Ray Kelly Joins Virti as Board Chairman

New York, New York - Virti is pleased to announce the appointment of Ray Kelly as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Kelly will bring decades of experience in corporate leadership and education technologies, and a long track record of leading innovative and diverse teams around the world. He is a seasoned, board level leader with a diverse background that features strong leadership, marketing, technology, instructional design, and education commercialization skills.

“Ray has long been a visionary in edtech, applying his tremendous insight, experience, and passion for technology to the cause of improving lives and building healthier communities,” said Kurt Kratchman, Virti’s CEO. “His experience as an entrepreneur and technology leader helps him understand the needs and challenges of running a small and fast-growing business. We are excited about attracting Ray to the business and I look forward to working with him to build the organization.”

“As a thoughtful and passionate leader, Ray has helped bring cutting-edge technologies to some of edtech’s most urgent and complex challenges,” said Max Bautin, Partner at IQ Capital, and Virti Board Director. “His voice and vision will help Virti continue to make a positive impact on people’s lives through the power of immersive learning technologies.” “I’ve long shared Virti’s belief that immersive technology has the potential to improve lives and create outstanding learning outcomes,” said Ray Kelly. “It’s an honor to join Virti’s board of directors, and to be part of a mission-led company that’s constantly innovating to both enable and enhance the way we learn.”

Ray started his career in London as a software developer with NCR Corporation, where he also served in training, sales, marketing and leadership roles. He later became a catalyst for growth in executive positions with several other technology and education industry companies, including Hewlett-Packard, ETS, Mentergy (a publicly traded e-learning provider) and ExecuTrain. His experience as an entrepreneur in the corporate training industry ultimately led him to a successful leadership career as CEO of Certiport, Graduation Alliance, and MidAmerica, all with successful exits and outcomes. Under Ray’s leadership, Certiport, a PE-backed company, more than doubled revenues, tripled profits, and became the world’s largest provider of technology education and credentialing programs. This culminated in the sale of the company to Pearson PLC.

Ray serves as Chairman of Hello PLATO, an early-stage education technology business, as a Senior Advisor for New Markets Venture Partners and as a Trustee for the University of Tampa. Ray successfully helped lead an exit earlier this year as the independent board director for the growing SaaS company WebInfinity.

Ray has an MBA and a computer science degree and has authored and presented numerous papers on leadership and technology in more than 100 countries. An active community leader, Ray founded and developed The Cancer Challenge, growing it into one of the world’s premier charity events for cancer prevention and treatment. Ray lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida.