2011 Conference Speaker Bios & Photos

Craig R. Barrett, Ph.D.
Retired CEO and Chairman of the Board, Intel Corporation

Dr. Craig Barrett is a leading advocate for improving education in the U.S. and around the world. He is also a vocal spokesman for the value technology can provide in raising social and economic standards globally. In 2009, he stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Intel Corporation, a post he held from May 2005 to May 2009.

Craig Barrett was born in San Francisco, California. He attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California from 1957 to 1964, receiving Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science. After graduation, he joined the faculty of Stanford University in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and remained through 1974, rising to the rank of Associate Professor. Dr. Barrett was a Fulbright Fellow at Danish Technical University in Denmark in 1972 and a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Physical Laboratory in England from 1964 to 1965. He is the author of over 40 technical papers dealing with the influence of microstructure on the properties of materials, and a textbook on materials science, Principles of Engineering Materials.

Dr. Barrett joined Intel Corporation in 1974 and held positions of vice president, senior vice president and executive vice president from 1984 to 1990. In 1992, he was elected to Intel Corporation's Board of Directors and was promoted to chief operating officer in 1993. Dr. Barrett became Intel's fourth president in 1997, chief executive officer in 1998 and chairman of the Board in 2005.

Dr. Barrett served until June 2009 as Chairman of the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development, which works to bring computers and other technology to developing parts of the world. He chairs Change The Equation, a national education science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) coalition, Achieve, Inc. and Dossia, and vice chairs Science Foundation Arizona and the National Forest Foundation. Dr. Barrett is president and chairman of BASIS School, Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors of K12 Inc., Society for Science and the Public, Arizona Commerce Authority Board, and Grameen Intel Social Business. He was appointed by the President of the Russian Federation as International co-chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation Council and serves on the Council for Foreign Relations Task Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security, the advisory board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the faculty of Thunderbird School of Global Management, and is Honorary Chairman of the Irish Technology Leadership Group. Dr. Barrett has served on numerous boards, policy and government panels, and has been an appointee of the President's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations and the American Health Information Community. He has co-chaired the Business Coalition for Student Achievement and the National Innovation Initiative Leadership Council, and has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the U.S. Council for International Business and the Clinton Global Initiative Education Advisory Board. Dr. Barrett has been a member of the National Governors' Association Task Force on Innovation America, the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, the Committee on Scientific Communication and National Security, the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum, past chair of the National Academy of Engineering, and formerly served on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, and TechNet.

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Paul Kihn, M. Ed., M. Phil., M.B.A.
Partner, McKinsey & Company

Paul Kihn is a Partner with McKinsey & Company's Social Sector Office, based in Washington, D.C. He specializes in Education, with expertise in Strategy, Organization, and Service Operations, and serves U.S. public education systems on the federal, state and local levels, as well as charter schools and private foundations supporting education reform efforts.

Previously, Paul worked in the New York City public schools as an English teacher and Middle School Administrator, and before that as the Education Unit Coordinator at a New York City non-profit that served as an alternative to incarceration for teenagers convicted of felonies.

Prior to his work in New York, Paul taught high school English in South African townships and English literature at the University of the Western Cape. He also developed and ran education programs for "at-risk" youth in Dublin, Ireland.

Paul has published books and articles on education, including "Labeling: Politics & Pedagogy" (2001) and "South African Teacher Organizations, 1985-1990" (2002). He is a member of the Scorecard Advisory Group of the District of Columbia Public Schools, and a Board Member of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) of Greater Washington.

Paul graduated magna cum laude from Yale College with a B.A. degree. He earned a M.Ed. degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, a M.Phil. from University of Cape Town, and a M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

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Paul Koehler, Ph.D.
Director of The Policy Program at WestEd

The Policy Center provides analyses, research, and assistance to policymakers, policy-focused organizations, and the media on current educational issues. The Center is a voice at the state, regional, and national levels, keeping members of the U.S. Congress and other policy leaders informed of developments in research and practice. By examining all sides of complex issues, the Center provides objective, balanced views to create strategies for improvement, inform decisions, and highlight developments benefiting children and families. In addition, the Policy Center publishes and disseminates Policy Perspectives, a series of papers that presents visiting authors' own views and/or research on issues relevant to schools and communities nationwide. Through the Center, Dr. Koehler leads the California Mayors Education Roundtable, a collaborative multi-city effort to provide integrated and comprehensive support for urban youth.

