Current Academy of Thought Leaders:
Senior Researchers-
James W. Dearing is Senior Scientist in the Institute for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Colorado, where he co-directs the Center for Health Dissemination and Implementation Research, and directs the CRN (Cancer Research Network) Clinical Communication Research Center, an NCI Center of Excellence. Dearing studied under and collaborated with Everett M. Rogers for 20 years. Dearing has taught at Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Ohio University, and been PI for multiple NSF grants. He studies the diffusion of innovations, with emphasis on intervention design to accelerate the spread of evidence-based knowledge, practices, programs, and policies. His research concerns advice networks among potential adopters of innovations, implementation support systems, and practitioner generation of innovations.
Christopher Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education focuses on the expanded human capabilities for knowledge creation, sharing, and mastery that emerging technologies enable. His teaching models the use of information technology to distribute and orchestrate learning across space, time, and multiple interactive media. His research spans emerging technologies for learning, infusing technology into large-scale educational improvement initiatives, policy formulation and analysis, and leadership in educational innovation. He is currently conducting funded studies to develop and assess learning environments based on modeling and visualization, online teacher professional development, and wireless mobile devices for ubiquitous computing, and multiuser virtual environments. He has edited a book and several articles on scalability.
Thought Leaders-
Johnanna Anton is a rapid growth consultant at Green Streak,LLC , Johanna brings a background as a research and development manager with interdisciplinary scientific expertise and industrial business experience to her clients. Her specialty areas include identifying talent and building teams that consistently produce above and beyond expectations. Johanna excels in coaching employees and managing cross-functional teams for maximum individual and organizational productivity. She has developed mentoring programs and has delivered seminars and workshops on effective professional networking, coaching, and mentoring at mid-sized as well as Fortune 100 companies.
Johanna is also adept at communicating complex technical information to the non-technical business community. With experience in bio-based materials research, Six Sigma, sales and marketing, and supply chain, she has a demonstrated track record of leadership with a strong ability to learn and apply new skills quickly.Johanna has received awards for promoting work life balance for DuPont employees, for volunteer work to help disadvantaged women enter the workforce, for educational outreach in science, and for her efforts to lead organizations in challenging business environments. She has led workshops, spoken on panels and delivered presentations at professional meetings (SWE, WEPAN, ACS). She has published and presented technical work in peer reviewed journals and in professional texts and has received recognition for her presentation of scientific results to both technical and non-technical audiences. Johanna holds a B.S. from Rhodes College and a PhD from the University of Southern Mississippi in Polymer Science and Engineering where she was a Patricia Roberts Harris fellow.
Chris Baldwin is a program director at Jobs for the Future in Boston, MA. His primary focus is on the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count initiative and the related state policy work. As part of this work, Mr. Baldwin leads a cross-state project to promote the collection, analysis, and dissemination of a better set of measures that more effectively gauge community college student success and the use of these indicators to improve institutional performance. Prior to joining JFF, Mr. Baldwin was vice president for government and community outreach at Owens Community College in Northwest Ohio where he worked on state and national policy impacting community colleges. He has served in a variety of governmental and advocacy positions over the past 15 years, including stints in the Office of the Ohio Governor and as a public affairs consultant developing policy strategies and tactics for corporations, trade associations and government agencies. For the past eight years, Mr. Baldwin has been working on a variety higher education policy issues and is a Ph.D. candidate in higher education administration at the University of Michigan. He also holds a B.A. in political science and history from Baldwin-Wallace College and a M.A. in international studies from Ohio University.
Tamara Goetz was appointed by Governor Jon M. Huntsman as State Science Advisor for Utah in August of 2007. Prior to her appointment, Goetz served as the director of the Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) Biotechnology Program for six years and helped to create educational programs and resources for students in Utah with support from a grant from the National Science Foundation. After receiving a three-year Advanced Technology Education grant from the National Science Foundation in 2001, Goetz helped to create the 2-year Biotechnology Program at SLCC and a one-year high school Biotechnology Program for juniors and seniors. Additionally, Goetz led InnovaBio (through the support of a National Science Foundation grant), a student-driven, non-profit contract research company that provides high school and college students with opportunities to work as interns for a life science company. Tamara is the lead on Utah’s U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development Initiative (WIRED), which promotes education and training for life sciences in Utah. She is also the Director for the Utah Life Science Economic Development Cluster for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. She was the PI on a US Department of Labor Community-Based Job Training grant that is supporting the creation of the new Biomanufacturing program at Salt Lake Community College. She served on the Governor’s State Advisory Council for science and technology and on the Board of Directors for The Leonardo. She was recognized as “40 Under 40 Rising Stars” in 2004 and “30 Women to Watch” in 2007 by Utah Business magazine. She also received the Award of Merit by the National Association for Career and Technical Education for her work to support science and math secondary education programs
Allyson Knox is an Academic Program Manager for Microsoft Corporation’s US Partners in Learning (PiL) program (http://www.microsoft.com/education/PiLUS.mspx) which builds public / private partnerships throughout the world to help achieve three central goals: digital literacy for all, stronger and more competitive workforce, and improved quality of life. Allyson has worked extensively on the following issues: scaling education success, 21st century leadership development, career preparation in a global economy, blending online learning with face to face learning and STEM.
Edward Leach is Vice President of Services and Programs for the League for Innovation in the Community College. Leach earned a Ph.D. in Educational Administration with a concentration in Community College Leadership from The University of Texas in Austin. Leach manages the League’s Service Division, a direct sales arm that provides targeted expertise and resources of interest to and appropriate for community colleges. Leach has authored numerous articles and serves on multiple boards and advisory groups, including the Microsoft Community and Technical College Advisory Council; National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies Advisory Board; WomenTech Project; and IT Career Cluster Initiative Advisory Consortium.
