Biography

Mr. Ralph Terkowitz
Member, Board of Trustees

Ralph Terkowitz is a General Partner at ABS Capital Partners, a Baltimore-based private equity fund that invests in mid- to late-stage growth companies in the business services, health care, media & communications and technology sectors.  He is responsible for investments within the media & communication and technology sectors.  His role includes identifying investment opportunities while leveraging his operational experience to help execute growth strategies across the ABS portfolio. In addition to American Public Education, Inc., Mr. Terkowitz represents ABS on the boards of Control Point Solutions, Inc., Vibrant Media, Inc. and WhenU.com, Inc.  

Previously serving as CIO/CTO of The Washington Post Company, Mr. Terkowitz brings over 30 years experience in finance, technology and senior management.  During his tenure at The Washington Post Company, Mr. Terkowitz worked with the Post’s six major divisions on all major technology and development operations and investments.  He also led negotiation of the major vendor outsourcing agreements with AT&T and IBM, among others, while leading the effort to implement strategic sourcing and improving operating processes within the company.  Since 1996, Mr. Terkowitz had primary responsibility for The Washington Post’s venture investment portfolio.  Investments identified and executed by him include:  Junglee, the first service to provide listings from multiple merchants’ web sites, which was sold to Amazon; Personalogic, a service to qualify buyers, which was sold to AOL; and Exchange.com, an integrated database of multiple merchants’ catalogs, known for its product Bibliofind, which was sold to Amazon.  Under his direction, performance exceeded that of other corporate venture investors who manage for both strategic value and investment returns. 

Also while at The Washington Post, Mr. Terkowitz served as founder and CEO of its electronic publishing subsidiary, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive (formerly DigitalInk).  Under his leadership, the subsidiary became known for its innovation and led the industry in developing new revenue models for electronic media.  One of the products created by Mr. Terkowitz, washingtonpost.com, continues to be among the most visited news and information sites on the Internet.  Also for The Washington Post, Mr. Terkowitz was the co-CEO of BrassRing, one of the first business services providers.  BrassRing is a business within Kaplan, the Post’s education unit.  Under his direction, BrassRing received venture funding from both major VCs and strategic investors.  It has grown to be one of the two largest outsourced recruiting platforms. 

In addition to his corporate duties, Mr. Terkowitz serves on the board of TRUSTe, a non-profit entity serving consumers and businesses by setting and enforcing standards for protecting consumer privacy in a highly connected world. He is a member of the board of advisors of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the Cornell University Arts and Sciences Council, where he is co-chair of the admissions committee. Mr. Terkowitz is an active participant and advisor to the creation of eCornell, Cornell’s distance education business. He also serves on the board of the Newspaper Association of America’s Business Committee on Industry Development, an ongoing effort to direct and understand the strategic forces that will shape the newspaper industry over the next five to seven years.  Mr. Terkowitz was the first external director of Microstrategy, and from 1996 to 2003, he assisted the Company through its initial public offering, metric growth, restatement and recovery. For the past 4 years, Mr. Terkowitz has been a speaker and judge for the Johnson Graduate School of Business Venture and Business Development competitions.

Mr. Terkowitz graduated from Cornell University with an AB Cum Laude in Chemistry and distinction in all subjects.  He holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Physics from the University of California, Berkeley.