Speakers
Our theme is Navigating "Next," and we chose presenters who could share successful strategies and tactics on what's coming next in the teaching and learning process in a post-PC world - including what ed tech companies can do to help build the infrastructure, products, and services to support the changes that schools want or need. Priority placement was given to:
- those who haven't spoken before at the Summit, particularly in recent years, or to just one person per company, given the number of applicants from different companies.
- SIIA members who can share key industry information, including success stories and advice based on experience
Keynote Speakers | |
|
Managing Partner, New Atlantic Ventures Based in the national capital region, John Backus is a founder and managing partner at New Atlantic Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing nationally in technology businesses wrapped around consumer trends connected to education, mobile, ecommerce, advertising, cybersecurity and healthcare. Before he became a venture capitalist, he co-founded US Order, which revolutionized online banking, went public in 1995 and was sold to Visa. John began his career at Bain & Co. and Bain Capital and received his BA and MBA from Stanford University. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the founding Chairman of the NVTC TechPAC, and Chairman Emeritus of the Wolf Trap Foundation Board of Directors. He has served as a technology policy adviser to Virginia governors Gilmore, Warner and McDonnell. | |
![]() |
Chief Executive Officer, EdSurge Betsy Corcoran is co-founder of EdSurge, the fastest growing news and information resource on education technology. EdSurge publishes weekly newsletters for educators and entrepreneurs as well as hosts monthly Meetups in San Francisco. It was also awarded a top prize at the 2013 Education Innovation Summit. Ms. Corcoran is an award-winning journalist who previously spent 10 years with Forbes, where she served as Executive Editor for technology coverage at Forbes magazine and Forbes.com. Prior to Forbes, Ms. Corcoran was a staff writer for The Washington Post covering technology. She has also been a Fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a member of the Board of Editors of Scientific American. Ms. Corcoran has been a featured commentator on programs including Forbes on Fox, CNBC, NCB's "Press Here," and other programs. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University. |
|
Founding Partner, Arc Capital Development | |
![]() |
President, Trinity Education Group Hugh Norwood is President and CEO of Trinity Education Group, an ed tech consulting and alternative equity organization founded in 2007. Prior to founding Trinity, Mr. Norwood was VP of Business Development and Partnerships for Laureate Education, a worldwide leader in online higher education. Hugh served on the board of Rice University's OER effort, Connexions, and is currently an advisory board member of SXSWedu. |
![]() |
CSO, Amplify Diana Rhoten is the CSO for Amplify, where she is responsible for internal planning, external communications and partnership development. Amplify is a new business dedicated to reimagining K-12 education by creating digital products and services that empower teachers, students and parents in new ways. Amplify is focused on transforming teaching and learning by creating and scaling digital innovations in three areas: analytics and assessment, content and curriculum and distribution and delivery. Previously, Diana cofounded and codirected Startl, which was dedicated to advising and accelerating for-profit start-ups in the digital learning and education technology markets. Prior to that, she served as faculty at the Stanford University School of Education, program director in the NSF Office of Cyberinfrastructure and policy analyst to Governor Weld. She has published extensively on topics related to the sociology of education and innovation. Diana has a PhD and MA from Stanford, an MEd from Harvard, and a BA from Brown. She is both a Fulbright Scholar and a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer. |
Additional Speakers | |
|
Senior Director, Corporate Relations Officer, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) | |
![]() |
Director, Partnerships and Business Development, Follett Software Company Susan Adelmann is the Director of Partnerships and Business Development for Follett Software Company, a division of Follett Corporation. Follett Software Company is a leading provider of educational resource management solutions used by more than 60,000 K-12 schools. Follett Corporation has been supplying innovative educational tools and services for over 135 years, with a current global business footprint in over 110 countries. Susan develops business strategy and partner opportunities for Follett and is a senior level technologist with 25+ years experience in software solution development and product strategy for enterprise software companies. |
![]() |
Co-Founder and CEO, TenMarks Education, Inc. |
|
President, Editure Digital School Solutions Victor Aluise holds a doctorate from Columbia University's Teachers College in instructional technology and is a proven executive in the world of online teaching and learning. Dr. Aluise is responsible for leading the educational technology professional development practice at Editure in the US and abroad, offering a unique blend of job-embedded in-school consultancy and online coaching. Prior to joining Editure, Dr. Aluise held executive management positions at McGraw-Hill Education, ETS, and Scholastic. | |
|
Business Development, Macmillan | |
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
Vice President, Education Division, SIIA Karen Billings has more than 40 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. |
![]() |
Executive Director, CCSESA Peter Birdsall has been Executive Director of the county superintendents association (CCSESA) since September, 2011. Peter brings to the position over 30 years of experience in state level education policy issues. For 25 years, he owned and operated Birdsall & Associates, a California lobbying and consulting firm specializing in K-12 education policy. Among other roles during his professional career, Mr. Birdsall served as Legislative Consultant to the Education Coalition, Executive Director of California Institute for School Improvement, political campaign manager for statewide school and library bond issues, and legislative advocate for more than a dozen school districts and county offices, including San Diego Unified. Prior to forming his own firm, Mr. Birdsall's experience included service as Chief of the California Department of Education's Legislative Office, Chief of Staff of the Department's education program branch, and K-12 education budget analyst with the California Department of Finance. He has a B.A. in Political Science and Economics and a M.A. in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. |
![]() |
President, C. Blohm & Associates, Inc. Charlene Blohm is president of C. Blohm & Associates, Inc. (CB&A), a public relations firm specializing in the education and special needs industries. Charlene's expertise in developing and implementing strategic marketing plans has been fine-tuned over the years, and she is now one of the industry's go-to leaders for engaging visibility campaigns. Through savvy media relations and Web 2.0 knowledge, Charlene and the CB&A team connect members of their client family with the people who directly influence the audiences they need to reach -- educators, administrators, parents, therapists, and potential investors. |
