Larson Texts, Inc.
Dennis Tarwood has extensive work experience in the education industry, primarily focusing on technology and product development. Dennis is currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Technology at Larson Texts, Inc., where they direct the company's technology and operations planning and development discussions. Dennis leads engineering efforts for all technology products and manages cross-team project management and print/digital production efforts. Prior to this, Tarwood worked as the Vice President of Technology at Larson Texts, Inc., where they held similar responsibilities.
Before joining Larson Texts, Inc., Tarwood worked at Curriculum Associates as the Director of Software Engineering. In this role, they directed distributed front-end engineering teams and coordinated cross-team collaboration for the development of the CODiE award-winning i-Ready platform. Dennis managed a team of engineers and oversaw the delivery of rich online instruction for K-8 English language arts programs.
Tarwood also has experience at ETA hand2mind, where they held several roles. As the Director of Product Development, they were responsible for strategy, design, and development for new product development. Dennis led the Product Development team in product design, customer research, metrics and data analysis, and product launch. Dennis also served as the Director of Product Development - Technology, leading the Digital team in support of e-commerce, digital marketing, and digital product management efforts. In addition, as a Product Development Manager, they were responsible for digital product management and development, including creating iPad math skills practice games and an online professional development platform.
Earlier in their career, Tarwood worked at Pearson Education as the Manager of Rich Internet & Mobile Application Development. In this role, they managed a team in the creation of complex multimedia content templates and implemented Agile development methodologies. Dennis also served as a Quality Assurance Analyst/Multimedia Developer at Pearson Education, supervising a development team and creating multimedia content for K-12 education.
Overall, Tarwood has demonstrated expertise in technology, product development, project management, and cross-team collaboration within the education industry.
Dennis Tarwood obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education and Computer Science from DePaul University, where they attended from 1993 to 2005. Dennis then pursued further education, earning a Master of Science in Software Engineering from Arizona State University, attending from 2010 to 2012. In addition to their formal education, Dennis Tarwood also obtained a certification as a Certified ScrumMaster® from the Scrum Alliance in November 2010.