Learning & Industry Experts
Over the course of the Design Boost we will be bringing in learning and industry experts to meet and work with the teams.
On Friday, teams will consult with learning experts to get feedback on the learning efficacy of their products, as well as the alignment of the product’s learning audience, purpose, goals, experience, and outcomes. In addition, the teams will consult with industry experts to receive feedback on the proposed market size, competition and strategy for their products.
On Sunday, all teams will share their stories and prototypes with the panel and invited guests in 5 minutes pitch sessions. This is an excellent opportunity to pitch to investors and industry mentors.
Friday
Brigid Barron – School of Education at Stanford
Brigid is an Associate Professor at the School of Education at Stanford, is a faculty co-lead of the LIFE center, and directs the YouthLab research group (youthlab@stanford.edu). A developmental and clinical psychologist by training, she studies processes of learning in and out of school. In a five year NSF supported CAREER award she documented adolescents’ learning ecologies (e.g. learning opportunities across home, school, libraries, virtual communities, clubs, camps) for technological fluency development across diverse communities in the Silicon Valley region. This work used multiple methods to create chronological maps of children’s learning that reveal the evolution of interest based activities and the networks of learning partners and resources that have supported learning in and out of school. Barron is PI on a three year grant funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation that follows students longitudinally as they participate in programs designed to develop their technological fluency through activities such as game design, robotics, and digital movie making. A special focus of this work is articulating what develops as children engage in formal and informal collaborative learning with new technologies.
Robert Blake – UC Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching
Robert is the Professor of Spanish, Director of UC Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching He is an Executive Board member of the Second Language Acquisition Institute (SLAI) and is also active in the field of computer-assisted language instruction and distance learning, especially the RCT project.
Robert has published in Spanish Linguistics on topics dealing with historical phonology, historical syntax, modern syntax, and second-language learning. He is co-author of Al Corriente (3rd ed.), a second-year Spanish textbook based on authentic reading materials, and chief academic adviser for Nuevos Destinos CD-ROM, a joint project of !McGraw-Hill, Annenberg PCB projects, and WGBH Boston.
Judy Brown – ADL Co-Lab
Judy Brown is an Educational Technology Consultant who retired as the Emerging Technology Analyst at the University of Wisconsin System Administration in 2006. In early 2000 she founded the Academic ADL Co-Lab with the U.S. Department of Defense at the University and served as the Executive Director of that Co-Lab.
Brown has been involved in technology and learning for over 25 years and with mobile learning since 1996. Since 2006 she has worked entirely in mobile learning with corporations, academia and government. Judy served as a MASIE Fellow for the MASIE Consortium on mobile learning and is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and mobile learning workshops. Brown was the lead for the PC Week Corporate Partners and served as a judge for the Best of Comdex. Currently Judy has returned to ADL on the Immersive Learning Technologies Team as the mobile learning lead. She serves on the Army Education Advisory Committee and coordinates the mlearnopedia.com and cc.mlearnopedia.com sites.
John Danner – Co-Founder and CEO, Rocketship Education
Before starting Rocketship, John served as a teacher in the Nashville public school system for three years, the last two as a second-grade teacher of students with limited English proficiency. In 2000, John co-founded Sacred Heart Nativity School, a private Catholic middle school for at-risk Latino boys in San Jose. From 2001-2005, John served as the Chairman of the Charter School Resource Center of Tennessee, working for the successful passage of Tennessee’s charter school law in 2002 and assisting the subsequent establishment of 12 charter schools in Tennessee. John served as a founding director of KIPP Academy Nashville, a charter middle school in Nashville. Prior to his work in education, John founded and served as CEO of NetGravity, an Internet advertising software company. John took NetGravity public and sold the company to Doubleclick in October of 1999. John holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a Master’s Degree in Education Policy from Vanderbilt University. John is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.
Tracy Fullerton – Tracy Fullerton, M.F.A., is an experimental game designer, professor and director of the Game Innovation Lab at the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she holds the Electronic Arts Endowed Chair in Interactive Entertainment. The USC Game Innovation Lab is a design research center that has produced several of the most influential projects to be released in the emerging field of independent games, including games like Cloud, flOw, Darfur is Dying, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, and The Night Journey — a collaboration with media artist Bill Viola. Tracy is also the author of “Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games,” a design textbook in use at game programs worldwide. Prior to entering academia, she was a professional game designer and entrepreneur making games for companies including Microsoft, Sony, MTV, among many others.USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Shelley Goldman – Stanford
Shelley Goldman’s focus is on design thinking and learning processes. A professor at Stanford University’s School of Education, Shelley is Faculty Advisor for the Learning Design & Technology master’s degree program and faculty in the Learning Sciences & Technology Design doctoral program. She has been involved in the founding of three public schools (an alternative school, a school-within-a-school, and currently, a charter). Goldman’s work combines research and practice, and focuses on bringing design thinking into K-12 teaching and learning, rich mathematics learning, and the design and research of learning technologies. She has been researching mobile learning for learning in school and out in the world. Goldman has published widely and is co-editor of two volumes, Thinking Practices in Mathematics and Science and Learning and Educating Learning Technology Designers.
