What happened?

Session Description: Education is changing rapidly as world events have unfolded and everyone is now faced with delivering online instruction. An emerging challenge is how to integrate competency based learning experiences and assessing those experiences in online learning. This presentation will discuss and present viewpoints on this challenge and will also show options for how using augmented and virtual reality can be used to better engage students and provide a hands-on experience to assess learning outcomes.

 

Jamie Justice
Director of Education U.S and Global Innovation
EON Realty, Inc.

He is a multi-talented, seasoned innovator and change leader in education, business and in his private life. He has a long list of accomplishments and unique approaches to problem solving, managing projects and designing of new solutions to address a variety of challenges.
He has been in and around education for over 30 years – starting out as a high school teacher – then with the Kentucky Dept of Education then into Vocational Education and spent the remainder of his formal education career at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
EON was lucky enough to talk him out of retirement and Jamie has been an invaluable asset in helping EON craft solutions for education.
Jamie is a consultant, content developer, project manager, technology education and training expert and cabinet maker. In his spare time, he is also a musician, singer and song writer.
Lastly, Jamie developed the ThinkShop program in response to his book Dare to Change: Developing Your Innovation Talent.
So I can confidently say Jamie has literally written the book on innovation and talent development and I think his expertise will offer great insights into today’s webinar.

 

Paige Brooks-Jeffers
Executive Director Professional Development and Innovation
Kentucky Community and Technical College System

Paige Brooks-Jeffers is the Executive Director Professional Development and Innovation at KCTCS. She has over 18 years’ experience working with faculty and staff in higher education. Her career began in Distance Learning where she trained and supported faculty transitioning to in an online format, including teaching strategies and technology. She is over the Office for Professional Development and Innovation and develops, implements and facilitates innovative PD events to increase student success through faculty and staff support and engagement. Paige has a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration from the University of Louisville. She also attained the Master Trainer Certificate through the Association for Talent Development and is a Myers Briggs MBTI Certified Practitioner.
Paige Brooks-Jeffiers
Executive Director Professional Development and Innovation, KCTCS
• Over 20 years of professional development experience with more than 18 of those in Higher Education.
• Train faculty and staff on online technology and pedagogical/andragogical strategies to effectively create and deliver content in the online arena.
• Develop and implement innovative professional development offering methods and strategies for effectively engaging students and supporting them through successful completion.

Session Description: Everyday life has changed. The way schools and businesses teach and train has changed and the long-term implications are still in debate. As the world switched to learning and working from a distance, there have been vast and varying degrees of success. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality offers a viable solution. VR and AR technologies pre COVID-19 were considered “nice to haves,” but the new normal has made them more critical than ever and are now considered “have to haves.” Join us as we dive into these topics and hear Frank Botdorf, Dir. Of Business Development at EON Reality discuss two significant programs offered by EON Reality focused on Remote AVR and Self-Directed Learning and a case study from Mike Mathews, VP of Innovation at Oral Roberts University.

 

Frank Botdorf
EON Reality, Inc.

Frank Botdorf has over 27 years of software and hardware technology experience with the keen ability to apply technology solutions to solve client problems. He has held position on the board of technical advisors for a US National Science Foundation. He joined EON Reality, Inc. in 2001 as an VR and AR Evangelist helping academic and enterprise clients understand the benefits of the technology. Prior to his tenure at EON, he spent ten years as an entrepreneur and Head of Sales and Marketing for Propeller Head Software, Inc. During his tenure at Propeller Head Software, he contributed to an increase in company revenues of over 200% - year over year driving the sales and marketing team. In addition to being an entrepreneur, he has held technical sales and marketing positions with prominent industry leaders including IBM, Lanier Worldwide and Treev, Inc. Frank graduated from GA State University with an MBA in Marketing and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wofford College.

