Ideas Worth Spreading

_Safeena has been committed to girls' education in India since 2002. She has worked extensively with rural and urban underserved communities in South America, Africa and Asia. From 1997 to 2004, she was the Chief Executive Director for Child Family Health International in San Francisco, managing and supporting a range of development programs in the area of health. She was also Board Chair of the International Development Exchange in San Francisco, a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable solutions to poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as serving on the Advisory Council of the Clarence Foundation. Safeena Husain holds a B.S. from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, and was born and raised in New Delhi, India. She was recently elected as one of the Asia Society’s Asia 21 Young Leaders to engage in discussions about “Worlds Apart Together: Shared Values for an Asia-Pacific Community.”

_Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik is a mythologist, leadership coach and the Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group. Trained in medicine, he worked for 14 years in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry and had brief stint with Ernst and Young as Business Advisor before turning his hobby into a vocation. He has written and lectures extensively on the relevance of myth and mythology and the cultural differences in notions of business and governance. His column Management Mythos in Corporate Dossier of Economic Times has been a reader's favorite for the past 4 years.  His expertise lies in Myth Theory based on Mythology, especially Indian Mythology. He calls this Business Sutra. His best seller books include "Jaya: an illustrated retelling of the Mahabharata", and "7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art". To know more visit devdutt.com

_Globe-trotting percussion ensemble Tālavya revels in the hidden potency of the Indian hand drums - tabla as a rhythmic and melodic instrument capable of expressing just about anything.  Composed by music maestro Pandit Divyang Vakil and performed by young, highly trained tabla players, Tālavya was created with the intention of  showcasing the power of this ancient drum in a form that expands its palette and audience, while keeping to the essence of Indian classical music.  The compositions are filled with the nuances of classical tabla, while appealing to contemporary music sensibilities, thus striking a balance between tradition and modernity.

Tālavya is comprised Rushi Vakil, Kaumil Shah, Sahil Patel and Rahul Shrimali on tabla with accompaniment by Heena Patel on harmonium.

Website: www.talavya.com
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-8PHhHopqk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/talavyatabla

_Hinesh Jethwani, Founder & Head of Indian Hippy (www.hippy.in), is an entrepreneur with a deep rooted interest in beautifying the ordinary. Indian Hippy offers a gamut of products and services that rekindle the magic and charisma of old school, hand painted movie poster art by infusing it with a fresh dose of innovation. Hinesh holds a Bachelors Degree in Computer Engineering and has worked in diverse fields ranging from Technology Journalism to Partner & Program Marketing for Open Source giant, Red Hat India. Before launching Indian Hippy, Hinesh founded and successfully ran a technology outsourcing venture called Text Sourcing that provided technical documentation and marketing services to Fortune 500 client.

Dr. Jillian Campana is the Artistic Director of Studio Three Theatre which focuses on social, political and cross cultural theatre and has performed with the group in Europe, Asia, the US and Brazil.  She has been honored at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for her Theatre work in higher education.  Jillian is currently conducting a research project in Sweden and Finland that looks at the impact the Arts can have in brain injury rehabilitation as well as preparing to hear her new play, Waking Up In Brahmin Heights, performed at the American Center here in Mumbai in April.  Most recently she has used Drama Therapy to help girls who have been rescued from human trafficking. The end of the school year will see Campana returning to the faculty at the University of Montana in the US where she teaches in the Theatre Department and the Creative Pulse, a Masters of Arts teacher program.  Campana holds a Ph.D. in Theatre for Social Justice and teaches at various colleges in Mumbai.  She is also the high school theatre teacher at the American School of Bombay.

Namita Devidayal is the author of the highly acclaimed memoir 'The Music Room', which was described by Mick Jagger as "the best book on music he has ever read". She also wrote the bestselling novel 'Aftertaste' about an indian business family. She is a graduate of Princeton University and works as a journalist with The Times of India in mumbai. 

Sharon Lowen has dedicated her life to presenting and promoting excellence in Indian performing arts. Sharon is hailed today as one of the leading international performing artists of three forms of Indian dance: Odissi, Chhau and Manipuri.

This is a remarkable achievement for an artist from the U.S.A. who first arrived in India in 1973 after acquiring her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Humanities, Fine Arts, Asian Studies and Dance from the University of Michigan. She came to India as a Fulbright Scholar to continue her studies of Manipuri dance and learn Odissi and Chhau. Sharon has made India her home to dedicate herself to her work as an artist and to promote education in the arts.

