Our Team
Tracy Augustine, Founding & Managing Partner
Tracy Augustine co-founded OceansThree in 2014, and is currently its Managing Partner, focusing on executive search in ed tech for most business functions including sales, business development, marketing, technology and product. She has over 25 years of experience in most areas of the education industry–in K12 and Post-Secondary segments; in B2B, B2B2C, and B2C channels; in US and Global markets–working with content, mobile, software, and hardware products and services. She has held leadership positions in sales, training and talent development, marketing, product, and e-commerce from Pearson Education, Cengage (CMO) and, prior to OceansThree, from Apple, where she was Director of Worldwide Education and managed marketing teams across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.
Tracy is a graduate of Duke University and a native New Yorker. After living in the Bay Area for eleven years, she now lives north of Phoenix, AZ with one of each—a husband, son, dog and cat.
David Gillespie, Founding Partner
David Gillespie is a co-founder of OceansThree. Prior to that, he had a rich, 25-year career in marketing, sales management, and talent development from Pearson and Cengage. At Pearson, he successfully managed the US higher-education sales organization through the start of its digital transformation. At Cengage, he launched initiatives in K–20 sales talent acquisition and development, sales learning, and sales optimization. As VP Sales Strategy, Learning and Development, he introduced a competency-based talent acquisition culture and process, launched a sales onboarding program, created industry-unique leadership development and career-planning initiatives, and served as a strategic advisor for senior leaders of sales, marketing, and product development in recruiting and retention, talent development, and sales effectiveness. In 2014, he co-founded OceansThree, and helped run the day-to-day business through 2016. In 2017, David secured the funding to build The Hope and Dignity community Center, which opened in 2019, and serves one of the most socio-economically challenged areas of Atlanta. He has continued to advise leading ed-tech companies in areas of sales optimization and effective sales leadership, with an emphasis on creating winning sales cultures.
He is a native Texan, now living in Atlanta Georgia, and has a BBA from Texas A&M University and a M.Ed. from the University of Georgia.
Gary June, Founding Partner & Advisor
Gary June is a co-founder of OceansThree, continuing to serve as an advisor to the company. He is a media and education professional with 15 years’ C-level experience, including CEO of Pearson Technology Group and Dorling Kindersley, and five years as the Global CMO for Pearson Education. These roles were during a period of the industry’s significant transformation from print to digital, and roles in which Gary’s creativity and innovation made lasting impressions on his peers and his competitors.
A West Coast native and a graduate of Stanford University, Gary currently resides in Boston.
Pamela Lancaster, Partner
Pamela Lancaster joined OceansThree in late 2021, and focuses on executive search for Director to C-level positions for most business functions including sales, marketing, technology, and product areas. She is the founder of an Executive Consulting firm focused on entrepreneurs and spent 15 years coaching business leaders in change management, corporate structure, executive recruiting, and vision clarification. Before owning her own business, Pamela held leadership positions at Prentice Hall and Pearson Higher Education, including AVP of Educational Alliances and Ed-Tech Business Development, led top-performing sales teams, and ran training and development programs. She developed and teaches a program for students from elementary school through graduate school called “Write On!” the mission of which is to help students write and publish their first novel.
Pamela has a degree in English and Education from Trinity University. She is from Mildenhall, Suffolk, England, and has lived in Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas, although Pamela, her husband Doug, and their two girls love to wander. Their favorite travel adventure so far is a three-month sojourn in India.
Lauren Larsen, Partner
Lauren Larsen brings to OceansThree a career spanning three decades in leadership roles within the education and healthcare industries. She has worked with an array of organizations, from Fortune 50 companies to startups, in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. She headed up marketing functions at both Cengage and Pearson, ran a North American transfusion medicine nonprofit in DC, consulted with major healthcare companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Novartis, and co-founded a media-based technology and online learning company, In The Telling (now Narrasys, Inc.). She enjoys meeting a variety of professionals through her executive search work and loves when she is able to make a solid connection between clients and candidates.
Lauren is a graduate of University of Arizona (BA) and UCLA (MBA). Originally from New Jersey, she lives with her husband, daughter, and ridiculously large poodle in Boulder, Colorado, where she has yet to find a decent Philly Cheesesteak.
Cindy Sullivan, Partner
Cindy Sullivan brings over 20 years of top performing sales and talent development experience in the education industry, including leadership positions with Pearson, McGraw-Hill Education and Modern Campus. In addition, Cindy brings 5 years as VP of Sales & Marketing in the gift industry. She is passionate about all things talent — how to attract, recruit, develop and retain. She’s a certified leader coach, an eternal optimist, a lifelong learner and loves helping others achieve their full potential. Her specialties include Talent Acquisition, Women in Leadership, Sales Leadership Development, Selling Skills Training, Coaching Skills Training, Career Development Programs, Sales Manager Training, Connecting Sales and Marketing, Performance Coaching, Mindset Coaching and Career Coaching.
Cindy is a graduate of Florida State University and lives in Tallahassee, FL with her husband and dog, Bandit. She has grown children and is looking forward to welcoming her first grandchild this summer.
“OceansThree’s extensive network in the industry assured we were able to see a broad spectrum of excellent candidates. And, their experience as hiring managers brought a unique perspective to our recruiting process, which was invaluable in filling these roles. The candidates they presented were exceptional as was our partnership with them.”
Liz Rockhold, former SVP of Sales, Turnitin