The Digital Wish Team
Eric Bird
Lead Trainer/Peer Coach
After teaching grades 4 and 6 for 12 years in Blue Ribbon and California Distinguished Schools in Southern California, Eric Bird now brings his experience, knowledge, and passion gained from working in the classroom to the team at Digital Wish. Eric joined the Digital Wish team in December of 2009 as a peer coach and classroom trainer for the School Modernization Initiative pilot school program. His current role is to bring 1:1 computing technology to classrooms and communities in selected towns and provide essential training so that students, teachers, and parents can use the internet more effectively. Eric also writes a blog on the School Modernization Initiative site about his experiences with the pilot school program.
As a Technology Trainer, Eric has traveled the country to train fellow educators, administrators, and district technology experts using creative, entertaining, and easy-to-use cross-curricular technology, such as podcasting, digital cameras, digital video, and numerous educational software programs. In addition, Eric helped design hands-on seminars for educational conferences and co-authored a workbook on classroom technology.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from the University of California, Irvine, a Professional Clear Multiple Subject Teaching Credential for the State of California, and a Cross-cultural, Language, and Academic Development Credential. In addition, Eric spent two years working with the University of California, Irvine Writing Project.
Heather Chirtea
Executive Director/Founder, Board President
Heather Chirtea is Digital Wish's founder and Executive Director. Previously, as the longstanding president of Tool Factory, an educational software publisher, Heather traveled widely throughout the United States to conduct over 400 lively seminars on classroom technology integration each year. She watched as funding for education technology continuously declined, and today over 75% of teachers classify themselves as "often in need of" or "desperate for" technology resources. Heather created Digital Wish to empower teachers to solve their own technology shortfalls at a local level, and to prepare our student workforce with the skills necessary to succeed in the changing workplace.
With a dual B.S. in communications and operations management (statistics) from Syracuse University, Heather has co-authored five books on classroom technology; designed more than 60 hands-on technology seminars for educators; launched online services for classroom clip art, worksheets, lesson plans, and formative testing and assessment; and written over 5,000 standards-based test questions. She serves on the board of directors for VITA-Learn (VT) and New England ISTE technology associations. Heather's foray into charitable work began by setting up a $50,000 grant program with Olympus that progressively expanded each year due to overwhelming demand. Based on the success of that program, Digital Wish was born.
Sean Hannon
Senior Programmer
Sean Hannon serves as the lead programmer for Digital Wish. Prior to joining the Digital Wish team, Sean constructed Tool Factory's Digital Camera Center and Worksheet Station. In his current role at Digital Wish, Sean manages the development and implementation of the site. Additionally, Sean oversees testing of new features. Sean received a B.S. in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from Siena College.
Sarah Jost
Community Manager and Grant Writer
Sarah Jost joins the Digital Wish team after over a year working for Tool Factory, an educational technology solutions company. After receiving her B.A. in Theatre Arts and English from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA, Sarah lived and worked in London, England before moving to Vermont. She has presented and trained at national educational technology conferences and has many years of writing and editing experience. As Community Manager, Sarah works to ensure that the voices of Digital Wish's registrants are heard and serves as support for the Recycle Forward campaign.
Christian Kmiecik
Classroom Trainer
Christian joined Digital Wish in September 2011, to work alongside Meg Krohn as a northern classroom trainer, and ultimately to help implement a mentoring program between Vermont high school, and elementary school students. The program will connect elementary students with mentoring high school students in an effort to create a sustainable environment of technology integration. A native of Connecticut, Chris received his BA in Classical Civilization (Greek & Latin), and Art History at the University of Vermont (UVM). He is excited to spend the year in Vermont's public education system, and he's excited to apply his enthusiasm for history in a field of public service and technological development.