Jim Gray – LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.
Dr. Jim Gray is Director of Learning at LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc., where he oversees curriculum and learning design of all products. Jim previously ran the LeapFrog Lab, where he directed user experience and product development research. He is an Advisory Board member for PBS KIDS Next Generation Media and for Stanford University’s Graduate Program in Learning, Design, and Technology. Jim’s academic background includes research at the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies and teaching Interactive Media Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Michigan State University. He started his career as a pre-school teacher, and has taught all ages from toddlers to graduate students.
Sherry Hsi – Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California Berkeley
Dr. Sherry Hsi is a researcher, designer, and learning technologist with the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California Berkeley. Working at the intersection of research and practice, Dr. Hsi has created and evaluated new media, handhelds, science websites, digital libraries, and other learning technologies and science education programs. Dr. Hsi co-leads HOWTOSMILE.org, a National Science Foundation-funded digital library of inquiry-based science and math activities for informal educators that draws the best materials from across many museums and science centers. She is also a co-investigator on an educational data mining research project that investigates online visitors to museum websites. Before joining the Lawrence Hall of Science, Dr. Hsi conducted design and evaluation studies at the Exploratorium. Dr. Hsi is on the editorial board for the International Journal of Science Education, and reviews for the Journal of the Learning Sciences. She also serves on the board of champions for the National Girls Collaborative in STEM. Dr. Hsi is a graduate of the SESAME program in science education at the University of California Berkeley and completed post-doctoral work with The Concord Consortium.
Andrew Joseph – TenMarks Education
Andrew Joseph is a co-founder and the President of TenMarks Education, an education technology venture that provides an easy and intuitive way for kids to practice and learn math online. A technology company veteran with 20+ years of experience Andrew drives the go-to-market strategy for the company.
Andrew has been an executive at many early stage technology companies, and successfully managed business and corporate development for enterprise and consumer software companies. His past roles have included VP of Corporate and Business Development for Corel (IPO 2006), CEO at Outerlink, VP of Sales and Marketing at Open Orders (acq by IBM), VP of Business Development at CommercialWare (acq by Micros).
Alan Louie
Alan loves the thrill of Silicon Valley startups where bleeding edge technologies and business models are born to solve old and new problems. From 2001 to 2007 he worked on special projects at Google including strategic deal negotiations, internal trouble-shooting, temporarily guiding Google.org during its birth and later helping to make it googley.
From 1990 to 2001 he was an early contributor in sales and business development at startups (at the time) including Netscape, Infoseek, Shutterfly and Network Computing Devices. From 1982 to 1990 he was a science researcher/software developer (NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and Caltech working on large scale parallel computing, radio astronomy, high energy physics and GPS), a software/OS analyst working on advanced aeronautics (Cray Research), and a systems engineer (Sun Microsystems).
His Physics BA is from Occidental College (one year ahead of President Obama).
Josh Mooney – Adura Technologies
Josh is co-founder and founding Chief Operating Officer of Adura Technologies. He currently manages Adura’s project implementation team and IT infrastructure. Adura Technologies is a clean energy technology company that applies low-power wireless technology to building automation. Our mission is to provide cost-effective lighting solutions for commercial buildings so that building owners can implement energy efficiency and load curtailment strategies reducing their operating cost and their carbon footprint.
He received his BA from Dartmouth College in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology and his MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Stuart Murray – Florida Virtual School
As an Instructional Design Specialist for Florida Virtual School, Mr. Murray remains deeply committed to satisfying students’ needs with a high quality curriculum that leads to academic success. Mr. Murray began his professional career as a high school teacher in environments that ranged from economically disadvantaged to affluent. What remained constant in all of Mr. Murray’s classes was his desire to see each of his students make progress. Currently, as part of the FLVS Curriculum Services team, Mr. Murray helps to ensure that his school’s online students make similar progress. His work entails developing new courses and improving existing courses. In that work, he uses skills that range from project management, to people skills, to an understanding of how technology can deliver and support instruction. In addition to his work in education, Mr. Murray spent time in the corporate world. He worked as an Instructional Designer in central training for British Petroleum (BP). However, after two years, he recognized that applying his talents in an educational setting such as FLVS was more satisfying and more professionally rewarding. Mr. Murray earned his Master of Science degree in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Design from Northern Illinois University. His Bachelor of Science degree in Education with an emphasis in Secondary Education was awarded by Central Michigan University. His Bachelor of Science degree in Business with an emphasis in Computer Information Systems was awarded by Ferris State University.