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
Director, California Learning Resource Network Brian Bridges is the Director of the California Learning Resource Network and Past-President of the Computer Using Educators Board of Directors. The California Learning Resource Network is a state-funded technology project that reviews online courses for their alignment to the Common Core and to iNACOL's Standards for Quality Online Courses. A middle school English, drama, and computer teacher for 20 years, he also served eight years as program manager for the California Technology Assistance Project. His writings about the digital textbook initiative may be found at brianbridges.org. |
|
Director of Product Development, K12 and College Prep, Kaplan Test Prep In her role as Director of Product Development Christine Brown is responsible for leading all technology-based product and platform development efforts in Kaplan’s K12 and College Prep division. With more than a decade of leadership experience at Kaplan, she has broad expertise in the K12 space and a record of delivering large-scale integrated technology projects. Her teams have led the development and management of Kaplan Kids’ personalized online learning program and released award-winning college preparation products. Most recently, Christine has overseen the launch of a new assessment platform for college prep students and spearheaded the development and pilot of a digital product aimed at supporting students and teachers as they prepare for the upcoming Common Core-aligned assessments. | |
![]() |
Education Advisor, Whitestone Communications Richard Casabonne has spent the last forty years in education and trade publishing. He has been involved in institutional, consumer, trade and professional work. From Random House to McGraw-Hill to Orchard Books to Grolier's Parents Press to Steck-Vaughn and Harcourt, he has published, marketed, sold, and discussed books, specifically material for children. And not just books, but digitally presented information as well. He is now CEO of Casabonne Associates Inc, a full service consulting firm, where as Principal and Senior Consultant he leads research activities and strategic planning for various educational service providers. |
![]() |
Chief Executive Officer, Creative Commons Cathy Casserly's career is dedicated to supporting openness and knowledge sharing, with past experiences including directing the Open Educational Resources Initiative at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, spearheading work in transparency and technology at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and teaching mathematics in Kingston, Jamaica. Cathy currently sits on the boards of Digital Public Library of America, Startl, and Peer-2-Peer University, and on advisory committees for MIT OpenCourseWare and the University of the People. |
![]() |
Chief Marketing Officer, Professional Examination Service Frank Catalano develops and oversees marketing strategy and branding initiatives for Professional Examination Service (ProExam). A long-time industry consultant and analyst, he had worked with a variety of education technology and digital learning companies including Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Apple and MetaMetrics, and was a consulting Senior Analyst for MDR’s EdNET Insight service. Frank also spent four years as Senior Vice President of Marketing for Pearson's U.S. school and assessment businesses. Frank is a well-known speaker, author and media commentator. He writes a column for GeekWire.com, is a contributor to NPR/KQED’s education site MindShift and the edtech site EdSurge, and tweets @FrankCatalano. Frank is a two-term SIIA Education Division Board member in his third year as CODiE Awards emcee. |
|
Chief Digital Officer, Pearson North America Michael Chai is responsible for accelerating the move to effective digital business models that reimagine the customer experience with Pearson digital products and services. He works with technology and business leaders to drive and integrate the K20 roadmap across technology, product and business strategies. Prior to Pearson Michael spent six years at LeapFrog Enterprises as global head of product development and engineering (devices, content, ecosystem). Before that he spent fifteen years at EFI as a key management team leader that created the industry standard Fiery(tm) front-end for digital color printing worldwide. Prior to that he was a Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories and a Software Engineer at the NYIT Computer Graphics Lab. | |
![]() |
Associate Vice President and Senior Academic Technology Officer, San Jose State University Cathy Cheal is the Associate Vice President and Senior Academic Technology Officer at San Jose State University in California. She taught art history at California State University, Northridge from 1981 to 2004. While there, she created and directed the Office of Online Instruction, which trained and mentored faculty, campus-wide, in teaching with technology. In 2004, she became Assistant Vice President of e-Learning and Instructional Support at Oakland University, Michigan, where she facilitated the creation of online courses and programs and managed all technology for teaching. She has written numerous articles about instructional technology and edited a book in 2012 called, "Transformation in Teaching: Social Media Strategies in Higher Education" for Informing Science Press. Dr. Cheal holds a doctorate in Classical Archaeology at Brown University and a BA in Classical Archaeology from the University of Michigan, and she has numerous publications in her original field of ancient art, including a book chapter, entitled "The Meaning Of Skin Color in Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian Painting" that was published by African World Press in Dec. 2004. |
![]() |
CEO, LearnSprout Prior to founding LearnSprout, Frank spent four years as a product manager at Facebook, working on a variety of products including Ads, Deals and Internal Tools. Before Facebook, Frank worked at Deloitte where he consulted for government IT projects. Frank is a graduate from the University of Washington where he studied Economics and Business Administration in Information Systems. |
![]() |
Vice President, Sales and Operations, Nature Education Eric Cobbe is the VP of Sales and Operations for Nature Education, a division of Nature Publishing. Eric leads the sales and marketing effort of Nature Education’s Principles of Science affordable digital interactive textbook series. He is also responsible for the production and fulfillment of Principles of Biology, the first digital interactive textbook in the series. Since the official launch of Principles of Biology in January 2012, the sales team has secured adoptions at 150 academic institutions worldwide, saving over 18,000 students hundreds of dollars on their biology materials. Eric is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy and served as a Captain in the US Air Force. He also received a master of science in operations management from the University of Arkansas. In addition to his role at Nature Education, he has held sales leadership roles at Pearson Education and Cengage Learning. |
