After 40 years of leadership, Waterford Institute’s founder Dr. Dustin (Dusty) Heuston has announced he’s stepping down as Chief Executive Officer and board chair. He will continue serving as founder and chair emeritus.
Dr. Benjamin Heuston, who has been serving as Waterford’s president since 2003, will assume the role of president and CEO. A. Scott Anderson, president and CEO of Zions Bank, will serve as Waterford’s board chair. Both changes are effective immediately. Waterford also recently appointed Andy Myers as its new Chief Operating Officer.
Dusty, a pioneering educator, founded Waterford Institute in 1976 with the mission of using technology to provide every child equitable access to a quality education. It was a bold vision at a time when technology as we know it now was still in its infant stages.
“At a time when computers were green and black and made no noise, Dusty looked at that and said, ‘that can be revolutionary for children. Not an incremental improvement, that can change everything,’” Benjamin said.
Dusty has established quite a legacy through his education career: a continuing body of research and publications on teaching literacy; a lasting impact on the direction and adoption of hardware and curriculum best practices across the industry; celebrated lifetime achievement awards; and the Waterford School, which he and Nancy Heuston established as an ideal model for children and which has grown into a highly acclaimed and independently ran PreK-12 school.
We at Waterford are all thankful for his leadership, ingenuity and foresight, and look forward to continuing his work. “Already, we have helped millions of children learn to read,” Benjamin said, “and we still feel like we are just getting warmed up to achieve Dusty’s vision.”
