MEDUCATION ALLIANCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Founder
- Founder and Executive Director of the Mobiles for Education ( MEducation ) Alliance
Anthony Bloome is the Founder and Executive Director of the Mobiles for Education (mEducation) Alliance. He has specialized in the field of international development and technology for over 28 years.
From 2009 to 2020, he was USAID's Senior Education Technology Specialist where he provided technical advice to HQ, Missions and counterpart agencies regarding the appropriate uses of technology to support quality educational outcomes in developing countries. While working at USAID, Tony founded the mEducation Alliance to strengthen global collaboration and catalyze knowledge exchange and evidence-informed investments for edtech use in developing countries. He also founded the All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development as an open innovation competition and partnership with World Vision and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to catalyze tech-based innovations to advance early grade reading. He subsequently managed both programs for 11 years before leaving USAID in 2020 and establishing the mEducation Alliance as an independent non-profit.
From 2006-2009, Tony was Peace Corps' technology for development specialist where he supported staff and volunteer activities across all development sectors. From 1995-2006, he served as a distance education specialist for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. and Zimbabwe where he focused on various applications of technology for education, health, and youth and workforce development. While at the World Bank, he also served as the Zimbabwe Country Director and Anglophone Africa Regional Coordinator for the World Links for Development (WorLD) initiative which supported national EdTech policies, teacher training, and national schoolnet development.
Tony serves on multiple advisory boards including for Benetech and Rotary International's Basic Education and Literacy Action Group (BELRAG). He previously served for many years as a board member on the Library of Congress Literacy Awards. He is also the 22-23 President of Rotary Club Washington Global. Tony has a M.A. in Telecommunications from George Mason University and a B.A. in English Literature from UCLA.
Job Titles:
- Chief Creative Officer and Co - Founder of Think
Bill Ritchie is chief creative officer and co-founder of ThinkFun®, Inc. which is dedicated to making learning fun. He is a lifelong puzzle enthusiast whose passion drives the development of ThinkFun, Inc.'s innovative and educational products.
In 1985, Bill and his wife Andrea Barthello founded ThinkFun, Inc. (originally Binary Arts), with the mission "to translate the brilliant ideas of mathematicians, engineers, and inventors into simple toys that can be appreciated by boys and girls around the world." It is a mission that continues to drive the company today.
Bill believes fiercely in the power of a great game to strengthen thinking skills that help kids succeed in school and throughout life. His pioneering efforts have led to the development of innovative programs that stretch and sharpen the mind, and his partnerships with researchers and inspired educators all over the world are an important part of furthering this vision. He continues to push into new arenas, with the philosophy that innovation, creativity, value, and fun should comprise every game ThinkFun, Inc. creates.
David Ferguson runs a boutique consultancy that operates at the intersection of international development, creating evidence of what works, and building partnerships to support innovative, collaborative programs to solve complex challenges.
He was the Director of the Center for Development Innovation in the U.S. Global Development Lab at USAID from its inception until 2018. He was one of the leaders of institutional change at USAID. The Center for Development Innovation created both directed and open innovation approaches, many involving a consortium of donors, to sourcing and accelerating solutions that have the potential to be transformative in bettering the lives of millions of people. As a leader of the International Development Innovation Alliance, an alliance of the heads of innovation at a dozen large donors and foundations, he facilitated partnerships that accomplished more than would have been possible otherwise.
Before joining USAID, he worked on international development at the nexus of development, technology, and the private sector. His first career was 27 years at AT&T where he created and ran AT&T's Professional Services Division, developing it into a US$200M profitable entity. He was based in Hong Kong for seven years and focused on the developing markets of China, India, and Indonesia, for telecommunications investment opportunities. He built seven joint ventures during this period. He began his career with AT&T at Bell Labs as a member of technical staff.
