Katja Zwilling: The 10 Most Impactful Leaders in Education, 2025 | CIO Views Magazine

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Shaping Minds, Shaping Futures

Today, leadership in education is much bigger than classrooms and campuses, it means rethinking the very conceptual framework of opportunity.Themostimpactfuleducationleadersarehelpingdevelopnot justinstitutionsbutalsothecultureandnormsofhowsocietieswillprepare themselves for the future. Their transformative work disrupts the status quo in innovation and inclusiveness and emphasizes equity and access on behalfofequitableandrelevantlearning.Theyrealizelearningistheportal to economic collaboration and growth; cultural mobilization; and social resilience. They envision new ecosystems of education and talent that demonstrate the possibilities of collaboration, technology, and equity to push the limits of talent. These leaders measure their success not just in academic metrics, but by the community empowerment of societies and developing the next generation of leaders. As a profession, the work of education leaders expands the boundaries of the rapidly advancing global economyandthateducationisstilltheflyingwheelsofelevatingchange.

At CIO Views, we honor these empowering leaders by dedicating this issue titled “The 10 Most Impactful Leaders in Education, 2025” to them. Featuring as the cover story, we have covered the successful & motivating journey of Katja Zwilling, CEO of BREAKOUT GmbH. We have also included the inspiring stories of Laura Elizondo, CEO of Lexiumonline;ShannaParry,Co-FounderofGSE;Dr.CedricB.Howard, VicePresidentandStudentAffairs&EnrollmentServicesatUniversityof NorthernColorado;Dr.DeliaCelestine,EdD-AssistantDeanofStudents - all programs - Davis & TBR Campuses at Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine; Anna Stépanoff, CEO of Wild Code School; Andrew Hugine, President of Alabama A&M University; Ina Behrendt, Chief Innovation Officer at MiamiAd School Europe; Feng Hou, CEO of Pistis.IO;andLeonidShafir,FounderandCEOofPlay-A-Maze.

CIOViewsisabusinessmagazinethatmainlyfocusesonbusinessleaders, their journey, views on current economic states, and all other relevant subjects that refer to the business world. Our goal is to be a leading source of information dedicated to providing our readers with detailed perspectives and views of successful business leaders who are transforming the business outlook and redefining their goals. With exclusive editions on various industries like software, education, healthcare,technology,realestate,andmanymore,CIOViewsisdrivento promoteexcellenceintheworldofbusiness.

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ShannaParry

Dr.CedricB.Howard

Dr.DeliaCelestine AnnaStépanoff

KATJA ZWILLING

Breaking Out of the Ordinary

“ MINDSET FIRST. BUSINESS FOLLOWS.

”

Entrepreneurship, education, and innovation are no longer separate worlds. They are merging into vibrant ecosystems where learning, creativity, and collaboration fuel real progress. In this space of constant motion, people like Katja Zwilling stand out for their ability to turn ideas into action and connect vision with purpose.

As the Ecosystem Builder and Founder of BREAKOUT GmbH, Katja describes herself as a catalyst, a visionary, and a sparring partner for organizations ready to embrace change. She helps companies and educational institutions cultivate entrepreneurial thinking, blending strategy with humanity and innovation with integrity.

Whether guiding startups or bridging industries, she reminds people that progress begins when we stay curious, stay connected, and never stop learning.

The Spark Behind BREAKOUT GmbH

Katja's journey to founding BREAKOUT GmbH didn't begin with a business plan; it began with instinct. “It was born from a gut feeling,” she says, reflecting on her decision to build something that could move people, organizations, and systems while letting her bring her own experiences into play. “I felt that we can move more, achieve more, when we are bolder and more adventurous.And since I'm not someone who just likes to talk but prefers to act and make things happen, BREAKOUT was born.”

Growing up in the countryside, Katja learned early what it meant to work hard and stay curious. She began her professional life at just fifteen, combining

education with hands-on experience in administration, leadership, teaching, software product development, procurement, sales, and even a decade running her own film and TV production company. Over the past 17 years, she has also been deeply involved in education. Today, she is connected with numerous communities around the world, follows new technologies with great interest, and loves to draw inspiration also from podcasts to capture impulses from different industries.

“I'm not someone who lives by master plans,” she explains. “I start the journey and I didn't have a clear destination, just a direction that felt right. Maybe because I know things will change along the way anyway.” That philosophy has shaped BREAKOUT GmbH: a company that mirrors her adventurous spirit, her love for challenging patterns, and her ability to push boundaries while staying grounded.

She often recalls a quote from Mark Twain: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” After decades of exploration, Katja found her why. She aims to create the right conditions for exceptional people and organizations to connect, collaborate, and build bridges. Every time she witnesses these meaningful connections take shape, especially across innovation, startups, and the broader economy, she feels an

unmistakable sense of purpose. That purpose extends both locally and globally.

Intrapreneurship as a Force for Change

Katja sees intrapreneurship as more than a concept. It is a mindset that gives life to organizations from within. “It's about fostering entrepreneurial thinking inside existing systems,” she explains. “In education, that's crucial.”

BREAKOUT also offers its own workshop in the field of intrapreneurship, giving participants practical insights into how to unleash innovation and entrepreneurial spirit within existing structures.

Teachers, researchers, students, and leaders, she believes, all need space to experiment and to help shape the

“ENTREPRENEURSHIP

IS THE ART OF KEEPING CALM

WHILE THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE.”

future. Switzerland's strong structures and stable values, she notes, offer an ideal foundation for bold exploration. Yet even the best systems can become rigid over time. Her mission is to help educational institutions break through those barriers and build stronger links between learning, innovation, and entrepreneurship. But Katja wants more: she strives to strengthen the dialogue between universities and companies and to promote closer collaboration. In doing so, talents can be specifically supported,

connected, and matched with the right organizations. Her philosophy is simple: “More Pepper. Less Paper.” When people are trusted to think and act like entrepreneurs within their organizations, innovation starts to grow from the inside out. Collaboration strengthens, understanding of market dynamics deepens, and motivation becomes intrinsic. Digitalization is increasingly leading to automation and hopefully with it, to more freedom for creativity and entrepreneurship within companies.

“People flourish in these roles,” she says. “And when they do, companies become more agile and resilient.”

But that can only happen when trust is cultivated and supportive structures are modeled from the top down. In her words, “Entrepreneurship is the art of staying calm while the house is on fire and in today's world, that's a survival skill.” For Katja, intrapreneurship isn't just an advantage; it's the key to a company's future relevance. When a country is productive, everyone benefits. This is the foundation of a future-oriented and prosperous society.

Leading withAuthentic Energy

As the CEO of BREAKOUT GmbH, Katja sees herself as a bridge-builder. She connects people, ideas, and opportunities. Her role is less about hierarchy and more about chemistry: understanding what organizations need and curating the right mix of expertise for every project. She works closely with a network of partners, choosing each collaborator with care. Authenticity is her non-negotiable. “You can't preach Nike-level energy and then send someone Reebok-style laid-back,” she says with a smile. “The team has to live the drive, passion, and vision we promise.Authenticity isn't optional; it's everything.”

That philosophy runs deep in BREAKOUT's DNA. Katja knows her strengths and weaknesses and prefers honesty over pretension. Having survived near-death experiences, she no longer measures herself or her work by perfection but by joy and meaning. “What matters is enjoying what I do,” she says. “That naturally attracts new projects, collaborations, and opportunities.” Her work involves constant trend-watching. She tracks global shifts, translates insights into

“WHO YOU BECOME ON JOURNEY MATTERS MORE THAN THE GOAL.

THE MORE GOAL.”

practical steps, and gives organizations the tools to move forward. She smiles when quoting Franklin D. Roosevelt: “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” By that measure, she's navigated more than a few storms and come out stronger each time.

She doesn't just want to talk about change; she's ready to roll up her sleeves, make noise and position Switzerland globally. Showcasing its values and strengths while also pursuing collaborations that move the country forward. She lives in Zurich, a thriving economic hub and an exciting place for companies. She is proud to be in exchange with many inspiring people and to truly make a difference and drive change and she says with a wink, “We Swiss are often still just a bit too modest.”

