Jason Belland
Higher Education Executive in Residence“Nothing great happens without thinking big, writing down a breakthrough vision of a future state, and getting everyone excited about the journey. This moment right now in Higher Education is our moment to think bigger than ever before and Invent the Future. The current and future students of the world are counting on us, and we have the ability to harness our best ideas to reimagine and reinvigorate our industry as an even more vital part of a more equitable world.”
Jason Belland serves as Higher Education Executive in Residence at Attain Partners, committed to serving the industry with a focus on envisioning outcome-driven solutions that care for the student journey over a lifetime of learning. Jason has spent over two decades working at public and private higher education institutions in roles ranging from online learning and instructional design to marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing together innovative ideas with new technologies to support student success.
Jason’s career in higher education began with roles at two public institutions, UMass Boston and Baruch College, working with educators to transform their curriculum into digital assets and create on-demand tutoring materials to support the success of every student taking foundational courses as part of their degree. This work with faculty was a key experience in shaping Jason’s view of the power of education to unlock opportunity for all, and the power of technology to play a key role in creating access to opportunity.
Jason then took on a role at Columbia Business School, where he led efforts to modernize and reimagine the Executive Education program’s marketing and CRM initiatives, using Salesforce as the supporting technology. This implementation of Salesforce was one of the first by a business school and the resulting success inspired other universities to reimagine how they might leverage Salesforce technology to drive admissions and marketing for their institutions.
Following his success working on college campuses, Jason took an ambitious new role at Salesforce, becoming the first higher education product manager at the company. In his eight-year tenure at Salesforce, Jason ascended to Vice President of Go-To-Market for Education Cloud, leading teams to create solutions that would empower colleges and universities to engage, retain, and support every learner over the course of a lifetime of learning. This work notably included building the first commercially available Salesforce product for Higher Education, the Higher Education Data Architecture, followed by products across enrollment management, including Advisor Link, Student Success Hub, and Admissions Connect. The products and solutions created under Jason’s tenure at Salesforce have been implemented by thousands of colleges and universities globally and set the foundation for today’s Salesforce Education Cloud.
Following his time at Salesforce, Jason returned to his roots helping faculty by joining Alteryx to help create a philanthropic program to connect learners, educators, and employers to democratize access to analytics skills education around the world. Through the Alteryx SparkED education program, Jason’s team empowered educators to incorporate in-demand analytics skills into the curriculum, giving students opportunities to graduate with a degree infused with analytics as well as industry-recognized certifications so they are ready to add value to an employer on day one following graduation. To date, the program has served over 250,000 students at 1,300 colleges around the world, with over 80% of students reporting the program has helped them in their academic and career journey.
Jason’s career has been exclusively focused on impact-driven work in higher education. He has seen first-hand, and through the stories of students around the world, how education can change the lives of individuals, families, and communities.
Jason is based in New York City where he enjoys music ranging from opera at Lincoln Center to rock shows at the Bowery Ballroom. He’s also an avid traveler, with Tokyo, Bangkok, and Hong Kong as some of his favorite destinations. When not traveling or enjoying live music, he can often be found at Citi Field supporting the New York Mets—let’s go Mets!
Jason received his bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature/Letters from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and holds an Executive Education Certificate in Business Excellence from Columbia Business School.
Community Involvement
- Museum of Modern Art, Supporter
- Museum of Chinese in America, Supporter
- Japan Society, Supporter
- WQXR, Supporter
- Equal Justice Initiative, Supporter
- Human Rights Campaign, Supporter
- Center for Biological Diversity, Supporter
- CASA of William County, Texas; Supporter
