Speakers

James Baller

Jim Baller is the founder and president of the Baller Herbst Law Group in Washington, DC. Since 1992, he has served as outside telecommunications counsel to the American Public Power Association (APPA). He represents public power utilities and local governments in more than 35 states on a broad range of communications matters. Over the last decade, Jim has participated in most of the leading public cable, fiber, and wireless initiatives in the United States. He has also been involved in all of the major legislative and court battles over state barriers to public communications initiatives. In 2001, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors named him its Member of the Year. In 2006, MuniWireless awarded him its first “Esme Award.” The Fiber to the Home Council and Public Technologies Institute have both called him “the nation’s most experienced and knowledgeable attorney on public broadband matters.”

Sara Basson

Sara Basson currently works in IBM Research, were she is driving strategy for speech technologies. She has previous experience as a marketing and business development manager, as well as in designing and marketing. Sara has held a number of roles in the area of speech technologies at IBM Research and previously at NYNEX Science and Technology (now Verizon). She has engaged in speech technology development, assessment, and application deployment. She has conducted a number of feasibility studies for speech recognition and natural language understanding technologies, as well as experiments assessing speech synthesis intelligibility and viability. Sara has more than 50 articles published on topics in speech technology and accessibility. Sara is on the Board of Directors of AVIOS and she serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Speech Technology. She is an executive advisor to the Liberated Learning initiative. Sara holds a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York and was recently granted an Honorary Doctorate degree from St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Mike Calvo

Mike Calvo is the CEO of Serotek Corporation, a technology company he founded in 2001. Born blind, Mike experienced first-hand the devastating effects of physical limitations and set out to make a difference at a young age. Mike launched a recording studio at the age of 18 and later opened a consultancy dedicated to teaching employers and blind people how to expand occupational opportunities and career paths using computer technology. His next venture, InHouse Radio Networks, a Web-based audio entertainment company, received an enthusiastic response from the blind community. After years of helping people with disabilities through their first computer experience, Mike developed a vision of a simple, uncomplicated interface that would later launch Serotek Corporation. Today, people around the world are using Serotek products including the visually impaired, elderly, and those with limited mobility, to operate computers and access the Internet. Read American Federation for the Blind’s recent interview with Mike here.

Kelly Carnes

Kelly Carnes is a nationally recognized technology policy expert and thought leader, holding numerous leadership positions in technology business, government, and law during her 20 year career in the tech industry. She is president and CEO of TechVision21, a DC-based technology strategy firm. TechVision21 leverages technology, business and government expertise to help companies pinpoint and secure research and technology funding, forge critical alliances with business and government leaders, and promote and protect their interests in Washington. Kelly has years of experience promoting and supporting the commercialization of alternative energy technology. She has also served on numerous Boards and Commissions and as a top national advocate for technology business. As a Presidential appointee confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Kelly represented the Administration before Congress and also represented the United States in bi-lateral negotiations with foreign governments and in multi-lateral fora. She also created GetTech, a Telly-award winning national public awareness campaign to encourage teens to pursue technology careers. Kelly graduated from Georgetown University Law School.

Milton Chen

Milton Chen is executive director of The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF), a nonprofit foundation founded in 1991. GLEF utilizes various media, including its multimedia website www.edutopia.org and its award-winning magazine Edutopia, to tell inspiring stories of how interactive technologies are transforming America’s schools. Prior to joining GLEF in 1998, Milton was the founding director of the KQED Center for Education (PBS). He has also been a director of research at Sesame Workshop in New York, working on Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and 3-2-1 Contact, and an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Milton is a frequent speaker on issues of education and the media and the author of more than 30 books, chapters, and articles on educational media. He chairs the advisory council for the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. Milton work has been honored by the Congressional Black Caucus, the Elmo Award from Sesame Workshop, and the Fred Rogers Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In 2007-2008, he joins a group of 35 Fulbright New Century Scholars working on access and diversity issues in education.

Sylvia Clark

Sylvia Clark has been executive director of NEC Foundation of America since its 1991 inception. Endowed $10 million by NEC and its United States subsidiaries, NEC Foundation of America has one exclusive and consistent area of interest: technology for people with disabilities. Sylvia is the co-author of Organizing Corporate Contributions: Options and Strategies, published in 1996 by the Council on Foundations. She serves as chair of the Disability Funders Network, is a member of the Advisory Committee of the National Center of Innovative Technology, and is a member of the board of Gifts in Kind International where she chairs the Technology, Office Products and Supplies Committee.

