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Pluralsight Appoints Four New Industry Leaders to Its Board of Directors
New Board Members Bring Expertise in Education, Enterprise, Finance and Web
Industry Veterans Will Help Guide Pluralsight’s Growing Enterprise Business, Expand Its Mission to Democratize Professional Technology Learning
SALT LAKE CITY – Pluralsight, the global leader in online learning for technology professionals, today announced the appointment of four new members to its board of directors: Arne Duncan, Brad Rencher, Gary Crittenden and Tim Maudlin. This distinguished group brings decades of diverse experience in education, enterprise SaaS, and corporate and web strategy to Pluralsight’s board, and will provide valuable guidance through the company’s next phase of growth.
“Arne, Brad, Gary and Tim are masters of their crafts and we’re excited to have them join the Pluralsight brain trust,” said Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight. “Each of these individuals has played a significant role in advancing their fields through thoughtful and creative strategies. As we build upon the great momentum we’ve experienced at Pluralsight, we look forward to tapping into their expertise as we sharpen our focus on serving businesses around the world.”
Arne Duncan is currently a Managing Partner at the Emerson Collective, a non-profit organization founded by Laurene Powell Jobs focused on improving the quality of public education, advancing immigration reform, and supporting and scaling social innovation.
Having served as the U.S. Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2016, Duncan is one of the most notable and highly-regarded thought leaders of twenty-first century education. One of the longest-serving education secretaries and arguably the most influential, he guided a rapid expansion of the federal role in the nation’s 100,000 public schools and saw 40 states adopt key policies. Aligning with Pluralsight’s mission to democratize professional learning for all, Duncan championed significant education causes to equalize learning opportunities while a member of President Obama’s Cabinet, including Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that preserved 350,000 teachings jobs through $100 billion in stimulus funds. Pluralsight is the first board that Duncan has been appointed to since leaving office in early 2016.
Brad Rencher, Adobe’s executive vice president and general manager of digital marketing, manages Adobe’s digital marketing business, which accounts for more than $1.5 billion of the company’s operations. Adobe is one of the largest and most successful SaaS organizations in the world, and continues to be one of the fastest growing businesses in the software market. Rencher led business operations at Omniture before its $1.8 billion acquisition by Adobe in 2009, and helped guide the companies through the transition. He is an industry pioneer with strong creative and strategic skills that will benefit Pluralsight as it solidifies itself as a SaaS leader.
Gary Crittenden serves as the Chairman of HGGC, a leading middle-market private equity firm in Palo Alto, California. Prior to joining HGGC, Crittenden was the CFO at several large companies, culminating with his role as CFO of Citigroup during the financial crisis from 2007 to 2009. During his time at Citigroup, Crittenden reduced costs, sold or exited unproductive assets and raised nearly $100 billion in equity. From 2000 to 2007, Crittenden served as the CFO of the American Express Company, where he architected the spin-off of Ameriprise and where he was named one of the best CFOs in America on three separate occasions. His keen focus on value creation and its relationship to building a sustainable business strategy will be valuable to Pluralsight as the company continues to grow its global presence.
Tim Maudlin is a proven authority in leading web-based companies. A certified public accountant early in his career, Maudlin has a strong background in Web and ecommerce and is an experienced advisor and board member for companies across multiple industries. He currently serves as lead independent director, audit committee chair and member of the compensation committee on the board of directors for WEB.com and holds board positions with Alteryx, Frontline Technologies (Education) and DrillingInfo, among others. Maudlin is the former director of ExactTarget, MediaMind Technologies and Newegg, Inc., the second-largest online-only retailer in the nation, and the former managing partner at Medical Innovations Partners, a venture capital firm. His profound knowledge in advising companies will be a great asset as Pluralsight continues to innovate and bolster its operations.
These four new independent board members join Pluralsight during a period of rapid growth, both in personnel and vision. The company expanded its headquarters in April 2016 and to-date has nearly 500 employees across the globe. Pluralsight’s curated content for IT, dev and creative professionals offers more than 4,700 courses authored by a network of more than 1,000 industry experts.
About Pluralsight
Pluralsight is the leading technology workforce development company that helps companies and teams build better products by developing critical skills, improving processes and gaining insights through data, and providing strategic skills consulting. Trusted by forward-thinking companies of every size in every industry, Pluralsight helps individuals and businesses transform with technology. Pluralsight Skills helps enterprises build technology skills at scale with expert-authored courses on today’s most important technologies, including cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science, and security, among others. Skills also includes tools to align skill development with business objectives, virtual instructor-led training, hands-on labs, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics. Flow complements Skills by providing engineering teams with actionable data and visibility into workflow patterns to accelerate the delivery of products and services. For more information about Pluralsight, visit pluralsight.com.