Eight years after the 1991 launch of Networks & More! (an ed-tech consulting company for K–12 schools) founder and CEO Jamie Punderson decided to branch out. His new division, K12USA, would fill a void: In 1999, schools were newly wired for Internet access.

But aside from online browsing and emailing, little else could be done with this shiny new “toy.” Jamie and his team got to work, developing applications like TroubleTrakker and SecureSchool that would streamline school processes and be managed via Internet connection. There are now 20 products in the K12USA collection.

Jamie’s diverse background makes him well suited to entrepreneurship. A National Merit Scholar at St. Rose High School in Belmar, N.J., he graduated from Notre Dame University, received a Master’s in School Administration from Bowling Green State University, and attended law school for two years before rethinking his career path.

On the technical side, Jamie achieved the MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional), CNE (Novell Certified Network Engineer), and A+ Service designations and attended computer-sciences classes at Jersey City State College. He put his knowledge to work by acting as a Networks & More! networking consultant to more than 50 school districts and libraries in New Jersey, New York, and Delaware.

In the field of education, he holds New Jersey certifications as an administrator, math teacher, physical science teacher, and English teacher. While teaching algebra and physical science in public and parochial schools, Jamie was selected as a Jennings Scholar in recognition of outstanding teaching. He also served for seven years on a local school board—three years as vice-president and three years as president.

Switching gears for a while, Jamie founded and was president of a bond-investment advisory firm and a stock-brokerage company. During that time (1981), he also became principal of two investment software-development companies, ASPIN, Inc. and VP Data Systems.

Jamie is a superb problem solver, stickler for great customer service, and quality-control “nitpicker.” Customers and staff know him for his famously dry sense of humor. A health and fitness buff, he plays tennis six days a week (weather permitting) and works out at the gym. He’s also an amateur-radio enthusiast (call sign W2QO)—who has made contact with 326 out of a possible 340 different radio entities, from Singapore to the South Sandwich Islands—and a voracious reader.

One of nine kids, Jamie was raised in Lakehurst, N.J. before relocating a few miles east to Island Heights when he was 13. After moving to the Midwest for several years, he returned to this small riverside community, where he and his wife, Sarah, raised three children and started their business.