Gregory McGinity
Senior Director of Policy
The Broad Foundation
Gregory McGinity is senior director of policy at the Broad Foundation. He is also a senior fellow at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Mr. McGinity was the senior education policy consultant to the California State Board of Education, where he worked on the creation of California’s academic content standards and assessment system. He previously served United States Senator Thad Cochran as a legislative assistant and then United States Representative Lindsey O. Graham as legislative director, advising both members on education and training issues. Taking a leave from the Broad Foundation, he briefly worked in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration, serving on the transition team and as acting Chief of Staff to former California Secretary of Education Richard J. Riordan.
Michael G. McShane
President and CEO
Nemours Wildlife Foundation
Michael G. McShane is president and CEO of Nemours Wildlife Foundation, which aspires to be a leader in the scientific study and stewardship of natural resources. Mr. McShane is also the chairman of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the chairman of ACE Basin Task Force. He is a principal at Johns Island Enterprises, LLC.
William H. Mellor
President
Institute for Justice
William H. (Chip) Mellor is president and general counsel of the Institute for Justice, which he co-founded in 1991. He litigates cutting-edge constitutional cases nationwide protecting economic liberty, property rights, school choice, and the First Amendment. Under his leadership, the Institute for Justice has won two U.S. Supreme Court victories, one upholding Cleveland’s school voucher program and the other striking down New York’s prohibition on interstate wine sales. Mr. Mellor is also responsible for drawing national attention to eminent domain abuse through the now infamous Kelo v. City of New London U.S. Supreme Court case. From 1986 until 1991, Mellor served as president of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy in San Francisco. Under his leadership, the Institute commissioned and published path-breaking books on civil rights, property rights, technology, and the First Amendment that serve as the Institute for Justice’s long-term, strategic litigation blueprint.
http://www.castlecoalition.org/
Frank W. Merrick
President
Foundation Management, Inc.
Frank W. Merrick is president of Foundation Management, Inc., an administrative and accounting firm that serves private foundations, charitable trusts, and Communities Foundation of Oklahoma. He has also been director and vice president of the Merrick Foundation in Oklahoma City since 1980. As president of Ward S. Merrick, Inc., he manages all aspects of a family business in oil, gas, real estate, and venture capital investments. In addition, he shares his knowledge of foundations and business management as a consultant for organizations throughout the state of Oklahoma. He is a past president and a board member of Grantmakers of Oklahoma.
John J. Miller
Author
Strategic Investment in Ideas: How Two Foundations Reshaped America
John J. Miller is a writer for National Review, a contributing editor of Philanthropy, and the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America. He also wrote the Philanthropy Roundtable guidebook, Strategic Investment in Ideas: How Two Foundations Reshaped America. Miller writes frequently for a variety of publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest, New Republic, Boston Globe, New York Post, and the New Criterion. Before joining National Review, Miller was vice president of the Center for Equal Opportunity and a former Bradley Fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
Steven Moore
Executive Director
M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
Steven Moore is the executive director of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, Washington. The trust seeks to enrich the lives of individuals, families, and communities through grants and programs that support the educational, spiritual, and cultural base, with particular attention on the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Moore previously served as vice president of Seattle Pacific University and Baylor University, and as the senior vice president of Asbury Seminary. He is the author of Cultivating Thoughtful Faith.
Melinda Moree
Director
Malaria Vaccine Initiative
Melinda Moree is director of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI). Ms. Moree previously led business development for MVI and helped define the financial and non-financial basis for public-private development efforts. An earlier association with PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) included two years as an international health consultant and liaison between PATH and USAID (United States Agency for International Development). Ms. Moree has both public and private sector experience in product development and technology transfer. Prior to joining PATH, she was Manager of advanced research at EKOS Corporation. She received her Ph.D. in medical microbiology from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.
