Instructure Leadership
Leading the lifelong learning mission.
Instructure wouldn’t be the top education technology company it is today without our 1,200 employees or the leadership and vision of Instructure’s executive team. Meet the brains (and headshots and corporate bios) of the folks leading Instructure’s lifelong learning mission.
Executive Leadership
Chris Ball
Chris brings 28 years experience running high-growth scale businesses at enterprise software companies. At Instructure, Chris oversees all aspects of the strategy and customer lifecycle- including product, engineering, marketing, revenue operations, sales and customer experience. Most recently, Chris was General Manager, Americas for the Commercial business at Adobe Systems Inc. Previously, Chris was an Entrepreneur In Residence at Lightspeed Venture Partners and also spent 13 years at SAP, Americas running a variety of domestic and international businesses culminating in his role as EVP & GM, Americas. Chris earned a B.A. in English Literature & Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross as well as a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School.
Mitch Benson
Before taking the lead on all Instructure products, Mitch was responsible for the ongoing development of Canvas—ensuring its position as the most modern, scalable, secure, accessible, and easy-to-use learning platform available. Prior to working with us, Mitch served in executive roles at Microsoft, Pearson, and in the not-for-profit and public sectors in Washington state. He graduated from the University of Washington, was a fellow at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and has a master’s degree in information systems from Capella University.
Steve Daly
Steve has spent his 25-year technology career building businesses organically—and has seen companies through 20 acquisitions along the way. Before joining us at Instructure, Steve was the CEO of LANDESK/Ivanti for 13 years. Prior to that, he was the SVP of corporate strategy at Avocent after they acquired his startup, Soronti. Steve also spent 10 years directing marketing for Intel. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA in strategy and finance from Brigham Young University.
Misty Frost
Misty Frost
Misty has extensive global experience at a senior executive level. She was most recently CEO of Penn Foster after it combined with Carrus in 2021. Before coming to Carrus in 2018, she held a position at Instructure as CMO. During her time at Instructure, she led the global growth strategy and delivered marketing programs to fuel that growth, driving value from a private start-up to a publicly traded business valued at over $1 billion. Over her almost 30-year career, she has also served as the VP of Delivery Services for Datamark and has worked in a variety of client advocacy roles for global brands including Intel, Nortel Networks, Hyatt Hotels, and Disney. Misty received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah. She currently serves on the board of directors for Galileo Learning, Intelvio and Bibliu. Misty is also an active member of Women Tech Council and CHIEF, a group dedicated to developing women’s executive leadership.
Matt Kaminer
Over the course of his nine years at Instructure, Matt has made people his priority through advocating for an excellent employee experience and investing in a culture where employees are seen for who they are, valued for the experiences they bring, and supported in their desire to grow. Matt is also our Chief Legal Officer and heads up our legal, privacy, compliance, and corporate development teams. Before Instructure, Matt spent his career as a general counsel for many companies including WebMD and Epocrates. Matt has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Pennsylvania State University and a J.D. from George Washington University.
Melissa Loble
Melissa serves as Chief Academic Officer for Instructure, where she drives the company’s global academic strategy. With extensive edtech experience as an educator in both K-12 and higher education institutions and in edtech executive leadership positions, she advocates for educators worldwide to have the necessary resources as they face ever-increasing educational barriers. Melissa currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the education industry non-profit 1EdTech, is an instructor at the University of California, Irvine, and holds several advisory roles at other organizations. She has a master’s degree in educational policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Michael Lysaght
Michael Lysaght
Michael has 25 years of expertise in delivering consumer technology products across a spectrum of businesses, spanning from fledgling startups to global public companies. Today, Michael leads our Technology and Engineering teams responsible for building key products like Canvas, Mastery, & Learn. His prior role as Chief Technology Officer at Weight Watchers was instrumental in orchestrating a significant digital overhaul. Preceding this, he helmed the Engineering department at SeconMarket, which was later acquired by Nasdaq and presently operates as Nasdaq Private Market. Michael earned his B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science from University College Cork in Ireland.
Rachel Orston
Rachel is a serial entrepreneur, tech executive, and customer success pioneer with deep experience strengthening customer relationships across the Fortune 1000. Her diverse background includes experience working with startups and Fortune 100 companies, where she has helped scale businesses from under $10M to over $1B at IBM. Rachel has committed her 25-year career to driving customer success and brings extensive experience leading high-performing account management, customer success, professional services, and support teams. She holds an MBA from Georgia Tech and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.
Matthew Pittinsky, Ph.D.
Matthew Pittinsky, Ph.D.
