Speakers
Please check back regularly as we will update this page with confirmed speakers on an ongoing basis.
Keynote Speakers | |
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President, Scholastic Education, Scholastic Inc. Margery Mayer oversees product development, marketing and sales for the Scholastic Education division. She is credited with moving Scholastic into the educational technology market for reading intervention, quickly establishing it as a leader in the field. Under her leadership, Scholastic Education has developed reading and language arts programs now used in more than 35,000 classrooms nationwide, as well as a comprehensive school improvement program to support districts with school turnaround and training services. Mayer is currently leading Scholastic's move into the development of mathematics programs by working with leading math educator Marilyn Burns on her widely acclaimed math curriculum. |
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Director of Education, College Ready, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Vicki Phillips oversees work to improve early learning in Washington State; to ensure U.S. high school students graduate ready for success; and to improve access to college. For nearly three decades, she has worked to improve education as a teacher, state-level policymaker, leader of a nonprofit education foundation, superintendent of a large urban school district, and now, the director of education for the Gates Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, she was superintendent of Portland Public Schools in Portland, Ore. Earlier, Phillips served as Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s appointed secretary of education and that state’s chief state school officer. |
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CIO and Director of Digital Strategy, Pearson plc In June 2010, Genevieve Shore took on the leadership of Pearson’s worldwide technology function as CIO. As CIO, Genevieve oversees the strategy, architecture and implementation of all of Pearson’s worldwide IT operations: networks, systems for processes from content creation through to sales, systems to manage Pearson’s assets such as content, rights and royalties, data and analysis. She leads teams responsible for Pearson’s core software and enterprise systems, consumer-facing product technologies, and hardware and networks, as well as teams that identify, share and commercialize relevant new technologies and develop technology talent. |
Additional Speakers | |
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Chief Operating Officer, Atomic Learning Lisa Barnett is the Chief Operating Officer of Atomic Learning. Atomic Learning is a leading provider of technology-focused professional development and training resources that allow learners to integrate technology and build 21st century skills. The company’s higher education solutions focus on providing online software training, support and integration resources to simplify technology use campus wide. Barnett leads the organization's operations, product development, market research and marketing initiatives in the higher education, K-12 and international education markets. |
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Dean, School of Science and Technology, American Public University System Dan Benjamin has over fifteen years of experience providing Information Technology and Management solutions; his clients include the White House and the U.S. Senate. Dan has published/presented papers related to Learning Management Systems at the International Association for Computer Information Systems (IACIS) and at the Information Systems Educators Conference (ISECON). He participated in the development of the implementation strategy for President Bush’s CFO Act of 1990. He also implemented a SCORM compliant, learning objects based e-Learning solution in support of President Clinton’s Distance Learning Initiative. He authored books on Java and Oracle that were published by Element-K Press (formerly Ziff-Davis) and McGraw-Hill/ Oracle Press. |
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President, Interactive Educational Systems Design, Inc. (IESD) Ellen Bialo is one of the founders of Interactive Educational Systems Design and EDRoom, recognized in the education technology and publishing communities as a leader in research and analysis, instructional design, and related materials development. IESD conducts research on educational programs and products and provides a variety of consulting services related to their development, evaluation, implementation, and marketing. Clients include education publishers, technology hardware manufacturers, government agencies, non-profit institutions, and school districts. Services include both quantitative and qualitative analyses including focus groups, surveys, in-depth interviews, classroom observations, user testing, competitive landscape analysis, research literature reviews, and analysis of demographic and financial data. |
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Vice President, Education Division, SIIA Karen Billings has over 30 years of experience in the education technology industry with positions in management, development, marketing, sales, and classroom teaching. At SIIA she drives the association's work with its 190 member companies for whom educational publishing is a primary business. Prior to SIIA, Billings, was Vice President, Major Business Initiatives for bigchalk Inc, where she drove relationships with major industry partners to respond to new business opportunities and Vice President and General Manager of its MediaSeek Division. She worked at Microsoft Corporation, managing K-12 Strategic Relations and at Claris Corporation, where she ran the Worldwide K-12 and Higher Education Marketing Programs. She served as Director of Sales at Logo Computer Systems, Inc. and as an Executive Editor in the School Division at Houghton-Mifflin Company. |
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Founder and President, Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc. Charles Blaschke is founder of Education TURNKEY Systems, a 40-year old Washington DC-based firm which provides data and analysis about Federal funding policies and K-12 technology spending, including Title I, IDEA/Special Ed, the new ARRA stimulus funding, and other related Federal programs. Blaschke received his Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School and maintains close contact with policy makers and influencers to provide reliable insights into the economic stimulus package and the opportunities it offers for software and other publishers. |
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Sr Director of Teaching & Learning , Pearson eCollege Jeff has created, taught and administered Communication and Computer courses for several Universities and Community Colleges since 1998. He is currently teaching as an enriched lecturer at Chaminade University in Hawaii. Jeff has spoken at a variety of conferences and education industry events internationally over the past several years and has also spoken to the U.S. Congress Education Committee. |