From Tradition to Transformation

When it comes to helping organizations shift from traditional learning models to more agile, entrepreneurial cultures, Katja begins with one thing: mindset. “You have to challenge the old ways of thinking first,” she says. “Only then can you create a culture of learning, experimentation, and action.” For her, a growth mindset isn't a trend. It is a survival strategy, and it requires daily practice.

Breaking away from old structures, even mentally, has a rejuvenating effect. “It's like traveling,” she explains. “If you do the same routine every day, life becomes dull. But when you step into new environments, meet new people, and take risks, your mind wakes up. Over time, that curiosity and adaptability become second nature.”

In this sense, Katja helps teams cultivate habits that make innovation feel natural. Problem-solving becomes faster, collaboration more fluid, and resilience stronger. “That's what agile companies need to truly thrive,” she says. Her approach is refreshingly direct. She finds herself pragmatic as she avoids endless meetings and prefers turning ideas into tangible outcomes.

The Most Rewarding Challenge

Katja measures success in ways money cannot buy. What drives her is watching people shift from fear to curiosity. Small sparks in one person often become long-burning fires that lift teams and institutions. She finds the deepest reward in those subtle, human transformations: when someone embraces a new idea, starts to enjoy the work, and discovers a different version of themselves.

Collaboration is central to this view. Katja has seen too many

“A SMOOTH SEA NEVER MADE

people build alone inside silos and end up with work that never scales. Bringing the right partners together, pooling resources and expertise, and thinking beyond short-term gains leads to outcomes that matter. Her aim is to nudge organizations into thinking bigger and planning longer, because the results of smart collaboration tend to outlast individual effort.

Fueling Creativity Through Life and Connection

Energy, according to Katja, is contagious. She meets people with potential, listens to bold ideas, and lets curiosity do the rest. Real-world engagement like conversations, field visits, and unexpected encounters fuels her creativity Anear-death experience at age twelve taught her how precious each day is, and that clarity adds urgency and playfulness to her work.

At home, she manages a patchwork family with five children, a cat, and a dog and sometimes even a foster dog from the animal shelter, until it finds a new family. Routine isn't really part of the picture; daily life is more about constant

“ WHEN CURIOSITY MEETS DIVERSITY, SUCCESS FOLLOWS. ”

improvisation between school, kindergarten, and everything in between. Organization happens on the go, and plans are adjusted as needed. Maybe that's the real secret to staying sane when things don't go as planned, which, in a big family, happens quite a lot. Humor and a good dose of calm help her face the chaos with a smile. Life's storms have taught resilience; the ordinary challenges of daily life feel like rain compared with what she has already weathered.

Balance does not capture Katja's approach. She speaks about connection. Work and family are woven together by values that energize rather than drain. Everyone at home is expected to grow, experiment and be trusted; cohesion and fairness are non-negotiable. She wants her children to see work as something joyful, not merely a duty. Curiosity is the starting point: try things, accept mistakes as stepping stones, and focus on what lies ahead instead of lingering on what went wrong. But never forget your roots and where you come from. Perfection is not the goal; That you know your why and dare to follow your path.

AWorkshop That Left a Mark

Katja believes big change often starts with small, consistent steps. BREAKOUT GmbH has been quietly creating those nudges. These are interventions that connect institutions, teams, and individuals in ways that alter habits and mindsets. Even modest workshops can shift culture when they are repeated and reinforced.

Early recognition from CIO Views and the steady stream of LinkedIn messages, speaking invitations and project inquiries have been tangible signs that the work is resonating. To Katja, those responses validate the idea that setting small stones in motion builds a long path to lasting impact.

Authenticity as Currency

Authenticity runs through Katja's leadership like a guiding principle. Her background in marketing and film taught her to spot when things become performative. She prefers rolling up her sleeves to contrived ceremony.Anecdotes from shoots, such as running across fields with a tripod or temporarily taking control of traffic lights for a scene, capture her hands-on style. When projects get bogged down in layers of unnecessary process, she pulls them back to what actually serves the outcome.

Early career hurdles shaped that stance.As a young woman she had to prove herself repeatedly, lost projects during pregnancy because of assumptions about capability, and spent nearly three years as a single parent while building a career. Those experiences forged a leader who prizes respect, empowerment and shared values.At BREAKOUT she can be entirely herself, and clients sense the difference. Her message is plain: be real, own your strengths and inspire others by example.

ADefining Moment in the Journey

The turning point in Katja's career didn't come from a major deal or public success; it came from letting go. Accepting that she didn't need a fixed master plan changed everything.

“When I stopped trying to control every outcome and started enjoying the journey, my energy shifted,” she reflects. “It began to feel like a beautiful adventure.”

The most testing period of her life arrived with the births of her two children. Continuing to work immediately afterward while selfemployed, and later navigating nearly three years as a single parent, demanded more strength than she thought she had. Those years were exhausting but transformative, teaching her resilience, patience, and the importance of treasuring each day.

Recently, Katja has learned to slow down, listen to what truly inspires her, and follow her instincts. That inner shift has been the most unexpectedly positive change in her professional life.

“I'm now increasingly in spaces where I feel comfortable, can fully use my skills and truly thrive,” she says.

“That's why I stand 100% behind my

company's name BREAKOUT. Sometimes you have to let go, give yourself time and break out to move forward in life.”

Advice forAspiring Changemakers

Katja believes entrepreneurship should feel more like an exploration than a strict plan. Her advice to those starting out is simple yet powerful: don't over-engineer the journey. “Start, experiment, and stay adaptable,” she says. “Fail fast, learn faster.”

To her, mindset comes before business. With authenticity, strong values, and the right network, any idea can find its way. She encourages them to trust their instincts, know their strengths, and build partnerships that complement their skills instead of duplicating effort.

Katja also stresses the value of humility. “Never think you're better than others,” she says. Staying open to new ideas and perspectives keeps entrepreneurs learning and evolving. Courage, collaboration, and the willingness to ask for help when needed are the real tools for sustainable impact.

StayingAhead of the Curve

Katja stays current by being where ideas collide. She engages closely with universities, cantons, economic development offices and private companies, attends trade fairs and visits events across the globe. She listens more than she lectures, then connects dots between education, technology and innovation. The

goal is practical: surface trends that matter, translate them into actionable steps and help Swiss organizations remain agile while standing on a solid foundation. Her work is about turning signals from the market into tools and opportunities by tailor-made approaches with workshops, project work, coaching, etc., that clients can use immediately.

Katja envisions a future in which courage and responsibility are natural qualities in both education and business. Cross-sector collaboration should be the rule, not the exception. She actively wants to foster closer and more open dialogue between universities and the business world so they can learn from each other in practical ways. Through this collaboration, talents can be discovered, nurtured, and matched to the right opportunities. She wants the next generation to find fulfilment rather than simply clocking in and out. Because when companies and educational institutions develop talent together, Switzerland becomes even more innovative and future-ready.

Anyone interested in intrapreneurship, innovation, education or entrepreneurship or simply in inspiring exchange – is warmly invited to connect directly with Katja Zwilling on LinkedIn. She welcomes new impulses, collaborations and bold ideas that make a real impact.

LAURA ELIZONDO

Creating A Valuable and Groundbreaking Change In The Latin American Education System through Lexium

Success is a path, not a destination. It's a way of thinking, of doing things and inspiring and motivating the people around you. This is exactly what Laura Elizondo, CIO & Founder of Lexium believes. “Success is to keep moving forward, always taking one more step towards another goal, another dream,” she says. She further explains that success means to fight for what you believe in, to pursue the goals you've set for yourself, and to make a positive impact in the world and in people's lives, but most importantly to do all this without dishonoring your beliefs, your values and respecting the integrity of others. Being successful is the constant pursuit of becoming the best version of yourself.

