CareerX

Powered by NCEE and Britebound™

An Accelerator Advancing the Future of Career Pathways

CareerX

Powered by NCEE and Britebound™

An Accelerator Advancing the Future of Career Pathways

CareerX is a new accelerator program advancing the next generation of solutions that prepare young people and adults for life and work. We bring together bold entrepreneurs and education leaders to test, deploy, and scale technologies that make career pathways to meaningful work more visible, navigable, and equitable.

Powered by NCEE and Britebound, CareerX is grounded in a shared conviction: preparing learners for the future of work requires durable partnerships between educators, innovators, and employers—aligned around real-world outcomes, not siloed systems.

2026 Cohort

Expert Educators 2026

Hafedh Azaiez
Superintendent
Round Rock ISD
Round Rock, TX

John Cabral
Superintendent
Taunton Public Schools
Taunton, MA

Leslie Daugherty
Managing Director, Talent and Workforce Development
Illinois Board of Higher Education
Springfield, IL

Paula Dibley
Chief Officer, Student Success and Strategic Innovation
Forsyth Technical Community College
Winston-Salem, NC

Tate Else
Superintendent
Eureka County School District
Eureka, NV

George Fiore
Executive Director
Chester County Intermediate Unit
Downingtown, PA

Carnelius Gilder
Superintendent
West Sabine ISD
Pineland, TX

Patrick Gittisriboongul
Superintendent
Lynwood USD
Lynwood, CA

Breezy Gutierrez
Senior Manager
NMPED CCRB
Santa Fe, NM

Cris Haverty
Assistant Vice President, Workforce Development
Lasell University
Newton, MA

Toriano Holloway
Superintendent
Vicksburg Warren SD
Vicksburg, MS

Kevin Johnson
Senior Advisor, Data and Access
Advance CTE
Silver Spring, MD

Crystal Jones
Senior Director, Workforce Partnerships
The Ohio Association of Community Colleges
Columbus, OH

Wes Kriesel
AI Education Lead
Orange County Department of Education
Pomona, CA

Eric Mooney
Director, Secondary Education
Colton Joint USD
Colton, CA

Julie Murgel
Chief Program Officer
Montana Office of Public Instruction
Helena, MT

Jesse Najera
Superintendent
Silver Valley USD
Yermo, CA

Jason Neiffer
Executive Director
Montana Digital Academy
Missoula, MT

Oracio Rodriguez
Assistant Superintendent
Madera USD
Madera, CA

Rose Rojas
Director, Curriculum and Transfer
Maricopa Community Colleges
Tempe, AZ

Gonzalo Salazar
Superintendent
Los Fresnos CISD
Los Fresnos, TX

Jackie Thomas
Vice President, Student Success
Lone Star College System–Tomball
Tomball, TX

The CareerX Advantage

CareerX is purpose-built for relationship building with education systems. The program does not focus on fundraising, does not take equity, and does not charge participation fees. Most sessions are virtual, with two in-person convenings and optional networking opportunities. Sessions are tailored to each cohort, ensuring targeted support where it matters most.

Participants join NCEE & Britebound’s far-reaching networks of education innovators, such as district and postsecondary leaders, technology adoption decision makers, and nonprofit partners — all working to design the next era of learning.

Schedule:

Program Schedule:

San Diego: April 13 – ASU-GSV reception (optional)
Boston: April 23 – evening reception, April 24 – full day event (mandatory)
DC: June 11 – evening reception, June 12 – full day event (mandatory)
Orlando: end of June – reception at ISTE (optional)
Four virtual roundtables (~1 hour each) between April-July 2026 (mandatory)

Virtual Sessions:

Participants join several interactive virtual sessions, working directly with NCEE’s Expert Educators through roundtables, small-group discussions, and one-on-one conversations. Startups will share their solutions for educator feedback, learn how education leaders make decisions, explore implementation challenges, understand impact measurement, and navigate the policies and processes required to scale in education systems.

Two In-Person Convenings:

Two in-person Accelerator Days bring together Expert Educators, startup founders, and a broader network of school leaders and community partners. Each company will also have at least one opportunity to showcase its work at a curated networking event.

Slide: We are NCEE

“Being part of NCEE’s first cohort of edtech companies has been game-changing. Our goal as edtech innovators is to create solutions that are impactful for learners and that make teachers’ lives easier. The NCEE program helped us connect directly with district leaders, better understand their challenges, and shape our offerings to be more impactful. Our partnership with NCEE has opened doors to valuable feedback, authentic conversations, and real opportunities to grow.”

—Dora Palfi, Founder of imagi

Slide: We are NCEE

"We’ve benefited immensely from the guidance and perspective NCEE’s educator leaders have shared throughout the program. The opportunity to connect 1:1 with the exact educators and leaders we aim to serve has been invaluable, allowing us to validate assumptions, sharpen our product strategy, and stay grounded in real classroom and district needs. Through NCEE’s resources and thought leadership, our understanding of the K–12 funding, policy, and decision-making landscape has evolved significantly. This experience strengthened both our strategic clarity and our validation as we build solutions for the education ecosystem.”

-Kelly King, VP of Operations, Creatium

Slide: We are NCEE

“Serving as an Expert Educator has been a wonderful and rewarding experience. It has allowed me to meet new people with different ideas from all over the country, and that has sharpened my thinking in ways that directly impact my leadership each and every day. I have delivered nearly 100 presentations on best practices in AI as education leaders, and being part of the NCEE community has connected me to other leaders and technology experts who are embracing the power and thinking critically about how it can support our education leaders and students”

-Chris Chism, Superintendent Pearl City Schools, Mississippi

Learn More

Questions? Please email Marissa Lowman.

If you are an education leader who is interested in joining this work as an Expert Educator to mentor and collaborate with the career-connected learning companies in CareerX, please email Leah Moschella to learn more.

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