Louis Danielson

Louis Danielson, a national leader in the field of special education, has been involved for nearly three decades in programs that improve results for students with disabilities. He brings an unparalleled and unique depth of knowledge in both special education policy and research to his current position as director of the Research to Practice Division in the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). His career spans several roles in education including secondary school science and mathematics teacher, school psychologist, and teaching at the university level. For the past 23 years, Louis has held leadership roles in OSEP and is currently responsible for the discretionary grants program, including research, technical assistance and dissemination, personnel preparation, technology, and parent training priorities, national evaluation activities, and other major policy-related studies in OSEP. He has served in numerous research and policy roles across the Department and has represented OSEP in major school reform activities. Louis was awarded a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Pennsylvania State University in 1976.

David Dockterman

Dr. David Dockterman is vice president and chief academic officer at Tom Snyder Productions, a Scholastic company, where he has been developing award-winning, research-based educational software for the last 25 years. Among his team’s scores of programs are Decisions, Decisions; Thinking Reader; FASTT Math; and TimeLiner. David authored the books Great Teaching in the One Computer Classroom and Weaving Technology into Your Teaching. He also co-created and co-wrote Science Court, the highly acclaimed animated TV show that ran on ABC’s Saturday Morning. A former classroom teacher, David is an Adjunct Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he earned his Ed.D. He served nine years as an elected member of his local school committee and has dedicated himself to supporting classroom teaching and the successful integration of technology into schools.

Gregg W. Downey

Gregg W. Downey is editor, publisher, and president of the eSchool News Network. Gregg co-founded eSchool News, the nation’s Number One ed-tech print newspaper, eSchool News Online, the world’s most visited ed-tech publication web site; and eSN-TV, a producer of video news and information for education and education supporters. Winner of more than 30 national awards in education journalism, including three Jesse H. Neal awards, Gregg is a newspaperman who has spent much of his career in the service of education. He’s the former editor-in-chief of The American School Board Journal, founding editor of The Executive Educator magazine, and launched the quarterly technology publication, The Electronic School. Previously, he was a writer and editor for McGraw-Hill Publications in Chicago.

David Ferrero

David Ferrero is senior program officer for the Education Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation’s educational giving aims to raise high school graduation and college-going rates for black and Hispanic youth through scholarships and the development of small, rigorous, and supportive high schools. Prior to joining the foundation in 2000, David had worked as a journalist and high school teacher outside Chicago; education policy researcher for Achieve, Inc.; instructional coach for an after school enrichment program for inner city youth in Boston; and consultant to the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education on teacher quality and alternative certification. More recently, he was a co-editor of and contributor to Educating Citizens: International Perspectives on Civic Values and School Choice (Brookings Press, 2004). His own education includes a doctorate from Harvard in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy.

Barry K. Fingerhut

Barry K. Fingerhut has been involved in the investment business for over 35 years. He has been a principal of GeoCapital LLC since 1981 and has served as president since 1986, and he has focused much of his investment experience on small capitalization companies in the education and training, publishing, media, consumer services, hydrocarbon and financial industries. In 1992, Barry co-founded Wheatley Partners, a Venture Capital partnership specializing in investments in new technologies and services and serving both corporate and public institutions. In 2004 he co-founded F/H Partners LLC, a Family and Friends Investment Partnership in New York City. In 2006, Barry formed Synconium Partners, a Venture Capital partnership investing in the fields of disabilities and “ease of use” markets. Barry has served on a number of public and private Boards of Directors, with a current position at Apollo Group International and Edufund, among others. In the non-profit sector, he currently serves as president and board member of F·E·G·S, the largest Health and Human Services agency in New York City, the Board of Overseers at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and Achievement/First Corporation, parent of the Amistad School in New Haven and New York.

Dean L. Fixsen

Dean L. Fixsen began his career in human services in 1963 as a psychiatric aide in a large state hospital for children with profound developmental delays. Dean has spent his career developing and implementing evidence-based programs, initiating and managing change processes in provider organizations and service delivery systems, and working with others to improve the lives of children, families, and adults. Over the past four decades, Dean has co-authored nearly 100 publications including the highly regarded Implementation research: A synthesis of the literature. He has served on numerous editorial boards including Implementation Science and has advised local, state, and federal governments. Dean currently is a research professor at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute and, with Karen Blase, is Co-Director of the National Implementation Research Network. Dean received his doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Kansas in 1970.