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Chief Executive Officer, uBoost John Bower is founder and CEO of uBoost, the nations largest online K-20 recognition and rewards program. National companies like Kaplan, K12 Inc, Connections Academy, Scientific Learning and White Hat have leveraged uBoost's features to increase course completion and student retention for the past three years. He founded, operated and sold his healthcare company in Chicago before moving to Hawaii and forming uBoost in 2007. |
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President, Digital Solutions, Capstone Digital Todd Brekhus is the President of Capstone Digital, and visionary behind myON reader, a personalized literacy environment. Before joining Capstone, Todd served as Vice President and CMO of PLATO Learning, President and COO of Learning Elements, and Education Program Director for MCI WorldCom, where he helped build and implement the Marco Polo program. Todd spent eight years in education as a teacher, department chair, and Technology Director, and has served on the Board of the Education Division of The Software Information Industry Association. At SIIA, he helped to develop the Innovation Incubator and Personalized Learning Working Groups. |
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Director, Office of Education Technology, U.S. Department of Education Karen Cator is the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. She has devoted her career to creating the best possible learning environments for this generation of students. Prior to joining the department, Cator directed Apple's leadership and advocacy efforts in education. In this role, she focused on the intersection of education policy and research, emerging technologies, and the reality faced by teachers, students and administrators. Cator joined Apple in 1997 from the public education sector, most recently leading technology planning and implementation in Juneau, Alaska. She also served as Special Assistant for Telecommunications for the Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. Cator holds a Masters in school administration from the University of Oregon and Bachelors in early childhood education from Springfield College. She is the past chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and has served on the several boards including the Software & Information Industry Association—Education. |
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Principal, CollinsConsults Sue Collins has over 35 years of experience in education and technology, and is known for her ability to bridge education, technology and public policy. President Clinton appointed her to the Web-based Education Commission. Sue has represented the Commission and SIIA in testimony before Congress. She has been a teacher, a district and state-level administrator, and she has held senior-level positions at Apple Computer, Compaq Computer, Jostens Learning, bigchalk.com and Apex Learning. In her consultancy, Sue provides strategic solutions to education technology businesses. She serves on the iNACOL Board and works with SIIA on various initiatives after serving on the SIIA Education Board for 8 years. |
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President, Education Division, MIND Research Institute Andrew R. Coulson is responsible for all matters related to expansion and implementation in the schools, development, marketing/public relations and staff management. Mr. Coulson brought 17 years of experience in operations, quality, and management of engineering and high tech business, transferring technology from R&D to production. As head of operations, in 1998 Andrew guided a $20MM instrumentation company into ISO 9001 quality compliance. Andrew also brings experience as the education program officer for a major Orange County foundation and as CEO of a TV/internet media company He was awarded a BS and MS in Physics from UCLA. |
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Chief Executive Officer, ConnectYard, Inc. Donald Doane co-founded ConnectYard in 2007 and currently serves as the Company's CEO. He is responsible for overseeing ConnectYard's corporate strategy and vision for helping institutions leverage social and mobile technologies for increased student engagement and retention. He has been developing, marketing and selling software solutions since the mid-90's and in 2000 founded OpenDemand Systems, Inc., which has helped many of the nation's largest universities successfully deploy learning management and student information systems to tens of thousands of student, faculty and administrative users. |
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Associate Vice President, Editor-In-Chief, Bridgepoint Education Erik Evans joined Bridgepoint in 2009 when he was hired as Editorial Director to build an editorial department and lead the product development effort for Constellation. Prior to joining Bridgepoint, Erik was Senior Acquisitions Editor for Psychology with SAGE Publications. He is a second generation college textbook publisher and has also worked for publishing houses Thomson/Cengage Learning and Bedford/Freeman/Worth. Erik has significant experience in many facets of college textbook publishing including editorial, sales, marketing and technology. |
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Chief Operating Officer, RedRock Reports Glenn has a broad background in program management, education, and technology. At RedRock Reports he is responsible for business development, marketing, technology management, and client contact. Prior experience includes creating developer and marketing programs at Linden Lab and Openwave as well as managing product development at Apple Computer. |
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Chief Executive Officer & Founder, WeAreTeachers Sandra K. Fivecoat is the CEO and founder of WeAreTeachers.com � an online teaching, learning, and business network, designed to place teachers at the center of the web 2.0 world. Ms. Fivecoat is an established and respected executive coach, having spent the last three years managing Fivecoat and Associates, a consulting firm whose client list includes Dell and Standard & Poors, as well as several smaller education technology firms. Ms. Fivecoat�s previous industry experience includes Senior Vice President of Sales for Lightspan, Inc, and Area Director of public sector sales for Apple Computer. She has held numerous positions in education, including policy leader as the first director of education technology for the State of Texas. |
