Technology Transforming the Learning Landscape: Entrepreneurial Opportunities in eLearning

Saturday, March 12, 2011
at the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California
Registration and Continental Breakfast:
8:00 a.m. Baxter Lecture Hall
Program:
9:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at Baxter Lecture Hall
Networking:
11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Baxter Lecture Hall

Cost:
$40 on-line registration fee; $50 at-the-door; $10 for students with full-time student ID and free for Caltech students (must show ID at door). Caltech students can now register online.
On-line Registration closes at 5:00 PM on Thursday, March 10, 2011. There are no refunds for no-shows.

For more networking:
Bring your business card to be included in a voluntary list of attendee contact information, which will be distributed only to you and others who bring their card.

Event Preview

Technology has launched new dimensions in learning. A now-wired world coupled with ubiquitous mobility opens e-learning to innovation in ways unavailable to its PC software and corporate training origins. Globally connecting our planet means that everyone can be taught by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Seminars available from afar maximize both the audience and substantive breadth while minimizing student commute and provider costs. Mobile apps open the door to as-needed content, pacing and augmented reality as part of training. Less developed countries can accelerate education of large and dispersed populations with striking efficiencies. Tutoring by subject experts and native speakers is becoming available to more than the privileged few. All of this is going to have major impact on education and knowledge work. Today’s speakers bring varied perspectives about the impact of technology on learning, where investment is flowing, and where there’s great entrepreneurial opportunity.

Keynote Speakers

Lee Pryor
CEO
Portico Learning Solutions
www.porticolearning.com

Lee Pryor has many years of experience as a founder and Chief Executive for start up and late stage entrepreneurial companies. He began his career with Time Warner. He then moved to IBM in mainframe sales. He left to found a computer supply company that grew to 55 sales people, over 300 employees and $48 million in sales.

After selling the computer business, he ran five both private and public companies. These emerging and late stage companies were in a variety of industries including e-commerce, Internet database publishing and marketing, online on demand printing, computer supplies distribution, and technology contract manufacturing. He has recently been appointed CEO of Portico technologies, Inc, a web based on line e-learning and training company.

Lee attended Johns Hopkins University, the US Naval Academy and graduated from Northwestern University after which he spent two years with the Counter Intelligence Corp in Japan and China.

Lee is the author of “The Savvy Entrepreneur, an Insider’s Secrets to Managing for Success.” He has been an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business, is a business executive coach for emerging enterprises, and is a speaker on the topic of entrepreneurship at venture capital conferences, association meetings and business schools.

Lee is a former member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), and has been on the Board of The National Defense University and Kent School. He is on the Board of Directors of CaminoSoft of Los Angeles, a publicly held software company as well as the Board of the Louisiana Technology Council where he was Director of the Katrina LTC Recovery/Incubator Center. He is presently the CEO of Portico Learning Solutions a 10 year old e-leaning company.

William Quigley
Managing Director
Clearstone Venture Partners
www.clearstone.com

William Quigley joined Clearstone Venture Partners shortly after its formation and concentrates on its Internet and communications related investments. During his first two-and-a-half years with the firm, he worked out of the idealab! incubator and helped launch and lead investments in many idealab! backed companies including Homepage.com, FreePC, FreeMusic.com and Paymybills.com. A number of his early-stage investments have gone public, including MP3.com, Tickets.com, Emusic and PeopleSupport and several have been acquired including InternetConnect (sold to Covad) and Phasebridge (sold to Emcore).

William’s current portfolio reflects his belief in the enormous opportunity in the wireless consumer and enterprise markets (AOptix, SoonR, Meru Networks, Novariant). He is also focused on emerging companies offering managed services in the enterprise and consumer sectors (Communicado, Spock Networks). William is a member of the board of directors of AOptix Technologies, Communicado, Meru Networks, Novariant, SoonR and Spock.com.

William joined Clearstone from Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds, where he invested in early-stage communications companies targeting the software, equipment and service sectors. At MAVF, he was responsible for investments in Integrated Chipware, a real time embedded OS developer, Wisor Telecom, an OSS vendor to telecom service providers and NexTone Communications, a manufacturer of voice over IP equipment.

Prior to MAVF, William spent seven years in a variety of business planning and operational roles at The Walt Disney Company. His tenure at Disney included finance roles at EuroDisney, the Disney Store retail chain and Disney’s consumer products merchandise licensing division. He oversaw all finance and business planning activities for Disney’s licensing business unit, the world’s largest consumer products licensor. William also co-managed Disney’s merchant banking group where he negotiated and structured equity positions in the company’s strategic licensees.

Prior to Disney, William was a Senior Consultant with Arthur Andersen’s Financial Services Group where he developed financial and business strategies for a wide range of companies in the media and communications and financial services industries.

