Speakers

Dr. Chip Donohue Ph.D.

Dean, Distance Learning & Continuing Education, TEC Center Director, Erikson Institute

Chip Donohue, PhD, is Dean of Distance Learning and Continuing Education and Director of the TEC (Technology in Early Childhood) Center at Erikson Institute in Chicago. He is a Senior Fellow and Member of the Advisory Board of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media at Saint Vincent College, where he co-authored the 2012 NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center Joint Position Statement on Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8. Chip is the editor of Technology and Digital Media in the Early Years: Tools for Teaching and Learning (2014) and a new book, Family Engagement in the Digital Age: Early Childhood Educators as Media Mentors (2016) both published by Routledge/NAEYC. In 2012 he received the Bammy Award and Educators Voice Award as Innovator of the Year from the Academy of Education Arts & Sciences. In 2015, he was honored as a children’s media Emerging Pioneer at the KAPi (Kids At Play International) Awards.

Delaine Eastin

Former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction; Candidate for Governor of California, 2018,

Delaine Eastin earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis, and her Master’s degree in Political Science from U.C. Santa Barbara. Delaine was elected to the State Assembly in 1986 where she chaired the Assembly Education Committee and sponsored major legislation to reform California’s education system. In 1995, Eastin was elected to serve the first of her two terms as State Superintendent of Public Instruction in California. The only woman to ever hold this office, Eastin supported many groundbreaking initiatives, including serving as a champion for public libraries, wiring schools for technology, and stronger technical and vocational training for students. She advocated tirelessly to create statewide standards and systems of accountability, ensure reduced class sizes in grades K-3, increase parental involvement and teacher training, and create overall safe and healthy school environments for every child. Delaine was the first Executive Director of the National Institute for School Leadership, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Educational Leadership at Mills College, where she directed the Center for Civic Engagement and Women’s Leadership. She now does speaking and consulting, and recently launched her campaign to serve as California’s next Governor.

David Silver

Director of Education to Oakland Mayor, Libby Schaaf,

David works in partnership with students, families, educators, community organizations, philanthropy, the city, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), and Mayor Schaaf to realize a vision of educational equity for all students in Oakland. In particular, David leads the Oakland Promise, a cradle-to-career initiative with the goal of tripling the number of college graduates from Oakland within a decade and instilling a college-bound identity in all students. The Mayor’s Office, OUSD, East Bay College Fund, the Oakland Public Education Fund, and other implementing partners, champions, and ambassadors work together to realize the Mayor and Superintendent’s bold vision of every Oakland public school student graduating high school with the expectations, resources, and skills to complete college and be successful in the career of his or her choice. This year, every Kindergarten student who entered an Oakland public school will have $100 towards an early college scholarship by the time they leave elementary school and we sent 300 students to college with scholarship and persistence support through the East Bay College Fund. In addition, we have partnerships with over 20 colleges including the Peralta Community College District which will provide all Oakland students with the first semester free. Prior to his current position, David served as the Chief Executive Officer of College Track, a national non-profit whose mission is to empower students from underserved communities to graduate from college. He led the organization through significant growth – from serving 900 students to more than 2000 including expansion to Colorado, Sacramento and Los Angeles; and raising the four-year college acceptance and matriculation rates to 94% and 89% respectively.

Jill Abbott

CEO, Abbott Advisor Group

Sara Allan

Deputy Director, K-12 Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Marcy Baughman

Director, Impact Research, MacMillan Learning

Marcy Baughman is the Director of Impact Research for Macmillan Learning. She has 15 years of experience serving as the principal or co-principal investigator on multiple research studies that examined the impact of curricula on student outcomes. She is particularly interested in the role of implementation when measuring the effectiveness of educational technology with learners. She studied Research Methodology in the College of Education at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mike Baur

Program Manager, Data Driven Education, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

Mike manages a portfolio of investments in the U.S. data-driven education practice focused on unlocking innovation by improving data interoperability through standardization initiatives. He works with state, district, and vendor organizations which execute projects to empower educators and students by providing the infrastructure to enable real-time access to accurate, actionable education data. Prior to joining the foundation, Mike was Managing Director at Academic Partnerships where he led efforts to promote the utilization of technology in delivering universal and affordable access to higher education institutes around the world. Earlier in his career, Mike was in higher education consulting and sales leadership for SunGard Higher Education and Ellucian where he was an Enterprise Architect and Senior Technical Consultant. Mike has a bachelor’s in computer science and a MBA from Harding University.

Malvika Bhagwat

Research & Efficacy, Newsela

Malvika Bhagwat heads research and efficacy work at Newsela. At work, she spends a lot of her time thinking about how students learn and what are some tools and resources one can build to help them become lifelong readers. Prior to Newsela, Malvika worked in India where designed standardized assessments for 200k+ students across India & the Gulf countries to help identify prevalent gaps in student learning. She was also a founding member of Mindspark, an adaptive English language learning program for children in low SES communities in India. Malvika holds a Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is committed to working toward an equitable nation where students can realize the tremendous power of language literacy as one that allows universal access to an empowered society.

