Tom Bolton joins The ASSISTments Foundation as Vice President of Product

The ASSISTments Foundation welcomes Tom Bolton as Vice President of Product to lead the future of the ASSISTments product. Bolton will bring his extensive experience in both product management and online learning systems to his new role where he will work with leadership to carve a path for ASSISTments. Bolton will support ASSISTments in its work to impact users across the country by delivering immediate feedback for math students and data insights for teacher instruction. 

“We are so fortunate to have Tom joining The ASSISTments Foundation. He brings the exact mindset and skills we need in order to further develop our platform into a national product for teachers everywhere. I couldn’t be more excited to welcome him,” says Megan Roberts, CEO.

Bolton will lead the engineering and design of the ASSISTments product with strategic direction to support its growth. Under his leadership, the ASSISTments platform will expand from its signature web-based product, in classrooms since 2003, to an EdTech platform enhanced with more research-backed features that support adaptive student learning and teacher professional development.

Bolton is deeply experienced at the intersection of software development and student learning. Starting his career as a UX designer, he spent over 13 years managing the development of Software as a Service (SaaS) products. In his most recent role as VP of Product at Authess, Bolton led the development of an AI-powered “authentic” assessment/instruction platform to support higher education. He is also the founder of The ChalkBird, an EdTech app that helps parents and teachers stay connected about the learning progress of their children.  

“The ASSISTments tool has huge potential to make an immediate, day-to-day impact on the lives of students and teachers by making homework more effective,” says Bolton. “On top of this, the research being done via ASSISTments will have a lasting influence on the science of learning for years to come. I’m ecstatic about being able to partner with the ASSISTments team, both at the Foundation as well as at WPI, to contribute to the success of such a unique and powerful platform.” 

Bolton holds a BA in English Literature from Princeton University. He also holds a AI engineering certificates in natural language processing, convolutional networks for computer vision, and a Professional Scrum Product Ownership I certification. 

The ASSISTments Foundation is a non-profit incorporated in 2019 and sponsored by Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The Foundation seeks to scale and expand the ASSISTments platform and works in partnership with WPI in its commitment to assisting students while helping teachers focus instructional time in mathematics.