Sky Kochenour
Program Development
Sky Kochenour graduated from Union College this past June with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a minor in Japanese. He's taking a service year working for Americorps and applying to law school this fall. Sky is working on the e-Vermont School Modernization Initiative. As a lifelong Vermont resident, Sky went through the public school system and is excited to now help modernize classrooms. Learning how to use technology has been an integral part of his academic life and also a crucial skill to have for career development. Sky believes it's very important to instill quality technology education in children at a young age. In his spare time, he plays soccer and the guitar.
Megen Krohn
Northern Trainer
Meg joined the Digital Wish team in August of 2010 as the Northern Trainer. Her background is in Education, and she is a licensed High School English teacher with classroom experience both here in Vermont, and abroad in London, England.
Meg did both her undergraduate and graduate work at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Secondary Education as well as a Master of Education with a concentration in the Arts. The Arts concentration was highly inclusive of emerging technologies and Digital Media. As a result, Meg is comfortable implementing the newest tools and applications in the classroom. She is thrilled to be at Digital Wish where she can utilize both her background in Education and her great interest in Digital Media and creative uses of technology.
Sheila Marcoux
Technology Integrator
Sheila Marcoux has joined the Digital Wish team as the technology integrator for the expansion of the 1:1 computing initiative to New Hampshire. She is collaborating with teachers and administrators at Bicentennial School in Nashua to provide computing access for a fifth grade classroom and develop after school programs. She is very excited to teach students and educators how to effortlessly integrate current technology into the existing curriculum.
Sheila earned her Bachelor of Liberal Arts in History and Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Additionally, Sheila earned her Master's degree with distinction in Elementary and General Special Education at Rivier College in Nashua, NH. She is licensed in New Hampshire in General Special Education, K-12, as well as in Elementary Education in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Before coming to Digital Wish, Sheila taught special education in the fifth and sixth grades. The continual search for differentiated instruction and equal access for her students led Sheila to maximizing the use of technology both in the classroom and at home. Sheila is a passionate and enthusiastic advocate for the use of technology in education.
Celia Olson
Training Coordinator
Celia moved to Vermont from Wisconsin in September of 2011 to join the Digital Wish team as an AmeriCorps member. She will be working both in the Digital Wish office and as a Classroom Trainer in the Southern region of Vermont. She graduated with a B.S. in Biology from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2010 and spent a year volunteering with the AmeriCorps National Community Conservation Corps in California. Celia couldn't be more excited to join the Digital Wish team and make a difference in the way education expands to encompass all that technology can offer.
Krysta Piccoli
Customer Service Manager
After graduating from The College of Santa Fe with a BFA in Technical Theatre, Krysta moved to New York City to work as a master electrician for several theatre companies. In June of 2007 her theatre work took her to the Green Mountains of Vermont, where she decided to relocate. She has been with Digital Wish since October of 2009 and is committed to Digital Wish's mission of putting technology into American classrooms. She is thrilled to be a part of the organization at such an exciting time.
John Sullivan
Communications Manager
John joined Digital Wish as the communications manager in August 2010. He graduated from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY with a B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Radio/TV/Film. He oversees Digital Wish's social media outlets and blog, interfaces with the press, creates graphics, and produces multimedia projects.
Board Members
Matthew J. Dattilo
Chief Information Officer, ModusLink
Matthew J. Dattilo joined ModusLink Global Solutions as Chief Information Officer (CIO) in February 2007 and is responsible for providing information technology (IT) leadership for ModusLink Global Solutions and its subsidiaries. Matt brings strong leadership, business acumen and strategic planning and execution capabilities to the company, based on more than two decades of IT leadership experience.
Before joining ModusLink Global Solutions, Matt served as Vice President and CIO of PerkinElmer, Inc., where he had IT and operational responsibility for the $1.6 billion global manufacturer of high-tech, health sciences products and services. Matt joined PerkinElmer in 2001 serving as Vice President and CIO of a key division, PerkinElmer Life Sciences, Inc., where he was the strategic and operational leader and oversaw the systems and process integration of two acquisitions, which tripled the division's size in a two-year period.