Mr. Ferguson holds a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Research Institute of Digital Innovation
Helen Crompton is the Executive Director of the Research Institute of Digital Innovation in Learning at ODU Global and an Associate Professor of Instructional Technology, Director of the Virtual Reality Lab at Old Dominion University Virginia, USA. She is a highly experienced researcher, educator, author, and presenter in the field of educational technology. She draws from over 25 years in education and a Ph.D. in educational technology and mathematics education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Crompton was officially recognized as one of nine mobile learning experts in the world by the United Nations. She has received numerous awards in the USA and her home country England for her work in technology integration, including the SCHEV award for the Outstanding Professor of Virginia. She works as a consultant for various bilateral and multi-lateral organizations, such as the United Nations, advising and writing on technology in education. She also consults for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in designing courses (tech integration, AI, and mobile learning) and coaching. Dr. Crompton has published over 150 papers on technology integration including writing publications for the United Nations and ISTE. Her CV and further information can be found here.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Chief Technology Officer for Stanford University Graduate School of Education
Dr. Paul Kim is the Associate Dean and Chief Technology Officer for Stanford University Graduate School of Education. Kim is also the founder of Seeds of Empowerment, SMILE (Stanford Mobile Inquiry-based Learning Environment), 1001 Stories Project, and Halo-Fi STEM education program. Kim leads initiatives involving the design of learning technologies, educational research, and community development.
Kim is also working with numerous international organizations to develop mobile empowerment solutions for extremely underserved communities in developing regions. In his expeditions to Latin America, Africa, and India, he investigated the effects of highly programmable open-source mobile learning platforms on education programs for literacy, numeracy, and entrepreneurship (e.g., math games, storytelling, and entrepreneurship simulations). Kim launched a Massive open online course (MOOC) titled Designing A New Learning Environment, inviting over 20,000 students from 170 countries to work in teams to lead education reform globally.
Job Titles:
- Expert
- Senior Digital Scaling Specialist
Dr. Peter Joyce is a known expert in the power of technology and education, shaped by over 30 years in both the private and public sectors. He is a Senior EdTech Advisor to the Alliance on matters related to accelerating and scaling evidence-based EdTech good practices. Dr. Joyce was Global Manager with Cisco Systems, including work on the Networking Academy program that included partnerships with 10,000 schools in 125 countries. He most recently completed a 3 year special assignment with USAID Kenya and East Africa as the Senior Advisor to the Education and Youth Unit where he supported an ICT Private Sector Working Group. Dr Joyce concurrently serves as a Senior Visiting Scholar at the University of North Carolina's Global Social Development Innovations. He holds a Doctorate in Education from Harvard University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- CEO & Founder of the International NGO
Dr. Rose Cardarelli is the CEO & Founder of the international NGO, Education for All Coalition. She is acclaimed for her work in strategy, global education, and sustainable development, and is a veteran of the U.S. Department of Defense and former professor of human security. As a humanitarian, she is driven by her passion to develop equitable, accessible, and sustainable solutions for displaced children worldwide. The Education for All Coalition serves to improve the lives and social development of children, with a focus on early childhood development, social emotional learning, digital technology, and inclusive education. The mission of the Education for All Coalition is to help children become thriving global citizens with unlimited potential and opportunities. Dr. Cardarelli serves as an NGO representative to the UN, UNHCR, and UNICEF, and is a member of the Board of Directors for both Childhood Education International and Fitchburg State University. She earned her Ed.D. from The College of William and Mary, an MHA from Baylor University, and an M.Ed. from Boston University. She is also a graduate of the University of Oxford's Refugee Studies Center on Forced Migration.
Job Titles:
- Escape Games for Education Strategic Advisor
- Professor of Game Design and Development at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford
Scott Nicholson is a Professor of Game Design and Development at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, Ontario and the director of the Brantford Game Network game lab (BGNlab). He has written research papers on escape rooms, meaningful gamification, games in libraries, online education, and data mining. He is the author of Everyone Plays at the Library: Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages and the designer of two board games - Going, Going, GONE!, and Tulipmania 1637.
He is also the co-author of a 2021 book on Unlocking the Potential of Puzzle-based Learning-Designing Escape Rooms and Games for the Classroom.
His main interest is in creating games and helping others create games and simulations that can change the world, otherwise known as transformative games, serious games, educational games or applied games. Based upon the situation, these might be board and card games, digital games, or live-action games like Escape Rooms.
Dr. Scott Nicholson volunteers as the Escape Games for Education strategic advisor for the mEducation Alliance, and is the designer of the Alliance's EscapeIF game system, which allows teachers and other community stakeholders to use and design low-resource, non-tech storytelling games, including for foundational literacy and numeracy, which can be used in low-resource context in developing countries.
