OK, you heard it here, and some of you will want to thank me. Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day, an international celebration of sysadmins. And we know they deserve the love, right? They keep us up and running, often working their magic at impossible hours. Please thank your System Administrator today—my husband and business partner has kept my technology singing and put up with my tech stress for many years now! Give these tech whizzes the recognition they deserve—and then go check my scoops!
New roles for colleagues and friends….
Western Governors University (WGU) has tapped two leaders in 21st century education to serve on the nonprofit, online university’s Board of Trustees. Jessie Woolley-Wilson, CEO and President of Dreambox Learning, and Joseph B. Fuller, Professor of Management Practice and Co-Director of the Managing the Future of Work Project at Harvard Business School, have joined WGU’s board.
In addition to her role as President and CEO of Dreambox Learning, Jessie has held executive leadership positions in a number of education technology companies, including Kaplan, LeapFrog SchoolHouse, and Blackboard. She is a two-time recipient of EdTech Digest’s EdTech Leadership Award for transformative innovation in education. She has been recognized for her leadership and impact by Seattle Business Magazine, Forbes, and The New York Times. She earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Virginia.
Joseph currently teaches the General Management Processes and Action course in Harvard Business School’s MBA program. As Co-Director of the Managing the Future of Work Project, he is researching and developing solutions to address the skills gap in the U.S. Prior to his faculty role at Harvard, Joseph was founder and CEO of Monitor Group, a global consulting firm, working extensively with technology firms. He has written extensively on education and workforce issues in publications such as the Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB from Harvard University.
Congrats to Jessie and Joseph on their new roles!
The American Council on Education (ACE) has appointed former U.S. Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell as its 13th president. His career includes serving as president of a private liberal arts college, senior administrator at a state university, and trustee of a major research institution. He will assume his new position on September 1, replacing retiring Molly Corbett Broad, former University of North Carolina president, who has led the council since 2008.
As under secretary, Mitchell oversaw policies, programs, and activities related to postsecondary education, adult, career and technical education, federal student aid, five White House Initiatives – Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Educational Excellence for Hispanics, Educational Excellence for African Americans, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and American Indian and Alaska Native Education – and the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Following the U.S. Department of Education, Mitchell served as a consultant to ACE in the areas of education attainment and innovation and leadership development. Prior to becoming under secretary, Mitchell was chief executive officer of the NewSchools Venture Fund from 2005 to 2014 and served as the president of the California State Board of Education.
Congratulations on this new role with ACE!
Our friend, Deb Postlewait, is off on a new path and one she is excited about! As she described this week, “19 years, 6 months, and 24 days ago I ventured out on an amazing journey….what a ride! Many of you may remember the party on January 1st, 1998 when we celebrated the first day of VIVID Technology Solutions. It has been an amazing adventure filled with more experiences than I can possibly document in a few short sentences. And for the past 8 years I’ve also collaborated with Jack Farrell in the executive recruiting world. But all this comes to an end as I start this week a new professional adventure as a Library Sales Consultant for Gale, a part of Cengage. I am thrilled to join such a wonder team of professionals and am ecstatic to return to my first love—education sales.”
Deb will be working with higher ed institutions in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and Hawaii. She is very excited about her new adventure, and if you want to know more, you can drop her a note. Or just connect to send your congrats to this amazing woman at deb.postlewait@cengage.com. Gale is fortunate to get her!
And another friend, Yvonne Ruwe, has taken on a new role as Channel Sales Manager for ASSIST, LLC. She joins another former American Education Corporation alumna, Michael Spencer, who was recently named CEO with the company. With almost 20 years of experience in our industry, Yvonne is especially excited about ASSIST, a cloud-based, fully-integrated education management system. She told me that just like smartphones have combined camera, computer, and phone technologies, ASSIST combines all aspects of a student data (SIS), student learning management (LMS), and curriculum management system (CMS) into one product.
Yvonne’s focus with the company is to recruit and manage independent sales partners. If you are interested in talking with her about partnership opportunities with ASSIST, you can email her at yruwe@assisteducation.com. And be sure to send her your congrats on her new role!
Kudos!