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Director, Curriculum Pathways Education Practice, SAS Institute Education Group Bruce Friend is the Director of SAS Curriculum Pathways, a philanthropic offering from SAS that provides online lessons and interactive tools to educators around the world. Bruce is a pioneer in online learning having been Chief Operations Officer of the country's first statewide online program. He has also provided leadership creation of other state, district, and independent virtual programs. Bruce serves as an advisor for education and government officials around the country on topics related to online learning and digital content. Prior to joining SAS, Bruce was the Vice President of the International Association for K12 Online Learning. |
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CEO/CSCO, Her Interactive, Inc. Megan Gaiser is the CEO/CSCO of Her Interactive, a pioneer of inspiring mystery games designed for girls and women. Under her stewardship, Her Interactive has grown sales of the globally-loved Nancy Drew game to top 9-million units worldwide. The Nancy Drew PC franchise has been #1 in U.S. units six years running and has garnered 24 consecutive Parents' Choice Gold Medal Awards. Megan has been named one of the "Game Industry's 100 Most Influential Women" by Next Generation, "Top 10 Most Influential Women of the Decade" by Kotaku, and also received the 2010 Microsoft Women in Games award. |
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Vice President & Director, Technology, Cengage Learning Kurt Gerdenich oversees Cengage Learning's worldwide digital product strategy and development for the academic, research, and professional markets. Kurt has been with Cengage since 1994, and his career has touched nearly all facets of print and digital product management. Cengage Learning provides teaching, learning and research solutions, and has more than 5,500 employees in more than 20 countries around the world. Outside of Cengage, Kurt serves on the Post-Secondary Board for the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA). Additionally, Kurt is active in his community, volunteering within the local schools and youth sports organizations. |
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President, SkillsTutor Adam Hall’s former company Impact Education was acquired by HMH and merged with their SkillsTutor division. Co-founded by Adam in 2000, Impact Education continued a family tradition of more than 30 years of educational service. Adam's work with Impact, and subsequently, SkillsTutor, has allowed him to focus on his passion of empowering "at risk" and incarcerated youth populations around the country with basic academic skills to keep them in school and off the streets. He is presently focused on executing SkillsTutor's mobile learning initiative, which will expand the reach of SkillsTutor's diagnostic/prescriptive instructional model, making it truly anytime/anywhere. |
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President, RedRock Reports Dr. Jennifer House founded RedRock Reports to provide actionable funding insights to companies selling to K-12 education. Jenny provides clients with a strategic vision from both business and education perspectives. Her work is informed by years of experience in district administration as well as industry management. At RedRock Reports she focuses on the impact of funding knowledge on sales, advising clients about funding trends and execution strategies via webinars and in-person presentations. Prior experience includes holding management positions at HP and Apple Computer as well as executive positions at Classroom Connect and Tenth Planet. |
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Chief Executive Officer & Founder, VIP Tone, Inc. Robert Iskander is the Founder and CEO of VIP Tone, Inc. and serves on the SIIA Ed Division Board. After spending 13 years at Sun Microsystems, including 5 years leading the global education market development and vision, Robert started VIP Tone in April 2000 with the goal of connecting all of the dots for the K-20 education enterprise. VIP Tone's EduTone is the first e-integration platform that connects and provisions education enterprise end-users with a multi-vendor ecosystem of IP-based communications, collaboration, learning and administration applications, through a global identity management utility. |
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President, Educational Systemics A long time educator, Michael taught Science in California where he also worked in developing the first set of Technology in the Curriculum materials for the State of California. In 1986 he joined Apple Computer's Classroom of Tomorrow (ACOT) research and development project and later served as Apple’s Education Competitive Analyst and lead major curriculum related marketing initiatives. He remained a contributor to science education through many projects including being one of the authors of California's ground breaking Science Framework of 1990. |
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Senior Vice President, Business Development, Wireless Generation Judah Karkowsky leads Amplify's/Wireless Generation's efforts to build meaningful partnerships within education technology. The company is a leading innovator and developer of educational software that helps teachers teach and provides digital assessment, reporting, and data analysis tools to enhance instruction in grades PreK - 12. Wireless Generation also builds large scale educational data systems, designs personalized curriculum and provides technology consulting and other professional services for schools and districts. Karkowsky is responsible for enhancing these services and product lines and for finding new corporate growth opportunities for the company. He identifies ways to partner and collaborate with publishers, universities, and other organizations advancing PreK-12 learning. Karkowsky forges relationships that strengthen the company's role in the ed tech marketplace and contribute to improvements and innovation in the classroom. |
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President, Whizz Education Ben has been an executive director of Whizz Education since its inception in 2004. He initially became involved with the company to raise money. However, he and a business partner elected to stay on and run organization for the long term. With early successes in selling to UK schools, Ben opened an office in Seattle to explore US demand for Whizz Education products. Four years later, the company's virtual math tutor is used by hundreds of school districts across 10 states. Ben brings in-depth understanding of what it takes to open up in a new territory and also be part of a business that is truly global |
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Founder and President, Engaged Minds Inc. Christoph is the founder of Engaged Minds, a SaaS company focused on drop-out prevention. Before starting Engaged Minds, he served as Sr. VP Sales, Marketing and Strategy, at Jenzabar, a vendor of Student Information Systems. Christoph brings to Engaged Minds many years experience in the higher education industry and a keen understanding of what it takes to bring change to education. |
