80 EdLeaders at the ASU+GSV Summit

A talented group of advocates, educators, entrepreneurs, and investors gathered in Scottsdale this week at the ASU+GSV Summit. Like many attendees we didn’t get to many sessions but we did meet a lot of people in the lobby.

EdTech Execs

1 & 2. Jessie Woolley-Wilson (@jessieww) leads adaptive game-based DreamBox Learning. She and Sam Chaudhary, ClassDojo, spoke about scaling EdTech.

3. Todd Hitchcock, Pearson Embanet, online HigherEd, guaranteed his spot on this list with this tweet:

Great to see @tvanderark at @asugsvsummit – This guy has big ideas, recognizes big ideas, and always pushes the envelope #thoughtleadership

— Todd A. Hitchcock (@toddahitchcock) April 9, 2015

4 & 5. Rob Waldron and Renee Foster, Curriculum Associates, core-built adaptive learning. See how they are Leveraging For-profit Power With a Nonprofit Purpose.

6. Alan Gershenfeld, E-Line Media, said he just hired Mark German to lead E-Line Learning. (Watch for upcoming feature.)

7. Gunnar Counselman, Fidelis Education, relationship management, the missing secret sauce in HigherEd.

8. Alvin Crawford, Knowledge Delivery Systems (@KDSI), smart PD. See 5 Steps to Effective and Transformative Professional Development.

9. Shereen Noor Ali, of Noodle also co-founded #EdTechWomen and has been diligent about connecting and empowering women in EdTech.

10. Alvin Crawford, CEO Knowledge Delivery Systems discussed using iNACOL #BlendedLearning standards in PD.

11. Arthur VanderVeen (@avveen), Compass Learning, described GoQuest (an updated Rezulli profile) which personalized instruction matched to student interests and learning preferences.

12. Jason Lange, Bloomboard, wants every educator to have a personal development plan.

13 & 14. Mick Hewitt & Trenton Goble, MasteryConnect (@MasteryConnect), are helping teachers collaborate around assessments.

15.Jaime Casap (@jcasap) is an evangelist for higher expectations for low-income students (and for Google).

16 & 17. Mark Tullis and Curt Allen, partnership lead at learning platform Agilix (@Agilix).

18. Steve Gross (@scg28) left Pearson to run home schooling leader Calvert Education Services.

19. Out of 11,000 applicants Ben Nelson just admitted the next 200 Minerva students.

20 to 25. David Levin, Peter Cohen, Stephen Laster, Zach Posner, Matt Haldeman, and Dan Sieger signaled McGraw Hill’s interest in open, modular, and adaptive future.

26. Julia Stiglitz said the 4-9 course Specializations on Coursera were hot, especially data science.

27. Master of the university turnaround Michael Clifford introduced us to his colleagues Randy Barton and Beth Agiar. Watch for an Significant tech announcement soon!

28 & 29. Caleb Eliason introduced us to Anne Brown, new VP of personalized learning for School Improvement Network.

Startups

30. Grammar guro Jeff Scheur, CEO of NoRedInk has seen great growth of his program.

31. Mark Limburg, Panther Learning, is promoting better peer reviews of essays with Peerspective.

32. Mark Milliron (@markmilliron), Civitas Learning, is advising next-gen HigherEd.

33. Carol Barash (@CarolBarash), Story2, helps young people tell stories in college essays.

34. LightSail CEO of Gideon Stein is providing students a personalized reading experience.

35 & 36. Nathan Gebhard & Mike Marriner, Roadtrip Nation are barnstorming the country in a big green motorhome preaching career awareness.

@post_west @tvanderark great to connect at #asugsv2015 and thanks for the support with the launch of #RoadmapBook pic.twitter.com/8FuwaLpxJs — Nathan Gebhard (@nathangebhard) April 8, 2015

37. Eddie Lin wants you to get paid for being a mentor on MentorMint.

38. Alex Grod said check out the blended learning teaching videos on Better Lesson

39 & 40. Karl Mehta and Cathy Casserly are building lifelong learning portal EdCast.

41. Karl Rectanus, Learn Trials, helps teachers figure out what works.

42. Rick O’Donnell introduced Skills Fund, they underwrite coding, data science, and other skills schools with proven results. 

