Leadership
Simona Rollinson
President, Follett Software Company
Prior to joining Follett, Simona worked for EDS in Charlotte, N.C. and as a Software Development Consultant at BASF in her native Bulgaria.
Simona's devotion to educational partnerships in the K-12 arena stems from her personal love of learning and watching her two young children as they grow academically and intellectually.
Her drive toward technology innovation and passion for digital learning includes the development of products that enable searching of Common Core-aligned resources from mobile devices – enabling active learning, wherever it occurs.
New solutions, such as the Aspen Student Information System, continue to grow in features and capacity due, in part, to Simona's passion and commitment to listening to customers and responding with products and services that help them thrive in the digital world.
Simona holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Technology from Technical University-Sofia in Bulgaria; a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, IL (SIU); a Master of Science in Computer Science, also from SIU; and has pursued her Ph.D. in Engineering from SIU. She is a graduate of Chicago Executive Institute at University of Chicago Business School.
Mike Gedzyk
Vice President, Services and Operations
Promoted to his current position in spring 2011, Mike Gedzyk oversees the company’s customer and tech support, and professional learning and service functions. For the past two years, he served as the company’s director of professional services and, prior to that, director of data and online services.
Mike joined Follett Software as a developer in the software development department, and went on to serve as a project leader for the Circulation Plus® and Catalog Plus® product lines, and played a key role in the development of the Schools Interoperability Framework initiative. For more than three years, he served as project manager responsible for the initial development of the Destiny® product line. Mike studied computer programming and network administration at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Jerry Perez
Vice President, Sales
Jerry Perez, with 27 years of sales and business management experience, joined Follett Software Company in 2007 as a sales director for a newly created small district sales region that caters to the business needs of K-12 districts with four to nine sites. Under his direction, the region achieved $26 million in sales first year.
Prior to joining Follett Software, Jerry was a managing partner and owner of a mid-level packaging company, Thatcher Tubes, whose clientele was Fortune 500 companies; vice president of sales and marketing for two divisions of Courtaulds plc; and a district sales manager for Frito Lay,Inc.
Tim Rogers
Vice President, Software Development
Tim Rogers joins Follett Software Company as the vice president of software development, after having spent the past 10 years with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Most recently, he served as that company’s senior director of software product development. During his career, Tim has helped launch multiple software products in new and existing markets, and has authored and negotiated core products technology road maps. He has guided large departments, and also has managed satellite offices as well as offshore resources.
Tim earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, and a master’s degree from DePaul University.
Ruben Hentzschel
Vice President, Product ManagementWith a proven track record of driving customer satisfaction, operational efficiencies and financial improvements as vice president of business operations at Follett’s Greenville, South Carolina division, Ruben was promoted to his current position in August 2012. With more than 20 years of software experience, Ruben assumes leadership for the direction and growth of the company’s market-driven product strategies for integrated digital solutions, hardware, content partnerships and e-commerce offerings.
Prior to joining Follett, Ruben served as Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer of Forderband, Inc. and was Product Manager at i:FAO Group in Frankfurt, Germany. A respected team leader with strong technical abilities and a balanced focus on people and results, Ruben is skilled at providing customer value while building effective, productive working relationships with partners and staff. He holds a degree in business administration and economics.
