Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships
Pearson

Kathy Hurley, Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, for Pearson School Companies, is a 35-year veteran of the education industry. Prior to joining Pearson, Hurley served as Vice President, Education for PLATO Learning.

Hurley has also served as the Senior Vice President for NetSchools (prior to its acquisition by PLATO Learning) where her responsibilities included overseeing the Sales, Marketing and Business Development departments of the company.

Hurley’s tenure in the education industry also includes her time as Senior Vice President of Education Marketing for The Learning Company, and Senior Vice President of Skillsbank Corporation. In addition, Hurley held important positions with IBM, Mindscape, Grolier and DLM.

She currently serves on several key industry and education advisory boards, including, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), the National School Boards Foundation (NSBF), of which she is Chairman, the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), Education Industry Association (EIA) and the Foundation for Education Investment (FEI). She is also the former Chairman of the Association of Educational Publishers.

In addition, Hurley has received various awards for her service in the industry. In 2001, Hurley was named the CoSN’s first ever Outstanding Private Sector Achievement Award. More recently, in December of 2003, Hurley was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers Hall of Fame for her achievements and service to the education technology industry.

Hurley began her career in education working with learning disabled students, after receiving her Masters degree at Jersey City State College. To this day, she continues to support her undergraduate institution, the University of Dayton, by serving on the Advisory Board for the School of Education.