About IMS
Background
Collaborations
Staff
Board of Directors
Press Releases
Press Kit

Rob Abel, Ed.D., Chief Executive Officer of IMS
Jeremy Auger, Chief Operating Officer, Desire2Learn
Curtiss Barnes, Vice President, Industry Product Strategy, Education & Research, Oracle Corp
David Ernst, Chairmain of the Board,Chief Technology Officer at California State University
Cynthia Golden, Vice President of EDUCAUSE
William Graves, Ph.D., Sr. V.P. for Academic Strategy, SunGard Higher Education, Professor Emeritus, UNC-Chapel Hill
Joel Greenberg, Ph.D., Open University's Director of Strategic Development, Learning and Teaching Solutions
John T. Harwood, Ph.D., Senior Director, Teaching and Learning with Technology, Penn State
Ray Henderson, Chief Products Officer for ANGEL Learning
Michael King,Vice President, Global Education Industry, IBM
Murray Leach,Senior Manager, New Zealand Ministry of Education
Peter Segall, President, North America Higher Education and Operations, Blackboard
Mark Stiles, Head of Learning Development and Innovation, Staffordshire University

Rob Abel, Ed.D.

Dr. Rob Abel, Ed.D. is the Chief Executive Officer of IMS Global Learning Consortium, the world's leading nonprofit member consortium developing, supporting, and advocating learning technology standards and best practices. Under Rob's leadership IMS Global has introduced the Learning Impact program, which is setting new benchmarks for high impact applications of technology in support of learning worldwide. Rob is a recognized expert on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for learning, as well as an education industry researcher focused on the impact of education in society. As Senior Vice President at Collegis (now SunGard Higher Education), the leading provider of ICT services to U.S. higher education, he was responsible for online and academic services provided to over 60 U.S. institutions. As Senior Director at Oracle Education he was a leader and innovator in the development of online learning architectures and related standards, including the Reusable Content Object (RCO) strategy. Rob is a member of the IEEE, ACM, ASTD, ISTE, and American Educational Research Association. Rob holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Change from Fielding Graduate University, a Masters degree in Management from Stanford, a Masters degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California, and a Baccalaureate degree in Computational Physics from Carnegie Mellon University. His articles, commentary, and research have been featured by Educause Review, Educause Quarterly, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Greentree Gazette, Campus Technology, The League for Innovation, University Business, and eSchoolNews.

Jeremy Auger

Jeremy Auger, Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for day-to-day operations at Desire2Learn which includes executive oversight of Product Development, Organizational Development, IT, and Professional Services, with also heavy involvement in product steering and corporate strategy development. Jeremy comes from a strong technical and business background having worked for numerous high-tech companies throughout North America and has been actively involved with e-Learning and web-based technology companies since the very early days. With a strong commitment to customer service, and a desire to advance the state-of-the-art, Jeremy has been part of the Desire2Learn team since its inception, and continues taking a leading role in accomplishing success within the online education industry.

Curtiss Barnes

Curtiss Barnes leads Oracle's industry strategy team for Higher Education, Not-for-Profit Research Institutions and K-12 Education. In this role, Curtiss brings more than 20 years experience in the education industry. He is responsible for establishing product strategy and development investment priorities across all of Oracle's product groups, as well as identifying new market opportunities across the globe for Education-specific applications. Curtiss also serves as a liaison to Oracle's Education & Research Strategy Council (ERSC) and the Higher Education User Group (HEUG) - the world's largest user group in the Higher Education industry.

Prior to Oracle, Curtiss was director of industry marketing strategy for Education at PeopleSoft in Pleasanton, CA. He has also held roles in strategy and business development at SCT in Malvern, PA and directed the product management group at Campus Pipeline, Inc. in Salt Lake City, UT. Prior to joining the corporate world, Curtiss held positions in alumni and corporate relations, development and admissions at a number of higher education institutions.

Curtiss holds a bachelors degree in economics from Clark University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Lexington, MA with his wife Julie and daughters Emily, Julia and Caroline.

David Ernst, Chair

David Ernst is Chief Technology Officer at California State University (CSU) where he directs academic-administrative- and communications-technology activities across a 23-campus system. Previously he worked to develop and implement a system-wide strategic plan that integrated academic and administrative technology. David also worked at the University of California-San Francisco as Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Information Technology & Services. He also served as director of administrative information systems at Stanford. Earlier in his career he built an independent consulting practice geared to higher education in the areas of strategic information technology planning and organizational restructuring. David earned both a B.A. and J.D. at the University of California-Davis.

