On Balance

In this episode of On Balance Dr. Berger spends time with Jadd Martinez of Amergis to learn more about staffing shortages across education and beyond those that we hear about in the headlines. Jadd Martinez joined Amergis Educational Staffing in 2003 and has spent the majority of his career in educational staffing. With a focus on consultation and collaboration, Jadd helped Amergis expand from a h...

Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation (CPF), joins host Dr. Rod Berger to learn more about CP and the educational opportunities to impact individuals, families, educators, and organizations driving CPF's mission. More than 17 million people globally are living with Cerebral Palsy (CP), making it the most common lifelong physical disability. Yet, it has been historically...

Check out the latest episode of On Balance as Dr. Rod Berger takes a deep dive into higher education through the lens of award-winning journalist Karin Klein and her latest book, Rethinking College - A Guide To Thriving Without A Degree . "A valuable reassessment of America's educational system." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY What if you didn't have to go to college? You may have heard that a college degree...

As a graduate teaching assistant at Georgia Tech, CEO & Co-Founder of Instructify Chirag Tailor worked on designing educational technology to improve the quality of online education. After entering the industry, he continued volunteering with the  Georgia Tech EdTech Lab  led by his advisor,  Dr. Thad Starner. The tools designed by Chirag & Dr. Starner were widely used...

Spotlight on Recognition: Enhancing Education with Hilight's Claire Smith and Krissy Taft Welcome to "On Balance," the podcast where we delve into the world of education, technology, and entrepreneurship through inspiring and insightful conversations. I'm your host, Dr. Rod Berger , and in this episode, we are thrilled to feature the co-founders of Hilight, Claire Smith and Krissy Taft. Today, we...

In this On Balance episode, Dr. Rod Berger sits down with Strategos Group Partner and former Florida State Legislator Vance Aloupis, who discusses his latest venture: a new Strategos consulting practice called National Advocacy Management (NAM). Drawing on his background in education advocacy, Vance shares his vision for NAM and how it will benefit clients who want a meaningful role in shaping edu...

Adam Giery, Managing Partner at Strategos Group , embodies the aspirational spirit of a student with the ferocity of a grizzled veteran of the choppy waves of entrepreneurship. This special episode of On Balance with Dr. Rod Berger looks at the power of persistence through an exemplar of authentic leadership. Giery, below, aptly describes his initial challenges and the path to personal and profess...

Joanna McFarland and a group of moms discussed the daily challenge of getting their kids from point A to point B at a child’s birthday party in late 2013. Joanna suggested they buy a van and hire all the moms and babysitters in the neighborhood to drive their children around. The idea sparked what would become HopSkipDrive : think not quite Uber for kids but more like caregivers on wheels. Launche...

Amir Nathoo is the co-founder and CEO of Outschool, a marketplace for live online classes for K-12 learners. He led Square Payroll's development and served as CEO and co-founder of Trigger.io. He holds an MEng in Electrical and Information Sciences from The University of Cambridge. Outschool is an innovative education platform that offers a variety of engaging, small-group classes online. Unlike t...

The Strategos Podcast Network is happy to debut the first episode of Strategos #TeacherTalks in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week! Our first episode is an On Balance special with host and Strategos Senior Advisor Dr. Rod Berger and Autumn Rivera, a sixth-grade science teacher, 2022 Colorado Teacher of the Year , and 2023 Association for Middle Level Education ( AMLE ) Educator of the Ye...

Kathleen Rogers is the President of EARTHDAY.ORG . Under her leadership, it has grown into a global year-round policy and activist organization. She has been the leading voice in developing campaigns and programs focused on diversifying the environmental movement, highlighted by Campaign for Communities and Billion Acts of Green. Kathleen has held senior positions with the National Audubon Society...

Before Ello , Tom Sayer was the head of impact and adoption programs at Google for Education, where his team was responsible for ensuring that Google tools were used effectively in classrooms worldwide. He is on the board of GO Public Schools, an organization dedicated to giving voice to families in the most underserved communities, and on the advisory board of Education Reimagined, the movement b...