Who are the biggest edtech influencers in the world? The Edvocate has announced the 2017 EdTech 20: A Ranking of 20 Global Edtech Influencers. You will find administrators, bloggers, journalists, policymakers, researchers, innovators, businessmen, activists, and others who are transforming the edtech space as we know it.
- Anant Agarwal, Founder and CEO of edX
- Salman Khan, Founder and Executive Director of Khan Academy
- Angela Maiers, Founder of Maiers Educational Services, Teacher, Writer
- Nichole Pinkard, Associate Professor at DePaul University in the College of Computing and Digital Media
- Elijah Mayfield, VP of New Technologies for Turnitin
- Mark MacDonald, President and CEO, Hero K12
- Sabari Raja, Nepris CEO and Co-Founder
- Carol Ribeiro, CEO of the Virtual High School
- Robert Romano, CEO and Founder of BookheadEd Learning, LLC, the Creator of StudySync
- Steven Anderson, Co-founder of #EdChat on Twitter, Education Consultant
- Dr. Julie Carter, Co-Founder & CEO, GreyED Solutions
- Rafranz Davis, Instructional Technology Specialist for Arlington, Texas School District
- Vicki Davis, Creator of the Cool Cat Teacher Blog, IT Administrator and Teacher at Westwood Schools
- Shelly Sanchez Terrell, Co-founder of #EdChat, Creator of 30 Goals Challenge for Education
- Jess Gartner, Allovue CEO and Founder
- Todd Brekhus, President of myON
- Chaks Appalabattula, Founder & CEO of Bloomz, Inc.
- Johnjoe Farragher, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Defined Learning
- Lucy Gray, Education Consultant, Co-founder of the Global Education Conference
- Eric Sheninger, Award-Winning Former Principal and Author
Read about these impressive individuals—find their current focus, how they are transforming the ed tech space, what their background is, and what might surprise you about them. Congratulations to these edtech movers and shakers!
Earlybird registration discount ends MONDAY!
Don’t you dare miss out on the chance to save—register for EdNET 2017 TODAY to take advantage of the early, registration discount. Don’t be a slacker!
Your company can still receive benefits of EdNET 2017 sponsorship!
You can still get all of the benefits that EdNET sponsors enjoy before, during, and following the conference—but not for long! Be sure to get in touch with me at bighamv@aol.com if you want to know more about sponsorship opportunities and benefits. And be aware the deadline to confirm sponsorship is August 11th.
Check out the EdNET 2017 keynotes!
- Jordan Bower, a strategic storyteller, will discuss why trust has become your business.
- Hear from Diane Douglas, State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Arizona Department of Education, and two other of the nation’s Chief State School Officers on how they are responding to ESSA and what they need from education companies.
- Whitney Johnson, recognized as one of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world, will talk about putting the power of disruptive innovation to work.
- Elissa Tomasetti, a data-driven CMO who has played both entrepreneur and “intra-preneur,” taking start-ups to success and helping businesses redefine themselves in the digital age, will share E-tail strategies.
- And Lisa Gelobter, with an expansive background in strategy development, business operations, user-centered design, product management, and engineering, will discuss digital disruption in education.
You are going to want to join us in Scottsdale for EdNET, and I will most surely hope to see you there!
Participate in the EdNET Community
In addition to using the attendee directory, stay connected with friends and colleagues, follow the conversation, and join in the fun! Check out the EdNET Community page.
I hope you’re already following the EdNET conversation on Twitter at EdNETbiz and #ednet17, on the EdNET Community Page on Facebook, and in the EdNET Community Group on LinkedIn.
Be sure to also check out the EdNET Flickr albums. Take a stroll down EdNET’s memory lane and please send photos you’d like to see added to our community.
See, I told you—stay connected and join in the fun!
Let’s head out to that weekend, what do you say? I can’t believe we are about to put a wrap on July. I have grandkid fun on my weekend agenda—some kind of summer camp program tomorrow night and dinner with the family and then on Saturday, an early birthday party for Logan and his friends at Chuck E. Cheese. Talk about wild fun! That’s what we will have. Have some fun of your own and I will see you back here next Friday. Till then….Vicki, the Snoop
[Send me your scoops at bighamv@aol.com and be sure to follow me on Twitter @Snoops4Scoops #SheSnoops]
