Bryan MacDonald, CEO of SchoolMint, joins Discover Lafayette to share the story of how his company chose Lafayette LA as its new headquarters. A technology industry leader in choice, enrollment, registration, and behavior for K through 12 schools, SchoolMint serves more than 12 million students in 18,000 schools nationwide.

With over 25 years of education software industry experience, Bryan has been at the forefront in designing technological advancements that dramatically affect all aspects of the educational experience for students, parents, and schools.

Bryan got his start as a middle school math and science teacher at the University of Wyoming Laboratory School while also working as a Technology Specialist. He loved it, got immersed in statewide committees in Wyoming that were working to improve school data collection, and ended up being hired by the local school district as its technology leader. It was there that he discovered the antiquated ways the school system collected grades, student attendance, report cards, and transcripts and thought, "There must be a better way."

He looked around for tech help and discovered PowerSchool, a start-up company that was the first web-based system delivering cutting-edge services to schools and families who needed ready access to student information. "For the first time ever, teachers were using the same system as the front office and parents were using. Moms could drop off their kids, go home, get online and see if their kid made it to class." This was heady stuff for the 1990s tech world.

Bryan was enamored with the work of PowerSchool and moved to join the company which was based in Northern California. Through that role, he had the opportunity to travel to Cupertino, CA to meet with Steve Jobs to pitch PowerSchool's software. Apple bought the software and the company!

Besides Apple, Bryan's career has also led him to work with national companies such as Safari Books Online, Maximus Education Systems, and most recently Illuminate Education. He joined SchoolMint three years ago.

SchoolMint's customer base keeps growing as its services continue to evolve to meet the demands of today's schools. They offer strategic enrollment management and marketing strategies, and also offer data management and coaching to assist schools with behavior management and support.

Originally based in San Francisco, CA with employees also working in San Jose, Costa Rica, the company made the decision to move its headquarters to Lafayette in 2020 after purchasing Smart Choice Technologies in 2019, which had been founded by Casey Bienvenu when he was a student at the Carencro High Academy of Information Technology. Smart Choice Technologies' focus was on the development of student registration and lottery system software similar to that of SchoolMint. Bryan said, "They were basically doing the same things SchoolMint was doing. What if we teamed up? Why build the same things twice when we could build it together right and make it amazing?"

"SchoolMint can be summed up in three words: Attract, Enroll, and Retain. We're all about strategic enrollment management. It's a new thing for K - 12 schools, but not for higher education. We help schools make themselves known to parents and help the parents find the right school. It's a bit of matchmaking. We help with online applications and make it easy to fill out on mobile phones." Photo by Leslie Westbrook of The Advocate.

During Bryan's first visit to Lafayette, he was left with a highly positive impression, especially upon seeing the "World's Happiest City" banner in the Lafayette airport. He thought, "even if it's not actually the happiest city, this is still special.