On Balance

Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs works with schools, organizations, and agencies to create responsive learning environments, upgrade curriculum, and support teaching strategies to meet the needs of contemporary learners. Her models of curriculum mapping and her design and approach to modernizing school ecosystems and learning spaces have been featured in numerous books, articles, podcasts, and software solu...

Breeyn Mack (Senior VP of Education) and Garrett Bauman (Director, Public Policy and state Partnerships) of Teaching Strategie s join Berger to talk about public policy across the education ecosystem in the U.S. Driven by research that shows a child's first eight years form a critical foundation for success in school and in life, Teaching Strategies has been an advocate for the early education com...

In this On Balance episode, Dr. Rod Berger sits down with Dr. Andrew Kahn, Associate Director of Behavior Change and Expertise at Understood . About Andrew Kahn: Andrew Kahn, PsyD, is a licensed psychologist specializing in working with people who think and learn differently. In his role as associate director of behavior change and expertise, Dr. Kahn focuses on ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, an...

In this On the Clock episode, Dr. Rod Berger sits down with new Strategos Group Partner and former Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Addison Davis. Davis is an accomplished education leader with a wealth of experience in the field. As Superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) from March 2020 to July 2023, he made significant contributions to one of the largest sch...

Welcome to another episode of On Balance with your host, Dr. Rod Berger. In today's episode, we have a fascinating discussion with guest Kristin Greco, CEO of Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR). This episode dives deep into the important and often overlooked topic of trauma in schools and its impact on students, teachers, and communities. Kristin brings her expertise and insights, drawin...

In this episode of "On Balance," Dr. Rod Berger sat down with Christopher "Chip" Paucek, the co-founder and CEO of 2U, Inc. About Chip Paucek and 2U 2U, Inc. (Nasdaq: TWOU), described by Forbes Magazine as the “nation’s leading provider of software for universities” delivering digital higher education at scale. Paucek's innovative work at 2U has earned him many accolades, i...

In this episode of "On Balance," Dr. Rod Berger sat down with J.D. LaRock. About. J.D. A respected educator, scholar, and policy expert, Dr. LaRock NFTE 's President and Chief Executive Officer. He came to NFTE from the Commonwealth Corporation, Massachusetts’ public-private state authority focused on workforce development and regional economic development. As president and CEO of Co...

In this On Balance episode, Dr. Rod Berger sat down with Doug Dennerline, CEO of Betterworks . Doug has worked in Silicon Valley since 1982 - starting with HP selling the first PC, followed by 12 years at 3Com, and 12 years at Cisco, massively scaling those companies. In his last role at Cisco, he became the CEO of Webex post the acquisition of Webex by Cisco. Doug has run SaaS companies ever sinc...

In this episode of On Balance, Dr. Rod Berger sits down with Kelsey Clark. Kelsey is a member of Boston Consulting Group's Public Sector and People & Organization practices as well as a member of the firm’s education leadership team in the US. Kelsey serves as the Dallas office lead, as well as leading the Pride@BCG network for the US. Kelsey focuses primarily on the education, employment,...

Bill Salak has more than 20 years of experience overseeing large-scale development projects and more than 24 years of experience in web application architecture and development. Bill founded and served as CTO of multiple Internet and web development companies, leading technology projects for companies including Age of Learning, AOL, Educational Testing Systems, Film LA, Hasbro, HBO, Highlights for...

On Balance with Ashley Naranjo Ashley Naranjo, M.Ed. Education and Outreach Strategist, Office of the Under Secretary for Education, Smithsonian Institution Naranjo is a museum educator specializing in the use of digital resources for teaching and learning. She currently manages distance learning initiatives and education partnerships for the Smithsonian. Portfolio highlights have included: the Sm...

Advait co-founded GoGuardian to provide K-12 schools with new technologies that enable students to engage in a better learning experience. His dedication to help unlock student potential in education is made clear through his mission of using the internet in an open, but safe way. In his role as CEO of GoGuardian, Advait brings his passion for using data and technology to solve problems in educati...

