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The Education 4.0 Virtual Conference is only a week away! If you’ve been curious to get to know our panelists a bit more, now is your chance! Be sure to stop by our virtual event on July 22 and 23 to hear them speak, and connect with them on all things Education 4.0. 

Amie Souder– Chief Business Officer, US Region at Veative

Amie has more than twenty years of experience spanning both education and technology organizations. Prior to joining Veative, Amie was a principal with Palm Beach County School District. During her eighteen years there, she held positions in strategic planning, technology integration, school reform, curriculum design and instructional coaching.

Cindy Daniels– Professional Development Specialist at Connection

Cindy Daniels is a Professional Development Specialist for Connection, with a strong background in instructional leadership, and pedagogy.    She has experience working with teachers, district leadership and school boards in school transformation. She currently supports schools/districts throughout the United States with implementation of Microsoft/Office 365 products and solutions.

Daylon Reifsteck– Emerging Technology Specialist at The Douglas Stewart Company

Daylon Reifsteck is an Emerging Technology Specialist for The Douglas Stewart Company. With an expertise in market research and edtech trends, he has researched the K12 and HiEd landscape. His passions include Esports, virtual reality, and fabrication labs. He holds a B.S in economics from UW-Madison and has over two years’ experience in product management.

Dave Dolan– Chief Product Officer at Veative

Dave has been teaching for 30 years and holds a Masters in TESOL. He established an English school in Japan in 1993 and found ways to use technology to best serve the needs of students. With a background in digital books, LMSs and VR, he helped form Veative.

Desmond Martin– Program Coordinator at NextWaveSTEM

Desmond is a STEM educator who designs curricula for emerging technologies while training other instructors in developing classroom solutions utilizing emerging technologies for NextWaveSTEM.

Eric Hawkinson-Associate Professor of Learning Design and Technology, School of Global Engagement, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Founder of ARientation

Eric is a learning futurist, tinkering with and designing technologies that may better inform the future of teaching and learning. Eric is president and research coordinator of MAVR, a research group working in immersive technologies for teaching and learning, and more specifically, augmented and virtual realities in language learning.

 Jay R. Gardner- Head of Business Development, Sales and Marketing at BlocksCAD

I currently lead the business development efforts at BlocksCAD3D, a Coding, 3d Modeling and Math curriculum company out of Boston MA.  I am also a  Director at ARC Capital Development advising startup companies and entrepreneurs in developing market strategy for k-12 edtech.  My recent presentations include “Market Development Challenges @ UPENN Milliken” – “The Future of Work – Facilitator @ SEDTA”  I have led Sales Teams at Scholastic Education and Scientific Learning.

Jeff Palumbo– Global Esports Solutions Manager – Education at Lenovo

Jeff Palumbo has over 10 years of experience in the games industry focusing on marketing, ecommerce and engagement strategies, as well as an MBA from Syracuse University in Innovation Management. Jeff’s love for gaming started with the Atari 2600 back in 1982 and is an avid gamer to this day.

Joe McAllister– Education Esports Expert at CDWG

Joe McAllister is a nerdthelete, high school teacher, varsity wrestling head coach, sponsored a gaming club and is hardware geek. Joe has worked with over 300 schools, both in K12 and Higher Education, to help esports programs.  Research, stake holder buy-in, space design and more is how Joe can help.

Dr. Katrina Adkins– Senior Program Director- K12 and Higher Education Solutions at SHI

Dr. Katrina Adkins has been in education for 20 years. She has taught Kindergarten, 1st and 3rd Grade, 6th through 12th Grade computer science, as well as college. Katrina’s strong desire to integrate technology into her classroom resulted in a Masters in Instructional Technology and a Doctorate in Instructional Technology & Distance Education. She spent 7 years in administration as a Director of Technology as well as a Technology Coach.

 Dr. Laurent Da Dalto– Founder of MIMBUS

Dr. Laurent Da Dalto has a PhD in Virtual Reality and has been working on the transfer of new technologies to manual trades training since 2001. In 2004, he created the first simulator dedicated to the training of the welding motion. He founded MIMBUS in 2011 to provide the vocational training centers with a global offer.

Lawrence Franchini– Vice President of Sales at BrainCo

Lawrence has spent the past 20 years in multiple sales and operational leadership roles throughout Verizon. He led Retail, B2B, Authorized Agents, and National Retail channels to award winning performance for over 18 years. He was directly responsible for all sales, operations, financial performance and overall customer experience in those areas. In 2020 Lawrence was selected to become a member of the Forbes Business Development Council.

Maryam Moeinazad– Channel Account Manager at GoGuardian

Raised in a family of teachers, Maryam has a passion for education and strives to do meaningful work to improve our country’s educational system.

Maxwell Bouge– Chairman and Founder of 3Doodler

One of the inventors of 3D pens, and founder of 3Doodler. Maxwell Bogue has been creating consumer and educational products since his time at Purdue. He is also responsible for a number of robotic products. He is an entrepreneur who enjoys solving problems and finding new ways to help others.

Nicole Caldwell– Professional Development Specialist at Connection

Nicole Caldwell, M. Ed. is a professional development specialist at Connection with a strong background in implementing purposeful technology into the classroom to support student achievement. Her role consists of strategically supporting schools and districts throughout the United States in their implementation of Microsoft/Office 365 products and solutions.

Pamela Aulakh– K-12 Vertical Alliance Manager for Connection

Pamela Aulakh, M. Ed. is the K-12 Vertical Alliance Manager for Connection.  In her role as an education strategist, she works with districts across the nation to help develop and implement K-12 educational technology solutions in support of improving learning environments and student outcomes.  After spending more than a decade as an educator, instructional technology leader, and project manager, Pam understands the importance of leveraging solutions and funding to support equity-based technology programs and structures.