 

Mike Matthews
Vice President of Technology and Innovation
Oral Roberts University

Mike leads an award-winning department that is aggressively advancing Oral Roberts University (ORU) forward in several areas, which include reaching students globally with ORU’s whole person education through augmented and virtual reality.
Under Mathews’s leadership, ORU received Ellucian’s 2018 EllumiNation Technology Award, which recognizes higher education visionaries that are driving change with campus technology. Mathews was honored for his work to “flip” the traditional university setting through augmented and virtual reality (AVR). Along with Ellucian, ORU’s Global Learning Center (GLC) provides more than 625,000 learning environments to enhance the curriculum and reach students worldwide.
Mathews and ORU were also recognized recently by IDG’s CIO as an organization that exemplifies the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology, including its trademarked “ORU Geovision Technology”.
In September, Mathews was named one of The Center for Digital Education’s 2017 top 30 Technologists, Transformers, and Trailblazers, while Constellation Research, Inc. named him to its Business Transformation 150, a list of elite executives leading business transformation efforts around the globe.
“While I have been honored to receive all these awards over the last year, my greatest honor is to take on this new role at ORU,” said Mathews. “Dr. Wilson’s vision and progressive goals have allowed me to change the paradigm of how we transmit education, whether that’s at the GLC or anywhere on campus, or even around the world.”
The GLC, which opened in January 2017, has ten advanced learning centers (classrooms) with on-demand video conferencing, studio-style functionality for global connectivity, a suite of AVR labs, 13 new offices, a 750-seat multi-purpose performing arts center complete with theatrical green rooms and make-up rooms, and the largest television studio production facility in Tulsa.

Session Description: In today's environment, ZOOM has become as familiar as a morning cup of coffee. But what else is out there? What should you be using? What do you need from your tool? Does free really work and what do you have to give up to get free? What does it take to be fully integrated with a product? How does that restrict sharing materials? Where are the gotchas? What other capabilities do you need that you don't even know about? This is the nature of our conversation in this session--we will explore the available tools, compare capability, support and cost, and develop your check list for making a decision for what will work best for you.

 

Carrie Root
CEO, Alpha UMi

Coming from a background in systems engineering, Dr. Root has been a high-level troubleshooter for the US Navy for decades. She recently transitioned her company, a provider of leadership training tools, into a fully remote workforce with fully online training, researching tools to address the same needs that are facing most businesses and schools today. She brings her unique look on life to this talk.

 

Trenton Hightower
CEO, GradCast

Trenton Hightower is the CEO for GradCast.com and has spent over twenty-five years working in leadership at community colleges. He was a leader at Finger Lakes Community College in New York, an AVP/Dean at Frederick Community College in Maryland, and the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development for all twenty-three community colleges in Virginia. He was also the AVP of Business Development for a proprietary school licensed by the North Carolina Community College System. Trenton founded “Strategic Solutions for Colleges” and “Strategic Sales for Colleges” in 1996. He is the author of the book, Field Trip 101 – An Approach to Team Building. Trenton holds a Master degree in Administration of Higher Education and an EdD in Organizational Leadership ABD.

 

Erik Christensen
Dean
South Florida State College

Erik Christensen holds engineering degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrating technology into the classroom has been his passion and the hallmark of his teaching career. He has adopted the flipped learning method to his physics and astrobiology classes at South Florida State College and, as a result, has seen monumental increases in student engagement and success. Eager to share the excitement from his classes, Erik now regularly presents on his creative approaches to teaching at numerous national conferences including the SACSCOC Annual Meeting and Summer Institute, Online Learning Consortium (OLC) International Conference on Online Learning, SXSWedu, D2L Fusion, Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC), Association of Florida Colleges (AFC), and a various NISOD Regional Workshops.

Session Description: With declining and uncertain enrollments among high school aged students, many colleges need to turn to a new potential source of students – the adult population. There are millions of adults who want and need additional education but haven’t found the right fit of program, lifestyle and college. In this session, CollegeAPP will show you how to build a disciplined pipeline of adults in your service area, based on predictive analytics, machine learning capabilities and the most important factor – unmet intent.
The newly formed Washington College and Career COMPASS program will share how they are utilizing CollegeAPP to identify prospects for up to 50 post-secondary institutions in their state.