Dev Benegal’s first feature English, August (1994) ignited the next generation of Indian cinema and is acknowledged as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema. His second feature Split Wide Open on the water wars in Bombay premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. Between them the two films have won seven international awards. Dev Benegal’s work represents modern Indian cinema which is distinct from the realist or popular traditions of Indian cinema. The strength of his films has been their humor, the characters and the unique style combining Indian narrative and western genre. The screenplay of his new film, Road, Movie was an official selection at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Few individuals choose to walk away at the height of their corporate career to dedicate their life to a social cause. At age 35, John Wood did just that. He quit his position as Microsoft's Director of Business Development for the Greater China Region in order to found Room to Read, an award winning non-profit that over the past nine years has established over 7,500 libraries, donated and published 6 million books, built over 830 schools, and funded over 8,800 long-term scholarships for girls - impacting the lives of over 3.1 million students worldwide.

John has received countless honors for his work, including recognition as a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum and as one of Time Magazine's "Asian Heroes." Room to Read is a five-time winner of Fast Company Magazine's Social Capitalist Award, a recipient of the Skoll Foundation Award for Social Innovation, and a recipient of Draper Richards Fellowship for social entrepreneurs.

Paul Fochtman is an award-winning educator bringing 20 years of experience exclusively in school administration and strategic planning. He is currently Superintendent of the American School of Bombay. His deep knowledge and experience in organizational learning is reflected in his leadership style and in the success of the schools he leads. He works closely with school owners, school boards, faculty, parents, and students to build world renowned, dynamic, child-centered international schools. He has many years of experience developing and implementing school strategic plans aligned with a shared vision for school effectiveness and 21st Century learning through the infusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital learning resources. He has executed the world’s most successful and internationally recognized tablet/laptop program that is focused on integrating 21st century skills and standards across the curriculum. Schools under his leadership have ensured enrollment growth and financial good health through effective oversight of school budgets. After a dozen years of experience leading two world-class schools in India, he holds a vast storehouse of knowledge about India. Dr. Fochtman will be leaving ASB at the end of this school year and joining Frankfurt International School/ International School of Wiesbaden as the next Head of School. His blog - The Banyan Tree.

Devdutt Pattanaik is a self-taught mythologist, and the author (and often illustrator) of several works on aspects of myth, including the primer Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology and his most recent book, 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art. He writes a column called "Management Mythos" for Economic Times that juxtaposes myth onto modern leadership challenges. His newest area of inquiry: How is traditional management, as expressed in old Indian cultural narratives, different from modern scientific management techniques?" As the Chief Belief Officer at Future Group in Mumbai, he helps managers harness the power of myth to understand their employees, their companies and their customers. He's working to create a Retail Religion, to build deep, lasting ties between customers and brands.

Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is widely recognized as one of the United States' leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Educational Administration Program at Iowa State University. He also is the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE,  www.schooltechleadership.org), the country's only center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators. Dr. McLeod has worked with nearly 40 corporate and organizational partners to provide publications and resources for school administrators. He also has helped numerous schools, districts, and state departments of education with their technology leadership and data-driven accountability challenges. In 2007 he was named as a Leader in Learning by the cable industry; an Emerging Leader by Phi Delta Kappa International; and one of the National School Board Association's 20 To Watch. Dr. McLeod blogs regularly about technology leadership issues at  www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org.

Scott Klososky currently sits on the Boards of ConXpoint, Accord Human Resources, and engages clients on a broad array of advisory tasks including IT strategy, software implementation and design, and technology utilization within organizations. In addition, he speaks professionally on subjects such as technology, future trends and leadership, and is a published author of books on technology and trends. He is a founding partner of a Shryk, LLC, a startup technology company that is providing online banking systems for kids. He currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for Critical Technologies, a company he served as CEO from 2001 until 2004. Klososky’s role at Critical Technologies was to build-out a fledgling Web-based imaging product, rebuild the employee base and product line while also adding referenceable customers.

Previous to his position with Critical Technologies, Klososky served as Vice President of Production for iBEAM Broadcasting® Corporation. Klososky led a 150-person team that covered the geographical areas of California, Oklahoma, New York and London. Under his leadership iBEAM completed two acquisitions, produced $40 million of business to become one of the industry’s leading streaming communications solutions provider.

