MEETING PROGRAM
Opening Keynote
Diana Oblinger
President and CEO, EDUCAUSE
Diana Oblinger, president and CEO of EDUCAUSE, formerly served as EDUCAUSE vice president responsible for the association’s teaching and learning activities and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Adult and Higher Education at North Carolina State University. Previously, Oblinger held positions in academia and business: Vice President for Information Resources and the Chief Information Officer for the University of North Carolina system, Executive Director of Higher Education for Microsoft, and IBM Director of the Institute for Academic Technology. She was on the faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia and at Michigan State University and an associate dean at the University of Missouri.
Oblinger serves on a variety of boards such as the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee on Cyberinfrastructure. Dr. Oblinger has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Employment, Safety, and Training and the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Technology.
A frequent keynote speaker, Oblinger is also the co-author the award winning What Business Wants from Higher Education. She is co-editor of seven books: The Learning Revolution, The Future Compatible Campus, Renewing Administration, E is for Everything, Best Practices in Student Services, Educating the Net Generation, and Learning Spaces. She is the author or co-author of dozens of monographs and articles on higher education and technology.
Dr. Oblinger has received several awards for teaching, research and distinguished service. She holds three degrees from Iowa State University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi.
Plenary Session
Bill Becker
Executive Director, Presidential Climate Action Project
Bill Becker joined SPA in the fall of 2006 as the Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. Becker is the former director of the US Department of Energy's Central Regional Office, where he specialized in energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies and sustainable community development. In his diverse career, he has served as a war correspondent in South Vietnam, where he won a Bronze Star medal; writer/photographer for the Associated Press; publisher of his own weekly newspaper in rural Wisconsin; editorial writer and columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, WI.; associate director of the Wisconsin Energy Extension Service; research director for the Wisconsin State Senate; executive assistant to the Wisconsin Attorney General; Counselor to the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington, DC; and communications director for the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Becker's specialization in sustainable development began in the 1970s when he proposed and helped implement a pioneering project in which a Wisconsin community relocated from a floodplain and built the nation's first "solar village".
Closing Keynote
Keith Harrell
President, Harrell Performance Systems
Known across corporate America for his energetic, innovative presentations, Keith's unique style of delivery, solid content, and practical application, spiced with the right amount of humor, leaves his audiences ready to take action!
Keith speaks from his own leadership experience and what he has gleaned through his interaction with some of the world's most respected business leaders. He spent fourteen years as a corporate marketing executive and top training instructor at IBM. Today he addresses audiences at more than 120 events annually for corporate clients such as McDonald's, Microsoft, and American Express.
It doesn't take long to understand why The Wall Street Journal calls Keith Harrell "a star with attitude." Speaker, consultant, and author, Keith continues to mesmerize and motivate audiences with his charismatic style, humorous insights, and contagious high energy.