 

Dr. Timothy Wilson
Chief Relationship Officer
UPLEARN.io

Timothy J. Wilson, PhD, is a data enthusiast and education different maker. Tim is the Chief Relationship Officer for UPLEARN.io. Dr. Wilson was the Executive Director of the Bellwether College Consortium and the Applied Center for Workforce Research located in San Antonio, TX. Dr. Wilson also currently consultants with the San Antonio Works initiative in developing an evaluation and predictive analytics model for the SA 2020 goals.

 

Jack MacKenzie
Founder, CollegeAPP

Jack MacKenzie is the Founder and President of CollegeAPP, a higher education focused data analytics and consulting firm.
CollegeAPP uses proprietary predictive analytics to help colleges and universities identify adults who have intent to acquire additional education. The CollegeAPP dashboard enables target audience identification and creation and enables individual file downloads for use in a variety of direct marketing campaigns.

 

Dr. Rachelle Sharpe
Deputy Executive Director

Dr. Sharpe serves as Deputy Executive Director of the Washington Student Achievement Council, the state’s cabinet-level higher education agency. Rachelle’s experience spans 30 years in higher education in student services and state-level policy. Rachelle has created an affordability framework, initiated an adult reengagement initiative, and supported the Roadmap strategic plan to increase educational attainment.

Session Description: Online learning comes in many different formats and styles. Course design has a direct correlation to student engagement. With so many formats available how do you know which ones to choose?
In this session you will learn the importance of using interactive courseware design to get students engaged, and to get them to complete and attain skills mastery through online learning.

 

Joe Kitterman
CEO and Founder, 180 Skills, LLC

Joseph Kitterman is a nationally recognized education entrepreneur and CEO-Founder of 180 Skills.
180 Skills is an end-to-end manufacturing skills training solution that enables employers, educators, and workforce professionals to deliver, on-demand, high-quality, low-cost, manufacturing skills training.
Prior to 180 Skills, Kitterman worked for over 22 years in automotive and aerospace manufacturing.
His education companies have received numerous national awards for e-learning from the E-Learning Guild and Brandon Hall Research. Kitterman’s companies also received the Indiana Top 50 Companies to Watch award in 2008.
During his 22-year career in manufacturing, he served in senior corporate level manufacturing management positions with General Motors, Rolls-Royce, Royal Oak Industries, and other manufacturing firms.
Kitterman is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at Purdue University School of Engineering at Indianapolis.
Kitterman holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University. He also studied with Dr. Edwards W. Deming at George Washington University.

Session Description: Discover the latest best practices for reaching your target audience in the digital space. You’ll find out about low-cost high-impact options utilizing both organic and paid posting techniques. Then learn how social media demographics are changing and why what worked in the past may not be working now.

 

Suzanne Kart
Marketing Strategist

Suzanne Kart is an award-winning marketing strategist, speaker, writer, content creator, consultant, and expert in 21st Century integrated marketing. She has more than 18 years’ experience in the marketing and communications fields. She does workshops across the U.S. and Canada on all things marketing as well as generational communications. She also has taught online for the graduate school at the University of South Dakota master’s degree program in adult and higher education - and is an experienced instructional designer.

 

Jennifer Caroll
Director, Corporate Services
Delta College, MI

With over 25 years of leadership experience, Jennifer Carroll has a passion for helping businesses achieve their competitive advantage by addressing performance gaps and building cohesive teams. As the Director of Corporate Services at Delta College, Jennifer consults with businesses, develops and implements award winning training programs that are nationally recognized for their effectiveness. She is a certified DACUM facilitator with experience in competency-based assessment and training and is a trained inclusion advocate. Jennifer received her Bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communications from Iowa State University and holds a Master's degree in public administration and leadership from Saginaw Valley State University.
Delta College is recognized for innovation, community leadership and teaching excellence. One in four graduating high school students in the Great Lakes Bay region attend Delta College and with a multi-million-dollar state of the art manufacturing lab, Delta excels in skilled trades training.

