Instructure Leadership

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.

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.

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.

Over the course of his seven-plus 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 leads Instructure’s customer success and services organizations. She’s a champion for crucial customer-focused topics like data usage and privacy—and it’s her personal mission to drive innovation in our customer experience and enable customers to leverage our solutions in engaging and effective learning environments. Melissa has spent 20 years in educational technology working for a number of technology suppliers and educational institutions, as well as teaching leadership courses on managing technology for educational change. She has a master’s degree in educational policy from Teachers College, Columbia University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Frank is responsible for our unified sales and marketing culture. He oversees budget development, streamlines marketing programs, and maximizes potential sales volume across all regions. Frank has 20+ years of experience leading, selling, and expanding software service organizations. Prior to joining Instructure, Frank was CEO of RizePoint, during which time he was named CEO of the Year by both the Utah Technology Council and Utah Business Magazine. He also won an Executive of the Year Stevie Award from the 2017 American Business Awards. Before that, Frank was EVP of global sales, services, and alliances at Workfront. He has a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Phoenix and studied business administration and management at the University of Utah.

Steve leads the development and delivery of products like Canvas, Mastery Connect, Portfolium, Canvas Studio, and Canvas Catalog. Before joining Instructure in 2015, he spent 20+ years leading engineering teams and providing consulting services for technology companies like Intel, Novell, Veracity Solutions, and inContact. Steve has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and an MBA from Brigham Young University.

Roshan Popal has more than 20 years of experience building, developing, and leading high-performance cloud, IT, and security teams on a global scale—while strategically aligning IT and security services for organizational success. Prior to joining Instructure, he was SVP of cloud customer operations and the chief information security officer MicroStrategy, a business intelligence and analytics firm. Before that, he led global IT and information security for Cigital, Inc., the largest dedicated global software security firm. Roshan has a master’s degree in information systems from George Mason University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from SUNY Buffalo.

Michelle leads strategy and oversees digital experience, content marketing, communications, customer marketing, branding, creative, and events at Instructure. In her 25 years of elevating brand engagement and driving revenue for brands, she’s led worldwide marketing initiatives for global technology companies like EMC, Ancestry, Novell, and Landesk. Michelle was recognized as one of the top 15 Influential Women in B2B Marketing in 2020, and serves on the Utah Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Brigham Young University.

Joanna is responsible for optimizing our revenue streams. Her team maintains a competitive advantage by leveraging technology to constantly challenge and accelerate go-to-market strategy execution. Prior to joining Instructure, Joanna was director of revenue operations and analytics for Pluralsight. Before that, she was chief product officer for Synergy Technology Solutions and Chief Operations Officer for Breathe Legal. Joanna has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and statistics from Brigham Young University and an MBA in finance and information systems from the University of Utah.

Jeff leads financial planning and analysis (FP&A) at Instructure. He’s spent the last 25 years in finance and business leadership roles with companies like Intel and Procter & Gamble. Before joining Instructure, Jeff most recently served as senior vice president of corporate FP&A for Blue Yonder, Inc., which was acquired by Panasonic in 2021. Jeff is focused on driving strategic alignment, growth, and profitability for Instructure. He has a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Brigham Young University.

Chris is passionate about technology, lifelong learning, and driving meaningful change in education. He has over 27 years of executive sales leadership experience in the public sector market. Before joining Instructure, Chris served as SolarWinds’ SVP of sales in the Americas. Prior to that, he was the GM at HP Public Sector and SVP of sales at Pearson. Since 2002, he’s also been a volunteer, advocate, and guardian for the Child Advocates nonprofit. Chris has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Texas State University.

Justin Beck serves as the SVP, Sales North America K12 and Higher Education for Instructure supporting over 140 teammates across sales, solution engineering, sales development, and account management.  

Justin joins Instructure following 4 years with Salesforce.org where he was a key part of the education leadership team achieving greater than 50% year-over-year growth across all Salesforce cloud applications in the student and administrative lifecycle including recruiting and admissions, marketing, student service/advising, and advancement/alumni relations arenas.

Previously Justin held leadership positions at Kaltura, the industry-leading video platform, where he led both corporate and education sales and go-to-market; as well as Blackboard for more than 6 years leading various parts of the higher education line of business, supporting multiple platform and product integrations.

Just has been a contributor in many educational technology publications over the years as well as a presenter at Educause, Online Educa and SloanC.

Justin is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with honors and a B.S. in Marketing. He lives in the suburbs of Cincinnati with his high school sweetheart, Holly and 3 children.  He is involved in various local charitable organizations including the Ronald McDonald House.  

Christopher is an experienced SaaS business leader with over 25 years of sales and business leadership experience. As our regional team leader, he’s focused on helping institutions and businesses drive greater success through the Instructure platform. Christopher has worked with teams all over the world and most recently led Conga’s APAC team, where he grew the businesses by over 300%. He’s also worked for other global companies like Salesforce, Nuance, and Avaya. Christopher has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom.

Jay is the regional leader for EMEA with more than a dozen years of industry experience. Most recently, Jay was responsible for leading Instructure’s Higher Education sales efforts in the Eastern United States. Prior to joining Instructure in 2019, Jay was General Manager of Sydney-based SIS provider, Edumate. He’s also held various roles at Hobsons, an EdTech solutions provider, working across their entire product suite and in all of their international markets during his tenure. Besides his strong sales background Jay also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from James Madison University. 

A passionate Channel leader with over 20 years of sales and business experience in technology sales, Jack has a track record of building world class channel organizations and was awarded the 2021 CRN Channel Chief Award. Jack has managed global channel organizations at Mimosa Networks, Mindjet, as well as TrustArc. Jack Received his bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College of California and completed post graduate work in Leadership and International Business at Harvard University.

Zyanya is leading Instructure’s expansion in the Latin American region. She’s an original member of our international team, and an experienced leader who has led many other global teams. Before joining us, Zyanya launched Lucid for Education to learners around the world, and was a senior enterprise account executive for Zylo. One of her most rewarding assignments involved working with women entrepreneurs in Peru as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank. Zyanya is a Mexico City native who has an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University and Tec de Monterrey.

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 at 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.

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.