David Morse
Vice President for Communications
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
David Morse is vice president for communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the United States’ largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving health and health care. RWJF is also among a handful of foundations that vigorously promote strategic communications as a principal means of affecting change. Mr. Morse was previously director of public affairs for the Pew Charitable Trusts. Before joining Pew, Mr. Morse was associate vice president for policy planning at the University of Pennsylvania, where he led efforts to create new mechanisms for financing higher education and promoted tax policies that preserve incentives for charitable giving. From 1977 to 1983, while on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, Morse developed legislation affecting higher education and cultural affairs, taking a leave in 1981 to direct the President’s Task Force on the Arts and the Humanities.
Dave Nelson
President, Board of Directors
Midwest Grain Processors
Dave Nelson is president of the Midwest Grain Processors board of directors, which oversees an ethanol plant in Lakota, Iowa, that produces 100 million gallons of ethanol annually. Mr. Nelson is currently a member of the National Corn Growers Association’s Ethanol Committee. He has served for the past six years on the Iowa Corn Growers Association board and has held all four offices, including president. He also serves on the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Board of Directors. Mr. Nelson raises corn, soybeans, oats, hay, and vegetable crops. He also manages a region of Conservation Reserve Program land.
Kelly Nichols
Corporate Working Group Chair
Marriage CoMission
Kelly Nichols is chair of the corporate working group for Marriage CoMission. Mr. Nichols has a strong interest in marketplace ministry, which started with his father, who was the lead chaplain for the United Auto Workers for many years. Last year, Mr. Nichols co-chaired the Promise Keepers’ event that filled Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He has served as a national consultant for Consolidated Graphics for 16 years and is respected for his expertise in the printing industry.
Heather O’Mara
Co-founder and Executive Director
HOPE Online Learning Academy Co-Op
Heather O’Mara is the co-founder and executive director of HOPE Online Learning Academy Co-Op. Prior to co-founding HOPE, Ms. O’Mara was president of Jones Knowledge, where she was responsible for facilitating the innovation and growth of one of the country’s first online education businesses. She also served as vice president of finance and international operations at Viacom New Media. In addition, Ms. O’Mara is a CPA with audit and tax experience in the emerging business services unit of Coopers & Lybrand.
Todd Oppenheimer
Author
The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology
Todd Oppenheimer is the author of The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology. His articles have appeared in such publications as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, Columbia Journalism Review, and Newsweek, where he was associate editor of the magazine’s digital media division. A native of San Francisco, he was named San Francisco School Volunteer of the Year in 1998 for his work at San Francisco’s Mission High School, where he was advisor to the school newspaper. The Flickering Mind is based on a cover story Oppenheimer wrote for The Atlantic’s July 1997 issue, entitled “The Computer Delusion,” which won the year’s National Magazine Award for public interest reporting.
Nina Owcharenko
Senior Policy Analyst for Health Care
Heritage Foundation
Nina Owcharenko is a senior policy analyst for health care at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Health Policy Studies. She researches and writes on a variety of health care policy issues, including the uninsured, Medicaid, and prescription drugs. She has presented before numerous national, state, and professional conferences. Before joining the Heritage Foundation, Ms. Owcharenko served for almost a decade on Capitol Hill. She began her Hill career working for Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and also served as the legislative director for Rep. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC).
Star Parker
Founder and President
Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education
Star Parker is the founder and president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education (CURE), a nonprofit think tank that researches issues related to race and poverty. Prior to her involvement in social activism, Ms. Parker was a single welfare mother in Los Angeles, California. After becoming a Christian, Ms. Parker returned to college, received a BS degree in marketing, and launched an urban Christian magazine. The 1992 Los Angeles riots destroyed her business, yet served as a springboard for her focus on faith and market-based alternatives to empower the poor. As a social policy consultant, Star Parker gives regular testimony before the United States Congress and has appeared on major television and radio shows across the country. Ms. Parker is the author of Pimps, Whores, and Welfare Brats, Uncle Sam’s Plantation, and, most recently, White Ghetto.