“Success, in my case, was not viewed as an economic factor, success was

being able to create something of value, to develop a company that could impact people's lives and trigger a change in our education system and society,” she says. She not only started Lexium as a business model, but also as a dream to break educational paradigms. This required a disruptive innovation, and from the beginning Laura knew that it was a lifetime project. Throughout the years, she didn't visualize success as money, but rather credibility and becoming value, for her. For her this was the key to success. First to be and then to have.

The Foundation of Lexium

Lexium started as a dream, as an innovative, and revolutionary proposal to break the traditional paradigms of an education system that were holding society back and not

allowing them to prepare and develop in order to become the best version of themselves and be able to compete in a global world.

“Lexium' s” foundations have been the same for 30 years, they are the engine that has pushed Laura and her team to navigate through deep, stormy, and calm waters and that have allowed them to offer something unique that could survive in a changing world where many have perished.

Simple but powerful statements: People can -

Ÿ Become a better version of themselves throughout commitment and dedication.

Ÿ Prosper through self-knowledge and self-development.

Ÿ Enhance their learning skills so that they have better possibilities in life.

Challenges Make You Stronger & Roadblocks Encourage You To Walk Different Roads

Challenges are something every entrepreneur and company will have to go through and surpass.Atrue challenge makes us stronger, but a big and unachievable challenge can be dangerous. Laura suggests to set ambitious goals and then be humble enough to identify one's own weaknesses, building a multidisciplinary, trustable and qualified team one can rely on.Along with a team you'll have the fundamental basis for facing challenges, making decisions and surpassing obstacle, which in the end is what makes you stronger, not the challenge itself.

Laura confesses that there were several obstacles when she started. First, there was the market time, her idea was ahead of time. The 90's in LatinAmerica did not have fertile soil to promulgate that intelligence could be trained and developed, so they had to break several paradigms and build credibility to their innovative proposal. The second was a personal obstacle. “When you have a passion in education, what you like to do is to teach and what I had instead, in order to do to move forward, was to manage the business, innovate, plan, it was hard for me to put aside my passion and do other tasks, that in time, also became passionate,” she explains. The third was to grow with technology, Lexium and Laura were born in a non-technological era,At

the same time it was an obstacle to overcome and an advantage to use.

Learning, Education, Innovation in Learning

Lexium was founded in 1992. The company was launched with an innovative business proposal: to

evaluate, diagnose and train people's learning skills. They firmly believe that this makes people more prosperous, both personally and economically. They created a model that identifies skills that allow people to learn better (intellectual, emotional, metacognitive, reading, studying, habits and performance). These skills are assessed throughout 26 different

online assessments with a powerful diagnosis platform that includes several reports grouped by individual, teams, corporate or institutional).

In addition to the diagnosis, Lexium has a training platform called Skill Training that offers electronic, modular, and personalized training to increase low skills, improve average skills and enrich high skills. In third world countries, education is a real challenge. Innovative companies like Lexium create new environments so that people can have an enriched quality of life. Some of the contributions might seem simple nowadays, but in their day, they were a turning point in education. Technology and innovations are priorities. Without technology, their solutions will not have been massified.

From 1992 to 2021, education has evolved more than ever. Throughout the years Laura has seen how traditional educational theories have been left aside and remained untouched. This concerns her because the new educational proposal in Latin America is based on technology and the learner's ability to understand and manage it.

The Start and Current Role Of Laura's Professional Life

Laura began her professional life in remedial therapy, as a language and learning disabilities therapist. Starting there touched her because she noticed the difficulties that people with low skills were facing. “I wanted to find something that would allow all of us to be more capable in whatever we undertake in life, because by doing so, we can walk without fear, with enthusiasm and with more possibilities,” she says.

Laura found some approaches in the United States that broke with the paradigm of intelligence being measured in terms of IQ and aimed to identify skills, something that was unknown to her at the time. Her job then was to understand the theory, break the paradigm of traditional psychology, develop material, and promote the idea to the population without remedial difficulties to embark on the path of selfdevelopment.

In the personal field, her greatest acknowledgement has come from her husband's support and his constant work to make it possible for her proposal to become a workable business.

In the professional aspect, her greatest recognition is knowing that everyday hundreds of people use Lexium's assessments, diagnostics and trainings and that they have adopted Lexium's proposal.

As a CIO, her current responsibilities are:

To innovate by

Ÿ Setting goals to reach our destination

Ÿ Keeping consistency in our proposals, distinguishing trends and fashions in education.

Ÿ Building and promoting a strong team that is fully aligned with the business's mission, vision, and goals.

Ÿ Despite the world's rapid changes, keeping the company's values, beliefs and institutional philosophy.

Work Life Balance

For Laura there is no such thing as a routine at work because it is everything but monotonous. “As a CIO, there are many areas in which I must get involved, some days are about strategy, others about listening to customers, others about reviewing platforms and rebuilding ideas, talking about marketing and others that come because of all of the above, on innovating with the team,” she says.

Laura began this business when her 3 children were babies. She was growing both professionally and personally. She says there has always been a time for everything in her life. For her, family is the top priority, but she has realized that if one lives day by day and is organized, everything can be achieved. Her husband's who is also her business partner, has been supportive which has been key. "In our family, we always say: we are a team and we got to stick together,” she affirms.

Motivation is Key

Laura believes that motivation flows from the inside out and not the other way around. She follows the same strategy with her collaborators as she does with herself. She tells them her vision, they believe in it, and they all get on the same boat. Her personal goal is to support the new generations as there is still much to be done.

Her message to aspiring business leaders is -An innovative idea is nourished by consistency and hard work. Nothing comes for free.

Education is the most powerful weapon that can change the world. However, to provide access to high-quality education to every nook and corner of the world is a mission next to impossible. Shanna Parry, the Co-Founder and Senior Managing Partner of Global Services in Education (GSE), has undertaken this challenge and a responsibility to fulfill it. Demand for GSE's expertise and knowledge about education was clear at the outset but they were not sure what to expect at the start.

Shanna adds, “We had been successful as educational leaders and also demonstrated an understanding of business and the new emerging markets. We also have the unique ability to navigate complex cultural contexts.” It was when investors took a strong interest in them that they finally kickstarted their own venture.

SHANNA PARRY

Impacting International Education Globally

However, it was not all easy. She adds, “We have worked long hours and endless days but have loved every minute of it. Our passion today is as strong as it was in 2011 when we first founded our company.”

Conquering the roadblocks and climbing the success ladder

Roadblocks helped in becoming stronger and achieving the best success in no time. Shanna says, “When GSE first began, we tried to be everything to everyone. It was a good place to start. However, we quickly learned that by narrowing our focus, we could better serve school communities and the demands that were developing in education.”

As they started their operations first in China, they had many challenges. Shanna shares, “Keep in mind, it is

hard enough to start your own business, but to do so in a foreign country definitely added another layer of challenges for us. We not only had to forge our own way as new business owners, but we also had to navigate “business rules” and culture in a country that was far different from our home countries.”

All these challenges required perseverance and patience. These are invaluable characteristics to build long-lasting relationships and enjoy many successes. Shanna states, “In the traditional sense, success to me is achieving my personal and professional goals and aspirations. Success is also being kind, thoughtful, and giving to other people. It is about developing others and helping them find a pathway that develops their character, values, and beliefs.”

Vision of Global Services in Education To Reach the Zenith

When commencing the operations of Global Services in Education, they had only one aim. Shanna says, “We have a belief that high-quality education should be available to all. We have a mission to bring improved education quality to all regions of the world and all market segments.” To attain this goal, GSE maintains integrity and delivers top-notch quality at all levels in developing, as well as premium, international schools. Innovation is not only about creating something new, but also changing your direction and speed as market conditions change.

Shanna shares, “At GSE, our core business is to set up and operate international schools on behalf of investors and developers. We also work on school improvement projects

and teacher training and development. We have more recently been involved in mergers and acquisitions in the K12 space. We build new brands and represent others.” These steps have helped GSE expand their horizon and achieve their goals around the world.

For future aspirations, Shanna says, “Our vision for GSE is to continue to expand our brand and services across Asia and the world. We believe that the world becomes a better place as we improve access to education. This will allow the next generation to make informed decisions towards a better future.”