Jesse Pickard – MindSnacks
Jesse is the CEO of MindSnacks, an educational gaming startup based in San Francisco. Prior to MindSnacks, he worked at Razorfish in user experience design and strategy. There, he helped brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Ford, Ralph Lauren and Condé Nast define their digital presences and approaches to social media.
Jesse has presented at South by Southwest and the Digital Publishing and Advertising conference. He has also published thought leadership documents that have been featured in online publications such as ReadWriteWeb and Mashable.
Terri Pope Hullmund – Florida Virtual School
A recent addition to the Florida Virtual School family, Terri Pope-Hellmund joined the Marketing and Sales team as the Product Manager. Born to teach, lead, and inspire others towards success, Terri brings a perfect blend of experience to Florida Virtual School from public and private education to curriculum development and teacher training. In her current position, Terri is responsible for both product planning and product marketing. As Product Manager she is in constant contact with the FLVS customer base, their needs, and market research to guide the development of products that ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. With over 10 years of classroom teaching, she has ignited the imaginations of students from Pre-K through middle school to pre-service and veteran teachers. She is passionate about improving the learning journey through better educational resources and teacher training. Mrs. Pope-Hellmund has a decade of experience in curriculum development with responsibilities ranging from editorial to marketing and sales functions. She directed award-winning print and tech product portfolios for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and improved product training while working for McGraw-Hill and ETA Cuisenaire. After receiving her B.S. and M.S. degrees in education from Utah State University, Terri explored opportunities to help students across the country having taught in Utah, Illinois, Colorado, and Florida.
Andy Russell – Launchpad Toys
Andy is an educational media producer and a co-founder of Launchpad Toys, a small San Francisco startup building digital toys and tools that empower kids to create, learn, and share their ideas through play. A graduate of the Learning, Design, and Technology program at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, Andy has worked for companies like Hasbro and Sony PlayStation to design playful learning experiences for kids.
Sandy Speicher
Sandy Speicher leads IDEO’s Design for Learning domain, which brings human-centered thinking to systemic challenges in education. Her work helps educators use design tools and methods to work in new ways, to prepare for future challenges, and to transform their organizations and communities. Much of her focus has been with school teachers, students, and administrators, exploring how design thinking can contribute to education systems. Sandy has also led and contributed to programs in the areas of telecommunications, health care, and social innovation.
Prior to joining IDEO, Sandy—who collects all things Mona Lisa—taught visual communications at Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) and design thinking to fitth-graders at a public school in San Francisco. She launched her corporate career at MetaDesign San Francisco, where she worked with the Denver Art Museum, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Palm, Netflix, Ernst & Young, Wells Fargo, and other clients. At IDEO, Sandy focuses on identity systems, interactive design, and environmental design for clients such as Washington University School of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, The Paine Art Center and Gardens, and AT&T.
Sandy holds an MA in education from Stanford University and a BFA in visual communications from Washington University. She currently serves as a strategic adviser for the K-12 Lab at Stanford’s d.school and a member of the advisory board for the university’s Learning, Design and Technology program.
Robert Suarez – IDEO
Robert is a Senior Portfolio Lead at IDEO, where he drives a portfolio of projects around Consumer Experience Design. With a background in User Experience Design, Human Factors Research, and Design Strategy, he has experience working on the development of software and hardware programs and the integration of emerging technologies into human-centered products and services. Robert is constantly investigating human behavior and emerging technology to find new opportunities for design and innovation.
Ann Thai – Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Ann My Thai leads the Cooney Center’s strategic partnership efforts with high tech and digital game industries. She is also the lead author of Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Children’s Learning and Health. Before joining the Center, she consulted for Education for Development, Vietnam, which supports educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. Yale University named her a Charles Kao Fellow and a Gordon Grand Senior Fellow for her study of the influence of private sector development in the region on local nonprofits. She went on to coordinate voting rights and education reform efforts at the NAACP Legal & Educational Defense Fund before pursing her master’s degree, and has worked for Apple, developing marketing strategies for the company’s photography software. Ann is the co-curator of the 2011 TEDxSFED conference, and has mentored educational technology startups for the Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children’s Media and StartUp Weekend Education. She has served on the board of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, and was selected by the World Economic Forum’s Young Arab Leaders to be an Arab & American Business Fellow in 2008.
