Team Officers

Tyson J. Smith
Chief Executive Officer
CEO of Reading Horizons, Tyson, has guided the Kaysville-based company into becoming a national and international education publishing enterprise. Since its inception nearly 40 years ago, Reading Horizons has had a firm focus on its goal to publish and market industry-leading education products centered on Reading Horizons' reading strategies. Tyson received his Undergraduate Degree in Business Management from the University of Utah and his MBA from Brigham Young University. He first joined Reading Horizons in 1998 as Executive Vice President with an emphasis in Marketing and Sales. He assumed the role of CEO in October 2001 and, since that time, has overseen steady sales growth and myriad improvements to the Reading Horizons line of products. Tyson has worked with thousands of educators worldwide to help make dramatic improvements in literacy rates for their students. He has also presented at education and technology conferences throughout North America and internationally.
Why are you passionate about working for Reading Horizons?
My motives for working here are entirely selfish. I love the feeling that I get when I talk to a teacher who says, 'I can't believe I didn't know this; I'm so excited to put it to use!' I enjoy hearing about students who have a newfound love of literature and whose grades have gone from C's and D's to A's and B's. I love the feeling I get working here with committed individuals who make me want to stretch myself to meet their standards. I love coming to work and feeling like we are doing something great and that we're doing it the right way. So as you can see, it's all about me. (Wow! That even rhymes.).

Shelby Danks
Chief Strategy Officer
Dr. Shelby Danks is an impact leader and evaluator with 20 years of experience in various roles as an educator, managing researcher, and continuous improvement leader. As Reading Horizons' Chief Strategy Officer, she leads the design and deployment of a multi-pronged impact, product, and market research agenda aligned with the organization's strategic initiatives, informing the product roadmap. She has ten years of combined experience on the Board of Examiners for the National Baldrige Excellence Program, the Panel of Judges for the Quality Texas Foundation, and the Board of Examiners for the Missouri Quality Award. Shelby has also been a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission and an accreditation reviewer for AdvancED. She holds a Ph.D. in learning technologies with an emphasis in research, measurement, and statistics from the University of North Texas.
Why are you passionate about working for Reading Horizons?
In a world where ‘impact’ has become such a buzzword, I am so proud that Reading Horizons embodies impact by breathing it into everything we do. In addition to designing products for maximum impact and effectiveness, we are dedicated to building a robust evidence base for our work and contributing to the science of reading corpus at large. Our continuous reflection upon the impact we are having in our work relationships and our service to educators keeps us tuned in to the needs of teachers and students. I love working with others who won’t stop until every educator feels like a master teacher in the science of reading.

Brent Egan
Chief Operating Officer
Brent Egan joined Reading Horizons as a Project Manager over Internal Assets and is now the Chief Operating Officer. He brings over 15 years of professional executive leadership in operations with experience throughout various industries. Brent received his Finance and Business Administration degree from Weber State University and his MBA from Utah State University. Brent loves to spend time with his wife and four children, traveling, watching and playing sports, and being active and outdoors with friends and family.
Why are you passionate about working for Reading Horizons?
No matter where I've worked, I believe that enriching people's lives means something. No where else, has this rang more true for me. Our company core values of Purpose, Faith, Relationships, Integrity, Improvement, Recognition, and Fun resonate so strongly with me on a personal level and help provide the motivation I need each day to support all our amazing team players! Each day our culture is growing as each one of us endeavors to empower individuals with the gift of literacy to better prepare themselves to discover their personal worth and value as they take on the world and accomplish the challenges and tasks that we all face each and every day. Our mission is real, and the impact and confidence that we continue to share will change the world!