Cynthia Golden
Cynthia Golden, is Vice President of EDUCAUSE. In that role she coordinates the content of all EDUCAUSE professional development activities as well as the association's e-content and knowledge management initiatives, and has general oversight of information technology services and strategies within the association. She serves as staff liaison to conference program committees as well as the EDUCAUSE management and leadership development programs and coordinates efforts with affiliate organizations. Golden is responsible for developing and enhancing a holistic, integrated array of educational opportunities and information resources for the full EDUCAUSE membership. She is a frequent author and presenter at conferences and other events, and serves on several advisory groups for higher education organizations.

Prior to joining EDUCAUSE in the summer of 2001, Cynthia served as Executive Director of Computing and Technology Services at Duquesne University, where she had been the CIO since 1998, following two years as director of educational technology. Prior to that time she was manager of business applications in the Information Systems division at MIT, where she also coordinated administrative computing architecture. She was Associate Director of Administrative Systems at Carnegie Mellon University before joining the staff at MIT. Cynthia has served on the CAUSE Board of Directors and on a variety of association committees and working groups.

Joel Greenberg, Ph.D.

Joel Greenberg is the Open University's Director of Strategic Development, Learning and Teaching Solutions. He has a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Manitoba, an MSc in Control Engineering and a PhD in Numerical Mathematics from the University of Manchester. He joined the Open University in 1978, initially as a Software Designer developing educational software applications. He is currently directing the work of a team of media specialists and technical staff on a number of projects which continually reassess the design, development and delivery of learning media products. He is also responsible for key production and information systems activity which underpin both strategic developments and core media production.

He is directing a number of new initiatives as part of the University's growing use of its new virtual learning environment as a primary delivery medium. Current projects include the development of a new learning content management system for the Open University's learning and teaching materials, the new virtual learning environment built on open interoperability standards and the University's Open Content Initiative. He has written and published extensively about computer animation, multimedia developments and new learning and teaching models at the Open University and been invited to speak at a number of international conferences.

William Graves, Ph.D.

Dr. William H. Graves, as senior vice president for academic strategy, is a member of the executive team at SunGard Higher Education. He is also professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) where, after earning a mathematics Ph.D. from Indiana University, he served as dean for general education, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs, senior information technology officer, and founder and director of the Institute for Academic Technology (a UNC/IBM alliance).

Starting at UNC and now at SunGard Higher Education, Graves has helped pioneer technology-enabled strategies for measurably improving upon and accounting for institutional performance in higher education, especially academic performance. On this evolving theme, he has published over 80 articles and books (see the bibliography below), given hundreds of invited presentations, and advised hundreds of institutions.

Graves is a co-founding board member of both the National Center for Academic Transformation and the Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness, and serves also on the Tenth Anniversary Commission of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the National Advisory Group for the Lumina Foundation’s Making Opportunity Affordable initiative. He participated in the Department of Education’s March 2007 national summit, A Test of Leadership, and served on its Enhancing Accessibility, Reducing Costs, and Promoting Productivity working group. He has served on the boards of the IMS Global Learning Consortium, EDUCAUSE, Coalition for Networked Information, and CAUSE. He helped launch Internet2 and EDUCAUSE’s National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (now the Learning Initiative) and chaired the latter's planning committee from 1994-2004.

While on leave from UNC in 1997, Graves founded and directed the nonprofit Collegis Research Institute. He then retired from UNC in 1999 to found (and chair the board of) Eduprise, an academic technology services firm which subsequently merged with Collegis. The resulting privately held company was acquired in 2004 by publicly traded SunGard Data Systems and is now part of privately held SunGard Higher Education, the world’s largest technology-related business focused solely on higher education. The company provides institutional software solutions, technology management solutions, and a range of consulting services designed to meet academic and business needs specific to higher education.

John T. Harwood, Ph.D.
John Harwood Senior Director, Teaching and Learning with Technology, Penn State. John is responsible for the development of courseware, training, and support programs for faculty and teaching assistants who seek to integrate technology and teaching. At University Park, he is responsible for helping faculty use technology in teaching; university-wide IT training; and computer labs, technology classrooms, and the support services required to support teaching and learning in those spaces, including instructional design and multimedia services. John is Penn State's representative to the CIC, the academic consortium of the Big 10.

