Marana High School has a rich history of nearly 100 years with many outstanding alumni. Hall of Fame Inductees were selected on the basis of community service or professional, personal, business and military accomplishments. Inductees to the Marana High School Hall of Fame serve as role model to current and future students.
1989 MHS Graduate
At Marana High School, Jon was an all-conference lineman in football and lettered in wrestling.
Jon attended Sterling College in Kansas so he could play football and was a two-time all-conference and all-district player. In 1993, he graduated with a B.A. in history and government and earned his M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from NAU in 2001.
Jon had more than 16 years of experience in public education as an administrator and educator, including for at-risk youth. In 2006, Jon leveraged his experience and joined with co-founders Matt Muller and Mary Hagmaier to develop a software tool allowing educators to monitor student progress as an assessment platform to improve student performance.
The computer software company became Interactive Achievement and won numerous awards and recognitions before being sold as a successful multi- million-dollar company.
Jon wrote a book about his entrepreneurial experience, co-founded Common Wealth Growth Group, became Managing and Product Director for Whizz Education, and currently serves as Senior Vice President for Turning Technologies.
Since leaving MHS, Jon has become a college football player and graduate, teacher for at-risk students, coach, school administrator, founder and CEO of two successful companies, author and motivational speaker.
Jon’s mission is to inspire others through thought leadership, mentoring and by supporting teams to grow in a scalable and manageable way. He believes strong values aligned with a bold strategy are key to achieving success. We should fail every day, but never repeat the same failures
1989 MHS Graduate
When in high school, Matt was involved in band and wrestling. He graduated in the top five percent of the Class of 1989.
Matt graduated from the University of Arizona in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He worked for an OEM Optics startup called MicroMap in Tucson and later joined his father and brother in the family business, Software Techniques (STI) in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia.
After moving to Virginia, Matt got involved with the Roanoke music scene, playing saxophone sometimes six nights a week. With a bandmate, Matt started a construction business, learning business and financial skills that helped him later in his career.
In 2006, Matt and Jon, conceived what became their company Interactive Achievement (IA), an academic reporting software. Matt’s vision and entrepreneurial drive, combined with his ability to make good business decisions, set the stage for IA’s initial growth. The company dominated the educational software market in Virginia and successfully expanded across other states. In 2016, IA was acquired by PowerSchool which is the number one provider of K-12 student information systems.
Matt and Jon cofounded the Common Wealth Growth Group (CWGG) of Roanoke, VA and Matt is now part of the executive leadership team. Described as a technology guru, Matt brings over 25 years of in-depth engineering and development experience. He utilizes his experience and skills to evaluate prospective companies to create high growth technology solutions.
Matt’s knowledge and experience, gained from working in a family business to creating his own business, left him a legacy of a successful educational software company and the ability to help others fulfill their dreams through his present endeavor.