ETCH Jobs of the Week 12/23/24
This EdTech Sales Executive is Open to Work
ETCH Jobs of the Week (JOTW) is a collaboration between ETCH (now The EdSheet at Whiteboard Advisors), your home for EdTech news and information; and my recruiting practice, Tenzing, which helps orgs positively impacting education efficiently attract, source, vet and hire mission-aligned talent.
Hi friends,
I’m particularly excited to bring you our first “Open to Work” interview with Mark Norman. Mark and I initially connected on LinkedIn after attending Edweek Market Brief in 2022. Though we didn’t meet in person at the Summit, we’ve since exchanged messages and had a few engaging Zoom conversations that have been both fun and enlightening.
I’ve been impressed with Mark’s curiosity, his genuine approach to building professional relationships, and his thoughtfulness, all of which shine through in this interview. Enjoy! And wishing you a very restful, peaceful and joyous holiday and New Year!
Cheers,
Everett
An interview with Mark Norman
As a fellow history major and regular student of theology, I was curious: how have these areas of study prepared you for your sales career?
I’m a very curious person and loved school. I’m fascinated by how societies evolve, how we educate, and how the marketplace supports culture. In sales, I have realized learning the individual contexts of my customers has been one key strategy in learning how I can help solve their problems or help achieve their goals.
When explaining a product or solution to a customer, I love doing it in a way that makes sense to their context and use case, not just my own. I even learn their organization’s “jargon” to make everything as seamless and understandable to them as possible.
These are all skills I learned through my undergraduate and graduate liberal arts degrees. Although I’m in sales, I would do this same education track all over again. It has served me well.
How did you get into education sales?
I taught English as a Second Language (TESL) in college and initially had goals to move overseas after graduate school to be a teacher. While in graduate school, I started working for Booster on the side as a job. My wife and I were newly married, and she was teaching 3rd grade for Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in North Carolina.
In that season, I would explain to her, my sister (now a principal) and my mom (40 years teaching) how our mission at Booster was to serve our school partners through providing more resources for the classrooms. They gave me incredible feedback both on our product and methodology. They also let me in on the state of teachers in the classroom as teaching methods and education technology were evolving.
I quickly realized that I could have a very positive and relevant impact on teachers and education through education sales. This has kept me grounded and fueled me just about daily in my efforts to grow our company's footprint. Teachers are the center of my map, as I believe if they are set up for success with a product, the students' education will be too.
It is increasingly rare to see people spend over 17 years at one place, like you did at Booster. Can you tell us about your career progression there?
Like all long tenures at one company, I really had three careers in one. When I started with Booster we only had 15 employees, and we all wore many hats. It was a fun season of rapid growth and innovation, where I mainly acted as a hybrid of sales rep and account manager. As our client base grew to over a thousand schools, I was promoted to run our North Carolina office.
With great team members and a loyal client base, I was fortunate to grow the market on the sales side and become the top revenue producer in the company. From there, I moved to our corporate office in Atlanta and ran sales and our go to market motion for the whole company.
In the years after, with an amazing team and a strong vision, we grew our footprint to every major U.S. market, reached 7000 school partners and grew to $100M+ in organic revenue, becoming the largest school fundraising company in America. Since I joined Booster, we have raised over $1 billion in funding for US schools. I’m very proud of those results and the resources provided for schools as a result of that.
You built a national sales team of over 100 SDRs, AEs, and AMs. What are some of the consistent characteristics you look for when hiring sales professionals?
Most importantly, you have to care. When people care about their work, the people they work with, and the customers they work for, everything else falls into place. I look for people that have passion, intuition, and tenacity. Having education experience is of course a plus, but I also love seeing people with interesting and diverse backgrounds mainly because it can be a sign that they can relate with diverse groups of people and a nuanced way of thinking.
I have never hired a former teacher or a former military member who wasn’t a home run – they know how to serve, they have grit, and they care deeply about what they do.
Because great systems, processes, and adoption of a tech stack are critical too, it is also important to have a staff that are humble and teachable enough to buy-in to what we are doing as a team.
What’s your approach to building relationships?
Mark: I make the entire conversation about the other person and not myself. It’s that simple, but pretty rare in my experience. My posture is on how I can help them, not how they can help me. With this mindset of learning and uncovering their true business needs and goals, you can position yourself as a consultant on their side of the table more than just a sales rep for your product.
This mentality has served me well and is something I try to reproduce in my sales team; make the customer the center of the universe and look for ways you can make their situation better. This isn’t just effective for the sale, it’s the most sustainable way to grow a brand the right way.
As a follow-up to this, I also think it’s important to be top of mind to your customer; distance creates suspicion. I try to make sure they know I’m in their corner and they are on my mind regardless of how busy everyone may be.
Can you teach that approach to building relationships to sales reps?
Yes, and I love doing it. I’ve had the opportunity to develop dozens of reps using this methodology over the years. I’ve also helped burned out sales reps that were struggling with their quotas turn around their numbers to now be very successful. Watching a company thrive and individuals exceed quotas while seeing our customers needs realized has been a highlight of my career.
As a sales executive, it was also really important to have systems and processes that could scale to every customer interaction in all 50 states. Once a rep was onboarded, they followed this system. This allowed best practices to be consistent, robust data to be accounted for in the CRM, and provided for a constant feedback loop to be visible.
It was fun to take the art of building relationships and marry it to the science of a well run sales machine and system. I love being able to do both well.
For the first time in 17 years, you’re on the job market. What are you looking for in your next opportunity?
