Who is Instructure?

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.

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 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 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.

Armin Molavi has an extensive background that includes tackling marketing, brand-building, and growth challenges for large-scale businesses across diverse sectors. He began his career at leading creative agencies, where he drove strategy, charted growth paths, scaled operations, and built high-performance teams. He went on to drive growth initiatives for major companies including Fidelity, American Express, Procter & Gamble, AT&T, and Choice Hotels. Notably, he spearheaded Hilton’s first-ever global segmentation strategy and developed an e-commerce platform that now powers over $7B in annual bookings. Armin serves on the advisory board for Harvard University’s Division of Continuing Education, is an active angel investor, teaches at Brandeis University, and holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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.

Leading the charge as Chief Growth Officer at Instructure, where I'm driven to achieve ambitious goals with our global team. Instructure's mission-driven approach to transforming education through technology inspires me. The company's commitment to innovation, coupled with KKR's support, creates an exciting opportunity to make a real difference for students around the world.

I’m passionate about growing businesses by building high-performing teams and scalable processes, while fostering a collaborative culture focused on delivering the best customer experience in the market.

My experience spans a range of technology companies and advisory roles, from leading the revenue organization at AvidXchange, a public fintech company, to senior go-to-market roles at industry giants like Google and Salesforce, and hyper-growth unicorns like Gusto and InVision. Throughout my career, I have focused on maximizing growth globally through both direct and indirect channels, across small, medium, and enterprise customer segments.

On a personal note, I'm Canadian and have lived and worked around the world. Denver is now home, and I love exploring the Colorado mountains with my wife and two daughters.

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.