Keynote Speaker
Dr. G. Thomas Houlihan
President and CEO, Institute for Breakthrough Performance

Dr. Tom Houlihan is President/CEO of his own firm specializing in organizational improvement and leadership in education. His clients include foundations, private industry and state and local school systems. He previously served as Executive Director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, serving in that national leadership role since 2001. Prior to serving CCSSO, Tom served as President/CEO of the North Carolina Partnership for Excellence. Dr. Houlihan previously served as Senior Education Advisor to Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., Governor of North Carolina. With a background as a teacher, high school principal and superintendent, Dr. Houlihan is the first educator in history to hold Cabinet level status in a North Carolina Governor's administration.

Keynote Speaker
John Martinson
Managing Partner, Edison Venture Fund

With 30 years of venture capital experience, John Martinson has organized 150 equity financings. In addition, John has served on the Board of Directors of 40 companies. As founder and Managing Partner of Edison Venture Fund, he shapes Edison's overall investment strategy and leads the organization. He mentors rising investment professionals and assists general partners in growing their regional and industry practices. John guided many venture industry networking organizations in the Mid-Atlantic region. He is a frequent speaker at entrepreneurial events, technology conferences and financing seminars. John is past Chairman of both the National Venture Capital Association and Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance. He served as director for eight years at both NVCA and MAC. He is co-founder and former Chairman of the New Jersey Technology Council. He served as Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Fair and founded the New Jersey Venture Fair.

Mick Adkisson
Manager, Education Advocacy, SMART Technologies

Deborah Beckman
Vice President, Institutional Sales, Education Sales Management

Deborah has 24 years of experience in sales, marketing and public relations, 16 of those self employed. She is an expert at creating targeted messages, increasing customer acquisition, improving retention and developing innovative strategies that drive revenue. Prior to joining ESM, she was president of Spirit West, a marketing firm specializing in message development. Previously, she was vice president of corporate communications at Encore Media (now Starz), where she managed PR, public affairs and customer service for 11 cable television networks. In her diverse career, Deborah has handled fundraising and event planning for presidential campaigns, developed international business for an investment banking firm, and owned and operated a franchise.

Karen Billings
Vice President, Education Division, SIIA

Karen Billings has over 30 years of experience in the education technology industry with positions in management, development, marketing, sales, and classroom teaching. At SIIA she drives the association's work with its 140 member companies for whom educational publishing is a primary business. Prior to SIIA, Billings, was Vice President, Major Business Initiatives for bigchalk Inc, where she drove relationships with major industry partners to respond to new business opportunities and Vice President and General Manager of its MediaSeek Division. She worked at Microsoft Corporation, managing K-12 Strategic Relations and at Claris Corporation, where she ran the Worldwide K-12 and Higher Education Marketing Programs. She served as Director of Sales at Logo Computer Systems, Inc. and as an Executive Editor in the School Division at Houghton-Mifflin Company.

Dr. Gary Bitter
Professor/Executive Director, Arizona State University

Dr. Gary Bitter has been active in mathematics and technology education for 40 years. He has contributed to the research and development of digital curricula and professional development materials and has published over 200 articles and books in the areas of educational technology, mathematics education, and the professional development of teachers. He has presented an estimated 1200 talks to state, national, and international organizations. As the founding board member and first elected president of the International Society for Technology in Education, he helped to redefine the boundaries of the PreK-12 classrooms by forming a network of dedicated professionals sharing classroom-proven solutions to address the challenge of infusing technologies across the curriculum.

Charlene Blohm
President & CEO, C. Blohm & Associates

Charlene Blohm founded C. Blohm & Associates, Inc., in 1991 and has worked with publishers and manufacturers whose products space the educational landscape from printed books to broadband-delivered online curriculum. Her expertise in developing and implementing strategic marketing plans has been fine-tuned over the years, and she is now one of the "go-to" people in the educational publishing industry.

