Wie is Instructure?

Steve is a global technology leader guiding Instructure through one of the most transformative eras in education. As CEO, he is leading the company’s shift from an industry-leading LMS provider to a future-ready learning ecosystem that helps institutions and learners navigate rapid technological and workforce change. With more than 25 years of experience scaling global technology companies, Steve is driving Instructure’s expansion across Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, ensuring solutions remain relevant to regional needs while supporting a unified global vision.

Since joining Instructure in 2020, Steve has strengthened the company’s foundation and expanded its ecosystem, including Canvas, Mastery, and Parchment, to support learning, assessment, and verified credentials from early education through career development. He frequently emphasizes that the pace of change will not slow down and works with districts, universities, and organizations to build the readiness needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving environment.

Before Instructure, Steve held leadership roles at Ivanti, Avocent, and Intel. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA from BYU.

Matt is the chief people, legal, and administrative officer at Instructure, where he helps guide the company through transformation with clarity, trust, and strong governance. He leads Instructure’s legal, privacy, compliance, and corporate development functions and plays a central role in building a culture that supports growth, accountability, and long-term readiness in a rapidly changing world.

Since joining Instructure in 2015, Matt has been a steady leader through pivotal moments, including two IPOs, two private equity transactions, and multiple strategic acquisitions, most recently Parchment. Across each phase of change, he has emphasized thoughtful risk management, people-centered decision making, and responsible innovation.

Matt is widely respected for his ability to clarify complex legal, regulatory, and organizational challenges, particularly in areas such as privacy, data protection, and governance. Before Instructure, he held senior legal roles at Collective Inc., Epocrates Inc., MediMedia USA Inc., and WebMD Health Corp. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Penn State and a J.D. from George Washington University.

Audrey is the chief financial officer at Instructure, where she leads the company’s global finance organization and helps ensure the financial strength and operational readiness needed to support a future-ready education technology ecosystem. As Instructure expands its impact across K–12, higher education, and the workforce, Audrey aligns long-term strategy with sustainable growth, enabling confident investment in innovation that enhances human potential and helps learners and educators thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Audrey has spent her career scaling technology organizations through periods of rapid growth, transformation, and global expansion. Prior to joining Instructure, she served as CFO at CloudBees, where she helped secure Series F financing that elevated the company to unicorn status and aligned its financial profile with the Rule of 40. Previously, she was senior vice president of finance at Cloudera, guiding the company from startup through the IPO, merger, and acquisition stages.

Known for her strategic rigor and steady leadership, Audrey is a trusted partner to boards, CEOs, and teams. She holds degrees from the University of Rochester, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Armin is the chief marketing officer at Instructure. He oversees the company’s brand and go-to-market strategy, advancing a bold, future-focused vision for education technology that enhances human potential and supports educators and learners in a constantly changing environment. His work reflects Instructure’s continued evolution into a global education technology ecosystem that empowers individuals and helps them thrive.

Central to Armin’s leadership is a human-centered view of technology. He believes technology should enhance, accelerate, and elevate human capability rather than replace it. This philosophy has guided the evolution of Instructure’s open and interoperable ecosystem, designed to enable mobility and opportunity across every stage of learning, from early education through lifelong and workforce learning.

Before joining Instructure, Armin led complex brand-building and growth initiatives across financial services, telecom, retail, CPG, travel, and hospitality, advising global brands including Fidelity, American Express, AT&T, Comcast Xfinity, Procter & Gamble, and Hilton. He has served as an adjunct professor at Brandeis University and is an advisory board member for Harvard University’s Extension School within the Division of Continuing Education. Armin holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and lives in Boston with his family.

Shiren is the chief product officer at Instructure, where he leads the company’s product strategy across learning, assessment, and credentialing. A veteran edtech product leader, Shiren brings decades of experience building data-driven, learner-centric technologies that help educators simplify complexity, align to measurable outcomes, and prepare for rapid technological change.

Central to Shiren’s approach is a belief that technology—and especially AI—should serve instructional goals and strengthen, not replace, human relationships in learning. Under his leadership, Instructure has deepened its commitment to openness, delivering an extensible, interoperable platform that gives institutions choice, flexibility, and control while supporting equitable access and learner agency.

Before joining Instructure, Shiren served as chief product officer at Newsela and General Assembly, where he launched new product lines, drove significant growth, and helped scale digital learning during periods of rapid change. He has also held senior product leadership roles at WW (formerly Weight Watchers) and The College Board. Based in the New York City metro area, Shiren continues to champion responsible AI and products that expand opportunity and support lifelong learning.

Rachel is a customer experience leader and transformation strategist who leads institutions through complexity with clarity, confidence, and measurable impact. As chief customer officer at Instructure, she leads global customer success, support, services, and experience strategy, ensuring that educators and learners can fully realize the value of a future-ready ecosystem designed to help people thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Rachel’s philosophy centers on readiness, which she defines as the ability for institutions and educators to adapt, respond, and grow amid shifting technologies and evolving learner needs. She champions human-centered innovation and believes technology should work for education by elevating human judgment, strengthening connections, and returning valuable time to educators.