William is on the board of DealMaker LA, a Los Angeles based organization promoting entrepreneurial activities in Southern California.

William received his MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School, and holds a BS in Accounting, with honors, from the University of Southern California. He is a CPA and a Kauffman Fellow.

Additional Panelist Speaker-Discussants

Mitchell London
CEO/Founder
Headroom Learning Strategies, LLC
www.headroomlearning.com

Rob Angarita
Co-founder & President
Cramster
www.cramster.com

Robert Angarita cofounded Cramster, the leading provider of online homework help for college and high school students. Robert bootstrapped Cramster for the first four years, established a fully owned subsidiary in India, before taking angel and venture capital. Cramster was recently acquired by Chegg in December 2010. Chegg is the #1 online college textbook rental company.

Robert has founded multiple technology startups ranging from consumer internet, enterprise software and online education. Robert holds a BS in Business with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California.

Joan Horvath
National University Community Research Institute Fellow,
National University Community Research Institute
www.nu.edu/Community/NUCRI

Moderator

Tony Karrer
Founder & CTO
Aggregage
www.aggregage.com
CEO/CTO
TechEmpower, Inc.
www.techempower.com

Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower, a Los Angeles Web Development firm and Founder/CTO of Aggregage, a B2B Media Company. He is considered one of the top technologists in eLearning with twenty years experience creating solutions in the space. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. His work in social media, e-Learning and Performance Support has won awards and has led him into engagements at many Fortune 500 companies including Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Canada, Citibank, Lexus, Microsoft, Nissan, Universal, IBM, HP, Sun, Fidelity and Symbol. Dr. Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science. Dr. Karrer taught Computer Science for eleven years. He is a frequent speaker at industry and academic events.

Producers

Lee Schwing
Managing Partner
Schwing & Associates

Lee Schwing is a technology visionary who has transformed numerous companies through her insightful use of leading edge applications. Schwing created the technology division of Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca, Fischer, Gilbert-Lurie, Stiffelman & Cook, LLP, one of the top entertainment law firms worldwide. The firm’s client list includes Pixar, Dreamworks, the National Football League, Motown Records, Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Harrison Ford. Schwing drove the firm from a DOS environment to a firm nationally recognized for its innovative use of technology in security, application automation, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Schwing has also led corporate technology implementations for Fortune 100 companies in the mining, insurance and trade show industries. Her applications supported multibillion-dollar investments and businesses, allowing continued strategic revenue growth. And her work as director of operations for The Jane Fonda Workout included advertising campaigns, corporate sponsorship, and franchise licensing agreements. Recently Schwing has added to her repertoire a technologist’s perspective on SEO, SEO & PPC providing intelligent, well-informed, and customized search engine optimization consultation services to business clients.

Schwing’s continual drive to utilize the latest technology has enhanced and improved the productivity and the bottom line of numerous companies. Her work has helped implement significant change in the business world. Schwing is also involved in the Third Millennium Awakening (TMA), a non-profit corporation founded in 2005 to help impoverished villages of the Thane District of India achieve a better way of life. TMA’s main focus has been a water purification program that provides impoverished families with free bio-sand water filters, and instruction in hygiene and sanitation. www.tmaseva.org Schwing is a graduate of Antioch College and Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA.

Michael M. Krieger
Ph.D, J.D. UCLA Computer Science
Willenken Wilson Loh & Lieb
www.willenken.com

Michael Krieger has practiced high technology business and intellectual property law for more than 20 years. A member of the Los Angeles firm Willenken Wilson Loh & Lieb, his practice focuses on strategic counseling, litigation and preventive methods to both secure and exploit clients’ patents and other key IP assets. With degrees in mathematics (B.S., Caltech; Ph.D., UCLA) and law (UCLA), he was on the MIT Mathematics and UCLA Computer Science faculties and also a Fulbright Scholar prior to practicing law. This technical background led to early involvement with encryption, domain name/trademark, and open source issues as well as IP litigation for content providers and patent holders. His clients have ranged from start-ups to industry leaders, as well as counseling for the tech transfer arena and the United Nations as well as other international technology initiatives. He also serves as an expert in technology litigation.

Tony Karrer
Founder & CTO
Aggregage
www.aggregage.com
CEO/CTO
TechEmpower, Inc.
www.techempower.com

Date

Saturday morning, March 12, 2011

Registration and Continental Breakfast:
8:00 a.m. Baxter Lecture Hall
Program:
9:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at Baxter Lecture Hall
Networking:
11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Baxter Lecture Hall

Location

Baxter Lecture Hall
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA

Directions/Maps: Directions to the Forum

Cost

$40 on-line registration fee. $50 at-the-door. $10 for students with full-time student ID (must show at door).

Registrations are taken on-line until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 10, 2011. There are no refunds for no-shows.