Todd Brekhus
VP Product and Market Management, PLATO Learning

Todd Brekhus is an educational visionary devoted to introducing innovative technologies to educators and administrators. As Vice President - Product and Market Management, Todd and his 14 direct reports are responsible for the entire product library, integration of acquired product lines, and bringing new product ideas to market at PLATO Learning. Todd guides 20 million in capitalized product development spending. Before coming to PLATO via acquisition, Todd was President and COO of Learning Elements and was responsible for implementing strategic direction and business strategy. He played a critical role in the company’s early growth and R&D initiatives, which included the design and development of FOCUS, a foundational reading program. Prior to LearningElements, Todd spent four years creating and directing educational programs for MCI WorldCom, where he helped to build and implement the MarcoPolo Program.

Frank Catalano
Senior Vice President of Marketing, Pearson

Frank Catalano provides counsel and direction on marketing strategy, branding and marketing tactics for Pearson's U.S. K-12 School businesses, including assessment, curriculum, student information and professional development. Before joining Pearson in 2004, Frank was principal of Catalano Consulting for a dozen years, holding long-term interim marketing executive assignments as well as advising many technology-related companies in computing, education and publishing. He also held marketing management positions at Egghead Discount Software and the Apple Programmers and Developers Association. Frank also has been known as a marketing strategist and technology industry analyst in print, on radio and on television. For the past two years, Frank served on the SIIA Education Board of Directors.

Steven Cony
President, Communication Counselors, LLC

Steve Cony's marketing consulting practice is now in its 18th year. He established Communications Counselors LLC after a successful history of marketing management for both major corporations and worldwide advertising agencies. He served as vice president - senior account manager for several advertising agencies, including J. Walter Thompson Co. and Young & Rubicam. He has won the American Marketing Association's national Effie Award for advertising effectiveness for a new product introduction. He serves a wide variety of information technology and other business-to-business clients and has now begun work in the education industry.

Chris Curran
Managing Director, Berkery Noyes

Chris, most recently the Managing Director at Eduventures, Inc., brings a wide range of education, management, and consulting experience to Berkery Noyes. Before joining Eduventures, Chris was Vice President of business development at I.COMM, Inc., a software design and network integrator specializing in the education, government and healthcare markets. Chris holds a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. He also holds an M.A. in Economics from Boston University, and earned a B.A. at St. Lawrence University. Chris serves on the advisory boards of Hosts Learning, Adopt-A-Classroom, and EdNet. and is a frequent industry speaker.

Kevin Custer
Founding Partner, ARC Capital Development

Kevin Custer offers over 17 years of experience in technology and telecommunications and is a recognized leader in launching and growing successful technology businesses in the online and enterprise markets. He has been the primary architect in the launching of five startups, four of which achieved over $10 million in revenues within their first 3 years. Kevin serves as a Principal in Arc Capital Development who invest in and operate emerging market companies. Previously he took a small Internet company, Brainium Technologies, public through a reverse-takeover of Canada¹s seventh-fastest growing public company. In his previous position at Infonautics, he led the creation of Electric Library, an Internet-based subscription service that grossed over $20 million in its first 30 months. Kevin also served as the chairman of both the e-business and the education section of the Software & Information Industry Association.

Ahmet Eti
Chief Executive Officer, Sebit, Inc.

Rita Ferrandino
Founding Principal, Arc Capital Development

Robert Fiance
Chief Executive Office, Software Technology, Inc. (STI)

Robert Fiance has over fifteen years of senior management experience in the K-12 and post secondary education marketplace. He led the management acquisition of STI in 2002 and the acquisition of TestU in 2004, which brought STI into the growing assessment market. Prior to joining STI, he was CEO of TriVision, an educational technology company focused on solutions for the management of professional development and alternative education programs. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of Canter & Associates, where he launched and managed a new Distance Learning Masters Division in 1995, which has since grown to over $50M in annual revenues. Mr. Fiance found Sylvan Learning Systems to acquire Canter & Associates resulting in the $75 million acquisition in 1998.

Edward Fields
President and CEO, Hotchalk, Inc.

Edward M. Fields is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of HotChalk. Mr. Fields has extensive experience in developing and delivering educational software and enterprise class product lifecycle management software solutions. Prior to founding HotChalk, Mr. Fields served as SVP of Marketing at Agile Software Corporation. Mr. Fields was also the CEO of ProductFactory, Inc., a software firm that he co-founded, which was acquired by Agile in 2003. Before ProductFactory, Mr. Fields was the Director of Interactive Publishing at the Learning Company.

