People

Mark Bistline, Founder, President
Mark’s entire 30-year professional life has been spent in and around independent schools, with half of those years spent in the classroom, and the other half as a leading provider of school communication services. Additionally, as an independent school Board Chair from 2000-04, he has been involved in major gift campaigns, zoning battles, a head search, and budget squeezing. He is an experienced facilitator in school governance workshops. Mark’s other independent school roles have included parent, student, alum, coach, dormitory supervisor, grounds crew member, study hall proctor...you name it. In 1995, Mark founded Schoolyard, Inc., the first company of its kind in the arena of independent school web service providers. From 1995-2007, Schoolyard worked with over 130 schools and associations in the US and abroad. An artist and art teacher by training, recent examples from Mark’s fine art portfolio can be seen on his facebook page at http://bit.ly/aKJ0d5. He holds an M.A.E. from RISD and a BA from Kenyon. Read his blog, What’s New at schoolyard.com.

Ellen Diamond, Director of Operations
Ellen came to Schoolyard following 6 years in the Development Office at Brown University, where she managed volunteer operations for a $1B capital campaign. She is a seasoned veteran of constituent management. At Brown Ellen directed and managed the Women’s Leadership Council, an alumnae advisory group to the President of the University. In addition to project management, Ellen’s role at Schoolyard includes overseeing communications, managing social media channels, and collaborating on corporate strategy. In addition to her background in development and advancement, Ellen brings to Schoolyard the added experience of both independent school alumna and independent school parent. She is a graduate of Friends Seminary in New York, and her two children currently attend Moses Brown School. Ellen holds a B.A. in Art History from Smith College.

Jason Pamental, Platform Architect
Jason is leading the team behind development of Schoolyard’s Drupal system. He is responsible for overseeing the implementation, integration, and deployment of the Schoolyard system in our websites. Jason’s background on the web spans over 15 years, having begun a career of blending design and technology crafting sites in the first days of the web. Starting from an education in graphic design and adding a range of technical experience he has held a variety of design and development roles, combining keen insights in business processes, usability and technology integration. Beginning his career chest-deep in pixels and plumbing, Jason has held positions such as Creative Director for some of the biggest sites in sports, Web Services Director for North Sails and lead on sites for multiple Fortune 100 clients. Between stints with IMG’s TWIinteractive, North Sails and (add)ventures, Jason ran his own company for several years providing print, web and application architecture, design and development. Since departing (add)ventures in 2009 he has launched a web strategy, design and technology consultancy to tackle challenges just like Schoolyard: solve tough problems, design great solutions and change the world. You can learn more about Jason, read his blog and view some of his work at thinkinginpencil.com.


Jessica Port, Graphic Designer

Jessica joined the team after graduating with a BFA in graphic design from Rhode Island School of Design (class of 2011). Coming from the creative end of the spectrum, she is responsible for the design of Schoolyard websites and occasional in-house design projects.