admin When the history of modern education is written, the story of how classrooms transcended walls and reached every learner, everywhere, will have a central character: Jamie Candee, President and Chief Executive of Edmentum. Recognised in 2025 as Best Global Leader at the EdTech Awards, Candee has spent her career proving that technology, when designed with empathy and purpose, can bridge equity gaps and transform outcomes for millions of pupils.
‘True innovation in education begins not with technology, but with empathy—asking how every tool empowers teachers to reach learners’
-Jamie Candee
The Educator’s Chief Executive
Candee’s leadership philosophy is rooted in a powerful principle she introduced at Edmentum: Educator First. This approach reshaped how the company designs, develops, and delivers digital learning solutions. Rather than focusing solely on tools and platforms, Candee insists every innovation begins with a single question: How does this help teachers connect more deeply with their pupils?
“Educators are at the heart of everything we do,” she often emphasises. That educator-centric ethos ensures that technology complements, rather than replaces, the teacher–pupil relationship. It is an approach that has won the trust of more than 8,000 school districts across all 50 US states and over 100 countries worldwide.
Leading Through Crisis
Candee’s resilience as a leader was tested when the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools into uncharted territory. While many education companies scrambled, Edmentum responded decisively under her guidance.
The Edmentum Capacity Assistance Programme (E-CAP), launched in March 2020, provided educators with free access to on-demand curriculum, digital tools, and consultancy services. As schools grappled with closures, Edmentum migrated core platforms to the cloud, scaling to meet a staggering 500 per cent usage increase in April 2020. Within weeks, the company hired and onboarded more than 300 virtual teachers, expanding its teaching force by 60 per cent.
Just as importantly, Candee focused on long-term recovery. Edmentum introduced Accelerate Courses, short and targeted interventions designed to help secondary school pupils recover essential skills. The company also published its research paper, Start Smart: Reopening School After COVID Learning Loss, which offered leaders a roadmap for navigating an uncertain new era.
The crisis did not just test Candee, it demonstrated her ability to turn disruption into momentum for sustainable innovation.
Scaling a Legacy of Innovation
Edmentum’s story stretches back to 1960, when PLATO Learning emerged from the University of Illinois with the world’s first computer-assisted instruction system. Over six decades, it became synonymous with digital learning.
When PLATO merged with Archipelago Learning in 2012, Candee led the integration. It was her leadership that forged the Edmentum brand we know today: a unified force in assessment, adaptive learning, and digital curriculum.
Since then, Candee has steered the company through bold moves that have defined its trajectory.
She launched Exact Path, a personalised learning programme for pupils across the primary and secondary years. She oversaw acquisitions including Calvert Learning, a high-quality Key Stage 2 and 3 virtual curriculum, and Apex Learning, a leader in virtual and blended programmes. She built strategic partnerships with BASE Education and Reflection Sciences to strengthen provision in social-emotional learning. And she championed artificial intelligence innovation, including the EON tool in Study Island, which supports teachers as they onboard and guide their classrooms.
Today, Edmentum stands as a global leader in digital learning, serving six million learners annually and consistently earning recognition among the world’s most transformative education companies.
Recognition That Reflects Impact
In 2025, Edmentum’s Courseware—a programme offering more than 500 courses across core subjects, A-level and AP equivalents, vocational pathways, world languages, and electives—was named Best Digital Courseware Solution for the second year in succession. Importantly, it is not only award-winning, it is also research-backed. Studies meeting ESSA Tier 2 evidence standards show that Courseware improves attainment in mathematics and literacy, reduces absenteeism, and increases graduation rates.
Candee herself was named Best Global Leader by the EdTech Awards, adding to a list of accolades that includes:
- ASU+GSV’s POW! (Power of Women) Award
- Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Heartland Award
- Tech Edvocate’s Best Global EdTech Leader Award
- Recognition among the Top 25 Women Leaders in US PE-Backed Software
Each honour underscores not only Candee’s business acumen, but also her consistent vision of equity, access, and teacher empowerment.
Doing Well by Doing Good
Candee’s influence extends beyond corporate strategy. In 2017, she founded We Can Learn, Edmentum’s philanthropic foundation, grounded in the belief that innovation in education must be paired with service and giving. The foundation invests in programmes that expand access to learning opportunities, underscoring her conviction that success is measured not just in revenue, but in lives changed.
She also lends her expertise to the wider education ecosystem, serving on boards such as America Succeeds, The Learning Tree International, and Primrose Schools, ensuring her impact reaches far beyond Edmentum itself.
‘Great leaders turn disruption into opportunity, transforming moments of crisis into momentum that reshapes the future of learning for all’
-Jamie Candee
Why Jamie Candee Matters in 2025
The world of education is at a crossroads. Schools face mounting pressure to personalise learning, prepare pupils for careers of the future, and address widening equity gaps. Technology alone is not the answer. It requires leaders who combine vision with values.
Jamie Candee is one of those leaders. She has redefined what it means to lead an edtech organisation, balancing innovation with a human-first philosophy. Her tenure at Edmentum has been a masterclass in scaling technology while never losing sight of the people it serves.
As the company continues its global expansion, supporting millions of learners and educators, Candee’s leadership ensures Edmentum’s mission remains clear: to create the future every child deserves.
In a sector where buzzwords often overshadow results, Candee offers something rarer: authenticity, measurable impact, and unwavering dedication to educators and pupils alike. That is why she stands as one of the 10 Most Influential Education Leaders of 2025.
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