Session Description: Putting a course on line and putting a course on line to achieve amazing results are two different things. During this session, we will review overall planning concepts for putting classes online, then we will illustrate in a case study how to make online slides, classes, and homework immerse and amaze students.

 

Eric Richardson
CEO, Growth Development Associates

At the heart of Eric Richardson’s signature message is a curriculum that he and his team built to reflect all the best sales and management practices of Fortune 100 companies. Many of the concepts shared with his clients were invented by Eric Richardson for use with sales forces and management teams he led during his corporate career. GDA has provided Sales Training in over 40 countries for global companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Siemens, GE, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Cross Blue Shield, RGA, United Health, Honda, Acura, and thousands of small and medium-sized businesses and resellers.

 

Dr. Frank Shepard
Associate Professor of Finance
Ave Maria University

Dr. Shepard has an extensive career in Investment Banking, Private Equity/Alternative Investments, Derivatives and Capital Markets. He is an experienced Independent Director, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, and a chartered alternative investment analyst. His areas of specialization are: Fundamentals of Finance; Corporate Finance; Principles of Macroeconomics; Securities Analysis; and Business Forecasting.

Session Description: With the current pandemic and student attention spans shrinking, professors are looking for additional ways to engage students, online video is becoming more prevalent and important than ever. Learn how to best leverage video for online or in-person courses in a way that engages students with relevant content while promoting higher-order thinking.

 

Rudy Garza
Founding Partner

Mr. Garza is leveraging his history, expertise and resources to build a global network of Universities, Students, Startups, Industry and Family Offices to speed up the pace of Innovation and Job creation with his work at G51 Amplify. The G51 Venture Scholars Program is currently a national initiative in place at 18 top graduate school programs and growing. From Austin to Raleigh-Durham to Boston and Chicago and west to Palo Alto students are learning and collaborating about promising Startups and helping the Startups find referrals, advice and funding.
He is a past chairman of the board and past president of the University of Texas Exes 100,000-member alumni association and has served as the chairman of the Alumni Endowment Investment Committee. He is a lifetime honorary trustee of the Dell Children’s Medical Center. He received his MBA from The University of Texas and his BBA from St. Edward's University both in Austin.

 

Daniel Gonzales
Director of Product

Daniel Gonzales is currently the Director of Product at G51, a mission driven organization that works with entrepreneurs, students and universities to democratize entrepreneurship. He is a repeat entrepreneur that started his first business at the age of 16. He’s guest lectured on topics related to entrepreneurship at Concordia University, The University of Texas at Austin, St. Edward’s University, and The University of Houston. Daniel holds a BBA from Concordia University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.

 

Brigitte Johannesen
Director of Universities

Brigitte Johannesen is the Director of Universities at G51 EDU. She has a degree in Environmental Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Mark Bunting
Professor, University of Texas at Austin

A serial entrepreneur, Mark founded a collection of companies from out-of-home media to digital design and development firms. Mr. Bunting also hosted various television programs as on-air talent, gaining recognition as a leading spokesperson for the high-tech industry including a stint as spokesperson for Microsoft, Timex and Hewlett Packard. He is a Cable Ace Award nominee and recipient of various industry awards. He appeared as host for a variety of television programs for The Discovery Channel, CNBC, The Learning Channel, Fox, and hosted “Bunting’s Window” on a collection of in-flight video networks for 18 years. He has served as author (Virtual Power – Simon and Schuster), speaker, host, and consultant to the technology and advertising industry.