On Balance with Hunter Moore explores the journey of an entrepreneur aiming to break outdated industry norms to better the world for generations on the come. Check out more of Hunter's background below! While working at many STEM corporations (IBM, Boeing, Pratt and Whitney, Sandia National Laboratories), Hunter saw that it was always difficult to find qualified Americans for open STEM jobs. H...

Caroline began her career as an entrepreneur and joined JA as a volunteer in Slovakia in the 1990s. She worked to establish JA operations in eight Eastern European countries after the Berlin Wall came down and eventually led the founding of JA Europe in 2002. She is passionate about the impact entrepreneurship education can have on young people, and during her 17 years as CEO at JA Europe, she and...

On Balance with David Shafer - Shafer serves as Chief Entrepreneur responsible for Cognia’s Trusted Partner Program, along with exploring partnerships and new ways to increase Cognia’s impact. For more than two decades, he has led multiple successful start-ups, including Frontline Education and bringing the Skycam™ aerial robotic broadcast camera system to professional and college sports. Shafer h...

Pierre Dubuc is the co-founder and CEO of OpenClassrooms , one of the largest global education-to-employment platform providers, with 355,000 students across 140 countries, thousands of full-time diploma students, and hundreds of corporate customers. OpenClassrooms is a private, B-Corp-certified distance-learning organization registered with the Board of Education in Paris, France, accredited as a...

On Balance with Michael Simpson, the CEO and Co-founder of PAIRIN . Simpson sits down with Berger to discuss his career path, the nuances of data, and making transformational change occur while others sit on the sidelines. Simpson is refreshingly honest about his goals, the challenges of the market, and purpose over-profit approaches.

In this episode of On Balance, Dr. Rod Berger sat down with former Arkansas Secretary of Education Johnny Key to discuss his recent career move from the public sector to Strategos Group , which allows him to continue pursuing his passion—finding solutions that create positive education outcomes for kids. About Johnny: Johnny Key joined Strategos Group in March 2023. He served as secretary of the A...

Today, I sat down with Madeleine Thakur, President and CEO of The Children’s Movement of Florida. We discussed the significance of early learning and why parents should understand its importance.   “What we know from the brain research over the last 40 years of brain research is that the first three years are really critical for establishing communication, cooperation, how to focus on a task … it’...

In this episode of On Balance, Dr. Rod Berger sat down with Dr. Mike Magee, president of Minerva University .  About Dr. Mike Magee Dr. Mike Magee is the President of Minerva University. Prior to joining Minerva, he was founding CEO of Chiefs for Change, a non-profit organization supporting leaders of many of the nation’s largest and most innovative K-12 public education systems. Previously,...

On Balance with Maureen Kelleher & Rebecca Klein discuss their ground-breaking project, Jane Crow: Then and Now . The project explores the role women have played in the very complicated and impactful social structures of education. 

In this episode of On Balance, Dr. Rod Berger sat down with Fordham University’s VP and Chief Information Officer Anand Padmanabhan. They talked about the value of technology to higher education students and faculty as it relates to post-graduation job placement. About Anand Anand Padmanabhan is a global technology leader and a creative, strategic, and entrepreneurial chief information officer. He...

On Balance with Ruth Birman of DigitalEd Director of Product Development and Innovation with six years of experience leading global product teams through digital transformation, design thinking, and product growth. A natural facilitator and technology officer, connecting internal teams, senior stakeholders, and external partners. Cultivating expansion of overall tech strategy and motivating divers...

On Balance with Monica Fagraeus Lundstrom Boksnok announces rebranding, changes name to Lylli with new visual identity and product updates The Swedish tech company Lylli, previously known as Boksnok, closed a seed round of 1.2 million Euro earlier this fall. The company now gears up for growth and further expansion, launching a new name and visual identity.   Lylli is an app for mobile phones...

On Balance with Mikael Larsson Learnster develops the LMS of tomorrow for growing organizations. ‍ Learnster’s cutting-edge technology creates new, efficient ways of sharing information and knowledge with the entire organization. Save valuable time with Learnster’s smart Automation Rules. The revolutionary Knowledge Gap AI pinpoints individual learning priorities.