Don Burton has been creating educational innovations for consumer markets for two decade. He was head of business development for Disney Educational Publishing, a Walt Disney Company initiative to enter the formal core curriculum markets of preK-3rd grade with integrated multi-media educational products that could be sold both into the school and the home. He developed strategies for the video, print, online and kit product lines and the business unit. He worked extensively with creative producers and “Imagineers” to understand and apply the educational principles and learning differentiation sought by Disney's new brand of offerings. He then founded ParentPartners, a creative Internet start-up focused on learning, growth and development issues. The company signed up 100,000 members before it was sold to the Washington Post and Kaplan Education in 1999. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Global Education Network (GEN) as CEO and President. GEN, founded by media financier Herbert Allen and Williams College professor Mark Taylor to bring the finest of higher education to the Internet, experimented with innovative formats to create the highest quality online learning.

Don has continued to experiment with how to best support parents in providing their children the best possible start. He recently established a play & learning research center, in New York City that created sensory rich environments, called PlayLabs, for kids 0 to 3 yrs old, using a wide range of opened-ended materials including clay, paper, water & ice, light & shadow, balls & ramps and foam. These PlayLabs were hands on workshops for child and parent, where parents gained insights into how play sets the foundations for thinking and learning. He also co-founded the every baby company, inc., for the development of the early learning product, "eebee's adventures", which is a line of DVDs, books and toys that help bring great developmental play and exploration into the home.

Previously, Don graduated from the Harvard Business School, worked in M&A at Goldman, Sachs & Co, and worked for the McKinsey & Company consulting firm. He has frequently been an adjunct professor for Duke University and their Leadership in the Arts program in New York City and has completed coursework in teaching and learning at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), Bank Street College and Columbia Teachers College. He has also served on the board of advisors at HGSE and on the COUR committee for Harvard University.