In this episode, Heidi interviews William Minton, the co-founder of Canopy, a professional learning and collaboration platform. William shares his journey from traveling the world to research top-ranked schools to creating a solution for teacher professional development during the pandemic. He discusses the challenges of pivoting in the edtech space, the importance of being responsive to market signals, and how Canopy has grown to serve various organizations beyond K12 education. Tune in to learn about Canopy's upcoming white-label solution and William's strategies for authentic connections on LinkedIn.

William Minton spent the 2015-16 school year traveling around the world to visit and write about top-ranked schools across five continents.

The schools he visited inspired him to think more creatively about how to approach the challenges facing education in the United States. He spent the years that followed sharing these insights in Edutopia and at conferences around the country.

In 2020 Canopy Ed began a transition from a traditional consulting organization to an EdTech company. In 2022 they launched Canopy.

Canopy is a professional learning & collaboration platform for systems and organizations that care about the quality of self-paced learning (not just compliance). They started with K12 and educator PD but are now used broadly by many types of organizations.

Before the shift to education technology, he provided long-term consulting services at the city-government, non-profit, school district, and individual school level. At each level, his approach focused on catalyzing participant voice to develop sustainable solutions that are aligned to the larger vision and goals of the partners.

In the first decade of his career, he worked as a classroom teacher and instructional coach. He also helped found and direct the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition, a non-profit focused on leadership and college access for high-achieving teens in low-performing schools, and managed several other youth development initiatives. He has training in community organizing, leadership development, instructional coaching, and a Master's degree in Public Administration.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

Website: www.canopylms.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-minton-6467514/

Connect with me:

Spotlight To Scale: https://www.spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/