work-integrated-learning
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Beau Leese and the first-experience problem
Before a graduate can get a job, someone has to let them do the work. Practera co-founder Beau Leese has spent years making that first opportunity easier to organise - and harder to reserve for the well connected.
Wes Sonnenreich
Wes Sonnenreich is the Co-CEO and co-founder of Practera, the experiential-learning platform that turns real industry projects into scalable, credit-bearing coursework for tens of thousands of students a year. An MIT-trained engineer who once wrote the book on network security - literally, more than one - he has spent 25-plus years building at the seam between technology and learning: from a 1990s web-metrics startup and a security consultancy to running Deloitte Australia's innovation program. Today he splits his attention between Sydney and Cambridge, Massachusetts, evangelizing a future where people learn alongside machines instead of competing with them.
Practera
Practera is an Australian-born education technology company that helps universities, employers and governments run real-world learning programs at scale. Its SaaS platform lets educators design, deliver and assess experiential programs - internships, industry projects, mentoring and micro-credentials - while AI-powered analytics flag struggling learners and measure outcomes. The flagship product of Intersective, Practera connects students with authentic industry work to build the skills employers actually want.