changing education now has the greatest economic upside and downside ever

[chris macrae]

which conferences/delegates really offer students a leapfrog in value -here's a catalogue of conferences -help suggest links to who's who

stanford conference oct 2014

[chris macrae]

stanford oct 2014

Stanford Social Innovation Review

 

October 29, 2014
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Paul Brest Hall
Munger Building 4
555 Salvatierra Walk
Stanford, CA
 

Event Hosts:
 

Sponsor: 

 

 

Quick Links
Program Overview | Conference Sessions | Schedule | Confirmed Speakers | What Your Conference Fee Includes | Facilities and Location | Lodging | Rates and Registration | Privacy Policy | Contact Information| Co-Sponsors and Partner

Program Overview

 

Transforming the Role of Business in Education

Companies across industries—including technology, financial services, agriculture, and more—are beginning to play a new role in education. These companies are tackling education issues through their core business strategy and operations. In doing so, they are finding new ways to become essential partners for schools, nonprofits, and governments in helping to raise levels of student and workforce achievement.

This one-day conference, hosted by the Shared Value Initiative, FSG, and Stanford Social Innovation Review, will bring together business, education, and nonprofit leaders eager to explore new models to help address the world's educational needs. Through this conference, we will:

• Explore trends driving companies to engage in education in a new way.
• Discover how business, nonprofits, schools, and governments can create partnerships that improve education at scale.
• Offer practical recommendations for how corporate, government, and civil society leaders can work together to create greater value for society.

To learn more about how companies can create shared value in education, click here.

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Conference Sessions

 

Morning General Sessions

Keynote Address: Introducing the New Role of Business in Education
Sir Michael Barber, Chief Education Advisor, Pearson

The opening keynote will explain why we’ve come together to discuss the new role of business in education. The keynoter will review how traditional corporate engagement in education has left value on the table for both business and society and illuminate the trends that are driving business to engage in education in a new way. He will then discuss how Pearson is making this shift and argue why this transformation is critical to meeting our global education needs.

Panel: Can Companies, Government, and Educators Create Shared Value in Education?
Dr. James Applegate, Executive Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education; Karen Cator, CEO, Digital Promise; Dean Florez, President and CEO, The 20 Million Minds Foundation
Moderator: Eric Nee, Managing Editor, Stanford Social Innovation Review

This panel will explore how business, government, and education leaders can work together to improve the effectiveness of education systems at scale. Speakers will discuss two distinct approaches to shared value creation— building the workforce of the future and innovating for student success—and why these models are particularly worthy of our attention. Speakers will weigh the benefits and trade-offs of these approaches, and offer recommendations for how to effectively leverage the power of business to help improve educational outcomes.

Afternoon Breakout Sessions (Running Concurrently)

Breakout Session I: Innovating for Student Success
Diane Tavenner, CEO, Summit Public Schools; James Bernard, Global Director, Strategic Partnerships, Microsoft Education; Amar Kumar, Senior Vice President, Office of the Chief Education Advisor, Pearson

This session will focus on the shift that education and technology companies around the world are making to deliver products and services that have a measurable, proven impact on learners’ lives. Speakers will discuss the benefits and challenges of adopting this approach, and explore what it will take for more companies to integrate student success into their business strategy moving forward. Audience members will then engage in small roundtable discussions to further unfold these questions, and the session will conclude with speaker Q&A.

Breakout Session II: Building the Workforce of the Future
Suzanne Fallender, Director, Global Girls and Women Initiative, Intel Corporation; Eric Johnson, Workforce Development Lead, Office of Education, USAID; Jennifer Silberman, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, Hilton Worldwide

This session will focus on how companies can evolve from passive consumers of talent to catalysts for developing a skilled workforce—and, in doing so, increase employability and economic mobility in their communities. Speakers will discuss the key ingredients needed to undertake this shift, from taking a broader view of workforce needs, to building cross-sector collaboratives, to aligning curricula with the skills needed for employment. Audience members will then engage in small roundtable discussions to further unfold these questions, and the session will conclude with speaker Q&A.

