Speakers

Courtney Sembler is a strategic consultant specializing in customer education and learning transformation within the SaaS ecosystem. She helps companies position learning as strategic revenue infrastructure rather than operational overhead. Previously, Courtney led the transformation and scale of one of the world's leading customer education programs, HubSpot Academy. For over a decade Courtney focused on transforming the way the world does business by developing HubSpot Academy's educational strategy and program. She now works with companies to develop enterprise-scale customer education partnerships and go-to-market strategies that drive retention, expansion, and product adoption.

Dr. Kris Alexander is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology and Serious Game Design at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), where he is the Director of the Red Bull Gaming Hub. With a PhD in educational technology and curriculum development, Dr. Alexander is dedicated to leveraging AI and video games to enhance learning, health, and daily life, emphasizing purpose-driven innovation and “Techquity” (technological equity) to empower communities. His work bridges disciplines via the Medici Effect, driving collaborations that yield tangible results: higher student engagement, accessible tools for educators, and community initiatives like teaching underserved youth how to build computers.

Michelle Poler is a Latina entrepreneur, brand strategist, author, and professional keynote speaker. She is the creator of the project “100 Days Without Fear”, and founder of “Hello Fears”, a movement that has reached over 70 million people worldwide. Today, her work as an author, digital educator, and social influencer continues to amplify her impact helping audiences turn fears into opportunities, comfort into growth, and ultimately go from being one more to becoming one of a kind. She has been invited to speak at The Global Leadership Summit, Google, P&G, ESPN, TEDx, Netflix, Microsoft, Meta among many others, and her work has been featured in The TODAY Show, Forbes, CBS, CNN, Buzzfeed, Mashable and Huffington Post, just to name a few.

Jeff Cobb is a co-founder and managing director of Tagoras, a firm that helps associations amplify learning as a core component of member value and a driver of non-dues revenue. He is co-host of the long-running Leading Learning Podcast, and author of multiple books, including Leading the Learning Revolution: The Expert's Guide to Capitalizing on the Exploding Lifelong Education Market. Prior to launching Tagoras, Jeff served in multiple executive roles at companies focused on the continuing education and professional development market, including CEO of Isoph and Sr. Vice President of Business Development for Quisic/University Access. Jeff has previously served on the board of directors of the Family Firm Institute and the governing board of NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement. He currently serves on the leadership advisory board of Professionals for Association Revenue (PAR).

Brendan Noud has been at the helm of LearnUpon since its beginning in 2012. With over 20 years of experience, he remains as energized about LearnUpon’s mission today as he was on day one. His commitment to learning innovation drives him to collaborate with customers and industry leaders to bring his strategic vision to life.

Aisling MacNamara is a passionate leader in learning, enablement, and inclusion with over 10 years in tech. Having built LearnUpon's L&D function from the ground up, she's crafted an award-winning strategy that fosters an inclusive culture while developing and nurturing top talent.

Frances Kleven leads LearnUpon's Customer Success and Implementation teams. With 15+ years in tech and education, Frances has a deep understanding of the customer journey and learning strategies. A respected speaker, she frequently shares insights at industry events to help others excel.

Caroline leads LearnUpon’s product strategy and team with a singular mission: building technology that empowers people to learn and grow. With over 20 years of experience in product leadership, she is a lifelong learner who champions a customer-centric approach. Her philosophy is built on the belief that the best products emerge from open collaboration and deep customer empathy.

Brett Spencer leads LearnUpon’s customer experience organization, guiding how customers engage, grow, and succeed after the sale. With over 13 years in customer success and experience, he brings a practical, partnership-first mindset to helping customers realize real value from their learning programs. Brett is deeply committed to listening to customers, translating their feedback into meaningful improvements, and continuously evolving the experience as their needs change.

With over 20 years of experience as a consultant and learning tech leader, Mark has dedicated his career to serving high-quality associations and non-profit organizations. As a Certified Association Executive (CAE), entrepreneur, and coach, he has become a trusted voice in association best practices, known for delivering consistent, measurable results. Today, as Global Director of Memberships & Associations at LearnUpon, Mark combines his passion for innovation and learning to help organizations scale their impact and empower their communities.

Aidan leads LearnUpon’s Engineering team, delivering the features, enhancements and availability of the LearnUpon application platform. With over 15 years experience in Engineering leadership and over 30 years in technology, Aidan is passionate about leveraging technology and engineering excellence to deliver tangible customer value.

Orla leads the Skills product strategy at LearnUpon, bringing over 15 years of technology experience and a decade-long focus on product leadership. A firm believer that the best solutions are born from true partnership, Orla is passionate about building robust, forward-thinking roadmaps. For her, it’s never just about the features; it’s about delivering high-impact value and ensuring that every user’s journey is supported by a strategy that looks toward the future.

As LearnUpon’s Director of Product, Diarmuid Beegan drives innovation with a focus on user experience. He’s been instrumental in shaping features like LearnUpon Anywhere and Learning Journeys, creating impactful solutions that elevate the platform and deliver real results for our customers.

Seán leads the AI Content Authoring team at LearnUpon, overseeing the development of cutting-edge tools. With over seven years of SaaS leadership, he specializes in blending data with automation to build solutions that put the customer first. Seán is a firm believer that the future of learning lies at the intersection of technology and heart; he focuses on leveraging AI to empower creators, allowing them to build high-quality content with unprecedented speed without losing the empathy that makes learning stick.

Ro is a design strategist and co-founder of Courseau, the AI-native course authoring platform now part of LearnUpon. As Authoring Lead, she works on rethinking how workplace knowledge is structured, transformed, and scaled—using AI to reduce production friction, elevate instructional quality, and make high-quality learning more accessible and durable across organizations and beyond.

After nine years in the trenches leading Customer Education for various SaaS organizations, Jeff joined the LearnUpon Customer Success team last year. He uses his deep background as a program leader to help customers move beyond simple instruction and toward training that truly moves the needle. A strategic advocate at heart, Jeff guides his clients in crafting impactful learning experiences and mastering the art of communicating that value to their internal stakeholders.

As one of LearnUpon's earliest hires with an 11-year tenure, Eoghan leverages a decade of platform expertise in his role as Product Manager for Reporting and Insights. He is dedicated to empowering administrators with the tools they need to uncover the "why" behind their results, ensuring every learning initiative is backed by clear, actionable, and real-time evidence.