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
Chief Executive Officer, EdSurge Betsy Corcoran is co-founder of EdSurge, the fastest growing news and information resource on education technology. EdSurge publishes weekly newsletters for educators and entrepreneurs as well as hosts monthly Meetups in San Francisco. It was also awarded a top prize at the 2013 Education Innovation Summit. Ms. Corcoran is an award-winning journalist who previously spent 10 years with Forbes, where she served as Executive Editor for technology coverage at Forbes magazine and Forbes.com. Prior to Forbes, Ms. Corcoran was a staff writer for The Washington Post covering technology. She has also been a Fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a member of the Board of Editors of Scientific American. Ms. Corcoran has been a featured commentator on programs including Forbes on Fox, CNBC, NCB's "Press Here," and other programs. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University. |
|
Executive Director, Marketing and Strategic Initiatives, ProQuest Mike Diaz is a strategist, advisor, and go-to-market specialist who has supported the expansion efforts of higher education and technology companies in more than 50 countries. As ProQuest’s Executive Director, Marketing and Strategic Initiatives, Mike has played a key role in the development of ProQuest's Enterprise Strategy and in key outreach efforts with libraries, graduate schools, and other key customers and partners worldwide. Prior to joining ProQuest, Mike worked as Director of International Marketing at Gale and as an analyst at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he helped US information technology companies expand internationally. Mike holds degrees from American University and University of Vermont and has studied at Oxford, London School of Economics, Georgetown and University of Michigan. Mike has been a judge for the SIIA CODiE Awards and a frequent presenter at information industry conferences. His blog InfoViews and Twitter feed @mhdiaz explore the latest developments on the information user landscape and the implications of emerging trends in higher education, academic libraries, and technology. | |
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
CEO/co-founder, SoftChalk LLC Sue Polyson Evans is the CEO and co-Founder of SoftChalk LLC and a pioneer in the e-Learning industry. Beginning in the mid 1990s, Sue was lead developer of one of the first commercially-available learning management systems (LMS) in the world, Web Course in a Box. She was also co-founder and president of madDuck Technologies, which developed and sold Web Course in a Box. After merging madDuck Technologies with e-learning industry giant, Blackboard Inc., Sue remained on board at Blackboard before leaving to found SoftChalk, in 2002. |
|
President & CEO, eInstruction Rich Fennessy is a successful Fortune 500 CEO with 25 years international management experience. He is currently the President and CEO of eInstruction Corporation, an established, private equity-owned technology company in the complex and growing global education industry. eInstruction operates in 60 countries designing, developing, and delivering interactive software and hardware solutions. The company provides educators, corporations, and governments with the critical ability to drive classroom engagement, measure achievement, and implement enhanced learning experiences. Prior to joining eInstruction, Mr. Fennessy was President and CEO of SocialWhirled, Inc., an early stage, social media-based technology company. He launched a worldwide social marketing and advertising platform in January 2011. Mr. Fennessy serves as SocialWhirled's Chairman of the Board of Directors. From 2004-2009, Mr. Fennessy was President and CEO of Insight Enterprises, Inc., a Fortune 500 global Information Technology solutions company with 5,500 employees and operations in 22 countries. During his tenure at Insight, Mr. Fennessy led the company to the Fortune 500. The company’s broad portfolio of hardware, software, and services targets small, medium, and large corporate- and public-sector institutions. Prior to joining Insight, Mr. Fennessy enjoyed a 17-year career with IBM, holding multiple senior-level executive positions, both domestically and internationally. His most recent position was General Manager of ibm.com, IBM's worldwide web and telephony business, which operated in 83 countries. He managed and grew ibm.com into a $12 billion business. | |
|
VP and GM - College Prep Programs, Kaplan Test Prep Mark Freidberg is currently the General Manager of Kaplan's College Prep programs. He has almost 20 years of leadership experience at Kaplan where he focused on transforming the business from a brick and mortar business into an Education Technology enterprise. Most recently his organization has released CODIE winning test prep products, piloted Core Success, a digital product aimed at Test Prep for the upcoming Common Core State Standards assessments and (in partnership with Arcadia)launched SAT and ACT assessment apps. | |
![]() |
Cofounder and CEO, Arcadia Apps Wens co-founded Arcadia Apps with the vision of making tablets and smartphones interactive learning devices. Prior to founding the company, he was a senior manager in product management for products that generated >$100m in annual revenue for eBay, Yahoo, and was the head of product management for a few startups. He has a BSEE from Wisconsin and an MBA from Berkeley. |
![]() |
Vice President, Publishing Services, Texthelp Systems, Inc. Kate is responsible for licensing Texthelp's technology to educational publishers in North America. With her prior senior positions at Simon and Schuster, Pearson Learning, Harcourt, and WRC Media, she has over 20 years of experience in Instructional Technology and Educational Publishing. Her background makes her well-suited to position Texthelp products as the best solution for integrating mainstream technology into the classroom as well as the home for learners of all ages and ability levels. |
![]() |
Alliance Manager, Education Programs, Intel Corporation Education Group Diana Gowen is the Alliance Manager for Intel's Strategic Education Programs. Her focus is working with software developers and digital content providers to accelerate the development of high impact programs and technology solutions. Diana holds degrees in Chemistry from Emmanuel College and The University of Arizona and Computer Science from Pace University. |
![]() |
President, Grunwald Associates LLC
|
![]() |
COO/EVP, Pacific Metrics Mr. Guerin is Pacific Metrics™ chief administrative officer and executive vice president. A key member of the Executive Team, Mr. Guerin is an experienced financial professional with budget, accounting, treasury, and human resources skills. He provides leadership on matters related to resource planning, system implementation, and the integration of additional technology solutions into Pacific Metrics’ offerings. In addition, he is responsible for protecting the company’s Intellectual Property (IP) and Information Technology (IT) solutions and maintaining business partnerships. For this engagement, Mr. Guerin will serve as the designated Project Executive. |
![]() |