Prior to his tenure at PerkinElmer, Matt gained valuable experience at General Electric, Inc. (GE) where he served in a range of IT and management roles for various business units over a 20 year period. Matt holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from Pace University and a bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Connecticut, in addition to being certified as a Six Sigma Green Belt.
Annemarie Frank
Director, ecommerce, Digital & Strategic Alliances at mark.
A division of Avon Products, mark. was originally launched in 2003 to tap into the younger generation and has since evolved into a brand with a dedicated sales force of more than 50,000 mark. Representatives across the USA.
In November 2009, Annemarie launched one of the first digital social-selling applications on Facebook. The mark. sales widget allows the company's growing fan base to buy products from a mark. representative directly from her Facebook page. The sales widget incorporates the social features of Facebook by allowing buyers to search their network of friends for a mark. rep.
Prior to mark., Annemarie held positions of General Manager, Online Business at Benefit Cosmetics in San Francisco and Vice President, Interactive Business at American Express' NYC headquarters. Annemarie holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Information Technology from the Stern School of Business at NYU and a B.S. in Management from Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. She currently resides in New York City and enjoys going to the theater, running in Central Park and spending time with family and friends.
Scott Jacobson
Partner, Madrona Venture Group
Scott joined Madrona in 2007 and currently serves on the boards of Jambool, Teachstreet, and Yieldex. Scott is particularly interested in consumer web, digital media, and mobile technologies that present opportunities for major disruption of large, established markets. Prior to joining Madrona, Scott worked at Amazon.com, where he held senior product and business management positions in the Amazon Kindle and Amazon Marketplace groups. He led several key initiatives, including the international rollout of Amazon's Merchants@ platform. Earlier in his career, Scott was a Senior Consultant in Accenture's strategy consulting practice, where he worked with clients in enterprise software, retail, and energy sectors.
Scott graduated cum laude from Northwestern University, where he received his bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics. He received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Zeev Klein
Co-Founder and General Partner, Landmark Ventures
Zeev Klein is part of the founding team of Landmark Ventures and responsible for business development, investment banking and venture capital investments working with a portfolio of early-stage technology companies. Zeev gained experience working in the VC & Strategic Investment division of Chase Manhattan Bank (now JPMorgan), where he helped analyze and evaluate emerging technology companies. He was the co-founder of a successful Chicago-based technology services company during the late 1990's, and has since advised dozens of enterprise software, network infrastructure and digital media firms on their strategic development, operational and financial growth strategies. Zeev founded and is actively involved with Landmark's corporate philanthropy program, Doing IT for Good, that provides financial and operational grants to deserving technology-related nonprofit organizations such as Year Up, NPower and Digital Wish. He graduated with a BA in Economics from Northwestern University and received his MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.
Bill Leo
CIO, Oliver Wyman Delta Organization & Leadership
Bill Leo is Global CIO with Oliver Wyman Delta Organization & Leadership, a global consulting firm that works with CEO's, boards of directors, and senior executives of major corporations on the design and leadership of large-scale organizational change.
Bill has been the recipient of numerous awards for development and deployment of new technology solutions and applications. Bill is a results-driven professional with extensive experience leading people and project teams, implementing technology programs and administering multi-million dollar budgets. Bill possesses an in-depth understanding of emerging technologies and their commercial application to support business strategy. His 25+ years of success in planning and directing activities that provide innovative technology, telecommunications, and customer service solutions both domestic and internationally have allowed the companies he has been involved with, remain competitive and technologically advanced.
Anand Padmanabhan
Chief Information Officer at NYU Stern School of Business
Anand Padmanabhan is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of NYU's Stern School of Business, where he provides executive leadership and vision for strategic development, information management, and technology to support Stern's mission, strategic goals, and academic priorities. NYU Stern is one of the top 10 business schools in the country. He has over 10 years of leadership experience in higher education information technology environment. His background includes extensive experience in strategic planning, information security, disaster recovery and risk planning, ERP implementation, enterprise architecture planning, and IT governance. He has a strong record of bringing IT benefits to solve business issues while managing costs and risks, and he is a dedicated leader focused on enabling and developing his staff to be strategic leaders and managers. Mr. Padmanabhan was on the Board of Society for Information Management (SIM), NY.
