The Future of Learning and Work Think Tank

Marni Baker Stein

Chief Content Officer, Coursera

Marni Baker Stein is Coursera’s Chief Content Officer, where she oversees the company’s content and credential strategy and partner relationships. Marni has over 25 years of experience producing and scaling online and hybrid education programs. Prior to joining Coursera, she was Chief Academic Officer and Provost at Western Governors University, where she led its four colleges serving more than 135,000 students with programs that improved access and affordability without compromising academic quality. Before that, Marni held several leadership positions focused on access, student success, and program design at institutions such as the University of Texas System, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kelly Cure

Co-Founder, Skillful.ly

Kelly Cure is the Co-Founder of Skillful.ly, The Equitable Employment Marketplace. She started her career in management consulting before launching into her entrepreneurial journey. Kelly started her first venture in 2016, which grew quickly, leading her to realize the benefits of skills-based hiring.

She became fixated on ways to move beyond academic pedigree and resume based hiring, instead focusing on skills, regardless of where they were learned. This curiosity led to the launch of Skillful.ly, a young, scaling startup, who have now supported over 3,000 learners. Kelly has lived and worked in 6 countries across Europe, the UK and most recently Africa and now lives in the Bay Area.

Catherine Curtis

Director, Global Technical Learning, Microsoft

Catherine is Director of Global Technical Learning Products. She has previously led the Global L&D GCO team at Expedia, led teams for Microsoft delivering the Xbox, Zune and Surface Customer Support groups.

Catherine is passionate about learning and development having spent her formative years teaching High School and as a professor at the Seattle Pacific University and has an acute awareness of the importance of building lasting relationships. Catherine holds multiple educational qualifications including a Bachelors in Teaching, a Masters of Education together with Masters Degrees in Educational Technology and Instructional Design.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Catherine worked as Global Director of Learning at Expedia.

Catherine is currently working on her book, 'Seven Steps to an Adaptive Learning Environment.'

Sarah DeMark, Ph.D.

Vice Provost of Workforce Intelligence and Credential Integrity, Western Governors University,

Sarah DeMark currently serves as the Vice Provost of Workforce Intelligence & Credential Integrity at Western Governors University, where she has worked since 2014. She is a strong advocate for creating value-based credentials that benefit and align both individuals and employers to improve social mobility and workforce development. While at WGU, Sarah has also served as the vice president of program development and the vice president of General Education innovation. Sarah also serves as the Executive Director of the Open Skills Network, a 2000-member coalition dedicated to advancing an open skills-based education and hiring ecosystem. She also serves on 1EdTech’s Board of Directors. Prior to WGU, Sarah spent more than 15 years at leading IT companies, such as Cisco and VMware, serving in various leadership roles where she oversaw the strategy and execution of the design, development, and deployment of innovative, large-scale assessment and certification portfolios. Sarah earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Arizona State University. 

 

Carlos Ewing

Principal Learning Consultant, Discover Card

Carlos is a Principal Learning Consultant at Discover and author of 'The Struggle Is Real: From High School to Careers’.

Carlos works with the Digital Learning team within the Discover® Technology Academy (DTA) to help create and develop innovative learning design, user engagement, and accelerated upskilling internally. In his role he is responsible for working with external partners to implement their products and service into the learning products and services developed for internal clients.
 
Carlos holds a PhD in Instructional Systems and Workforce Development from Mississippi State University. Prior to joining Discover, he has worked as consultant for Deloitte and the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) to develop COVID training for the CDC.

Laine Joelson Cohen

Director – HR Learning and Development, Citi Learning

For over 25 years, Laine has worked at Citi and its predecessors leading teams across a variety of businesses and functions  As Head of Learning for HR, Laine is a catalyst for Citi’s global Human Resources team, cultivating a culture where all colleagues are encouraged to be curious, engaged and innovative. By developing HR capabilities, HR colleagues step into their role as change agents for the broader organization and together, create a best-in-class HR Function.

Previously, Laine was the North America Lead for Leadership and Performance Solutions (LEAPS) where she was responsible for driving development and delivery of Citi’s leadership development programs.  Prior to her role in Citi Learning, Laine was the Director of Global Equity Compensation where she was responsible for the strategy, design, implementation and administration of Citi’s global stock award and stock option programs.

Laine is also an Executive Coach and was named to Marshall Goldsmith “100 Coaches”.  She speaks both at Citi and externally about leadership, coaching, and thriving in large complex organizations. 

Laine holds an M.B.A. in Human Resources Management from the Zicklin School of Business - Baruch College and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Connecticut.

Rob Nail

Managing Director, Hammerfx

Rob is an Associate Founder and former CEO of Singularity University and currently works as an Advisor, Mentor, and Coach, and is exploring interactions with artificial intelligence for the future of work and education at HammerfX and his upcoming webcast “Robot & Rob”. He is also a serial entrepreneur, engineer, investor, director, surfer, and a struggling homeschooler, but mostly, a proud husband and father. His personal mission is to build bridges to an amazing future.

