Math software company's CEO has head for numbers in millions

Dennis Ciccone was not a math whiz when seven years ago he became CEO of a Pittsburgh company that develops math-learning software.

Rather, he is a company developer with a fascination for technology and a nose for emerging trends — key attributes for growing early-stage companies. And that's what he did at Carnegie Learning Inc., Downtown.

The company's track record and Ciccone's previous successes earned him the 2012 Outstanding Entrepreneur award from the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association in mid-June.

“It didn't matter to me that it was a math company,” Ciccone said. “It was about the technology. That's what appealed to me.”

Ciccone was named chief executive in 2005 by the board, where he was serving as a director. In his first year leading the company, the Aliquippa native boosted revenue by about 50 percent. Carnegie Learning had its first year in the black in 2005.

Since that time, revenue has grown by an average 25 percent each year. Carnegie Learning posted revenue of about $25 million last year.

Before joining the company, Ciccone was senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions for Lycos Inc., the search engine website company. He also founded and co-managed Lycos Ventures, a $70 million fund that invested in startups, including a 20 percent stake in Carnegie Learning.

The company develops software and text materials for learning math from elementary school through high school and post-secondary levels. Its innovative math instruction techniques reach more than 600,000 students in 3,000 schools nationwide. Its products are used in school systems large and small, including Pittsburgh Public Schools and in major urban districts such as Atlanta and Chicago.

“It's been a godsend for a small school district like us,” said Carol Korber, middle school principal in the Jefferson-Morgan School District in Jefferson, Greene County. The system has 800 students from elementary through high school.

“We've had this in place for six years now in grades seven through 12,” Korber said. “And it has helped our PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) scores for both math and reading.”

Instead of the old “40 math problems on a page” for students to solve, said Korber, Carnegie Learning's system provides about 10 problems. Rather than math symbols and equations, these problems are written out in a short narrative, which improves reading and math skills.

“When the problems are designed this way, students see the purpose of math, geometry, algebra, statistics and calculus,” Korber said.

Founded in 1998, Carnegie Learning is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Apollo Group Inc., the nation's largest operator of for-profit, post-secondary educational institutions, including the University of Phoenix. Based in Phoenix, Apollo acquired Carnegie Learning in August for $75 million.

“We are the tech development center for Apollo and the University of Phoenix,” Ciccone said.

When it was founded by Carnegie Mellon University researchers in 1998, the company was too far ahead of its time, he said. Most secondary-school students had yet to be equipped with personal computers on which Carnegie Learning's methods depend. But by the time Ciccone became CEO in 2005, laptops were becoming more common.

“I have three kids,” Ciccone said. “And they rarely grab a textbook. They do it all online.”

Carnegie Learning is hiring these days. The company has about 50 open positions, mainly software developers and cognitive scientists, the CEO said.

“We should have all three floors full of people by December,” said Ciccone, of the company's Frick Building occupancy. It first leased the 20th floor, then half of 19 and just one-quarter of nine most recently, in May. The company moved there from its original Strip District location in 2006.

It is ironic that the company whose name and educational mission harken from Andrew Carnegie would locate to the Frick Building's 20th floor. That ornate space with high ceilings, marble and etched, frosted-glass windows and doors in the late 19th century became home to The Union Club of Henry Clay Frick — soon after he and Carnegie had their famous falling out.

Thomas Olson is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached a 412-320-7854 or at tolson@ tribweb.com.