Ken McElrath

Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer

Ken McElrath cofounded Skoodat in 2008 to help education leaders create flexible, sustainable, fully integrated IT solutions in the cloud. An entrepreneur, professor, author, designer and photographer, Ken also has an unquenchable passion for improving education, making technology simple, and eating authentic key lime pie.

Earlier in his career, Ken founded Cazabba Inc., a creative and technology services firm, and led marketing and product management as a vice president for RetailersMarketXchange (RMX), a startup near San Francisco funded by Chevron, Oracle, Phillip Morris and McLane Company. He spent seven years with MicroAge Inc., a publicly traded Fortune 500 technology company, where he led marketing for the $1.2 billion systems integration division. His experience with these innovative, high-growth companies has somehow left him unphased by his confrontations with "entrepreneurial terror." Must be something in the key lime pie.

You can read Ken's best-selling book, The Ascent of a Leader by purchasing it on Amazon. Proceeds from this and his other co-authored book, Beyond Your Best, go to support TrueFaced, a nonprofit Ken helped launch over 15 years ago. Ken's fine art has been displayed in numerous shows. You can view his recent work online at kenmcelrath.com. He served on the board of Teacher's Pal, Inc., and currently serves on the board of The Art Factory in Kandern, Germany.

Ken earned two bachelor's degrees (Art and Teaching) from Grand Canyon University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He is also an associate professor at Covenant College. Ken lives in Lookout Mountain, Georgia with his wife of 29 years, Donna, a former teacher who makes all sorts of great baked goods, including a killer key lime pie.

Jeff Swanson

Executive Vice President

Jeff likes to make things grow, and he's very good at it. Since joining Skoodat in 2009, sales have grown more than 350%. Before Skoodat, Jeff grew and sold a global application software firm focused on the animal nutrition industry. Before that he nurtured sales and marketing for three small information technology firms, including two start-ups.

Jeff grows big companies too. As President of MicroAge Technology Services, a national IT infrastructure services company, the company grew from a $180 million regional organization with 8 offices to a $1.8 billion national player with 45 offices. Earlier in his career, Jeff was the Executive Vice President of Sales and Services for AmeriData Inc., where again, he drove phenomenal growth..

Jeff was awarded a degree in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota. He is a board member at AbeTech. He is a  previous board member of the Minneapolis North Community YMCA and was on the Grant Committee of the Minnesota Chapter of Social Venture Partners. Jeff and his wife, Paula, are avid fans of Minnesota sports teams.