Larry Goldberg

Larry Goldberg is WGBH’s Director of Media Access and oversees NCAM (the research and development arm) and the two access production/service departments—The Caption Center and Descriptive Video Service. Larry has been deeply involved in the national effort to ensure that the design and implementation of the nation’s media and information systems address the needs of people with disabilities. He was a pioneer in the development of the emerging captioning system for digital television in the United States and served as the founding chair of the Working Group of the Electronic Industries Association. Larry was awarded a patent in 1996 and a da Vinci Award in 2006 for “Rear Window™,” the first closed captioning system for movie theaters and theme parks. Larry served on the U.S. Access Board’s Electronic and Information Technology Access Advisory Committee that established rules for federal compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. He speaks widely at conferences and consults for government and media and technology companies on access issues and is a member of numerous advisory boards. He also currently serves on the Federal Communications Commission’s Technological Advisory Council and on the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee.

Lucy Gray

Lucy Gray is the lead technology coach at the Center for Urban School Improvement at the University of Chicago. In her current role, she is responsible for the development of a technology professional development program on three University of Chicago Charter School campuses. Prior to her current position, Lucy worked as a primary grade teacher in the Chicago Public Schools and as a middle computer science teacher at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Lucy serves as an adjunct faculty member and advisory board member to the TIE program and her varied professional interests include the incorporation of Web 2.0 technologies in educational settings, multimedia development, assistive technology and global education. She often covers these topics in her postings to the Infinite Thinking Machine, a group weblog sponsored by WestEd and Google. In recent years, she has been appointed an Apple Distinguished Educator and Google Certified Teacher.

Tracy Gray

Tracy Gray is the director of two OSEP funded projects, the National Center for Technology Innovation, NCTI (www.nationaltechcenter.org) and the Center for Implementing Technology in Education, CITEd (www.cited.org) at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Tracy is a nationally recognized expert in education and technology who has led numerous projects in the U.S. and abroad that examine the impact of technology on educational achievement. She has published and lectured widely on issues related to the integration of emerging technologies into the classroom, particularly those with special needs. Prior to joining AIR, she was engaged in philanthropic initiatives as the vice president for youth services at the Morino Institute. Prior to that work, Tracy served as the deputy executive director and chief operating officer for the Corporation for National Service (CNS). As part of the leadership team, she helped launch AmeriCorps to enable more than 50,000 young people to serve in over 1000 programs throughout the United States. Tracy serves on several boards, including Cable in the Classroom, Teach for America-DC, and the US-China Center for Research on Education and Excellence.

Peter Grunwald

Peter Grunwald has worked with electronic information services for schools and families for more than 15 years and is president of Grunwald Associates, a research and consulting firm in Bethesda, Md. Grunwald Associates has conducted the industry’s most respected surveys on educator and family technology use since 1995. These surveys have helped define the school and home technology markets, and have been called the “gold standard” in the industry. Grunwald Associates is also currently conducting a major national study, underwritten by MySpace, Microsoft and Verizon, on Student Social Networking. The company partners with researchers and underwriters and also works with clients directly. Before forming Grunwald Associates, Peter was vice president of Issue Dynamics, Inc. (IDI), a leading Washington DC public affairs firm in the telecommunications. Prior to working at IDI, he served as director of sales and field marketing for GTE Education Services.

Everett Harper

Everett Harper is the director of community initiatives at Linden Lab, which is the creator of Second Life. His initiatives include both the conversational and analytical interactions with Residents. He is developing inbound and outbound Resident communication channels, as well as developing social network analysis tools and applications. Everett received his strategy training at Bain & Company and at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He honed his marketing skills at Plan B Marketing and at Ninth House Network, producing digital media products. Outside of work, Everett was a starter on Duke University’s National Championship soccer team, its first in any sport.