Daniel S. Peters
President
Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation
Daniel S. Peters is president of the Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio. The foundation’s emphasis is on improving the quality of K-12 education nationwide. Mr. Peters previously spent 17 years at Procter & Gamble where he held a variety of executive positions in advertising, purchasing, and research and development. Mr. Peters is chairman of The Philanthropy Roundtable and co-chair of the Alliance for Charitable Reform. Following graduation from the University of North Carolina, he served with a jet squadron in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea and participated in the evacuation of Saigon.
Bart Peterson
Mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana
Bart Peterson is the mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana, elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2003. This year Mayor Peterson’s charter schools initiative received Harvard University’s Innovations in American Government Award, which recognized Indianapolis as a national model for improving public education. Mayor Peterson’s focus on diversifying the Indianapolis economy and supporting more growth-oriented businesses has resulted in the city leading the way in job growth among Midwestern cities. Before running for office, Mayor Peterson built The Precedent Companies, a conglomerate of 11 development and financial services companies, with the help of his family. Between 1989 and 1995, he was a member of Indiana Governor Evan Bayh’s leadership team, first as his aide for environmental affairs, and later, as chief of staff. Mayor Peterson is the incoming president of the National League of Cities.
James Piereson
President
William E. Simon Foundation
James Piereson is president of the William E. Simon Foundation in New York City and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Dr. Piereson was executive director and trustee of the John M. Olin Foundation from 1985 until the end of 2005 when, following longstanding plans, the foundation disbursed its remaining assets and closed its doors. He previously served on the political science faculties of several prominent universities, including Iowa State University (1974), Indiana University (1975), and the University of Pennsylvania (1976-82), where he taught courses in the field of United States government and political theory. Dr. Piereson serves on the boards of several other tax-exempt institutions, including the Center for Individual Rights, DonorsTrust, and The Philanthropy Roundtable.
Erik Prince
Founder
Blackwater USA
Erik Prince is the founder of Blackwater USA, the largest commercial firearms and security training facility in the country. Its customers include all elements of U.S. Special Operations Command and other elite military special operations forces; federal, state and local law enforcement; and corporate security teams. Mr. Prince attended the US Naval Academy and served as a USN Naval Special Warfare SEAL Officer, BUDS Class 188; he is currently in SEAL Reserves. He also serves on the boards of The Institute of World Politics and Christian Freedom International.
www.princemanufacturing.com
Anthony Recasner
President
Louisiana Charter School Association
Anthony Recasner is president of the Louisiana Charter School Association and the city’s first charter school operator. Mr. Recasner was principal of the New Orleans Charter Middle School until the building became unusable after Katrina. He subsequently established the Samuel J. Green Charter School for K-8 students in January 2006. Of the 400 children in the new school, for which there is a waiting list, 99 percent are black, 75 percent live in single-parent homes, and 95 percent qualify for the federal free lunch program. Mr. Recasner is a native New Orleanian with a doctorate in psychology.
Andrew Rich
Author
Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise
Andrew Rich is associate director of the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at City College of New York. He also serves as associate professor of political science at CCNY and the City University New York Graduate Center. Dr. Rich is the author of Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise (Cambridge University Press, 2004), which discusses the proliferation of think tanks in U.S. national policymaking and the ways that expertise and ideas influence policy making. Dr. Rich is currently working on a book about the types of philanthropic and organizational support being used to wage a “war of ideas” in American politics. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University.
Andrew J. Rotherham
Co-director
Education Sector
Andrew J. Rotherham is co-founder and co-director of Education Sector, a national education policy think tank, and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Rotherham also serves on the Virginia Board of Education. Previously, Rotherham served at the White House as special assistant to the President for domestic policy during the Clinton administration. Rotherham is the author of numerous articles and papers about education and co-editor of three books on educational policy, most recently Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in Today’s Schools with Jane Hannaway (Harvard Education Press). He also writes the blog Eduwonk.com. Rotherham is a trustee of the Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy, as well as a member of the board of directors for the Charter School Leadership Council and the board of directors for the National Council on Teacher Quality.