Shanna's Enriching Experience and Awards

Shanna has been in the education field for quite a long time. She shares, “I am a former teacher, principal,

director, and education consultant. With extensive experience as a curriculum writer, I have a reputation for leading curriculum reform in a range of different geographical and cultural contexts. I have also coauthored two books.” Her strong educational background has fostered a genuine passion for education and built a strong foundation of all the desired skills needed to succeed.

She also states, “Every day I am checking in with leaders and teachers in other parts of the world to see what kind of support and guidance I can offer.” She is proud to have been mentored by some of the greatest educators in their field including, June Stegall, Judy Elkins, and Sharon Shaver.All of these women reshaped the way she views education and helped her become the instructional leader that she has become.

Further, sharing her long list of awards and recognitions, she says, “I have been recognized as a 'Global Guru in Education (2019, 2018)' GSE has been recognized as a Top Ten Best Education Solution (2018), Best Global Brand in International Education (2016), Best Global Brand in Secondary and Vocational Training (2015), andAsia Pacific Corporate and Social Responsibility in EducationAward (2015).”

Perfect Balancing Between Professional and Personal Life

In her professional world, she heads the curriculum and academics of many schools and leads accreditation and school improvement projects. Besides this, she also coaches and mentors principals and other emerging leaders. Moreover, she has an unusually open-door policy that enables her to connect with almost everyone ranging from school owners to parents of students as well.

Working long hours, travelling extensively and the intensive demands have delivered many benefits to educators and children but they can take their toll unless care and attention is given to balance. Shanna has now mastered the art of balancing her personal and professional life. She says, “I invest a significant amount of time enjoying recreational pursuits and hobbies. I love reading, ziplining, hiking, traveling, learning about other cultures, and collecting treasures from the unique places we visit, from Chinese door knockers to antique marionettes from Myanmar. I make sure to schedule my time to do the things I love so that work commitments don't take over my life.” She believes self-care must be prioritized, and that's why she genuinely takes an interest in her

employees' personal and professional well-being.

Emphasizing on being grateful and kind, she wants to lead a life ofgratitude and thus, cherishes every joy in her life, big or small.

DR. CEDRIC B. HOWARD

A Transformational Motivator & Leader Prioritizing Student Achievement in Higher Education

Educational leaders have a significant impact on the atmosphere, attitude, and reputation of their institutions. They are the foundation upon which learning communities operate and flourish.

Schools that have strong leadership become effective learning incubators, places where students are not only educated but also challenged, fostered and encouraged. Poor or absent school leadership, on the other hand, might jeopardize an educational system's aims. When schools lack a solid foundation and clear direction, learning suffers and kids suffer.

Effective school leaders foster inclusive, compassionate, and culturally sensitive school communities by establishing and maintaining reciprocal family and community connections.

To construct these community networks, school leaders must be present in their schools and communities, build trust, and foster a feeling of openness and shared purpose among parents, employees, community members, and students.

An experienced administrator in the field of higher education

Dr. Cedric B. Howard has more than 25 years of experience in higher education, with the majority of that time spent in senior administrative roles, as vice president and vicechancellor of Enrollment and Student Services and dean of StudentAffairs, where he helped to prioritize student achievement while delivering measurable results.

He has a bachelor's degree in Psychology, a master's degree in EducationalAdministration, and two

doctorates, one in Educational Leadership and Management and one in Christian Counselling.

Dr. Howard's professional journey began when he was finishing up his master's degree at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, where he served as the Coordinator of Student Support Programs (a national TRIO program).

Prior to joining the University of Northern Colorado, Dr. Howard oversaw the completion of a 25-year campus life master facilities plan in six academic years. He is an experienced administrator with a background in program creation, strategic planning, accreditation, and undergraduate and graduate teaching.

As a Senior StudentAffairs Officer, he improved student housing occupancy, modified numerous

University of Northern Colorado

student service facilities, and put in place a restorative justice sanctioning process for student behavior, among other successes.

Dr. Howard has had tremendous success at his prior universities in increasing donor involvement, earning more than $40 million for student scholarships and studentrelated initiatives through external and community fundraising efforts.

Providing education to students from diverse backgrounds

Founded in 1889 and nestled between the Rocky Mountains and the breathtaking high plains of Colorado, the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public doctoral research

university with over 100 undergraduate programs and 120 graduate programs dedicated to the education of its 10,000 students.

UNC also offers more than 60 extended campus programs throughout the state and online, meeting an increasing demand among adult learners and working students in industry relevant disciplines. It is also a candidate for the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) designation.

UNC is focused on providing access, preparation, and education to students from diverse backgrounds. In 2025, UNC's opening cohort of students will begin to populate its next medical school.

Atransformational motivator and leader

Dr. Howard describes himself as a "Transformational Motivator." He serves as the senior student affairs and enrollment management officer with primary leadership and oversight responsibilities for more than 300 staff and a $53 million annual budget.

The division includes:

Ÿ Enrollment Services (undergraduate and graduate admissions, financial aid, scholarships, bursar's office, new student orientation, pre-college programs, and registrar's office)

Ÿ Campus Recreation (recreation center, intramural, club sports, and outdoor recreation programs)

Ÿ Campus Life (campus activities board, Greek life, registered student organizations, student government, volunteer services, and student leadership development)

Ÿ Dining Services (nine food service locations and catering services)

Ÿ Student Development (conduct, community & conflict resolution, career services, student support, and advocacy, and food pantry)

Ÿ Housing and Residential Education (on-campus student housing and faculty/staff offcampus housing)

Ÿ Student Wellness and Support (counseling services, disability support services, EAP, victim's advocacy).

Challenges are steps on the path to improvement

The most difficult conflict that people must face is the battle within themselves.As Dr. Howard states, “Challenges appear to confirm that you're ready to handle the issue before dealing with external concerns.” He has used professional setbacks to advance his future rather than as stumbling blocks in the past.

Since Dr. Howard's professional path resembles a lattice rather than a ladder, setbacks and difficult situations have served as guard rails to keep him focused on what is essential to him, and serving others is his guiding compass.

He affirms that he's able to maintain a balance between his personal and

professional lives in part, because his principles are linked in both areas, and is motivated by both, character development and the prospect of selfimprovement.

Success is the ability to make a difference

For Dr. Howard, success is not about money, title, status, or fame. It is one's ability to make a difference in the life of another person. He says, “To the world, you are one person, but to another person, you may be their world – so leave a positive footprint in their life."

As a college administrator, Dr. Howard is in a unique position to impact many people's lives and break the cycle of poverty for many families

using higher education as a vehicle for social mobility.

He considers his best recognition to be the Pillar of the Profession Award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administration (NASPA) (2019), the National NASPAScott GoodnightAward for Outstanding Dean/VP (2018), and the regional NASPAScott GoodnightAward for Outstanding Dean/VP Region V (2014).

Fearless in the pursuit of what sets the soul on fire

Dr. Howard's primary goal as the child of a single mother growing up in the inner-city of Macon, Georgia, was to graduate high school. He later recognized that he had a natural talent to positively affect the lives of people.

He observes that he has achieved most of his professional objectives, such as becoming Vice President and earning the right to serve as President, but he still has work to do on his personal ambitions, such as being a good influence in the lives of other people every day.

Dr. Howard's future plans and personal goals are to continue to be fearless in the pursuit of what sets his soul on fire. He believes there's a lot of work yet to be done and is fervent in his commitment to help others to reach their fullest potential.

DR. DELIA CELESTINE

Helping Students to Become Better Versions of Themselves

Like everything else in life, education has changed and will continue to change. Educators now accept the fact that students learn differently therefore they must be adept at presenting information in a variety of ways. Technology assists us in being able to share information and the understanding of concepts by utilizing recorded videos, 3D visualizations, lecture recordings, simulated scenarios, etc. There is now an entire industry dedicated to the development of educational gaming, apps, etc. to assist in the learning process.

Dr. Delia Celestine is an adept educator and having years of experience in the sector where she has delivered commendable work through her teaching and research for the betterment of students. She is the Assistant Dean, Students and Assistant Professor at Dr. Kiran C.

Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Celestine started at KPCOM (then NSU-COM) seventeen years ago in the admissions department. Admissions are fast-paced and require interaction with a variety of people. Dr. Celestine had not worked in admissions before she saw it as an entryway back into higher education after her relocation to Florida. She enjoyed the work and did it for almost two years.After that, she accepted a position in the Rural/Underserved Medicine department. This was closer to her training in Public Health, as it addressed working with medical students during their time serving underserved populations.

During her work, Dr. Celestine travelled the length and breadth of Florida visiting each location where the KPCOM students were assigned.

She recalls, “I thoroughly enjoyed the students and thought about why some of them flourished in these environments and why others did not.” This particular experience led Dr. Celestine to seek a doctoral degree with her dissertation focusing on physicians' choices of work environments/populations. She also began teaching in the MPH program by this time. She was then tapped to serve as the director of KPCOM Graduate Medical Education programs where she switched from working with students to working with residents.At that time, KPCOM was responsible for maintaining the accreditation of all affiliated residency programs and starting new residency programs. Dr. Celestine was promoted to the Executive Director and then theAssistant Dean of Graduate Medical Education after five years. She asserts, “Then shortly after Dean Wallace took over the helm at

EdD - Assistant Dean of Studentsall programs - Davis & TBR Campuses Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine.

the medical school, she tapped me to serve in my current role as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs. I have been in this position for five years now, and I can honestly say that everything that I learned from all other positions is helpful to me in this role.”

She deems, “My vision is that education becomes more equitable and accessible for all students. I pray that this begins at the pre-K level and goes all the way to professional schools.”

Before Joining KPCOM

Before KPCOM, Dr. Celestine worked in a variety of roles. She worked for a pharmaceutical company in corporateAmerica. For her working in the corporate culture was exciting, fast-paced, but not very fulfilling. She completed her Master of Public Health degree in night school in pursuit of more fulfilling work.

As per Dr. Celestine, her experience at NYC as a Health Educator was the biggest career turning point that sharpened her teaching and administrative skills. There she had to develop and implement a variety of educational programs for different populations. She says, “After the birth of my daughter, the public transport commute to NYC was no longer attractive, and I moved on to working in a medical school in the educational development resource unit. This was my introduction to medical education and preparation for my later work at KPCOM.”

Lessons that Give Strength

Challenges offer an opportunity to grow, to expand the vision, and to

keep humble, all at the same time. No one is perfect, and challenges are a reminder of that. Out of that imperfection, with persistence and hard work, challenges can be overcome. says that her Dr. Celestine challenges ended up being instructive to her. She finds herself grateful for the challenge of figuring out how to work full time as a Director who travelled for her work, complete her doctoral degree while making sure that her home life was intact. This included two school-aged children who were involved in timeconsuming extracurricular activities. Going through these challenges, she learned to coordinate schedules with other working parents, learned to delegate, plan down to five-minute

increments, be creative, and learned about her strength. She adds, “These were valuable lessons that serve me today.”

Challenges during Pandemic

The disruption of the pandemic demands that education engage in rapid experimentation, creativity, and change.At KPCOM, technology played a big role in the educators being able to successfully manage the situation. The college's educators were able to deliver lectures via Zoom, hold small group sessions using breakout rooms, harness online resources, etc. deems, Dr. Celestine “Our success hinged on our students'

comfort with technology and their ability to adapt quickly. Most of our students are from Generation Z, are digital natives, and not afraid of technology.” She includes that another aspect of the pandemic that the educators had to address was dealing with students' mental health status and providing spaces for them to share their concerns. To address this, KPCOM implemented weekly meetings with the student leaders and Dean Wallace along with other Assistant/Associate Deans. In addition, advisors kept all appointments with students using Zoom.

As theAssistant Dean of Students

Being anAssistant Dean of Students, Dr. Celestine is responsible for making the Office of StudentAffairs functional. This includes serving the non-academic needs of students, providing support to them, and executing the Dean's student-centered vision in everything that the college does.

The day begins either with standing administrative meetings, committee meetings, or staff meetings, followed by reading and responding to emails. Almost every day, Dr. Celestine also has scheduled meetings with students to attend to their needs. This can range from individual students coping with their struggles to groups of students involved in clubs/organizations. Before covid, there was also always a flurry of activity in the Office of Student Affairs with planning for events and celebrations. That has halted due to the coronavirus. In addition, there are always reports to write, new initiatives to work on, and based on the time of year in the academic calendar, time-sensitive duties for the

Office to accomplish (registration, onboarding new students, course maintenance, conferring degrees, roster reconciliation, etc). She asserts, “I am on the phone/Zoom throughout the day with the other Assistant/Associate Deans- we work as a close unit. I usually end the day again with either an Office meeting or a meeting with one of the Office directors. I think that the word that could be used to describe me is organized.”

Maintaining Balance

“Balance is extremely important to me, and I work on maintaining it,” says Dr. Celestine.According to Dr. Celestine, being in medical education; her work is demanding, and she has become intentional with her choices and time. She asserts, “Children are the ultimate reality check because they are honest. Whenever work seemed to overtake my consciousness, interactions with my childrenserved to refocus.” Being motivated is easy at KPCOM because it is full of energy, new ideas, and new initiatives.

To bring balance between life and work, Dr. Celestine has surrounded herself with a cadre of friends with whom she and her husband socialize. The group takes vacations together, babysat each other's children, and celebrated life's milestones together. She adds, “They have become family to me and serve an integral role in keeping me balanced and happy.”

Success; Connecting with Inner Self

Success includes being happy with one's personal life, family life, and professional life. comes Dr. Celestine to this understanding through her own life lessons along with career and

personal growth and development. She thinks that because human beings are such complex creatures, success cannot be measured by any one criteria. She opines, “Success is as complex as we are and varies for each one of us. I thrive when I am spiritually grounded, when I am healthy, when I am socially engaged, when my family life is good and when my professional demands are being met, and I am growing and learning all at the same time. It is a balance that I strive for every day in multiple ways.”

Plans for Future

Dr. Celestine's plan for KPCOM is to welcome the students back to campus and resume events and extracurricular activities. There is a White Coat ceremony to be hosted along with other important milestone events that were missed due to covid. Tampa's inaugural class graduates in 2024 which is another milestone for KPCOM that Dr. Celestine's is anticipating.

For the future, Dr. Celestine's idea is to continue her work with the committee at KPCOM to provide pipeline/pathways for more underrepresented students to attend medical school. She says, “My goal as an educator is to continually learn about our students and provide the support that will assist them in reaching their goals. I am in the business of helping students become better versions of themselves while fulfilling their lifelong dreams and serving the public all at the same time. It is exciting indeed.”

ANNA STÉPANOFF

Proering Quality Technical Education For Adults

Education industry comes with numerous avenues, not just teaching in schools and universities.Anna Stépanoff, CEO of Wild Code School embraced her passion for this field by teaching adults highly in-demand technical skills. From a professor in a university to a consultant of businesses to a founder of Wild Code School, she didn't stop accomplishing her objectives and finally gained it in her career in education.

Foundation of Wild Code School

It all started when she was just 10 years old and like every other girl, she also wanted to become a teacher and enhance her skills in the teaching department. She was blessed enough to go to 3 countries and learnt different things and got so motivated

that she wanted to do something in education industry.

Then, during her PhD, she became a University professor but it felt like a monotonous learning process for her. Thus, she left both and for 2 years, she became a consultant for businesses and understood the importance of technology. Nevertheless, her eagerness for education wasn't going around so she joined a hackathon related to eeducation. She says, “This was such an intense and creative experience that I decided to quit consultancy and found my own educational startup. One year after this hackathon, Wild Code School was born.”

Facing Challenges along the way

Education is all about how people

tackle different strategies and personalities. She wanted the finest folks for her startup as that was a responsible role to play since this is where her full startup was going to stand.

She shares, “That's where building a strong culture and defining strong values came in. With a group of team members, we spent multiple days brainstorming and testing various keywords until we defined a set of values and principles that we share today with all our staff and students. These values give meaning to moving forward and guide us on a daily basis.”