Vic Vuchic
Victor’s focus in the Education Program is on technology-based grants in the area of Open Educational Resources. For eight years before joining the Foundation, he worked as an e-business management consultant for both start-ups and large-scale companies in Silicon Valley. His work has been in domains such as wireless, online retail, music and rich media, high tech, and content management. Vic’s skills are focused on user-centric business analysis: that is, helping companies refocus their strategies and operations around end users’ needs.
Victor’s focus in the Education Program is on technology-based grants in the area of Open Educational Resources. For eight years before joining the Foundation, he worked as an e-business management consultant for both start-ups and large-scale companies in Silicon Valley. His work has been in domains such as wireless, online retail, music and rich media, high tech, and content management. Vic’s skills are focused on user-centric business analysis: that is, helping companies refocus their strategies and operations around end users’ needs.
He holds a B.S.E. in systems science engineering focused on telecommunications from the University of Pennsylvania, and most recently completed his Ed.M. in the Learning, Design & Technology Program at Stanford University. Vic also received a scholarship and attended the Berklee College of Music during his undergraduate years.
Sunday
Jon Bischke – Battery Ventures
Jon is an experienced entrepreneur focused on the intersection of education and technology. He has been on the founding team of four companies, three of which have been acquired (two by publicly-traded companies) and a fourth that was bootstrapped to profitability. Jon’s most recent company, eduFire.com, is a leading video platform for online education and was acquired in June of 2010.
Jon has a Bachelor of Science in Business in Finance and Management Information Systems from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. In addition, Jon is also a co-founder of The Legacy Foundation and Unleashed, two organizations that strive to empower the world’s most promising entrepreneurs.
Ann S. Bowers – Noyce Foundation
Ann is the Chair of the Board and the founding Trustee of the Noyce Foundation which is focused on improving math and science instruction and learning in public schools. Previously, her career was in human resource management in California’s Silicon Valley. She was the first Director of Personnel for Intel Corporation and the first Vice President of Human Resources for Apple Computer. In both of these high-growth start-up companies and in her consulting practice, she created and implemented the worldwide human resources policies and practices that fostered the growth of organizational excellence.
Currently, Ann is the Chair of the Board of the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, and board member of Civic Ventures and Music@Menlo. She is a Trustee Emerita and Presidential Councilor at Cornell University. She received a B. A. from Cornell University and an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Santa Clara.
Stephen Brown – Mobile Digital Arts
Stephen is President of Mobile Digital Arts. MDA was formed specifically to improve young people’s access to digital arts programs and computers; to support teachers and community leaders eager to integrate digital arts within their classrooms; and to develop and share youth-based programs that make thoughtful, innovative use of latest digital technologies. Brown also manages the New Learning Institute for the Pearson Foundation.
In the last five years, Mobile Digital Arts has turned to film and video production as a way to showcase and share innovative educational practices, digital media programs, and 21st century approaches to learning. Brown produced Reborn, New Orleans Schools, a feature documentary about the school reform movement after Katrina; A 21st Century Education, a series of twelve short films about innovation in education; and a series of short films profiling the work of leading researchers, educators and thinkers on the impact that new media is having on young learners. Mobile Digital Arts’ latest production – Digital Media, New Learners of the 21st Century – is set to air on PBS in the Spring.
Formerly, Brown was a business development manager, product planner and MSN producer at Microsoft Corporation. He subsequently went on to be publisher of adult educational programs at Learning Network, as well as a producer at WOMAD USA, a world music festival founded by Peter Gabriel.
John Seely Brown
John Seely Brown is a visiting scholar and advisor to the Provost at University of Southern California (USC) and the Independent Co-Chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge. Prior to that he was the Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)—a position he held for nearly two decades. He was a cofounder of the Institute for Research on Learning (IRL).
John, or as he is often called—JSB— is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education and a Trustee of the MacArthur Foundation. He serves on numerous public and private boards of directors. He has published over 100 papers in scientific journals. His current book, The Power of Pull, was released in April 2010. The Social Life of Information (HBS Press, 2000) has been translated into 9 languages and his most recent work, The New Culture of Learning, will be released next month.
JSB received a BA from Brown University in 1962 in mathematics and physics and a PhD from University of Michigan in 1970 in computer and communication sciences. He has received five honorary degrees including: May 2000, Brown University, Doctor of Science Degree; July 2001, the London Business School,Honorary Doctor of Science in Economics; May 2004, Claremont Graduate University, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters; May 2005, University of Michigan, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, and May 2009, North Carolina State University, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree.
