Jessica Paulsen is the President of Innovation and Impact at LEAP Innovations, where she works at the intersection of learning design, student agency, and responsible AI. Her career spans youth development, leadership programs, and college and career access, but her work has always circled the same question: how do we design schools where students are truly seen, heard, and empowered to define success for themselves?
Jessica brings a systems-level view to AI in education, pushing beyond efficiency plays and tool adoption to focus on relationships, mindset shifts, and equity. She champions student co-design, teacher voice, and human-centred decision-making as the foundation for any meaningful use of AI. For Jessica, the future of learning isn’t about replacing teachers or automating classrooms, it’s about amplifying what great educators already do best.