Board Member

Mr. Bruce Friend

Advising Director

Friend was Vice President of iNACOL and was a Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Florida Virtual School, the largest online K-12 school system in the United States growing enrollment from zero to more than 50,000 students with Friend’s efforts.

He has recently taken a leadership position in the SAS educational group. Previously, Friend was Vice President of iNACOL. He also helped launch the North Carolina Virtual Public School as interim director, chosen based on his experience as a founder and chief operating officer of Florida Virtual School, the largest online K-12 school system in the United States. Florida Virtual School grew from zero to more than 50,000 students with Friend’s efforts. Friend is a regular speaker about online learning at conferences across the nation. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Central Florida. He received the Outstanding Achievement by an Individual award in 2003 from the U.S. Distance Learning Association