Dr. Patty LeBlanc– Professor of Education at Southeastern University 

Dr. LeBlanc was a classroom teacher before entering higher education.  She taught at Barry University and Stetson University, where she was awarded $7.5 million in grants from the US Department of Education.  Dr. LeBlanc currently serves at Southeastern University where she teaches doctoral students and serves on dissertation committees.

Reem Fakhry– Director of Science Literacy at Readorium

Reem Fakhry, Readorium’s  Director of Science Literacy, graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences in 1990 and began her professional career as a pharmaceutical microbiologist. She earned her Master of Arts in Teaching at William Paterson University in 2003 and taught science on the elementary, middle and high school levels. Reem was Science Department Coordinator at Nobel Leadership Academy for five years before field testing Readorium. She was so excited about the results of the program that she decided to join the Readorium team to help spread the word and help kids all over the country benefit from the program.

Rich Henderson– Director of Global Education Solutions at Lenovo

Rich has spent the last 15 years working in technology and services startups and global companies with a focus on product, marketing and strategy.  Previous to these roles, Rich was a classroom leader and a special needs resource and even worked a summer as an elementary school janitor.  Rich managed regional curriculum software sales at SAS inSchool, and most recently is leading strategic education offerings for one of the most innovative companies in tech.

Dr. Rita Oates, PhD– President of Oates Associates

Dr. Rita Oates won grants exceeding $10 million while edtech director, Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL), fourth largest district in the USA. She taught Grant Writing for Edtech at Barry University. As president of Oates Associates, she presented grantwriting webinars for edWeb.net and workshops for CoSN, ISTE, FETC and others.

Dr. Robert McLaughlin– Executive Director at the National Collaborative for Digital Equity (NCDE)

Bob’s efforts persuaded policy makers to give banks credit toward their Community Reinvestment Act requirement by investing in digital equity in lower income areas.  Bob’s administered approval of New Hampshire’s educator preparation programs, and led large-scale systemic STEM educational reform and technology integration at the school and preparation program levels.

Sarah Segrest– Business Development Manager at the Doulglas Stewart Company

Sarah Segrest is a passionate advocate for technological innovation that drives positive change. A self-professed “geek” with a penchant for following unconventional paths, she has amassed twenty five years of experience across multiple technology-centric industries. A strong belief in the power of communication, creativity and collaboration drives her entrepreneurial spirit.

Scott Dorn– Executive Vice President at Spectrum Indusrties, Inc.

Driven daily to assist our nearly 15,000 customers overcome their current and future challenges. Twenty-five years of experience assisting our amazing team at Spectrum Industries within the education technology market. Energized and caffeinated to expand our esports advocacy efforts.

Shane Lovellette– Education Strategy Lead at TechSmith Corporation

Shane Lovellette is a passionate problem solver, believer in the positive power of media, world explorer and family man. As Strategy Lead, Shane focuses on effectively using media in education. Previously, Shane was an award-winning producer and director, with a BS from Syracuse University and MBA from Michigan State University.

Sugandhi Chugani– Program Manager at NextWaveSTEM

Sugandhi Chugani ensures seamless implementation and delivery of virtual and in-person STEM programs in K-12 schools.  Her prior experience includes teaching within the Chicago Public School system, designing and launching student-centered technology platforms, and building high-quality language education programs in K-12 schools across Illinois.

Sumant Yerramily– General Manager, Enterprise and Education at Edmodo

Sumant Yerramilly is the GM of Edmodo’s enterprise and consumer division – the world’s largest education communication and collaboration platform. He currently oversees global go to market strategy and large scale implementation projects across the world. Previously, he was Director of Product at Unified and the VP of Product at Compass Labs. He started off his career by co-founding Amp Idea (acquired by VTS), an out of home digital advertising startup which was responsible for developing the first interactive taxi payment and entertainment product, now available in thousands of taxis around the world.

Tim Enwall– Head of Misty Robotics

Tim Enwall is currently the Head of Misty Robotics, Inc. Previously CEO of Solista (sold to Gartner Group), Tendril, now Uplight (privately held) and Revolv (sold to Google) where he then became Head of Strategy at Nest Labs, a unit of Google / Alphabet. Angel investor in 10 startup companies. Techstars Mentor since 2008. Winner of Boulder County Esprit Award Entrepreneur of the Year (2012).

Tim Gifford– Founder and Chief Scientist of Movia Robotics, Inc.

Timothy D. Gifford is the Founder and Chief Scientist of Movia Robotics, Inc., responsible for developing core technology and conducting advanced research and development.  Timothy is also a researcher at the University of Connecticut and presents internationally on Robot-Assisted Instruction, Autism, Artificial Intelligence, Collaborative Robotics, Human Perception and Assistive Technology.

Tim Hagan– President of Education Associates

Tim has dedicated his career to helping students of all abilities achieve their potential. For almost four decades, Tim has led Education Associates in their efforts to improve the lives of all learners. Tim’s mandate is to empower students to realize career interests and gain meaningful job and life skills.

Todd Word– Business Development at The Bellow group

With over 16 years of sales and marketing experience developing, managing, and implementing global retail / B2B sales strategy and initiatives, Todd has sold to and/or overseen the sales strategy for clients at practically every major US retailer, B2B solution provider, educational reseller, and distributor.

Tyce Miller– CEO of MobileMind

With over twenty-five years of experience in the software industry, Tyce’s career spans sales and sales leadership roles with companies such as SAS, and AirWatch(VMware). While at AirWatch, he led the Education Division, where he discovered traditional professional development for teachers was falling short with the pace of change and complexity of new mobile and cloud technologies. This led to the creation of MobileMind and the mission to modernize professional learning in schools.