Scott was the founder and CEO of webcasts.com, a premier Internet broadcaster for interactive webcasts. Webcasts.com established itself as the Web's only full-service broadcast production company, helping clients in the corporate, sports and entertainment industries webcast the most interactive, cost-effective, highest-quality productions. Webcasts.com was acquired by iBEAM for approximately $115 million in stock in April of 2000.

Klososky's predecessor company to webcasts.com was an interactive marketing company, which effectively continued to operate as a division of webcasts.com. In 1999, he spearheaded the acquisition by webcasts.com of The Rock Island Group, a network design and management company, which developed and operated webcasts.com's network for webcast delivery.

Klososky’s vision and leadership positioned webcasts.com to lead with innovations that include the first music CD to launch to the Internet, the first interactive CD-ROM to be used to lobby Congress, and the first CD-ROM/Web-based product designed to generate donations for a non-profit organization. The company’s clients included IBM, Compaq, AOL, Hewlett-Packard, Enron International, Conoco Inc., and BMG Music, among others

Prior to founding webcasts.com's predecessor company in 1994, Klososky was a digital-age international entrepreneur. A protégé of former President Richard M. Nixon's chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, the pair collaborated on "The Haldeman Diaries," a New York Times bestseller. Klososky had the foresight to work with Sony Entertainment and create the diaries into a book/CD-ROM, and it was one of Sony's first profitable CD-ROM products in 1994. Mr. Haldeman passed away before the products were released, so Klososky represented Haldeman as the national book tour spokesman.

In 1988, at the age of 26, Klososky founded one of the first profitable Soviet/American joint ventures, ParaGraph, Inc., with Russian partners including Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion. ParaGraph designed the original handwritten text-recognition software for the Apple Newton and was later sold to Silicon Graphics. The ParaGraph software standard is now commonly used in personal digital assistants.

Inari Kolu, currently a junior at ASB, is a Finnish singer/songwriter who has been composing music since she was 15 years old. She has performed in both Finland and India, most recently for the Bandra Festival and at the Blue Frog. She is currently recording an E.P with Ayan De at Studio 72. She says, “I  compose to sing, and I sing to enjoy,” and the piece she performes was especially commissioned for TEDxASB.

Bio: Doug Johnson has been the Director of Media and Technology for the Mankato (MN) Public Schools since 1991 and has served as an adjunct faculty member of Minnesota State University since 1990. His teaching experience has included work in grades K-12 both here and in Saudi Arabia. He is the author of four books: The Indispensable Librarian, The Indispensable Teacher’s Guide to Computer Skills, Teaching Right from Wrong in the Digital Age and Machines are the Easy Part; People are the Hard Part. His regular columns appear in Library Media Connection and on the Education World website. Doug’s Blue Skunk Blog averages over 50,000 visits a month, and his articles have appeared in over forty books and periodicals. Doug has conducted workshops and given presentations for over 130 organizations throughout the United States as well as in Malaysia, Kenya, Thailand, Germany, Qatar, Canada, Chile, Peru, the UAE and Australia and has held a variety of leadership positions in state and national organizations, including ISTE and AASL.

Writings: Doug’s articles have appeared in Phi Delta Kappan, MultiMedia Schools, School Library Journal, The Book Report, Teacher Librarian, Leading and Learning with Technology, Internet Research, Creative Classroom, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer-Press, the NASSP Bulletin, and Cricket. He writes a regular column for Library Media Connection, ISTE’s Leading & Learning with Technology and the Education World website. He also contributes regularly to AASL’s Knowledge Quest and AASA’s The School Administrator journals. His books The Indispensable Librarian (1997) and The Indispensable Teacher’s Guide to Computer Skills 2nd edition (2002), and Teaching Right from Wrong in the Digital Age (2003) are published by Linworth Publishing. A small book, Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part: Observations About Making Technology Work in Schools was published in 2004 and is now a free download.

Speaking: Doug has presented and given keynotes for over 150 local, state and national conferences including NECC, AASL, FETC, MACUL, GaETC, and TIES; conducted workshops for the Malaysian Ministry of Education and the United States Information Service and in Germany for the Department of Defense Schools of Heidelberg; and presented at NE/SA conferences in Bangkok, Nairobi, Istanbul, Amman, Cairo, and Dubai, at the ECIS conference in Berlin and at EARCOS conferences in Bangkok. He has also given workshops and done consulting for school districts throughout the country.