Matthew Pittinsky, Ph.D., is the CEO of Parchment and co-founder and former CEO and Executive Chairman of Blackboard Inc. He serves on the Boards of American University and New Classrooms with past roles on various other boards and non-profits. Between Blackboard and Parchment, Matthew earned his Ph.D. and joined ASU's sociology faculty as a tenure-track assistant professor, specializing in economic sociology, sociology of education, and social network analysis. He now serves as a non-tenure-track visiting scholar at ASU. Matthew is a frequent speaker and writer on education technology and entrepreneurship and is the editor of The Wired Tower (Prentice-Hall Financial Times). He holds a B.S. in Political Science from American University, an Ed.M. in Education Policy from Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in Sociology of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Articles
- Founder’s Five June 17, 2021
- The Evolving Role of the University Registrar September 10, 2019
- Online Learning 20 Years Later: Five Observations October 31, 2017
- Building Blackboard, Part 1: Six Lessons I Learned Creating a Tech Company in the Higher Education Market May 2, 2017
- The Changing Audience for Credentials: 3 Key Questions March 1, 2017
- Understanding the Differences in What Credentials Are Being Stacked and Why May 23, 2016
- The New College Degree: In an Unbundled World, Curation is King December 30, 2015
- How to Connect K-12 and Higher-Ed with Structured Data October 17, 2015
- Underserved and Overburdened, Transfer Students Face an Uphill Battle to Earn Their Degrees October 8, 2015
- Making Credentials Matter March 31, 2015
- Credentialing in Higher Education: Current Challenges and Innovative Trends March 2, 2015
- Patient Capital Drives Change in Education September 18, 2014
- Extending the Transcript February 10, 2014
- Five Great Promises of E-Learning June 1, 2001
Shiren Vijiasingam
Shiren has built global software products for millions of users, for over 2 decades, with more than half of his time in education. He previously served as Chief Product Officer, both at Newsela, a K-12 content platform, and before that at General Assembly, the pioneer of career transformation education. He has a master’s degree in interactive media from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor’s degree in communications from St. Cloud State University.
Peter Walker
Peter has a stellar track record in spearheading financial transformations, executing strategic initiatives, and driving substantial growth across diverse industries. With a career spanning over two decades, Peter has consistently delivered exceptional results in roles of escalating responsibility within renowned companies such as Sterling, Jackson Hewitt, and Assurant. Peter is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds an MBA in Management from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Miami University.
Senior Leadership
Daisy Bennett
Daisy Bennett
Daisy is passionate about privacy, education, and technology. Her focus is bridging the gap between compliance, customers, and business needs to develop strong, transparent privacy practices at Instructure. Over the past 15 years, Daisy has helped a variety of technology companies achieve meaningful and effective privacy programs. She’s a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP-US & CIPP-E) and a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) through the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of California Davis, a Master’s of Public Policy from the University of Utah, and a J.D. from the SJ Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.
Brandon Broschinsky
Brandon Broschinsky
Brandon serves as the Senior Vice President of Professional Services & Support. Over the last ten years, Brandon has led and grown our Professional Services organization, focusing on high-quality and consistent customer experiences. With over 15 years of helping clients unlock potential, Brandon leads Instructure's teams to create innovative solutions that empower customer success. Before joining Instructure, Brandon led multiple engineering teams in successful launches of new products at Tomax, later acquired by Salesforce. Brandon received his BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from Adams State University.
Marisa Burkhart
Marisa Burkhart
Marisa is a seasoned education professional with a background in K-12 education and a strong focus on educational technology. She began her career as an educator and district leader, but her passion for enhancing learning experiences led her to Instructure. Recognizing the potential of technology in education, Marisa now leads our K12 Sales Team, using her extensive background to promote innovative solutions for schools and districts nationwide. Her expertise and leadership continue to drive progress in the K-12 education landscape. Marisa has a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Illinois, a master’s degree in Secondary Science Education, and a master’s degree in Educational Technology from National Louis University.
Brian Cully
Brian Cully
Brian leads Corporate Development at Instructure. He is responsible for sourcing and executing M&A transactions that build upon our success and further accelerate our growth. Previously, Brian served as a Director at KeyBanc Capital Markets in the Technology M&A group, where he worked on a variety of advisory and capital raise transactions with companies in the software, internet, human capital management, and financial technology sectors. Brian is a CFA charterholder, and he earned a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from the Ohio State University.
Jay Fabian
Jay currently leads Instructure’s higher education sales efforts team in North America. Prior to taking this role, he has been the regional sales leader for EMEA, as well as for higher education in in the eastern United States.
