Stephen Reid Leaves Microsoft for Endless Foundation

Stephen Reid leaves Microsoft to join Endless Foundation. Credit: Stephen Reid

After nearly nine years of championing game-based learning and competitive gaming at Microsoft—most recently serving as the game-based learning lead—Stephen Reid is leaving the company to join international non-profit organization Endless Foundation to lead its mission to use games and game development to engage and empower underserved students and communities around the world. Reid’s official title in the company is vice president of learning, where he will leverage his two decades of experience in technology, gaming, and STEM learning to advance the company’s global mission. 

“The Endless mission aligns with my vision for the future of gaming and education, as well as my passion for building better societies through empathy and equity,” Reid said in an announcement “I am eager to contribute my skills and experience towards this cause. Endless provides an exciting platform for me to continue fostering positive change within the gaming industry, amplifying its potential as a force for good.”

Reid first began working with Microsoft in 2015 as a creative consultant following the company’s  acquisition of the popular game Minecraft.  For Five years he served  as a contracted consultant, helping with the creation and launch of the Minecraft: Education Edition including creating training for teachers and other associated programs to enable the deployment in schools both domestically and internationally. 

 Reid would join the company as a full-time employee in April of 2020, and would spend the next five years continuing to drive game-based learning through Microsoft’s games and its owned software and other technologies.

Prior to beginning his journey with Microsoft, Reid founded several companies that promoted  STEM learning, gaming, and technology as a vehicle for education including Phygital Labs,  Wandering Wizards,  and Immersive Minds. He has also served in education and technology focused roles at BBC, Sky, A Higher Place, and Do Be LTD., among others.

Endless Foundation’s mission is to provide computers and software  to underserved students and communities around the world, and gaming is a core component of this mission. Endless Foundation is an international charitable organization that has three key pillars: Endless Laptop (a program designed to get technology into the hands of students in underserved and impoverished countries), Endless Key (a free and secure app for Windows and Chrome-based PCs to provide free educational resources to students), and Free OS (a Linux-based operating system that provides a suite of software programs and resources for free)

The organization has spent the last decade building an operating system and tools that gives people access to and control over their technology for free or at a low cost. The software tools include productivity, creativity, gaming, and learning through play.