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VP Strategic Marketing, McGraw-Hill Higher Education Jim runs the Strategic Marketing group at McGraw-Hill Higher Education. He assumed this role in 2009 and reports to the President of Higher Education. Jim joined McGraw-Hill in 2002 as the Director of Market Research. He was subsequently promoted to Vice President of Marketing for McGraw-Hill/Irwin. In 2006, Jim joined the Digital Group as a Vice President. Prior to joining McGraw-Hill, Jim worked in sales, marketing, and management in the specialty chemicals business at American Cyanamid Company and Cytec Industries. He has also worked in consulting and consumer marketing and merchandising. He currently serves on the SIIA Postsecondary Sector Board of Directors. | |
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Chief Executive Officer, Emantras Inc. As the CEO of Emantras, Sesh Kumar has grown the company from a small educational start-up to a globally recognized brand. Over the past couple of years, Sesh has been leading the transformation of the organization to become a leader of the mobile learning market. He was part of the executive team that designed and delivered the award-winning MOBL21 platform, which makes technology ubiquitous so that educators and publishers can focus on delivering high quality content. Prior to his CEO role at Emantras, Sesh was the CIO of the Sienna Group. |
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Vice President, Public Affairs, K12 Inc. Jeff Kwitowski is Vice President of Public Affairs at K12 Inc., America’s largest provider of K-12 online school programs. Since 2003, he has led the company’s public relations operations and has supported its state and federal government affairs efforts, working with policymakers and education leaders to develop and advocate for policy frameworks that expand school options, student access and parent choice in education. Prior to K12, he served as communications director and advisor to former U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett and former U.S. Congressman and HUD Secretary Jack Kemp at Empower America, a Washington, DC-based public policy organization. |
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Director of Learning Architecture, Bridgepoint Education Dana La Fleur is responsible for selecting, optimizing and socializing technologies appropriate to the learning environment and our students while ensuring a "best in class" learning experience. Specifically, she led the successful transition and integration of the organization's Learning Management System in 2009. In addition, she serves as the business and academic advocate for the organization's mobile strategy geared to enhancing the student educational experience through access and increased service. |
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Government and Education Strategist, Intel Americas Dr. Lento is developing and implementing holistic models to meet the needs of state and local governments as well as school systems in the United States. In the education space, she is expert at guiding school systems along the technology adoption curve. Recognizing that such efforts demand more than simply providing students and educators with laptops, her work addresses quantitative and qualitative results, visionary leadership, creative funding, rich digital content, ongoing professional development, all supported by a solid infrastructure. Additionally, she brings awareness to the need for advocacy around policies necessary for such systemic reform efforts to gain real traction (i.e., scale and sustainability) Eileen currently serves on the SIIA Education Division's Board of Directors. |
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Executive Director, Monterey Institute for Technology and Education An experienced educator and author, Gary has an extensive background in business management, media production and technology development. In 1983, he founded Archipelago Productions, a developer of award-winning digital product for the education market and documentary films for television. In 1997, Gary became President and CEO of NETg, a global leader in providing e-Learning solutions to many of the largest corporations in the world, including Shell, IBM, AT&T, Honeywell and Motorola. Under his leadership, NETg developed a library of more than 1,200 multimedia-based courses, grew to more than 800 employees, and had offices in 30 countries. As Executive Director of MITE, Gary continues his lifelong commitment to education, including overseeing the HippoCampus and National Repository of Online Courses. |
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Managing Director, Instructional Materials and Educational Technology, Texas Education Agency Mr. Lopez currently oversees the activities with the Review and Adoption and the Dissemination and Accessibility of instructional materials. He also oversees the program initiatives with Educational Technology. As a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980, Mr. Lopez holds a bachelor's degree from the College of Communication. His career began with the Austin Independent School District. In 1991, Mr. Lopez started his employment with the Texas Education Agency to coordinate the delivery of professional development programs through a distance learning initiative known as T-STAR. | |
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Founder & CEO, Inkling Matt MacInnis spent eight years at Apple helping educators use technology in the classroom. His time at Apple included two years in Beijing, growing Apple's education business in the region, before returning to Cupertino to help Apple grow the use of iPods and Macs in classrooms around the world. He left Apple in 2009 to start Inkling. With an eye toward redefining expectations for learning content on iPads, he has grown Inkling to what it is today, with major venture backing and relationships with major publishers. A native of Canada, MacInnis holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Harvard University. |
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Senior Vice President, New Ventures & Strategic Services, McGraw-Hill Education Vineet oversees McGraw-Hill Education’s strategic planning, reengineering, major partnerships, market development, venture investments, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and an internal research and development function. Prior to his current role, he led McGraw-Hill Higher Education’s Learning Ecosystems group, focused on developing breakthrough digital products and services to optimize faculty, student and institutions. Earlier, he served as vice president and global head of strategy and corporate development for McGraw-Hill Education. In that role, Vineet helped direct the company’s digital transformation leading product and market strategy efforts across K-12, assessment, higher education and international resulting in the launch of new digital products and services. Vineet currently serves on the Board of the Education division of the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) and was previously a Board observer at HotChalk. |
