MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – February 1, 2021 – Capstone, an innovative publisher of children’s educational content for schools and home, has named Michael (Mick) Demakos Chief Digital Officer. Demakos brings more than 25 years of experience in operating management, education technology, product management, and strategic partnerships to this newly created role at Capstone, and will oversee the publisher’s digital product, software development, and information technology teams.   

“Mick comes to us from a strong and successful career in education technology and during an exciting time in Capstone’s growth. With the launch of our new Capstone Connect product in 2020 and the continued success of PebbleGo, we’re eager to help teachers and librarians easily discover and share our top-quality, engaging content. Mick will lead our evolving digital product and technology strategies and continue to drive innovation that helps our customers with better solutions and stays true to Capstone’s vision and mission of making learning fun for students,” said Scott Sustacek, Capstone President.

Most recently, Demakos served in a dual role as President of EMC School, a K12 education technology and curriculum provider, and Chief Digital Officer for New Mountain Learning, a private, equity-backed education services company that provides curriculum, classroom management, and innovative technology tools in the K-12 (EMC School) and higher education markets. Demakos was instrumental in transitioning EMC School from a print to a high-growth digital and blended learning provider. This successful transition led to an acquisition by private equity backed Carnegie Learning, Inc., a provider of innovative math programs serving K-12, where he oversaw company-wide integration efforts as well as product engineering, IT, and a comprehensive professional development operation. Prior to this, Demakos spent 18 years at Kaplan, Inc., a division of Graham Holdings Company, in a variety of executive technology roles at both the corporate and divisional levels, and earlier in his career he worked as a management consultant for Price Waterhouse Consulting. Demakos also advised early-stage ed tech companies, most recently Mindprint Learning, an innovative provider of individualized academic and social-emotional learning plans based on a formative cognitive assessment developed at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. 

“It is a unique time to be joining Capstone and I am excited by the opportunity to be part of a team that creates such wonderful educational content for children like the award-winning PebbleGo. Now, more than ever, schools and parents are turning to Capstone’s content and digital solutions. I’m looking forward to building upon the company’s trajectory and developing new digital solutions that will provide children with the content they love and need to help them build literacy skills that will last a lifetime,” said Demakos.

Demakos holds an MBA with a concentration in Operations and Technology from State University of New York at Albany and a BA in Political Science from Siena College. Demakos began his new position on January 18.

About Capstone
Capstone is a leading content creator for digital solutions, children’s books, and literacy programs for school libraries, classrooms, and at home reading including the award-winning PebbleGo™ research database. www.CapstonePub.com   #ReadingIsForEveryone