Leadership Team

Rishi Rana is GM (CEO) of the Higher-Ed business in the edtech sector for PowerSchool Group LLC, leading strategy, growth, and with direct ownership of Product, R&D, Services, Customer Success, Sales, and Marketing. He has over 22 years of executive and leadership experience with a proven track record in leading businesses while developing complex, critical software solutions, products, and platforms across various domains.

Previously, Rishi was COO of AGDATA LP. He oversaw the transformation of several product and service lines into a single platform providing data-enabled insight and analytics for the agriculture industry. Rishi has led several businesses towards high growth in topline revenue, revamping service lines and factory models towards multiple-fold EBITDA growth. Prior experience includes serving HCM and Talent landscape as SVP for Global Services at Skillsoft Limited and GM-APAC for SumTotal Systems, where he setup offices in various countries and crafted teams and functions from the ground up. Rishi also held several leadership roles at Microsoft for over a decade where he led product, services, and strategy across a variety of functions and markets globally.

Rishi is an avid speaker at events and recipient of several awards in management excellence, strategy, communication, and mentoring. He recently won the “CEO with HR Orientation” Award from Asia Pacific HRM Congress. He holds a BS in Computer Science & Math and an MBA, both from Texas A&M University.

Chengdian leads the Product Engineering and Development in the HigherEd division of PowerSchool. He has over 25 years of experience in software leading various organizations in creating and solving problems. He has lead several organizations and teams in Product Engineering, Architecture, DevOps, and Professional Services helping increase customer retention via technology and impact across various business models, customer bases, structures, and cultures throughout his career.

Chengdian comes to PowerSchool from AGDATA where he successfully led the Product Development team on transformation siloed on-prem to SaaS-based products and processes. Chengdian was CTO at YouRuan where he provided technology vision and roadmap, overseeing engineering and IT, and helped shape the overall vision and strategy of the company. He has held various management roles in various organizations and successfully led onsite and offshore teams and delivered several mission critical solutions. He has also provided technology consulting services to various global companies like BlueCross BlueShield, AT&T, Ajinomoto, PNC, Kraft Foods, etc.

Chengdian received his B.S. in Math from the University of Science and Technology of China, M.S. from Beijing University, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Chicago. In his free time he enjoys sports and travel.

In his role, Akshay he oversees the Professional Services, Technical Support, and Customer Success functions. He brings with him over two decades of global leadership experience across Strategy & Operations in the enterprise software & technology space.

Prior to PeopleAdmin, Akshay worked at SumTotal Systems where he led strategic initiatives across Professional Services and Support functions, delivering high customer satisfaction along with overall operational efficiency & business value.

In his free time, Akshay loves to read and travel as often as possible to explore new places & cultures.

As Director of Product Management, Danielle is responsible for delivering the strategic vision behind PowerSchool’s portfolio of products for higher education. With over a decade in the education and technology space, she has led many customer- and business-impacting programs and teams across Product Management, PMO, Professional Services, Customer Success, and Support. She is an accomplished consultant, trainer, and speaker, having developed and led product courses around the country. Danielle is an alumna of Americorps, the voluntary service program that aims to lift communities in need. She holds a master’s degree in Math Education from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin.

Danielle enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters, family, traveling, and staying active outside. Danielle is an active member of her community, serving on the Board of Directors for the Anti-Defamation League of Austin and the Alumni Advisory Committee for the Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin.

As Vice President of Sales for PeopleAdmin, William (known as BJ), is responsible for managing and growing sales operations. He brings a wealth of more than 15 years of software experience, including consulting, services leadership, and SaaS implementation in addition to leading sales organizations.

As Director of Solution Marketing, Courtney leads the marketing, go-to-market strategy, messaging, communications, partnerships and integrations, and events for PeopleAdmin.

Courtney brings a wealth of experience in marketing strategy and communications to fuel organizational growth. Prior to joining the PeopleAdmin team, she led the marketing department for a national health research program at the Scripps Research Institute, as a senior marketing leader owning digital marketing, event management, and sales funnel optimization at Vistage International, and has worked in B2B, B2C, agency-side, and across a range of industries including biotech, executive leadership development, retail, wireless, and more.

In her free time, Courtney loves to travel and has visited more than 40 countries on 6 continents – and counting. She is also an active member of her community, serving on boards and committees including the Junior League of San Diego, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Young Professionals, and LEAD San Diego.