Core Learning Exchange Appoints Stephen Collins as Chief Executive Officer

Founder Jeff Katzman transitions to Chief Product Officer to lead strategic product direction as the company enters its next growth phase

Published June 29, 2026 • Core-LX Team • 3 min read

Stephen Collins, Chief Executive Officer of Core Learning Exchange
Stephen Collins, Chief Executive Officer, Core Learning Exchange

BOULDER, Colo. — Core Learning Exchange (Core-LX), leading provider of AI-native, mastery-based learning solutions, today announced the appointment of Stephen Collins as Chief Executive Officer. Collins, a 20+year enterprise software and B2B services leader and serial founder, will guide the company through its next growth chapter. In conjunction with the appointment, Core-LX founder and industry visionary, Jeff Katzman, will transition to Chief Product Officer, where he will focus on the strategic product direction of the company's mastery-based learning platform and its Lexi and Socrat AI engines.

"Founding and leading Core-LX has been the privilege of my career, and the best decision I can make for the company right now is to bring in a CEO with the operating experience and go-to-market focus we need to guide the company to the next level," said Katzman. "Stephen has done exactly what we need to do next. Moving into the Chief Product Officer role lets me pour my energy fully into the product vision — building the most capable AI-native learning platform to serve the evolving needs of our growing customer community — while Stephen builds the company around it. This is how we get to the next level."

A serial founder and entrepreneur with extensive go-to-market, team building, business development and equity financing experience, Collins most recently served as co-founder and CEO of Anark, a leading provider of product data management and visual collaboration solutions for global manufacturers including Boeing, General Electric, Cisco, Daimler, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, and the U.S. Department of Defense. He also serves on multiple boards and advisory boards, working with innovative software and technology providers, venture firms and non-profit educational organizations to help them achieve their strategic objectives.

The leadership transition comes at an important moment for the company and educational technology industry. Demand for career and technical education is accelerating across K-12, workforce development, and corporate training, and Core-LX is purpose-built precisely to meet the dynamic needs of today's modern learners pursuing rewarding careers in a wide variety of high-demand technical fields. The company has developed a comprehensive library of AI-enabled instructional content preparing learners for more than 90 high-demand certifications, and adoption of that AI-native curriculum is growing quickly. Together, these forces have created an opportunity to scale faster and further than ever before and Collins has joined the team to help the company seize this important opportunity and mission.

"Core-LX has built something rare: a genuinely AI-native learning platform with real curriculum, real mastery data, and a model that connects students to workforce outcomes," said Stephen Collins. "I have enjoyed working with the company during the last few years as a board member and advisor, and I'm excited to now officially join Jeff and the Core-LX team to help build the organization and the go-to-market engine that will empower us to scale to effectively support the educational districts, employers, and learners who need it most."

What it means for customers and partners

For the districts, institutions, employers, and partners who work with Core-LX, the message is one of continuity and acceleration. The founding vision — combining mastery-based digital curriculum with employer-connected, real-world learning — remains firmly intact and is now backed by leadership built for scale. Customers can expect the same platform and team they rely on, with greater capacity to deliver, support, and innovate.

Core-LX welcomes Stephen Collins to the team and looks forward to the company's next chapter.

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About Core Learning Exchange: Core Learning Exchange is a Boulder, Colorado-based education technology company powering mastery-based, AI-native learning across K-12 career and technical education, workforce development, and corporate training. Its platform pairs a comprehensive corpus of AI-enabled instructional content — preparing learners for more than 90 high-demand industry certifications — with two proprietary AI engines: Lexi for content intelligence and standards alignment, and Socrat for Socratic tutoring.

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