Richard Nantel

Richard Nantel has managed, designed, and developed large-scale information technology projects for more than 20 years. He has extensive skills in managing projects, developing Web- and client/server-based e-learning and applications, performing instructional design, programming/authoring, designing graphic interfaces, and developing procedural and quality assurance methodologies. He has strong organizational and management skills and has helped ensure the successful completion of many training and technology projects for clients, including the Canadian Department of National Defense, SUN Microsystems, Cirque du Soleil, and Pfizer, among others.

Since 2000, Richard Nantel has worked extensively for Brandon Hall Research, first as an e-learning analyst, then was promoted to Director of Information Technology, to VP Operations, to Chief Operating Officer, and to his current position as CEO. Read Richard Nantel's blog>

Tom Werner

Tom Werner writes about innovative learning methods and content at Brandon Hall Research. He is interested in e-learning, online learning, research on learning effectiveness, emerging learning technology, online social networks, and new ideas about how to use technology to enhance learning. His specialties include e-learning research and consulting.

Tom has authored a number of Brandon Hall Research reports, such as Getting Up To Speed on E-Learning, Leadership Development, and Linking Training to the Business. Tom has also been the director of the Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards for the last five years and has edited several reports of award-winning best practices. Before joining Brandon Hall Research, Tom was a performance-improvement consultant and trainer for many years. Read Tom Werner's blog>

Gary Woodill, Ed.D.

Gary Woodill started his career as a classroom teacher in 1971 and has been involved with the use of computers in education since 1974, when he was introduced to the PLATO system for computer assisted instruction as part of his Master’s studies in educational psychology. He helped develop educational materials for a Canadian videotext system in the late 1970s (Telidon) and, in 1985, started a course for teachers on computers in education at Ryerson University in Toronto. In 1984, he received a doctorate in applied psychology from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. In 1993, he co-founded an educational multimedia company that developed a number of educational CD-ROMs for children. In 1998, he designed an adaptable learning management system and, since then, has developed over 60 online courses for various corporate clients.

Gary is a Senior Analyst at Brandon Hall Research where he writes reports on emerging learning technologies. In addition, Gary presents workshops and Webinars on the topics he is researching. He lives with his wife, two standard poodles, and three cats in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. Read Gary Woodill's blog>

Bryan Chapman is chief learning strategist at Chapman Alliance (www.chapmanalliance.com), a provider of research-centric consulting services that helps organizations define, operate, and optimize their strategic learning initiatives. As a veteran in the industry, he has over 20 years of experience and has worked with many well-known organizations to help them optimize learning efficiency by using innovative learning techniques and technologies.

Bryan was formerly the Director of Research and Strategy for the independent research and consulting firm Brandon Hall Research, where he served as the primary author and researcher on high profile projects. He continues to provide technology-selection services in partnership with Brandon Hall Research as a registered associate. Read Bryan Chapman's blog>

Dan Cox

Dan Cox is founder and CEO of Cox eLearning Consultants, LLC, the leading marketing consulting firm in the corporate education, eLearning and HR technologies industries. Dan is a 33-year business veteran of the hi-tech, education, HR and telecom industries. Having worked for global enterprises like Hewlett-Packard and Sprint as well as start-up companies, Dan has a broad perspective of what it takes to be successful.

Dan has taught college, written curriculum, owned a training firm and worked for a major learning management system manufacturer. His experience as an entrepreneur and education business owner gives Dan operations and financial skills in profitable business management, business strategy, industry analysis and competitive research.

Dan is a national speaker on a wide range of topics associated with education, technology and business operation performance. He consults in numerous areas, including financial management, funding of training and HR initiatives, business and operational methodologies, industry trends, strategy, internal and external marketing of education solutions, and recruitment and management of personnel. Read Dan Cox's blog>

Linda Al Ansari

As Manager L&D Learning Technologies, Linda currently leads Emirates’ initiative to utilise learning technologies to support performance development for more than 40,000 employees and contingent workers worldwide. She has earned several professional honours, including that of Learning Leader in the USA in 2006 and Best Ambassador of eLearning in the Middle East 2008. In 2003 she led her team in achieving the Brandon-Hall Gold Excellence in eLearning Award for the quality of her business plan and strategy to establish eLearning within Emirates. An acknowledged regional expert in learning and development, she is in regular demand as a local and international conference speaker.