I’m grateful to have been a part of the 10x growth of a company over a 10 year period,and I would love to do that again. Equally as important, I’m looking for an organization that is committed to doing important work for their customers, and a culture that is growth-oriented for their employees.
At my core, I’m still in “education” and want to feel like it’s a culture I can grow within while developing others. I also love to “win,” so I'm excited to be a part of that too.
How are you approaching your job search?
I’m on a “learning tour” right now, talking with as many companies as I can. Not necessarily “interviewing”, just learning. I’m taking the time to learn about products and brands doing exceptional work, different company cultures, and finding out which go-to-market strategies may fit best with my skill and experience.
There are so many great leaders and companies doing important work. I am excited for what 2025 will bring.
What’s the best way for interested employers to get in touch with you?
Email me at markjnorman [at] gmail.com or…
Now, let’s get to the Jobs of the Week…
Product Manager, English Language Arts (ELA) | Open Up Resources
Location: Remote (Preferred: New York or Georgia)
Education Focus: Developing high-quality, equity-centered ELA curricula for K-12 schools that support diverse learners and anti-racist educational practices.
Mission: Open Up Resources provides educators with innovative, inclusive tools to foster engaging and equitable learning experiences, catalyzing positive change in education and society.
Job Summary:
The Product Manager will lead the development and execution of ELA products, collaborating with cross-functional teams to create engaging, standards-based curriculum. Responsibilities include managing product lifecycles, analyzing user feedback, overseeing updates, and partnering with educators to ensure products align with classroom needs and improve student outcomes.
Compensation: $60,000–$98,000/year, plus comprehensive benefits including healthcare, 401(k) matching, PTO, and monthly home-office stipends.
APPLY HERE
Client Success Manager - After School Programs | BAM!
Location: Remote (Preferred: California-based)
Education Focus: Supporting K-12 schools with after-school enrichment programs blending STEM, sports, and collaborative play to foster whole-child development.
Mission: Brains & Motion Education (BAM!) empowers students through innovative STEAM and sports education, ensuring year-round engagement and success for K-8 learners nationwide.
Job Summary: The Client Success Manager will oversee onboarding, implementation, and relationship management for BAM!’s largest school clients, ensuring program satisfaction, renewals, and growth. Responsibilities include aligning client expectations, tracking program performance, managing client health metrics, and collaborating with sales and operations teams to deliver exceptional service and expand partnerships.
Compensation: $64,500–$70,500 base salary, with performance-based bonuses (5–15%), and comprehensive benefits including health coverage, parental leave, and professional development opportunities.
Authentication & Onboarding Specialist (Schools & Libraries) | Library Pass
Location: Remote (Part-Time, Contract to Hire)
Education Focus: Supporting schools and libraries in adopting digital content platforms through seamless authentication and onboarding processes.
Mission: LibraryPass provides accessible digital content to schools and libraries, empowering educators and readers through innovative and user-friendly solutions.
Job Summary:
The Authentication & Onboarding Specialist will guide schools and libraries through technical onboarding, troubleshoot authentication issues, and improve customer success processes. Responsibilities include working with advanced authentication methods, reporting feature requests, and collaborating with internal teams to ensure a smooth customer experience.
Compensation: $30/hour, flexible schedule, potential for full-time transition.
APPLY HERE
Founding Partnership Manager | Timely
Location: Remote (Texas preferred)
Education Focus: Streamlining K-12 scheduling to align resources, improve outcomes, and save time for schools and districts.
Mission: Timely empowers schools with AI-optimized scheduling tools that enhance resource allocation, improve staff and student engagement, and align with district priorities.
Job Summary:
As a Founding Partnership Manager, you will drive sales and build relationships with Texas K-12 district and charter leaders, promoting Timely’s scheduling solutions. Responsibilities include managing the sales cycle, developing a pipeline, leading product demonstrations, collaborating with internal teams, and contributing to sales processes for scalability.
Compensation: Competitive salary. Health, dental, and vision benefits, and opportunities for professional development.
APPLY HERE
Director of Operations | Palm Venture Studios
Location: Austin, TX
Education Focus: Supporting mission-driven ventures by streamlining operations, onboarding talent, and enhancing organizational processes.
Mission: Palm Venture Studios acquires and builds companies that combine strong business potential with a positive societal impact, empowering founders with expertise and resources to thrive.
Job Summary:
The Director of Operations will optimize workflows, manage portfolio operations, support talent onboarding, and coordinate special projects for Palm’s venture portfolio. Key responsibilities include implementing best-in-class tools, overseeing team communications, ensuring smooth venture funding processes, and fostering high performance across ventures.
Compensation: Competitive base salary, performance bonuses, potential equity participation, health insurance, and other benefits.
APPLY HERE
Senior Product Manager | BusRight
Location: Remote (Boston, MA preferred)
Education Focus: Enhancing education transportation through user-friendly web and mobile apps that streamline operations for schools.
Mission: BusRight leverages modern technology to improve efficiency and accessibility in student transportation, supporting safer, smarter, and more connected communities.
Job Summary:
The Senior Product Manager will define product roadmaps, oversee launches, and bridge the gap between customer needs and engineering. Responsibilities include tracking product performance, collaborating across teams, leading customer research, and ensuring alignment with company goals to expand BusRight's product suite into new markets.
Compensation: Competitive salary. Growth-focused role with mission-driven impact in the education sector.
APPLY HERE
Need more hire power? Tenzing will do all the legwork (e.g., sourcing, vetting, and managing the hiring process) for half the cost of traditional headhunters.
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