Kathryn Parsons

Kathryn Parsons, speaker on digital skills and digital education.

Kathryn is an exceptional talent. She is the co-CEO of Decoded, an enterprise she founded with three partners in 2011 with a money borrowed on a credit card and a goal to teach anyone to Code in a Day. Today Decoded is a major #EdTech- a technology education company whose say their mission is ‘to demystify the digital world’.

Decoded has now reached over half a million people in more than eighty cities across the world teaching coding, data, and cyber skills in their technology masterclasses. Decoded now is a go-to brand for business looking to rapidly transform the digital capability and culture. Global clients including Accenture, Citibank, Unilever, Nike, HSBC, WPP, and MasterCard.

Kathryn’s passion for languages started at a young age, learning French, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese and ultimately Latin and Ancient Greek at Downing College, Cambridge. For her code is simply another language, and one she believes everyone is able to learn.

Today, as we see the disruptive impact of technology the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution., Kathryn is calling for an Education Revolution – one which is adaptive, expansive, and lifelong to ensure that the benefits of technology flow to everyone.

Kathryn campaigned for coding to be made mandatory on the UK National Curriculum.  It was successfully introduced in 2014, making the UK one of the first countries in the world to do so.

Kathryn is a regular keynote speaker sharing her experience of how leaders, governments, and individuals can embrace the digital economy. And as a motivational speaker Kathryn teaches how to embrace lifelong learning, by giving ourselves permission to learn and to grow.

In 2015 Kathryn Parsons was made an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours for her services to education. She was a non-executive board member of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy between 2017 and 2020.

Parsons is considered internationally as one of the most influential people in technology today Vogue

Decoded’s evangelical, and reassuringly ethical, vision has gained traction among the bosses of many of the hardest-nosed businesses. Decoded has trained thousands of people ranging from start-ups to the c-suite of multinational firms The Times