Prioritizing Learning for All: Don Wostmann ‘94
Castleton Marketing alumnus Don Wostmann ‘94 has built a rewarding and meaningful career serving a unique community as chief operating officer at n2y. The EdTech SaaS organization, where Wostmann has spent the past two dozen years leveraging his business background, specializes in providing technology-forward, age-appropriate curriculum and learning solutions that enrich the lives of individuals with special needs and those who support them.
What began as a brainchild of Wostmann’s mother-in-law has grown into a thriving business leader in the special needs space, with national and international clientele and over 200 employees. To date, the Ohio-based team’s work has developed multiple SaaS solutions including the only comprehensive total solution designed specifically for special education learners. This solution delivers complete differentiated instructional programs enhanced by a groundbreaking IEP development system.
“Initially, the whole concept was to get current event information down to a population that is typically void of that information,” explained Wostmann, who prior to joining n2y held senior-level positions within a variety of industries from technology research to telecom. “I gave up a career path in corporate America to take a leap of faith and support n2y. It was the best decision I ever made.”
With over 20 years of business development and operations experience, Wostmann is directly responsible for overseeing all operational areas of the business, including driving and maintaining n2y’s accelerated revenue growth, long-term strategic planning, and customer satisfaction. He fully embraces the n2y company mantra of ‘do well by doing good’ daily by ensuring his teams have the tools and resources needed for successful outcomes and innovative growth.
“It’s an unbelievable community of people,” he said, adding that it has been a privilege working alongside his in-laws and wife Christin, who serves as n2y CEO and Board Chair. “We have a mission that every single day when I get home and put my head on the pillow, I knew we were doing something good. I wasn’t just selling a widget or doing something that made someone a lot of money and wasn’t enhancing the community we served. N2y is positively affecting kids’ lives day in and day out.”
Wostmann credits his time at Castleton as helping to build strong business values centered around hands-on learning, taking advantage of unexpected opportunities, and creating a sense of community.
“The path to get to where I am now was very curvy. I went into school with little direction or expectations and have built a professional career around my strengths and passion areas,” he said. “My Castleton education set me up to be able to constantly adjust and leverage my skillsets as the market and world continuously change.”