Jane Hauser

Jane Hauser is an education program analyst with the Division of Research to Practice, Office of Special Education Programs at the U. S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. Her work focuses on technology for students with disabilities, research to practice issues, communities of practice, and strengthening the delivery of technical assistance to support improved leaning environments for children with disabilities. She currently is the project officer for The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI), for the Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) and for the Access Center: Improving Outcomes for all Students K-8, all at the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

Chuck Hitchcock

Chuck Hitchcock is chief officer of policy and technology at the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), where he oversees the center’s public policy initiatives and technology innovation. Chuck is also the director of a U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) cooperative agreement project called the “NIMAS Technical Assistance Center” as well as the director of CAST’s work on the “Center for Implementing Technology in Education” (CITEd), a technical assistance project operated in partnership with the American Institutes for Research. Chuck has extensive practical experience in special education administration, technology education, and teaching at all levels from early childhood to graduate school. He was the founding director of a Massachusetts statewide technology training and support center that served 180 school districts, and was an account executive for hardware and educational software companies.

Steve Jacobs

Steve Jacobs has been in the computer industry for 28 years. Steve is president of IDEAL Group, Inc. and CEO of Online Conferencing Systems Group, Inc., a subsidiary of IDEAL. IDEAL Group is a 2002 spin-off of IDEAL at NCR Corporation. In addition, Steve manages industry outreach activities for the Information Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center, a federally funded project located at Georgia Institute of Technology. Steve served as president of IDEAL at NCR until his retirement from NCR, at the end of 2002, after 20 years of service. Previous to his position as President at IDEAL, Steve had responsibilities as NCR’s global accessibility program manager and managed a wide-range of technical support, application development, technical education, hardware product management and commercial industry marketing groups. Previous to NCR’s spin-off from AT&T at the end of 1996, Steve served as chairman of the AT&T Global Information Solution’s Project Freedom. In 1992 Project Freedom pioneered the use of interactive video technology in support of sign-language communication over the Internet. Today this service is referred to as video relay services (VRS).

John Kemp

John D. Kemp has more than 45 years of direct experience in the disability movement and currently serves as a principal at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Powers, Pyles, Sutter & Verville, P.C. In his practice, he serves as the CEO of American Congress of Community Supports and Employment Services (ACCSES), HalfthePlanet Foundation, and The One Percent Coalition, as well as the executive director of and general counsel to the US Business Leadership Network. He has also led, partnered, worked for and served on the Boards of Directors of many of the leading disability and nonprofit organizations including the United Cerebral Palsy Associations and the U.S. International Council on Disabilities. In addition, John serves on the State Department’s Advisory Committee on Persons with Disabilities. John is widely respected for his many achievements, both in the corporate and non-profit worlds, and as a person with personal disability experience who uses four prostheses, he inspires others to achieve the impossible through knowledge, experience, vision, personality, and persistence. In March 2006, John received the Henry B. Betts Award, widely regarded as America’s highest honor for disability leadership and service. John graduated from Washburn University School of Law in 1974 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Washburn University School of Law in May, 2003.

Cheryl Lemke

Cheryl Lemke is president and CEO of the Metiri Group. Cheryl specializes in public policy for K-12 learning technology, working at a variety of levels with governors, legislators, superintendents, business leaders, and teachers. Cheryl had 25 years of experience in both the public and non-profit sectors prior to her work with the Metiri Group, and has continued to work in both sectors at the state and national level. This includes projects related to assessment of technology impacts on learning; gauging the progress of states, districts, and schools with educational technology; convening national experts in discussions on policy issues; and designing and prototyping educational technology frameworks. Cheryl is the author of the National Trends Report (PDF) used in 2005 in over 100 Congressional hearings and meetings on the NCLB Title II D federal program; an architect of Metiri’s interactive database used by many states as evidence to drive practice, and the designer behind three national frameworks on effective technology use that are used in thousands of schools today.

Alfred Miller

Alfred P. Miller is considered one of the country’s foremost leaders in the field. Al currently serves as executive consultant to F·E·G·S Health and Human Services Systems—one of the largest and most respected not-for-profit health and human services organizations in the United States—and president of the MA Consulting Group, LLC. For more than thirty years prior Al served as the CEO of F·E·G·S., which had a budget of $300k when he joined to now having a budget of over $270 million and a system of 14 subsidiaries. Al has also served as adjunct faculty of the New School for Social Research, Cornell University School of Labor and Industrial Relations and the Board of the College of Human Ecology. He has lectured at numerous colleges and universities; provided technical assistance to business, government and not-for-profit organizations in the U.S. and abroad; published extensively; and been the recipient of many international, national, and professional awards. Al has spent many years creating new opportunities to marry technology to the delivery of health, education and social services in order to create new efficiencies, better effectiveness, and an improved quality of service delivery systems.

