Frona Kahn
President, DesignWorlds for College
frona@designworlds.com

Frona L. Kahn, Vice President and co-founder of DesignWorlds, has helped shape the education technology industry for over 20 years. Her work with top Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations, including Apple, PBS, Compaq and Fisher-Price, Computer Curriculum Corporation, Microsoft, Grolier, and Gateway Learning Corporation have made technology desirable and accessible to schools and families.

In 1981, as a co-founder of The Learning Company (TLC), Ms. Kahn pioneered innovative, award-winning educational computer software products for young children. Frona developed the strategy for addressing the home market. She built and directed the Educational Sales and Marketing Division, which became a cornerstone of TLC’s business.

As a conference speaker, Ms. Kahn addresses audiences both in the U.S. and abroad. Frona is also an award-winning author and recipient of the Parents Choice Award, for Play Together, Learn Together, one of the first combination book and software products for parents and children. She serves as an advisory member to state and national committees. Frona was member of the founding Board of Directors of the Children's Discovery Museum, San Jose, California, a major museum which has since won national and international acclaim.

Marketing Office: 408-252-2205

Ted Kahn
Chief Learning Officer & Career Coach, DesignWorlds for College
ted@designworlds.com

Dr. Ted M. Kahn is the co-founder, President and CEO of DesignWorlds for Learning, Inc. and Chief Learning Officer for DesignWords for College and Careers. He has been actively involved in developing and marketing innovative uses of interactive technologies for creative lifelong learning for over 36 years. Over the past 18 years, his special areas of expertise have been in the uses of digital video and multimedia, as well as the Internet and the Web, as media for supporting distributed learning and knowledge design communities. Ted is known internationally as a pioneer and innovator in action-research projects involving technology and learning in both K-12 schools and higher education, homes, workplaces and museums. His commercial business background includes being the founding Executive Director of the Atari Institute for Educational Action Research (Atari/Warner Communications), Picodyne Corporation and Digital F/X, as well as advanced learning technologies research and development experience at the Lawrence Hall of Science (U. C. Berkeley), the Center for Educational Technology (Israel), Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), the Institute for Research on Learning (IRL), and the Galef Institute. His extensive experience has resulted in the development and marketing of numerous award-winning educational multimedia products, hypermedia computer-based training systems and complete user education strategies and support materials for new kinds of tools for lifelong learning and creativity.

Ted and his DesignWorlds team applied this background in creating the key web content and web educational marketing messages for Apple in 2000 to support their launch of iMovie, and some of this web content still remains on Apple's digital movies and education web site today. He has recently been the founding director of the Bay Area Science Education Collaboratory. This project, initially funded by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, is a dynamic web-based resource and learning community for middle school science teacher. Ted is a frequently invited keynote speaker and workshop presenter at national and international conferences on creative education, technology and learning. He consults for Fortune 500 companies, museums, school districts, and non-profit organizations, and has been a board member or advisor for numerous museums, government organizations, and public-private collaborations. Ted has been a Senior Fellow and taught at the UCLA Graudate School of Education & Information Studies and is now a CSTS Fellow at the Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University. He is an adjunct faculty member with the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College, where he teaches online professional development courses for K-12 teachers and parents in integrating technology into K-12 education and informal learning. He has been a GLEF Fellow and is a member of the Speakers Bureau of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. In 2003, the NMC: New Media Consortium named Ted as its first NMC Fellow. its highest individual honor, for his lifelong work in the development and use of digital media and interactive technologies for learning, teaching and creative expression. Ted received his B.A. in computer science (with distinction), and his M.A and Ph.D. in psychology from University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Kahn's Curriculum Vitae

The NMC: New Media Consortium First Fellow-Press Release

President's Office: 408-252-2285

John ("Jack") Gottsman
Board of Directors, DesignWorlds for Learning, Inc.
President, The Clarity Group
Chairman, World Future Society
jack@designworlds.com

The Clarity Group is a venture investment and strategy firm specializing in business, and education knowledge acquisition software and services to attract, retain and grow customers, and high performing employees.

John J. Gottsman has led companies using technology to provide contract service management in engineering, systems consulting, real estate, transportation, distribution, wireless telecommunications and knowledge acquisition. He has successfully led four corporate turnarounds and two startups.

Gottsman is an active Angel investor, strategy designer and advisor, and CEO counselor. He is an active participant in the financing activities of the Band of Angels and Garage Technology Ventures.

John J. Gottsman was a co-founder, President and CEO of Academic Systems. Academic Systems was the first instructional technology company to provide a comprehensive set of interactive instruction and services that helped: college faculty improve student pass rates 20% to 80%; improve student academic performance in subsequent courses 30% to 50%; improve student retention on over 80% of its client campuses; and generate a positive return on investment for the colleges achieving these academic improvements. Prior to Academic Systems, he was President and CEO of WICAT Education Systems, a K-12 provider of interactive instructional courseware to primary and secondary schools. Previously, Gottsman, as President and CEO, led Homequity (acquired by Cendent), a $700 million relocation services firm managing the relocation of over 40,000 Fortune 1000 families a year, and the annual disposition of $3 to $4 billion of residential real estate.

Gottsman spent ten years at ARAMARK; the largest service management firm in the world ($6B), where he led organizations to substantially improved customer satisfaction and profitability. The multi-profit center organizations led had up to 7,000 people providing transportation, food service and distribution services to businesses, colleges, school districts and hospitals throughout North America. Gottsman spent several years as an information and management consultant with Accenture following five years as an officer in the Civil Engineer Corps of the U. S. Navy.

Gottsman serves on boards of several Silicon Valley startup companies; the Center for International Leadership in Washington, D.C. and served on the board of the now merged Institute for Research on Learning. He was a co-founder of an Orange County incubator, GazelleLab. He has been active in the World Future Society for over 20 years, and is Chair for the 2003 WFS conference in San Francisco. He is Chair of the Silicon Valley Node of the United Nations Millennium Project. Gottsman is a Senior Associate with the Foresight Institute's program in nanotechnology. He has an engineering degree from Villanova University; and a Master's degree in business from George Washington University and was ABD for a DBA.

Susanne Commisso, M.S., M.A.
Computer Scientist; Science, Computer Science & Gifted Education Advisor (Middle Grades)

susanne@designworlds.com

Susanne Commisso is a computer scientists, usability specialiast and educator. She has recently completed her Master’s in Education at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA (May, 2008), concentrating on Curriculum and Instruction. Her Master’s thesis focused on building and studying the use of simulation software for extracurricular science kits geared for 5th grade students. She is also finishing up a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential at the same school. Her previous education was a B.S. and M.S in Computer Science (University of Colorado at Boulder). Ms. Commisso worked as a software engineer, graduate research assistant, consultant, and usability engineer in companies and organizations such as Eastman Kodak, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, KPMG, Moai Technologies, and Macromedia (now Adobe).

She has recently won a grant to teach an elective class with a teacher at College Park elementary school in San Mateo, CA. This is a project based learning class experience that focuses on energy related to transportation in the past, present and future. She is currently working on proposals for incorporating simulation software into the elementary science curriculum through teacher training and possible grants for specific schools and has been a contributor and user of DesignWorlds for Learning's Bay Area Science Education Collaboratory for middle grades science teaching and learning.