This proves that she wanted to go through an agenda and followed that strictly to obtain and retain the best talent for her startup. Further, she

says, “They are passion, innovation and humanity.” and this led her to create a successful company with the perfect team.

She wanted to mix both online and offline education to bring out the best and got the idea when Moocs (Massive Open Online Courses) was famous owing to its distinct style of learning. This online learning approach didn't replace the classroom education but helped her to explore and experiment blending of different learning approaches.

Anna is a firm believer of blended learning and that's what Wild Code School is doing, planning different strategies of learning and how to blend online and offline learning practices. She adds, “There is still a lot to experiment in different ways how such a mixture can work, can be adjusted and can be more efficient. Wild Code School is pioneering blended learning, testing different strategies within this field.”

Comprehensive Services of Wild Code School

Wild Code School has helped teach technical skills to adult learners across Europe. They emphasize on reskilling and helping people to transform their careers and their life. She says, “On a more global level, with this project, I believe we contribute to building a learning society in which each individual will be able to get access to the best toplevel education in the field of his or her choice, in the most appropriate format (remote, on-campus, full-time or part-time), wherever this person lives (in a big city or a countryside) and at any age.”

She never left any opportunity of creating new projects during her high school, college and PhD. Most importantly, she didn't do them for the sake of it but because she liked doing them. She adds, “Each time, I really enjoyed conducting actions with impact and bringing a positive change. I think it was this understanding that I could really make a difference through such projects that convinced me of pursuing a career of leadership.”

She is proud of developing her companyWild Code School, and that , is her greatest achievement.

Being a CEO, successful businesswoman and a mother

Anna shares, “My main responsibilities include defining the company's strategy, developing a roadmap, hiring and training key members and obviously driving the business development of the company.”

In today's society, being a women entrepreneur is not easy owing to that, she herself mentors numerous young women walking on the entrepreneurial route. She has a strong belief that everyone must find necessary support and mentorship. She has a message for all budding entrepreneurs, “Dream big and then, make those dreams happen through careful planning. Goals are just dreams with deadlines.”

Being a mother of 3 children has made it more arduous for her to balance her work and personal life. However, she didn't sacrifice any of these instead she prioritized her things which helped her schedule a time for everything in life.As there is limited time, it becomes quite precious. There

are a plethora of things, such as some hobbies, that you may need to leave.

She says, “Basically you just learn to be extremely sharp on prioritizing, letting some things go (“better done than perfect”) and also applying rigorously the rule of 80/20: you usually get the 80% of result with 20% of effort. You might not always want to go for the remaining 20%.”

Future Roadmap for Wild Code School

Anna has made strategies and a map for her company's future where she mainly focuses on growing more within the education industry.

She says, “First goal is to grow our geographic presence through partnerships, developing our own campuses and developing remote training options.” Her approach isn't stopping at being national instead to move further and share education internationally which is what she is tapping on and moving forward to a limitless sky.

She even wants to establish more corporate training partnerships, as their programs are particularly suited for retraining employees.At last, she wants to develop a structured course catalogue that covers all essential tech jobs, namely web development, product management, quality assurance, data, cybersecurity, devops, etc.

ANDREW HUGINE

A Visionary Educator Who is Bringing Education and Modern Technology together for a Brighter Future

Dr.Andrew Hugine, Jr. (pronounced hugh-guinea) is AlabamaA&M University's 11th president. South Carolina State University awarded him bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics, and Michigan State University awarded him a doctorate in Higher Education/Institutional Research. He has talked about ways of expanding the number of minorities in STEM subjects at various professional gatherings and is the author of three mathematics textbooks.

Dr. Hugine has been the president of AAMU for over a decade and believes that students should look for a school that will promote and support them academically, socially, and through civic involvement. When it comes toAAMU's future goals, he says the institution is now more

prepared for the unknown in 2021 and beyond than it has ever been.

Make a Difference; Leave a Legacy

Dr. Hugine has always desired to work in education, according to him. His mother was a teacher, and he studied math education as an undergraduate at South Carolina State University.After graduating, he taught high school math for a year in Beaufort, South Carolina, before returning to hisAlma University.

As perAndrew, success occurs when one is able to articulate a project with a goal objective and that particular goal project or objective comes to fruition. That is success, and it looks different for different projects. He says, "Success is kind of like a moving target. It's not an absolute, it's continuous improvement."

Andrew considers success to be the ability to leave an entity in a better shape or form than when you discovered it.And, thinking back on his 12-and-a-half years atAlabama A&M University, he sees it as a success because it has evolved in positive ways since he arrived, and it is now better than it was.

Faith is the Ultimate Power

One word that can define Dr. Hugine is an optimist. He says, "With having faith the size of a mustard seed, one can move a mountain. That is the definition of optimism."

As an experienced educator, Dr. Hugine opines that challenges make one not only stronger, but also better. He goes on to say that the roadblocks are a powerful motivator that move us toward inventiveness. He says,

"Challenges make you a more optimistic person because one of the things you must grasp about life's obstacles is that they will come, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You can't alter the obstacles that come your way, but you can change how you react and respond to them." He also feels that a positive mental attitude is essential for being hopeful and helps us to believe that no matter what challenges you face, you can overcome them. The ideal example of how adversity tends to bring out the best in people is the pandemic.

Dr. Hugine lives by the saying that you should never, ever allow one of those challenges, or hurdles go to waste; you always find a way to turn it into something good. He goes on to say that if you think about challenges and hurdles from the perspective of the concept of a halfempty and half-full glass, you will address challenges and hurdles differently. If the approach is half-full, your approach will be more optimistic.

Enriching Education with Modern Technology

Dr. Hugine began his career as a mathematician as an undergraduate. Then, he and other mathematicians calculated trigonometric functions and logarithmic functions by using a slide rule to perform the computations or by looking up the values of tables. However, technology has completely transformed schooling today. Today, these and other calculations are performed in a fraction of the time with the aid of high speed calculators and computers. When utilised correctly, technology may make learning more interesting and enjoyable. He says, "At AAMU, we invested in the use of technology and education even before the pandemic.

It wasn't because we wanted to; rather, it was a necessity. The progress we've achieved, the advancements we've made, and how we've used technology and the educational arena would have taken us years to achieve. And now you know that we're looking at all new types of online instruction, such as hybrid and asynchronous, that we would never have accepted as quickly if it hadn't been for that. As a result, technology allows us to accomplish far more than we could previously."

The Pandemic Impact on Educational Progress and Development

"The pandemic has tested our inventiveness and adaptation to ensure that we can continue to give the same educational level and quality of delivery as before," says Dr. Hugine.AlabamaA& M University

deserves credit for turning so swiftly to do this, and it was prepared.

Dr. Hugine believes that the university is far better equipped than some other schools since it has made considerable technological expenditures prior to the pandemic and had many of the technologies already in place.According to him, technology infused educational components are required for success. As a result, it had an impact on the university in terms of encouraging it to innovate and adapt to the new climate in which all educational institutions now find themselves.

Being a University President

Dr. Hugine's role as president requires him to connect with a variety of constituency organizations. He's also required to react to any challenges or concerns that may emerge.A

president must likewise think strategically about the future, or where the institution is going, and how to put together the resources, both human and financial, and bring them to bear on achieving the university's goals and objectives.

He states, "The President also serves as the university's public face, and whatever the President does, or does not do, reflects on the university. For individuals that want to be a president, I tell them, you give up your individuality when you become president. One can't separate the two because one doesn't end up being president, from eight to five. Even if you're shopping at Walmart for personal items and someone approaches you, you're the President, and you should have that discussion, because at the end of the day, what people see is the president of Alabama A&M University, not necessarily what you're purchasing. "

He also adds, "A president is also an ambassador. As a result, as an ambassador, you must always ensure that you are growing. And you should strive to convince people to like the university rather than you."

Life beforeAlabamaA&M

Dr. Hugine graduated from South Carolina State University (SCSU), where he pursued a B.S. degree in mathematics, followed by a M.Ed. in mathematics education. He completed his doctorate in higher education/institutional research at Michigan State University.

