Program Team

Bill Fowler

Executive Director, 21st Century Schools Program

When Cisco decided to make a long-lasting commitment to the Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts by helping to improve the quality of education in the region, Bill was one of a small team of Cisco employees assigned to visit the area and map out a plan. His early involvement establishing the 21st Century Schools Program and his broad experience in business and education made Bill the perfect candidate to lead the 21S team.

Prior to the launch of 21S, Bill was a Senior Managing Partner of Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group's, Global Education Practice. During his eight-year tenure at Cisco, he has managed the development of solutions for education institutions worldwide, pioneering the use of the Internet and internetworking to change the way people learn. Prior to joining Cisco, Bill was Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs and General Council for schools in Riverside County and South Central Los Angeles, California. In those positions he led development of county-wide education networks, linking education institutions from the University of California, to Community Colleges, to over 300 schools.

This experience as proved invaluable in Bill's new role as the Executive Director of the 21S Program. As the project executive, he wears several hats - helping develop the vision for the 21S schools, acting as an education consultant to the teams and to the schools, and facilitating opportunities for Fellows to grow and develop as individuals and as Cisco employees.

Peg Maddocks

Director, 21S Connected Learning

Peg started her career in education teaching kindergarten before moving into administration. She had been in corporate education for 25 years when 21S was launched, and she knew she wanted to take part in a program that would allow her to make a difference and to get back into education.

Peg's primary role is to collaborate with leaders in the field of educational transformation and technology who help guide the 21S districts on their journey to build 21st century learning environments. As part of this role, she advises district leaders in planning professional development and technology implementations.

Peg also leads the team that is responsible for the instructional technology "best practice" sharing component of 21S. Her team investigates the best instructional technology available, shares its findings with the school districts, and helps various 21S districts share their best practices among themselves. Peg's team also manages program evaluation. The purpose of program evaluation is to measure the impact of 21S projects against the goals set by the participating districts, and share key findings and lessons learned with Cisco customers and other groups.

As one of the two permanent members of the 21S team, Peg mentors new Fellows and guides them in selecting the most appropriate initiatives to work on.

Beth Bellemore

Program Development/Communications and Marketing Manager

Before joining the 21S team, Beth was Sr. Manager of Marketing in Cisco?s Routing and Service Provider Technology Group. After working with global service providers for 11 years, she wanted to experience firsthand how Cisco technology impacts the lives of children. As part of the 21S team she hopes to use her creativity and program management skills to work with the teachers and students in Mississippi and Louisiana to help transform their educational experience.

Like many 21S Fellows, Beth has more than one role. Beth concentrates on program development efforts to establish relationships with museums and educational partners, build professional learning communities, and develop educational programs that use primary source content in class curriculum. She also works with teachers and educational partners to bring global awareness programs to the 21S classrooms in Mississippi and Louisiana and to help develop 21st century collaborative learning environments for students.

As Communications and Marketing Manager for the 21S program, Beth is responsible for managing the Cisco 21S website, which provides program updates to the schools, parents, communities, and other interested parties. She works closely with the 21S school superintendents, principals, and teachers to capture, create, and communicate program successes by using 21st century technology, such as video, podcasts, and blogs. Beth also acts as the 21S representative at educational tradeshows and conferences, to create awareness about the 21S program and its framework.

Shawna Darling

Program Manager

Shawna holds a Bachelor of Education degree with a specialization in Educational Technology from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. She has spent the last nine years in various learning and development roles at Cisco. Shawna helped launch Cisco's first e-learning portal and worked in close partnership with the Sales organization to manage the development of technical e-learning courses for Systems Engineers. Before coming to Cisco, Shawna provided project management, instructional design, and e-learning development expertise to strategic projects in the telecommunications and high-technology sectors as an independent consultant and as president of her own company.

Shawna, her husband Glen, and their three-year-old son have left their California home and relocated to New Orleans to join the 21st Century Schools Initiative team supporting the Jefferson Parish Public School System. She feels the 21S program is the perfect opportunity to combine her education and technical backgrounds to help make a difference.

Mary de Wysocki

Client Director, Global Education

In July 2007, Mary de Wysocki was appointed a Cisco 21S Fellow focused on Jefferson Parish Public School System in Louisiana, USA.

Prior to the 21S Fellowship, Mary de Wysocki was the consulting lead for the Network Accelerated Innovations (NAI) practice. NAI is a process that utilizes both digital and social networks to increase the impact of innovations and decrease time to market. At its core, NAI is about connectivity: connecting people to attain diversity of knowledge and ideas, connecting places to ensure accessibility, and connecting things to ensure the availability of resources. Mary engaged with many Fortune 500 multinationals, most notably Unilever and METRO Group, instilling board-level awareness of the network?s impact on driving innovations.