Jennifer Carolan – NewSchool’s Venture Fund
Jennifer is an Associate Partner in NewSchools Venture Fund’s West Coast office, where she focuses on sourcing new entrepreneurial opportunities, due diligence and management assistance for the firm’s portfolio ventures.
Before joining NewSchools, Jennifer was a secondary history teacher and a curriculum differentiation coach. While teaching in the public schools, Jennifer was involved in staff development, writing curriculum and sharing best practices. After seven years in the classroom, Jennifer developed a stronger theoretical foundation in curriculum and teacher education at the Stanford University School of Education. Jennifer is active in the Bay Area education community: she serves as an Advisory Board member for Aspire’s East Palo Alto Charter School, is a Stanford Challenge Success school coach, is on the BoD for Equal Opportunity Schools and co-teaches a class at the Stanford School of Education/Design School called Innovations in Teaching (Educ 338x). Jennifer has also published on differentiated instruction for Educational Leadership.
Jennifer has a teaching certificate and BA in Political Science from Loyola University, and an MA in Curriculum and Teacher Education from Stanford University. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family and her kids attend a charter school.
Mike Del Ponte – Sparkseed
Mike Del Ponte is the founder of Sparkseed, a nonprofit organization that identifies, accelerates, and invests in the most promising student social entrepreneurs in the world. Sparkseed is a recipient of the Financial Times Social Innovation Award. Mike has served as a Christian Peacemaker in the West Bank, an orphanage volunteer in Jamaica, a microfinance consultant in Nepal, and a part of the team that created a child health care program in Kutch, India. Mike received his B.A. from Boston College and an M.A.R. from the Yale University Divinity School. He is a Sandbox Network member, a Cordes Fellow, and serves on the Advisory Board for the Global Center of Social Entrepreneurship at the University of the Pacific. Mike has been featured in a variety of publications, including Fast Company, CNN.com, and Huffington Post. He was also a finalist for 7×7 Magazine’s “Hot 20 Under 40” in San Francisco.
Breanna DiGiammarino – Draper Richards Foundation
Breanna has six years of experience applying top-tier strategy and management techniques to organizations that are leaders in their fields. At the Foundation, Breanna pulls up lessons learned across the investment team and their grantee organizations, as well as identifies and supports Draper Richards Fellows.
She previously served as an Associate Consultant at The Bridgespan Group, the leading strategy consulting firm in the nonprofit sector, where she worked with many large scale nonprofit clients, including advising The Gates Foundation on their investment strategy to improve education outcomes in the U.S. and the Cristo Rey Network of schools on how to align their nationwide network with a focus on long-term student outcomes.
She trained with Bain and Company, and earned an M.P.A. in nonprofit management from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and a B.A. in biology and government from the University of Virginia. While at UVA and NYU, Breanna founded Kids Acting Out, a nonprofit that engages college students and under-resourced youth in building life skills through drama.
Nick Flores – Investors’ Circle
Nick is the Director of Investment and Entrepreneur Services at Investors’ Circle, where he oversees the organization’s investment process from start to finish. He is working to grow a robust pipeline of high-impact deals across a variety of sectors, and to maintain strong communication with all portfolio companies. At the same time, he also works closely with early-stage venture funds and IC’s affiliate fund, the Patient Capital Collaborative, to manage the deal syndication process with these partners. Before coming to Investors’ Circle, Nick managed the Capital Access Program at Green For All. There he helped generate content, launch capacity-building programs, and identify capital sources, all with the intent of supporting the development of small green businesses. Nick has also worked previously in both real estate private equity and the sports industry, most notably with the PGA Tour. Nick holds both an MBA and a BA, with honors, from Stanford University.
John Friend – LucasFilm, Ltd
John is Head of Business Development for Lucasfilm, Ltd., overseeing business development, corporate development and strategy with a focus on digital media and gaming. Previously, he ran the consumer-facing businesses for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim (building new lines of business and brands like Ben 10) and business development for Turner Broadcasting’s operations in Latin America. John is passionate about digital media, kids’ brands, great story-telling and the sport of basketball.
Jim Gray – LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.
Dr. Jim Gray is Director of Learning at LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc., where he oversees curriculum and learning design of all products. Jim previously ran the LeapFrog Lab, where he directed user experience and product development research. He is an Advisory Board member for PBS KIDS Next Generation Media and for Stanford University’s Graduate Program in Learning, Design, and Technology. Jim’s academic background includes research at the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies and teaching Interactive Media Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Michigan State University. He started his career as a pre-school teacher, and has taught all ages from toddlers to graduate students.