Kurt Gerdenich
VP, Director of Technology, Cengage Learning

Kurt Gerdenich has of 15 years of experience with Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Learning). He has held various roles, including print and media development in the school, post-secondary, and professional markets. Currently, he directs the media development efforts in across all markets for the business and economics disciplines. Prior to working at Cengage, he taught English and Composition/Writing courses at Ohio University. He holds a MA in English from Ohio University, and BA’s in both Government and English from the University of Notre Dame. Within the SIIA, Kurt is a Board member for the Education Division, and also the Co-Chair of the Post-Secondary Committee.

Michael Golden
VP of Administration and Planning, Pearson

L. Michael Golden is currently Vice President, Administration and Planning, at Pearson, where he is responsible for strategic planning, business development, research, managing the administrative agenda for senior management, and helping integrate the many products and services offered by Pearson to better serve administrators, educators, and students. Michael joined Pearson after serving for four years as Deputy Secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In that role, he developed and implemented the state strategy to establish enterprise-wide systems to improve productivity and effectiveness in education by streamlining reporting, planning, information and communication processes, establishing state-wide connectivity to all schools, and creating an education portal to provide information, tools and resources to students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Michael has been active with several educational technology and national policy groups. He was named national State Leader of the Year for 2005-2006. He has held management positions at companies including CEO of GiftVantage, Pepsi-Cola Company, and J.P. Morgan. Michael was recently elected to a two-year term on the SIIA Education Board of Directors.

Carrie Heath
Senior Associate, Partnerships and Advocacy, Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)

Carrie Heath works on partnership and advocacy issues at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states. She coordinates partnerships with corporations and foundations for CCSSO and also advocates on education reform issues important to states. Prior to working at CCSSO, Carrie was a fellow on Capitol Hill for Senator Chris Dodd, chair of the Subcommittee on Children and Families. She began her career in education as a fourth and fifth grade classroom teacher in the Chicago Public Schools.

Kathy Hurley
Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions and Partnerships, Pearson

Kathy Hurley, Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, for Pearson School Companies, is a 30-year veteran of the education industry. Prior to joining Pearson, Hurley served as Vice President, Education for PLATO Learning. Hurley has also served as the Senior Vice President for NetSchools (prior to its acquisition by PLATO Learning), where her responsibilities included overseeing the Sales, Marketing and Business Development departments of the company. Hurley's tenure in the education industry also includes her time as Senior Vice President of Education Marketing for The Learning Company, and Senior Vice President of Skillsbank Corporation. In addition, Hurley held important positions with IBM, Mindscape, Grolier and DLM.

Michael Johnson
Chief Operating Officer, Follett

As COO of Follett Digital Resources, Michael is a passionate voice for using technology to energize 21st century learners. With over 20 years of experience in publishing, library and digital communities, Michael has spent the last 16 years helping Follett Corporation provide a wide range of educational tools and services that fuel the learning process and spark the imagination of anyone with a thirst for knowledge. Last year he played a critical role in Follett's acquisition of Interactive Constructs, Inc., leading Follett's entry into the publisher solutions market by providing a single source for solutions that not only incorporate the most advanced technology available, but are also exclusively focused on improving the learning process. Michael has served on several national and international committees through his connection with MARBI and NISO.

Lillian Kellogg
Vice President, Education Networks of America (ENA)

Lillian Kellogg has dedicated her career to education and technology and has more than 20 years of experience in working with school districts and libraries in the field of educational technology. Before joining ENA, Lillian served as Vice President of Strategic Relations for netTrekker, the trusted search engine for schools. Prior to netTrekker Lillian founded The Peak Group, an industry leading consultancy, that published industry analysis reports on emerging technologies in education such as virtual schools and wireless technologies. Lillian started her career as a high school teacher and has held national positions with education and library market leaders such as Encyclopedia Britannica.