Prior to joining Instructure in 2019, Jay was the general manager of Edumate, a K-12 school information system (SIS) based in Sydney, Australia. He also held various sales roles with edtech solutions provider Hobsons, working across their entire product suite and in all of their international markets.
Jay has a bachelor’s degree in history from James Madison University.
Daniel Hill
Daniel, Managing Director of EMEA, drives the company's strategic vision and growth across 25 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In his previous roles as Regional Director and Regional Vice President, Daniel was key in fostering the development and growth of Instructure's community across the region. Before joining Instructure, Daniel held leadership positions at Lumination, Literatu, and Edumate. In these roles, he facilitated global educational institutions in adopting cutting-edge hardware and software, driving their technological and pedagogical ambitions forward. Daniel's diverse experience makes him a dynamic leader in the education technology landscape.
Harrison Kelly
Harrison Kelly
A senior C-Suite consultant, Harrison has had various roles at IBM, Gartner Inc. and LinkedIn before joining Instructure in 2017 to help drive and deliver the value of Canvas to the region.
Growing up on the Northern Beaches, Harrison attended Barker College before continuing his education at Sydney University and Macquarie University, where he quickly found himself interested in a wide spectrum of technology.
At IBM, Harrison was responsible for pioneering emerging infrastructure services across banking, industrial and public sector markets. He then went on to consult C-level business executives at Gartner, helping develop and implement an effective enterprise-wide strategy that was delivered through their services.
At LinkedIn, he worked with organisations to showcase the value of being a part of, and contributing to, the world's first Economic Graph. This enabled a convergence of talent and opportunity to aid businesses in delivering on their corporate and strategic initiatives.
After learning about Instructure through his time at Gartner, Harrison could not wait to have the opportunity to bring Canvas to the market, enabling him to challenge the status quo with a truly innovative and extensible product that the education ecosystem needs.
Yisehak Lemma
Yisehak Lemma
Yisehak Lemma has 15 years of experience in Information Technology. During the last decade, Yisehak focused on leading information security programs, with the aim of creating alignment and synergy between security programs and other business units. Prior to joining Instructure, he led the inauguration of an information security program and implemented strong and adaptable information security processes and controls at GetUpside, a retail technology company, also ranked #2 in Deloitte Fast 500. Before that, he was Director of Information Security for Vox Media, a leading modern media company. Yisehak has a master’s degree in information security from Marymount University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology from Marymount University. Yisehak’s shared passion for technology, security and education allow him to serve Instructure in many ways.
Ryan Lufkin
Ryan Lufkin
Ryan is the Vice President of Global Academic Strategy at Instructure, where he works to enhance the academic experience for educators and learners, worldwide. With over two decades in the edtech world, Ryan has experience with every major technology platform that institutions use to deliver education, from the LMS to the SIS, and all the systems in between. A well-known thought leader in the edtech industry, Ryan is a podcast co-host, frequent media spokesperson, and speaker at industry conferences and webinars. Ryan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations/Communications from the University of Utah and certificates in Data-Driven Marketing and Brand Management from eCornell.
Zach Pendleton
Zach Pendleton
With over a decade of experience in education technology, Zach Pendleton acts today as Instructure's Chief Architect. Working closely with educators across the globe and with Instructure's engineering and product teams, he seeks to extend the reach of education and grow its impact. He has shared his passion at conferences across the world, and has been featured in a number of technology and education podcasts. Zach holds a BS in English Literature from Utah State, and a J.D. from BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School.
Quoc Tran
Quoc Tran
Quoc leads Instructure's Global Revenue Operations, encompassing Sales, Marketing, and Customer Experience Operations. With nearly two decades of experience driving transformation and scaling hypergrowth technology companies, Quoc brings a wealth of expertise to the team. His international perspective is shaped by 11 years in Singapore and extensive experience managing global teams for nearly 15 years.
Prior to joining Instructure, Quoc held key roles at Okta, Auth0, Zendesk, AWS, and Autodesk, optimizing sales and channel effectiveness at some of the world’s leading technology companies. Known for his ability to build scalable teams, systems, and processes, Quoc plays a vital role in fueling Instructure's continued growth and success.
Sam Weber
Sam leads Instructure's Strategic Alliances programs, overseeing the global channel program with partners that sell Instructure products worldwide. He also helps define how we bring other companies' products to market and help other edtech companies by using Instructure's products and services. With 15 years in global edtech, he built an international go-to-market at Class Technologies, led sales and marketing at Prodigy Finance, and managed business development for Blackboard's international business. Sam holds a master's degree in international finance from Tufts University's Fletcher School and a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Vermont.