Jacob Burdis

Jacob is passionate about helping people improve their lives through education. He has dedicated his education, career, and volunteer service to using technology to make learning more effective and accessible. Having lived in Russia and Kazakhstan as a volunteer and tutor, Jacob saw firsthand the effect that education can have for individuals around the world. He received a dual bachelor’s degree in Russian and linguistics and a master’s and doctorate in educational technology from Brigham Young University. He first worked as a learning designer and language product manager for the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. He was later recruited to join Pluralsight, a unicorn EdTech startup, as the product manager for academia. At Pluralsight, Jacob caught the vision of incorporating artificial intelligence and technology to build a system to achieve incredible learning outcomes while remaining affordable and accessible. Having caught this vision, he cofounded Emmersion with a goal to leverage AI and technology to work toward closing the global communication gap. He also serves on the interdisciplinary studies board at Brigham Young University, Idaho, and is an adjunct professor of product management at Utah Valley University. Jacob lives in Utah, has four children and speaks Russian, Spanish, and a bit of Ukrainian.