Mark Wolfe — RRKIDZ, the home of Reading Rainbow

When the PBS Reading Rainbow TV show ended in 2009 after 26 years on air host LeVar Burton and Mark Wolfe bought the rights so they could continue to encourage today’s kids to read and savor the written word.

With today’s literacy rates dropping fast, Mark is concerned that high school graduates will leave school with fewer skills than todays. And he believes that Reading Rainbow has a compelling role to play in the raising those literacy levels.

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Lyle Underkoffler – The Walt Disney Company

Lyle Underkoffler has one of the best jobs in the world. He’s Vice President of Digital Media at The Walt Disney Company. He leads the development and management of digital strategy making Disney the leading resource for children’s digital content.

Lyle is soft spoken and very focused. He relishes the challenges he faces, as the barriers between games, stories, books and movies merge and morph into new formats. “Yes, it’s all storytelling,” he says, “but it gives Disney a wonderful opportunity to innovate.”

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Keith Teare – Chat Center

A renaissance man of rare intelligence with an extraordinary range of skills, Keith is at home in just about any corner of the globe. Born in the UK, Keith has been instrumental in the creation of several IT companies, the latest of which is Chat Center.

Chat Center makes it easy to add chat to your website without needing any special software and allows you to be available to your customers whenever they need you from the browser.

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Jinny Gudmundsen – Columnist at USA Today

Kinney is the author of the Kid-Tech Column for USA Today is a nationally recognized expert on technology for children. She is also the author of iPad Apps for Kids For Dummies and the co-author The Parent’s Pocket Guide to Kids & Computers.

A prolific and highly respected writer and editor, Jinny has written for the Los Angeles Times, ABC News.com, San Jose Mercury News, Child magazine, Family PC magazine, Your Family magazine, Computer Source Magazine, On Magazine, Common Sense Media, and many others.

Jinny is a sought after judge for national awards programs, appears regularly in the broadcast media and consults to schools on what technology is best for their classrooms and teaching staff.

Jinny has a great sense of humor and endless patience. After 18 years of reviewing thousands of technology products, she needs both!

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Barry O’Neill – Chairman & CEO of StoryToys

For over 20 years Barry O’Neill has been absorbed by technology for kids. From various positions in Eircom, Ireland’s telecommunications company, including CEO of its multimedia publishing division. While he lives in Dublin, Barry seems to spend most of his time in the air – attending conferences and speaking on games, standards, children’s technology and entertainment. His range of skills encompasses start ups, video games, digital media, mobile devices and many other interests.

Barry is great company, smart as a whip and has an impish grin – which you can almost hear in this conversation at the Developing Apps for Kids Conference in San Francisco in 2015.

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Every now and then there’s a journalist covering the tech world that everyone reads. They become household names, and their comments and thoughts are highly sought after. Stuart Dredge writes for The Guardian, a UK based newspaper that’s becoming known in the US for its direct reporting, candor and honesty.

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When Tony Hsieh decided to sell shoes on line – many observers were skeptical he could make a success of it. Zappos is that success – a company that’s done so well it’s now part of the Amazon empire. And Tony Hsieh – well he’s changing the face of downtown Las Vegas – one storefront, one block at a time.

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Until May 2015 Margery Mayer was President of Scholastic Education a position she held for many years. Her tasks was to
“develop, market and sell innovative solutions to raise academic achievement.” Her focus was on students facing the greatest challenges a job she described as being fueled by impatience. with the goal of breaking the cycle of low performance and accelerating student growth.

“At the heart of what we do lies the effective use of technology. READ 180, the most proven program for raising reading achievement in the history of American Education, is our flagship.”

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Smart and very focused, Justin Kitch is a serial entrepreneur using technology to enrich the lives of consumers. Curious, his most recent company, was created to bring lifelong learning from teachers who have a lot to give to those who want to learn for its own sake.

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While there are several options when it comes to crowdfunding, your project is more likely to succeed when the funding is flexible.Co-founder of Indigogo, Danae Ringelmann, says  Indigogo has been helping to raise funding for creative ideas since 2007, and their system can help to boost 
awareness and support for any size project.
 
 

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