Betsy Beaumon Named General Manager of Benetech Literacy Program

Benetech® named Betsy Beaumon Vice President and General Manager of its Literacy Program which includes the Bookshare and Route 66 Literacy projects. Beaumon is responsible for directing all aspects of operations, marketing and engineering.

As General Manager for a major segment of Benetech’s nonprofit technology services, Beaumon will manage external relationships and partnerships. She will assure customer satisfaction, retention and growth of these programs by maintaining Benetech’s high standards for quality and product performance. Beaumon will report directly to Benetech CEO Jim Fruchterman.

“The addition of a seasoned executive such as Betsy Beaumon to the team will further strengthen our ability to deliver on Benetech’s mission,” said Fruchterman. “Betsy brings the technology and entrepreneurial expertise that we need to continue to expand our literacy programs and support our customers.”

Beaumon served for more than twenty years as an executive and entrepreneur in the technology industry. She is a former Senior Director for BEA Systems, Inc. and managed international e-business initiatives for Cisco Systems, Inc. Beaumon founded Social Online Service, the first web-based information and referral service for social service organizations. As Executive Director of the company, Beaumon was an early supporter of Web accessibility standards. Beaumon was also one of the founders of TradeBeam Inc., a provider of global trade management software services.

Beaumon earned a BSEE from Northwestern University. She has an extensive background in operations, marketing, product management, implementation services, training and strategic partnerships. Active in volunteer work, Beaumon taught English classes to adult students in Tanzania last year.

The Benetech Literacy Program includes Bookshare, the world’s largest accessible online library for people with print disabilities. The Bookshare library has been completely rebuilt with state-of-the-art web technology to make it significantly easier for these readers to access its growing collection of digital books. More than 47,000 people with print disabilities now subscribe to the Bookshare library, either individually or through schools or organizations. The number of new Bookshare school and student members increased tenfold in 2008.

In addition to Bookshare, Benetech literacy projects include Route 66 Literacy, a web-based service that provides literacy instruction for adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities and those leaning to speak, read and write English.