# Matthew Kennard

> Matthew Kennard is a San Antonio-based education technology executive whose route to the CEO role at BetterLesson ran through banking, private equity, retail finance, cloud computing, corporate development and the CFO suite. He now applies that operator's discipline to K-12 professional learning, arguing that vendors should be accountable for student outcomes rather than features or usage alone. Kennard also co-founded No Bunkers No Bogeys Golf Club, a community designed to make golf more welcoming to underrepresented players.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at BetterLesson
- **Organizations:** BetterLesson, No Bunkers No Bogeys Golf Club, Network315, Re:Dish, Pine Island Camp, CenterPoint Education Solutions, LearnZillion, iHeartMedia, Rackspace, The TJX Companies, Investcorp Technology Partners, Banc of America Securities
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Secondary education, Roxbury Latin School, B.A., History and Political Science, Yale University, MBA; studies in Accounting and Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- **Known for:** Helped lead LearnZillion's sale to Weld North Education in December 2019., Became BetterLesson CEO in February 2021., Led BetterLesson's 2025 acquisition of Abl.

## Career timeline

- **2006-2008** — Worked as an analyst in the Financial Sponsor Group at Banc of America Securities.
- **2008-2010** — Worked at Investcorp Technology Partners on technology growth investments.
- **2012-2014** — Served in strategic financial planning and analysis for the TJ Maxx and Marshalls chains at The TJX Companies.
- **2014-2015** — Worked in capital and strategy at Rackspace.
- **2015-2018** — Led strategic finance, corporate development and liquidity work at iHeartMedia.
- **2018-2021** — Joined LearnZillion as VP of Finance and Corporate Operations, then became CFO and Head of Corporate Operations; helped lead its 2019 sale to Weld North Education.
- **2021-present** — Chief Executive Officer of BetterLesson.
- **2023-present** — Co-founder of No Bunkers No Bogeys Golf Club.
- **2025** — Led BetterLesson's acquisition of Abl, adding scheduling, academic pathways and resource-allocation capabilities.

## Achievements

- Helped lead LearnZillion's sale to Weld North Education in December 2019.
- Became BetterLesson CEO in February 2021.
- Led BetterLesson's 2025 acquisition of Abl.
- Expanded BetterLesson's focus from professional learning toward a connected teaching-and-learning infrastructure that includes scheduling and data reporting.
- Co-founded No Bunkers No Bogeys Golf Club to create a more welcoming community for underrepresented golfers.

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Appeared on the Marketing and Education podcast to argue that edtech decisions should be guided by outcomes rather than features and usage statistics.
- **2025-08** — Discussed the transition from CFO to CEO, M&A, operational finance and responsible AI on Subscript's Diving Deep series.
- **2025-07** — Joined the AmpED to 11 podcast to discuss BetterLesson's evolution and the use of AI for faster instructional insight while preserving the human side of teaching.
- **2025-02** — Announced BetterLesson's acquisition of Abl, combining professional learning with scheduling, academic pathways and resource-allocation tools.
- **2025-01** — Appeared with No Bunkers No Bogeys co-founder Jonathan Jenkins at the 2025 PGA Show.

## Links

- Website: https://betterlesson.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kennard-0ba4145

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/matthew-kennard
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27