On January 27, 2021, the Boston Business Journal ran a profile piece on Meteor Learning CEO Bill Rieders following the Company’s ranking as a top 3 fastest-growing private company in Massachusetts. The inspirational message was clear — success doesn’t always follow a straight and narrow path.

Rieders graduated from Connecticut College with a biology degree and later got his MSIA from Carnegie Mellon University. After years of being a sailboat racer, he also pursued environmental consulting, managed a real-estate portfolio for a savings-and-loan bank, switched to management consulting specializing in innovative and disruptive models, and helped create an education consulting practice while a Partner at The Parthenon Group (now part of Ernst & Young).

While highly successful in all these endeavors (except maybe the sailing), it was his discovery of a passion for education that gave him the entrepreneurial bug that led to the founding of Meteor Learning in 2015, and he hasn’t looked back.

Today, Meteor Learning works with educational institutions, including Merrimack College and Boston College, around the country to build employer-aligned educational programs for adult learners. Supporting students with career-aligned programming together with Meteor’s higher education partners fueled growth of 1,059 percent between 2016 and 2019.

This growth led Meteor Learning to be selected to be part of the Boston Business Journal’s Fast 50 list in 2020, representing the 50 fastest-growing private companies in Massachusetts. “This recognition is the direct result of the commitment of the Meteor team, as well as our higher ed and employer partners, who are relentlessly focused on our mission to put ‘students first,’” said William Rieders, Chief Executive Officer, Meteor Learning. “I am so proud of this team, who, even during this challenging time, remains committed to closing the critical skills gap.”

In addition to being a part of the Boston Business Journal’s Fast 50 list, Meteor Learning became a Certified B Corporation in February 2020, an honor that recognizes the Company’s mission to put “students first.” In August 2020, Meteor also achieved recognition as one of the elites on the Inc. 500 list, exceeding 1000% three-year growth.

To learn more about Bill Rieders and Meteor Learning, click here.