Dee Raineri
President, International & Market Innovation
Dee works with university partners in the U.S. and around the world to help them deliver education that accelerates career success and institutional growth.
Before joining Risepoint, Dee was the Senior Vice President of University Strategy and Market Innovation at Wiley. Earlier in her career, she served as the Vice President for Experiential Digital Global Education at Northeastern University and Senior Advisor to the President and held senior positions at Coursera and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dee earned a PhD in biochemistry and chemistry from the University of Southampton in the UK and completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Washington.
What traits do you admire in a leader?
Empathy, passion, and integrity.
What are your core values?
My core values are the same as the traits I admire and look for in a leader: empathy, passion, and integrity. I have always tried to do what I am passionate about. I am passionate about helping people access learning so they can unlock more opportunities. What I do, I do with integrity because that builds trust. I want people to trust me because, without trust, you can’t make great things happen. Trust is earned. I care about my teams and want them to feel supported. Listening and showing empathy is a big part of helping people feel supported.
What is your Risepoint moment?
Working in academia, I saw an opportunity for universities to partner with edtech companies to help drive access to educational opportunities at scale. I wanted to better understand the business side of edtech and figured the best way to do that was to immerse myself in an edtech company.
It was a very challenging transition. I had to learn the language of business, how to lead teams of young and brilliant business professionals, how to help drive innovation with partners across the globe, and to do all of that at speed (we were a startup). I also thought about things completely differently compared to my new business colleagues, which was isolating. I had to resist the urge to conform and remind myself that my different way of thinking was how I could hopefully add value.
That experience gave me business skills that changed the way I think and assess ideas. I learned that it is ok to not be the expert in the room, that it is ok and sometimes valuable to think differently, that nothing worth doing is ever easy, and that if you truly believe in something, don’t give up!
It was a very challenging transition. I had to learn the language of business, how to lead teams of young and brilliant business professionals, how to help drive innovation with partners across the globe, and to do all of that at speed (we were a startup). I also thought about things completely differently compared to my new business colleagues, which was isolating. I had to resist the urge to conform and remind myself that my different way of thinking was how I could hopefully add value.
That experience gave me business skills that changed the way I think and assess ideas. I learned that it is ok to not be the expert in the room, that it is ok and sometimes valuable to think differently, that nothing worth doing is ever easy, and that if you truly believe in something, don’t give up!