Mark E. Bower

Mark Bower, Principal of Edge Interactive provides clear insight into the trends and issues facing leaders in learning. Mark has held a number of learning management positions with IBM and other industry leaders bringing over 25 years of experience to his clients. His background includes responsibilities as Training Executive, Entrepreneur, and Management Consultant.

Mark has also sat on a number of national advisory committees directing the effective use of technology including designing a number of nationally recognized information automation projects. Mark has extensive experience if all facets of learning management having managed over 220,000 hours of professional services to learning leaders in developing the strategies, processes, assets, and governance that will maximize workforce impact in achieving business objectives.

Mark holds a BS in Learning Theory from University of Massachusetts and an MBA from Boston University. He is also an ASTD Board Member and Vice President, Strategic Partnerships. Read Mark Bower's blog>

Susan Boyd

Susan Boyd has over 30 years experience in the training and computer education field and is a member of the International Who's Who in Information Technology. Susan has extensive experience in planning and managing computer training projects, and has directed and participated all phases of the projects including: needs analysis, course development, train the trainers, course delivery and follow-up. Susan has developed and delivered training in a variety of formats including: instructor-led classroom sessions, virtual training sessions using webinar software, and online asynchronous e-Learning courses.

Susan is a national conference speaker, has published over 30 articles on training and has been a judge for the Brandon Hall e-Learning Awards since 2002.

Visit Susan’s website > for free trainer checklists and links for e-learning resources.

Ursula Clark

Ursula has a strong theoretical and practical background in e-learning and blended learning. With degrees in Sociology and Education, her involvement in e-learning started with computers in education in the mid 1990s. She has since gone on to work as a learning designer in the New Zealand corporate and public sectors as part of the Wavelength team (www.wl.co.nz). Wavelength designs custom learning programmes and has consistently won awards at Brandon Hall over the last five years (in the Custom Content, Best Blend, and Best Learning Results categories). Ursula has also judged for us for many years.

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Daniel J. Douglas

Dan served as the Assistant Commissioner of Personnel for the State of New Jersey, responsible for the Human Resource Training and Development Institute, which had 225 employees in 38 locations and provided training to over 75,000 state employees.

Dan served as Director of Communications and Program Director for SetonWorldWide, the Online Campus of Seton Hall University, which offered four online graduate degree programs. According to the Chicago Sun-Times in 1998, “SetonWorldWide is one of the nation’s acknowledged leaders in offering degree programs online.” He recruited 200 students and had a retention rate of 95%. As Vice President of eHigherEducation, he was the Project Manager for the top client - the Alcoa Quality Institute.

As a consultant, Dan designed and developed the New Jersey Enterprise-wide Learning Management System (NJ ELMS) for New Jersey state government; and, developed a strategic plan for infusing executive education with elearning and blended learning solutions at the Rutgers University School of Business, Camden Campus. He also reviewed learning management systems for Brandon Hall Research Group’s LMS Knowledge Base 2007 and served as a Judge for Training Magazine’s Technology in Action Awards in 2007 and 2008.

Visit and link at Dan’s LinkedIn Profile.

Amy Dreher

VP of Strategic Learning Initiatives for The Nielsen Company and a lifelong learning professional, Amy Dreher has worked for large and small corporations and non-profits. The focal point of her work is establishing scalable learning programs for client and employee training. She focuses on collaborative partnerships, products/industry knowledge, operational processes and strategic business needs and leads initiatives to introduce new and innovative learning technology into the Nielsen learning culture. In her role, she serves as an internal consultant for learning initiatives throughout the company. She currently chairs the global community for 250 Nielsen learning professionals, and her team is directly responsible for Nielsen Scholastic Services, an online curriculum for university faculty and undergraduate students.

