Jenn Burleton is a woman of transgender experience. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has lived in the Pacific Northwest for over 30 years.

From 1974 to 1997, she worked as a professional musician, songwriter, and arranger, touring internationally with a range of headliners and bands.

Before founding Burleton Education, Jenn Burleton spent years working in the high-tech sector, including more than eight years at Software House International (SHI) as the Oregon education sector sales executive from 1997 to 2005. That work required more than product knowledge. It meant learning how large systems function, how organizations make decisions, how people navigate change, and how trust is built across complex relationships. In practical terms, it meant working at the emerging intersections of technology, communication, problem-solving, and long-term client support.

That background continues to shape Burleton Education today. Jenn’s work has always involved helping people make sense of complex information, ask more effective questions, and move from confusion to clarity. The setting has changed—from technology and enterprise systems to education, history, healthcare, and public understanding—but the core skill set remains deeply connected: careful listening, strategic communication, pattern recognition, and the ability to translate complex material into language people can actually use. Burleton Education is not a departure from that earlier career so much as an evolution of it.

Jenn and the love of her life met in 1980 and became life-partners in 1983. They continue to share a commitment to serving the needs of disadvantaged and oppressed children, youth, and families, and helping systems and processes better serve diverse constituencies.