Senior Director, Academic Technology Services, California State University, Office of the Chancellor Gerard L. Hanley, Ph.D. is the Senior Director for Academic Technology Services for the California State University (CSU), Office of the Chancellor and the Executive Director of the CSU’s MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). At the CSU, Gerry oversees the development and implementation of systemwide academic technologies, digital library systems and resources, and accessible technology initiatives supporting CSU’s 23 campuses serving about 430,000 students. At MERLOT, he directs the development and sustainability of MERLOT’s innovative open education resources, services and consortium of higher education institutions, professional societies, corporations, and other digital libraries. He is also the Director of the Center for Usability in Design and Accessibility (CUDA) at CSU, Long Beach. Previously held positions in the CSU include Professor of Psychology, Director of Faculty Development and Director of Strategic Planning. |
![]() |
CIO, Utah State University Eric Hawley is the Chief information Officer and Associate Vice President for Information Technology at Utah State University (USU) and an Adjunct Professor in the Huntsman College of Business. Dr. Hawley’s executive responsibilities include providing strategic information systems direction to the institution and focusing the efforts of approximately 90 full time employees in support of the University’s mission. Dr. Hawley’s focus over the last six years has been a strategic and comprehensive restructuring of all information systems, services and policies focusing on better use of technology to meet needs. This effort has created a successful unified approach to a broad range of information systems and services. In addition to his executive roles, he enjoys teaching IT strategy, technology, e-commerce, and financial topics, and is often asked to present locally and nationally. |
|
President, Waterford Institute | |
|
Chairman, Waterford Institute | |
![]() |
President, RedRock Reports Dr. Jennifer House, Ph.D. is President of RedRock Reports, an education funding services company. A noted education market leader, Dr. House is a former teacher, reading specialist, school district administrator, and educational technology innovator. In addition to heading the Curriculum Department for the Cupertino Union School District in CA, she also led engineering education and marketing programs for Hewlett-Packard, managed K-12 marketing programs for Apple, and held executive positions with Tenth Planet, Classroom Connect, and other leading K-12 organizations. Dr. House also has served on the Board of Directors for the Software Information Industry Association, the International Society for Technology Education and the Association of Education Publishers. |
![]() |
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. Michael left Apple Computer to pursue the development of a technology of his design that dynamically indicates the relationship between curriculum, curriculum standards, and instructional resources for which he received patents in 1998. As founder of Mediaseek Technologies, Inc. he laid the groundwork for many of the innovations in standards implementation and instructional resource integration that followed. He continued the development of tools for children and educators as Director of Education Business Development at N2H2 and VP and GM of Brainium Technologies in the following years where he worked on challenges associated with sustainable 1:1 computing in schools. Michael and his associates create lasting change in how we learn and educate through their work with corporations and educational institutions. They are presently leading and supporting the adoption by the publishing community of the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative, LRMI, under the auspices of the AEP, the Creative Commons, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. |
![]() |
President, O'Donnell Learn Joana Jebsen is the president of O'Donnell Learn, a strategic advisory and market and product development firm specializing in education. Established in 1990, O’Donnell Learn (formerly O’Donnell & Associates) leverages its deep market knowledge to help higher education and K-12 publishing, technology and services companies design, develop and launch better educational products and digital learning experiences. The firm’s services also encompass market research, pilots, efficacy studies, and direct to student marketing and research. Prior to her role at O’Donnell in 2007, Joana served in senior publishing, marketing and consulting roles at Harper Collins Publishers, Questia, Factiva, and Thomson Learning Labs. She has an MBA from the Wharton School. |
![]() |
VP Business Development, Avant Assessment Mimi Jett serves as the VP of Business Development for Avant Assessment, with a focus on developing international business in the Middle East and China. Prior to joining Avant, Jett was the General Manager of netTrekker. Her record of success also includes strategic management positions with Renaissance Learning and IBM Research. Jett was the founder and CEO of Electronic Technical Publishing. She was elected delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business and served as the Technology Advisory Committee Chair for the U.S. Small Business Administration. |
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
Group Publisher, Professional Media Group Matt Kinnaman is Group Publisher and Vice President at Professional Media Group LLC. Professional Media Group publishes District Administration and University Business magazines, and produces the UBTech Conference and the Superintendents Summit series. Previously, Matt was Editorial Director of the Gilder/Forbes Telecosm Conference, and Editorial Director for Clayton Christensen’s Disruptive Innovation Conference. |
![]() |
GM, Platform, Edmodo, Inc. Manish Kothari is GM, Platform, at Edmodo. Edmodo is the world's leading social learning platform for educators, students and parents. |
![]() |
Technology Director, San Ramon Valley Unified School District Ms. Krsek has 22 years’ experience managing technology operations in school districts and working with school districts across the country to implement instructional data management systems. She is currently Technology Director for San Ramon Valley Unified School District where she provides leadership and direction for use of technology in instruction and operations, develops and implements plans for network infrastructure, educational, business, communication and information systems, supervises technology department and data processing staff, and oversees the delivery of technical services and support. Ms. Krsek represents California LEAs on the National Forum for Education Statistics (NCES) where she currently serves as the Technology Committee Chair, and she is an instructor and member of the Steering Committee for the California CTO Mentor Program. She has an MA degree in Education Technology from the University of San Francisco, and a BS degree in Urban Studies from the University of Minnesota. |
![]() |
Chief Operating Officer, Learning in Motion |
|
Senior Vice President, McGraw-Hill Education | |
|
