Camp BizSmart Advisors
Camp BizSmart’s Advisory Board consists of globally renowned educational professionals, experts on the fields of organizational design and modeling, and training and knowledge acquisition. All are successful and respected entrepreneurs in their fields of endeavor:
Cristina Banks, Ph.D. is a professor at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley with expertise in human resources practices. She served for five years as the Director Undergraduate Programs for the Haas School. She has consulted with KIPP Charter Schools and was an early supporter of Bright Horizons Preschools. Through her career, she has founded, grown and sold several businesses such as Right Management Consultants and Terranova. Cris has served on several corporate boards, including Whole Foods. She currently sits on the Advisory Board of Leadership California and is president and founder of Lamorinda Consulting LLC.
John Butler is the CEO of Topline Advisors works with Silicon Valley high tech companies to improve performance and results. He was a senior level executive with Apple and IBM. John mentors students at Menlo College on business communication skills.
Manish Chandra is CEO and Founder, Kaboodle. Prior to Kaboodle, Manish was the VP Marketing at Versant and part of the executive team at Versata that took the company public. Additionally, Manish has held R&D and Product Management roles at Sybase and Intel. Manish has a Bachelor of Technology from IIT Kanpur in India, an MS in Computer Science from UT Austin, and an MBA from Haas.
David Dembitz is an independent internet professional and also works on the Silicon Valley K4 team of the Keiretsu Forum and the Keiretsu University Project. He brings more than twenty-two years of sales and marketing management experience in networking, high tech and start-up companies. At AboveNet as Sr. V.P. of Sales he brought his wealth of experience in building channels, sales teams and developing brand awareness with start-up companies. Prior to this he held similar position for ISDNet, and was the Senior Manager of Worldwide Sales for SynOptics, and Burroughs/Unisys Corporation.
Margee Ensign, Ph.D. is the Dean of the School of International Studies (SIS), and Associate Provost for International Initiatives at the University of the Pacific. The School of International Studies offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in international and intercultural relations and is establishing programs in social entrepreneurship and Inter-American affairs. It is the only undergraduate program in the U.S. that requires all students to study abroad for at least a semester. Dr. Ensign is the Principal Investigator for the California International Studies Project that trains over 5,000 teachers in world history and international affairs. She is an active teaching professor as well as an education evaluation and statistics expert.
Bill Goodrich is in charge of redesigning the secondary teacher training program at San Jose State University. Prior to being named to this position last year by the Dean of Education, Mr. Goodrich was the Principal at Windmill Springs School and is a recognized education leader with 31 years of experience who turned Windmill Spring School into a 2006 California Distinguished School, and significantly increased student achievement. He was also nominated as a California 2006 “Principal of the Year”.
Barbara “Bobbi” Kurshan, Ph.D.is the Executive Director of Curriki. Dr. Kurshan has spent her career committed to using technology to improve children’s learning. She has founded several successful companies focused on technology and education. As the Executive Director of Curriki, she plans to build a global community that provides the worlds best open source curricula. Dr. Kurshan developed the first children’s software products for Microsoft and award-winning products for McGraw-Hill, Apple, CCC (Pearson) and others. Dr. Kurshan published numerous articles how kids use computers, and new ways of learning. She serves as a reviewer and advisor to research projects for the National Science Foundation and other government and business groups. She serves on the boards of WorldSage, a for-profit higher education system to address education for the 21st Century, and Interschola, a company that helps education clients turn idle assets into cash by selling the goods via online auctions, as well as several education technology companies, including Fablevision.
R. Paul Herman is founder and CEO of HIP Investor, an innovative company featured in Fast Company Magazine. As a strategist at McKinsey and Omidyar Network, Paul helped clients achieve top performance with advice and counsel. As an entrepreneur, Paul has delivered innovative customer value and societal impact. As a grant maker and fundraiser at Ashoka.org, Paul coached social entrepreneurs, connecting social investors with high-impact organizations.
Harry Motro is a successful multimedia artist and former CEO of Infoseek, an Internet search and software company, which was sold to Disney. He also started CNN Interactive and ran his own venture firm. Harry has deep understanding of the creative process, particularly as it applies to producing entertainment. He spent time working in television (TBS, CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network), movies (MGM/UA), animation (Hanna Barbera) and the Internet (CNN Interactive). He is a successful artist and author.
Bill Reichert is managing director at Garage Technology Venture. He has more than 20 years experience as an entrepreneur and an operating executive. He sits on the boards of CaseStack, WhiteHat, ClearFuels, cFares and ThermoCeramix. Prior to Garage, Bill has been a co-founder or senior executive in several venture-backed technology startups, including Trademark Software, The Learning Company and Academic Systems. Earlier in his career, he worked at McKinsey & Company, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and the World Bank.
Jodell Seagrave is Founding Director and President of Rocket 21, an innovative social learning platform for middle school students. Prior to Rocket 21, she was Managing Director of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. She increased Schwab Learning Program’s reach among children and families and built effective distribution channels. Jodell was co-founder and CEO of KidStar Interactive, a pioneering effort once dubbed “the first convergent media platform for kids.” As CEO at Communities.com, she oversaw the enterprise deployment of the company’s popular virtual worlds software. Jodell was nominated for recognition in the American Marketing Association/ Media Inc. Hall of Fame in 1995. Ms. Seagrave has chaired or presented at more than two dozen national and international conferences on children’s entertainment, technology and marketing.
Herbert J. Walberg, Ph.D., is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and a member of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education. He has taught for 35 years at Harvard and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Author or editor of more than 60 books, he has written extensively for educational and psychological scholarly journals on measuring and raising student achievement and on the causes of outstanding human accomplishments. He was appointed member of the National Assessment Governing Board and the National Board for Educational Sciences, and elected a fellow of five scholarly groups including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, the International Academy of Education, and the Royal Statistical Society. He has lectured to scholars and policy makers in eight countries, and currently chairs the Beck Foundation and the Heartland Institute, and is a trustee of the Foundation for Teaching Economics.