Afternoon General Session

Plenary: A Call to Action
Bill Goodwyn, CEO, Discovery Education; Dr. Juan "Kiko" Suarez, Vice President of Communications and Innovation, Lumina Foundation; Jamie McAuliffe, CEO, Education for Employment
Moderator: Mark Kramer, Cofounder and Managing Director, FSG, and Senior Advisor, Shared Value Initiative

The afternoon plenary will offer a vision for how companies and their partners can open up entrepreneurial and innovative solutions to addressing educational issues and realize opportunities to impact education through new thinking, new business models, and cross-sector collaboration. The speakers will share their stories of creating quality education for all and answer questions from the moderator and audience.

Closing Keynote
David L. Kirp, James D. Marver Professor of Public Policy, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California Berkeley

Networking Reception and Cocktails
We will end the day with an open reception for networking and knowledge sharing.

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Schedule

 

Wednesday, October 29, at Paul Brest Hall:

Time	Session	Speakers
8:00 – 9:00 a.m.	Check In and Continental Breakfast
9:00 – 9:15 a.m.	Welcome and Conference Overview	Eric Nee and Kate Tallant
9:15 – 10:00 a.m.	Keynote: Introducing the New Role of Business in Education	Sir Michael Barber
10:00 – 11:30 a.m.	Panel: Can Companies, Government, and Educators Create Shared Value in Education?	Dr. James Applegate, Karen Cator, Dean Florez Moderator : Eric Nee
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.	Lunch and Networking (vegetarian and non-vegetarian lunch boxes available)
12:30 – 2:00 p.m.	Breakout Sessions
	Innovating for Student Success	James Bernard, Amar Kumar, Diane Tavenner Moderator: Matt Wilka
	Building the Workforce of the Future	Suzanne Fallender, Eric Johnson, Jennifer Silberman Moderator: Rick Cruz
2:00 – 2:15 p.m.	Coffee Break
2:15 – 3:30 p.m.	Plenary: A Call to Action	Bill Goodwyn, Dr. Juan "Kiko" Suarez, Jamie McAuliffe Moderator : Mark Kramer
3:30 – 4:00 p.m.	Closing Keynote	Professor David L. Kirp
4:00 – 5:00 p.m.	Networking Reception

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Confirmed Speakers

 

Dr. James L. Applegate, Executive Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education

Dr. James L. Applegate serves as the Executive Director for the Illinois Board of Higher Education.  As the state higher education executive officer, he leads efforts to dramatically expand college opportunity especially for underserved students. He works to increase higher education's contributions to Illinois' economic and civic health as part of advancing Illinois’ Public Agenda. Applegate previously served as Vice President for the Lumina Foundation, the largest US foundation solely focused on improving higher education. As head of grant making, he led  development of new approaches to invest Lumina’s more than $50 million annual grant budget to drive increased degree production, fairness, and productivity in the higher education system.  From 2000 to 2008, Applegate was the Chief Academic Officer for the state of Kentucky. There he supported reforms that resulted in Kentucky leading the nation in higher education attainment increases from 2000 to 2009. Applegate was a professor, department head, and university senate chair at the University of Kentucky.  He was a University Fellow and received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.

Sir Michael Barber, Chief Education Advisor, Pearson

Sir Michael Barber joined Pearson in September 2011 as Chief Education Advisor, leading Pearson’s worldwide program of efficacy and research, ensuring the impact of the program on the learner outcomes of Pearson and its customers. He plays a particular role in Pearson’s strategy for education in the developing world and is Chairman of the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund. Prior to Pearson, he was a Partner at McKinsey & Company and head of McKinsey’s global education practice. He coauthored two major McKinsey education reports: How the world’s best-performing schools come out on top (2007) and How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better (2010). He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Exeter and the University of Wales. He previously served in the UK government as head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (from 2001-2005) and as Chief Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education on School Standards (from 1997-2001). Before joining government he was a professor at the Institute of Education at the University of London. He is the author of several books including Instruction to Deliver; Deliverology 101; The Learning Game: Arguments for an Education Revolution, and The Making of the 1944 Education Act.

