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The Ed Market 101

Speakers

	Karen Billings 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.
	Charlene Blohm 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.
	Michael Campbell Director, Marketing, Follett Corporation - Technology Solutions & Inter Michael Campbell is the Director of Marketing for Follett Software Company, developers of the Destiny K-12 resource management suite and TetraData systems. As an experienced educational marketing leader with 16 years in Marketing Management, Product Marketing, Branding, Product Development and Sales, Campbell specializes in the areas of K-12 and Higher Education technology and publishing, as well as corporate and educational training. Prior to joining Follett Software Company, Michael has held leadership positions in Marketing with InkTree, Inc., Pearson Education, Cengage Learning and McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
	Richard Casabonne 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.
	Frank Catalano 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.
	Sue Collins 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.
	Kevin Custer Founding Partner, Arc Capital Development
	Margie Fox Principal, NextGenEd Consulting
	Mark Freidberg 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.
	Adam Hall President & CEO, Impact Education Adam co-founded Impact Education in the year 2000, building on a family tradition of more than 30 years of educational service. Adam received his B.A. in Economics from Columbia University, and worked on Wall Street prior to the creation of Impact Education Inc. Adam's work with Impact 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 augmenting the delivery of his instructional programs using mobile devices, with specific attention given to the push/pull of student and teacher data through cloud computing.
	Sue Hanson Principal, PR with Panache! As a Modern-Day Storyteller, Sue creates memorable public relations campaigns where the story is the core and the voice of each client brand. For decades, Sue has approached every client campaign with fresh insight, up-to-the-minute trend awareness and the latest influencer outreach strategies. PR with Panache! exists to tell client stories that separate them from the rest of the crowd and create the attention that is deserved.
	Brandi Heinz Brown Social Media and E-commerce Manager, ETA Hand2Mind Brandi Heinz Brown is social media and ecommerce manager at ETA hand2mind, formerly ETA/Cuisenaire. She is also a graduate student at Northwestern University in their Integrated Marketing Communications program. At ETA hand2mind, Brandi is developing a customer-focused digital marketing program as well as integrating online strategies into the more traditional direct marketing programs. Most recently, Brandi developed the social media strategy from the ground up at Follett Software.
	Anil Hemrajani CEO & Founder, Big Universe Learning, Inc. Anil Hemrajani, CEO & Founder, Big Universe Learning, Inc. [Ed Tech background] * In 2007, launched BigUniverse.com, an award-winning integrated literacy platform for K-8, with customers in 30 countries. * Manage all aspects of company including vision, strategy, product development, marketing, sales, support, partners, and more. [General background] * Entrepreneur - Founded, grew and sold DeveloperHub.com (award-winning developer community) - Founded, grew and sold Isavix Corporation (enterprise software solutions company) * Industry Leader - Published two books & 30+ articles on emerging software technologies - Presented to executives and software engineers across 4 continents - Won and/or nominated for several industry technology awards. - Spent 20 years helping large and small companies build software using emerging technologies * Complete bio: http://www.biguniverse.com/main/anil
	Kathy Hurley Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Pearson Foundation Kathy Hurley is a 35-year veteran of the education industry. She has served in senior executive positions with PLATO Learning, The Learning Company, Skillsbank, and IBM. She works at the Pearson Foundation on education-related initiatives on a domestic and international scale. In 2003, Hurley was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) Hall of Fame for her achievements and service to the education publishing industry. She is based in Washington, D.C., where she works closely with education policy associations. In this capacity, she currently served on several key industry and education advisory boards, including, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) as Board Chairman, the National School Boards Foundation (NSBF), the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET), the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) board where she participates on the International Committee.
	Daniel Kinnaman President & Publisher, District Administration Magazine Daniel E. Kinnaman is President of Professional Media Group, publisher of District Administration and University Business, the leading publications for education executives in K12 and Higher Education respectively. Mr. Kinnaman has more than 15 years experience as a teacher and school administrator. He is also an award-winning writer and columnist, and an internationally known keynote speaker and developer of professional development programs for education leaders. Mr. Kinnaman has also served as a consultant to numerous companies on how to establish and grow business in the education market.
	Jeff Livingston Senior Vice President, McGraw-Hill Education
	Sharon Makowka Associate Publisher, Education Week and Digital Directions
	Toni Morgan Executive Vice President, TechERA (Technology for Education Reform and Accountability)
	Jodie Pozo-Olano 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.
	Joseph Riddle Publisher, SmartBrief Education
	Pat Walkington President, Pat Walkington Education Sales & Marketing Pat has 15 plus years of experience creating, leading and growing the educational divisions of technology companies. She consults under her company Pat Walkington, Education Sales & Marketing. Pat served as Vice President of Sebit, LLC where she established the infrastructure, hired staff for the sales, marketing and customer services groups and contributed to the companyï¿½s receipt of numerous awards. Prior to consulting Pat served as the Vice President of the Learning Company's Education Division, and she served as the V.P. of Broderbund's Education Division. Pat also co-founded Making It Happen, a national non-profit organization created to recognize outstanding educators in technology. She served on the SIIA's Education Division Board from 2007-2010.
	Dan White 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 â€“ 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 Wisconsinâ€™s Division of Information Technology and the Academic ADL Co-Lab. Previously, White worked as a Producer on the Cornell Theory Centerâ€™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.
	Linda Winter 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.