Michelle Keim

Head of Data Science at Pluralsight

Michelle Keim is the Head of Data Science at Pluralsight, an on-demand technology learning platform that aims to close the technology skills gap globally. During her tenure, she has assembled a team and built the data science and machine learning capability at Pluralsight from the ground up. She has a keen sense for how to leverage data, analytics, and machine learning to drive actionable business insights and impact strategy. In addition to leading data driven decision making, she and her team partner with the product and engineering teams to create data products that range from personalizing the learner experience to adaptive skills assessments.

Prior to joining Pluralsight, Michelle applied her quantitative skills and business acumen across numerous industries, at companies such as Boeing, T-Mobile, and Bridgepoint Education. Her experience at Bridgepoint Education was the impetus for a growing interest in bringing data to the new challenges of education and learning. During her time at Bridgepoint, she was passionate about early identification of at-risk students as well as the study of instructional factors associated with successful online teaching and learning. While at Pluralsight, she has been particularly interested in using data to help learners find the right material at the right time, given their skill level and learning intent and style.

Michelle has a BS in Applied Mathematics from UCLA and PhD in Statistics from the University of Washington, where she conducted research on Bayesian methods for both search and recommendation engines. She holds patents in both text mining methodology and algorithms for determining electrical loads from