From 2000 through 2005, Mary led the Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) Workforce domain, developing advanced technologies solutions for finance, HR, legal, communications, and learning organizations. Mary was critical to the development of the Workforce Optimization, e-HR, e-Learning, and Internet culture solutions and delivered more than 300 executive briefings with consistent customer satisfaction scores of 4.75 out of 5.

With more than 20 years of information and communications experience, Mary has a significant background in application and solutions development. Before joining Cisco's IBSG, Mary managed the Industry Marketing and Solutions Group at Siemens Information and Technology. She led the team responsible for defining and developing solutions that impact business initiatives?from distributive learning, communications, and conferencing, to enterprise workgroup collaboration and intranets. Siemens I&T named Mary the first female Systems Engineering Master.

Mary holds a BA from Wheaton College and a JD from Pace University School of Law.

Karen Kelley

Richard Marin

Instructional Media Technologist

Richard brings years of instructional design and technical writing experience to the 21st Century Schools Initiative. Before joining the 21S team, Richard was responsible for developing customer training for Cisco's optical product portfolio, and he worked closely with customers such at AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon. Some of Richard's other interesting experiences include working on the production of a documentary about the construction of an oil refinery in Kuwait and producing Kenya: Where the New Meets the Old, an educational filmstrip for the sixth grade.

As one of the team's Instructional Media Technologists, Richard focuses on researching effective ways to integrate technology into the classroom. His goal is to use new tools and applications to give students and teachers access to resources and experiences that would otherwise not be available to them. Richard is also responsible for administration of Cisco 21S-related grants.

Greg Mintel

Network Consulting Engineer

Greg was brought to the 21S team with the help of his Manager, who supported his four trips to the Gulfport, Mississippi area after Katrina. Greg works with Russell Teal in the Connected Schools arena to ensure that school district networks provide a solid foundation on which to build the Connected Learning and Connected Communities programs. Greg is also working to develop and expand the Cisco Networking Academy Program at 21S high schools in Mississippi and Louisiana. This program helps provide information technology and networking skills for students whose talents or financial situation might not lead them to college.

Before joining the 21S team, Greg worked in Advanced Services under Brian Mullan. He supported the large cable customers in the United States.

Marna Owen

Project Manager

Marna comes to the 21S team as a strong believer in the power of education to change lives and the world in which we live. For the past five years at Cisco, her primary job role has been helping Cisco employees learn to use online workspaces, web meeting technologies, wikis, blogs, and video for improved communication and productivity. Marna plans to use her skills to help 21S teachers, students, and administrators use these technologies to connect, share, and strengthen learning in their schools and communities.

Prior to her corporate life, Marna was a textbook writer for at-risk teenagers. She also worked as a juvenile hall counselor and probation officer in Alameda County, California. She holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in education from San Francisco State University. She most recently re-kindled her passion for working directly in education through The Role Model Program (http://therolemodelprogram.org), acting as a role model for eighth grade middle school students in Milpitas, California

Sarah Rosedahl

District Liaison and Project Manager

When Sarah read about the 21S program, she knew she had to be a part of it. Sarah did relief work for Hands On USA in Biloxi, MS after Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005 and returned to the Gulf Coast in the fall of 2006 to work for Habitat for Humanity on the Musicians' Village project in New Orleans. Sarah joined the Cisco 21S team in November 2007. As a Cisco 21S Fellow, her work focuses on the Jefferson Parish Public School System in Louisiana.

Sarah has worked in engineering for 22 years as a software engineer, engineering manager, and engineering program manager. In her spare time, she has served in several non-profit and volunteer roles including chair, secretary, and trip leader for the Sierra Club Inner City Outings, volunteer and team leader for Habitat for Humanity projects in the United States and Mexico, and volunteer director and coach.

Sarah's extensive background in technology management and her passion for volunteerism will contribute to integrating technology into the classrooms of the Gulf Coast region. She is proud to be a part of creating a world-class environment where students, teachers, administrators, and the community are excited to learn, teach, and work.

Russell Teal

Systems Engineer / Network Consulting Engineer

Russell joined Cisco in January 2001 as a Systems Engineer. He has worked with Cisco partners and customers throughout Louisiana on commercial and public sector accounts. As a 21S Fellow, Russell works on the Connected Schools team with Greg Mintel and 21S program supporters to ensure that school district networks provide a robust, scalable foundation for Connected Learning and Connected Communities programs. As a lifelong resident of Louisiana, Russell has witnessed firsthand the challenges and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Among the many opportunities to give back and provide assistance to the region, few provide a vision for lasting change. He is grateful to a diverse, creative team and to a company that has shown the corporate will to instill hope and opportunity one child at a time.