Victor Wang is the CEO of Stockpile , the leading online brokerage for kids and families. He is also the founder of The Stockpile Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing financial awareness, advancing knowledge of financial planning, and investing in marginalized communities and at-risk youth. Victor assumed the position of Stockpile CEO in 2019 and founded the Stockpile Foun...

Dov Friedman has been selling EdTech for over a decade. Friedman joins Dr. Berger to discuss the role culture plays in understanding the impact on the development of young people across the world. Friedman is incredibly refreshing and transparent with his entrepreneurial journey. During his University years in NY, Friedman worked weekends with special ed children planning programs, which made...

Dr. Rod Berger is joined by Kevin Jenkins, Director of Enterprise Growth & Investments at Strategos Group, to discuss work in the financial services sector and the role education has played in his decision to pivot from a classic engineering career to one of a more fluid and entrepreneurial path.

Quincy Kadin is a high school student in Los Angeles. After feeling the effects of anxiety during her childhood, she spurred this courageous trailblazer to author a book for all ages. Frankies Fishy Feelings is a fantastically grounded book helping kids and parents navigate emotional obstacles.

Teodora Pavkovic is the Director of Wellbeing at Linewize , where she leverages her decade-plus of experience as a parenting coach and digital wellness practitioner to provide guidance and advice to parents, teachers, and school administrators on topics concerning mental health, responsible and safe use of technology, tech ethics, parenting in the digital age and child development. A pro...

On Balance with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Chief Academic Officer Francie Alexander. Dr. Rod Berger and Francie discuss her life's work throughout education and current trends impacting policy and practice. HMH recently released its  Educator Confidence Report  which showed teachers rated their confidence in the profession at a 42 out of 100 (slightly up from its lowest point in 2022)....

Dr. Jody LeVos As Chief Learning Officer at Begin , Jody is responsible for leading HOMER’s team of learning design experts to craft an innovative, playful learning curriculum and provide data-driven insights for parents. With over a decade of experience in the children’s media and early learning space, Jody has overseen the development of countless award-winning, play-to-learn products and experi...

Nick Dazé is the co-founder and CEO of Heirloom , which builds no-code tools allowing schools and employers to tokenize credentials on the blockchain. Before co-founding Heirloom, he co-founded PocketList and was an early team member at tech companies such as Faraday Future ($FFIE), Fullscreen (acquired by AT&T), and Bit Kitchen (acquired by Medium as Knowable).

Ben Farrell joins Dr. Rod Berger to discuss wildly innovative approaches to education positioning current students for the future. Human-centered design, and entrepreneurism and innovation underscore this new approach to education. Ben joined the New England Innovation Academy (NEIA) from The International Montessori School of Beijing in Beijing, China. Prior to that, he was the Dea...

Nina Rees  | President and Chief Executive Officer National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) Nina Rees is the president and chief executive officer of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the charter school movement. Prior to joining the National Alliance, Nina spent 20 years shaping education policy in...

On Balance brings together the founders of Daybreak Health to discuss mental health issues throughout U.S. education and solutions to meet students, families, and schools where they are needed most. After observing his brother's struggles with mental health, Alex Alvarado knew that more could be done. Alvarado began to dream big, bringing his Stanford roommate, Siddarth Cidambi , into the fold, an...

In this On Balance episode, Dr. Rod Berger sat down with Ana Homayoun to discuss her latest book, ERASING THE FINISH LINE : THE NEW BLUEPRINT FOR STUDENT SUCCESS BEYOND GRADES AND COLLEGE ADMISSION. For over two decades, Ana has focused on helping students discover practical solutions to promote purposeful learning. Her prescriptive solutions encourage better executive functioning skills, effectiv...

On Balance with the CEO of the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), Aaron P. Dworkin, explores the organization's upcoming SUMMER LEARNING SUMMIT (October 9-11, 2023, at the historic Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC) and the background of a leader who has always looked to make a difference. Aaron was a pleasure to get to know and a voice sorely needed to support children, families, and co...