(US and Canada) Newsela recently announced Derrick Ware as its new Chief Product & Technology Officer. Ware most recently served as Chief Technology Officer for the company. In his expanded role, he will oversee the ideation, development, and execution of all Newsela products, the Newsela platform, and company digital innovation initiatives.

"Derrick brings more than 20 years of experience leading product and engineering teams at high-growth technology companies," said Matthew Gross, founder and CEO of Newsela. "He has an impressive history of tackling large-scale technology challenges, driving positive results, and empowering his teams to create the best solutions for our teachers, students, and administrators. With Derrick’s expanded responsibilities, he’ll have even more opportunity to  grow our impact on K-12 classrooms and fulfill our product vision."

Until now, Ware has been responsible for leading and growing Newsela’s team of Software Engineering, IT, InfoSec, Data and Project Management professionals. He is an accomplished technology leader who has solved tech problems at various large SaaS and B2B tech companies, including Fidelity Investments, PeopleFluent, and Brightly. Ware began his career as an F-15E "Strike Eagle" crew chief in the United States Air Force and spent several years working on hardware and software solutions at IBM. He also helped launch Futures, Inc., a human capital management startup built for veterans, mainly in response to the high depression and suicide rates of former vets who had difficulty shifting from military life to the workforce.

"I’m thrilled to be expanding my role at Newsela, where our mission to create meaningful classroom learning for every student is embedded in our product from ideation to implementation," said Ware. "The unification of our product and technology team is an exciting opportunity to continue to provide a first-class experience for users while driving innovation and progress. I’m ready to hit the ground running."