Foreword author

Dr. Jocelyn McDonald is an Educational Technologist, Podcaster, Blogger, and Technology Consultant for Small Businesses and Professional Learning. She is a proud advocate for social change in education and is dedicated to making a positive impact.  She holds a Bachelors in Chemistry, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction in Instructional Technology, and a Ph.D. in Educational Technology. With 15+ years in education, she is passionate about supporting the transformation of education through technology for equitable access to 21st century education. 

Alexis Nicole White is a senior project manager and scrum master with over ten years of experience supporting enterprise Information Technology and Telecommunications Services Senior Project Manager specializing in the digital supply chain, mobile workforce, wireless, VoIP, audiovisual, and infrastructure augmentations. Find her on LinkedIn.com athttps://www.LinkedIn.com/in/alexisnicolewhite.

Karen Walsh is a data-driven compliance expert focused on cybersecurity and privacy who believes that securing today’s data protects tomorrow’s users. Karen has been published in the ISACA Journal experience in cybersecurity centers around compliance. Her work includes collaboration with security analysts and ghostwriting for c-suite level security leaders across a variety of internal and external vulnerability monitoring solutions. As a lawyer, she is deeply knowledgeable about security and privacy laws and industry standards including GDPR, CCPA, and ISO. She is currently under contract with Taylor& Francis and is writing a book about cybersecurity for small and midsized businesses.

Laura Hart has worked with teachers, students and technology for over thirty-five years. She lives in New York City and is celebrating the 22nd anniversary of founding her company called Vision Education & Media and commonly known as Robofun. Robofun helps help children and teachers use technology creatively and effectively both online and in person. 

Robofun has a studio on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where they run programs in robotics, coding, animation, circuitry and Minecraft. Robofun works with children afterschool, and on weekends and vacations. They also offer private lessons, small pod classes, and birthday parties. Additionally, they run over 130 programs a week in schools and community centers all over New York City. They offer in-school programs online or in-person during the day and after school. They also deliver workshops to teachers and parents. Robofun has provided services to over 200 schools as a NYC Department of Education vendor. 

Sarah Thomas, PhD is a Regional Technology Coordinator in a large school district in Maryland, and the founder of EduMatch, a project that empowers educators to make global connections across common areas of interest.  She has spoken and presented internationally, participated in the Technical Working Group to refresh the 2017 ISTE Standards for Educators, and is a recipient of the 2017 ISTE Making IT Happen award.  She is also an Affiliate Professor at Loyola University in Maryland. Sarah is a co-author of the ISTE Digital equity series, Closing the Gap.

Dr. Sonja Ann Jones is multi-talented and has over 25 years of experience in sales, business and technology. She has advanced many companies towards their mission and goals via her consultative sales experience and has been essential in helping companies meeting their business requirements with the grown and evolution of technology solutions. She has expertise in Security, Big Data, Data Warehousing and CRM.  She has worked for many prominent companies. http://www.linkedin.com/in/sonjaannjones

Dr. Jones recently completed her doctorate at Argosy University in Business focused on entrepreneurship and her dissertation was published with her ground breaking studies around Women in Information Technology Leadership. She also has been published in five different books which include “How to Break a Glass Ceiling Without a Hammer:, “How to Survive When your Ship is Sinking”, “Successful Women in Business”, “Corporate Queens, What Business School Won’t Teach You: and “Uncuffed – Surge of Power.  Currently she is working on publishing her own book.  Dr. Jones also has an MBA in entrepreneurship from the University of St. Thomas and two Bachelor degrees in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Minnesota.

Mandy Froehlich is a former educator, technology integrator, and Director of Innovation and Technology turned technology and mental health consultant. Her passion lies in reinvigorating and re-engaging teachers back into their profession as well as what’s needed to support teachers in their pursuit of innovative and divergent thinking and teaching. Her work in mental health and how it impacts disengagement and innovative thinking and subsequently technology use is widely known in the education community.

She consults internationally with school districts and post-secondary institutions in the effective use of technology to support great teaching, technology department leadership and coaching, 1:1 rollouts and learning management system deployment, and the impact of mental health on innovation. She also consults with edtech companies on creating user-friendly and pedagogically sound technology for schools. 

Kenyatta Powers is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Department of Human Services (DHS) in Maryland State Government. She functions as a senior-level technology executive combining project management, technical expertise, and business proficiency to develop, execute, and manage strategic, statewide technology projects for the Department. 

Kenyatta has served DHS for over 20 years as both a consultant and an employee, providing technical expertise to the Department. As CIO, Kenyatta manages the DHS Enterprise environment with 300 IT staff that supports over 7000 end users across the state. In addition, Kenyatta provides leadership support to a separate multimillion-dollar project to modernize all IT computer systems for the department.

She is also an advocate for bringing awareness to women and the underrepresented to the Technology Industry. She frequently travels across the country as a speaker and mentor and aims to increase the number of women and minorities in the digital space by empowering them to become innovators in Information Technology and by providing the appropriate resources and opportunities. 

She is also a member of several Executive Information Technology (IT) Advisory Boards and has received many awards and accolades. She was most recently featured by Wonder Women Tech Foundation as one of the “136 Black Innovators in STEM You Should Know and Support”. 

Chanel Johnson is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, where she  currently resides and serves as a  Science Specialist for the fifth largest school district in Georgia,  Clayton County Public Schools. She has served countless students and educators since 2009, focusing on the areas of math, science, instructional technology, and coaching. Whether teaching students or teaching adults,  her passion is to teach and ignite all voices so that they are heard. She believes in developing digital age learners and digital age educators by stimulating a culture of empowered learners through applying 5 C’s ( Creativity, Collaboration, Citizenship, Communication, and Critical Thinking). Her passion is to show stakeholders how with current researched-based instructional strategies, empowering all learners’ voices, especially those often silenced, fostering a dedicated community, all learners can meet their highest potential.

Patricia Brown, known as “MsEdtechie is an equity-minded educator. Patricia is a national keynote speaker and the founder of MsEdtechie Consultants LLC. Patricia serves as a current member of the International Society of Technology in Education Board of Directors, and the Smithsonian STEM Advisory Committee. She was selected as a National School Board Association’s 20 to Watch in EdTech, an Apple Distinguished Educator, and a Google for Education Certified Innovator & Trainer.

Akanksha Shrivastava is a designer-turned-marketer and has 10+ years of marketing strategy and operations, innovation and management consulting experience across retail, consumer and technology industries. She has advised several Fortune 500 companies such as Walmart, VF Corporation and Yum Brands and high growth tech startups on business and product strategy. She holds an undergraduate degree in design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, received the Young India Fellowship award (India’s equivalent of Rhodes Scholarship) in 2012 and completed her M.B.A. from the University of Texas Austin.

Dr. Gorst completed her Ph.D. and post-doctoral research working at the interfaces between chemistry and biology that are important to biomedical problems as well as the global carbon cycle and the metabolism of methane and CO2, important greenhouse gasses.

Dr. Gorst focused her technical expertise in the creation of software applications advancing drug discovery research while expanding her understanding of methods in software development and regulatory requirements in the pharmaceutical industry.

Carol brought her 15+ years of experience to XYPRO Technology Corporation with a focus on developing secure, regulatory compliant software applications.  She has been essential to establishing processes to enhance the pace of software development, implement customer-centric business requirements, and improve the usability and overall satisfaction with XYPRO's software.

www.linkedin.com/in/carolgorst.

--