Executive Management

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.

Peter has a stellar track record in spearheading financial transformations, executing strategic initiatives, and driving substantial growth across diverse industries. With a career spanning over two decades, Peter has consistently delivered exceptional results in roles of escalating responsibility within renowned companies such as Sterling, Jackson Hewitt, and Assurant. Peter is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds an MBA in Management from New York University and a BS in Accounting from Miami University.

Mitch is Instructure's chief product officer. Before assuming responsibility for all of Instructure's products, he was primarily 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 Instructure, 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 Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and earned an M.S. in information systems from Capella University.

Chris brings 28 years experience running high-growth scale businesses at enterprise software companies. At Instructure, Chris oversees all aspects of the go-to-market strategy and customer lifecycle- including marketing, revenue operations, sales and customer experience. Most recently, Chris was General Manager, Americas for the Commercial business at Adobe Systems Inc. Previously, Chris was an Entrepreneur In Residence at Lightspeed Venture Partners and also spent 13 years at SAP, Americas running a variety of domestic and international businesses culminating in his role as EVP & GM, Americas. Chris earned a BA in English Literature & Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross as well as a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School.

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.

As Instructure’s Privacy Officer, Daisy is passionate about privacy, education, and technology. Her focus: bridging the gap between compliance, customer, and business needs to develop strong, transparent privacy practices. Over the past 15 years, she’s had the opportunity to help a variety of tech companies achieve meaningful and effective privacy programs.

Daisy is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP-US & CIPP-E) and a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) through the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She holds a B.A. in History from the University of California Davis, a M.P.P. from the University of Utah, and a J.D. from the SJ Quinney College of Law (University of Utah).

Brian leads Corporate Development at Instructure. He is responsible for sourcing and executing M&A transactions that build upon our success and further accelerate our growth. Previously, Brian served as a Director at KeyBanc Capital Markets in the Technology M&A group, where he worked on a variety of advisory and capital raise transactions with companies in the software, internet, human capital management, and financial technology sectors. Brian is a CFA charterholder, and he earned a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from the Ohio State University.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Roshan Popal is Instructure’s Chief Information Officer. He has more than 20 years of experience leading global information technology and security teams. Most recently, Roshan was responsible for MicroStrategy’s cloud business in addition to serving as the company’s chief information security officer.

Roshan holds a master’s degree in information systems from George Mason University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from SUNY Buffalo.

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.

Harrison Kelly is the Regional Vice President for APAC at Instructure. He leads the region's go-to-market strategy, providing sales leadership, highly disruptive services and customer-focused solutions that support the company's growth across Asia Pacific.

He is a seasoned senior C-Suite consultant and Enterprise Director with a track record of overachieving multi-million dollar quotas through high-impact negotiation, thought leadership, and a challenger mentality. Before joining Instructure, he held senior roles at top companies like LinkedIn, Gartner, and IBM.

Daniel Hill is the Managing Director - EMEA at Instructure, a company dedicated to elevating student success, amplifying the power of teaching, and inspiring everyone to learn together through its world-leading Learning Platform and ecosystem.

Prior to this role, Daniel held positions of both Regional Director and more recently, Regional Vice President where he was responsible for the continued development and growth of Instructure’s community across Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Prior to Instructure (through his work at Lumination, Literatu, and Edumate), Daniel held a variety of leadership roles, enabling educational institutions globally to adopt a variety of cutting-edge hardware and software to push their technological and pedagogical ambitions.

Having migrated back to the UK from Australia to take up his first position at Instructure nearly 3 years ago, Daniel currently spends most of his time with his wife Olivia, two children Rupert and Orson, and their extended family.

Marisa is a seasoned education professional with a background in K-12 education and a strong focus on educational technology. She began her career as an educator and district leader, but her passion for enhancing learning experiences led her to Instructure. Recognizing the potential of technology in education, Marisa now leads our K12 Sales Team using her extensive background to promote innovative solutions for schools and districts across the country. Her expertise and leadership continue to drive progress in the K-12 education landscape.

She has a BS in Biology from the University of Illinois, and a Masters in Secondary Science Education and a Masters in Educational Technology from National Louis University. In 2014, she was named Illinois Technology Administrator of the Year award for her design and facilitation of an innovative hybrid flexible attendance program as well as a large-scale implementation of digital curricula.

Sam is responsible for Instructure’s Strategic Alliances activities programs. In this role, he leads our channel program with partners that sell Instructure products around the world. He also helps define how we bring other companies’ products to market and help other ed tech companies through the use of Instructure’s products and services.

Sam has 15+ years of experience in global edtech roles, including building an international go-to-market at Class Technologies, leading sales and marketing at cross-border student loan pioneer Prodigy Finance, and leading business development, partnerships, channel operations, and M&A for Blackboard’s international business.

He has a Master’s Degree in International Finance from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Vermont.