Erik Westendorf

Co-founder and CEO
LearnZillion

Eric Westendorf is the co-founder and CEO of LearnZillion, the next generation curriculum and professional development solution. LearnZillion provides open, digital curricula along with professional development and integration support.

Founded in 2011 after winning a Next Generation Learning Challenges grant, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, LearnZillion was borne from curriculum and practice developed during founder Eric Westendorf’s tenure as the principal at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.

While he was principal, E.L. Haynes posted three-year student achievement gains of 50 percentage points in math and 26 percentage points in reading. Each year the school was named a national Silver Award winning school through the federal Effective Practice grant program.

Prior to leading E.L. Haynes, Eric founded a non-profit focused on teacher leadership development; was the Assistant Principal of St. Joseph’s School in Harlem, and taught for seven years in North Carolina, New York, and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Eric holds a Bachelors of Arts in Public Policy from Princeton University, a Masters in Teaching from Brown University, and a Masters in Business Administration from Stanford University. Eric lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and three children.