Horacio Zambrana

District Liaison and Program Evaluation Manager

Horacio joined Cisco in 1996. He has spent the past eleven years with the Network Software and Systems Technology Group, where he has served in the capacity of engineer, manager, and technical leader. One of his passions professionally is understanding and streamlining work processes to help the engineering community become more productive.

In June 2007, Horacio joined the 21S Fellowship. He, his wife, and their three children left their California home and headed to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to serve as part of the 21st Century Schools Initiative. When asked why he would uproot his family from the comfort of their home, friends, and mild weather, his reply is, "because I felt in my heart that this was the right thing to do." Horacio's Christian faith is the moral compass that guides his decision-making, and this time the compass arrow was pointing south.

Horacio has been asked to lead the Evaluation and Metrics sub-team for the 21S Initiative. He was also appointed as the district liaison for the Hattiesburg and Petal School Districts. He is excited to be of help in these roles and to do whatever else is needed to get the job done.

Char Andrews

Program Implementation Manager

When Char Andrews learned about the Cisco 21S Fellowship, she jumped on the chance of a lifetime to directly impact the lives of thousands of children in Mississippi and Louisiana. This meant leaving her family behind for a year, but Char says the thought of what needs to be accomplished to improve education in America gives her the strength to rise above the heartache of being away from her loved ones.

As 21S Program Implementation Manager, Char is responsible for ensuring that the program's strategic plans are tactically executed. This includes training initiatives from administrators to IT support, overall program evaluation from vendor selection to management of the assigned project team, and encouraging parents, children, churches, business, and government associates to welcome technology into the community. Before becoming a 21S Fellow, Char was Marketing Communications Manager, Certification Development, Delivery Group at Cisco.

Lori Bush

Strategic Partner and Relationship Manager

As the Strategic Partner and Relationship Manager in 21S, Lori was responsible for bringing together a coalition of program supporters to provide educational technology, online curriculum materials, services, products, and technology to enhance the impact of the 21S program. Lori also led efforts to create Connected Communities surrounding the 21S schools by developing programs that provided affordable PCs, websites, tools, and resources to connect parents, teachers, students, businesses, and the region.

Since her fellowship, Lori has returned to her Cisco organization right at the beginning of hurricane season; she is helping businesses, organizations, and governments prepare for incidents and bolster security. Having returned to North Carolina, she finds that she still craves caf�au lait and beignets.

Christian Fontenot

Program Manager

Born and raised in Louisiana, Christian is excited to be working on a program that could significantly impact the lives of many generations of Fontenots by raising the bar on education and creating a 21st century based economy in Louisiana.

As the 21S Program Manager, Christian will be responsible for leading the technology team deploying the network. As the only Fellow who was born and raised in the Gulf Coast, Christian will also help carry the torch for the region as a program participant and stakeholder. He wants to ensure his kids benefit from the program and hopes it will help high-tech jobs to stay in the state. Prior to 21S, Christian was providing Program Management for large Cisco enterprise customer like Wal-Mart and Texas Instruments.

Julie Garden

Rebuild and Non-government Organization Partner Relationship Manager

Julie brings to 21S many years in social services. In her life before Cisco, she was a youth and community officer for a U.S. county, where she also worked for the probation service responsible for community projects. After joining Cisco, she became a member of the UK Civic Council and worked closely with prison services in the UK to set up programs aimed at helping inmates find work after they're released. Since then, she has worked with Cisco's education teams, consulting with schools and governments to rebuild the next generation of schools in the UK. Julie has also helped out with Habitat for Humanity, The Eden Project and TRADA to establish a proposal for a sustainable community village in Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

Prior to her 21S fellowship, Julie was Corporate Real estate manager CCRE lead EMEA at Cisco.

Kristin Mains

Communications Manager

Kristin was an Executive Communications Manager in Cisco's Corporate Positioning department before she signed up as a 21S Fellow. But her involvement with the relief and recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast region precede the 21S program. After Hurricane Katrina struck, Kristin assumed the role of leader of the Crisis Communications Team at Cisco, reporting on Cisco's contributions to the efforts. She found this role so fulfilling that, when Cisco launched 21S, she knew right away she wanted to be part of it.

As the Communications Manager for the 21S Program, Kristin is responsible for establishing forums to share plans and gather feedback from the teachers, students, parents and communities that are directly involved, as well as sharing stories and providing updates to Cisco, the media, and government officials. Kristin is also responsible for establishing the 21S Governance Council which will serve initially as a forum for all program participants and which, over time, will be taken over by 21S district superintendents and technology coordinators.