James J. Goldsmith

Currently, Jim is a Senior Manager in the Capability Development group at Accenture. He has more than 27 years experience in the planning, design, development, project and program management of a wide range of training and capability initiatives. His interests are around finding the right tools and approaches to address business capability needs and opportunities and he is particularly interested in applying new and innovative tools and approaches to meet this challenge. Among other clients, he has worked with Accenture, Aetna, Boston Scientific, BP, Caterpillar, CNA Insurance and Wyeth Pharmaceutical. Jim has an MBA from the University of Connecticut and a certificate from the Life Office Management Institute.

Caroline Gray

Ms. Gray has been in the forefront of technology-based learning for over 20 years, and her experience and expertise has been recognized in a variety of ways, including: advising on the ISO Standard on design principles and framework for multimedia user interfaces; judging industry awards programs; being a recipient of numerous instructional design and media use awards, as well as two ASTD Excellence in Practice awards. She is a published author and conference speaker on topics ranging from implementing technology to improve business results to task-based learning design. Since joining Omega Performance, she has been responsible for the design, development and administration of Omega’s extensive online courseware and assessments.

Alena Han

With an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Guelph, over 10 years of Training & Development and Learning Management System experience, Alena Han is the Vice President of Learning Management with Operitel Corporation. In her role Alena is focused on and responsible for the LearnFlex product roadmap through the analysis of the marketplace, partnerships between the major departments within Operitel and federating decisions with the Operitel Advisory Board. Alena brings both national and international perspectives having worked in Canada, Russia and France bridging the gaps between learning, learning technologies and project management. As a business language solutions trainer in Europe she designed, developed and implemented numerous blended training programs across horizontal markets. Most recently as a Project Manager/Senior Learning Specialist with TELUS, one of Canada’s leading telecommunications companies she led the Learning Management System selection process through which Operitel was selected as the partner of choice. She managed contract negotiations, requirements building, implementation and client communications as well as ongoing management of the system.

Cheryl Johnson

Cheryl Johnson is a Performance Solutions Specialists with more than fifteen years of experience in learning, development and performance. With her pioneering attitude, she has made strong contributions in the areas of learning with emphasis on behavioral change. She has been recognized for innovating and building programs from scratch and pioneering the use of technology in education. In addition, she has been recognized for her dedication to developing learning solutions that drive performance at work and in one's personal life.

Heinrich Koenen

Currently I manage a group of instructional designers that are tasked with the mission to develop learning solutions for a workforce of approximately 12,000 people. The learning solutions developed by the group include online and classroom curriculums as well as the development of performance support solutions. I have been in the learning field for over 20 years and spend the last 15 years focusing on the impact of technology on the learners and the learning process. I have been a judge for the Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards for several years. I look forward to judging this year's competition.

Matt Kurtin

Matt Kurtin is a lead programmer and e-learning consultant at Innovative Learning Group, Inc. Kurtin has more than 15 years experience developing e-learning courses and learning management systems. He has authored more than 200 e-learning courses and has developed courses deployed to numerous SCORM/AICC-compliant learning management systems. For four years, Kurtin has been a judge, and in 2010 a senior judge, for Brandon Hall’s Excellence in Learning Awards Program. Throughout his career, Kurtin has volunteered for local chapters of the International Society for Performance Improvement and Adobe User Groups. He has presented various technology topics within these local chapters and conducted web seminars and other technology-related presentations for the eLearning Guild and Brandon Hall. Kurtin has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

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Dean Landry

Dean Landry is a Manager of Learning, Development and Well-Being at the Canada School of Public Service. He joined the Public Service of Canada in 1993.

An important challenge in his current position is to understand the training challenges of the different learning communities and to identify the ways in which the events offered can respond to the training needs of public service employees from all parts of Canada. Up to very recently, he was responsible for the Armchair Discussion Program which are weekly learning activities enabling guest speakers to share their knowledge on topics that reflect the thematic priorities of the School and of the Privy Council Office.