Steven Ritter

Steven Ritter is chief scientist at Carnegie Learning. Steven received his Ph.D. in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. As a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon, he was instrumental in developing and evaluating the intelligent tutoring systems that became the basis for Carnegie Learning’s products. In 1998, he was one of the co-founders of Carnegie Learning. Steven is the author of numerous papers on the design, architecture and evaluation of Intelligent Tutoring Systems and served on the education board of the Software and Information Industry Association. Carnegie Learning continues to conduct research, both with Carnegie Mellon University and other institutions. In his role as chief scientist, Steven directs all projects regarding research on the effectiveness of Cognitive Tutor products and guides development projects focused on improving the effectiveness of mathematics curricula.

David Rose

In 1984, David Rose, chief education officer at Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) helped to found the organization with a vision of expanding opportunities for all students, especially those with disabilities, through the innovative development and application of technology. David specializes in developmental neuropsychology and in the universal design of learning technologies. In addition to his role as Founding Director/Chief Scientist of Cognition and Learning at CAST, David lectures at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he has been on the faculty for 20 years. He has been the lead researcher on a number of U.S. Department of Education grants and now is the principal investigator for two national centers to develop and implement the National Instructional Materials Standard (NIMAS). He is the co-author of Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning (ASCD, 2002) as well as numerous other books and articles and is frequently a keynote speaker at regional and national educational conferences. David received his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Samuel A. Simon

Samuel A. Simon is an award winning innovator, a leading authority on consumer and public affairs, and the founder and president of Issue Dynamics Inc. Samuel pioneered the practice of bridging gaps between industry and non-traditional consumer groups, and has over thirty years experience at the highest levels of his profession. He and IDI have received national recognition for innovation in the media relations and grassroots mobilization arenas. Samuel has also served as public relations and public affairs counsel to a variety of Fortune 500 companies. Until 1986, Samuel served as president of the Telecommunications Research and Action Center. Samuel is a published author and commentator on consumer and public affairs issues; he has written three books and numerous articles, appeared on national media programs, and has testified before Congress on many occasions. In addition to his position as president of IDI. Samuel has maintained a major presence in the national consumer movement. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1970 and entered the public interest movement immediately following law school, working as one of the first lawyers for Ralph Nader.

Benjamin Stokes

Benjamin Stokes is an education program officer at the MacArthur Foundation. His focus is on the $50 million “Digital Media and Learning” initiative launched in 2006 to help determine how digital media is changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. Previously, Benjamin co-founded Games for Change, the central organization advancing games media for positive social change. Benjamin also worked at NetAid as an E-Learning Architect, training high school students to reach 150,000 of their peers in the fight on global poverty.

Mary Ann Wolf

Mary Ann Wolf is the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA). In this position, Mary Ann works with state educational technology directors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and works with policy-makers in other educational organizations, the U.S. Department of Education, and on the Hill. SETDA provides national leadership on educational technology, ensures members have meaningful professional development opportunities, and engages in partnerships with the public and private sector to collaborate on how educational technology supports teaching and learning. Mary Ann directs the Technology Assistance Partnership Program (TAPP) with nine federal evaluation grantees and oversees the National Trends Report focused on NCLB Title II D – Enhancing Education through Technology. Mary Ann taught fifth grade in a Virginia public school, studied education leadership at the University of Virginia and worked for KPMG Peat Marwick as a consultant for federally funded grant programs. Mary Ann has a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia.

Yong Zhao

Yong Zhao is a university distinguished professor at Michigan State University, where he also serves as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. His is an elected fellow of the International Academy for Education. His research interests include globalization and education, digital citizenship, diffusion of innovation, teacher adoption of technology, computer-assisted language learning, globalization and education, and international and comparative education. Zhao has published extensively in these areas. Zhao has been invited to present to education policy makers and practitioners in many countries including Australia, Chile, China, England, Ireland, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, The Netherlands, the United States, and Vietnam. Zhao received his Ph.D in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996.