James Bernard, Global Director, Strategic Partnerships, Microsoft Education

James Bernard is Global Director of Partners in Learning at Microsoft Corp. where his focus is on primary and secondary programming and strategic partnerships.  Bernard took time off from Microsoft between 2006 and 2008 to serve as Vice President of Marketing and Communications for World Learning, an international nonprofit focused on educational exchange and international development. Bernard previously held a number of globally focused positions in consumer marketing and communications at Microsoft between 1999 and 2006, working on consumer technology products and projects designed to bring technology to people in developing countries, specifically through the distribution of low-cost PCs.  Before joining Microsoft in 1999, Bernard spent eight years in a variety of marketing, public relations and communications roles in Chicago, including four years managing global accounts (DaimlerChrysler, Michelin, Owens Corning) at GolinHarris International Public Relations. He graduated cum laude with a bachelor of science in journalism from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and a minor in history. Bernard lived in Kenya for six years and has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Karen Cator, CEO, Digital Promise

Karen Cator is President and CEO of Digital Promise. From 2009 to 2013, Karen was Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the US Department of Education, where she led the development of the 2010 National Education Technology Plan and focused the Office’s efforts on teacher and leader support. She also was a leading voice for transforming American education through technology innovation and research. Prior to joining the department, Cator directed Apple’s leadership and advocacy efforts in education. In this role, she focused on the intersection of education policy and research, emerging technologies, and the reality faced by teachers, students and administrators. She began her education career in Alaska as a teacher, ultimately leading technology planning and implementation. She also served as Special Assistant for Telecommunications for the Governor of Alaska. Cator holds a master’s degree in school administration from the University of Oregon and a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Springfield College. She is a past chair for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and has served on boards including the Software & Information Industry Association-Education.
 

Rick Cruz, Director, FSG

Rick co-leads FSG’s Education & Youth Practice, serving a diverse portfolio of clients and advancing the firm’s thought leadership in the field. Prior to joining the firm, he held several leadership positions in the education sector. From 2012 to 2013, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of DC Prep Public Charter Schools, a high-performing charter management organization serving the most under-resourced communities in Washington, DC. From 2010 to 2012, Rick was the Chief Field Officer for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving student engagement and real world skill acquisition through the development and implementation of innovative entrepreneurship education curricula, teacher training, experiential programing, and volunteer engagement. From 2007 to 2010, Rick was Vice President of Regional Operations at Teach for America. Before joining the education sector, Rick was a seasoned strategy consultant and business manager, having worked at the Corporate Executive Board and the Advisory Board Company for more than a decade in successive leadership positions in the US and internationally. Rick earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Yale University.

Suzanne Fallender, Director, Global Girls and Women Initiative, Intel Corporation

Suzanne Fallender has more than 16 years of experience in the fields of corporate responsibility and corporate governance. She is currently Director of Intel's Global Girls and Women Initiative, which includes a set of strategic programs, partnerships, and policy engagements designed to empower millions of girls and women around the world through education and technology. This includes Intel's partnership on the Girl Rising campaign which advocates for investing in girls' education, programs to inspire more girls and women to pursue technology and engineering careers, and the Intel She Will Connect program, which aims to close the internet gender gap in developing countries. Fallender also leads Intel's strategy around the concept of creating shared value, including engaging in research and partnerships that create both business value and social impact. Prior to her current role, Fallender led Intel's approach to CSR reporting and engagement with socially responsible investors, including publication of Intel's annual CSR report. She also worked with business groups across the company to integrate CSR into strategic planning, goal-setting, external and internal communications, and employee engagement activities. Previously, Fallender served as Vice President at Institutional Shareholder Services where she managed the firm's socially responsible investing division. Outside Intel, she is a member of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship's Executive Forum and Net Impact's Corporate Advisory Council and serves on the boards of directors of the Tempe Community Council and Arizona Businesses Advancing Sustainability.