 

Kristin Spindler
Professor, Concordia University Texas

Kristin is the Director of Concordia University’s IncubatorCTX for Innovation and Impact and faculty member in the College of Business and Communication. In her role, she helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses to succeed and teaches students about business and entrepreneurship. She is a Board Member and active investor of the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN), one of the most active angel investing networks in the U.S. with over $100 million invested.
Kristin leveraged her background in international banking, entrepreneurship, and project management to grow her own real estate development company from a startup into a $10 million business. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Kristin was a Vice President and Credit Officer at Citigroup, New York. She holds a BA from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Session Description: This session will cover the steps Northeast Mississippi Community College (NEMCC) took over the past decade to address student equity, implement mobile learning strategies, and create a culture of innovation. Participants will hear how NEMCC was able to shift to remote learning when faced with COVID-19. Presenters will share upcoming opportunities to learn and collaborate with other educators. Participants will discover free resources that are available from Apple to support your campus

 

Dr. Michelle Baragona
Vice President of Instruction
Northeast Mississippi Community College (NEMCC)

Michelle Baragona has taught at Northeast Mississippi Community College for the past 18 years. She received her education from Louisiana Tech University, University of Southern Mississippi, and University of Mississippi. While at University of Southern Mississippi, she had the opportunity to not only research in a molecular biology laboratory but to also teach a freshman biology lab. That experience as a teaching assistant in biology led to a lifetime of passion for education. As an innovative educator, Michelle has pushed the limits of what students can do with technology in her classroom. She routinely harnesses the powerful technological tools, like smart phones and tablets available in her students’ backpacks, and uses them to make the lesson relevant to today’s learner.
While at Northeast, Michelle has progressed through the ranks and has now become the Vice President of Instruction. In this capacity, she spreads her passion for teaching with technology in the classroom to teachers across campus.

 

Dr. Carlena McCombs Benjamin
Northeast MS Community College

Dr. Benjamin is an anatomy and physiology instructor at Northeast MS Community College. She is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Seesaw Ambassador, and was the Instructor of the Year for Mississippi Virtual Community College in 2019. She enjoys implementing innovative teaching strategies in her classroom and sharing what she learns with others.

 

Nelson Taylor
Senior Apple Professional Learning Specialist

Nelson Taylor is a Senior Apple Professional Learning Specialist and has worked full-time for Apple Inc since November 2016. Prior to joining Apple, Nelson worked as an instructional designer for the University of Colorado Denver Online, and assisted professors with the design of their course materials in Canvas as well as enhanced course projects with multimedia based assignments. Nelson holds two masterʼs degrees, one M.A. in Information Learning Technologies and a M.Ed. in International Teaching. Nelsonʼs passion is coaching teachers how to use technology to deepen student learning experiences. Nelson currently lives in Austin, TX with his wife and two young children.

Session Description: Online Professional Development for faculty and adjuncts. These 6-week online courses are designed to improve your teaching proficiency by providing best-practice teaching strategies to help you increase student success.

 

Anthony Ramos
Asst. Dean, Adjunct Faculty Support, College of DuPage

Anthony Ramos serves as the Assistant Dean for Adjunct Faculty Support at the College of DuPage and has responsibility for supporting efforts around adjunct hiring, onboarding, evaluation, and professional development. His experience includes leading values-driven and data-informed interventions for student success in collaboration between academic and student affairs. As a participant in the AACC Future Leaders Institute, he is committed to furthering the evolving mission of access and success of community colleges. Anthony has a Master’s Degrees in Higher Education and Sociology from Loyola University Chicago, and is currently a doctoral student in Educational Leadership at the University of the Cumberlands.

 

Sonia Watson
Manaer, Adjunct Faculty Support

Sonia Watson is a manager for adjunct faculty support at College of DuPage. She received her Master’s Degree in Leadership Studies from North Central College and is currently a Doctoral Candidate studying Organizational Development at Benedictine University. An educator for more than twenty years, Sonia has a passion for helping students reach their academic and personal goals, and is committed to fostering an environment to support teaching and learning at the college. Sonia leads efforts to ensure the success of College of DuPage students and faculty members, guiding the institution's mission of creating a lifelong learning environment for our diverse community. Sonia has extensive experience presenting at conferences across the nation and internationally.

