Udemy Appoints Education Innovator Heather Hiles to Board of Directors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Udemy, the largest global marketplace for learning and teaching online, today announced the appointment of Heather Hiles to its board of directors effective immediately. Hiles brings 30 years of experience as an education leader, innovator, and successful entrepreneur with a deep commitment to equity in education.

“We are proud to welcome Heather to the Udemy board of directors. Her wealth of experience in technology, education, and workforce development will be an incredible asset as we continue to rapidly grow,” said Gregg Coccari, CEO of Udemy. “In an increasingly unpredictable world, Heather’s commitment to helping individuals gain access to the necessary skills to advance their lives will be invaluable to our mission to improve lives through learning.”

“I am honored to join Udemy’s board at a moment in time where learning is more vital than ever,” said Hiles. “Traditional education was built for a world that no longer exists, and Udemy offers a path forward that is designed to help individuals quickly navigate through change. Udemy is the engine driving a new generation of global learners forward, and we’re still at the beginning of realizing how much is possible.”

Hiles is the founder of Pathbrite, the world’s leading portfolio learning platform which she sold to the billion-dollar publisher Cengage Learning in 2015. She was recently the founding CEO and Chancellor of Calbright College, the world’s first fully online community college with a mission of placing 10 million underemployed Californians into new economy jobs. Hiles also served as Deputy Director of Postsecondary Success at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she invested more than $100 million to promote student success in higher education and workforce readiness for new economy jobs.

Hiles is currently on the board of directors of Black Girls CODE and served on numerous boards of directors, including the San Francisco Unified School District, Leadership Public Schools, LaborX, UNIFORM, Communities United Against Violence, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Earlier in her career, Hiles founded and built SF Works, training and placing more than 11,000 women from welfare into living-wage jobs, and co-founded EARN, which has helped more than 30,000 low-income San Franciscans acquire their first assets.

About Udemy

With a mission to improve lives through learning, Udemy is the world’s largest online learning destination that helps students, businesses, and governments gain the skills they need to compete in today’s economy. Thirty-five million students are mastering new skills from 57,000 expert instructors teaching over 130,000 online courses in topics from programming and data science to leadership and team building. For companies, Udemy for Business offers an employee training and development platform with subscription access to 7,000+ courses, learning analytics, as well as the ability to host and distribute their own content. Udemy for Government is designed to upskill workers and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow. Eighty percent of Fortune 100 companies trust Udemy for employee upskilling. Udemy is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Denver, Brazil, India, Ireland, and Turkey. Udemy investors include Insight Partners, Prosus (Naspers Ventures), Norwest Venture Partners, Stripes, and Benesse Holdings.