Ramona Pierson first built careers in aviation, neuropsychology and software development. While studying and examining and learning the details of such diverse disciplines, she became interested in the act of learning itself. She volunteered in a San Francisco school while working full-time in Silicon Valley and, just like that, a fourth career was born.

Pierson completed a master’s degree in education in California, then headed north to take the reins of the education technology department for Seattle Public Schools. She combined her passions and expertise to create software that, in a nutshell, helps teachers teach better. In 2007, Ramona launched a private company with the same goal. SynapticMash Inc. was launched to revolutionize the learning management and assessment systems in education.

A self-described “data geek,” Pierson contemplated ways to push education and technology through a paradigm shift — to move from web 2.0 to web 3.0. Now the CEO of Declara, Ramona continues to study the act of learning and to explore ways to make our education system work better for students.