# Steven Gittleson

> Steven Gittleson is the South Africa-born software builder who became co-founder, founding CTO and later CEO of LightSail Education. After technical leadership roles at NetCreations, Omnipod and The FeedRoom, he spent more than a decade turning LightSail from an adaptive digital library into a broad K-12 literacy platform, then guided it into MindPlay in 2023.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at LightSail Education
- **Organizations:** LightSail Education, MindPlay Education, The FeedRoom, Omnipod, NetCreations
- **Education:** University of the Witwatersrand
- **Known for:** Co-founded LightSail Education and led the platform's technology from its inception., Helped develop LightSail from an adaptive digital library into a multimodule literacy platform for schools, districts and families., Led technical work that brought LightSail's DRM, e-reading and encryption systems in-house in 2018.

## Career timeline

- **2001-2004** — Served as CTO of NetCreations.
- **2004-2006** — Served as CTO of Omnipod.
- **2006-2012** — Served as CTO of The FeedRoom.
- **2011-2012** — Joined the founding group of LightSail Education as co-founder and CTO and led development of its technology.
- **2013** — LightSail won top honors and a $500,000 grant in the Gates Foundation Literacy Courseware Challenge.
- **2018** — LightSail invested in building proprietary DRM, e-reading and encryption systems in-house.
- **2021** — Was publicly profiled as LightSail's CEO, focused on profitability, product innovation and customer retention.
- **2023** — Announced that LightSail had joined MindPlay following MindPlay's acquisition of the company.

## Achievements

- Co-founded LightSail Education and led the platform's technology from its inception.
- Helped develop LightSail from an adaptive digital library into a multimodule literacy platform for schools, districts and families.
- Led technical work that brought LightSail's DRM, e-reading and encryption systems in-house in 2018.
- Helped LightSail expand its distribution partnerships from two countries outside the United States in 2017 to more than ten by 2021.
- Guided LightSail as CEO through its 2023 acquisition by MindPlay Education.
- Participated in speaking engagements for IBM, Oracle and Microsoft.

## Latest updates

- **2023-03** — MindPlay Education acquired LightSail Education; Gittleson described the deal as the next phase of LightSail's literacy journey.

## Links

- Website: https://lightsailed.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevengittleson
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lightsailed
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/LightSailEd/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/steven-gittleson
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-26