 

Kate Szetela
Manager, Adjunct Faculty Support, College of DuPage

Kate Szetela is a manager for adjunct faculty support at College of DuPage and has been an educator for fifteen years. She received her Master’s Degree in Education from DePaul University. She has since taught in the high school and community college setting. While serving as a program manager, Kate collaborated with faculty to develop courses at the College and contributed to curriculum for the Illinois Community College Board. She is passionate about coaching faculty across disciplines to apply instructional technology and methods that engage and inspire. She has presented at many local, state and national conferences.

 

Jenifer Walsh
Program Manager, Business Solutions, College of DuPage

Program Manager - Educator - Trainer - Team Builder - Process Coordinator - Customer focused leader with proven record of progressive supervisory experience. Highly focused on motivating and mentoring team, life-long learning, increasing sales and customer satisfaction, establishing best practices. Corporate experience with mergers, establishing best practices, creating & maintaining standard processes and combining ERP systems, testing, training users.

Session Description: As companies in your community get back to the “new normal” they’ll seek unique offerings to improve the effectiveness of their employees. Whether you provide classes online or face-to-face, this session provides effective methods to reach your target audiences and maximize results! Specific topics to be covered include:
• Digital Marketing Best Practices
• Nurturing Your Prospects
• Measuring Your Effectiveness

 

Jean Norris
Managing Partner, Norton Norris, Inc.

31 year veteran of the customer acquisition, higher education and marketing profession. Has held numerous senior level, executive positions at for-profit and traditional colleges and universities. Currently is managing partner of Norton|Norris, Inc.; a full service marketing, mystery shopping and training firm. Also serve as Chairman of the Board, Association for the Advancement of the College Admissions Profession (AACAP).
Since 1998, my goal has been to elevate the college admissions profession and bring effective and ethical sales training and tools to anyone wishing to connect with today's consumer.
Specialties: Developer of My Guidance Coach (MGC) student advising software; Developer and Master Trainer of the award-winning EnrollMatch Admissions Training Solution; Co-Developer of 7/8ths Selling with Australian partners David Hanlon & Jill Rigney of The Right Mind. Also a Licensed NLP Master Practitioner and award winning author of the book, "No Sugar Added - Straight Talk From Those Living With Diabetes."

 

Vince Norton
Owner, Norton Norris, Inc.

Since 1979, Vince Norton has worked in higher education administration, marketing, admissions, and enrollment management, for both not-for-profit and proprietary institutions. His 35-plus years of experience include 19 years in admissions, marketing, and administration at non-profit colleges, and three years with for-profit colleges. For the last 15 years, he has served as Managing Partner of Norton|Norris, Inc.

 

Dr. Joseph Sallustio
COO/EVP
Claremont Lincoln University

Dr. Joe Sallustio has brought his leadership to a broad range of educational institutions including a regionally accredited non-profit university, a regionally accredited for-profit university (online), and a nationally accredited for-profit college (online), giving him a unique and effective breadth of knowledge in online and on-ground higher education administration.
With nearly two decades of experience in higher education operations, Joe has led teams in marketing, enrollment, finance, financial aid, student services, student affairs, human resources, accreditation/Title IV compliance, business-to-businesses relationships, and product strategy for on-ground and online universities. Specifically, his extensive experience in scaling online marketing and enrollment activities have driven the success of many of the institutions he has served.
Joe received his Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Northcentral University. He also holds a M.S. in Organizational Leadership (Strategic Human Resources Management) from Regis University and a B.S. in Speech Communications from the State University of New York College at Oneonta.

 

Britney Peterson
Director of Partnerships
National University System

I have worked in the higher education/online program management industry since 2007, focusing solely on education partnerships and prospects since 2009. Some career highlights include managing strategic relationships at Fortune 500 organizations, building products to offer organizations in line with their learning and development budget, and building national strategies to increase enrollment and partner engagement. Currently as the Director of Partnerships at National University, my main goal is to oversee all partner engagement in the Corporate/Banking space.

Session Description: Lead by example. We have all heard this. Great leaders do this. So what happens when you take the office space, where your leadership skills are on display daily, and remove it. How do you translate your leadership goals and vision to your team? How do you replace the casual interactions that give an employee a sense of value and give you insight into your team? Your team still needs your leadership. You still need that insight. But now you have to create those opportunities. This interactive session will look across technology sectors and borrow some ideas for leading that work well in today's environment.