Scott Kirkpatrick
President, Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology, Houghton Mifflin Company

Scott serves as President of Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology. Houghton Mifflin Learning Technology is a new division of Houghton Mifflin Company, created after the merger between Riverdeep and Houghton Mifflin. The division combines Riverdeep's assets and Houghton Mifflin's interactive assets. As a leader in the educational technology industry, he is attempting to position the business for success in a disruptive market. Prior to Houghton Mifflin Company, Scott worked as a strategy consultant advising CEOs and private equity firms. He holds an M.B.A. from MIT's Sloan School of Management and a B.S. in Economics & Management from the United States Coast Guard Academy. Scott served on the SIIA Education Board of Directors this past year and has just been elected to a two-year term.

Midian Kurland
VP, Technology & Development, Scholastic, Inc.

Midian Kurland is a 25-year veteran of the educational technology industry with a career that has spanned from basic research at the Center for the Study of Reading and Bank Street College to cutting edge development projects as a scientist in the Apple Advanced Technology Group to senior-level executive positions with Computer Curriculum Corporation, Scholastic and various Internet start-up companies. Midian is currently VP Technology and Development for Scholastic Education. In this capacity he manages product development for all technology-based enterprise curriculum products.

Dr. Russ Lea
Vice President of Research, University of South Alabama

As vice president for research at USA, Dr. Lea oversees research growth across the institution, including interdisciplinary research efforts, resource development, and the orchestration of all phases of research administration. He oversees the activities of the Office of Sponsored Programs, the Office of Grants Administration, and Technology Transfer; provides oversight of the USA Technology and Research Park. Dr. Lea works to fortify and advance productive relationships between USA and the community, particularly with current and potential partners from business, industry, and government; and to advance USA's interests with national institutes and foundations, legislative bodies, local, state, and federal agencies, industry, and research consortia within the United States and abroad. Dr. Lea has extensive experience in academic research having served as vice president for research for the University of North Carolina system and associate vice chancellor for research at North Carolina State University. Dr. Lea serves on the Small Business Technology Development Center and is a member of the Association of University Technology Managers.

David McCool
President, Muzzy Lane Software

As a visionary advocate for using technology to engage students in educational content, Dave is a founder of Muzzy Lane Software. He designed the first Making HistoryTM game, The Calm and the Storm, and led the design team for the Muzzy Lane Simulation Game System. A founding member of two successful venture-backed technology companies, Dave has been instrumental in building solid companies and products. He was a co-founder of Shiva Corporation, a company that saw a successful IPO after 8 years, and a founder of Aptis Communications which was later acquired by Nortel. Dave holds a BS in Computer Science from MIT.

Jim McVety
Vice President of Business Development, MarketingWorks, Inc.

Joining MarketingWorks in 2006, Jim is responsible for new business acquisitions, exploring new market segments and developing innovative programs for MarketingWorks to offer to its clients. Prior to joining MarketingWorks, Jim served as Deputy Director of Programs in Professional Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and held management and business development positions in a number of education firms, including Educatalyst, Inc. and Eduventures, Inc. Jim is recognized as an authority on education markets and is regularly called on to comment on market trends, sales strategies, and competitive positioning tactics. Jim is a certified teacher and holds degrees in Secondary Education and English from Boston College.

Heather Myers
Senior VP, Strategic Planning & Business Development

Charles Patton
Principal Scientist, SRI International

Charles M. Patton is a mathematician and Principal Scientist at the Center for Technology in Learning (CTL) of SRI International. For the past two decades, Dr. Patton has been at the forefront of research in technology augmentations for teaching, learning, and understanding – especially in mathematics. At HP, Dr. Patton pioneered the concept of hand held symbolic / graphical / numeric computation and co-authored a NSF-sponsored calculus reform text. With Texas Instruments, Dr. Patton advanced the concept of the wireless networked classroom, combining innovative technology approaches to low-cost, low-power communications with high-impact use models in learning. At SRI, Dr. Patton has continued and extended this work including, among others, mathematization of the curriculum through engagement with data (Thinking With Data), and tuplespace-based systems for social coordination (GroupScribbles).

John Richards
President, Consulting Services for Education and Lead, CSU, Digital Market Place

John Richards, Ph. D., is a senior executive in education, technology and media with extensive experience in business development, strategic planning, market research, and developing and launching award-winning products. John is President of Consulting Services for Education, LLC where he and his staff have created and implemented business plans; technical interoperable architectures; interactive Web curricula; and proposals, funding and marketing strategies for start-ups, established companies, and educational institutions. John was President of the JASON Foundation and before that, he was GM of Turner Learning, the educational arm of Turner Broadcasting. John was Manager of the Educational Technology division of Bolt Beranek and Newman. He is the author/editor of 3 books and over 60 articles. John has been active in SIIA for twenty years, has been on the Education Market Sector Board, and is a regular speaker at SIIA's Ed Tech Industry Summit.

