My first experience with education was in rural Western South Dakota in a one-room schoolhouse with no electricity or indoor plumbing--a long ways from my role today as Sr. VP of Sonic Foundry and General Manager of Sonic Foundry’s subsidiary, Global Learning Exchange™ (GLX). GLX mission is to reduce barriers in higher education, by matching US and UK universities to hungry, highly motivated students in emerging countries with online learning solutions and to empower the next generation of global learners—regardless of location and barriers. In between the one-room schoolhouse and now, I had the opportunity as a Rotary International Student in Japan at the age of 15, living on a rice farm with dirt floors and later continued as a Rotary International Student to study for a year in Sweden. My international itch provided an opportunity to teach at the University of China for a year and spend another seven years working and living in China/Singapore with a software company. In college, I did not take a single business course, despite entering the commercial real estate market post-grad and continuing on to receive my MBA. I have had my fair share of occupations within the business world ranging from real estate, pop music business, and higher education to sales and custom corporate publishing. In addition to naturally seeing myself as a teacher in my day-to-day business and sales life, I am by nature an entrepreneur. Knowing how to express myself and my business ideas in these fields is one thing, but utilizing an outlet to execute those ideas is a whole other game. That brings me where I am today: I understand that there is a gap between global higher education and local emerging countries, but it is now about discovering and implementing solutions that bridge that gap and shape higher education to provide social mobility and people reaching their full potential through education. My previous educational/work experience at three universities stemmed my vision for barrier-free higher education, and technology had evolved to the point that it is now possible.Skills: B2B senior sales leader and corporate-preneur , large account sales and business development leader, software and higher education industries, domestic and global, engaging presenter, memorable teacher/trainer, and tremendous instinct for incremental revenue opportunities, well-honed corporate instincts and practical ability to summarize, dollarize and rationalize opportunities into actionable proposals