 

Nate Hatzie
Alpha UMi

Mr. Hatzie has pivoted from 20 years in retail experience, and 10 years in senior management into an outstanding speaker and leadership professional development facilitator for Alpha UMi Inc. His strengths are relationship building, team effectiveness and leadership development. Mr. Hatzie consults to all levels of an organization. These have been key skills to leverage for his company and others during this period of change. His company planned for remote working in February and became a fully remote organization in mid-March. He has led the charge for adapting their facilitated face-to-face workshops into meaningful online content, while ensuring a smooth transition for the facilitator staff, clients and other employees of Alpha UMi.

 

Carrie Root
CEO, Alpha UMi

My personal brand is "Visionary with heart". In 2015 I had the opportunity to bring an idea to the market place through my company, Alpha UMi. This endeavor has been the most engaging, challenging and satisfying one in my career. It has brought together everything I have ever learned working with people in my engineering consulting career, as well as the many volunteer organizations I've supported. I work with an amazing cadre of individuals who give light, meaning, and texture to my ideas.

 

Tina Gottus
Director, Corporate and Community Education
South Florida State College

Tina Gottus is the Director of Corporate and Community Education for South Florida State College. Tina is responsible for non-credit workforce programs, customized training, and community education courses and events. She has been in this role for just over two years. Ms. Gottus started with the college in 2014, as a director of a federal grant. Prior to working at the college, Gottus spent 25-years in the newspaper industry, including publisher of a daily newspaper for 12-years.

Session Description: Physical location is no longer a factor in working. While this has been an abrupt transition due to the pandemic, virtual working has been a growing trend since the introduction of laptop computers and cell phones. When you take walls and office structure away, these get replaced with new rules of engagement. The "Poor Jennifer" viral video makes that point very clearly. Dressing for business on top, and the bottom is casual… works fine until you stand up. This session will explore the rules of engagement for remote work with a smile.

 

Trenton Hightower
CEO, GradCast

Trenton Hightower is the CEO for GradCast.com and has spent over twenty-five years working in leadership at community colleges. He was a leader at Finger Lakes Community College in New York, an AVP/Dean at Frederick Community College in Maryland, and the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development for all twenty-three community colleges in Virginia. He was also the AVP of Business Development for a proprietary school licensed by the North Carolina Community College System. Trenton founded “Strategic Solutions for Colleges” and “Strategic Sales for Colleges” in 1996. He is the author of the book, Field Trip 101 – An Approach to Team Building. Trenton holds a Master degree in Administration of Higher Education and an EdD in Organizational Leadership ABD.

 

Carrie Root
CEO, Alpha UMi

Dr. Root has served as an independent consultant to the Federal Government and Industry for over three decades. She has worked remotely that entire period of time, finding liberation from a cubicle or office through technology. From early embracing of luggable computers and dial-up modem cradles early in her career to more recent navigating ZOOM windows and Monday.com collaboration tools she leverages technology to do what is needed. Beyond technology, her company, Alpha UMi Inc, has created the new etiquette standards regarding personal devices for todays' workplace through their 5G Power Skills curriculum and will share new insights for the remote office.

 

Dean Erik Christensen
South Florida State College

Erik Christensen holds engineering degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrating technology into the classroom has been his passion and the hallmark of his teaching career. He has adopted the flipped learning method to his physics and astrobiology classes at South Florida State College and, as a result, has seen monumental increases in student engagement and success. Eager to share the excitement from his classes, Erik now regularly presents on his creative approaches to teaching at numerous national conferences including the SACSCOC Annual Meeting and Summer Institute, Online Learning Consortium (OLC) International Conference on Online Learning, SXSWedu, D2L Fusion, Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC), Association of Florida Colleges (AFC), and a various NISOD Regional Workshops.

