Kai Roemmelt

Kai has more than 18 years of experience in complex situations involving change management, hyper-growth, and restructuring. As President of Udacity he is responsible for the three business units addressing the learning needs of enterprises, governments, and individual learners.

Before joining Udacity, Kai was the managing partner at Best Associates, a mid-market VC and venture builder focused on education technology and healthcare. Prior to this, he worked for the German media, the services and education conglomerate Bertelsmann, and most recently, as Executive Vice President at the Bertelsmann Education Group—where he was part of the founding team. During this time, Kai served as COO and CFO of the portfolio company Hotchalk, Inc., a leading university service provider that was successfully sold to Noodle, Inc in 2020. Kai also served as chairman of the board of WASC accredited Alliant International University, where he led the turnaround of the institution from decline to double digit growth and profitability. Kai also had a leading role in the merger and subsequent integration of the two largest publishing firms, Penguin and Random House.

Kai holds an MBA equivalent from the European business school in Germany and a doctoral degree with high distinction from the University of St Gallen. Kai has lived and worked on six continents.