Karen Billings

Principal, BillingsConnects

Dr. Karen Billings is Principal at BillingsConnects, a consulting company that helps companies build relationships to grow revenues and profits. She also serves on Intel Education Advisory Board, and on the Center for Teacher Quality, edWeb.net, Generation YES, and VHS Collaborative Boards. Prior to this work she served as VP and Managing Director of SIIA's Ed Tech Industry Network (ETIN), where she drove strategic direction, programs, and initiatives for the 200 company members focused on providing technology products and services to the K-12 and higher education markets. She has 45 years of experience in the industry and in K-12 and higher ed classrooms. She has authored four books and numerous articles for education journals, and is a frequent speaker at education conferences.

Lew Brentano

Vice President, Ripple Effects, Inc.

Dedicated to using technology to help students succeed; Mr. Brentano is the chief technologist at Ripple Effects, and provides implementation and technical support to existing Ripple Effects clients, and support to prospective clients to determine what Ripple Effects products will best meet their needs. Mr. Brentano also hosts awebinar training series to share best practices in addressing challenging issues such as disproportionate discipline referrals of minority youth. Prior to Ripple Effects he was Vice President of Marketing/Engineering at McAfee.com, and Director of Product Marketing and Management at BEA Systems. He is a member of, and a strong advocate of rights for, the disabled community.

Michael Campbell

Founder & Principal Advisor, Forward Thinking EDU

Michael Campbell is the founder and Principal Advisor at Forward Thinking EDU. Michael’s passion for improving education through technology and digital literacy has helped private and not-for- profit organizations market solutions that support the learning community. For over 20 years, Michael has held executive, marketing management and sales positions spanning K-12 and Higher Education technology and publishing, in addition to corporate and educational training. Prior to his current position at Forward Thinking EDU, Michael held leadership positions with start-ups and established companies. Michael’s enthusiasm for learning and education extends outside the office. He serves on the board of the local Parent Teacher Organization and he was elected to the by the local village to the library board.

Scott Campbell

VP, Sales, Steelcase Education

Jennifer Carolan

General Partner, Reach Capital

I started my career as a classroom teacher in Elmwood Park Illinois. I taught for 7 years in traditional districts. I moved to the Bay Area in 2000 where I was inspired by all of the entrepreneurs working on their ideas. I found a way to use my teaching experience to support these founders. I worked at NewSchools Venture Fund for 9 years. I co-founded my first fund NewSchools Seed Fund in 2011 and co-founded my second Reach Capital in 2015. These funds have aggregated more than $67M in capital to back amazing entrepreneurs who are passionate about creating exceptional tools for teachers and engaging curriculum for kids. They are creating opportunities for kids and young adults who might think of themselves as underdogs because of background or challenges. I love my job because I get to support these amazing founders every day. I currently sit on the boards of Nearpod, EdSurge, WriteLab, BetterLesson and FreshGrade.

Frank Catalano

VP Marketing, West (SchoolMessenger solutions)

Frank Catalano is a hands-on strategist for digital technology in education who has been part of the leadership team at West’s Education group, best known for its SchoolMessenger solutions, since mid-2015. He also has a long history with SIIA, twice serving on the Education board and multiple times as its CODiE Awards emcee. He also has been an independent consultant, industry analyst, professional speaker, and widely published author, and tweets from @FrankCatalano

Myron Cizdyn

Chief Executive Officer, The BLPS Group

Myron is responsible for the strategic direction and high-level client relations of The BLPS Group. His latest initiative is the Gateway2Achieve learning platform. Myron brings to the table 25 years of experience in educational, religious, and trade publishing, including stints in the Vatican, Rome, Ukraine and throughout the USA. As a skilled product and strategic planner, he is adept at analyzing market conditions and developing a strategy to maximize profits and quality in the global business environment. You can find his profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/myroncizdyn.

Christopher Cummings

VP, Institutional Product and Solution Design, Cengage

Chris Cummings is the VP of Institutional Product and Solution Design at Cengage. In this role, Chris works directly with institutions to develop innovative solutions that leverage rich digital content, instructional design, and great teaching to transform the learner experience. Chris started his career teaching high school for 5 years and has since worked in the educational technology space, driving product and content development in the effort to make a more meaningful learner experience for undergraduate students. Chris normally doesn’t refer to himself in the 3rd person, but has enjoyed doing so for this bio and may continue to do so in perpetuity.

Melissa Davis

Co-Founder, CEO, GoEnnounce

Melissa Davis - BA, University of Michigan; MFA, University of Southern California. Melissa is a former award winning film producer who has become extremely passionate about providing tools for students to achieve a better future. Melissa is the CEO and co-founder of GoEnnounce. GoEnnounce gives students a voice about their education, allowing them to track & share accomplishments and goals to access opportunities. She believes that what students do in school, as well as in their extracurricular activities, are both equally important in defining who they are and shaping their futures. Melissa has authorized pieces for Edutopia and presented nationally on the importance of students building positive digital footprints for college and career readiness.

