New Markets Portfolio Company CEO Profile: Kate Eberle Walker

PresenceLearning is the leading provider of online special education services for K-12 schools, and has delivered over 2.5 million special education live online therapy sessions over the course of the company’s history.  Over the past ten years the company has developed specific expertise in serving special needs students online.

Kate Eberle Walker is the CEO of PresenceLearning. In this role, she leads a majority female company, whose mission is not only to serve students with learning needs, but to provide a flexible career path for nearly 1,000 special education clinicians, 97% of whom are women.

In a recent article for Thrive Global, Kate shares her thoughts on the importance of building executive teams that are both exactly what a business needs in terms of talent, skills and leadership, and that are gender-balanced. She notes:

“It’s well documented that there are multiple benefits to having meaningful female representation in senior levels of an organization. A 2014 Gallup study found that businesses with more gender diversity produce ‘better financial outcomes than those dominated by one gender.’ This is in large part due to the ability of a diverse organization to attract the best talent from the largest pool. Some diversity brings more diversity. A 2019 Harvard Business Review survey found that “the most talented individuals go to places that do better with diversity, and this may be what is driving diverse firms in certain contexts to outperform their peers.” Diversity of perspectives leads to more thoughtful decisions. Representation of all customer/client perspectives leads to better product-market fit. And, when those who work for and within the company feel that they can relate to their management team, it supports the development and promotion of more diverse talent at all levels of the organization.”

Read Kate’s essay at, “Why It Matters to Have Diversity in Positions of Influence.”

Kate has more than 20 years of experience leading, advising, acquiring and investing in education companies. Prior to leading PresenceLearning, Kate was CEO of The Princeton Review and its subsidiary Tutor.com, a leading provider of tutoring, test prep and admissions services. Previously, she managed strategy and investments for Kaplan, Inc., a large and diversified global education company. She actively mentors early stage EdTech companies and supports non-profit education initiatives. Kate began her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She is based in New York, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.