Ben Markley

Ben Markley has dedicated more than 20 years of his career to serving the students, staff, and communities of several California school districts. He uses strategic leadership to ensure technology has a positive impact on classrooms and student achievement. Ben’s vision for a supportive, empathetic, and responsive IT team with a classroom-first focus has led to significant influence on student learning through technology. In 2015, Ben became a certified CTO through the California IT in Education (CITE) organization. Ben strives to give back and invest in future IT leaders as he serves as an instructor and mentor for the CITE CTO Mentor program and regularly presents on topics focused on IT leadership, strategy, and systems thinking.

Mr. Markley currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer of Hemet Unified School District. Ben believes it is critical to develop a proactive team focused on customer service, while at the same time using innovation and creativity to discover solutions. His recent efforts have resulted in a number of successful projects such as a district-wide technology refresh of all classroom and user devices, 1 to 1 take home student devices, implementation of a comprehensive cybersecurity plan, and internet access to outlying families. In 2022, Ben and his team were awarded the California School Board Association’s Golden Bell Award “For Innovation in a Time of Crisis.” In addition, Ben has many individual recognitions of which include the 2022 CITE Technology Leader of the Year and San Diego County’s 2018 Technology Administrator of the Year.