Meet the Women Shaping What’s Next at Cengage
Women’s History Month is a time to recognize the achievements, resilience and contributions of women, past and present, who have shaped industries, expanded opportunity and driven meaningful change. It’s also a moment to reflect on the progress we’ve made, the work that continues and the responsibility we all share in building a more inclusive future.
At Cengage, the spirit of progress shows up every day across our organization. From reimagining product experiences and advancing research practices to strengthening customer partnerships, evolving workforce solutions and transforming how content is created and delivered, women across our teams are helping define what the future of learning can and should look like.
As education and work continue to evolve, shaping what’s next requires curiosity, courage and a commitment to solving the right problems. The women featured below bring those qualities to life through their leadership and expertise. Keep reading to learn how their work is helping shape what’s next for Cengage — and for the learners, educators and institutions we serve.
Hear from the women at Cengage who are shaping what’s next:
Ghazal Badiozamani, SVP of Product Management
Product teams sit at the intersection of learner needs, technology and business strategy. When you think about shaping what’s next, how do you decide which problems are truly worth solving — and what does great product leadership look like in today’s learning environment?
“It is more important than ever for us to be hyper-focused on our customers, users and competitors. The market is changing extremely fast and the expectations and needs of our customers are evolving rapidly as technology is advancing. We are well placed to meet this challenge. We have a strong team, strong customer relationships and the right outlook to deliver real value that drives us ahead.
In the Digital organization, we changed the structure of our teams to make us more flexible and agile and are introducing industry best practice frameworks that help focus our thinking to be more iterative, experimental and data-driven in our decision making. One example is the frameworks in Continuous Discovery (I invite everyone to read the book!).
We start by identifying our business outcomes, or the goals we want to drive for a particular business line, whether that’s increasing adoption, improving retention or advancing digital-first strategies. Once we define those priorities, we ask: What behaviors do we need to see in the platform to achieve those outcomes? Those behavior changes become our target product outcomes.
From there, we conduct research with customers and users to uncover opportunities and potential problems that could drive those behaviors. We then test assumptions and run experiments to determine which solutions will have the greatest impact. This approach keeps us focused on meaningful outcomes and ensures we measure success by whether what we build truly moves the needle.”
Rya Conrad-Bradshaw, SVP and General Manager for ed2go, part of Cengage Work
The relationship between education and work is evolving quickly. From your perspective, how is the definition of career readiness changing — and how is Cengage Work adapting to meet today’s learners where they are?
"Career readiness used to mean earning a degree and perhaps having the right connections. Increasingly, it means demonstrating relevant skills, accessing pathways to a living wage and continuing to learn as roles evolve. That shift is profound, and it is what motivates me every day.
At Cengage Work, we are seeing several forces converge. Employers are moving away from degree requirements and toward skills-based hiring, while industries are evolving entry-level roles and career pathways. Learners are also coming to us at different stages of life. Many are not 18, but 28 or 38, often mid-career, working and supporting families. At the same time, the policy landscape is evolving. Workforce Pell, WIOA-funded pathways and employer-sponsored tuition reimbursement all signal that the country is rethinking who has access to career training and how it is funded.
For us, that means career readiness cannot be one-size-fits-all. We are focused on shorter pathways and credentials that lead to real outcomes such as employment, wage growth and career advancement. By partnering with institutions, employers and workforce boards, we create opportunities to meet learners where they are financially, geographically and in terms of time. Ultimately, career readiness is no longer a single moment at the end of a degree or credential. It is a capability that people build over time, and our role is to help make that possible."
Andrea Kudzia, SVP, Global Content Production
Today’s learners have come to expect flexibility, relevance and immediacy, and content production has had to evolve alongside those expectations. How has your approach to developing and delivering content changed? What does it take today to create learning materials that are not only high quality, but truly resonate with modern learners?
"Learners’ desire for quick access to relevant, trustworthy content has reshaped our development and production approach. Rather than treating content as a static asset built on long publishing cycles, we now design it as part of a dynamic, digital-first ecosystem, prioritizing modularity and the ability to iterate quickly based on learner needs and data.
Resonating with students requires more than academic rigor; it demands intentional design for engagement, usability and real-world relevance. Cengage’s four Quality Learning Principles — Intentionality, Authenticity, Connection and Personalization — guide how we create content that builds the critical thinking and problem-solving skills learners need for their future careers.
Delivering these engaging experiences at scale also requires strong operational capabilities. Coordinating authors, instructional designers, technologists and production teams, supported by efficient workflows and the smart use of technology and AI, is essential to bringing high-quality learning experiences to life."
Kim Russell, SVP of Research and User Experience & Design
Learning has changed dramatically — from the materials themselves to how and where people consume content. As learner behaviors continue to evolve, how have you adapted your research and UX practices to keep pace? And how do those evolving insights ultimately shape what’s next in learning?
"Learning has changed in significant ways, and we’ve embraced new tools and technologies to move faster and connect with more learners and educators than ever before. The ways we gather insights have evolved, from traditional research methods to more continuous discovery practices that allow us to observe behaviors in real time and translate those insights into actionable design decisions. The questions we ask are different today because the learning environment is different.
What hasn’t changed is our relentless focus on understanding educators and learners as whole people, including their goals, challenges and motivations. Our mission is simple: deeply understand their problems and determine how we can help solve them in meaningful ways. By staying close to our customers and continually learning from them, we’re able to design modern learning experiences that are not only innovative but truly aligned with what learners and educators need to succeed."
Susan Walsh, SVP of North America Sales for HED
Sales teams are often the closest to our institutional partners. How does staying deeply connected to educators and administrators help shape what’s next for Cengage?
"Sales teams often have a front-row seat to what our institutional partners are experiencing, and that proximity is one of our greatest strategic advantages. When we stay deeply connected to educators and administrators—the people living the realities of teaching and learning every day—we gain insights that no dashboard or market report can replicate.
Their feedback helps shape how we evolve our platforms, refine our content and anticipate the needs of tomorrow’s learners. This connection ensures that what’s next for Cengage is not only innovative, but genuinely impactful for the institutions and students we serve."
Learn More:
Want to learn more about the inspiring women who contribute to our organization? Read blogs from years past: The Women Who Lead Cengage and The Women Who Tell Our Story.
Don't miss our Jobs That Make a Difference series, where you can discover how the work of our employees makes an impact in the world.