A committed mentor and advocate for women in leadership, Rachel empowers emerging leaders to build confidence, resilience, and influence. Before joining Instructure, she served as chief customer officer at SmartRecruiters and BetterCloud and has built customer experience functions across several high-growth SaaS companies. Rachel holds an MBA from Georgia Tech and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University. As a parent of two long-time Canvas learners, she brings a personal commitment to improving the educational experience for every family and every learner.

Melissa is a globally recognized education futurist and the chief academic officer at Instructure, where she helps educators and institutions future-proof learning. With more than 25 years of experience across K–12, higher education, nonprofit leadership, and edtech, she brings a unique perspective on how learning must evolve in a rapidly changing world.

At Instructure, Melissa guides institutions in translating strategic goals into actionable plans that support lifelong learning and readiness. She chairs the 1EdTech board of directors and serves on the CSU AI Workforce Acceleration Board, advancing global efforts in interoperability, digital ecosystems, and AI-enabled workforce preparation. Melissa began her career as a K-12 educator and has over 20 years of experience in Higher education. She is currently an instructor at the University of California, Irvine, and holds several advisory roles at organizations such as Internet2, Terracotta, and Utah Valley University.

James is the chief growth officer at Instructure, where he leads the company’s global growth strategy across revenue, go-to-market execution, and customer expansion. In this role, he plays a central part in advancing Instructure’s evolution into a future-ready education technology ecosystem and positioning the company as a long-term partner for institutions and organizations navigating change across education and the workforce.

As learning models evolve and the boundaries between education and work continue to blur, James helps organizations adapt to new expectations around skills, credentials, and lifelong learning. He focuses on aligning growth strategy with the needs of today’s diverse learners, from early education through higher education and into workforce development, ensuring institutions have the clarity, confidence, and support needed to help learners thrive.

Prior to joining Instructure, James led global revenue teams at AvidXchange and held senior growth and go-to-market roles at Google, Salesforce, Gusto, and InVision. He holds an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and completed graduate study at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Michael is the chief technology officer at Instructure and a seasoned technology strategist with over 25 years of experience building platforms, products, and teams that amplify human potential. He plays a central role in executing Instructure’s vision for a future-ready learning ecosystem that helps educators, institutions, and learners thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Michael is known for leading large-scale digital transformations, modernizing complex technology environments, and applying emerging technologies, including AI, to solve meaningful customer and business challenges. He partners closely with CEOs, boards, and executive teams to translate strategy into disciplined, actionable technology roadmaps that enable clarity, focus, and execution at scale.

Before joining Instructure, Michael served as chief technology officer at WeightWatchers and held engineering leadership roles, including VP of Engineering at SecondMarket, later acquired by Nasdaq.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from University College Cork in Ireland. Michael builds high-trust, high-performance engineering cultures where people feel valued, challenged, and inspired to innovate.

Sidharth is the vice president of partnerships and business development at Instructure, where he helps bring the company’s bold, future focused vision to life through global strategy, collaboration, and execution. With more than seven years at Instructure and over a decade in education technology, he serves as a key connector between innovation, equity, and real world impact across international markets.

Sidharth focuses on bridging global divides and connecting learners to economic opportunity regardless of geography. His work helps institutions move beyond tactical readiness toward becoming long term partners in a unified, evidence based education ecosystem that supports learners across every stage of their journey.

Previously, Sidharth served as vice president of international strategy, overseeing the global product vision for Canvas and the broader Instructure Learning Platform across APAC, EMEA, and LATAM. He is a frequent speaker and media contributor on global education, skills recognition, and AI. Sidharth serves as a board member for IMS Global Learning Consortium in Europe. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and studied at the University of Washington.

Steve Proud is Chief Information Security Officer at Instructure, where he leads the company’s global approach to security, risk, and compliance. He is responsible for ensuring the platforms educators and learners rely on are secure, resilient, and trusted.

Steve believes that earning and maintaining customer trust is the foundation of great security. He emphasizes that trust must be built through transparency, strong safeguards, and a clear commitment to using data in ways that support, not define, each learner’s journey. At Instructure, Steve focuses on reducing risk, strengthening compliance, and partnering closely with product and engineering teams to embed security into the core of the platform.

With more than 15 years of experience in cybersecurity, Steve has built and led global security teams across organizations, including Sinch, Mailgun, Trace3, NCC Group, Sungard Availability Services, and Boeing. His background spans penetration testing, enterprise security, and large-scale resilience programs.

Steve is known for transforming security into a strategic business enabler. He believes true security and privacy come from understanding and managing the risks that matter most to institutional trust, resilience, and reputation, and helps organizations prioritize effectively by translating complex technical risk into clear business impact.

He emphasizes structured risk communication grounded in three factors: technical feasibility, likelihood, and business impact. His approach helps organizations make more informed decisions, prepare for cyber incidents, and focus resources where they matter most.

Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity from Pennsylvania State University and is a CISSP. Outside of his work at Instructure, he and his wife run Hoops with a Purpose, a nonprofit dedicated to motivating and empowering students to reach their full potential in basketball and beyond.