Meet Our Leaders

RIT Certified’s mission is to provide applied education and training to serve employers, individuals in and out of the workforce, and working professionals. That mission is supported by a leadership team made up of experts and thought leaders who share the same commitment to educational equity and access for all.

Ian Mortimer is the Associate Provost for RIT Certified. With nearly 30 years of experience in higher education, Ian is a champion of all types of education and embraces this opportunity to democratize skills and increase economic mobility. He is passionate about RIT Certified’s mission to help new and underserved populations of learners find success in the workplace.

“The region RIT calls home—not unlike most across the nation and the globe—has been asking for an institution to step up and fill this need for workers and organizations,” he says. “RIT is committed to helping people reinvent their skills to align with opportunities in the workforce.”

Thérèse Hannigan is our Chief Learning Experience Officer. Her 25+ year career as an educator, designer, problem-solver, and entrepreneur has shaped her into a visionary architect of immersive, engaging experiences. Throughout her robust career as a faculty member at RIT and interactive agency owner, she has demonstrated an impressive ability to embrace, analyze, and exceed the limitations of current thinking to create adaptive solutions to the ever-changing needs of students, clients, and employers.

“Making education accessible for all has been a passion of mine throughout my whole career,” she says. “Education needs to be available to everyone, delivered in a way that meets the learner where they are — including considering how they learn, the cost of learning, and so much more.”

Understanding — and solving for — our learners’ potential pain points are one of Thérèse many strengths, and her team is hard at work designing curriculum and content for an empowering learning experience.

“I don’t believe there’s anything that can’t be done,” she says.

Dennis Di Lorenzo rounds out the leadership team as RIT Certified’s Chief Business Officer. Dennis is a workforce development expert, consultant, and champion for educational access and equity. With over 25 years of experience in higher education leadership, professional training, applied skills education, and the K-65 education continuum, he is a widely-respected leader in building quality training programs that produce better outcomes for employers and individuals in the workforce. 

“I very much appreciate and respect RIT’s willingness to innovate and understand that higher education isn’t just a collection of degree credentials, but rather an industry with a responsibility to add alternative pathways to economic success,” he says. “Together, we are embracing the shifting perceptions of both employers and learners seeking job mobility and sustainability through education.”

Together, these three dynamic leaders are ushering in a new model of education that meets the needs of both employers and learners alike. The first of RIT Certified’s portfolio of employer-driven professional training programs will launch in Fall 2022.

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