Eric Hallstein – Omidyar Network
Eric brings an impressive background in business, academia, and technology to his role at Omidyar Network, where he invests across the Media, Markets & Transparency initiative. Currently a Kauffman Fellow, Eric has focused throughout his career on entrepreneurial endeavors that create positive impact in the world.
Most recently, Eric served on the founding team of GoodGuide.com, which disseminates information on products’ health, safety, and environmental impact. Prior to that role, Eric was a project leader for the Boston Consulting Group, working with clientele in the technology and financial services industries.
Beyond business, Eric has held numerous academic posts, including adviser at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he mentored a team of students on the commercialization of low-cost clean technology in Asia. Previously, he worked as a research assistant for the Pacific Institute, the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, and the Native American Renewal Energy Education Program. Eric’s work on energy policy, trade, and consumer behavior has been published in popular press and top journals.
Eric earned a PhD and MS in energy and resources, as well as an MS in civil and environmental engineering, from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow. He graduated cum laude with an AB in East Asian Studies from Harvard College.
Heather Kattner – LucasFilm Ltd
Heather has been at the edge of art and technology since her days at California Polytechnic University studying Graphic Communications. The focus was the burgeoning of the digital era – desktop publishing and using the internet as a communication tool. Heather’s interest in technology took grip after working for an investment banking firm on Sand Hill Road, where after researching countless companies, it was time to join them and jump into the digital age. She went on to join the then start-up, WebTV, evangelizing interactive television to developers. Then working at Microsoft as part of their effort to scale digital video recording to cable operators and allow users to program remotely via the web. At Yahoo!, the focus moved from consumer to small business, where she managed the development of a suite of co-branded small business products with AT&T. And at Time Inc., she helped re-brand a major title that became part of Sports Illustrated.com. Heather joined LucasFilm earlier this year as a consultant to the Business Development and Partnership team to identify education innovations and how to revolutionize the learning experience.
Niko Klein – Imprint Capital
Niko Klein is an Associate specializing in education at Imprint Capital, an impact investment firm based in San Francisco, CA. Imprint builds and manages deeply customized mission investment portfolios for institutional investors. Our work in education has ranged from advising the MacArthur Foundation on its Digital Media Learning initiative, the Stupski Foundation on its impact investment initiative, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation on its million mission-investments program. Niko joined Imprint in 2008 and since then has participated in over a dozen transactions across a range of asset classes, including multiple direct investments in growth-stage enterprises. He led Imprint’s landscape studies of the U.S. Pre-K-12 education, and provided transaction support for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s investments in Wireless Generation, Revolution Foods and Acelero Learning. He is a graduate of Columbia University.
Jessica Lindl – Scientific Learning
Jessica is a seasoned education technology executive with both US K-12 institutional and consumer leadership experience in the US and abroad.
Since 2007, Jessica has served as senior vice president of marketing and product management at Scientific Learning managing the consumer and international channels. Previously, Ms. Lindl served as vice president of marketing and product management for Riverdeep, a leading developer of educational software. Ms. Lindl held marketing management positions of increasing responsibility at Riverdeep and The Learning Company, which was acquired by Riverdeep, from 2001 through 2006. Prior to her tenure at Riverdeep, Ms. Lindl served as the director of product management for Simplexis, an e-procurement provider for the K-12 market, in 2000 and 2001 and as part of the sales management team for AT&T in San Francisco from 1995 to 1998.
Ms. Lindl holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and international studies from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. In her spare time, she manages her own user centered design group with her toddler, Isaac.
Alan Louie
Alan loves the thrill of Silicon Valley startups where bleeding edge technologies and business models are born to solve old and new problems. From 2001 to 2007 he worked on special projects at Google including strategic deal negotiations, internal trouble-shooting, temporarily guiding Google.org during its birth and later helping to make it googley.
From 1990 to 2001 he was an early contributor in sales and business development at startups (at the time) including Netscape, Infoseek, Shutterfly and Network Computing Devices. From 1982 to 1990 he was a science researcher/software developer (NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and Caltech working on large scale parallel computing, radio astronomy, high energy physics and GPS), a software/OS analyst working on advanced aeronautics (Cray Research), and a systems engineer (Sun Microsystems).
His Physics BA is from Occidental College (one year ahead of President Obama).
Alex Michael – Hub Bay Area
Alex is the Managing Director of Hub Bay Area which created both Hub Berkeley and Hub SoMa. Before The Hub, Alex was the Director of Communications and Organizational Development at the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD). He has also been on the founding team of six social enterprises over the last 11 years and continues to support the work of many Bay Area organizations. He holds a business degree from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in psychology and philosophy from John F. Kennedy University. In his spare time, Alex has traveled, studied, and volunteered extensively in the developing world.