Brendan Desetti

Director, Education Policy, SIIA

Brendan Desetti is the Director of Education Policy for the Software & Information Industry Association. He works with SIIA members and other education stakeholders to identify educational trends and needs, formulate a vision for technology and related policies, address industry and market challenges, and advocate for enabling legislation and government programs at the federal and state levels. He also helps education providers understand the impact of public policies and regulations on their customers in order to better serve educational needs. Prior to his current role, Brendan was the education policy and programs manager for SIIA. Before joining SIIA, Brendan worked as a legislative liaison for the Association for Career and Technical Education in Alexandria, VA.

Dr. Kristen DiCerbo

VP, Education Research, Pearson

Dr. DiCerbo leads a team of researchers focused on conducting and translating research about learning into the development of curricula and digital tools. Her personal research program centers on interactive technologies, particularly the use evidence from learner activity in games and simulations to understand what learners know and can do. Prior to joining Pearson, Kristen provided research support to the Networking Academies at Cisco and was a school psychologist in a local school district in Arizona. Kristen received her Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at Arizona State University.

Elle Dimopoulos

Access Technologist, College of Marin

Eliana (Elle) Dimopoulos is the Access Technologist and co-coordinator of the LGBTIQQ Resource Group at the College of Marin as well as an independent scholar. She has also worked as a literacy educator, donated her time to various community organizations involved in healthcare advocacy, and climbed both Mt. Fuji-san and the Gorges du Verdon. Her current work is focused on the intersection of information science, access and emergent technology.

Kate Finnefrock

CEO, ProjectEd

A trusted source of insight and knowledge for forward thinkers across the education space, Kate brings her 17 years of diverse leadership and problem-solving experience to every conversation. Since 2015 she has worked as CEO and founder of ProjectEd, a mission-driven consulting group oriented toward philanthropic and education-based organizations. Before ProjectEd, Kate served as an IT consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and as SVP of Strategic Initiatives for Amplify, where she created and developed diverse teams and bold projects, helping to shape the future of classroom instruction.

Bridget Foster

EVP & Managing Director, ETIN, SIIA

Bridget Foster has worked in all areas of the education market—from classroom teacher, to state level and industry leadership. As EVP & Managing Director of ETIN, she helps companies better understand the education market, so that they can grow their brands worldwide. Prior to her work at SIIA, she has held key leadership positions at a number of education technology companies. At PolyVision, a Steelcase company, Bridget was responsible for developing, building, and growing their alliance and partnership program globally. She was previously the Manager of Technology Products at Key Curriculum Press, a publisher of mathematics textbooks and software for the K12 education community. She has worked as the Director of Business Development at SchoolNet; the Director of Education at PLATO Learning; and Executive Director of the California Learning Resource Network, a service of the California Department of Education. She has served on a variety of boards and committees including the SIIA Board of Directors, the E-Learning Workgroup, Office of the Secretary of Education, and the Technology Advisory Group, Office of the Governor of California. She has served as guest lecturer for a variety of university education programs and started her career as a high school science and math teacher. She holds credentials in English, science, mathematics and school administration.

Akimi Gibson

VP & Publisher, Sesame Workshop

Katie Gilligan

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.

Marci Goldberg

President, K-12 Market Advisors

Marci Goldberg has 20 years of experience in education, business, and technology launching edtech products, helping start-ups grow, and analyzing industry trends.

Melissa Greene

Director, Strategic Partnerships, SETDA

Ms. Greene's career has focused on increasing the quality of education for all students as an educator, in the private sector and most recently via New York's state education agency. Prior to joining SETDA, Melissa was a project coordinator in the Higher Education Office of Teacher and Leader Effectiveness at the New York State Education Department.Melissa received her B.S. in Non-profit Arts Management at Russell Sage College in Troy, NY and her Masters degree in Teaching from SUNY Potsdam, Potsdam, NY. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Executive Leadership at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY. Melissa taught for over ten years and holds NY state certifications in K-6 elementary education and K-12 Reading.

Brendan Guenther

Director for Academic Technology , Michigan State University

Brendan Guenther is the Director for Academic Technology at Michigan State University. Brendan also serves in a leadership capacity for the Innovation Hub for Learning and Technology. Brendan’s career has focused on supporting transformative faculty work with new learning technology. He has created new technology and new academic products for MSU, often helping the institution fulfill strategic initiatives with commercial partnerships and creative IT sourcing. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Telecommunications and a Master of Arts degree in Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education from MSU. Brendan is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education at MSU.