Prior to joining Stern, Mr. Padmanabhan was the CIO and Assistant Vice President of Instructional Computing and Information Technology at City University of New York's (CUNY) Hunter College. He was also previously the CIO of Tennessee State University and Executive Director of Information and Communication Technologies at Seton Hill University. He architected innovative services in eLearning and blended learning, knowledge management, virtualization, data centers , next-generation learning spaces, learning management systems, and integrated scholarship management systems. Mr. Padmanabhan also launched the education technology team at multiple universities and headed the IT productivity enhancement initiative, chaired the CUNY Security and Disaster Recovery Committee, and served on many IT Governance Committees. Prior to Seton Hill University, he worked for the NASA Center for Educational Technologies.
Mr. Padmanabhan holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Madras University and a master's degree in Computer Engineering from Louisiana State University. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and is currently getting his Executive MBA (August 2011) from NYU Stern School of Business.
Tarik Sedky
President, Mother Nature & Partners
Prior to Mother Nature & Partners, Tarik was Chief Digital Officer of Young & Rubicam where he set the vision and strategy for the agency's advance in the digital space while leading key client engagements and business development. Under his leadership, Y&R added digital work to virtually every key North American account, doubling its digital revenue in the region in just over a year.
Tarik brings a unique perspective to digital. He began his career in public affairs/public relations at Burson-Marsteller, beginning with the Environmental Practice Group. Five years later he added classic advertising to his portfolio, heading key global accounts for Young & Rubicam. For the past decade Tarik has applied audience-centered strategies to digital marketing challenges. He's known for thinking about audiences, brands and business issues first, and then delivering highly relevant and effective solutions.
His views and insights have helped shape successful and frequently-awarded work for great companies like Target, FedEx, Cingular (now AT&T), Accenture, J&J, Starwood, MetLife, Citibank, Emirates Airline, Texaco and LG.
Previously, Tarik was director of interactive marketing at Accenture and managing director of AtmosphereBBDO, the North American digital arm of BBDO.
At Y&R he sat on the WPP Digital Advisory Board. He frequently speaks and comments on digital issues and is a traveling professor for the Advertising Education Foundation (AEF). He chairs the advisory board for Brilig, a technology start-up, and serves on the board of Digital Wish, a non-profit. A Maryland native and Stanford University graduate, he volunteers for the Fresh Air Fund and lives with his wife and family in Brooklyn, NY.
David Willard
David Willard recently retired from Olympus Corporation of the Americas after a 31-year career with the company. Dave began his career in sales and marketing in the imaging business with Bell and Howell and Vivitar Corporation. After joining Olympus in 1980, Dave held senior executive positions in the imaging business until 1998, spanning the film and digital eras. Dave received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) in March, 2009 for his contributions to the imaging industry.
In 1998, Dave was appointed Director of Internet Business Development for Olympus, responsible for all of the company's websites, e-business and e-commerce initiatives. From 2003 until 2008, Dave served as Director of Corporate Marketing and Community Services, a period which spanned the company's relocation of its headquarters from Long Island, NY to the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. From 2008 until his retirement in September, 2010, Dave was Director - Employee Communications and Community Services, responsible for all internal communications during the integration of an acquired company (Gyrus ACMI), as well as continued community outreach and corporate social responsibility programs. At Olympus, Dave was involved in the start-up of Digital Wish as a business partner and funder.
Dave has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. In addition to Digital Wish, Dave serves on the Boards of PBS 39, the Lehigh Valley's public television station, and ArtsQuest, a leading local arts and cultural nonprofit. Similar to Digital Wish, both organizations have missions involving technology and educational outreach to the community. Dave is also available for professional consulting through his new venture, Encore Marketing.
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