Coursera, Rick Levin Joins as CEO
Summary
President of Yale University, a government advisor and business leader, Levin will help the company’s 75+ team accelerate its growth.Co-founded by computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller from Stanford University and based in Mountain View, CA, Coursera works with universities to make some of their courses (currently over 600 massive open online courses, MOOCs) in engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, and other areas available online.The company has been backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates, GSV Capital International Finance Corporation, Learn Capital Venture Partners, Laureate Education, World Bank, and Yuri Milner.According to a company’s blog post, Following Levin’s appointment, Ng will assume the role of Chairman of the Board, will lead the company’s development of MOOC pedagogy, and work with Rick to expand Coursera’s presence in China.Koller will become President, taking on a range of key strategic initiatives, and leading the growth and nurturing of Coursera’s partnerships with universities.