Ray Henderson
Ray Henderson is the Chief Products Officer for ANGEL Learning. Previously, Ray was President of the Central Media Group for Pearson Education where he was responsible for thousands of internet based product offerings, used by millions of students annually. In addition, he was responsible for ensuring that Pearson content and educational software tools play seamlessly across a range of educational delivery systems. Ray's other credits include the Safari digital textbook initiative, of which he was a founding board member. Ray's previous experience was at eCollege.com as Chief Technical Officer, and as Vice President of Internet Services and Strategy Group at Simon & Schuster Higher Education Group.

Michael King
Michael King, Vice President, Global Education Industry, has been with IBM for over 20 years in various executive and management positions. He is currently the worldwide leader for the IBM Education Industry. In this role, he leads IBM's strategy, marketing and sales across schools and higher education. His prior responsibilities include Director, Market Development, Education Industry, focused on solutions and innovation projects, and Director, Alliances for IBM Learning Solutions, where he led a team in developing partnerships across the learning marketplace, including corporate education. He served as the lead market manager for learning in IBM, launching important corporate solution initiatives in Europe and globally. Prior positions include the Global Segment Executive for the IBM Education industry, leading the strategy for delivering solutions and products to higher education and primary school institutions around the world, and also the worldwide marketing manager for higher education. IBM's broad portfolio of offerings in Education Industry includes hardware and software products, business and IT services, and specific industry initiatives, such as open source software, grid computing, and other leading technologies.

Mr. King has also served as the client executive with responsibility for research universities in California, including the University of California system. In that position, he worked with leading universities in developing creative technology solutions for administrative and academic applications.

Mr. King holds Bachelor's of Science degrees in Physics and Engineering from Kansas State University and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a member of the California P16 Education Advisory Council.

Murray Leach
Murray Leach is a senior manager in New Zealand's Ministry of Education with the responsibility for developing ICT strategies, frameworks and solutions that enable education sector-wide collaboration. As one of the partner representatives on the e-Framework Partners Group Murray is at the forefront of New Zealand's education sector international ICT involvement.

Murray is also the chair of the New Zealand Education Sector ICT Management Committee - a group whose vision is to raise achievement in an innovative education sector, fully connected and supported by the smart use of ICT. Murray is also the chair of the New Zealand Education Sector ICT Connectivity Committee - ensuring that the education sector has access to a robust, open standards-driven ICT infrastructure for education. His involvement in these, and other forums, places him in good steed to contribute to the continued growth and development of ICT to support education, research and educational administration in New Zealand.

Murray has been a teacher and curriculum director in a secondary school, a consultant on education reforms in a number of Asia/Pacific jurisdictions and is presently responsible for the NZ ministry of Education involvement in standards and specifications for education and training.

Murray has an MA in Geography from Otago University.

Peter Segall
As President, North America Higher Education and Operations, Peter Segall has management responsibility and oversight for all aspects of Blackboard's NA Higher Education academic business and operations, including sales, marketing, services, product development, customer support and business development. Peter brings to Blackboard twenty years of experience providing educational consulting and management services to thousands of global higher education institutions.

Most recently, Peter was the Executive Vice President and a Board Member at WebCT, in charge of global sales and business development for this leading e-learning provider. Before joining WebCT, Peter served as the Executive Director of Harvard University's Project ADAPT, the first university-wide project to implement common financial management information system to all of Harvard's schools and central units. Previously, he was a Partner in the National Higher Education Consulting Group for Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P. While at Coopers & Lybrand, Peter lead the development of enterprise-wide operations improvement projects and information technology strategies at many leading research universities including Harvard, Yale, Penn, UCLA, Boston University, and many others. He received his B.A. in Physics from Brown University and his Masters of Math and Science Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Mark Stiles
Mark Stiles, Head of Learning Development and Innovation at Staffordshire University, has been involved with the use of technology to support learning for more than 20 years, and has led research and development work in strategy, policy, systems development and interoperability, and pedagogy. Mark also led the development of one of the first UK virtual learning environments, COSE, and has been involved in projects making use of IMS specifications since JISC first became involved in the consortium's work. Mark, Deputy Chair of the JISC Learning and Teaching committee, is also Chair of the JISC-CETIS Board. Mark's current work focuses on the support of work-based learning, and the tensions between issues of control and innovation within organisations deploying learning technologies. At Staffordshire, Mark holds a Professorial Chair in Technology Supported Learning.