Ellen Moir

Founder/ former CEO

Ellen Moir is the founder and former CEO of The New Teacher Center Established in 1998, the Center is devoted to the development, induction and mentoring of beginning teachers.

Moir holds a B.A. from California State University, Northridge  and an M.A. from  San Jose State University.

Moir began her career as a bilingual teacher in Santa Paula, California  in 1972. In 1978, she became supervisor of teacher education at UCSC, and a lecturer in the education department. From 1985 to 2000, Moir was Director of Teacher Education at UCSC.

Moir launched the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project in 1988, an innovative new teacher support program that she has directed since its inception. She founded the New Teacher Center in 1998.

Moir has published articles in a number of professional journals, including Educational Leadership, the Journal of Staff Development, and Teacher Education Quarterly.

Ralph Simon

Founder/CEO
Ralph Simon has enjoyed a spectacular 30+ year career in a variety of prominent fields including mobile phone technology & content, the entertainment & music industry, exponential medicine & health, and executive talent development. His extensive career includes leading Capitol Records and Blue Note Records, with a focus on emerging new media. In 1997, Simon correctly predicted that mobile phones would become the indispensable voice/social networking-and-music companion for consumers and their increasingly mobile lifestyles, and today he is popularly known as the ‘Father of the Ring Tone.’ Simon helped establish the integration of mobile technology in global television and major global event broadcasting and is internationally known as a highly impactful and popular speaker and moderator on all aspects of mobile, creative, and digital industries. Currently, Simon heads the London-based Mobilium Global Group, which provides high-level strategic counsel and guidance to a range of brands, media and healthcare companies, networks, studios, artists, agencies, platforms and professional organizations around the world. Simon founded Africa’s first mobile health delivery network, Mobilium Africa, part of a larger initiative combining mobile health, wallet technology, payment systems, gamification, social messaging, social music & social lifestyle research, aimed at improving the lives of digital citizens around the world. Highly respected in the USA, UK, India, the Nordics & internationally, Simon has consistently found innovation in mobile learning, digital health & exponential medicine, mobile social media, across multiple industries - while engaging with a variety of business leaders, creatives and innovators across cultures around the world. An 'international cool hunter,’ Simon is motivated by a relentless curiosity that fuels his global search for the world’s smartest and most creative new digital and mobile technologies, including VR and other innovations that grow engagement in multi-cultural communities world-wide. He has always believed that the future belongs to “Screenagers” world-wide and consistently understands what’s coming next. Simon serves on the boards of several companies, including Hungama Digital Media Entertainment. He is an Executive Board Member & Global Juror for the UN affiliated World Summit Awards and World Youth Summit Awards. Simon is a board advisor to the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance and is Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the influential Mobile Entertainment Forum - Americas. He serves on the Global Business Council for Education, and is special advisor to the GSM Association, which is responsible for curating and programming some of the world’s most important start-up & future tech gatherings. Simon is a faculty member of Singularity University’s Exponential Health Division and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in the UK & the National Academy of Recorded Arts & Sciences in the USA.

Charles Prober, M.D.

Sr. Assoc. Vice Provost for Health Education

Charles Prober, MD is the Senior Associate Vice Provost for Health Education at the Stanford School of Medicine, Founding Executive Director of the Stanford Center for Health Education, and Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University. He is an expert in pediatric infectious diseases with an academic career focused on the epidemiology, pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of infections in children. Dr. Prober has been involved in medical education throughout his career. He has directed a number of undergraduate and graduate student courses in the classroom and at the bedside, served as Associate Chair for Education for the Department of Pediatrics, and lectured locally, nationally, and internationally on infectious diseases and medical education. As Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education at Stanford from 2007-2017, Dr. Prober worked diligently to create a more diverse and supportive educational environment for Stanford students and graduate medical trainees. Some of the initiatives developed under his leadership included: the highly successful Educators-4-CARE (E4C) program, the Office of Medical Student Wellness, expansion of combined degree programs, the creation of the Stanford Society for Physician Scholars for residents and fellows, the use of Multi-Mini Interviews as part of the Stanford Medical School admissions process, and the creation of the Stanford Teaching and Mentoring Academy.  Dr. Prober currently leads the Digital Education International Collaborative (DigitalMEdic) program at Stanford, which aims to improve global health outcomes by increasing access to medical education and building human capacity. DigitalMEdic creates collaborative, high quality, accessible, and customized healthcare learning experiences that are openly available online to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Dr. Prober has published extensively in peer-reviewed medical journals and is editor of Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, one of the major textbooks in the field of pediatric infectious diseases. He is the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the 2016 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Outstanding and Innovative Contributions to Medical Education.