LaWaune Netter

Global Learning Manager, McDonald's Customer Experience Teams

LaWaune Netter is a learning professional dedicated to preparing individuals for the evolving world of work. As the Global Learning Manager for McDonald's Customer Experience teams, she shapes the learning experiences of a diverse community committed to transforming the McDonald's customer experience.

With a background as an Air Force veteran and dual Master's degrees in instructional design and technology, as well as data analytics and visualization, LaWaune brings a blend of leadership, technology, and data-driven insights to education and learning technologies.

Known for her innovative approach, LaWaune introduces forward-thinking concepts, revitalizing corporate communities of practice, implementing digital adoption platforms, automation strategies, and personalization techniques all to make learning continuous and agile. She draws inspiration from outside industries and social media, creating contemporary, individualized, and engaging learning experiences.

In her previous role at Colgate-Palmolive, LaWaune's innovation and digital expertise garnered recognition with five Brandon Hall Awards and a Chairman’s Award. Her projects involving digital adoption platforms, chatbots, and personalized content have set new standards in the field.

LaWaune aspires to lead teams that adopt a human-centered approach to learning solutions, envisioning a future where experimentation and technology converge in education, guided by insights and proven successful through data. Her ultimate goal is to help others navigate the changing world of work, especially in forging new, adaptable, and personalized career pathways.

Gordon Pelosse

Sr. Vice President, Employer Engagement, CompTIA

Gordon was the Canada Country Manager and Head of Global Support Delivery for US Central for Hewlett Packard Enterprise Global Support Delivery Organization. For the past 10 years was an active member of the Americas Global Support Delivery Leadership Team. In his role, Gordon managed the P&L, led a team of people across Central US, Latin America, and Canada responsible for the end-to-end delivery of the HP Enterprise Services portfolio. After leading his team to win the HP Global Customer Satisfaction Award in 2015, Gordon continued to drive for a best-in-class customer experience, in business, service operations, and support delivery.

With over 40 years of industry experience, Gordon brings immense knowledge delivering excellence in business and customer support. After joining HP as part of the 2001 Compaq acquisition, Gordon held various leadership roles, spanning country leadership, channel delivery, commercial services business, and services leadership across Canada and the US.

Gordon’s background includes senior roles with companies such as Compaq, AT&T, Texas Instruments, and as General Manager at Cablenet, a Division of Cogeco. Gordon is a graduate of Vancouver Community College. He attended Kwantlen University in Vancouver and City University for postgraduate studies.

Gordon is actively involved in the IT community and has long-standing relationships with customers and partners across North America. He currently is the Past Chairman of the Board of Directors of Computing Technology Industry Associations (a Board Member since 2013) and was a founding member of the Canadian CompTIA Business of IT Community in 1999/2000, where he has served as both Chair and Past Chair.

Tom Reilly

Chief Product Officer, CompTIA

Thomas Reilly is the chief product officer for CompTIA, the leading non-profit trade association for the global technology industry and workforce. He provides leadership, vision and strategy across all current and emerging product lines to enable continued growth and achieve the ultimate goal of unlocking the career potential of people worldwide. Millions of current and aspiring technology workers rely on CompTIA for the training, education and professional certifications that give them the confidence and skills to work in tech.

Tom is a product leader with deep experience creating profitable, high-growth training and certification businesses. He is passionate about improving education outcomes for individual learners and moving organizations to the enhanced capabilities of online learning, including performance-based simulations, labs, virtual classrooms, adaptive practice tests and learning analytics. Prior to his current role, Tom was the senior vice president for CompTIA Learning, a division that provided innovative, highly effective online learning and certification opportunities to IT professionals worldwide.

Before joining CompTIA in 2012 Tom worked in executive and senior management positions in product management, product marketing and program management for organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 1000 companies. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut (Bachelor of Arts, English).

Drew Rosen

Director, Global Learning Strategy, VMWare Learning, VMWare

Drew Rosen is a seasoned digital learning and development strategist. From a young age, he was naturally drawn to math, music and technology. This sparked his desire to launch a career in IT, where he has served in a range of roles -  as a network engineer, systems engineer, education specialist, product marketing manager and education expert. Today, he’s Cisco’s senior director of customer experience in Cisco’s Learning & Certifications function. In his role, he leads the team responsible for learning experience research and design for Cisco’s customer-facing learning products.

He’s passionate about influencing the way people learn, so that knowledge transfers and sticks. That’s what led him to Cisco’s training organization, where he led the digital transformation of Cisco’s learning business. This effort included the development of new learning delivery platforms and technology, digital learning materials, digital libraries for performance support and cloud-based self-paced learning using DevOps and agile frameworks.