Zimbabwean-born South Africa writer and human rights activist Elinor Sisulu combines training in history, English literature, development studies and feminist theory from institutions in Zimbabwe, Senegal and the Netherlands.
She is the author of the award-winning children's book The Day Gogo Went to Vote (1997 and the biography Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime (2003) that won her the prestigious Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.
Elinor is a founder member and current Executive Director of the Puku Children's Literature Foundation. In 2016 she was awarded an honorary PhD by the University of Pretoria for her work in human rights and reading promotion. In September 2020 she was appointed Chevalier de L'Ordre des Artes et des Lettres by the French government in recognition of her work with Puku. Under her leadership, Puku has been awarded the 2021 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Researcher Name
- Senior Fellow and Co - Director of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings in
Emiliana Vegas, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings Institution, along with her colleagues, Alejandro J. Ganimian and Frederick M. Hess are working to improve learning for all students by harnessing the potential and power of education technology. Technology has dramatically impacted many traditional industries and there was a hope that technology could do the same for education and create opportunities for low-cost, high-quality education around the globe. But education technologies have not lived up to that promise. Today there is still rampant and expanding inequality of education. The researchers decided to look at the evidence with a new lens- that of how people learn- in order to make key recommendations for improving education for all learners. Their work is synthesized in the report Realizing the promise: How can education technology improve learning for all?
Job Titles:
- President & Chief Revenue Officer at Merlyn Mind
Gus Schmedlen serves as President & Chief Revenue Officer at Merlyn Mind. He formerly served as Vice President and Head of Worldwide Education at HP where he oversaw a period of rapid expansion, leading to the creation of a multi-billion-dollar global education technology business. During his tenure at HP, Gus also led international efforts to improve access to quality education for students in marginalized contexts, contributing innovation, support, and scale to help realize UN SDG4.
Job Titles:
- CEO of the Queen 's English
Jamie Martin is the CEO of The Queen's English, a start up that teaches affordable, international classes of spoken English to students in Asia. He founded and ran Injini, the first Education Technology dedicated incubator in Africa, which raised over $2M and to date has incubated 28 start ups from 11 African countries. He is a former Special Adviser to the UK Secretary of State for Education and management consultant (BCG, Deloitte) with over a decade of experience advising governments and businesses on education across the world.
Jingxuan is a graduate student from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, majored in Learning Science and Technology, a field where her curiosity and passion deeply intertwine. Her interests lie at the nexus of Technology and Education, showcasing her dedication to exploring how these two realms can synergistically enhance each other. As a restless innovator, Jingxuan is particularly focused on the application of Artificial Intelligence in education, constantly seeking novel ways to integrate AI to revolutionize learning and teaching experiences.
Job Titles:
- Senior Literacy Specialist
Dr. Comings has more than 40 years of experience focused on the teaching of basic skills (reading, writing, and math) for children and adults in the U.S., Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and later directed a World Bank funded team of consultants advising the government of Indonesia on the implementation of their national adult literacy program. After returning to the US, he served as a vice president at World Education, the director of the National Center for the study of Adult Learning and Literacy at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, an appointee in the Obama administration advising on the startup of USAID's early-grade reading initiative and the All Children Reading: a Grand Challenge for Development, a Senior Literacy Consultant at the Education Development Center and World Education, and a faculty member at the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he teaches a course on systems change in support of literacy learning in low income countries. As an integral part of our team, John provides his vision, leadership, and guidance to help shape the mEducation's Alliance portfolio of foundational literacy and numeracy activities including capitalizing on our Literacy League and Math Power! initiatives.
John Kimotho is a champion and thought leader in Educational Media in East Africa Community and Africa continent. He is currently an EdTech Consultant and formerly the Head of Educational Media Directorate at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and leads the Country in educational media for levels other than University. His portfolio included overseeing the development and provision of quality print and electronic media curriculum support materials. He takes leadership in Digital literacy in curriculum content and delivery.
