Kathy Hurley

Kathy Hurley
Executive Vice President for Education Alliances
Pearson Foundation
Upper Saddle River, NJ

Kathy Hurley, Executive Vice President, Education Alliances, for the Pearson Foundation, is a 40+ year veteran of the education industry. She has been with the Foundation for five years and is a member of the Executive team. Kathy’s wealth of knowledge both in publishing and technology has aided the Foundation with its work in promoting literacy and global recognition. In her spare time Kathy is busy preparing her next speech or finding ways to connect people to support the vision of Always Learning.

Throughout her career in the education industry Hurley has also served in top executive positions in both publishing and technology companies. She utilizes her skills and experience in sales, marketing and business development in particular her expertise in developing key strategic partnerships to support the initiatives for the companies she has been affiliated with over the years.

She currently serves on several key industry and education advisory boards and has been at the forefront in leading the charge for 21st century skills as Past Chairman of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and now serving on the P21 Executive Board. She most recently was invited to join the People to People Ambassador Programs inaugural Advisory Board. Several other advisory boards include: the AEE Center for Digital Learning; the EdNET Industry Advisory Board; the Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning; SREB/iNACOL National Online Teacher of the Year award program and the inaugural Building a Grad Nation Summit Steering Committee. Hurley is the former Chairman of the National School Boards Foundation (NSBF) board. She also sits on the boards of three top education associations dedicated to the use of technology in education, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) including their CoSN International Task Force; the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) and National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET). She was recently re-elected to the board of the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) of which she is past president.

Her work with the philanthropic arm of Pearson, the Foundation, has taken Hurley around the world and into various countries where the Foundation has a strong presence renewing her commitment to the need for new and innovative ways to help children learn. She has represented the Pearson Foundation in India, Australia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, France, Finland, Argentina, Indonesia, and others. by speaking or participating as a thought leader. The global commitment of the Foundation brings a wealth of knowledge to Pearson to help them develop new approaches to education.

In addition, Hurley has received various awards for her service in the industry. In 2011, she was awarded the prestigious SIIA Ed Tech Impact Award. In 2010, she received a citation from State of Massachusetts Rep. Cory Atkins for her extraordinary contributions mentoring leaders in education. In 2001, Hurley was named to receive CoSN’s first ever Outstanding Private Sector Achievement Award and in 2003, she was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers Hall of Fame for her achievements and service to the education publishing industry. In 2010, she received an award for her 25 years of contributions to SIIA and the education industry at the CODiE Awards.

Hurley began her career in education working with learning disabled students, after receiving her Masters degree at Jersey City State College. To this day, she continues to support her undergraduate institution, the University of Dayton, by serving on their Advisory Board for the School of Education. Kathy is married to Charles Blaschke, President of EducationTURNKEY, an education information-focused group that provides market research, market projections, information on funding, and market strategy development. They reside in Arlington, Virginia.

CoSN 2013-14 Board of Directors