In her role as Communications Manager, Kristin also worked with our Digital Opportunity Trust affiliates to build the 21S website, http://www.21cschools.org This site provides program updates to the schools, parents, communities, and other interested parties. Starting in school year 2007-2008, DOT interns will work with the 21S team to collect stories and updates for this site based on the interns? experiences and successes in the schools.

Dan Morgridge

Community Development Manager

Dan has spent more than 25 years providing technology integration solutions in education and the community, and is the proud father of two active boys. He hopes that the efforts of Cisco and the 21S team will have a dramatic and lasting effect on how technology is used to teach, touch, and transform our children so that they become successful leaders of the next generation.

As Community Development Manager for 21S, Dan is responsible for bringing together a coalition of technology affiliates to provide educational technology, online curriculum materials, services, and products to enhance the impact of the 21S program. Dan is also leading efforts to create connected communities surrounding the 21S schools, by extending the school network as the hub of the community to connect parents, teachers, students, businesses, and the region.

Jim Rzegocki

Curriculum Consultant and Technology Trainer

Jim came to the 21S program after ten years at Cisco focusing on corporate training programs. During his time as a 21S Fellow, Jim helped schools in Mississippi and Louisiana leverage educational media and technology tools to accelerate student improvement in learning outcomes and skills. As part of the 21S team, he helped administrators, teachers, and students create new educational programs that integrate technology into the curriculum. He worked with the nine Mississippi high schools that starting implementing the Mississippi Department of Education?s High School Redesign program during the 2006-2007 school year. In addition, Jim served as the Cybergrants administrator for the 21S team, providing training on use of the tool and shepherding all first-year grants through the approval and payment process.

Jim's solid background in education made him a great asset to the 21S program. Before building a career in the hi-tech sector, Jim taught school for 13 years starting as a high-school English teacher in Connecticut and teaching at the middle school level in Oregon. Jim is now working as a Technical Marketing Engineer for rich media in the Unified Communications business unit, focusing on Conferencing. He looks forward to making greater contributions to Cisco in the future in the areas of education and training.

Kevin Serveau

Instructional Media Technologist

Kevin focuses his efforts on helping 21S districts make better-informed decisions regarding instructional technology in the classroom. This technology includes hardware solutions such as laptop, desktop, and handheld computers, and the ever-popular interactive whiteboards, as well as software solutions that support curriculum and instruction. To ensure that these technology-aided solutions are used most effectively, Kevin is working with key solution vendors, and is assisting in the planning and implementation of professional development for teachers and administrators.

In Mississippi, Kevin acts as district representative for Forrest County Public School District and Forrest County Agricultural High School, and helps with project management duties at the 21S Model School, Rowan Elementary. He also works closely with the instructional technology and professional development planning teams in Jefferson Parish Public School System (JPPSS) in Louisiana.

In an attempt to extend successes beyond the walls of individual classrooms and encourage collaboration and sharing, Kevin is working with the team at Digital Opportunity Trust to create a web-based environment for professional learning communities. This environment will facilitate the sharing of best practices among 21S districts, thereby raising the expectations and potential for success of all teachers in the program.

Dan Sweeney

Baseline Technology Engineer

As a 21S Fellow, Dan built the network technology model for 21S schools. The 21S model supports a school?s instructional and administrative programs, safety applications, and Connected Learning community by ensuring that the school has a rock-solid networking infrastructure.

It was a "personal perfect storm" that led Dan to 21S: He felt a compelling need to give back to society, and the 21S program brought him back full circle to being once again an engineer in the K?12 environment. During his time with 21S, Dan was responsible for $36 million in Cisco product and $5 million in cash donations. Since completing his fellowship, Dan has returned to his Exam Program Manager position within Customer Advocacy.

Debra Tucker

Development and Implementation Manager, Connected Learning

Debra relocated from San Jose, CA to Hattiesburg, MS and Baton Rouge, LA for the duration of her fellowship. Like all 21S Fellows, Debra wore a few different hats during her tenure! As Connected Learning Manager, she helped design the process used by MS school districts to define their strategies for future grant proposals. Through this process, the project teams defined their vision and goals, explored potential solutions, and ensured a model for a sustainable implementation. The process (and facilitators) focused the districts toward defining educational goals first, and then identifying solutions that included technology as an enabler. The process also helped districts identify potential operational and administrative efficiencies. Debra's background in business process design and solution implementations was well-suited to this work and helped the districts plan for the changes ahead. Debra was also the Cisco liaison for the Petal School District in Petal, MS and the program lead for Jefferson Parish in Louisiana.

Debra, who was Worldwide Field Operations Manager at Cisco, became a 21S Fellow out of a desire to invest in people, particularly those of younger generations. She particularly liked the 21S program's holistic view of the 21st century school as a driver of a connected community where the benefits of enhanced, technology-enabled learning are felt beyond the classroom.