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Co-Founder, Smart Learning Communities Jon Madian, Founder, Smart Learning Communities--Quest: energize the use of ICT, community & corporate talents so we create an R&D culture sensitive to student and teacher diversity and our deepest motives for meaningful learning and responsible work. As public education enters the information age, author, psychologist, researcher, artist-in-residence, and software entrepreneur (founder of the leading journal on technology and curriculum & Humanities Software, sold to Renaissance Learning), Jon is a thought-leader for a self-organizing think tank to catalyze smart educational and business opportunities. Based on a learning genome that informs a new pedagogy of personalized learning, Jon sees Smart Learning Communities as the creative loom that weaves quality-learning experiences for students & teachers. Some may know Jon through his work with many of the leading textbook and software publishers during the past 3 decades. |
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Managing Director, Gaia Technologies In his career Anas has worked internationally on both the product development side, outsourcing product development and localizing product for use in other countries. At Gaia, he has been involved in developing the initial foray outside the US into Europe, the Middle and Far East. His experience is primarily in product development and negotiating partnerships. | |
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Chief Executive Officer, THINQ ED Mary has more than 25 years of experience in technology and education through her various leadership roles at THiNQ Ed, Pearson, Apple, Carnegie Learning, Duquesne University and Carnegie Mellon University. As President of Pearson's School Systems group, McCaffrey transitioned the business to its current technology leadership position. Prior to her position at Pearson, McCaffrey lead PowerSchool, a division of Apple, as President, where she spearheaded the development and sale of its flagship student information system and played an instrumental role in the business unit's eventual acquisition by Pearson. | |
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CEO, Texthelp Systems, Ltd Mark has been with the company since September 1998 and is charged with overseeing and guiding the direction of the company. With a wide variety of business experience, Mark has a vast knowledge base and provides an ever present steadying influence. |
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President & Publisher, Kaplan Publishing Maureen McMahon is president and publisher of Kaplan Publishing, one of the nation’s leading publishers of academic and professional development resources. Prior to joining Kaplan in 2006, she was vice president and publisher of the Kaplan imprint at Simon & Schuster, and held several positions at Random House, including publisher of The Princeton Review, associate publisher of Villard Books, and director of national accounts. |
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Chief Executive Officer, MMS Education Susan has worked in the education market for approximately three decades, providing clients with customized market research, marketing and inside sales/sales support services. Technology clients include Pearson, Teaching Strategies, PLATO Learning, Carnegie Learning, Monarch Teaching Technologies, Disney and others. Susan has presented at numerous conferences and meetings both in-person and via webinars for AEP, MDR and MCH. |
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Chief Technology & Information Officer, Forsyth County School System Bailey Mitchell brings twenty five years of experience as an educator, including the past thirteen years as the Chief Technology and Information Officer for Forsyth County Schools. He is responsible for both the educational and administrative technology enterprise with a focus on online learning, collaborative classrooms, parent communication and teacher support. Bailey serves on the board and is chair-elect of Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). Prior to Forsyth, Bailey served as the Director of Instructional Technology at the Georgia Department of Education. |
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Senior Research Associate, WestEd (SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium) Christyan Mitchell is a senior research associate at WestEd and serves as project lead overseeing the development of high-stakes online state assessments for general and special student populations (e.g., English language learners, students with disabilities). Currently, he is a project manager for the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, overseeing day-to-day operations and ensuring that work progresses according to Consortium requirements. After completing his doctoral studies and research, Mitchell worked at the Massachusetts Department of Education as chief data analyst and as a senior program manager at Harcourt Assessment before joining WestEd. | |
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Senior VP, Global Sales, PolyVision Ken Nelson is responsible for the company's sales, market development and channel initiatives globally. Under his leadership, PolyVision has expanded the organization focused on technology sales in the Americas and emerging markets in Europe and Asia Pacific. As a career consultative sales director, his knowledge of global operations, channel management and strategic supplier relationships play a key role in PolyVision's global success. Before joining PolyVision, Ken was vice president of sales for Promethean, and also worked for Apple Computer as an account manager developing strategic relationships. |
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Chief Information Officer, National Association of College Stores Mark R. Nelson, Ph.D., is CIO for the National Association of College Stores (NACS) and VP for NACS Media Solutions. Dr. Nelson presents regularly for both national and international audiences on the future of course materials. From 2003-2008 he held a fellowship with the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied. Prior to joining NACS in 2005, Dr. Nelson was assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute receiving awards for both research and teaching. |
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Chief Academic Officer, Knovation (formerly netTrekker) Steve Nordmark, Chief Academic Officer for Knovation, is an innovative leader in K12 Ed Tech with over 20 years of experience in corporate consulting and educational solution research, design and development. His passion centers on delivering personalized and self-guided learning environments for all. |
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President/CEO, Avant Assessment Michael Patterson joined Avant in 2009 and is responsible for key partnerships and strategic vision implementation. Michael's reputation for leading expansive and sustainable growth positions Avant at the forefront of authentic assessment supporting competency-based, personalized learning systems. For nine years, he led Northwest Evaluation Association's (NWEA) assessment solutions development (including MAP) resulting in 35% year to year growth. Michael serves as an ISO TC/232 Standards U.S. delegate, a U.S. Dept of Ed NETP sessions committee member, and USG Interagency Language Roundtable advisor. He has been actively involved with SIIA, CoSN, SIF, SAO and others as a presenter and panelist. |
