Alumni Spotlight: Jamie Beaton, MS’26
Expanding Access to Education Through Implementation Science
Jamie Beaton has built his career around expanding access to education, first through college admissions counseling organization Crimson Education, and most recently through public education initiatives in his native New Zealand. Beaton is driven by the belief that education has the power to transform individual lives while creating opportunities that ripple across communities.
As founder and CEO of Crimson Education, Beaton leads a team of more than 1,200 employees across 25 countries, guiding an organization that has helped more than 19,000 students earn admission to competitive higher education institutions while raising more than $100 million from leading global investors and completing 15 acquisitions.
"I was drawn to the field by experiencing firsthand the transformative power of U.S. higher education in propelling my career from New Zealand to Wall Street, Silicon Valley and global entrepreneurship," Beaton says.
As a recent graduate of Dartmouth’s Master of Science in Implementation Science inaugural cohort, Beaton sought a graduate program that would strengthen his ability to translate ambitious ideas into measurable impact. At Dartmouth, he found tools that immediately informed his work.
"My implementation science degree gave me detailed training in project design and implementation, stakeholder management, community engagement and public policy," he says.
Those lessons became especially valuable as Beaton launched Aotearoa Infinite Academy, New Zealand's government-funded online high school. Designed to expand access to high-quality education for diverse and aspiring learners, the school enrolled more than 600 full-time students within its first six months.
Building the academy required navigating partnerships with government agencies, stakeholders, educators, and community organizations. Beaton credits Dartmouth's implementation science curriculum with preparing him to lead those collaborations.
"Building the school requires detailed work with a variety of Iwi stakeholders, government agencies, teachers and other education teams, and Dartmouth prepared me every step of the way with directly applicable course concepts and inspirational classmates who I could learn from," he says.
Throughout the program, Beaton balanced graduate coursework with the demands of leading a rapidly expanding international company. He says the flexibility of Dartmouth's program, along with the support of its faculty, made that possible.
"I was very grateful to the incredible Dartmouth faculty for supporting my desire to pursue higher education alongside my trajectory at Crimson," he says. "This is a brilliant program for professionals who want to keep leveling up without taking their foot off the gas in their personal and family ambitions."
For his Capstone IMPACT Project, Beaton focused on public health policy interventions in New Zealand, selecting a topic that aligned closely with his long-term commitment to creating meaningful social impact.
He encourages future students to choose projects that reflect their deepest passions.
"Pursue your IMPACT project on an initiative you deeply care about so that your passion keeps you pumping," he says. "I did my initiative on New Zealand health public policy interventions and despite the time it took, I was invigorated, inspired and motivated to complete it to a high level."
Whether scaling a global education company or helping build innovative educational systems in New Zealand, Beaton sees implementation science as a framework for turning vision into action. For him, Dartmouth’s program reinforced the idea: meaningful change happens when ideas are paired with thoughtful implementation, strong partnerships, and a commitment to serving communities.
Written By: Mia Soucy
POSTED 8/7/2026 AT 11:12 AM IN #implementationscience #alumni
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