School Principals Develop Their Leadership Skills under Pipedrive’s Execs

New York, 18 March, 2021 - Pipedrive, the leading CRM for sales and marketing teams is taking part in a unique educational initiative offering a five-month internship to school leaders who are interested in innovative management approaches and best private sector practices. As part of the Education Leaders’ Internship Programme, Sergei Anikin, CTO and co-CEO and Leelia Rohumaa, Global Head of People and Culture at Pipedrive mentor Kadi Kreis, the principal of Tartu Art School.

When Kadi Kreis joined Tartu Art School 20 years ago, the school had just 20 students, a few employees and no rooms. Today, the school has almost 300 students, a powerful team of 70 employees, its own building, successful alumni, and a highly rated curriculum. “Educational innovation has always been part of the school’s DNA. Running a school in danger of being closed down is working like in a startup. Everything was changing so quickly and we had to adapt fast,” said Kreis. “The internship at Pipedrive has taught me a lot, from the role of organizational culture to specific tools used for running teams or projects. I will definitely implement these new skills and knowledge in my school as well.”

“School that we attend does not only impact our knowledge and skills but influences our mindset and values that we carry the rest of our lives. I hope Kadi got inspired by the growth mindset that we nurture at Pipedrive and will implement these insights on self-development, innovation, and working in teams also in her school,” said Sergei Anikin, Co-CEO & CTO, Pipedrive.

Leelia Rohumaa, Global Head of People and Culture at Pipedrive said that it is a thrill to see a school principal who prioritizes organizational culture in education. “From day one, Kadi was very open to learning about Pipedrive’s unique values, culture, recruitment and onboarding processes, which are challenging especially during times when we have to work remotely and rely on online tools,” said Rohumaa. “Her perspective on Pipedrive and leadership taught us a lot as well.”

After a successful pilot last year, the applicants for the Education Leaders’ Internship Programme had to go through a strong competition. Graduated as a painter and technology teacher, Kreis’ versatile educational background, work history and interest in promoting vocational education stood out.

Besides Pipedrive, the other mentor organizations are Bolt, Fortumo, LHV, SEB, Swedbank, Telia, Wise, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and Veriff.

The Education Leaders' Internship Programme was initiated by the Good Deed Education Fund with Tallinn Education Department. The Good Deed Education Fund is a philanthropy fund established by new generation technology entrepreneurs aimed at supporting initiatives that help solve the biggest challenges in Estonian education. During 2019-2021, the Fund supports 10-15 initiatives with a million euros, focusing on increasing the number of next-generation teachers, raising the quality of school management, reducing drop-out rates, increasing acquisition of natural and exact sciences` skills combined with creativity and teamwork. The idea for the Education Fund came from Taavet Hinrikus from Wise and Martin Villig from Bolt. Pipedrive has been one of the largest supporters of the fund for the past three years.

About Pipedrive
Founded in 2010, Pipedrive is the first CRM platform developed from the salesperson's point of view. Today, Pipedrive is used by sales teams at more than 95,000 companies worldwide. Pipedrive is headquartered in New York and has offices across Europe and in the US. The company is backed by a majority holder Vista Equity Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Atomico, DTCP, and Rembrandt Venture Partners. Learn more at www.pipedrive.com.

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