Udacity expands executive leadership team with four C-suite appointments

Digital talent transformation platform Udacity has announced the expansion of its executive leadership team, with the appointments of Sarah Reynolds (they/them) as Chief Marketing Officer; Ayah Shashaa (she/her) as Chief Strategy and Business Operations Officer; Samuel Schofield (he/him) as Chief Revenue Officer; and Derrick Alesevich (he/him) as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer.

Talent development is at the core of Udacity’s offering, and this leadership team growth demonstrates the company’s commitment to its mission of empowering life-long career development, with three of the four appointees being promoted internally.

Sarah Reynolds joins Udacity as an external hire with over a decade of expertise, having previously served as interim Head of Commercial Marketing at PTC, following previous success as the company’s Vice President of Enterprise Marketing.

With a proven background in managing and scaling diverse, distributed teams of more than 100 employees and a passion for employee-centric, mission-driven companies, Reynolds will lead Udacity’s global marketing organisation, focusing on supporting its growth in the enterprise and government sectors. This will include scaling Udacity’s marketing team and customer base, driving thought leadership in the market and positioning Udacity as the leading digital talent transformation solution for enterprises and nations worldwide.

In addition, after being at Udacity for close to five years, Ayah Shashaa steps up as Chief Strategy and Business Operations Officer from her previous role as Global Vice President of Societal Impact. In her new role, Shashaa will oversee the strategic direction of Udacity, aligning the planning, implementation, and execution of the company’s growth mission. 

Udacity’s former Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales, Sam Schofield, also joins the company’s C-suite with his promotion to Chief Revenue Officer. Having been at the company since 2019, he is now responsible for all institutional revenue-generation activities worldwide, and will oversee Udacity’s Government partnership team.

Also joining Udacity’s executive leadership team is Derrick Alesevich, the company’s former Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. In his new role as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, Alesevich will lead Udacity’s Legal and People teams. 

The appointments come at a time when Udacity is seeing notable growth across its customer base. As of Q2 2022, Udacity has more than ​​20 million registered users in over 195 countries. 

Gabriel Dalporto, Chief Executive Officer at Udacity, commented:

“We’re focused on changing lives, businesses, and nations through radical talent transformation. I’m excited to welcome Sarah to the team, whose distinct background and proven ability to rapidly scale teams, develop enterprise pipelines, and communicate clear market leadership will be pivotal as we continue our work with enterprises and governments looking to close the digital skills gap. I’m also equally delighted to see the promotions of Ayah, Sam, and Derrick. Personal development is at the core of what we do and I’m beyond thrilled to see my colleagues grow and expand their roles in the company.”