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Director, Shasta Secondary, CA Lynn Peebles founded Shasta Secondary (SSHS) in 1999 after working with Mike Stewart, the former Superintendent of the Shasta Union High School District, envisioning a school that would serve the needs of homeschooling families in Shasta County. Lynn has been part of the education community for 30 years in Shasta County. Raised in southern California, he attended Long Beach State University where he earned his degree in music and his teaching credential. He also earned a Masters in Counseling in 1983 from the University of La Verne. After working at multiple local high schools, Lynn opened Shasta Secondary Home School. Lynn loves serving the community of SSHS. |
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President & CEO, Triumph Learning In 1999, Myron founded Educational Tools, Inc. Under his leadership, Educational Tools has grown from a small start-up to a highly profitable leader in the educational publishing industry. In October 2010 Haignts Cross Communications acquired and named Myron Pincomb President/CEO of Triumph Learning. Myron's background includes 17 years of starting, building, and running highly successful companies in the fields of industrial chemistry, technology, and education. In 2005, he founded Literacy 20/20 (www.literacy2020.org), a non-profit focused on developing and improving the literacy rates of children age 3-10 in at-risk communities across the country. |
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Principal, Quantum Thinking Over the past twenty years, Pugliese has developed a strong track record managing growth stage businesses and acquiring and developing a number of education organizations. Lou Pugliese is the former Chairman and CEO of Moodlerooms, the largest global provider of open source software and services for eLearning for the K to Workforce markets. Prior to Moodlerooms, Pugliese was President of Learning Diagnostics Inc., an education a consulting practice providing strategic planning in Business Intelligence in academic and administrative information architecture. He was recently vice president of corporate development and company director at Educational Testing Service (ETS). In this capacity, Pugliese led corporate strategy and growth and strategic alliances for the secondary, post secondary, workforce and international education markets. Prior to his appointment in corporate development, Pugliese served as the vice president of market development, which included marketing, sales, market research, and business development. Prior to this post, he was the CEO of ETS Pulliam, LLC, an ETS K]12 subsidiary, and vice president of elementary and secondary education products and services where he led ETS's elementary and secondary education product development and customer]facing activities. These included professional development, technology products and services and assessments. |
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Founder/Director, APLUS+, the Association of Personalized Learning Schools & Services Jeff Rice is founder and director of APLUS+, the Association of Personalized Learning Services, a growing California statewide network association exclusively dedicated to advancing Personalized Learning as a distinct public educational model, to uniting schools and other organizations that embrace a Personalized Learning approach to education, and to promoting the successes and achievements of Personalized Learning programs in public education. Jeff's background includes 5+ years experience as an advocate in the California Charter School movement, and more than 20 years in Marketing and Public Relations related positions in socially conscious endeavors including ridesharing, health foods, solar energy, and public education. |
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President, Consulting Services for Education John Richards, Ph.D., is President of Consulting Services for Education, Inc. (CS4Ed). CS4Ed works with publishers, developers, and educational organizations in business development, strategic planning, market research, and developing and launching award-winning products. He is the author/editor of 3 books, over 60 articles, has been responsible for the development of over 1,000 educational products, and is currently Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. |
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Post Doctoral Fellow, Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, Indiana University School of Education Kurt Richter is a Post Doctoral Fellow with the Leveraged use of Technology study at the Indiana University School of Education. The study, in conjunction with CEEP and the USDOE, examines the influence of training and education on Inductee Teachers insofar as they implement technology use in the classroom. Kurt co-facilitated the Decatur project with Dr. Charles Reigeluth for the past 7 years, examining the learning and decision making processes used by participant leaders working on the Decatur (IN) School Leadership Team. This one-of-a-kind project serves as a model for what is possible in the field of Systemic Transformation in K12 education. Kurt is a life-long educator, working as a teacher for 20+ years in Fairbanks, Alaska and then as an associate instructor and research at the IU School of Education with a focus on the effective use of technology in teaching. |
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Business Manager, SAS Institute Inc. Liz Riley-Young leads a team devoted to expanding SAS’ offerings as hosted solutions for teaching, research and institutional administration throughout the education lifecycle. Liz also leads a team of systems engineers dedicated to customer-facing engagements and implementations. This hands-on experience provides a direct conduit of experiences that inform research and development efforts. Liz is a member of the SIIA Education Division’s Postsecondary Sector Board of Directors and Technical & Development Committee. |
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EVP Director Games & Augmented Reality, Pearson As part of Pearson plc's digital strategy team, David is responsible for exploring new global business opportunities across Pearson's education, trade publishing and information businesses, and for leveraging emerging technologies such as augmented reality. In 1997, David joined Pearson to leverage textbook content into the consumer market, and he created one of the earliest online interactive textbooks for home and school use. David continued his focus on Pearson's digital strategy as VP of Family Education Network and SVP of product strategy and marketing for the US school business before becoming Chief Marketing Officer in 2005. More recently, David was president of Global Schools for Pearson working across our school publishing interests worldwide. |