Michael Hawes

Director, Student Privacy Policy and Assistance Division, U.S. Department of Education

Michael Hawes is the Director of the Student Privacy Policy and Assistance Division (SPPAD) for the U.S. Department of Education. SPPAD is responsible for developing policy and guidance on long-standing and emerging student privacy policy issues, and for providing general and targeted technical assistance to educational agencies and institutions, and the broader education community on issues relating to statutory and regulatory compliance, as well as best practices for protecting student privacy beyond compliance with Federal requirements.

Dr. Benjamin (Benj) Heuston

President & CEO, Waterford Institute

Benjamin Heuston is president of Waterford Institute, a non-profit research institute in Utah. Its mission is to close the early learning gap because research has demonstrated that if a child isn't reading on level by the 3rd grade, they are four times less likely to graduate from high school. Waterford is the maker of the award-winning software Waterford Early Learning. Heuston holds a bachelors degree from Swarthmore and masters and doctorate degrees from Brigham Young University.

Kathy Hurley

CEO, Girls Thinking Global

Kathy Hurley is a 40+ year veteran of the education industry. Throughout her career, Kathy has served in top positions in both publishing and technology companies, which includes executive positions with Pearson and IBM. In December of 2014, Kathy retired from Pearson where she spent ten years and served as Executive Vice President Education Alliances, for the Pearson Foundation. Kathy utilizes her expertise in education policy, sales, marketing and business development to help further the work of top businesses, executive level customers, associations and foundations. In 2013, Kathy was selected as a Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) at Harvard University for 2014. Upon completing the ALI at Harvard, Kathy co-founded a global non-profit organization called Girls Thinking Global, which has as its mission to connect global change-makers to empower adolescent girls around the world. In April 2015, Kathy Hurley published her first book, Real Women, Real Leaders (Wiley) with co-editor, Priscilla Shumway.

Robert Iskander

General Manager, West (School Messenger Solutions)

Robert Iskander is a global corporate executive passionate about leveraging technology to improve the quality of life for all, with a special focus on education.

Dallas Kachan

VP Marketing, Edsby

Dallas has had a three decade career in high tech, working with or consulting to dozens of technology firms in Silicon Valley and Canada, including as a senior consultant with famed technology marketing innovator Regis McKenna. He served 5 years as vice president of sales and marketing for SoftArc, and is a former director of Centrinity, Inc. (TSX: CTI), EnerMotion and Creative Standard Canada. Dallas most recently had an 8 year career in cleantech, including as managing director and head of global marketing for the Cleantech Group, the organization credited with coining the term cleantech and founding the cleantech investment theme. Dallas authored 400+ cleantech articles and reports and served on the board of the U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business Cleantech Institute.

David Koehn

VP of Product Management, D2L Corporation

David is a former teacher and academic with 15+ years of experience in high tech product management. He has led product management teams, as well as product roadmap, investment planning, corporate development, and go-to-market approaches for mobile and cloud-based solutions. Currently, David is the VP of Product Management for D2L. He leads a team of D2L Product Managers who set the path for the functional and platform capabilities of the D2L product line including establishing the short and long term product roadmap.

Amar Kumar

Sr. Vice President, Pearson

Amar Kumar is Senior Vice President at Pearson. He leads the Global Efficacy & Research team which is helping transform the company to put the learner at the center of Pearson’s products and services. From defining learner outcomes to measuring impact on those outcomes, Pearson is helping to accelerate the use of evidence in education. Amar also leads the Global Research function at Pearson with an aim to embed research deeply into the Pearson product lifecycle as well as advance their ambitious thought leadership agenda. Finally, Amar leads some of Pearson’s investments in low-cost school in India as part of the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF). Prior to Pearson, Amar was working in McKinsey and Company’s education and high-tech practices serving clients. His projects focused on helping clients grow, increase their impact, and improve operational effectiveness. Prior to McKinsey, Amar served as a teacher and principal at a rural school in Bangalore, India. Prior to that experience, Amar was an analyst at Eli Lilly & Company, helping scientists better use genetics data to accelerate drug discovery. Amar holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelors in Computer Science from Purdue University.

Jason Lange

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, BloomBoard

Jason Lange is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BloomBoard. In 2009, Jason worked for NewSchools Venture Fund (NSVF), as well as for one of NewSchools' startup portfolio companies, BetterLesson. Previously, Jason worked as a Private Equity Associate for Flexpoint Ford Partners, where he executed equity investments focused on the healthcare and financial services sectors. During this time, Jason also worked as a financial consultant to Noble Network of Charter Schools focusing on developing financial models for budgetary performance and expansion analysis. Prior to Flexpoint, Jason worked as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions group of UBS Chicago.

Judy Lariviere

Assistive Technology Specialist, College of San Mateo

Judy Lariviere is the Assistive Technology Specialist in the Disability Resource Center at College of San Mateo. With 29 years of experience, she is an expert in the field of Assistive Technology for education and communication and develops curriculum in these areas. Within the community college setting, she also advocates for and educates others about accessibility.

