The corporate TLF featured two of the learning industry’s experts—Dave Vance and Dr. Allison Rossett.

 

David Vance is the former President of Caterpillar University, which he founded in 2001. Until his retirement in January 2007, he was responsible for ensuring that the right education, training and leadership were provided to achieve corporate goals and efficiently meet the learning needs of Caterpillar and dealer employees. Prior to this position, Dave was Chief Economist and Manager of the Business Intelligence Group at Caterpillar Inc. with responsibility for economic outlooks, sales forecasts, market research, competitive analysis and business information systems.

Dave now consults with organizations on learning and performance issues with a particular focus on launching corporate universities and designing effective strategies for managing the learning function including alignment, governance and measurement. His firm is Manage Learning LLC. Dave is a frequent speaker at learning conferences. He also conducts one & two day workshops on managing the learning function, starting a corporate university and redefining an existing training department.

Dave received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science from M.I.T. in 1974, a Master of Science Degree in Business Administration from Indiana University (South Bend) in 1983, and a PhD in Economics from the University of Notre Dame in 1988.  After pursuing various "personal growth" experiences such as house builder, traveler and YMCA camp director, he joined a medium-sized consulting firm in 1980 where he was economist and financial manager until 1984.  He also was an economics and statistics instructor at Indiana University from 1983-1987.  Dave joined Caterpillar in 1987 as an economist.

Dave is married with one child. He is a member and former Director & Treasurer of ASTD. He is also a trustee and lead independent director for State Farm Mutual Funds.  Dave was named 2006 CLO of the Year by CLO Magazine.  He also was named 2004 Corporate University Leader of the Year by the International Quality and Productivity Council in their annual CUBIC (Corporate University Best in Class) Awards. 

Caterpillar was ranked number 1 in the 2005 ASTD Best Awards and was ranked Best Overall Corporate University in 2004 by both Corporate University Xchange and the International Quality and Productivity Council.

Dave’s current research focuses on bringing economic and business rigor to the learning field as well as the development of learning simulations.

Dave shared his knowledge on making the right training decisions for your organization.

 

 

Dr. Allison Rossett—an established board member at the ASTD, the E-learning Guild, and the Chief Learning Officer, Dr. Rossett has been a long time Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University. She has authored some of e-learning’s best-selling books such as ‘Job Aids and Performance Support,’ ‘The ASTD E-learning Handbook,’ and the award-winning ‘First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis.’
Dr. Rossett teaches regularly at Seminar in Curriculum and Technology for the joint doctoral programs, Advanced Seminar in Instructional Design, Seminar in Performance Technology, and the introductory educational technology class, EDTEC 540.

She discussed EPSS and its benefits for your organization.

Speakers and session moderators at this year’s education TLF included:

 

Stephen Laster—Chief Information Officer at Harvard Business School, is a seasoned technologist and product strategist with an extensive background in e-learning, Digital Community Building, CRM, Personalization, eCommerce, and Enterprise Integration. Previously, Stephen was Director, Curriculum Innovation and Technology Group at Babson College. In addition, he was CTO, Babson Interactive, LLC, where he was the primary architect and driving force behind the adoption of e-learning. Mr. Laster sits on the board of Recycline and is an experienced speaker and consultant for companies such as Irving Oil, EMC, and Super Duper Publications.  He has been recognized by IBM for thought leadership in message-oriented middleware and by Ed Tech Magazine as a thought leader in educational technology.

 

Dr. David Foster—Dean of Advanced Program Development at DeVry University Online. He also serves as Acting Program Dean for DeVry’s Masters Program in Educational Technology. Prior to joining DeVry, Dr. Foster was Director of Online Course Development at UNext (now Cardean Learning Group), and also headed R&D for the training simulations group at Accenture. Dr. Foster earned a Ph.D. at the renowned Institute for the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University, where he developed groundbreaking interactive methods for teaching analytical business subjects with automated tutoring. He also has an MBA from U.C. Berkeley, and has occasionally taught graduate-level Economics courses at DeVry University Online.

 

John Ebersole—current president of Excelsior College, he has also been the Dean and Associate Provost, for Extended Education at the Boston University. During his term at the university, he designed and built the institution’s online learning program. Ebersole is a former president of the University Continuing Education Association and has previously served at Colorado State and the University of California, Berkeley. As a student of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, he has conducted research on innovation in higher education.

 

Colonel Stephen G. Visco—Dean of Distance Learning at the Air War College, he leads a large team to deliver USAF senior developmental education to about 6,000 students worldwide. He began his career as B-52 Electronic Warfare Officer at Andersen AFB, Guam, and then transitioned supporting Combatant Commander requirements for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance throughout the world. He then served as an Arms Control Policy Analyst at Strategic Air Command and coordinated the Heavy Bomber Exhibition portion of the START Treaty. Col. Visco is currently working to complete his dissertation in Public Policy and Public Administration. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration at Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY in 1982 and a M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California. He is a Master Navigator with over 3600 flying hours.

 

David Daniels—Vice President of Pearson Learning Solutions, has worked extensively in higher education publishing and online learning solutions for more than a decade. David’s entrepreneurial spirit helped transform Pearson Custom Publishing from being primarily a book publisher into a $330 Million provider of custom curricula/courseware and digital learning solutions across United States and Canada. In the last one year, Pearson Learning Solutions has launched over 400 courses and dozens of other media related projects guided by David’s expertise. He is a graduate of Indiana University with a major in Radio and Television along with Speech Communications, with a minor focus on Journalism.

Dan Bartell—VP/Director – Institutional Solutions at Pearson Learning Solutions, has worked in higher education publishing for 19 years, managing sales, marketing, public relations, and instructional technology. As Director of Institutional Solutions, Dan helps Pearson clients in the traditional two-and four-year colleges realize maximum value from their use of Pearson content and services.

    

A panel discussion* titled ‘The future's not what it used to be! Brand name, technologies, and climbing student expectations,’ was conducted by:

• Kip Becker – Chairperson, Administrative Sciences Department, Boston University

• Roger Warburton – Administrative Sciences Department, Boston University

• Vijay Kanabar – Administrative Sciences/Computer Science Department, Boston University

• William Chambers – Administrative Sciences Department, Boston University

• John Sullivan – Administrative Sciences Department, Boston University

• Leo Burstein – Technology Architect,
  Metropolitan College
  
  * Panel discussion was conducted at Boston only.