modern web app and recently led a successful rewrite of the gradebook in a way that truly strengthened it.

Always an educator at heart, Jesse loves witnessing the moment when teachers and leaders realize that standards-based grading is worthwhile and transformative. He aims to provide the right combination of product features, training, and support to help make those moments happen.

Jesse earned a master’s degree in teaching from Pace University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Portland.

Jesse lives in New York City with his wife who is a high school teacher in the Bronx. He enjoys traveling and visiting family and friends across the country, especially his nieces and nephews in Oregon and Maine.

Becky Brown, EdD

Senior Researcher and Standards-Based Practice Specialist

Bangor, Maine

Becky brings deep expertise in pedagogy, leadership, and standards-based practice to her work at JumpRope. You may first meet her on a demo, but her favorite work is consulting with schools and leading professional development that helps educators use JumpRope to support their practice.

Before joining the JumpRope team, Becky led a standards-based grading implementation for Maine’s South Portland Public Schools ― working with over 400 educators across 8 schools in her role as the district’s Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment.

Previously, she was an elementary school principal and a K-12 teacher in subjects including foreign language, math, and English Language Arts. She began her career working on curriculum and technology-related projects at WGBH Educational Foundation and Education Development Center, Inc. in the Boston area.

Becky earned a doctorate in education from Northeastern University with research focused on teacher efficacy in transitioning to a standards-based grading system and a master’s degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Education with a focus on technology in education.

Becky lives in Maine with her husband of over 30 years and their West Highland Terrier. She comes from a family of educators, and her daughter recently began her career as a teacher in Las Vegas.

Yamaris Perez

Director of Client Partnership

Brooklyn, New York

Yamaris serves as the primary contact for every new JumpRope customer. She coordinates across internal teams to ensure that customers are happy and can successfully implement JumpRope. A true people person, she loves getting to know leaders and helping them meet their school’s or district’s goals.

Since starting her career at the New York City Department of Education, Yamaris has worked in a variety of roles in education technology companies, including customer success, training, instructional development, and technical support. She uses this experience to make everything go smoothly for JumpRope’s customers.

A proud graduate of New York City public schools, she vividly remembers her first-grade teacher, Ms. Gladstone. Elegant and impeccably dressed, Ms. Gladstone took charge of the classroom in a calm, understated way. Yamaris dreamed of being just like her: someone smart and fashionable who helps others.

Yamaris earned an MBA from Western Governors University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in experimental psychology from St. John’s University.

She married her high school sweetheart and lives in her childhood home in Brooklyn. Her close-knit family — many of whom are educators — are her strongest support system and her greatest cheerleaders.

Hayley Tanler

Head of Customer Success

Bend, Oregon

As Head of Customer Success, Hayley is primarily the one who responds to support tickets and customer emails, making sure to get answers or fixes as quickly as possible. In addition, she onboards new JumpRope customers. She loves using her expert knowledge of the software and her own experience with standards-based practices to figure out how to configure JumpRope to best meet each school’s needs. After seeing standards-based grading implementations in hundreds of schools, Hayley can help new customers set up JumpRope in a way that supports their teachers and avoids common pitfalls.

In her role, Hayley draws heavily on her experience using standards-based practices in her own middle school classroom and supporting her district’s transition to standards-based grading. That first-hand experience gives her a lot of empathy for schools and districts that are shifting their practice ― and excitement about the meaningful conversations about learning that are possible when the right people have access to the right data.

Hayley earned bachelor’s degrees in education and liberal studies from Oregon State University.

She loves to explore Oregon’s forests and rivers with her husband and two children. And now that she has a school-age child of her own, she has an even deeper understanding of how important communication is between families and school.

Jenna Brown

Lead Support Engineer

Portland, Oregon

As Lead Support Engineer, Jenna is responsible for the technical side of implementation and support ― fixing bugs, coding certain customizations, and setting up SIS integrations, for example. She enjoys the problem-solving and creativity her job requires.

Jenna was JumpRope’s first employee and knows the software inside and out. In fact, she was involved in setting up the entire back-end of the gradebook. Her previous role as JumpRope’s Director of Customer Success helped her develop a deep understanding of the product as she supported JumpRope customers.

Looking back on her own K-12 years, she remembers her high school calculus teacher, Mr. Johnson, because he made calculus fun. He explained everything so clearly that even the most complex concepts were easy to understand. She felt excited to go to class and excited to show what she knew on assessments. Now, she sees that standards-based practice can foster this same love of learning.

Jenna lives in Oregon with her husband and two children. She loves to hike, explore the outdoors, and cook with her two little helpers.

Stacey McNeil

Operations Coordinator

Portland, Oregon

Although her responsibilities with finances, billing, and bookkeeping keep her in a behind-the-scenes role, Stacey loves to communicate with JumpRope customers whenever possible.

She is passionate about working for a company that supports teachers and schools. Looking back on her own education, she remembers her fourth grade teacher, Mr. Peterson, because he made everything entertaining and joyful ― teaching the class everything from how to write checks to Oregon history. Now that she has four school-age children of her own, she is more aware than ever of the transformative power of great teachers who make learning meaningful.

A native Oregonian, Stacey loves to spend her free time outside with her wife, children, and their dog.