Dean Florez, President and CEO, The Twenty Million Minds Foundation

Dean Florez is the president of The Michelson Twenty Million Minds Foundation (20MM) and a previous California Senate Majority Leader with over 20 years of legislative policy experience. He was recently appointed to the California Committee on Awards for Innovation in Higher Education which will oversee a $50 million fund intended to reward forward thinking state universities and colleges that seek to increase graduation rates. Florez is a thought leader on higher education issues and is often a featured speaker on panels at conferences like “The New York Times School for Tomorrow” and the “White House Education Data-pa-looza to Promote Innovation in Improving College Access, Affordability and Completion.” His emphasis during his tenure in the legislature was overseeing high technology implementation and educational reform, where he chaired the Senate Select Committee on Wireless Technology and Consumer Driven Programming and the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. Florez previously worked in higher education policy as the Senate’s Chief consultant to the Senate Committee on University of California Admissions and staffed the California Joint Master Plan of Higher Education Review. Florez is a past investment banker, having received his MBA from Harvard University in 1993 and his bachelor's degree in political science from UCLA.

stanford part 2

[chris macrae]

stanford conference part 2

Bill Goodwyn, CEO, Discovery Education

A 26-year veteran of Discovery Communications, Bill Goodwyn serves as President and CEO of Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital textbooks and curriculum-based digital content in U.S. schools. As a global leader in educational transformation, Discovery Education reaches over half of all K-12 classrooms, serving 3.5 million educators, 35 million students in the US, as well as 50 countries around the world. Discovery Education transforms teaching and learning by partnering with districts nationwide to drive student achievement. Under Goodwyn's leadership, Discovery Education has been a pioneer in the digital textbook space, now offering a full range of Techbooks, including K-12 Science, Middle School Social Studies, and for the 2014-2015 school year will expand to include a series of Math Techbooks. Designed to replace traditional textbooks as a primary resource for instruction, Discovery Education's Techbook is one of the first digital textbooks adopted in multiple US states. Goodwyn also served as the company's President of Global Distribution, overseeing all content distribution strategy, sales and marketing activity on behalf of Discovery's US content portfolio encompassing more than 13 networks and their high-definition and video on demand extensions including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, and Science Channel. A sought-after speaker on issues related to education, workforce readiness, digital learning, and shared value, Goodwyn has keynoted conferences and served on plenary panels hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative, the Democratic & Republican Governors' Associations, Common Sense Media, and the Chamber of Commerce, among others.
 

Eric Johnson, Workforce Development Lead, Office of Education, USAID

Eric Johnson is a Foreign Service Officer with USAID stationed in Washington, after assignments in Ghana and Vietnam. He currently leads a team dedicated to advancing and applying evidence to guide USAID's global investments in Higher Education and Workforce Development. Previously, as USAID’s Education Lead in Vietnam, he developed three public private partnerships in higher education, leveraging USAID investments at 50:1 and contributing to critical joint U.S-Vietnam goals in higher education reform. In Ghana, he led the development and implementation of basic education projects in early-grade reading, student assessment, and school accountability. Prior to USAID, he spent a year in Kyrgyzstan on a Fulbright fellowship conducting field research for his PhD at Columbia University. His focus on Central Asia grew out of his time in Kazakhstan as a Peace Corps Volunteer. As of October 20, 2014, he will transition to a new job at RTI International, where he will help stand up and direct a new Global Center for Youth Employment.
 

David L. Kirp, James D. Marver Professor of Public Policy, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

David L. Kirp is a policy consultant and former newspaper editor as well as an academic. In his seventeen books and scores of articles, in both the popular press and scholarly journals, he has tackled some of America’s biggest social problems, including affordable housing, access to health, gender discrimination, and AIDS. Throughout his career, his main focus has been on education and children’s policy, from cradle to college and career.  He was a member of the 2008 Presidential Transition Team, where he drafted a policy framework for early education. His latest book, Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for American Education, was named outstanding book of 2013 by the American Education Research Association. His previous book, Kids First: Five Big Ideas for Transforming the Lives of Children, makes a powerful argument for building systems of support that reach from cradle to college and career. It won the National School Board Journal award for the best education book of 2011. His account of the market-oriented drift of higher education, Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Educationgarnered the Council for Advancement and Support of Higher Education’s research award. Long committed to developing a new generation of public leaders, he is a recipient of Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award. He frequently speaks on college campuses in the United States and abroad, including Harvard, Columbia, UCLA, Stanford, the University of Virginia, Boston College, NYU, Amherst, Glasgow, Ben Gurion, Wellington, Melbourne, Trento and Oslo.