Director of Engineering, CTB / McGraw-Hill Education I currently serve as Director of Engineering for CTB (a division of McGraw-Hill Education). In my current role, I oversee the requirements and software engineering activities for all of CTB's assessment, scoring, and reporting platforms. Additionally, I work with our customers to help them prepare for the upcoming changes in assessments and assist them with technology readiness. | |
![]() |
Vice President for External Affairs, edX Howard Lurie is a Vice President University Relations at edX, and is responsible for onboarding new higher education partner institutions, as well as a variety of business development and partnership efforts. Prior to joining edX, Howard served as the Managing Director for PBS LearningMedia, a nationally recognized digital learning platform, jointly produced by PBS and WGBH Boston. Howard has advocated for data-driven, pioneering uses of online digital media to accelerate teacher professional development and classroom instruction. Howard completed Masters degree at Teachers’ College of Columbia University and his undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. |
![]() |
President, E.T.C. International Dr. Mary Markowsky brings over twenty years of direct ICT in education experience to her role. She has managed and participated on an international level for ICT in education projects including South Africa, Singapore, Argentina, Mexico, Cost Rica, Guatemala and the Caribbean. Mary has authored literacy software for IBM and participated in the development of Wiggleworks for Scholastic. As President of E.T.C. International, she consults with Ministries of Education to identify technology products for the ICT projects. |
![]() |
Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Muzzy Lane, Inc. David Martz is Vice President of Muzzy Lane Software, responsible for the company’s sales, marketing, and distribution strategies. David takes an active role in product development to ensure the company’s core technologies are aligned with emerging market requirements. He has secured federal and foundation grant funding for Muzzy Lane’s Educational and Health Care game projects and has developed strategic relationships with Educational Publishers, Healthcare Organizations, and Corporate Training Companies. |
![]() |
Chief Executive Officer, Skoodat, LLC Ken McElrath is the cofounder and CEO of Skoodat, a company focused on building cloud solutions for education. He is also the cofounder and president of Skuid, which offers a scalable kit for user interface development on the Force.com cloud platform. In addition to helping cofound several other companies, McElrath has served as a professor at Covenant College. |
![]() |
Superintendent, New Haven Unified School District Passionate in her belief that all children deserve the opportunity to succeed and that public education is intrinsic to a better society, Kari McVeigh has served as Superintendent of the New Haven Unified School District since December 2008. |
![]() |
Chief Executive Officer, MMS Education Susan Meell is the CEO of MMS Education, which has worked with corporations and not-for-profit organizations for more than 35 years, to help them reach, engage and measure impact in schools and the broader school community. From strategic planning through program evaluation, from concept through full-scale program implementation, from pilot programs to national initiatives – MMS Education helps organizations that want to make a difference for American schools, students and those who care about them. Our core services include research, marketing/communications, inside sales/customer service/technical support, and a full range of technology and database solutions customized for our clients and the education market. A few of our current and recent clients include: Teaching Strategies, Capstone Digital, The Walt Disney Company, Macmillan New Ventures, Triumph Learning, Pearson, Fuel Up to Play 60 (Dairy Management/NFL), American Heart Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Verizon Foundation, GENYOUth Foundation and the General Mills Foundation. Today, MMS has more than 50 employees plus numerous consultants and specialists dedicated to helping our clients achieve their goals. |
![]() |
Director, Marketing & Business Development, SchoolDude.com Nick is an entrepreneurial and collaborative strategic marketing & public affairs professional who's responsible for leading SchoolDude's marketing initiatives. Mirisis is responsible for facilitating growth through the sales and marketing strategy, including revenue generation, market research, client lifecycle management, web/community/social engagement, communications and PR. Mirisis serves on several education Boards, including the Public School Risk Institute and the Consortium for School Networking. Mirisis also serves on the Information Systems Committee of ASBO International. |
|
Founder/CEO, Insight Education Group, Inc. Dr. Michael S. Moody is the founder and CEO of Insight Education Group, Inc. In this role, he manages the overall direction of the company and is frequently called upon as a thought leader in the field of district-wide instructional reform. Michael has worked on a wide variety of projects in the field. His successes span from implementation of nation-wide professional development programs to individual lessons with students struggling to achieve. He has supported numerous school and district leaders in the development and implementation of initiatives aimed at increasing teacher effectiveness and served as the Chief Academic Advisor for District of Columbia Public Schools. | |
|
Vice Chancellor, Technology, Foothill-De Anza Community College District, Calif. Joseph Moreau has been a technologist for over twenty-five years. He is the Vice Chancellor of technology and CTO for the Foothill-De Anza Community College District. Prior to his tenure at Foothill-De Anza Community College, Joseph served as the Chief Technology Officer for the State University of New York at Oswego and had responsibility for all academic and administrative technology support functions. He also held the position of Dean of Academic Information Services at MiraCosta College, and manager of the Instructional Resources Center at Pasadena City College. | |
|
VP Solution Strategy, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Laura Murray Parker has served as Vice President, Solution Strategy for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) since 2010. In this role, she is responsible for defining the vision for HMH’s global product portfolio, and driving the strategy for innovation and investment for all HMH solutions. Laura also oversees and implements the strategic plan for new solution development and manages a team of education and technology consultants located throughout the U.S. Laura has spent 12 years in the education space as a subject-matter expert in various parts of the educational ecosystem—from content and technology to systems and policies—holding leadership positions in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors of the industry. She holds a deep knowledge of comprehensive school reform and leverages that experience to inform HMH’s whole portfolio of solutions, with a particular focus on the transformative impact of current and emerging technologies. Laura earned a PhD in Education Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where her research focused on the impact of social capital in education. | |
![]() |
