A majority of the 1EdTech Directors are elected by the Contributing Members. They serve to represent the membership as a whole and its diverse interests.
All board members agree to follow the Board Member Participation Guidelines.

Rob is a recognized expert on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for learning with over 40 years high tech and education market development experience. During Rob’s tenure, 1EdTech has experienced dramatic growth in terms of members, revenues, and achieved significant adoption of 1EdTech work by leading regional education communities worldwide. 1EdTech has grown over 13x since Rob became CEO and has risen to become one of the world's best resourced and dynamic standards-setting consortia.
Prior to 1EdTech, Rob was Senior Vice President at Collegis (now Ellucian Managed Services), the leading provider of ICT services to U.S. higher education, where he was responsible for online and academic services provided to over 60 U.S. institutions. Rob is also a seasoned high technology software development, business development, market development and venture investment veteran. As Senior Director at Oracle Education he was a leader and innovator in the development of online learning architectures and related standards. Rob also held executive positions at National Semiconductor, TRW and Hughes Aircraft.
Rob holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Change from Fielding Graduate University, a Masters degree in Management from Stanford, a Masters degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California, and a Baccalaureate degree in Computational Physics from Carnegie Mellon University. Rob was honored with the TRW Chairman's Award for Innovation in the early 1990's for leading advancements in real-time networking and distributed software.





Paul earned his education degrees at Northern Illinois University (Bachelor’s in Operations Management & Information Systems) and Morehead State University (MBA and Ed.D. in Educational Technology Leadership). He lives in Versailles, KY with his wife Melissa and son Alex. Paul is involved in several national and local organizations, but has a special place in his heart for little league baseball.


Prior to Oracle, Nicole served as the Director of Research & Analysis at Ovum where she spent the last decade advising institutions globally on critical areas such as cloud migration, legacy modernization, emerging technologies, and student experience.
A sought after presenter on the higher education technology conference circuit, Nicole is also regularly quoted in publications such as the NY Times, University Business, Campus Technology, and the Wall Street Journal. Nicole holds a BA in classics from Union College and an MEd in educational administration & policy analysis from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Rick's career has been focused on bringing together his three passions: technology, publishing, and education. He is a frequent speaker on electronic textbooks, their integration into an institutional environment, and how the accessibility needs of individual students can best be accommodated in their delivery. He has served on multiple committees addressing the needs around delivering accessible content to students, was a member of the working groups responsible for version 2 and version 3 of the EPUB standard, currently serves on the board of directors for IMSGlobal (http://www.imsglobal.org/boardofdirectors.html), and is the co-inventor of 3 domestic and international patents dealing with electronic books and their distribution.
Prior to Ingram and VitalSource, Rick spent more than 12 years with Apple Computer, Inc. As a Senior National Consulting Engineer for them he was instrumental in the implementation of complex solutions for many higher education and corporate customers, and received numerous national and international awards.
A graduate of the communication and business departments of Biola University in 1984, Rick has lived in the Phoenix area with his family since they moved from Southern California in 1991. Married to his wife Susie for more than 35 years, together they have raised two children, and are very active in their church and community. Rick also serves on the board of directors for several non-profit ministries.

Dr. Kellen brings a rare combination of academic, business and IT strategy experience to his role, with a focus on transformational leadership within IT, applying leading edge approaches to current business challenges. His twenty-five years of executive-level information technology experience offers a proven track record of successfully integrating innovative applications of information technology into all aspects of teaching, learning, and student success. These innovations have resulted in markedly improved efficiencies and enhanced learning environments, as well as fruitful, collaborative relationships with researchers, faculty, staff, and students across all levels of higher education and the world.
Dr. Kellen formerly served as the senior vice provost of Analytics and Technologies for the University of Kentucky, one of the top public research institutions and academic medical centers in the US., where his areas of responsibility included institutional research and analytics, enterprise software, research computing, academic technology, IT infrastructure and cloud services, and supporting the university’s 17 colleges, 30,000 students, and 14,000 faculty and staff. Prior to that role, he held the position of chief information officer for three years.

Kidwell is a frequent speaker on innovation, entrepreneurship, technology transfer, regional innovation ecosystems, innovations in learning technologies and future models for educational delivery. She is an expert in learning technologies, program design, and change management to foster innovation in higher education. Kidwell earned a Doctorate of Business Administration from Grenoble Ecole de Management, France; a Master of Science, Technology Commercialization and Bachelors of Arts, History from the University of Texas at Austin.


Mrs. McDade worked to streamline and reduce waste by aligning the Office of Teaching and Learning programs to district priorities and advocate for the consistent, formal evaluation/ROI assessment of services and supports provided by central office departments. As a veteran educator, she also challenged the efficacy of traditional education models and initiated the PK-12 Curriculum System Project to modernize instructional practices across the district.
A proud graduate of CPS, LaTanya was a student in Chicago from Kindergarten through 12th grade and went on to dedicate her entire career to the children of Chicago. In all of her various roles, which include teacher, assistant principal, principal, and Network Chief, she has prioritized instructional equity and excellence for every child.
A passionate believer in lifelong learning, she holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Educational Leadership and Administration and is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at Lewis University with a completion date of March 2021. Mrs. McDade was a member of the principal advisory group for advancing teaching and learning through the Charlotte Danielson Teaching in Excellence Framework Pilot. She completed the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association Cohort “Leadership Initiative for Transformation (LIFT).” She is currently a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Illinois Principals Association (IPA), and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. LaTanya was recently named as a Future Chief in the 2019 Cohort of Chiefs for Change.
With more than 20 years of experience in Chicago Public Schools, Mrs. McDade deeply understands school communities and knows how to support their academic growth. She is dedicated to the field of education and passionate about improving the quality of life for all children through a lens of equity. Her mantra, Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. – John Dewey




Her prior experience includes 10 years at IBM in the Financial Services Sector, over five years at Walt Disney world and technology leadership at several other Fortune 100 organizations.
Ms. Sacks earned her B.A. and M.S. at Stony Brook University and holds certifications in Enterprise IT Governance (ISACA), Six Sigma, and Project Management (PMI).
Serena Sacks was named the 2019 Woman of the Year for the Global Women in Technology Association. In 2017 Georgia CIO Leadership Association named Ms. Sacks CIO of the Year in the Non-Profit sector and she was named the 2015 Woman of the Year for the Georgia Women in Technology organization. On a personal note, Ms. Sacks is a founding Board Member of the Computer museum of America, married to Scott Mandel, and the proud mother of three wonderful daughters.

Since 2000, Mr. Suess has been very active nationally in the areas of cybersecurity, identity management, analytics, and cloud computing and has served in a number of national information technology leadership activities with EDUCAUSE, Internet2, and InCommon. His recent activities include participating in the Internet2 Board of Directors (2010-2013), InCommon (2009-Present), Internet2 Council and Program Advisory Committees (2008-Present), ECAR Strategies Working Group (2013-Present), Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC) (2000-Present, Chair 2003-2006), REN-ISAC Executive Advisory Group (2006-2013), Center for Higher Education CIO Studies (CHECS) (2013-Present), and the National Strategy for Trusted Identity in Cyberspace (NSTIC) (2012-Present).