Jeff Sandefer
Founder
Acton MBA Program
Jeff Sandefer runs an energy investment firm, Sandefer Capital Partners, that holds over a billion dollars in assets. For the last sixteen years, Mr. Sandefer has also taught entrepreneurship at the graduate level. Four years ago Mr. Sandefer and a band of successful entrepreneurs left a nationally recognized program they had built at the University of Texas to start the Acton School of Business. For two consecutive years, Acton was rated among the top MBA programs in the country by the Princeton Review, which called its students the “most competitive” MBAs in America and rated the faculty in the top three in the nation. While at the University of Texas, Mr. Sandefer was voted by the students as UT’s Outstanding Teacher five separate times and was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top entrepreneurship professors in the United States. He has served for over a decade on Harvard University’s visiting committee and as chair of the university’s academic research committee. He is a director of National Review magazine, formerly served as chairman of the Acton Institute of Religion and Liberty and was a member of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s 21st Century Commission on Higher Education.
William A. Schambra
Director
Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal
William A. Schambra is director of the Hudson Institute’s Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. He was previously director of programs at the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mr. Schambra has also been director of social policy programs for the American Enterprise Institute and co-director of AEI’s “A Decade of Study of the Constitution.” He was appointed by President Reagan to the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and by President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Carl J. Schramm
President and Chief Executive Officer
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Carl J. Schramm is president and chief executive officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, America’s largest foundation dedicated to advancing entrepreneurial success. Trained as an economist and lawyer, Mr. Schramm began his career on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University. While there, he founded the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Care Finance and Management, the first such research center in the nation. He went on to head the Health Insurance Association of America and later became executive vice president of Fortis (now Assurant) and president of its health insurance operations. Mr. Schramm has founded several companies, including Greenspring Advisors, Inc., a Baltimore merchant-banking firm that supports business development in health care and insurance; and HCIA, Inc., once the nation’s largest provider of data to the health care industry. He is the author of The Entrepreneurial Imperative (HarperCollins, October 2006). His next book, Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism (Yale), with Will Baumol and Robert Litan, will be released in early 2007.
James H. Shelton III
Program Director, Education Division
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
James H. Shelton III is the program director of the Education Division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in which capacity he manages all grants in the eastern United States, new school creation and replications, and college access. Prior to joining the foundation, he was a partner and the East Coast lead for the NewSchools Venture Fund. Earlier, he co-founded LearnNow, a school management company that later merged with Edison Schools. Mr. Shelton also spent over four years as a senior management consultant with McKinsey & Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Atlanta’s Morehouse College, as well as master’s degrees in business administration and education from Stanford University.
Gretchen Crosby Sims
Education Program Manager
Joyce Foundation
Gretchen Crosby Sims is the education program manager at the Joyce Foundation in Chicago, a regional foundation with $800 million in assets that makes grants of approximately $8 million a year in the area of education. The foundation works to close the achievement gap that separates low-income and minority children from their peers by expanding their access to educational opportunities in early childhood, improving the quality of teachers they encounter in school, and exploring such innovations as small schools and charter schools. She served as domestic policy adviser for education and family issues to Senator Bill Bradley in his 2000 presidential campaign and has worked for the Council on Foreign Relations (New York), Cable News Network (Washington, D.C.), and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Ms. Sims holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from Stanford University.
Scott Sklar
President
The Stella Group, Ltd.
Scott Sklar is president of The Stella Group, Ltd., a strategic marketing and policy firm for clean distributed energy users and companies. Mr. Sklar is also chairman of the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition and serves on the Boards of Directors of the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and the Renewable Energy Policy Project. He previously served for fifteen years as executive director of the Solar Energy Industries Association and the National BioEnergy Industries Association. Mr. Sklar’s coauthored book, A Consumer Guide to Solar Energy, recently went through its third printing. His Q&A column appears regularly at renewableenergyaccess.com.