Gerald ‘Jerry’ Linnins is a 25 year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard and has been involved in the field of Performance Improvement since 1987. He has served as a global training manager, director of performance improvement, and consultant in a wide range of organizations including Federal, State, and local government; biotechnology, engineering and construction, healthcare, and nonprofit/NGO. He is a published author, has taught at the graduate and undergraduate level, and is a Certified Performance Technologist, Master Six Sigma Black Belt, Certified Lean Specialist, and holds a Masters Degree in Human Resource/Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco.
Hans Meeder is the President of the Meeder Consulting Group, LLC, a firm providing consulting services in school improvement related to high school redesign and programs that link into postsecondary education and workforce training. Immediately prior to forming the Meeder Consulting Group, Meeder served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Education in the U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education. He has also served as the policy and outreach director for the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, senior vice president for workforce and postsecondary education at the National Alliance of Business, and Executive Director of the 21st Century Workforce Commission. Mr. Meeder lives in Columbia, Maryland with his wife and children. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland College Park and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Maryland’s University College.
Jane Ostrander is Principal Investigator and Project Director for the National Science Foundation, ATE funded project “Destination: Scenario-Based Learning” (http://elc.fhda.edu). She has expertise in instructional design as well as online teaching and learning, and has taught Web site development, project management, customer service, and computer literacy courses at Cabrillo College, Mission College, De Anza College, Foothill College, and San Jose State Extension. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Community College Leadership Program, College of Education, Oregon State University. Her research centers on online knowledge building communities for faculty.
Dan Phillips is the Director of UMass Boston’s College of Management Entrepreneurship Center, focused on education, training, mentoring, and workforce development for student entrepreneurs. Phillips is also an entrepreneur in Residence for UMass Boston’s Venture Development Center focused on mentoring and intern placement for companies launching in the VDC. Dan’s background includes spending the last 25 years as an executive with four venture capital backed software companies. Two of these companies achieved successful initial public offerings (IPO’s) on NASDAQ and two were acquired by fortune 200 companies. The most prominent was as COO of Concord Communications which attained an $800,000,000 market cap and the most recent was as CEO of Silverback Technologies which was acquired by Dell Inc. Concurrently over the last 16 years Dan has self funded his own Scholarship/Mentor program for UMass Boston students where he has helped fund the tuitions and fees for 14 UMass Boston students.
Lou Piazza is a serial entrepreneur that helped shape the industry’s development of open system networking, internet routing, wireless LANs, and broadband convergence. His professional skills in business planning, engineering management and entrepreneurial leadership have contributed to the creation of six startup companies and some of the most widely adopted methodologies for personal and professional communications. Lou is the founder and a principal with Suffolk Technology Partners; has been the President and CEO for Windata; senior vice president of operations for Wellfleet Communications, an early innovator of internet routing technology; and the Vice President of Network System Development for Bolt, Beranek and Newman, the engineering firm responsible for the development and operation of the Arpanet.
Frank Stein is the Director of IBM’s Analytics Solutions Center (ASC) in Washington, D.C. The mission of the Institute is to help U.S. Government agencies and others adopt and benefit from Analytics. The Institute is focused on three important mandates: thought leadership, demonstrations and customer collaboration, and innovation. Frank and his organization support the government, and those serving this specialized community, with subject matter expertise and resources. Frank speaks frequently on the topic of innovative technology to industry, government, and the academic community. He has been an invited speaker to ESRI’s Federal User Conference, AFCEA’s Education Events, and e-Government Conference, where he was presented with the award for Best Industry SOA Application Presentation. Frank’s background covers a wide range of disciplines ranging from communications engineering, to pen-based computing, to media industry solutions, to government solutions. Frank has spent most of his career in R&D, with the last ten years in IBM’s customer-facing units including Software Services, and the Federal Innovation Solution Center and Federal SOA Institute, both of which he helped to create and then direct. In 2008, he was the 1st recipient of the “Nick Donofrio Award for Innovation” for his work in IBM Federal. He has degrees from Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and George Washington University.
Mark Tomizawa is working with others in a sizable cross-cutting collegial approach to identify non-money driven solutions, to prototype opportunities, to create events and projects as well as the IT platforms needed to enhance human nature and neighborly action within all types of organizations rather than further diminish the positive effects of human nature. “How We Decide” is a relevant and recent book, as is “A Paradise Built In Hell”. Together, the books suggest that institutions create rules that diminish participation of the whole person and that unruled people of all ages are highly effective at self organizing, including under extreme time pressure, if they are prepared. We are exploring games, simulations and experiential forms like coaching and training and peer-to-peer sharing instead of formal teaching.Mark is working on processes and platforms of communication that leverage human nature instead of destroying or fighting it. Specifically, this effort attempt to reunify and link productively into networks a variety of organizations and cultures and tribes and generations and classes. This is about the interstitial connectivity of formal and informal, titanic and tiny, group and individual…without requiring any change in beliefs or structure other than communications. I’m addressing this with a variety of people under the working title: Common Sensing. We are attempting to prove there’s something to this by bringing productive projects and events to life, against all odds. These often involve democracy, education, health care, innovation, finance including the rebuilding of Haiti.
Mark E. Weston is an Education Strategist for Dell Inc. His area of interest is the profound improvement of education of all students through the merger of educational practices and technology. He has spent the past 33 years working to enhance education for all students. During that time, he served in key positions at Dell Computer, Apple Computer, Education Commission of the States, US Department of Education, US House of Representatives, National Conference of State Legislatures, and several school districts in Iowa. Mark advises leaders about education, technology, and public policy strategies.