Leadership: Doug’s leadership experience includes working on a variety of state and national library committees and task forces, serving in a variety of official positions including president in the state media/technology organization (MEMO, an AASL/ISTE Affiliate), and working on a variety of committees and work groups for the state of Minnesota’s Department of Education. He has testified on technology issues for state legislative committees, helped write state standards and technology plans; and chaired state-wide media/technology conferences. He is a “charter” member of the ISTE SIGMS, served on a NETS writing/review committee, chaired the AASL SPVS division, and served from 2003-2008 on the ISTE board.

In 2005, Dr. Helen Barrett retired from the faculty of the College of Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage and is now living in the Seattle area. She has been researching strategies and technologies for electronic portfolios since 1991, publishing a website (http://electronicportfolios.org), chapters in several books on Electronic Portfolios, and numerous articles. She was on loan to the International Society for Technology in Education between 2001 and early 2005, providing training and technical assistance on electronic portfolios for teacher education programs throughout the U.S. under a federal PT3 grant. In 2005, Dr. Barrett became the Research Project Director for The REFLECT Initiative, a two-year research project, underwritten by TaskStream, to assess the impact of electronic portfolios on student learning, motivation and engagement in secondary schools.

In the fall of 2007, she received a courtesy appointment as a Research Associate with the Center for Advanced Technology in Education (CATE), part of the College of Education at the University of Oregon, where she will be researching emerging strategies for electronic portfolios and digital storytelling to support lifelong and life wide learning. She is currently working on several book projects on electronic portfolios. She is also an Apple Distinguished Educator and a George Lucas Educational Foundation Faculty Associate.

At the European ePortfolio Conference in Maastricht, October 2007, Dr. Barrett received the first EIFEL Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to ePortfolio research and development.

From a background as an educator, educational software developer, business and social entrepreneur, and strategic consultant, Bruce Dixon has developed a unique niche in building effective strategies for educational leaders and policy makers around the effective use of emerging technologies.

His work throughout the late 80’s and 90’s led the development of the first 1 to1 initiatives in the world, in schools across Australia. In 1996, supported by Microsoft, he took the concept to North America, Canada and the UK, before co-founding the not-for-profit Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation, which provides thought leadership and resources to policy makers and educational leaders in the effective implementation of 1-to-1 initiatives world-wide. The Foundation believes all children should have access to unlimited opportunities to learn anytime and anywhere and that they should have the tools that make this access possible. Currently the AALF community reaches more than 2,000 1 to 1 educational leaders in countries around the world.

In 1997 Bruce received a award from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC for his work world-wide pioneering 1 to 1, and in 2006 was named as one of “20 People to Watch”” by the National School Boards Association of America.

He consults to schools, School Districts, Education Departments, Ministries of Education and corporations in the US, Australia, Canada, Europe, Asia and New Zealand, and regularly speaks at national and international conferences around the world.; throughout 2006/7 he spoke at numerous events in over 20 countries, reaching educational leaders from around the world.

Bruce continues to work on a diverse range of innovative projects that aim to making learning a more compelling experience for kids through their immersion in a technology-rich learning environment, and continues to challenge traditional notions of what school should be.

Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee
Dr. Bill Magee is a leading plastic and craniofacial surgeon who founded Operation Smile in 1982 when a group of medical volunteers traveled to the Philippines and saw the hundreds of children who were scarred by deformities. Operation Smile’s mission is to “mobilize a world of generous hearts to heal children’s smiles and transform lives across the globe.” Every year, this non-profit organization provides free reconstructive surgery for hundreds of children and young adults in underdeveloped countries who have cleft lip or cleft palate deformities. Since 1982, thousands of volunteer healthcare professionals from Operation Smile have treated more than 130,000 children worldwide for facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate. The organization currently has a presence in 51 countries. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency. Hear more about Operation Smile through the World Journey of Smiles.

Shaheen Mistry

Shaheen Mistry is the CEO of Teach for India and the Founder of Akanksha Foundation. The World Economic Forum has named her among the “Global Leaders of Tomorrow”. She is also an Ashoka fellow. An alumnus of Tufts University and Manchester University, Shaheen founded Akanksha Foundation in 1989 with the vision to provide children from all strata of society with the education, the skills, and most importantly, the character that they would need to lead empowered lives. Akanksha means ‘inspiration’ in Hindi, and Akanksha Centers provide supplemental education for poor children living in slums. The opportunities she provides are designed to supplement what they receive in government-run schools. Akanksha Centers operate before and after regular hours in donated spaces such as private schools, colleges, corporate offices, and science centers. Akanksha Foundation also provides formal education through Akanksha Schools.