CEO of Degreed to serve as Gaelen Entrepreneurship Speaker

04/07/17

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – David Blake, co-founder and CEO of Degreed, a learning and skills tracking website, will serve as the spring 2017 Norbert and Audrey Gaelen Entrepreneurship Speaker. He will visit the University Park campus Monday, April 10 and Tuesday, April 11. 

As the Gaelen Entrepreneurship Speaker, Blake will discuss his background as an entrepreneur in the educational technology (EdTech) industry with students, faculty, staff, administration and community members. During his visit, Blake will present in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Minor courses and meet with representatives from the College of Engineering, Penn State Outreach and Online Education, Happy Valley Launchbox, Penn State EdTech Network and Live It. He will also serve as the featured speaker at an InnoBlue meeting at New Leaf. The meeting will be held from 6:30 – 8 p.m. on Monday, April 10.

Degreed, which started in 2012, employs more than 150 people in San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Amsterdam. In the five years since its creation, the venture-backed company has raised more than $30 million and has more than two million people using its education-based platform.

Degreed allows users, both individuals and organizations, to discover, track and measure learning and skills – an alternative to traditional educational evaluation like grades and test scores.

Before launching Degreed, Blake was an instrumental member of the team that founded New Charter University, a regionally accredited, competency-based university. He also served as marketing director and director of finance and operations at Zinch, an EdTech startup that was acquired by Chegg Admission Services. 

Blake attended Brigham Young University, where he earned a bachelor of science in economics in 2007. 

Established in 2008, the Norbert and Audrey Gaelen Entrepreneurship Speaker Series invites entrepreneurs to the University in the hopes of encouraging entrepreneurship among Penn State students, faculty and staff. Norbert Gaelen is a 1947 industrial engineering alumnus.

 

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Samantha Chavanic

smh5218@engr.psu.edu

 
 

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The School of Engineering Design and Innovation delivers effective engineering education and unrivaled research opportunities through active, collaborative, project-based, and professionally oriented classroom experiences. The school offers a variety of programs that partner faculty, students, and industry in the study of real-life engineering problems. Our programs teach students to solve real-life problems with innovative solutions. 

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