He was President of South Carolina State University before coming to AlabamaA&M University. Other higher education positions held included Interim Executive Vice

President and Chief Operating Officer;Assistant Vice President for AcademicAffairs; Director of Special Services Program; Director of the University Year forAction Program—a service-learning program; Research Fellow;Assistant and Director of Institutional SelfStudy; Professor of Mathematics; and high school mathematics teacher. Hugine has been recognized both nationally and internationally for his leadership in education and adept administrative skills. Dr. Hugine was appointed as the president of the historic 145-year-oldAlabamaA&M University on July 16, 2009.

Work Hard and Live Fully

Andrew believes in working hard, but he also believes that one should be able to turn it off. To be effective, there must be balance. He says, "I try not to take my work home with me." And while at home, he doesn't spend his entire time working on the project. He makes every effort to lock the door at the office and go, rather than working these long hours. If you become a workaholic, at some point you lose your effectiveness and you get less and less accomplished.

Andrew learned early on to compartmentalize the work. He says, "Be sure you build some time in for rest and relaxation. I love to watch certain television shows. Everyone knows when they would come on, don't call me on those particular nights because you probably won't get an answer."

For Hugine, the most important member of his team has been his wife,Abbiegail, who has taken on numerous initiatives to not only promote student success and recruitment, but help promote the

university's brand with external stakeholders as well.

Hugine says that he is looking forward to being able to spend more time travelling with his wife and with their grandchildren when he retires at the end of this year. Dr. Hugine and his wife of almost 50 years, Abbiegail, have an adult son,Andrew Hugine, III, and a daughter-in-law, Karen; a daughter,Akilah HugineElmore, and a son-in-law, Quincy Elmore; two grandsons,Amir and Kal-el, and a granddaughter, Nylah.

Aligning with Modern Education

Andrew's ambition is for education to actually progress to the point where, everyone can learn in a variety of ways and in their unique learning style. The present generation has a variety of learning approaches and speeds.

Andrew's goals forAlabamaA&M University are straightforward. He wants to align education with technology so educators will be able to genuinely individualize instruction and get to a point where people may study at their own pace, in whichever mode best fit their learning style like and have on-demand instruction.As a result, the objective is for this university to continue to develop and expand online learning, virtual learning, and artificial intelligence instructional modalities. "There's leadership in place to achieve that, and so those are the plans that I see for Alabama A&M", he claims.

INA BEHRENDT

Combining Creativity, Marketing and Education to Bring Digital Transformation to the next level

As the whole world is running after technology there is still a need for people who can combine creativity and innovation together. While facing a shift from an Industrial Nation to a Knowledge and Creative Economy – the Creative industry in mutual synergy with a knowledge-based economy creates conditions for a strong and sustainable creative economy. The creative economy has a cultural and social impact that is likely to grow even further and that needs such thought leaders who combine these fields of expertises. One such creative individual is Ina Behrendt, Chief Innovation Officer at MiamiAd School Europe & CEO at Infinity Campus. She possesses unique skill sets, creative ability levels, ideas, ideales and motivations, and merges them all to create a digital creative community and platform. Ina is a

thought leader and expert in the field of digital transformation with a strong focus on the creative marketing and education industries.Also, she is a public speaker at tech/innovation conferences and summits globally.

Ina Behrendt truly believes that a leader should be able to translate a vision into reality. By collaboration and empowerment of everyone involved, she's a 'WE' person; a real team member. For Ina, it was never about the leadership role itself, but about the 'goal' and making a difference. She strongly follows her passion and vision.

For over 20 years, Ina has been in the creative industry that includes both the creative and marketing side of things, as well the educational & economic side. She made her way up, next to her excellent knowledge –

through passion, collaboration, excitement, and always with a vision in mind. She not only knows what it means for the next generation, as a young, especially female creative being in the industry and working hard to be heard and recognized and honored, but she also realized, quite early on, that the industry was shifting and going into and through a massive transformation.

From Passion to Creating Position

“Challenges do make you stronger and let you grow,” says Ina.At the very beginning of her career, there were just a handful of female executives in the German creative industry, so almost no female role models.As the men were mostly ahead, they were mainly the ones who called the shots and made the decisions. Ina just didn't let that

impress her, as she always tried to raise her voice, have a say, and prove it through her work, mindset and team spirit. She noticed that many of her male superiors often felt undermined by this competence, but she didn't let it get her down. It was a lesson to become stronger in her mind and abilities. She took harsh criticism as a lesson to learn from it and do better herself later to find her unique language for leadership.

Years later, in New York at R/GA, the digital agency of the decade and inventor of Nike+, she got introduced to a new mindset and culture in her industry. With great gender equality and diversity and inclusion there she also found female role models in leadership roles, as R/GAhad a large proportion of female leadership roles on the management board, such as Kris Kiger, Erin Lynch, and Chloe Gottlieb at that time.

She asserts, “To boost your power and feed it, you have to collaborate, share your knowledge and ideas and even sometimes take a step back.”

ACreative Stage forAll

Ina's unique understanding of inventing new ways in the field of 'INNOVATION IN EDUCATION FOR THE NEXT GENERATION of CREATIVES' (by Ina Behrendt) led her to initiate and co-found the online education Platform Infinity Campus (infinitycampus.online). Next to her Chief Innovation Officer role at MiamiAd School Europe, she's driving education and life-long learning to the forefront of contemporary education, together with her business partners and visionaries, Sabine Georg (COO) and Philip Wogart (CTO).

MiamiAd School Europe is one of the best and most successful, creative, and innovative schools in higher education in the world. With its twoyear portfolio program ofArt Direction & Digital Design, Creative Concepting & Copywriting, and Creative Technology, MiamiAd School Europe unites many different schools in one. The students gain world-class room experience and business knowledge, including three international internships to choose from out of hundreds of the bestknown companies and most awarded agencies around the globe. Their graduates work for the best creative agencies, innovation companies, and tech brands worldwide.

Since 2019, the European branch of MiamiAd School has been developing even further and relying on female double power at the top to clearly separate different, excellent expertise in areas of responsibility and to jointly steer the course even more intensively towards the future and digital competence. Collaboration

at its best! In July 2019, former Google manager Sabine Georg - Ina's partner in crime - joined as CEO of MiamiAd School Europe. Collaboratively these 2 leaders drive their vision of establishing a kind of "new" school for the creative economy. Together they foster more critical thinking and exuberant creativity at the intersection of design, story and experience telling, technology and innovation, business, communication, collaboration and leadership and therefore catapulted the school to the forefront of contemporary education.

AStory of Determination

After Ina created the foundation in the industry through having worked for some of the most well-known agencies and innovative clients on an international level, she always used her drive and passion out of a different perspective. She has achieved success by throwing herself out of her comfort zone and stepping into new areas while never stopping

learning. It somehow evolved naturally and organically, with a fearless attitude and not being afraid of what's behind that door, what comes next, and what it means. She was recognized and awarded for her work and always loved to take on new challenges, and most of the time she created her own.

Based on Ina's history of being a DiversityAdvocate – she also cofounded 'Women in Tech' for the Australian market – she is pushing diversity in STEM fields across Europe and now running the innovation arm for a school that not just only has 70% international students on campus also out of 35 different nations from all sorts of different backgrounds. She constantly fosters collaboration and partnerships for more diversity.

Success; Disruption, Innovation, Collaboration

Ina's definition of success consists of 3 approaches and angles; one is disruption, one is innovation, and the other is collaboration. She believes that one needs this triangle to build or strive for something new and better that was not there before. She asserts, “If you want to be 'successful', everything you aim for should generate energy, inspiration, passion, and solutions for the better.”

Over the years, Ina became an internationally well-known awardwinning, integrated Creative Director and Head of Design with over 15 years of experience with digital marketing, traditional agencies, and clients worldwide. She gained tons of outstanding industry recognitions around the globe. Ina was living abroad in Sydney,Australia, and New York, USA, and working with the

most influential digital creative agencies like R/GA, New York, inventors of Nike+, and Razorfish Australia – creating game-changing and award-winning campaigns, platforms, and services for clients like Nike, eBay, and McCormick.

