I have been in this field for more than three decades. I have held C-suite roles at R1 research institutions. I have sat at the table where the decisions about EdTech strategy, digital transformation, and program investment get made. And then I stepped away from that table to build something of my own — twice.

Downing EdTech Consulting came first. I founded it because I wanted to do the work I had always done at the highest level — on my own terms, and with the flexibility to also show up for my family. The Entrepreneur Sandwich™ came because I kept meeting entrepreneurs who were managing a business and a caregiving responsibility at the same time, and almost none of them were talking about it.

I did not build these companies in calm seas. I built them through a global pandemic. Through the birth of AI, which reshaped the EdTech landscape faster than most organizations could track. Through tariff changes and market shifts that redefined what clients needed and what they were willing to pay for. And through all of it, I was also a caregiver - managing real responsibilities at home while managing real responsibilities in business.

That is not a liability. That is the resume. Everything I teach, consult on, and coach - it comes from having actually done it, in exactly the conditions my clients are navigating right now.