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Managing Partner, Academic Business Advisors, LLC Farimah Schuerman is a specialist in the business of educational technology. During her career, she has helped hundreds of education companies bring new products to market while ensuring that product quality is maintained at the highest level. Farimah has provided guidance in the areas of sales, marketing, product development, business development and many other pivotal areas. Farimah has been active within SIIA's Education Division the past few years; serving on the Education Board, as co-chair of the Postsecondary Committee and on the Steering Committee for the Ed Tech Business Forum and the Ed Tech Industry Summit, at which she has presented in years past. |
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Chief Executive Officer, Flat World Knowledge Jeff is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flat World Knowledge, the largest publisher of openly-licensed college textbooks for students worldwide. The company has raised more than $30 million in funding from top investment firms and publishers, including Bessemer Venture Partners; Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann AG; and Random House, Inc. Before setting out to disrupt the $8 billion college textbook publishing industry, Jeff served served as Vice President and Editorial Director at Pearson Education and Publisher at McGraw-Hill. He is on the Board of Directors of the Education Division of the SIIA. |
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VP, Strategic Planning & Partnerships, Follett Software Company Steve implements strategy across Follett Software Company’s K12 solutions. He is also responsible building relationships with technology and digital content suppliers and for identifying acquisition opportunities. Steve was instrumental in several of Follett's acquisitions. Steve has held various positions at Follett ranging from directing Follett Software's Product Management team to Corporate Strategy at Follett Corporation to leading many of Follett’s eContent strategies. Steve has over 24 years of experience in technology-related industries, 16 of which are in Educational Technology. Steve has served on the SIIA Education Board for 3+ years and was the co-chair of the Innovations Working Group. |
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President, DynamicBooks Nicholas Smith has over 20 years of experience in developing and leading education and instructional-based technology companies. Prior to DynamicBooks, he served as Vice President of Technology Product Development for Cengage Learning, President of Aplia Inc., and he managed the development and production of online learning materials for Pensare, Inc., a web-based professional training and development company. Smith has also held consulting and management positions at SRI Consulting as well as independent consulting services to the Oxford-Princeton-Stanford-Yale Alliance for Distance Learning. Smith, an educator for 10 years, was instrumental in founding Keys School in Palo Alto, California, a leading independent middle school. |
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Chief Information Officer, Measured Progress As a recognized expert in eLearning, Assessment & Academic Publishing technologies, Mr. Squeo is focused on the business of education—leveraging strategically aligned and tactically delivered Netcentric technology solutions that address the needs of students, educators, administrators, and institutions. Mr. Squeo is a proven leader with experience in working with State DOE (SEA) and District (LEA) organizations and governance structures throughout K-12 assessment management. He is a dynamic thought leader and demonstrated innovator, with deep experience in enterprise and education solution implementation throughout both preK-20 and corporate eLearning. |
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Director, Worldwide Higher Education, Adobe Systems, Inc. Megan Stewart is the Director of Worldwide Higher Education and Community Programs at Adobe Systems in San Francisco, California. In her role, Megan is responsible for the strategy and programs that make Adobe software available to 2 and 4 year colleges and universities worldwide. This includes working closely with customers, the education community and industry to ensure that Adobe solutions support the needs of students, faculty and administrators across the campus. Megan is also responsible for Adobe's education community programs supporting primary, secondary and higher education. These programs include advisory boards, institutional and individual leadership programs that support innovative and exemplarily uses of technology to improve teaching and learning. |
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Senior Director, Research & Development, Adaptive Curriculum Deborah Stirling focuses on the development of assessments and personalized learning environments as well as the investigation of deeply interactive technologies to improve global STEM education. Deborah previously directed the research portfolio for digital products and the development of learning models, the usability of products, and the design and development of adaptive technologies for the curriculum group at Pearson. She has particular expertise in user-centered design activities, large-scale curriculum design and development efforts, and large-scale evaluation efforts related to digital learning programs. Before Pearson, Deborah directed research and evaluation efforts at an Arizona State University research lab. |
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President, Learner Response Systems and Assessment Division, Promethean Inc. Iwan Streichenberger is responsible for product development, marketing and sales strategy for the fastest growing division of Promethean, a worldwide leader in interactive whiteboards and innovative solution technologies. Prior to joining Promethean in 2008 as CMO, Iwan served as President of Edusoft, where he led the company’s growth and success in becoming the premier formative assessment company in the United States. Previously, Iwan was Chief Operating Officer of Flipside, Vivendi Universal’s European online gaming portal. Following Vivendi Universal’s acquisition of Houghton Mifflin, Iwan was actively involved as the educational publisher entered into numerous partnerships with content, services and education players in multiple countries, as VP of Strategy and M&A. |
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Education Solutions Executive, Global Education Industry, IBM Corporation Patricia A. (Patty) Sullivan leads the effort to create offerings responsive to the needs of higher education and K-12 schools. Her current area of emphasis is the creation of solutions built on IBM’s cloud computing and analytic capabilities to improve student and institutional outcomes. She is currently board officer chairperson for the Foundation for California Community Colleges, advises several not-for-profit organizations serving the elderly and higher education outreach, and is a professional mentor for women executives. |