Sandra Miller – Kauffman Foundation
As Director of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s new initiative, Labs for Enterprise Creation, Sandra Miller is charged with developing programs to catalyze entrepreneurs of high-growth, scalable businesses. The first of such programs is the Kauffman Entrepreneur Postdoctoral Fellowship program, which educates and trains scientist-founders who are creating the high-growth technology companies of tomorrow. Other programs include the Pediatric Device Innovation Fellowship, in partnership with the Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, and Kauffman Labs’ Education Ventures Program, launched in July of 2010. Sandra is an invited lecturer on the topics of entrepreneurship education, the commercialization of university research and related policies.
Sandra joined the Kauffman Foundation in 2008 after 13 years at Stanford University, where she had a major role in the formation of the Stanford Biodesign Program — a landmark educational program training the next generation of biomedical technology innovators. As Managing Director of Biodesign, Sandra counseled numerous Stanford inventors and community entrepreneurs on issues such as technology licensing, new firm formation, founding team, advisor and fundraising strategy, and university policies (consulting, intellectual property ownership, conflict of interest).
In the latter part of her Stanford tenure, Sandra was the Program Director for the Stanford Bioengineering Department’s Translational Research Partnership grants program from the Wallace Coulter Foundation. She also had a dual role managing a portion of the medical device portfolio at Stanford’s Office of Technology Licensing, negotiating several licensing agreement transactions.
Stuart Murray – Florida Virtual School
As an Instructional Design Specialist for Florida Virtual School, Mr. Murray remains deeply committed to satisfying students’ needs with a high quality curriculum that leads to academic success. Mr. Murray began his professional career as a high school teacher in environments that ranged from economically disadvantaged to affluent. What remained constant in all of Mr. Murray’s classes was his desire to see each of his students make progress. Currently, as part of the FLVS Curriculum Services team, Mr. Murray helps to ensure that his school’s online students make similar progress. His work entails developing new courses and improving existing courses. In that work, he uses skills that range from project management, to people skills, to an understanding of how technology can deliver and support instruction. In addition to his work in education, Mr. Murray spent time in the corporate world. He worked as an Instructional Designer in central training for British Petroleum (BP). However, after two years, he recognized that applying his talents in an educational setting such as FLVS was more satisfying and more professionally rewarding. Mr. Murray earned his Master of Science degree in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Design from Northern Illinois University. His Bachelor of Science degree in Education with an emphasis in Secondary Education was awarded by Central Michigan University. His Bachelor of Science degree in Business with an emphasis in Computer Information Systems was awarded by Ferris State University.
Kathy Nicholson – The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
As Manager, Application Development and Support, Kathy leads a team of four application developers and business analysts in support of the Foundation’s custom software applications projects. She also works with the Open Educational Resources (OER) team as an Associate Program Officer, responsible for managing an international grant portfolio, participating in the Education Program’s strategic planning process, and coordinating metrics benchmarking. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2006, Kathy was the Associate Director of HR Information Systems at Borders Group, Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She also spent five years as a computer communications officer in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Arkansas and in Okinawa, Japan. Kathy earned her M.B.A. and M.A. in East Asian Studies at Stanford University and a B.S. in Computer Science at Santa Clara University.
Michael Novak
Michael Novak is the Chair and CEO of Tertia (www.tertia.us), a company that uses unique technology – in partnership with the US publishing industry – to deploy enhanced English media to the 2 billion second-language speakers of English worldwide. He has over 20 years of experience in software, was Vice President Asia for Sterling Software and began his career in software by co-founding Ross Systems. He was also President of Clark Consulting Group, the largest intercultural consulting company in the U.S., with 90% of its business dealing with U.S./Asia multinational corporate communications. In multimedia Mr. Novak led the production of Walker Interactive’s digital learning system, produced nationally syndicated television and was on the development committee of KQED. Keeping it in the family, Mr. Novak’s son, Christopher, is a veteran of the videogame industry and is currently Lead Design Director for Microsoft Games US Publishing. Currently, Mr. Novak is also the U.S. representative to China’s national software conference (www.cisis.com.cn) and sits on the Board of Equal Access (www.equalaccess.org), a UN, USAID and WorldBank partner that sends satellite-based educational programming to 38 million people throughout Asia in 6 languages. Mr. Novak holds a BBA and MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and is a California CPA.