Mark Kramer, Cofounder and Managing Director, FSG

Mark Kramer is Cofounder and Managing Director of FSG and the author of influential publications on shared value, catalytic philanthropy, collective impact, strategic evaluation, and impact investing. Kramer oversees FSG’s consulting practice and helps drive the vision and growth of the firm. He has led consulting engagements across all of FSG’s impact areas, with particular emphasis on philanthropic strategy for private foundations, shared value initiatives, strategic evaluation, and impact investing. Kramer also leads the research on many of FSG’s publications and publishes regularly in Harvard Business Review and Stanford Social Innovation Review. He is a frequent speaker around the world on catalytic philanthropy, collective impact, creating shared value for corporations, new approaches to evaluation, impact investing, and social entrepreneurship. Before FSG, Kramer served for 12 years as President of Kramer Capital Management, a venture capital firm, and before that as an Associate at the law firm of Ropes & Gray in Boston, and Law Clerk to Judge Alvin B. Rubin, Fifth Circuit, US Court of Appeals.

Amar Kumar, Senior Vice President, Office of the Chief Education Advisor, Pearson

Amar Kumar is an educator, advisor, investor, and upcoming innovator. Kumar’s passion for education was ignited as a schoolteacher and school principal in rural India. Supported by a young team of 40 teachers, he improved the education and outcomes at a school of 1,000 children in a matter of months, doing more than what most had achieved in years.  That experience led him to Harvard, where he studied disruption and the power of innovation in education, and on to McKinsey, where he advised private and public sector clients on education and system reform. He currently leads Pearson's corporate transformation to embed efficacy into every single product, coordinating a team of 60 colleagues around the world. Together, they have trained thousands of employees, done hundreds of reviews, and are working with many external partners to make efficacy and learner outcomes a part of the global conversation. In addition to his focus on efficacy, Amar leads some of Pearson's investments into low-cost schooling in India and parts of Africa and is the interim head of Global Research. Kumar has also worked at Eli Lilly, Microsoft, and McKinsey and studied at Purdue, Oxford, and Harvard Business School.

Jamie McAuliffe, President and CEO, Education for Employment

Jamie McAuliffe has worked for many years to advance effective, scalable solutions for vulnerable youth. He has over two decades of experience in leadership roles in both the nonprofit and business sectors. Before joining EFE, McAuliffe served as Portfolio Manager at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, a NY-based foundation that pioneered a “scaling what works” grant-making strategy to support leading youth development non-profits in the United States. At the OTF Group, a spin-off of Monitor Consulting Group, he provided strategic consulting services to spur exports and competitiveness in the small and medium business sector in Brazil. Early in his career, McAuliffe launched new programs and markets at Ashoka, a global organization that selects and invests in leading social entrepreneurs. Between receiving his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Georgetown University and his master’s degree in International Studies from John Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, McAuliffe served as an inner-city school teacher for Teach for America. McAuliffe joined EFE in 2010. At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin in 2012, McAuliffe was named a Schwab Foundation Global Social Entrepreneur for the transformative impact that EFE is driving in youth employment. In the fall of 2012, McAuliffe became the Chairman of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Youth Unemployment.

Eric Nee, Managing Editor, Stanford Social Innovation Review

Eric Nee is the Managing Editor of Stanford Social Innovation Review, published by the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford University, and cohost of the Social Innovation Conversations podcast channel. He has more than 30 years of experience in the publishing industry, most of it covering the high tech industry. Before joining Stanford, Nee was a senior writer for Fortune magazine in the Palo Alto, Calif., bureau. He also helped Time Inc. launch eCompany Now (where he was executive editor), which later merged with Business 2.0. Before joining Fortune, Nee launched Forbes magazine’s Silicon Valley bureau, where he was bureau manager. He also served as editor-in-chief of Upside magazine for close to five years.
 