Koehler also serves as Director of the Southwest Comprehensive Center, a technical assistance center funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The Center provides assistance to chief state school officers and their staffs in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah as they implement provisions of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act in their states.

Previously, Koehler served as Education Advisor to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano from 2003-2009 and as a consultant to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer during the state's work on the Race to the Top competition. Koehler had worked as Associate Superintendent of the Arizona Department of Education from 1989-1993. Prior to that, he was a district superintendent and assistant superintendent for 16 years and a classroom teacher for 10 years.

Koehler is responsible for numerous WestEd publications on topics such as improving the graduation rate, effects of full-day kindergarten, reforming teacher pay, and school leadership. He has been a presenter at numerous national conferences, most recently at the American Educational Research Association (discussing the role of mayors in the improvement of urban school districts), the Council of Chief State School Officers (on graduation rate calculations), and the American Association of School Administrators (on ethics in leadership).

He received a BS in business management from C.W. Post College, an MS in elementary education from Brooklyn College, and a PhD in elementary education and curriculum development from Arizona State University.

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Lawrence O. Picus, Ph.D.
Director Center for Research in Education Finance, USC Rossier School of Education and Principal, Lawrence O. Picus and Associates

Lawrence O. Picus is a Professor of school finance and educational administration at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education. He also serves as the director of the Center for Research in Education Finance (CREF), a school finance research center housed at the Rossier School of Education. CREF research focuses on issues of school finance adequacy, equity and productivity. His current research interests focus on adequacy and equity in school finance as well as efficiency and productivity in the provision of educational programs for K-12 school children. Picus is past-president of the American Education Finance Association.

Picus' most recent books include: School Finance: A Policy Perspective, 4th edition, with Allan Odden; In Search of More Productive Schools: A Guide to Resource Allocation in Education, published by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management in January, 2001; Leveraging Resources for Student Success: How School Leaders Build Equity, coauthored with Mary Ann Burke, Reynaldo Baca, and Catherine Jones (Corwin Press, 2003); and Developing Community Empowered Schools (Corwin, 2001), coauthored with Mary Ann Burke. Picus is the Co-author of School Finance: A Policy Perspective, (McGraw Hill, 1992, 2000 and 2004) with Allan Odden, and Principles of School Business Administration (ASBO, 1995) with R. Craig Wood, David Thompson, and Don I. Tharpe. In addition, he is the senior editor of the 1995 yearbook of the American Education Finance Association, Where Does the Money Go? Resource Allocation in Elementary and Secondary Schools (Corwin, 1995). He has also published numerous articles in professional journals.

Picus has worked on adequacy studies as well as the assessment and design of school funding systems in numerous states including Arkansas, Kentucky, Vermont, Washington, Oregon, California, Kansas, Texas, Massachusetts, and Wyoming. Together with Allan Odden he has conducted adequacy studies for Arkansas, Arizona, Kentucky, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming in the last five years.

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Thomas W. Greaves
Chairman, The Greaves Group, LLC

Mr. Greaves has 43 years of experience in the computer industry. Mr. Greaves is recognized as a visionary in the conceptualization, design, engineering, and marketing of 1:1 technologies for schools. He has been involved in hundreds of large scale technology projects and 1:1 initiatives at the district, state, and federal levels. He has participated in the product marketing and development of over 200 award-winning educational software and hardware products. Mr. Greaves holds multiple patents and patent disclosures for student computing technologies.

Mr. Greaves, along with co-author Jeanne Hayes, authored the America's Digital Schools reports, syndicated studies of the top 2,500 U.S. school districts. These surveys provide numerous insights into the future of the digital school from the perspective of superintendents, curriculum directors, and technology directors over a five-year horizon.

Currently, Mr. Greaves is a co-author of Project RED, a 1000 school study focused on the hypothesis that properly implemented educational technology can contribute to dramatic improvements in student achievement as well as being revenue positive at the state level.

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