Elizabeth Lehnertz

Vice President, Product Marketing, Renaissance

Elizabeth recently joined Renaissance as the Vice President, Product Marketing where she manages the team bringing Renaissance's portfolio to market. Prior to that she was at Pearson, in roles inclusive of Product Management, Product Marketing and Marketing. Elizabeth graduated from Northwestern with a degree in Engineering and entered education as a Teach for America Corps Member. She lives in Boston and is the mother of twin daughters who just finished their freshman year of high school.

Mark Leuba

VP, Product Management, IMS Global

Mark Leuba is Vice President of Product Management for IMS Global, the world’s largest education technology standards body, dedicated to better learning through better learning technology. IMS’ breakthrough specifications LTI™, OneRoster®, Caliper™ Learning Analytics and CASE competency and academic standards exchange are improving the education ecosystem. In 2017, IMS became the publisher for Open Badges, developed originally by the Mozilla Foundation. A technology executive in education, Mark has held positions as CIO for a leading online university, CTO for an LMS platform company and consulting advisor to major foundations in education. More recently Mark led TIP: Technical Interoperability Pilot project for the Competency-Based Education Network published in the Educause Review. In addition to his organization-wide portfolio, Mark founded and leads IMS’ Competencies, Digital Credentials and Badges programs which are pioneering new ways to connect learners to work.

Peter Levy

Director, Commercial Business Development, SRI International

Peter is a versatile and experienced educational technology leader with more than 15 years experience working at the cross-section of education, innovative technology and business. As director of commercial business development at SRI Education, Peter works to expand the impact of the research and development being done throughout SRI's Education Division by connecting that work to a wide variety of educational publishers, non-profit organizations and international ministries of education.

Gail Lewis

Director of Product Strategy, myON

Gail Lewis is responsible for identifying and defining the myON product strategy. Over the past 15 years, she has worked with diverse standard groups, such as MARBI (for MARC records) and the U.S. Department of Education Technical Working Group (for the Learning Registry). While at Capstone, Lewis also created the PebbleGo product line as well as other digital initiatives. Previous to her work at Capstone she worked with Sagebrush, where she tested, developed and expanded library automation products.

Dr. Shawn Mahoney

Chief Academic Officer, McGraw-Hill Education

Dr. Shawn Mahoney is the Chief Academic Officer for McGraw-Hill School Education, responsible for PreK-12 Product Development and Design. Prior to joining McGraw-Hill Education, Dr. Mahoney was the VP, of School Product Design Research and Efficacy at Pearson where she was responsible for the research and efficacy lifecycle for all K-12 instructional solutions and learning services across the globe. She was the co-founder of the iDEA Innovation Center (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/02/prweb3554724.htm). She and her team partnered with teachers, schools, and districts to design studies and collect evidence necessary to improve outcomes and assess the impact of instructional systems. Prior to joining Pearson, Shawn received her B.A. from the University of Arizona in English and Secondary Education and served in public education for seven years. She was a classroom teacher and was promoted to be the Lead Literacy Specialist for The Office of Professional Development and Academics in Tucson Unified School District, serving 40+ secondary sites while completing an M.A. in Bilingual and Multicultural Education. Shawn began working at Pearson Digital Learning in the summer of 2005, working as a curriculum manager and then later as the instructional design manager for all of the digital paths in North America. In 2010, she completed an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she was named the Intellectual Contribution and Faculty Tribute Award for the Technology, Innovation, and Education cohort. In the fall of 2013, Shawn completed her Ph.D. in Educational Technology at Arizona State University, with a dissertation titled Educational Research in the United States: A Survey of Pre-K-12 Teachers' Perceptions Regarding the Purpose, Conceptions, Use, Impact, and Dissemination. In her current role as the Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Mahoney and her team are focused on the academic design and academic integrity for awesome learning experiences, including the strategy for learning outcomes within the McGraw-Hill School Education digital learning ecosystem.

Jo-Ann McDevitt

M & A Survivor,

Jo-Ann's career spans 30 plus years in the education business. Formerly she was a classroom teacher, administrator, and lecturer in the Rosemont College education department. As publisher of Technology& Learning she managed the magazine, websites, events, and custom publishing projects. Most recently Jo-Ann worked as the Business Partnership Executive for AEP and the the AAP Pre-K Learning Group. She is a survivor of 6 mergers and acquisitions throughout her career.

Michele Molnar

Associate Editor, EdWeek Market Brief

Michele Molnar covers the K-12 marketplace for EdWeek Market Brief, a service of Education Week. Launched 1 year ago, EdWeek Market Brief delivers insights and actionable intel about what schools want and expect from their educational technology. Michele has covered the marketplace for 3 years. Previously, she was a communications consultant and freelance writer. She has also served as the Director of Communications for TEC, an international organization of CEOs that is now called Vistage.