Stacy Hurst
Chief Academic Officer
Stacy Hurst has degrees in Sociology and Elementary Education and Reading, and she has Advanced Reading and ESL Endorsements. During her twenty years as an educator, she has been a first grade teacher, ELL teacher, literacy coach, and reading specialist. Her extensive experience also includes coordinating interventions for struggling readers, implementing blended learning, and training thousands of teachers on effective literacy instruction. Stacy is the Chief Academic Officer at Reading Horizons and is the co-author of Reading Horizons Discovery®.
Why are you passionate about working for Reading Horizons?
The reason that I love working for Reading Horizons can be summed up in as few as four little words that each have big meaning: purpose, passion, potential, and people. I love that our purpose is to make a difference in the lives of people who are learning to read. The passion that we have towards this purpose is evident in every corner of the company. I get most excited about the fact that we can increase the potential of many people. We can increase the potential of teachers by providing them with knowledge and quality materials to enhance their teaching; of beginning readers who are put on a heightened trajectory when they receive quality instruction in the nascent stages of learning to read; and of struggling readers who are infused with a renewed hope for life because they are able to read better than they ever have. Finally, I love the people at Reading Horizons. It has been said that we only hire nice people, and I believe it! It is energizing to work with capable, dedicated, and talented people who have such vision for making a difference in the world.

Claustina Mahon-Reynolds
Chief Diversity Officer
Claustina Mahon-Reynolds has been in education for 21 years. She has a doctoral degree from The University of Utah. Claustina has worked in K-12 and higher education. Her research interests include working with Black and Latinx women leaders of color, English Language Learners, student self-advocacy, equity literacy, and equitable outcomes for ALL students (impact vs. intent), parent outreach, and educating adults on bias and systemic racism within educational systems and structures.

Kedrick Ridges
Chief Product Officer
Kedrick Ridges is a craftsman, passionate team builder, motivator, creative thinker, designer, illustrator, and avid do-it-yourselfer. With a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Communication from Weber State University, he leverages nearly 20 years of design and product experience ranging from branding and identity design to interaction and user interface design. He thrives on creative problem solving and loves creating simple, intuitive products and experiences that help people accomplish their goals—big and small.
Kedrick loves building things—bridges mostly 😉 —but also just about anything out of wood. He lives in Kaysville, Utah, where he raises backyard chickens and goats—in addition to eight remarkable children.
Why are you passionate about working for Reading Horizons?
Throughout my career, I have had the unique privilege of working almost exclusively with cause-oriented companies and clients, from higher education to faith and family. Reading Horizons is no exception. Our mission of cracking open the powerful potential inside each one of us through literacy is as noble a cause as any on Earth. We have the opportunity to truly change lives. That is exciting. That is motivating. And that is worth fighting for.

Trisha Thomas
Chief Revenue Officer
Trisha Thomas joined the Reading Horizons C-Team to foster her passion for education and to help improve the teaching and learning experience for educators and students in classrooms. In her new role at Reading Horizons, Trisha brings over 20 years of experience in developing and executing revenue models that lead to an impact in K–12 education. Combined with her proven success in marketing strategies and customer experience at Discovery Education, Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, and Illustrative Mathematics, Trisha is looking forward to making quality reading instruction accessible to everyone. Trisha received her Business Management degree from University of Maryland and her MBA from Johns Hopkins University.
Why are you passionate about working for Reading Horizons?
I am passionate about my work at Reading Horizons because of the culture, people, and the focus on impact. I am inspired by the positive culture, the willingness and abilities of the people that we work with, and the impact we are making to teaching and learning. Reading Horizons offers a unique and effective instructional model that builds teachers confidence and helps all learners become capable lifelong readers.
VICE PRESIDENTS

Shantell Berrett-Blake
Vice President,
Content Development

Ryan Burwell
Vice President,
User Experience

Jonathan Diaz
Vice President,
Admin Experience

Stephanie Myers
Vice President,
Research and Impact

Kiana Porter-Isom
Vice President,
Customer Enablement

Dave Prisbrey
Vice President,
Sales
DIRECTORS
Zachary Allred
Design Director
Jacob Bagley
Quality Assurance Director
Jeanette Beninati
Marketing Director
Joe Billman
Software Development Director
Dustin Bush
Regional Sales Director, East
Doug Cleghorn
IT Director
Randy Hagg
Regional Sales Director, Central
Kyle Helfrich
Regional Sales Director, West
Pam Moore
Certified Facilitators Director
Layne Laytham
Revenue Operations Director
Charlotte Naylor
Implementation Support Director
Katie Smith
People and Culture Director