Amit Hooda

Founder/CEO

Amit Hooda is social entrepreneur seeking to eliminate poverty through regenerative business and education. Hooda works in rural/conflicted parts of South America, Asia and Africa on various socially responsible projects (for and non profit both). Hooda has been partner or founder in bodycare, retail estate and technology companies. He is the CEO of and founder of Heavenly Organics and Secteur 6. Heavenly Organics’ (2005) unique business model eliminates conflict by creating ethical jobs in conflict areas that help sustain the economic and cultural survival of local communities. Today Heavenly Organics supports over 650 families in the Central and Kashmir regions of India, training them in bee-friendly sustainable methods of extracting honey in untouched forests, so the honey is free of pesticides, pollutants, GMOs, and antibiotics. Heavenly Organics products are sold in 4 different countries and over 8000 stores worldwide, and the company is in the process of expanding its work to Africa and Afghanistan. Secteur 6 is a new luxury

Tonia Casarin

Teaching and Learning

Tonia Casarin is an entrepreneurial executive who connects with initiatives and stakeholders focused on addressing soft skills gap and mental health issues in order to promote wellbeing, happiness and performance.
She writes in her free time and has been published 10 books and becoming a bestseller author of “I Have Monsters in My Tummy” and “I Have More Monsters in My Tummy”, both books help young readers and parents engage in conversations about emotions and feelings. She is releasing two new books in 2020.
She is an advocate for mental health and diversity, inclusion and belonging.
Tonia is also a TEDx speaker, Lemann Fellow, Global Salzburg Fellow and Eisenhower Fellow.

Ari Memar

Planning

Ari Memar is a Senior Product Lead within Uber’s New Mobility team. He is a founding member of Uber’s Micromobility business, leading it from 0 to 1, the acquisition of JUMP in April 2018, and expansion to 40+ markets globally.

Prior to Uber, Memar was a Business Unit Leader at ExxonMobil’s Torrance Refinery where he became the youngest second line supervisor and was recognized for outstanding contributions. While at ExxonMobil he held various engineering, planning, and management roles.

Memar holds an engineering degree from the University of California, Los Angeles where he graduated magna cum laude.

Seema Mehta

International and Partnerships

Seema Mehta is a results-driven leader with a proven track record in building and leading high-performing teams for Microsoft Europe and PayPal. Since moving to Silicon Valley in 2006, she has focused on developing and improving programs for startups that align with her passions of education, health, and empowerment of women in business.

With a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Seema is keen that students are equipped not just with technical skills but also skills of collaboration, a growth mindset, and creativity to truly raise global thinkers for the 21st century.

Seema actively volunteers for the local school district as well as underserved communities in the Bay Area. She also supports those organizations that are having an impact on education in developing countries such as India and most recently, Cambodia.

Tara Dhillon

Strategy

With a broad business background that includes corporate strategy consulting and financial planning, Tara has served in a variety of capacities at software, hardware and medical device companies. Her most recent corporate role was Vice President of Investor Relations for NetApp, an S&P 500 company. After leaving the corporate world, Tara’s strategy consulting practice includes advising CEO’s in both the public and private sectors, with a recent emphasis on the education space.

A graduate of University of Washington’s Foster School of Business with concentrations in Economics and Finance, Tara expanded her impact in the community through motivational speaking, founding mentor programs, volunteering in local school districts and serving on the Los Altos Education Foundation board of directors.

Chris Buja

COO

Chris Buja is an edtech entrepreneur and school founder. Mr Buja is co-founder of Summit Preparatory Charter High School (2003), flagship of Summit Public Schools.   Previously, he was the VP Business development for Hapara.  Prior to Hapara, he served at Google and Cisco Education.  He has served an advisor for edtech companies, non-profits, foundations, and the U.S. Department of Education.  He holds an engineering degree from Princeton University with concentration in Public and International Affair from the Wilson School (1984) and an MBA from Stanford University (1990).

Esther Wojcicki

Founder & CEO

Esther Wojcicki, is a journalist and award-winning educator, a pioneer in the integration of technology into the classroom, and a world renown advocate for students and teachers. Dr. Wojcicki founded the Palo Alto High Media Arts Program, one of America’s largest, most dynamic and successful high school media studies programs, and a model of how to teach 21st century skills. She regularly presents on her work and methods to global audiences of educators, policy makers and business leaders. Dr. Wojcicki is the recipient of a number of teaching awards and sits on the Board of leading educational organizations, including PBS Learning Forum and Creative Commons. She serves an advisor for edtech companies, non-profits, foundations, and the U.S. Department of Education. She is the founder of the Journalistic Learning Initiative at the University of Oregon (2016) and holds honorary doctorates from Palo Alto University (2013), Rhode Island School of Design (2016) and the University of Central Brazilia (2018). Esther has been intimately involved with GoogleEdu and the Google Teacher Academy since its inception and remains a guiding force. She is the author of Moonshots in Education (2014) and How to Raise Successful People (May, 2019). She is the mother of Susan Wojcicki (CEO of YouTube), Janet Wojcicki (Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF) and Anne Wojcicki (Founder and CEO of 23andMe) and the grandmother of nine.