John Stanley
Executive Director
Vine and Branches Foundation
John Stanley is the executive director of Vine and Branches Foundation. His focus is on private education and human services grants. Mr. Stanley is also the founder and president of the Legacy Group, an advisory firm that provides counsel to heads of philanthropic families and navigates their charitable giving by staffing their private foundations. He is chairman of the board of Nativity Jesuit Middle School, an inner city school serving Latino boys; a philanthropic advisor for the Family Wealth Alliance; and a Philanthropy World magazine’s advisory board member.
Sandra G. Swirski
Director
Alliance for Charitable Reform
Sandra G. Swirski is director of the Alliance for Charitable Reform. She co-founded Venn Strategies, LLC as a principal after more than ten years of public policy and government relations experience in the private sector and on Capitol Hill. Ms. Swirski has worked for a national political consulting firm, managed the government relations office for a multinational Fortune 15 company, advised two senior U.S. senators, and consulted for a leading professional services firm. Ms. Swirski was named one of Washington’s Top 10 Tax Lobbyists by Tax Analysts. Ms. Swirski received a B.A. from Emory University, a J.D. from George Washington University, and a LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University.
Carol A. Taber
Co-founder and President
Family Security Matters
Carol A. Taber is co-founder and president of Family Security Matters. Its mission is to keep Americans informed about the issues surrounding national security; to address their fears about safety and security on a personal, family, community, national and international level; to highlight the connection between individual safety and a strong national defense; to increase civic participation and political responsibility; and to empower all Americans to become proactive defenders of our national security and community safety. Ms. Taber is a former publisher of national women’s magazines with more than 25 years of leadership experience at major media companies and particular expertise in start-up, turnaround, and repositioning projects.
Thomas J. Tierney
Chairman
Bridgespan Group
Thomas J. Tierney is co-founder and chairman of the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to provide management consulting services to the nonprofit sector. He recently led the development of Bridgestar, a Bridgespan initiative dedicated to talent-matching for the sector. Between 1992 and 1999, Mr. Tierney served as chief executive of Bain & Company, which he joined in 1980 following graduation from Harvard Business School. He has contributed to the Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and other publications. Mr. Tierney has been profiled in Learning from the CEO: How Chief Executives Shape Corporate Education and Finishing Well. He is a co-author of Aligning the Stars.
http://www.bridgespan.org/kno_articles_leadershipdeficit.html
http://www.bridgespan.org/PDF/LeadershipDeficitWhitePaper.pdf
President
Institute for Jewish & Community Research
Gary A. Tobin is president of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research in San Francisco. He previously served as director of the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University and was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Tobin is the editor of two volumes about the effects of the racial schism in America, What Happened to the Urban Crisis? and Divided Neighborhoods. Dr. Tobin’s books include The UnCivil University: Politics and Propaganda in American Education and A Profile of American College Faculty, Vol. 1: Political Beliefs & Behavior. He is working on Mega-Gifts in American Philanthropy: Vol. 2 and A Profile of American College Faculty, Vol. 2: Religious Beliefs & Behavior.
Sarah Newell Usdin
Founder
New Schools for New Orleans
Sarah Newell Usdin is the founder of New Schools for New Orleans, a nonprofit organization working to accelerate the transformation of New Orleans public schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by cultivating best practices of high performing schools, promoting academic and operational excellence, and developing sustainable governance. Ms. Usdin has also served as the Louisiana state director of Teach for America. She is a founding partner of The New Teacher Project, a national nonprofit teacher training and recruiting organization.
Victoria Van Cleef
Vice President of Business Development and Communications
The New Teacher Project
Victoria Van Cleef is the vice president of business development and communications at The New Teacher Project. Ms. Van Cleef previously worked as a consultant to the Stupski Family Foundation, identifying best practices to support school district reform efforts. She has also served as senior research associate and special assistant to the dean of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education, coordinating projects devoted to strengthening the teacher force in high need districts. Ms. Van Cleef served as special assistant to the chancellor for New York City public schools under two administrations, where she worked on both instructional and operational initiatives. She has also worked in curriculum and product development for The Efficacy Institute, a national nonprofit educational consulting firm.