He is a PhD Communication Candidate at Daystar University writing a dissertation having completed the course work and defended the research proposal. He holds a Master's Degree (Communications - Media Studies) from Daystar University. He holds Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in African Leadership in ICT and Knowledge Society from Dublin City University and PGC in media management from University of Alberta, Canada. He has undertaken several professional courses in strategic leadership and development, strategic negotiations, results based performance and public private partnerships. Mr. Kimotho is registered with the Engineer's Registration Board. He is an award winner in Pan African Heritage awards in Television category and Public service award in Innovations. Prior to joining KICD he has worked in the educational media field and served at Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Educational Media - Canada and National Museums of Kenya (NMK).
Job Titles:
- Professor of Digital Learning at the University of Wolverhampton
John Traxler, Professor of Digital Learning at the University of Wolverhampton, reflects on his work with the SMS Education Management Application (SEMA) project in Kenya. The program shaped much of Professor Traxler's later work. His reflections are relevant for any education development researcher, designer, or project implementer.
Mark has worked in international education since 1983 when he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Central African Republic. In 2002, Mark co-founded School-to-School International, a nonprofit that provides evaluation and research services internationally while exploring ways to combine education, health and engagement to improve learning outcomes. He has helped organizations and governments develop and implement education policies, teacher training programs, research designs, large-scale learning assessments, and theories of change. When he's not traveling, Mark likes to surf, hike, and strum his guitar. He lives in northern California with his wife, Anastasia.
Job Titles:
- Senior Mathematics Advisor
Mark Saul has touched the lives of thousands of students around the world through his work as a teacher and author. He has served as Executive Director of the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival, as Director of Competitions for the Mathematical Association of America, and as Director of the Center for Mathematical Talent at the Courant Institute of Mathema tical Sciences, New York University. He has been President of the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML), Director of the Research Science Institute, and editor of Quantum, The Mathematics Teacher, and the AMS Notices.
Mark grew up in the Bronx, got his BA from Columbia University and Ph.D. from New York University. He then spent 35 years in and around New York, teaching mathematics in classrooms from grades 3 through 12.
Mark has also served as Senior Scholar for the John Templeton Foundation, and as a program director for the National Science Foundation. His portfolio there included directing the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. He is a 1984 recipient of that award, the nation's highest honor for work in the classroom.
Mark has consulted for mathematical organizations in more than 25 countries, including Russia, Bulgaria, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and India. In 2001, he served as Chief Guide for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Washington, D.C., and in 2013 as coordinator. He has been a program officer for the National Science Foundation and a consultant in gifted education to the John Templeton Foundation. His publications include 15 books and numerous articles, including an elementary text on trigonometry, co-authored with I.M. Gelfand, and a translation and reader's companion for Jacques Hadamard's Elementary Geometry.
Job Titles:
- Communications and Engagement Coordinator
Effie is a Senior at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and a Minor in Economics, Politics and Public Policy. She is passionate about community development and social justice and has worked with a number of organizations looking to promote youth and women's empowerment, and diversity, equity and inclusion causes.
At mEducation Alliance, Effie is combining her passion for community development and skills in communication to support the Alliance's catalyzing, communicating, community building, and convening activities.
Matthew Incardona is an ambitious undergraduate student majoring in Human-Centered Computing at Rochester Institute of Technology. With five years of experience as a web designer, he has a passion for supporting small businesses and non-profit groups alike.
As part of the mEducation Alliance family, he provides website expertise and works as their resource for technical support. His work naturally leads him to be an advocate of open source ideas and the notion that information should be freely available to everyone, which is something he looks to bring to other projects within mEd.
Morgan is a second-year student pursuing a BA in Applied Statistics and a Data Science minor at the University of Virginia. She's interested in learning more about how technology can improve educational outcomes for minority students, as well as what technology hinders students. She hopes to gain more insight on this, as well as other pressing topics throughout her time with mEducation Alliance.
Radhika is an angel/impact tech investor, passionate about civic engagement, community building & transformative social change. She is an advisor to Impact Experience & Illumen Capital Fund-of-Impact-Funds reducing biases in investment ecosystem, Co-President of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs - community of 2000+ Stanford alumni, students, faculty advancing Tech Innovation & Entrepreneurship, on Center for Effective Global Action, U.C. Berkeley board (US west Coast Universities academics collaborate with Governments, NGOs for evidence-based research/action to reduce poverty), Fellow & Founding Chair of Tech+Innovation Advisory Group at The Stanford Center for Human Rights & International Justice and Sr. Advisor to former Global Center for Gender Equality at Stanford University.