Erin Mote

Executive Director, InnovateEDU

Erin Mote is the Executive Director of InnovateEDU and co-founder of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School (LAB). She leads InnovateEDU and its major projects including the development of Cortex, work on data interoperability, an urban education Fellowship to diversify the teacher pipeline, and supports for LAB's growth. She has spent much of her career focused on public service and expanding access to technology in both the US and abroad. Her work spans private sector collaborations and groundbreaking initiatives with Intel, Cisco, Google, and Mozilla, as well as work with leading US government technology partnerships. Erin served as the founding Chief of Party for the USAID Global Broadband and Innovations Alliance and has worked on numerous projects with the US Department of State and the White House. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Eric and her son Robert and bleeds maize and blue as a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Nicole Neal

CEO & ETIN Board Co-Chair, Noodle Markets

Nicole is a visionary leader and pioneer at building transformative educational products. As the CEO of Noodle Markets, she leads the company in its mission to enhance efficiency and transparency within the education landscape by revolutionizing K-12 purchasing. Prior to joining the company, Nicole was the President of the Education Solutions Group at CORE Education Consulting and Solutions, LLC., where she oversaw a staff of 300 employees and managed a portfolio of formative assessment, intervention and content solutions for districts and states serving the Pre-K, K-12, Employability, Special Education and Higher Education sectors. Nicole also served as the Senior Vice President of Major Accounts and State Services for Pearson Education Inc., one of the world's largest education publishing and technology companies. Prior to Pearson, she served as Senior Vice President of Client Services for Schoolnet, Inc. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Binghamton University's Watson School of Engineering and MBA from the University of Maryland University College.

Karen Nelson

Co-founder, Story Lab Inc.

Karen is co-founder of Story Lab Inc., a storytelling and communications agency. Working in education technology for the past 15+ years, Karen and the Story Lab team founded the agency to propel the way companies make connections with schools and communities. Whether partnering with small or large clients, Story Lab works to create the right mixture of brand story with the innovation to fuel it. Creating unforgettable narratives for today’s omni-channel world, Story Lab delivers impact through digital and traditional marketing campaigns, product and service launches, experiential events mixed with a little bit of fun too. Karen previously worked for Steelcase, Promethean, Lightspan and eduTest in Director of Global Brand or Marketing Communication roles.

Denis Newman

CEO, Empirical Education Inc.

Denis Newman is CEO and founder of Empirical Education Inc., a Silicon Valley-based R&D firm that uses its deep knowledge of education and its expertise in analytics, research design, and engineering, to help K-12 schools improve their programs and processes. With a PhD from CUNY, his research has been widely published and he has conducted research and development at Rockefeller University, UC San Diego, Bank Street College of Education, and BBN Corporation. He was a pioneer in the application of Internet technologies for student learning, professional development, and school administration. His business career has included senior positions at educational software companies Tegrity and Soliloquy Learning.

Sandra Oliver

AssistiveTechnology Specialist, West Contra Costa Unified School District

Sandra Oliver is an Assistive Technologist Specialist at West Contra Costa USD in California and an expert in the fields of education, school reform, and instructional technology. She is a former middle school teacher, university lecturer, and professional development specialist.

Snehal Patel

Founder & CEO, sokikom.com

Mr. Patel is the founder & CEO of Sokikom--an innovative game-based math learning program developed through research grants from the U.S. Department of Education. Sokikom won the 2012 CODIE for the best educational game. Patel is also the Principle Investigator to several SBIR projects funded through the Institute of Education Sciences. He has extensive experience building successful K12 learning products and companies. Prior to Sokikom, Snehal started and sold a successful math tutoring franchise for K-12 students. Patel opened the first Mathnasium an international franchise of K-12 math tutoring centers in Arizona. He grew his franchise location to the #1 performing business in the entire worldwide chain of over 200 centers. Snehal is a certified math tutor and teacher having tutored over 500 students 1-on-1. His experience tutoring students in math dates back through high school and college. Prior to Mathnasium, Patel was the youngest senior software engineer in his department at Motorola. Snehal holds a BS in computer science from Arizona State University (ASU).

John Phillipo

Executive Director, Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT)

Dr. John Phillipo is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT). CELT assists schools and universities in linking 21st century educational reforms with the effective use of information technology. Dr. Phillipo is nationally and internationally recognized as a resource consultant for learning organizations, businesses, and state/federal departments of education on issues related to architecting and implementing a digital infrastructure in support of contemporary teaching, learning, and management. He has taught graduate courses, authored journal articles, and made numerous presentations on interactive and virtual learning technologies and their impact on student achievement and educational leadership. Dr. Phillipo is a former science/math teacher and school administrator. He has served as director of a national technology lighthouse program for at-risk youth, as well as a developer/demonstrator for three nationally validated (USDOE/OERI) education technology programs. Two of these programs received a Presidential award for their outstanding public/private sector partnerships. He has coordinated several national research projects focused on using web-based technology to improve the development of curriculum and management of personalized learning. He recently coauthored the article: Learning Management System: The Missing Link and Great Enabler and was recently recognized as Distinguished Alumni for Professional Achievement by Worcester State University. Dr. Phillipo completed his doctoral degree studies at the Harvard University's Graduate School of Education in the area of administration, planning, and social policy.