He completed his undergraduate studies at University du Québec à Montréal and at the Université de Montréal in criminology-sexology.

Dean Landry spent four years backpacking Eastern and Western Europe (1996 to 2000).

Yael Even-Levy

Yael Even-Levy, PhD, is an experienced learning & development professional in Boston, MA. Her experience encompasses multiple industries and disciplines, and she is constantly searching for new processes and tools for increasing productivity and the effectiveness of learning. Yael’s expertise extends beyond the traditional training programs and processes. She has a passion for cutting-edge learning technologies and innovative delivery that targets multi-cultural and multi-generational workforce, including Web 2.0 social media tools, mLearning (Mobile Learning), Immersive Learning Simulations (ILS) – aka Serious Games, and Virtual Worlds (Web 3D). As a strong believer in the value of innovative technology and e-learning, she demonstrates that employees at all levels can learn better and faster while reducing training costs.

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Margaret Martinez

Dr. Martinez has worked on educational measurement research, instructional design, learning, and technology for 20 years. She was previously the Worldwide Director of Training & Certification at WordPerfect Corporation. She is nationally recognized for her learning orientation research, publishes regularly, presents at national conferences, and presents seminars and workshops.

Joey Lynn Monaco

Joey Lynn Monaco has over 14 years’ experience in learning and development, with a focus on multimedia, learning games and simulations. She leads a team dedicated to incorporating innovative multimedia into both synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences for a Big 4 accounting firm. She is a frequent conference presenter on the topics of games and simulations for learning and advanced interactivity design for the virtual classroom.

Frank Nguyen

Frank Nguyen has managed the development and deployment of learning strategies and technologies for various Fortune companies including American Express, Intel and MicroAge. He earned his masters and doctorate degrees in educational technology at Arizona State University, and he was formerly an assistant professor at San Diego State University. Frank has written various articles, books and chapters on eLearning, instructional design and performance support. His published work on performance support was recognized by ISPI with the 2008 Distinguished Dissertation Award. He has served on a variety of learning industry committees for Adobe, ASTD, BJET, eLearning Guild, and ISPI.

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Russ Powell

Russ Powell is a Workforce Performance Improvement Consultant who has been designing, developing and facilitating training programs and other performance improvement interventions for almost 20 years. He has worked with hundreds of managers and dozens of training departments to build learning programs marked by ample amounts of both style and substance (programs that don't just look and feel good but also deliver impact to the bottom line). Russ specializes in the building of eLearning courses, job aids, and web-based performance support tools. Over the course of his career, Russ has worked with organizations such as Sun Microsystems, U.S. Coast Guard, Pixar, AT&T, and NASA Space Flight Center, and served on the faculty of Georgia State University and the American Management Association. He's received numerous outstanding achievement awards for his corporate learning programs. Russ holds degrees in the behavioral sciences from Georgia State University and Loyola University. Russ is also a member of the International Jugglers' Association (IJA) and continues to perform regularly.

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Christine Reynolds

Christine Reynolds has over 15 years experience creating custom learning solutions for a variety of audiences such as telecommunications, automotive, not-for-profit, government, post-secondary education and medical device manufacturing. As the Global Training Manager at CaridianBCT, Christine collaborates with business areas around the globe to build product-related training programs that meet the needs of our customers and field employees world-wide. With a focus on e-learning and blended learning solutions, Christine has created innovative and effective product/system training solutions for customers and employees, a key success in launching new products and maintaining a strong customer support brand.

Visit Christine’s LinkedIn site.

Dru Ryan

Andrew J Ryan is the instructional coordinator at the Center for Teaching and Learning for Montgomery College (Maryland). Here, Ryan manages the technology offerings for over 500 faculty and recently facilitated a yearlong fellowship on Blended Learning. His primary interests revolve around the use of learning technologies to address educational gaps in urban education.