Jennifer Silberman, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, Hilton Worldwide

As Vice President of Corporate Responsibility for Hilton Worldwide, Jennifer Silberman helps oversee CSR efforts at more than 4,000 properties across ten brands, including DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites, Waldorf Astoria, and Hilton Garden Inn. Commitments range from waste, water, and energy initiatives to human trafficking and youth development, all of which are part of Hilton's Travel with Purpose platform. As a part of this platform, she works closely with partners, such as the International Youth Foundation, to not only give youth jobs, but also to find the root causes of youth disenfranchisement to create and implement long-term solutions. She joined Hilton Worldwide from APCO Worldwide, where for eight years as Vice President in the corporate responsibility practice she counseled Fortune 500 companies and global foundations on strategy and program design, business integration, stakeholder engagement, reporting, and results-oriented philanthropy. She has more than twenty years of experience working in the United States and throughout Latin America and Africa in the areas of economic development, sustainability, human rights, public policy and corporate communications.
 

Dr. Juan "Kiko" Suarez, Vice President of Communications & Innovation, Lumina Foundation

Dr. Juan "Kiko" Suarez brings a unique blend of global experience in marketing and communications, corporate responsibility and information technology in Fortune 500 corporations, entrepreneurial startups and strategic philanthropy. He has served in leadership positions in two global companies, including CEMEX, the world’s largest building materials supplier, as global Director of Public Affairs; and DuPont as Director of Corporate Marketing and Public Affairs for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Suarez has represented his employers in delicate international transactions and before governments and organizations such as the United Nations, European Union and the Inter-American Development Bank. He also has a depth of entrepreneurial experience including being owner and CEO of two of his own startup companies, as well as Chief Marketing Officer and President East Coast for a WiMax startup. Driven by his passion for education and creating shared value, he is now Vice President of Communications and Innovation for Lumina Foundation, the largest private foundation with the national goal of raising the percentage of Americans with quality post-secondary credentials to 60 percent.
 

Kate Tallant, Director, FSG
Kate Tallant is a Director at FSG and leads the firm’s global education practice. Her work focuses on helping organizations develop solutions to address the world's most pressing social issues, with a particular emphasis on education, workforce development, digital inclusion, and entrepreneurship. In her seven years at FSG, she has advised multinational corporations, foundations, international NGOs, and school districts on strategy, program design, market analyses, and evaluation. Her clients include Microsoft, Intel, Pearson, Cisco, Intuit, SAP, The North Face, BlackRock, Target, PATH, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Mercy Corps, among others. She began her career as an educator in the San Francisco Unified School District where she developed and managed support services for at-risk high school youth and their families. She is the author of several papers includingThe New Role of Business in Global Education, Roundtable on Shared Value in Education, Collective Impact for Opportunity Youth, among others.

Diane Tavenner, CEO, Summit Public Schools

Diane Tavenner is the Founder and CEO of Summit Public Schools (SPS), a leading charter management organization serving Silicon Valley’s diverse communities. Summit currently operates six schools serving 1,600 students. Employing a model that leverages technology, world-class teaching, and a rigorous, college, career and life prep curriculum, Summit’s graduates are completing four-year college degrees at twice the national average. Tavenner founded Summit’s flagship school, Summit Preparatory Charter High School, in 2003, which quickly earned a reputation as one of the best public high schools in the nation, according to national rankings byNewsweek and US News & World Report. Community demand led to the opening of Everest Public High School in the fall of 2009, as well as Summit Public School’s Rainier and Tahoma in San Jose in the fall of 2011, and Denali and Shasta in 2013. With an acclaimed model focused on rigorous, college-preparatory public school education, nearly 100 percent of students from Summit’s first six graduating classes have been admitted to four-year colleges and universities. Tavenner serves as Board Chair of the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) Board of Directors representing the majority of California’s 1,000+ charter schools.  Tavenner is a member of the spring 2013 cohort of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship.

Matt Wilka, Associate Director, FSG

As an Associate Director at FSG, Matt Wilka works with foundations, corporations, school systems, multilaterals, and nonprofits to improve education quality in the United States and globally. He has particular experience advising clients on how to adapt their strategies based on emergent conditions, on building cross-sector collective impact initiatives to improve education at the regional level, and on employing technology to improve student outcomes. In addition to strategy development, Matt speaks and writes frequently on education topics including the role of the private sector in education, blended learning, and collective impact. He is also the coauthor of several FSG publications, including The New Role of Business in Global Education. Before joining FSG Matt served as a Fulbright Fellow in Ecuador, and managed programs for a Boston nonprofit to share best practices among charter and district schools. Matt holds a bachelor's degree in English from Williams College.