Sharon Proutt – Stevenson University
Sharon Markley Proutt joined Stevenson University as special assistant to the president in August, 2010, assisting the president on a variety of special projects in the President’s Office as well as on campus. Currently,Ms. Proutt has complete responsibility for directing a year-long study of career services and experiential learning at the University. Ms. Proutt previously served as special assistant to the president at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. While there, she served as a member of the president’s cabinet, providing administrative support to the Board of Trustees, representing the College’s interests with local, state and federal government, and maintaining relationships with community and neighborhood associations. Previous to that, Ms. Proutt was employed by The International Dyslexia Association, where she served as branch services manager. In this position, she oversaw 47 branches in the United States and Canada and provided leadership, communications, resource coordination, strategic planning and development support. Additionally, she has served as human resources and business manager for Proutt Construction, Inc.; human resources representative for Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson; and director of human resources/executive assistant for Riparius Construction, Inc. Her volunteer activities include her role as a former board member of the Northern Baltimore County Art Foundation, a volunteer for Boys Hope/Girls Hope Baltimore, and a current Board Member of the Continuing Education Chapter of the College of Notre Dame’s Alumnae Association. Ms. Proutt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, Summa Cum Laude, from College of Notre Dame of Maryland, and also attended Maryland Institute College of Art. She resides in northern Baltimore County, Maryland with her husband and two teenage sons, and enjoys drawing, snowboarding, cycling, and time with family on the Delaware shore.
Andy Russell – Launchpad Toys
Andy is an educational media producer and a co-founder of Launchpad Toys, a small San Francisco startup building digital toys and tools that empower kids to create, learn, and share their ideas through play. A graduate of the Learning, Design, and Technology program at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, Andy has worked for companies like Hasbro and Sony PlayStation to design playful learning experiences for kids.
Jason Stoffer – Maveron
Jason joined Maveron as a senior associate in 2007 and became a principal in 2009, focusing on the education and e-commerce industries. He is a board member of zulily and Latimer Education and a Board observer at Altius Education and Livemocha.
Prior to joining Maveron, Jason served as senior director of strategic operations for Career Education Corp., where he co-founded and led admissions and marketing for IADT Online, a for-profit design school. At Career Education, he also spearheaded broad initiatives to develop new digital marketing strategies, increase sales force effectiveness, and restructure the company’s call center operations. He has also served as an associate at Spinnaker Ventures, an expansion-stage venture capital fund, which focuses on investments in information technology, communications and business services.
Jason, who set out to become the world’s greatest veterinarian at the age of five, has shifted his career goals, but his love of animals remains. He and his wife have adopted a schnauzer, known of course for their smarts.
Jason holds a BA in economics from the University of Michigan, Phi Beta Kappa, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ann Thai – Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Ann My Thai leads the Cooney Center’s strategic partnership efforts with high tech and digital game industries. She is also the lead author of Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Children’s Learning and Health. Before joining the Center, she consulted for Education for Development, Vietnam, which supports educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. Yale University named her a Charles Kao Fellow and a Gordon Grand Senior Fellow for her study of the influence of private sector development in the region on local nonprofits. She went on to coordinate voting rights and education reform efforts at the NAACP Legal & Educational Defense Fund before pursing her master’s degree, and has worked for Apple, developing marketing strategies for the company’s photography software. Ann is the co-curator of the 2011 TEDxSFED conference, and has mentored educational technology startups for the Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children’s Media and StartUp Weekend Education. She has served on the board of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, and was selected by the World Economic Forum’s Young Arab Leaders to be an Arab & American Business Fellow in 2008.
Marie Trexler
Marie started up and led investments for Good Capital’s Social Enterprise Expansion Fund, a double bottom line venture fund, where she remains on the Board of Advisors. Her current activities include working with Investors’ Circle and serving on the Board of Directors of StartOut, which promotes LGBT entrepreneurship, and Emerge CA, which recruits and trains progressive women to run for public office.
Previously, Marie headed business development for Intel Corp’s largest business unit, the Digital Enterprise Group. The core of Marie’s venture investment experience comes from seven years at Intel Capital, Intel’s multi-billion dollar strategic investment arm, where she ran investment teams in both the US and Europe focused on making venture capital investments in high tech startups.
With more than 60 venture investments under her belt, Marie was also responsible for starting up Intel Capital’s investment program in Eastern Europe where she identified and consummated Intel’s first equity investment, as well as first acquisition, in Russia. Prior to Intel, Marie built her emerging markets private equity and banking experience at the International Finance Corporation (World Bank), Slovak American Enterprise Fund, ING Barings and EurAmerica Capital. She graduated from Dartmouth College and earned an MBA from the University of Virginia.