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Chief Executive Officer, Second Avenue Software Victoria Van Voorhis is the founder and CEO of Second Avenue Software, Inc., which specializes in the development of award-winning interactive media and serious games for the K-16 education market. Second Avenue creatively blends pedagogy with technology to create innovative learning environments which empower teachers, engage students and improve outcomes. Ms. Van Voorhis previously taught at the middle school, high school and college levels and played a leadership role in strategic initiatives at Xerox. |
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Partner, Vander Ark/Ratcliff Tom Vander Ark is a partner in Vander Ark/Ratcliff, an education public affairs firm, and a partner in Learn Capital, a Seattle and Austin based private equity investor concentrating on improving formal and informal learning globally. Tom served as President of the X PRIZE Foundation and Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he developed and implemented more than $3.5 billion in scholarship and grant programs to improve education throughout the United States. In December 2006, Newsweek readers voted Vander Ark the most influential baby boomer in education. Prior to his role with the Gates Foundation, Vander Ark was the first business executive to serve as a public school superintendent for one of Washington State’s larger school districts that has been recognized for narrowing achievement gaps and reducing administrative costs. Tom also has extensive experience in the private sector serving as a senior executive for retail start up, PACE Membership Warehouse, which achieved $5 billion in revenue and was sold to K-Mart. Tom serves on the board of MLA Partner Schools, Strive for College, Envictus, AdvancePath, Edmodo, City Prep Academies, and Revolution Community Ventures. Tom is the chair-elect of the International Association of K-12 Online Learning.. |
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Executive Vice President, Strategy and Deployment, Consulting Services for Education Dr. Edward Walker is Executive Vice President of Consulting Services for Education, Inc. a consultancy that advises companies, institutions and agencies in the education marketplace on the synthesis of digital media, software technology, and business processes. He is a member of the SIIA Education Division Post-Secondary Sector Board and the CoSN Technical Committee and has served several advisory boards. He was CEO of the IMS Global Learning Consortium, Vice President of Business Development and Department Head at BBN Technologies, a Member of Staff at Bell Laboratories, a Principal Research Scientist at MIT, and a staff member at the CMU Software Engineering Institute. |
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Consultant, TDW and Associates Tom Watkins is a business and education consultant in the U.S. and China. He served the citizens of Michigan as the state superintendent of schools, 2001-2005 and was the president and CEO of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Fla., 1996-2001. Mr. Watkins is a lifelong leader of educational innovative ideas for schools not only in Michigan, his home state, but internationally. His international focus has been China. He regularly appears on local radio and television programs, and in periodicals, talking about business and education issues. His work is centered around what can be accomplished for the children and youth of his home state, as well as the nation. His statement, ”We need to promote the new 3 R’s of Education: Restructure, Reform and Reinvent,” shows his incites and ongoing lifelong interest in education both for now and into the coming years. |
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Director of Strategic Initiatives, Headsprout Early Reading Joyce Whitby - currently at Headsprout Early Reading |
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CTO Bb Xythos, Blackboard Inc Kevin is an entrepreneur, technologist, strategist and business leader. Kevin founded Xythos Software Inc in 1999 and Xythos quickly became the backbone of File Collaboration for Higher Educational Institutions around the world. In 2007 Kevin sold Xythos to Blackboard. At Blackboard, Kevin works on technical strategy providing new ideas, brainstorming, and road maps for many of Blackboards products. |
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Vice President, Blended Learning, ClassLink Bruce Wilcox leads sales, marketing and product definition of ClassLink's new virtual desktop for K-12 schools. Prior to ClassLink Mr. Wilcox founded and ran, as it's CEO, SNS Project Inkwell (a K-12 technology standards organization). Mr. Wilcox has a 25-year career in the development of instructional technology for elementary, secondary and adult learning settings. Mr. Wilcox's career spans startup and founder roles in education technology companies along with senior management roles at Simon & Schuster (now Pearson) and more recently with Harcourt Education Group. He is a 3-time elected Board Member of SIIA's Education Division and also co-Chairs the eduCloud Consortium, a vendor neutral standards organization focused on the implementation of cloud computing in the K-12 sector at scale. |
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Chief Executive Officer, DreamBox Learning Jessie-Woolley-Wilson brings nearly two decades of experience in K12 education technology to DreamBox Learning where, since September 2010, she has been leading a team in creating an adaptive learning platform that allows students to achieve better, faster math proficiency. Prior to joining DreamBox Learning, Jessie held leadership positions in general management, sales and marketing, operations and business development for a number of promient education technology companies including Blackboard and LeapFrog SchoolHouse, the schools division of LeapFrog Enterprises. |
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Chief Academic Officer, GlobalScholar William Zaggle entered his current role in early 2008, and offers domain knowledge and direction to all departments in adapting to the educational software industry. In 1986, Mr. Zaggle was one of the founding partners for Excelsior Software, leading the company for 25 years to become one of the leading educational technology companies in the nation. Under his leadership, Execlsior became a pioneer in education technology, boasting the first Windows-based electronic gradebook, the first home-school network showing real-time student progress, the first web-based parent portal with real-time student grades, and the first enterprise level implementation of a gradebook in a single school district with over 20,000 teachers. |
