Anilrgowda

John J. Stuppy has always valued the importance of a good education. As the new president of Tutor Vista, Mr. Stuppy will lead the U.S. division of the educational services company based in Bangalore, India.
"My goal is to minimize the gap of students that have the resources and those that don't," Mr. Stuppy said.
Working from his home in Columbia, Md., Mr. Stuppy hopes to use his position to connect U.S. students with qualified tutors from around the world. Mr. Stuppy was hired in early December.
Tutor Vista is one of the newest companies to join the online tutoring boom.
The 18-month-old company offers unlimited 24-hour tutoring for students from kindergarten to 12th grade on its Web site, www.tutorvista.com, for $100 a month.
The service has courses in English, math, biology, chemistry, physics, science, statistics, business, accounting, economics, electronics, geography, history and humanities.
"Hiring John as president is an ideal choice," said K. Ganesh, founder and chief executive officer of Tutor Vista. "Mr. Stuppy has a long and successful track record in guiding education companies to industry leadership.
"John will also address the need in our industry to increase the professionalism of tutors," Mr. Ganesh said.
Mr. Stuppy recently visited Mr. Ganesh at the company's headquarters in Bangalore to discuss his plans to elevate Tutor Vista's level of professionalism and quality of online tutoring.
Tutor Vista wants students to have "experienced tutors with a passion for teaching," Mr. Stuppy said.
"We want to lead the charge in making people confident about the standard of a tutor," he said.
The company's international tutors must pass an intensive 60-hour certification course to improve their teaching, communication and online skills.
Tutor Vista uses emerging technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol to help students learn effectively and conveniently.
The company uses VoIP and an electronic writing board to visually address a problem and write on a program that both the tutor and student can see.
Integrating technology and tutoring is a no-brainer, Mr. Stuppy said. "Today's kids are already used to instant messaging and using the Internet as a means of communication."
Most recently, Mr. Stuppy was chief information officer of the Princeton Review Inc., a New York educational services company. At the Princeton Review, he helped the company focus on applying technology to its test-preparation services.
Mr. Stuppy earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences and a master's degree in curriculum studies and teacher education at Stanford University, a master's degree in business administration at Kent College, and a doctorate in education policy analysis at the University of California at Los Angeles.
He lives in Columbia, Md., with his wife and four children.