Thor Prichard

President & CEO, Clarity Innovations, Inc.

Thor Prichard leads Clarity Innovations and its team of education practitioners, designers, producers, and developers to help clients design and build solutions that improve the process and practice of teaching in a global society. When he’s not researching emerging trends and technologies that the education industry will discover and embrace 3-5 years from now, Thor is consulting with clients the likes of Intel Education, Adobe Systems, Northwest Evaluation Association, Math Learning Center, littleBits, Voyager Sopris Learning, and the PMI Educational Foundation on their education product strategy. Working at the intersection of education and technology for over two decades—including serving as an executive director of a five-state nonprofit consortium, an instructional and user experience designer, and technology researcher/developer—he has proven to be an enthusiastic evangelist of digital pedagogy. Thor holds a BA in cognitive psychology from Reed College in Oregon and enjoys long-distance offshore sailing.

Karl Rectanus

President and co-founder, Lea(R)n

Karl Rectanus is an educator, entrepreneur and adviser. As cofounder and CEO of Lea(R)n, an education innovation Benefit Corporation that empowers educators and their institutions to organize, streamline and analyze education technology through its research-backed LearnPlatform, Karl leads schools and districts, states and networks, and colleges and universities in their efforts to simplify edtech selection, procurement, implementation and measurement. Karl works with learning organizations and networks across the country to establish and elevate standards of practice that drive personalized learning at scale, student achievement and equity in access. Originally an educator and administrator in the US and abroad, Karl has started and led multiple education innovation organizations, and currently advises districts, states and foundations. Karl has lived, worked and studied in over 12 countries, and was an NC Teaching Fellow and James M Johnston Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill, and graduate courses at UCLA’s Anderson Business School and CalTech Executive Extension. Karl, his wife and three daughters now live in Raleigh, NC.

John Richards

President, Consulting Services for Education

John Richards, Ph. D. is Founder and President of Consulting Services for Education, Inc. (CS4Ed. www.cs4ed.com) and Adjunct Faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education teaching Entrepreneurship in the Education Marketplace. At CS4Ed, John works with educational publishers and organizations on market research, strategic planning, and product development and evaluation. Previously, John was President of the JASON Foundation and GM of Turner Learning, the educational arm of Turner Broadcasting. He recently completed the 2012 U.S. Educational Technology Market: PreK-12 report for SIIA, and with Chris Dede (Eds.) has just published Digital Teaching Platforms, Teachers College Press.

David Samuelson

Head of Global Schools & ETIN Board Co-chair, Age of Learning for Schools, Inc.

David has 25 years of U.S. and global education sector experience. His career in educational publishing and software development began at MECC, the company behind The Oregon Trail, as VP and Executive Producer. That led to 15 years at Pearson, the largest global education company, with executive roles including VP of Product Strategy, CMO of the $2 billion U.S. Schools division, and President of Global Schools. He also served as Achieve3000's first CMO. Most recently, David was EVP and General Manager for Capstone, a global publisher of children's books and software. David's career began in theatre and television, where he was an Emmy award-winning producer of children's programming.

Tom Sayer

Manager, Global Adoption Programs, Google for Education

Tom is head of Global Adoption Programs at Google for Education, and is focused on helping leaders at all levels of the education system use technology as a catalyst for change. This involves working with teachers & leaders, and helping them share and collaborate with each other across every element of school change; from vision and culture, to community and professional development. Prior to joining Google, Tom taught, was a product manager at a tech startup in London and an intelligence officer in the military. He also co-founded and sold an ed tech company that used computer vision to improve the engagement of students with online content. In his spare time he's a mentor in the Big Brothers program, runs his mini-golf course in Cambodia from afar and wishes he could still play rugby. Tom earned a Bachelors in Maths and Psychology from the University of Cambridge, and an MBA and Master in Education from Stanford University.

Lisa Schmucki

Founder & CEO, edWeb

Lisa Schmucki is the founder and CEO of edWeb.net, a free professional learning and and social network for the education community. edWeb.net won the CODiE Award for Best Collaborative Social Media Solution for Educators for 2015 and 2016 and is a Finalist for the 2017 CODiE for Best Professional Learning Solution. Lisa has 30 years experience in marketing and product development for the education industry and has held senior positions with Films Media Group, Achieve3000, MKTG Services, Peterson’s Guides, Macmillan Book Clubs, and Time-Life Books. She is a member of the board of the SIIA Education Tech Industry Network. Lisa is a graduate of Princeton University and has a Masters Degree from the Stern School of Business at NYU.

