Providing access to the world’s best education is central to our mission of transforming lives through learning. Coursera is fortunate to partner with 170 of the world’s top universities and industry educators to offer the highest quality learning content that empowers 37 million learners around the world. Throughout our journey, our partnerships have evolved alongside the needs of our learner. We’ve grown from working with renowned universities on single courses to offering fully accredited degrees, and more recently expanded our model to host content from leading companies like Google, Amazon, IBM and many others.
To take our partnerships and content to the next level, I’m thrilled to announce that Dil Sidhu will be joining Coursera as Chief Content Officer (CCO).
Dil has an impressive background in building partnerships, both in higher education and other industry verticals. Dil was most recently the Vice Dean of Executive Education at Columbia Business School. Before that, he grew the executive education programs at London Business School and the University of Manchester. What I love about Dil is his obsession with understanding and meeting the needs of partners, his experience building great teams, and his passion for what we’re doing at Coursera.
At a time when the world is experiencing unprecedented change, we need to work with our partners on a content strategy that is future-focused. Dil’s leadership will be vital in identifying new content opportunities for our partners that align with what learners and employers need, giving them the tools to succeed in their careers.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Deanna Raineri for her leadership as interim CCO on top of her position as Chief Academic Strategist. Deanna has decided to take a new role at Northeastern University as their Vice President and Vice Provost for Digital and Mobility Strategy. We thank Deanna for the impact she made in designing and launching new online degree programs, and we look forward to working with Deanna in her new capacity as she continues to be a champion of online learning.
Given our strong ties with the academic community, we deeply value the voice of an academic evangelist in our executive leadership. Hence, the search for a new Chief Academic Strategist is already underway.
Coursera is changing the way the world learns, and we’re very excited about Dil coming onboard and spearheading various content launches we have in store for 2019. Have a great year.
–– Jeff