Influenced by Gandhian philosophy, Radhika cares deeply about our planet, respecting human dignity, women's empowerment, education, racial, ethnic, socio-economic justice. She is Founder & Co-Chair of the U.S.-India Alliance for Women's Economic Empowerment STEM Collaborative under joint Alliance of State Department, USAID, George Washington University & USISPF, Cofounder & CoChair of United Nations Joint SDG Fund Breakthrough Alliance for Climate & advisor to Sustainable Development Goals Philanthropy Platform (UNDP, WINGS), Benetech, Business and Human Rights Resource Center, Co-founder former Ashoka-SV-Chapter, on Action-for-India's-SV-Leadership-Council & Center for Global Development's Technology-for-Development study group member. She holds a Stanford MSCS and an MBA from U.C. Berkeley
Job Titles:
- Development Director of Family Educational Services Foundation
Sarah Shaikh is the Development Director of Family Educational Services Foundation (FESF), a non-profit educational foundation operating in Pakistan since 1989. Her responsibilities as Development Director include: oversight of the grant design and deployment, donor relations, communications and strategic plan of FESF.
Sarah provides strategic oversight of the Deaf Reach Program, a unique academic and skills training program for deaf children and young adults that utilizes innovative technology-based resources for education.
Sarah Shaikh represents the needs of the Deaf Community and their right to equal access to education in their native signed language. Through its programs, schools and resources, FESF has helped thousands of children to learn sign language, receive an education and master marketable skills.
Sarah also leads the Distance Learning Program designed for out of school education response. She works with leading international funding and impact monitoring organizations (Ed Tech Hub, DFID, Lady Fatemeh Trust and Khakhi Foundation) to ensure the prevention of language loss and retention of learning and literacy levels in the deaf community. Sarah also led the drive to ensure food safety for the beneficiaries and their families, in order to prevent a health crisis during the lockdown.
Job Titles:
- Senior Technical Advisor at Palladium
Scott Isbrandt is a Senior Technical Advisor at Palladium. Scott is a tech entrepreneur and advocate for innovation with technology to promote education, entrepreneurship and economic empowerment. Scott is also the founder of RisingRoad, a consortium of tech innovators who identify needs and drive the agenda (currently in Mali) for locally appropriate tech solutions and models for self-sustaining revenue streams for tech entrepreneurs who strengthen small businesses and education systems through tech innovation, learning and training.
Over the past two decades, Scott has worked extensively with local experts and local organizations in emerging economies to enhance digital ecosystems, designing and developing tech solutions to bring affordable educational multimedia to developing communities across rural Africa, focusing on those with limited access. Scott previously led Project ABC (Alphabétisation de Base par Cellulaire) in Niger, delivering basic education services to rural learners via mobile phones and improving the livelihoods of agricultural producers by creating systems to access agricultural market data. Scott also created an edtech learning platform called Stepping Stone, a content creation tool and delivery system for low-cost mobile phones, delivering learning and training content to hundreds of thousands across Africa. Scott is also a proud alumnus of the mEducation Alliance.
Tanvee Sunkari, a second-year student at the University of Virginia, is dedicated to the intersection of technology and education. Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science with a Minor in Psychology, Tanvee is passionate about leveraging her technical expertise to address real-world challenges.
Tanvee looks forward to immersing herself in original content creation, digital skills, and partnership development to advance quality educational outcomes. With a deep commitment to utilizing technology for significant change, she is thrilled to embark on a journey toward strengthening networks and building a transformative impact on education
Victoria Collis provides interim leadership and advice, helping organisations and programmes navigate change or shape new ideas, particularly in the international education sector. In 2020/21, she served as the first Executive Director of EdTech Hub, a global research partnership supported by the UK FCDO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, and a partner of the mEducation Alliance.
Victoria has a background in supporting public sector leaders in LMICs to strengthen planning and delivery of services to citizens. Between 2016 and 2018 Victoria served as a resident adviser to the Lebanese Education Minister and Director General. She has also worked in Pakistan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Syria, and Peru. Victoria has served as a Trustee of the Eden Academy Trust, a group of special schools in England since 2015.