Anne Schreiber

SVP, Learning Strategy, Renaissance Learning

Anne is a thought leader in pedagogy and educational technology, with 20+ years as a publisher, product developer and educator. Currently focusing on Instructional Strategy and Customer Success at Renaissance Learning, Anne has extensive experience defining education strategy, instructional design and content architecture. Before joining Renaissance, Anne led educational strategy and the development of numerous ground-breaking products for organizations including Scholastic, McGraw-Hill, Common Sense Media, Sesame Workshop, and others. Anne started her career as a teacher and continues her passion for providing students, their teachers, and their communities with powerful products and services, and opportunities for personal and professional learning and growth.

Robin Seaman

Director, Content Acquisition, Benetech / Bookshare

Robin Seaman is the Director of Content for the Silicon Valley nonprofit Benetech, which runs Bookshare, the largest digital library in the world for people with print disabilities. She also oversees Benetech’s Born Accessible Initiative, whose goal is to ensure that content that is born digital is also “born accessible” and chairs the BISG’s Accessible Publishing Working Group. She has over 25 years of experience in print and digital publishing spanning trade, academic, educational, and technology publishing sectors. She was the Director of Content for the Rocket eBook, the first handheld electronic reading device, and has held a variety of marketing roles in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area with Macmillan, Oxford University Press, The Crown Publishing Group, HarperCollins and IDG Books.

Mitchell Stevens Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Stanford University

Kari Stubbs, PhD

Vice President, Learning & Innovation, BrainPOP

Dr. Kari Stubbs is an internationally recognized educator who began her career as a school teacher. She currently serves as Vice President of Learning and Innovation at BrainPOP, and serves on the SXSWedu, FETC, and Horizon K12 Report advisory boards. She recently completed her tenure on the board of directors for ISTE. Kari has presented extensively on education technology across the United States and around the globe from Shanghai and Dubai to Australia, Prague, and beyond. She's received the "Making It Happen" Award, was recognized as "20 to Watch," and Microsoft's Education VP named her a Global Hero in Education.

Phil Vahey

Director, Mathematics Learning Systems, SRI Education

Dr. Phil Vahey, Director of Mathematics Learning Environments at SRI Education's Center for Learning Technologies, has been researching the use of dynamic technologies to help students learn difficult mathematics concepts for over 20 years. He has run several large NSF- and Department of Education-funded projects in the area of middle school mathematics, including the i3-funded Validation of SunBay Digital Mathematics and an NSF-funded project which investigates how to leverage the affordances of dynamic representational technology to expand opportunities for English language learners (ELLs) to participate in Common Core Mathematical Practices. He has also conducted research in the use of technology to help young children learn STEM concepts. Prior to joining CTL he received his PhD in learning sciences from UC Berkeley.

Beth Wachter

President, EFFICACITY

Beth Wachter, CEO, EFFICACITY A serial Educational Tech-Media entrepreneur, Wachter has 30 years experience developing gold standard educational media and evidence-based programs for 6-12th grades. After selling her company Select Media in 2015, Wachter has developed a 6-hour App for use by incarcerated youth age 14-18 that is being evaluated in a clinical trial in Oregon with 700 youth for impact. Wachter will make the case for using compelling narratives to emotionally engage users with content and for designing virtual environments that transport students beyond the confines of the classroom into their aspirations for their future selves while learning required content.

Danny Wagner

Editor, Education Reviews, Common Sense Education

Danny is Editor, Education Reviews at Common Sense Education. His focus is on guiding the editorial direction of the Ratings & Reviews platform to discover the best in education technology. In addition to reviewing digital media for learning potential, Danny produces content and writes articles for a variety of topics, including STEM and social and emotional learning. Previously, he was Curriculum Technology Integration Specialist for San Francisco Unified School District and a science and robotics teacher for a decade in the Midwest. Prior to his career in education, Danny worked as an Environmental Engineering consultant.

Tony Wan

Managing Editor, EdSurge

Tony Wan was named one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” in Education. He previously helped to build a game best described as “Zelda with math,” which kids liked (but not teachers or investors). He holds an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University, and a B.A. in History from the University of California at San Diego.

Lee Wilson

GM, Common Sense Education

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. Linda is a graduate of Northwestern University and received her graduate degree from the University of Denver.

Ilya Zeldin

Founder & CEO, 2gno.me

I am an experienced entrepreneur and founder of the 2gnō.me soft skills intelligence platform. With the 2gnō.me ("To know me") concept, my optimism about humanity and expertise in the business of technology converge to help promote awareness and learning. 2gnō.me received Gold Award at the 2016 Re-Imagine Education for our unique approach and advanced technology aimed to strengthen teaching skills and personalize professional development for every teacher! The platform assesses soft skills, establishes a baseline of skill strengths and gaps, and connects to personalized learning from our partners to address skill gaps, at scale and with data to back it up. Before 2gnō.me, I managed the global Service Provider Program at Dell, driving recurring revenue for the software portfolio with innovative go-to-market strategies.