Virginia Vander Hart
Executive Director
DeVos Family Foundation
Virginia Vander Hart is the executive director of the DeVos Family Foundation. Since 1996 she has also been executive director of foundations at RDV Corporation, a family office for the DeVos families. In this role she is responsible for the administration of five charitable family foundations, including the oversight of the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative. The Initiative was established in 1997 and is a 15 month training program focusing on building the personal and leadership capacity of urban youth workers. Ms. Vander Hart’s work also includes primary research and evaluation activities intended to inform giving and strengthen local programs.
John P. Walters
Director
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
John P. Walters has served as the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) since 2001. As the nation’s “Drug Czar,” Mr. Walters coordinates all aspects of federal drug programs and spending. Since taking office, Mr. Walters has directed critical changes to the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, making the ads harder-hitting and more effective. Mr. Walters also led a restructuring of the federal drug control budget so that it more accurately reflects the actual dollars spent on programs aimed at reducing drug use, making it a more useful tool for policymakers. From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Walters was chief of staff for William Bennett and was deputy director for supply reduction from 1991 to 1993. At that time, he was responsible for helping guide the development and implementation of anti-drug programs in all areas. During the Reagan Administration, Mr. Walters served as assistant to the secretary at the U.S. Department of Education and was responsible for leading the development of anti-drug programs. He was also the secretary’s representative to the National Drug Policy Board and the Domestic Policy Council’s Health Policy Working Group. Mr. Walters also served as acting assistant director and program officer in the division of education programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1982 to 1985. From 1996 until 2001, Mr. Walters served as president of the Philanthropy Roundtable.
Donn Weinberg
Vice President
Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
Donn Weinberg is vice president and a trustee of the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland. The foundation pays out some $95 million a year in grants, supporting a number of organizations that in turn help the poor elevate themselves. Among the many organizations supported by the foundation are the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Operation HOPE, the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, STRIVE, and The Philanthropy Roundtable.
Joanne S. Weiss
Chief Operating Officer
NewSchools Venture Fund
Joanne S. Weiss is partner and chief operating officer at NewSchools Venture Fund. She also sits on the boards of Leadership Public Schools, New Leaders for New Schools, and Teachscape. Ms. Weiss has spent twenty years in the design, development, and marketing of technology-based products and services for education. She was co-founder, interim CEO, and vice president of products and technologies at Academic Systems, a company that helps hundreds of thousands of college students prepare for college-level work in mathematics and English. In the early 1990s, Ms. Weiss was executive vice president of business operations at Wasatch Education Systems, where she led the product development, customer service, and operations organizations for this K-12 educational technology company. She began her career as vice president of education R&D at Wicat Systems, where she was responsible for the development of nearly 100 multimedia curriculum products for K-12 schools.
Albert Keith Whitaker
Director, Family Dynamics
Calibre
Albert Keith Whitaker is director of family dynamics at Calibre, Wachovia’s family office, and advises families on communication techniques, governance, and legacy planning, using a comprehensive consultation process to foster family strengths. Prior to joining Calibre, Dr. Whitaker was a philosophy professor at Boston College, where he taught political philosophy and ethics. He also managed a family office for over a decade, serving as a trustee for a variety of personal and charitable trusts, facilitating family meetings, and serving as president of the Morton Foundation. Dr. Whitaker remains a research fellow at Boston College in the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy. His work has appeared in Philanthropy, the Journal of Financial Planning, and More than Money Magazine. Dr. Whitaker holds a Ph.D. in social thought from the University of Chicago.
J. Todd White
Vice President
National Institute for Excellence in Teaching
J. Todd White is vice president of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), where he is responsible for the organization’s training program. NIET operates the Teacher Advancement Program and a Teacher Quality Best Practices Center. Dr. White previously served as principal of Mitchell Road Elementary School for five years, where he worked with the faculty, community, and parents to reorganize the school and its curriculum. The increase in student achievement earned the school a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award. Dr. White has been recognized as the South Carolina PTA Principal of the Year and a National Distinguished Principal. He earned his Ph.D. this year in K-12 Education from Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