Chief Academic Officer, Knovation (formerly netTrekker) Steve Nordmark is the Chief Academic Officer at Knovation. He has over 22 years of experience in research and development of custom software solutions, with over 17 of those focused on enhancing the opportunities of under-served populations in K-12 schools. His goal is to create dialog, collaboration and ideas around innovative uses of technology to help the child – no matter where that child is – reach his fullest potential because he has access to tools that will help him learn. As the Chief Academic Officer, Steve focuses on the future vision of educational technology to support personalized learning. He researches, tracks, and analyzes trends in learning sciences, interoperability and technology architecture foundations for next generation learning systems. |
![]() |
Founder and CEO , Trinity Education Group Hugh Norwood is founder and CEO of Trinity Education Group, an ed tech strategy & early-stage development company. Trinity is currently working with the Texas Education Agency to grow its Project Share initiative. He has been in and around the education industry as a professor, administrator, startup CEO and strategist since 1995, with successful leadership tenures at Emerson College, Lesley University, Laureate Education, A+RISE (acquired by Pearson) and In Sync Education. |
![]() |
Founder, O'Donnell Learn Carrie O'Donnell is the founder of O'Donnell Learn, which provides strategic advising, research product development and marketing services to companies in the education industry. For over 20 years, she has been a change-agent in the industry, particularly focusing on elearning and higher education. Carrie is a recognized expert in the use of customer insight and intelligence to design, develop and launch winning products, strategies, and business practices in today's turbulent marketplace. |
|
Owner, Owen Software Corp. Dr. Oni brings a combination of entrepreneurial, educational and management experience spanning 30+ years. He has served as a member of the engineering faculties of George Washington University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Morgan State University, and in senior industry research positions at NASA and the United States Department of Energy. At Morgan State, he led the establishment of the first accredited Industrial & Systems Engineering program in the State of Maryland, and headed that division for over eight years. Dr. Oni is also credited with creating the Phenomena-Driven Curriculum for engineering programs while a principal investigator in ECSEL, a major 10-year national program funded by the National Science Foundation in the early 90’s to revamp engineering education nationally. Dr. Oni served as a Technical Advisor to the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute Science/Engineering Projects and current serves on the Science Advisory Board for the state of Maryland. and frequently testifies before Congress on issues related to the state of engineering and science education in the US. | |
|
VP Business Development, Clever With experience in ed tech, policy, and in the classroom, Matt leads business development for Clever. Previously Matt helped found a K-12 learning analytics company and worked on the prototype for School of One in New York. He attended Stanford Law School before leaving to start his first startup. Matt taught middle school English in Harlem for three years with Teach for America. Matt holds a BA in History from Yale and currently lives outside of San Francisco. | |
![]() |
Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund Shauntel Poulson is an Associate Partner at NewSchools Venture Fund where she focuses on investment strategy, due diligence, and management assistance for the organization’s portfolio ventures. Prior to NewSchools, Shauntel was a Senior Engineer at Procter and Gamble and also facilitated an afterschool program for high school students from underserved communities. Shauntel has worked with education technology companies globally and was an Education Pioneers Fellow at Wireless Generation where she recommended program enhancements for the School of One. Shauntel received her BS in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her MBA and MA in Education from Stanford University. |
![]() |
Head, Public Relations, Promethean Inc. (USA) Jodie Pozo-Olano is head of global public relations for Promethean, an education company that designs collaborative interactive solutions for education. Jodie is an experienced communications expertwith 15 years of experience working in public relations, communications andmarketing. She has served in senior positions in government, nonprofit and corporate environments. Pozo-Olano holds a Masters in Public Policy Management with a concentration in Communications from The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from South Dakota State University. |
![]() |
Founder, Imagine K12 Geoff Ralston is a founder and partner of the educational technology accelerator Imagine K12. He is also a partner at Y Combinator. |
![]() |
Chair, Governance Committee, Games and Learning Publishing Council of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop Leslie Redd is a Council Member of the Games and Learning Publishing Council, which aims to understand and communicate the market dynamics and areas of innovation that are ready for scaling within the game-based education field. As the former Director of Educational Programs at Valve Corporation, an entertainment software and technology company, Leslie created Teach with Portals, a platform for educators and students to access interactive downloadable content of an award-winning 3D puzzle game, and managed, launched and grew Steam for Schools, a digital distribution service of free games and tools for educational settings worldwide. A one-time Senior Administrator at The Evergreen School, she has also served as Chief of Staff to the Executive Director of the U.S. Secretary of Labor’s Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government Through Labor-Management Cooperation. She holds an MPA from New York University and a BA in Government from Cornell University. |
|
Principal, SXSWedu | |
![]() |
Executive Vice President, Connections Education Mickey Revenaugh is co-founder of Connections Academy (now Connections Education) and Executive Vice President of Connections Learning, the new division created to provide online/blended learning services to districts, schools, and consumers and also the incubator of the new network of Nexus Academy blended charter schools. Mickey has served twice as Chairman of the Board of iNACOL, The International Association for K-12 Online Learning, and is currently Vice Chairman. Previously, she helped launch the E-rate program to wire American schools to the Internet, and served as education technology editor at Scholastic. Mickey has an MBA from New York University, did her undergraduate work at Yale University, and lives in Brooklyn, New York. |
![]() |
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. |
|
SVP, Solution Strategy Group, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Mr. Rollins is responsible for the go to market strategy for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Education Solutions Group, including US K‐12 and Adjacent Markets, as well as International. In this capacity, Mr. Rollins’ supports the discovery of both new market opportunities and our current user base with a focus on applying Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s broad arsenal of educational resources to solve educational challenges and drive superior student outcomes. Mr. Rollins’ career began as a Special Education teacher in Phillips School for Contemporary Education . In his career, he has held a variety of commercial roles in adult education, workforce education, curriculum design and higher education. | |
