About BloomBoard

BloomBoard is a talent development provider that enables K-12 school districts to grow, advance, and retain educators by making professional education a benefit of employment. We offer turnkey programs for school districts to move educators forward at all points of their professional journey. Our platform connects districts to higher education institutions that offer apprenticeship, certification, and degree programs using a unique on-the-job instructional model. We help to assess needs, build and implement plans, and celebrate educator success.

Leadership

Our executive team brings decades of combined experience in education, technology, and talent development to serve schools nationwide.

Sanford Kenyon

Sanford Kenyon

Chief Executive Officer

Sanford joined BloomBoard in October 2015. He has 25 years of experience in software and technology-based businesses, including executive roles at eBay, PayPal, and other Silicon Valley software companies. For the last 12 years he has been focused on education software businesses, including SchoolMessenger, where he served as President & CEO, and BlackBoard, where he served as a Vice President in the K-12 business. Sanford is also active in the education technology community as an investor, mentor, and advisor.

Jason Lange

Jason Lange

Co-founder and President

Jason Lange is the Founder and President of BloomBoard. Prior to founding BloomBoard, Jason worked in private equity and was also a member of the NewSchools Venture Fund team, where he supported the development of the initial edtech investment thesis for the NewSchools Seed Fund (now Reach Capital). Jason received his BA from Yale University and also holds an MBA from the Graduate School of Business and an MA in Education from School of Education at Stanford University.

Jim Martin

Jim Martin

Head of District Partnerships

Jim leads our district partnerships team, which is focused on developing authentic relationships with school districts throughout the United States to support educators in their growth. With over 20 years of leadership experience at companies including Blackboard and BrightBytes, he is passionate about building effective teams that support educators with innovative solutions aimed at driving student success.

Jill Prather-Cowart

Jill Prather-Cowart

Chief Operating Officer & Head of Strategic Initiatives

Jill leads BloomBoard's operational core — overseeing program development, partner and learner success, and strategic funding initiatives. She drives the design and quality of educator preparation programs, builds the funding infrastructure that makes BloomBoard's work accessible and scalable, and works across higher education, state agencies, districts, and workforce boards to build programs that are rigorous and financially sustainable. Her efforts have secured millions in state and federal grants and expanded registered apprenticeship programs across multiple states. With over 25 years in education — as a classroom teacher, school principal, and Assistant Superintendent of Academics at the Louisiana Department of Education — Jill brings both deep practitioner roots and policy experience to her work. She is driven by the belief that well-prepared teachers are the most powerful lever for student learning.

Juan Valencia

Juan Valencia

Chief Technology Officer

Juan took the helm of engineering at BloomBoard in 2017 to lead the evolution of the BloomBoard platform. His experience as both an educator and engineering leader drives his passion for building strong engineering teams that develop and implement world-class solutions for educators. Prior to BloomBoard, Juan worked with technology companies, including ShareThis and Symmetricom. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in engineering and computer science and formerly taught physics at Gordon College.

BloomBoard’s Journey

BloomBoard was founded by Jason Lange and Eric Dunn in 2010, when they took on the challenge of developing a teacher coaching platform that would use technology to take the principles of differentiated instruction for students and apply those principles to teacher development and support. With that core mission in mind, BloomBoard has evolved to a platform for professional learning with purpose.