Kathy Hurley is a 45-year veteran of the education industry. Throughout her career, Kathy has served in top positions in both publishing and technology companies, including executive positions with Pearson and IBM. In December 2014, Kathy retired from Pearson where she spent ten years and served as Executive Vice President Education Alliances, for the Pearson Foundation. Kathy was selected as a Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) at Harvard University and completed the program in 2014. Upon completion, Kathy co-founded a global non-profit organization called Girls Thinking Global, which has since donated its assets to the Women’s Education Project, where Kathy sits on the Board of Directors. Kathy is also a national and international speaker on leadership, diversity in the business world and gender equity issues. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for several for-profit and non-profit organizations in the education industry. In June of 2019, Kathy received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in Education Technology from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). Kathy is the co-editor of Real Women, Real Leaders: Surviving and Succeeding in the Business World (Wiley) with Priscilla Shumway.