|
Co-Founder, Launchpad Toys Andy Russell is a Toy Designer and co-founder of Launchpad Toys, creators of Toontastic for iPad. Inspired by the movie BIG and a lifelong obsession with small brightly colored plastic bricks, Andy is a graduate of Learning Design programs at Stanford and Northwestern and has worked for companies like Hasbro and Sony PlayStation to design playful learning experiences for kids. Someday, he hopes to rebuild his family's ice cream business. | |
![]() |
President, edWeb Lisa Schmucki is the founder and CEO of edWeb.net, a professional social network for the education community that makes it easy to connect with peers, share information and best practices, spread innovative ideas, and provide professional development. Lisa is an education industry executive with 30 years experience in product development, database development, and marketing. She is a graduate of Princeton University and has a Masters Degree from the Stern School of Business at NYU. |
![]() |
Senior Director, Education Policy, SIIA As Senior Director of Education Policy, Mark Schneiderman represents SIIA’s member software and digital content developers before Congress, the Administration, state governments and other national stakeholders on education policies, programs, and regulations that impact technology at all levels of education. Prior to joining SIIA, Schneiderman was Legislative Associate for the Council of Chief State School Officers, where he represented the public officials heading each state's department of education. He serves on the executive board of the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET), and he previously served on boards of the KIPP DC/Key Academy charter school and the Committee for Education Funding (CEF). |
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
Senior Manager, Business Development, Qualcomm, Inc. Susan Silveira serves as Senior Manager, Wireless Reach within Qualcomm’s Government Affairs department. In this role, she develops and implements the strategy for Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach™ education initiatives globally. |
![]() |
CEO & President, Rocketship Education Preston Smith co-founded Rocketship Education in San Jose with John Danner in 2006. Prior to founding Rocketship, Smith was founder and Principal of L.U.C.H.A. Elementary School, part of the Alum Rock Unified School District in San Jose, CA. After its first three years of operation, L.U.C.H.A. was the fourth highest performing low-income elementary school in California. Smith began his career in education as a Teach for America Corps (TFA) member at Clyde Arbuckle Elementary School (CA). In 2003, Preston was named "Teacher of the Year" at Arbuckle and was also nominated as one of six finalists for TFA’s Sue Lehmann award, given to TFA corps members with the highest classroom academic gains in the nation. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earned a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from San Jose State University, is an Aspen New Schools Fellow, and is currently working on his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. |
![]() |
Editorial Director, University Business Magazine JD Solomon is editorial director for Professional Media Group, where he directs all editorial and custom content development for District Administration and University Business magazines, and all program development for the company's events. Prior to his affiliation with Professional Media Group, Solomon worked as an independent marketing and business communications consultant, serving companies in education, healthcare and finance. Earlier in his career he was the editorial and marketing director for an educational publisher in New Jersey, and before that he was a business reporter at daily newspapers in New York and New Jersey. He is the author of two books: "Overcoming Macular Degeneration: A Guide to Seeing Beyond the Clouds" and "The Tinen Killings: A Novel of Civil War Veterans." |
![]() |
Chief Product Officer, Pierson Labs Mr. Squeo is a results-oriented, Agile technology executive, consultant and change agent, focused on enterprise and customer empowerment, innovation and excellence in product management and development. His contributions to both the education and human capital management industries benefit from a grounded vision of the enterprise, consumer technologies, and their creative employment. Thomas is a recognized expert in eLearning, assessment & publishing technologies, leveraging strategically aligned and tactically delivered mobile and traditional Netcentric technology solutions. He is a dynamic thought leader and innovator with deep experience in enterprise and education solutions. |
![]() |
Chief Technology and Business Development Officer, Victory Productions Doug focuses on the intersection between personalized learning, game-based learning, and formative instruction; at Victory Productions he develops new technologies to support this area and matches capabilities to client needs. He has over 25 years' experience in software development and strategy consulting - from running his own ed-tech strategy and technology consultancy for ed-tech since 2007 as well as VP Development at Learning.com, CTO at several financial services and enterprise software firms, and Principal Consultant at Microsoft. In the mid-90s he co-founded Addison Wesley Interactive, delivering some of the first Web and Java-based products in higher ed. He began his career starting a CS Department at a New England prep school after earning degrees in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania and SUNY Stony Brook. He also co-authored Mathematica in the Laboratory published by Cambridge University Press and has contributed to papers and books on scientific visualization. |
![]() |
Director, Marketing, MMS Education Kelly provides overall management of marketing strategies and services for client projects as well as marketing initiatives for MMS Education. She leads and directs the work of support and cross-functional team members in developing and implementing marketing plans utilizing a variety of online and offline marketing tactics. She has developed, managed, implemented, and analyzed countless integrated marketing campaigns. She is a champion of relationship marketing as a method of creating personalized and meaningful experiences for prospects, customers, and stakeholders. Prior to joining MMS Education, Kelly served as the Director of Client Services for a healthcare accounts receivable management firm and Senior Account Manager for a global communications firm. |
![]() |
VP Products, Kno, Inc. David leads Kno's product group, which includes product strategy, product management, user experience and support. David has driven marketing and business development for both consumer and enterprise solutions at multiple companies including Hewlett-Packard, OpenVision Technologies (acquired by Symantec), TSW International (acquired by Indus), and OnDemand (acquired by Pega System). David has been actively involved in startups as an executive and investor for the past 20 years. |