Drew encourages his team to never stop learning. To him, career development is a lifelong journey – there will always be more possibilities for innovation and problem solving. And that’s where he’d like to stay – in a constant mode of growth.

Russell Sarder

CEO, Netcom Learning

Russell Sarder is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and CEO of Learning.

Under his leadership, NetCom Learning – a global leader in managed learning services, training, and talent development company - has become a multimillion-dollar business and has won many awards such as Learning Partner of the Year by Microsoft, Top 20 IT Training Company by Training Industry (several years in a row), and more.

He has authored two books: Building and Innovative Learning Organization and Learning: Steps to Becoming a Passionate Lifelong Learner and Effective Learning Methods. With his passion for technology, Russell spearheaded many revolutionary breakthroughs in the technical training domain. His association with the leadership council of the top tech firms like AWS, Microsoft, and CompTIA culminated into several successful projects like the Technology & Training Magazine, and the amalgamation of an exhaustive range of cybersecurity and technology training solutions, to name a few.

He also incepted Sarder TV, which is an online media platform and an interview version of TED. Sarder TV features a series of exclusive content from thought leaders from various industries, and it is based on the core values of Continuous Learning, Innovation & Performance.

Ann Marie Sastry

CEO, Amesite Inc.

Ann Marie is a tech entrepreneur and educator. She founded Amesite, an award-winning software company, to address one of the most important challenges of our time: delivery of effective online learning. Amesite’s Learning Community Environment systems provide artificial intelligence driven online experiences that serve custom, third-party, or existing customer content. Amesite works with its business, university, and nonprofit partners to provide branded, scalable, and effective experiences for learners anywhere.

Dr. Sastry was previously CEO, Board Director, and co-Founder of Sakti3, recognized as one of MIT’s 50 Smartest Companies 2015, and as a Crain’s Detroit Business Cool Places to Work winner 2017. The company was acquired by Dyson in 2015 for $90M. Sastry was invited to the White House in 2015 to be recognized for her technology entrepreneurship and meet with President Barack Obama.

Prior to starting her companies, she was Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, UM’s highest teaching honor, at the University of Michigan, for 17 years. Sastry was recognized with some of the highest honors in her scientific fields, including the ASME Frank Kreith Energy Award 2011 and NSF’s Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers 1997. She has co-authored over 100 publications and has delivered invited technology and business lectures and seminars globally, including NSF, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and others. Her technology and business work have been featured in WSJ, Fortune, Forbes, The Economist, USA Today, The New York Times and on the cover of Inc.

Sastry is active in business mentorship and philanthropy, with emphases on education, environment, and poverty alleviation.

Tacy Trowbridge

Head of Global Education, Adobe

Tacy Trowbridge is a lifelong educator and learning enthusiast whose passion is inspiring learners in all stages of learning, giving them a voice and empowering them to develop essential skills. Today, she drives thought leadership and advocacy for Adobe’s Global Education Team and is the host of The Creative Educator Podcast.

Tacy started her career as a teacher in California schools, earned a master’s degree in Learning, Design and Technology at Stanford, and led learning, workforce development and research initiatives at the University of California and Stanford.

Gordon Trujillo

Vice President, Head of Enterprise Learning & Development, DaVita

Gordon is the Global Head for HR & Learning Systems at Visa where attracting, engaging and developing the next generation of Payments talent that uplifts economies everywhere is core to his mission. He leads a product team that ensures Visa’s employees will be delighted in their interactions with experiences at scale. He is a 20+ year veteran of the HR field in roles within strategy, product, engineering and operations across multiple industries and client groups. A lifelong learning professional and futurist who is constantly attracted to the intersection of business, technology and people for good.

Kathy Yankton

Sr. Learning Architect, Cisco

Kathy Yankton has dedicated her career to empowering people in all stages of life to grow their skills and knowledge through education and learning.

Currently a Sr. Learning Architect in the Learning and Certification organization at Cisco, Kathy has a critical role in shaping current and future learning experiences for the customer learning community. As a lifelong learner herself, she often turns to research to discover creative solutions to complex and challenging problems. Some of her current areas of interest include: information processing (encoding, storage, and retrieval), adaptive assessment, intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), intelligent agents/mentorbots, data-driven personas, personalization, gamification, and neurodivergent learners.

Kathy began her career at Cisco in 2003 as a Quality Assurance lead with the Training and Certification organization. She later discovered her true calling and passion for learning science after taking a hands-on approach to helping her son who was diagnosed with dyslexia and auditory processing disorder mitigate the challenges of his learning disabilities. As a Sr. Learning Architect, she has brought her research-driven insights and expertise in “how people learn” to shape all aspects - strategy, frameworks, content, and platform - of the digital learning ecosystem and experience. Kathy’s first priority is advocating on behalf of learners and representing their “voice.” She prides herself on staying continuously connected to the learning community, enabling her to bring their needs, goals, pain points, and experiences back to the center of the learning experience.