43. Kristen Hamilton, Koru, believes that college grads should be employable.

44. Lynzi Ziegenhagen developed data platform Schoolzilla while at Aspire Public Schools spun it out and is crankinging it up.

45. Former Scholastic exec. Jeffrey Mathews launched Upraised Learning to support parents, starting with math homework.

46. Leslye Arsht is an advocate for STEM games and is working on The Mars Game.

Impact Orgs

47 & 48. Allison Powell and Jonathan Oglesby, iNACOL, were picking up tips for the best Blended and Online Learning Symposium.

49. Ivan Alfaro, MIND Research Institute (@MIND_Research), wants more kids to meet JiJi. 

Advocates & Advisors

50. Ted Dintersmith (@dintersmith) screened Most Likely to Succeed. We reviewed it here.

51. The former Florida Virtual School leadership team–Julie Young, Pam Birtolo, and Cecilia Lopez–are plotting new impact strategies.

52. Tammy Battaglino runs a great edu team at Parthenon.

53. Sandy Speicher, IDEO, urged a packed house to, “Go out and get inspired, look with fresh eyes, be an anthropologist, find the extremes, and leverage analogous settings.”  (See her feature on Design Thinking in Schools.)

54. Jenna Talbot is directing strategic communication efforts for Whiteboard Advisors.

55. Kevin Bushweller is publishing great content through Digital Directions at Education Week.

56. Ileen Waner wants you to come to National Education Week (11/9-11).

57. Ralph Protsik, BSG Team Ventures, the Godfather of edu headhunters.

58. Jeanne Allen is VP at HotChalk but is and will always be an advocate for kids and families.

Funders

59. Brian Greenberg (@briangreenberg), CEO, Silicon Schools Fund, is blending the valley.

60. Tom Stritikus leads the K-12 innovation portfolio for the Gates Foundation.

61. Corey Scholes, Kauffman Foundation, is thinking about a KC harbor master.

62. Matt Greenfield (@mattgreenfield), is the thought leader behind ReThink Education and co-author of Boosting Impact.

63. Harold Levy (@HOLevy), Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, is a leading an updated and more aggressive agenda to boost college completion among talented low-income students.

64-66. Rob Hutter, Greg Mauro, and Michael Staton (@mpstaton), Learn Capital.

67. Chris Nyren (@CNyren), Educated Ventures, the Johnny Appleseed of EdTech.

68. Godmother of blended learning, Gisele Huff, Hume Foundation.

69. Josh Cohen, City Light Capital wishes he could find more companies like 2U.  

70 & 71. Michael Moe and Deborah Quazzo, GSV, were great organizers and hosts for the best learning innovations conference on the calendar.

Schools & Support Orgs

72. The 2014 superintendent of the year Anthony Carvalho, Miami Dade.

After his morning keynote, Supt Carvalho of @mdcps chats with @tvanderark and Curt Allen of @agilix #gsv2020vision pic.twitter.com/ZhM3UcCLUp

— Getting Smart (@Getting_Smart) April 8, 2015

73 to 75. David Richards leads schools for Summit, the coolest schools on the planet. He introduced us to Kevin Bock from Rainier and Caitlyn Herman, Daly City.

76. Phyllis Lockett leads short cycle trials at LEAP Innovations in Chicago (and had a great new hairdo!)

77. Kara Chesal (@KCintheNYC) leads short cycle trials work for the NYC DOE.

78. Chris Bustamante, Rio Salado College, is a great HigherEd innovator.

Teachers & School Leaders

79. Rebekah Kim is an innovative principal in the Highline School District just south of Seattle.

80. Last but certain not least was the only teacher we met at ASU, the real deal Tanesha Dixon from DC.

For more on ASU+GSV Summit, check out:

• 20 High Impact EdTech Enterprises at ASU+GSV
• ASU+GSV Summit: What It Meant For Educators

Curriculum Associates, DreamBox Learning, Agilix, and MIND Research Institute are Getting Smart Advocacy Partners. BloomBoard, Class Dojo and Mastery Connect are Learn Capital portfolio companies were Tom is partner. Tom is a director at iNACOL.