![]() |
CEO, LearnStreet Laurence ("Lo") Toney is CEO of LearnStreet, an ed tech platform created by Vinod Khosla that helps train and match developers with careers. |
|
Sr. ICT & Education Specialist, Human Development Network, The World Bank Michael Trucano provides advice and support to World Bank country-level education projects seeking to utilize ICTs in various ways in multiple countries around the world; current areas of activity include ICT/education policy development, and the use of mobile phones in education. Mike is a frequent public speaker on the use of ICTs in education around the world, and on ICT use for development purposes more broadly.Mike is also the principal contributor to the World Bank's widely read EduTech blog (http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech). | |
![]() |
State Education Technology Director, Michigan Department of Education Bruce Umpstead serves as the State Director of Educational Technology and Data Coordination at the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). His formal education includes a B.A. in Public Administration, M.B.A. in Finance and General Management. He is busy championing scalable innovations that provide students with personalized, individualized learning and teachers with technology, training, and data needed to thrive. He has a proven track-record in articulating and building consensus toward a comprehensive vision for technology-enabled teaching and learning. |
![]() |
Senior Research Analyst -- Education , Wells Fargo Securities, LLC Mr. Urdan has covered the for-profit education industry as a research analyst for nine years and has twice been cited as an All-Star analyst by the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Urdan is well-known as the editor of a weekly industry newsletter and is widely-cited as an expert on the topics of for-profit education and e-learning. He recently testified before the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Prior to joining Signal Hill, Mr. Urdan headed education research for Robert W. Baird & Co. Before beginning his career as an investment research analyst with DB Alex. Brown, Mr. Urdan held senior management positions within Time Inc. and KPMG Peat Marwick. |
![]() |
Founder and CEO, Second Avenue Learning Victoria Van Voorhis is the founder and CEO of Second Avenue Learning, which designs and develops interactive media, serious games and learning management systems to improve educational outcomes. Prior to founding Second Avenue, Victoria was a teacher at the middle, high school and college levels. A thought leader in the educational gaming space, Victoria speaks regularly at national conferences on serious games. Her goal with Second Avenue is to creatively blend pedagogy with digital technology to build innovative learning environments that empower teachers and engage students. Victoria received an undergraduate degree from Smith College and a master’s degree from New York University. |
![]() |
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. |
![]() |
President, SIIA Ken Wasch's involvement in SIIA is based on both personal and professional interests. His long-standing interest in computers and software, coupled with the industry's need for a central trade association, led him to establish the Software Publishers Association (SPA) in 1984 with an initial group of 25 software firms. Wasch has led the association from its infancy to its merger with the Information Industry Association in January 1999, resulting in the formation of SIIA. |
![]() |
Managing Partner, Academic Business Advisors, LLC Mitch Weisburgh is co-founder and managing partner of Academic Business Advisors. He writes the PILOTed blog at http://academicbiz.typepad.com and has spoken at a number of past conferences on how to start a business, education technology, open source, how to market and sell in education, investing in education and raising money. Weisburgh was Founder, President, and CEO of Personal Computer Learning Centers of America, Inc, and subsequently Chief Technical Officer of College Pilot.com, where he successfully designed, developed, launched, and managed an online learning management system and SAT preparation course. |
![]() |
CEO, Filament Games Dan White is a founding partner and CEO at Filament Games, where he directs both business and development operations. White earned an MS in Educational Communications and Technology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a BS in Communication Technologies from Cornell University. During his tenure at UW, Dan worked with leading games and education researchers, Dr. Kurt Squire and Dr. James Gee. He also acted as Designer of Instructional Technologies at the University of Wisconsin’s Division of Information Technology and the Academic ADL Co-Lab. Previously, White worked as a Producer on the Cornell Theory Center’s NSF-funded SciCentr Project, a series of innovative online virtual worlds for informal science and technology outreach. White serves on the advisory board for Games for Change and is a founding member of the GLS (Games Learning Society) organization at UW-Madison. He has presented on the business and design of learning games at numerous conferences, including Games for Change; NSTA (national); Serious Games; SIEGE; Games Learning Society; and Wisconsin Entrepreneurs. White has served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation and is serving as PI on two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants recently awarded to Filament by the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation. |
![]() |
Principal Consultant, Headway Strategies Lee Wilson's pan-market perspective on education comes from 20+ years of C-level experience in curriculum materials, enterprise software, and hardware. His focus for the past several years has been leading companies through the print to digital transition with an emphasis on blending traditional materials with video games and social media. As a consultant he assists companies with strategy, go-to-market plans, and executive coaching. In December 2012 PCI Education, where he was President & CEO, was sold. He has been a Senior Marketing, Sales, and Business Development Executive at Harcourt, Pearson, Apple, and Chancery Software. He is currently Board President of the Association of Education Publishers. He is a former Co-Chair of the SIIA Education Division Board and was a member of the SIF and LRMI boards. He blogs at www.education-business-blog.com. |
![]() |
President/Owner, Winter Group Linda Winter leads Winter Group, a creative services and strategic research firm focused on the education and related publishing and technology markets. Winter Group’s portfolio of capabilities includes complete campaign planning and execution, messaging, positioning and branding, and high performance promotion development. From creating integrated digital and multimedia marketing to direct sales support including conference strategies, webinars, and lead generation programs, we develop deliver our clients’ marketing and sales messages directly to the education market’s buyers and decision-makers to support high stakes growth, positioning, and sales objectives. |









































































