education is part of who i am. my parents were both educators in ny, i met my wife when we were both teachers, and my most influential friends and mentors are passionate about and connected to the classroom. i had a professor who was an educational theorist for the multiple intelligences work of howard gardner that was formative to my beliefs of personalization and instructional flexibility. grant wiggins’ first release of “understanding by design” came out as i was entering the teaching profession, providing a design framework that i was able to apply to the classroom and my business experiences.
after leaving the classroom, i signed on to the earliest of edtech start-ups, alertnow. building a product for schools and investing in the development of amazing individuals and culture as the evp was a fantastic opportunity. a clear vision and team commitment to outcomes were keys to success. alertnow was acquired by blackboard where i moved into the role of vp of global sales and had the privilege to learn and lead in a matrix organization, plan and communicate with intentionality needed to bring teams together through acquisitions, and understand education through a global k-20 lens. over the subsequent 5 years, i had the opportunity to lead the customer-facing teams at dreambox learning as svp. the intersection of content, process, purpose, and the alignment to blended classroom models and shifting of more rigorous standards were all key elements that defined our approach and ability to impact 2mm+ students in nearly a thousand school districts. as chief customer officer at espark, my role was to align teams and products to best serve the needs of districts while helping the organization to embrace innovation and change
bedford joins ed elements with twenty years of experience in education having held executive leadership positions with leading education technology companies. most recently, bedford served as the chief customer officer at espark learning, where he supported educators in their practice and focused on equity and student achievement. prior to this, he served as senior vice president of client engagement and success at dreambox learning.