An adjunct faculty member at the University of the District of Columbia and George Mason University,Ryan has taught courses in math, multimedia studies, and hip-hop studies (face to face, blended and developing a fully online offering). In addition to his work at the university level, Andrew has taught math at the high school and middle school levels and spent three years of Saturday mornings working with high school math students as part of the GEAR-UP program at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Professionally, he spent 10 years in industry working on Wall St. with Chase Manhattan Bank in its technology unit. He has also done aviation research and technology training with Boeing, IBM, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Lockheed Martin, the FAA, and NASA. He holds a bachelors degree in computer science from Binghamton University and a masters degree in Systems Engineering from George Mason University.

Sharon Vipond

Sharon has deep experience in learning strategy, e-learning research, competitive analysis, and learning technology consulting, having spent nine years with Oracle Corporation as a Consulting Practice Director and Practice Manager. During her tenure with Oracle, she managed the southeast and Great Lakes performance consulting and client education practice for Oracle University. She has managed large-scale consulting engagements with a wide variety of Fortune 500 clients such as American Airlines’ Sabré Group, Bell South, City of Detroit, Dallas Independent School District, Delta Airlines, Detroit Edison, Humana Healthcare, Ingersoll-Rand, The Shaw Group, Tropicana, United Parcel Service, William Beaumont Hospitals, and the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command.

Prior to Oracle, Sharon was Associate Vice President for Information Technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Assistant Director of Administrative Computing at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. After leaving Oracle, she spent three years as a successful independent consultant, leading enterprise learning strategy and training engagements for clients such as Daimler-Chrysler Services, Mercedes-Benz Credit, and Northwestern Mutual Financial Services. Sharon has also worked as a senior analyst for Brandon Hall Research and has published a number of major research reports on such topics as leadership development, training alignment, knowledge management, authoring tools, and best practices in sales training, Sales 2.0, and Learning 2.0 approaches. Sharon has broad experience in public speaking and giving presentations at national conferences and forums.

Sharon has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Organizational Communication and Psychology from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in history and English from the University of Wisconsin. She is a certified instructor for Oracle Application Implementation Method (AIM) and Oracle Project Management Method (PJM), as well as a certified evaluator for ASTD’s e-Learning Courseware Certification (eCC) program. Sharon also serves as Adjunct Professor of American History at The Civil War Institute of Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin and has developed and taught a number of Internet classes dealing with the American Civil War. Sharon is co-editor (with Alan T. Nolan) of Giants in Their Tall Black Hats: Essays on the Iron Brigade published by Indiana University Press.

Lynn Wernham

Lynn Wernham is an OD & learning professional with 20+ years experience in the design of L&D solutions and frameworks, blended learning, performance improvement, coaching, facilitation and partnership working. Lynn has worked collaboratively with numerous organisations both in the private and public sector in the UK. Her focus is supporting people and embracing new learning technologies whilst balancing this with the realities of performance improvement in the real world. Most recently, she has been working on the largest transformation programme in Europe involving the design of a corporate blended learning framework and Individual development pathways for an organisation employing over 40,000 staff. Lynn has also coached, mentored and developed L&D teams to align thinking and approaches with changing priorities and social media, blended learning and leadership strategies.

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Anya Wood

Anya Wood is the eLearning Education Manager at University Health Network. In this corporate role she is responsible for e-learning within the organization’s three hospitals and for more than 10,000 staff. Her areas of focus include the use of emerging learning technologies, rapid development, and learner retention. Anya holds a Master of Distance Education from Athabasca University. She is the author of several learning technology publications and presents regularly at industry conferences.

Rachel Young

Rachel Young has a 10 year history in project management in the Adult Education industry and is self employed as a Learning Strategist for entrepreneurs and freelancers. She also has a rabid interest in mobile development and edugaming and combines her flair for event planning with unique long-lasting learning opportunities for individuals and organisations.

As a life-long, life-wide learner, she is currently working her way through the Instructing Adults certificate program at George Brown College.

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