Torrance Robinson
Founder and President, eChalk, Inc.

Torrance Robinson has been working in educational technology since 1994 when he founded and chaired NYConnects, a not-for-profit that helped wire and connect hundreds of New York schools to the Internet. In 1996 he launched Homework Central (now part of ProQuest) before being recruited to Bloomberg LLP (www.bloomberg.com) where he helped develop, launch, and market Bloomberg.com. In 1997 he left Bloomberg to start eChalk (www.eChalk.com), with the mission to improve communication, collaboration and curriculum alignment in K-12 schools and districts by providing schools with a web-based, service delivered Online Learning Environment. Torrance sits on SIIA's Innovation committee, is on the board of Citizens Union remains active in international educational events through the Council of Foreign Relations and is a frequent speaker at events.

Farimah Schuerman
Founding Partner, Academic Business Advisors, LLC

Farimah Schuerman is a specialist in the business of educational technology. During her career, she has helped hundreds of education companies bring new products to market while ensuring that product quality is maintained at the highest level. Farimah has provided guidance in the areas of sales, marketing, product development, business development and many other pivot areas. Farimah has been active within SIIA's Education Division the past few years; serving as co-chair of the Postsecondary Committee and on the Steering Committee for the Ed Tech Business Forum or Ed Tech Industry Summit, and has presented at each of those conferences.

Steve Siegel
Group VP, Strategy & Business Development, Follett

Steve currently holds the position as Group VP of Strategy and Business Development for Follett. In his position, Steve is responsible for strategic planning, strategy development, strategic partnerships and related merger and acquisition efforts. Steve was instrumental in several of Follett's recent acquisitions including Sagebrush's Library Automation business and Interactive Constructs, Inc that has enabled Follett to become a provider of publisher solutions. In addition, Steve is responsible for helping Follett establish and execute its enterprise-wide digital strategy for Follett Corporation. Prior to his current role, Steve has held various positions at Follett ranging from Directing Follett Software's Product Management team to Corporate Strategy at Follett Corporation. Steve has over 21 years in technology-related industries, 13 of which are in Educational Technology. Steve was just appointed to a 1 year position on the SIIA Education Board.

Megan Stewart
Director, Worldwide School Solutions, Adobe, Inc.

Robin Warner
Managing Director, The van Tulleken Company

Robin Warner is a partner at The van Tulleken Company, which is a leading international advisor to corporate clients, media executives and entrepreneurs on mergers and acquisitions in the publishing and information industries. With offices in New York and London, its clients include the largest international publishing and media companies as well as many small and medium-sized private firms in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. In the education sector, the Company has completed 16 transactions in the past five years. In addition to her education work, Ms. Warner has successfully handled transactions in sectors including professional information, trade and scientific--several technology based.

Mona Westhaver
President and Co-Founder, Inspiration Software

Mona Westhaver has over 20 years experience in software product development and corporate management. As President of Inspiration Software, Westhaver oversees the direction and daily functioning of the company and guides product management and marketing efforts. She is also a board member of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) Education Division, and the Software Association of Oregon (SAO). Westhaver is a graduate of Antioch University in Seattle, Washington, where she received a master of science degree in whole systems design with an emphasis in organizational development.

Jessie Woolley-Wilson
President, K 12, Blackboard

As President of K12 at Blackboard Inc., Jessie Woolley-Wilson brings more than fifteen years experience in the education industry to Blackboard. In her role, she oversees Blackboard's growth and development strategy focused on elementary and secondary education. Jessie brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in helping schools implement technology programs that really impact student learning. Prior to joining Blackboard, she served as Executive Vice President of LeapFrog Enterprises and President of LeapFrog SchoolHouse. She previously served as vice president of marketing at LeapFrog, where she was instrumental in establishing SchoolHouse as a leader in education technology and as one of the fastest growing educational software producers.

---