Session Description: Scott Stump, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical and Adult Education

 

Scott Stump
U.S. Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical and Adult Education

Prior to assuming the role of Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical and Adult Education, Scott Stump served as the Chief Operating Officer with Vivayic, Inc., a learning solutions provider devoted to helping individuals, organizations and corporations do good in the world. Before that, Scott served as the Assistant Provost/State Director for Career & Technical Education (CTE) with the Colorado Community College System. Over his tenure with the system Stump also served as State FFA Advisor, Agriculture Program Director and interim President of Northeastern Junior College during the institution’s presidential search process.
During his seven-year tenure as a State CTE Director, Scott served as an officer in the National Association of State Directors of Career & Technical Education. Through this role, he served on the National SkillsUSA Board of Directors as the NASDCTEc liaison.
Stump served two terms on the Prairie RE11-J school board and one year on the Colorado Association of School Boards Board of Directors.

 

Casey Sacks,PhD
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges

Casey K. Sacks is the deputy assistant secretary for community colleges in the office of career, technical, and adult education at the U.S. Department of Education. She provides leadership for initiatives supporting career and technical education, adult education, correctional and re-entry education, and community colleges. These initiatives collectively serve over 25 million students each year.
Prior to assuming the role of deputy assistant secretary, Sacks served as the vice chancellor for the West Virginia Community and Technical College System. In West Virginia she led a statewide guided pathways initiative, expansion of apprenticeship and work based learning programs, developed customized workforce training for employers, and served as acting chancellor.
Before that, Sacks served as the assistant provost for academic programs and innovation with the Colorado Community College System. During her tenure there, Sacks led two TAACCCT grants, statewide redesign of developmental education, redesign for credit for prior learning, and development of online and blended delivery for career and technical education programs in energy and manufacturing.
Sacks is an active Rotarian, frequent host mom for exchange students, and avid equestrian. She received her bachelor's degree from Colorado State University, a masters from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and doctorate from Bowling Green State University.

Session Description: This session will highlight one of the three value propositions of NCCET: Exciting new curriculums to share. During the session we will review NCCET certified curriculum that are available live and online right now. We will also discuss how colleges can nominate curriculum to be evaluated for NCCET certification that can be shared and how the colleges or companies can benefit if their curriculums are certified.

 

Eric Richardson
CEO, Growth Development Associates

At the heart of Eric Richardson’s signature message is a curriculum that he and his team built to reflect all the best sales and management practices of Fortune 100 companies. Many of the concepts shared with his clients were invented by Eric Richardson for use with sales forces and management teams he led during his corporate career. GDA has provided Sales Training in over 40 countries for global companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Siemens, GE, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Cross Blue Shield, RGA, United Health, Honda, Acura, and thousands of small and medium-sized businesses and resellers.

 

Dr. Richard Cothran
Dean of Corporate and Community Education
Tri-County Technical College

Rick’s responsibilities include operating the division within the budget allocations matching revenue and expenses. Duties also include marketing, curriculum development, and meeting relevant training needs as specified by customer requests. Other responsibilities include installing new workforce development programs that aide in changing the financial direction of the division. Developing education training programs that match entry level workforce requirements such as SC WorkReady Communities and manufacturing certification has become a major component of his job responsibilities.

Session Description: Workforce Development and Continuing Education have long been leaders in the activities, policies, and programs used to create, sustain, and retain a viable workforce that can support current and future business and industry. With record unemployment and a looming recession, our ability to provide education and training, apprenticeships and job matching as well as lead employer engagement to support economic development will be more needed than ever before. How do we lead and support the economy for our communities and our workforce when we return to campus? What do our programs look like 6 months, a year, two years? How can and should workforce and continuing education professionals view their work differently, their learners differently, their outcomes and/or their revenue models differently?

 

Dr. Victoria L Steeger
Chief Learning Officer
Office of State Procurement
Maryland Department of General Services

 

 

Dr. Daniel Demarte
President
Jamestown Community College
Jamestown, NY

 

 

Dr. Steven Bloomberg
President
Southeast Arkansas College
Pine Bluff, AR