From Management to Creative Milestones

Ina is working as Chief Innovation Officer for the INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CREATIVE INNOVATIONS – MiamiAd School Europe, where she is driving the school in regards to the digital transformation. She is instrumental in re-inventing the school's educational program for the digital age. Ina is responsible for the product innovation process, and developing new capabilities, architectures, and methodologies, together with different experts and professionals.As a marketing and design professional, Ina is also leading and optimizing the communication process and strategy and is responsible for the identity and design manifestation.

Visioning to Transform Creative Space

CREATIVE DIGITAL SPACE

With other professional partners and experts in the field, the leadership team shares a common vision to continue to foster closer relationships with students and build a network for creativity, marketing, technology and innovation that all can access.

It was and is necessary to use the learning from the COVID-19 crisis to establish the Infinity Campus as a robust and innovative new e-learning platform based on the foundation of INNOVATION, DIVERSITY & MINDSET to create unique courses

and expansive networks independent of physical locations by mixing even more technology into the creative bloodstream.

CREATIVE PHYSICAL SPACE

The pandemic indeed accelerated and amplified many things on many levels. MiamiAd School Europe also had to change, invent and innovate even more and even faster! This has led to many changes, such as the new Factory Berlin location, in addition to new collaborations. It reflects what the school stands for: a program that is fit for the future, in an environment that is full of possibilities.Astate-ofthe-art infrastructure with fast digital access and human connectionsenriching and inspiring! They find all of this in Berlin with the Factory Berlin Partnership, which offers a vibrant community and a strong context for its students. With start-ups and creative tech companies next door, a library, in-house cafés, artistsin-residence and plenty of co-working spaces and 'sandboxes' to develop award-winning ideas.

AnAdvice from Expert

Ina's message and advice are to never stop learning, observing, and collaborating. To come up with new products, services, and business models, it is essential to foster collaboration together with partners and experts to gain for the better. She states, “It's always a 'WE' never just a 'ME', so empower people and collaborate to help them achieve their best through your own leadership definition and language and shine a light on them, to create something bigger and better together.”

An

FENG HOU

Initiative by Pistis to Establish Blockchain Learning Credentials

Blockchain is an ingenious invention that has received extraordinary adaption in the millennial age. It simply is a growing list of records known as blocks, which are linked by cryptography. Blockchain technology was often related to cryptocurrency in Bitcoin, which limited the possibilities of its adaption into any other field apart from the fintech or supply chain industry. Pistis, a revolutionary blockchain platform service, recognized the capability of blockchain and its benefits in other industries like education. Under the resourceful guidance of Feng Hou, Pistis.io made it easy to provide digital credentials using blockchain technology whereby students gain access to a plethora of blockchain based services.

About Pistis

Currently serving as the Chief Digital Transformation Evangelist at Maryville University in St. Louis, Feng Hou co-founded Pistis.io with his wife Yu Peh in June 2019 in Albuquerque NM. Pistis.io is a global blockchain platform service that provides a true low barrier entrance for business and individual users to blockchain services.As an award-winning CIO, Feng Hou, CoFounder and CEO of White Fish, LLC. has led the blockchain initiative to successfully implement a student owned digital certificate and degree diploma solution. Hou has been working on several blockchain use cases from creating a universal student ID, using smart contract to create a blockchain ERP solution, as well as building a stackable micro-

credentialing solution to certify student soft skills.

Hou's blockchain solutions implemented at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) made CNM the first higher education institution in the nation to use blockchain technology to provide its students with digital credentials. Similarly, Oral Roberts University (ORU) chose Pistis as their blockchain-based platform due to their ability to comprehend education, SIS/LMS systems, transcripts, JSON file conversions, and had the ability to meet the 'fluidity' criteria of ORU. Pistis was clearly the only vendor who had the depth and breadth of understanding that a Blockchain vendor needed to allow the university to have control over the digital credentialing process.

Now individual users as well as organizations can quickly issue Degree-Diplomas, achievement certificates, licenses, academic transcripts, etc on the blockchain using Pistis.io. Universities can issue to students at once using bulk issuance feature. Pistis.io provides individual users as well as organizations a free to use Certificate designing tool. Organizations / Universities can use this tool to create their bulk-issuance. They also provide free blockchain verification tool for anyone to verify a certificate issued on Pistis.io. Pistis.io allows users to import certificates from any other blockchain certificate issuance platforms. Users can also import JSON certificates based on MIT's Open Standard for Certificates.

pistis.io is launching its global Pistis Learner's Record (PLR), says Feng Hou. “We believe that individual learners should own and control their learning credentialing data, and PLR will help them re-imagine learning with easy-to-issue, easy-to-share, and easy-to-verify digital credentials on blockchain.”

Pistis Learner's Record is establishing a new blockchain learning credentialing standard and offers the following 10 guiding principles:

- Universal access for learners of all ages. Learners should have direct access to blockchain services independent of any institutions to issue, share, store, verify, manage and search their learning credentials on blockchain.

- While we recognize the reality that different blockchain such as BitCoin or Ethereum may use a different document format to issue learning records, individual learners should have the ability to store all of their learning records in one easy-to-access online location where they can share, verify and maintain their learning records in different formats.

- Learner's records should include learning artifacts such as music, video clips and computer program codes other than just certificate-based documents because learning credentials are best evidenced in their original forms.

- To protect learner's sensitive data and privacy, learners should have the ability to easily delete their accounts

or hide their online profile if they so choose.

- Likewise, learners also can further protect their privacy by encrypting their learning records as an additional layer of data security.

- Learners should have the ability to easily access their learning records on blockchain directly from their smart phones and web browsers.

- Learners should have the ability to issue their own learning records that they have achieved from both in and outside of the classrooms.

- Learners should have the ability to choose how they want to share and with whom they want to share their learning records.

- Learner's records should be easy to share via email, social media, PDF, as well as the traditional printed copies.

- Finally, all learner records must be saved and stored in a true distributed file system with hash links and encryption to increase data security.

PLR is fully compliant with the industry standard Self Sovereign Identity (SSI).

Everyone can register and the registered users, both individual and organizations, can easily design, test and issue certificates such as property deeds and learning credentials on blockchain. Pistis will develop new blockchain use cases to help both Individual and organization users create and grow their own businesses on Pistis blockchain platform.

LEONID SHAFIR

Transforming the kid's educational space with creative STEM toys

Being an aspiring toy designer who is passionate about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and innovative toys, Leonid Shafir, Founder and CEO of Play-A-Maze, directs his vast experience in the field of play and play-based learning to introduce pioneering toys that engage the mind, challenge the players, and advance critical skills development in children of all ages. His extensive background in research is his sharpest arrow that allows him to enhance the toys and create innovative solutions.

Brewing reality into Play-A-Maze

Leonid had a deep interest in toys and particularly puzzle mazes since childhood. In the university, he realized toys are more than just fun. They are a great way to learn through

play. His coursework in world religions opened another existing and mysterious facet of mazes. In many world religions, mazes and labyrinths were symbols of the world and played sacramental roles in the rites of passage and other key rituals. He adds, “Each time I would read an article on a maze in Britain, Mesoamerica or elsewhere, I would be amazed by how important these entities are for the human spiritual development. This amazement and interest reinforced my passion for learning as much as possible about mazes.” But this is not everything.

On top of this, Leonid noticed a shortage of mechanical STEM toys. He states, “Most of the STEM products were focused on electronics and circuits but practically none on mechanics that, although many don't

realize it, plays a major role in today's innovative industry. No high-tech product, be it electric vehicle or robot, can work with circuits only, these products also require sophisticated mechanics that someone must develop and maintain.”

The shortage of mechanical STEM toys was all the more surprising because many children and parents he spoke to were interested in affordable toys that could teach basic mechanics and engineering.

Many parents also said they feel isolated from their kids who are glued to screens all the time. Moreover, alienation, stress, and anxiety are further worsening the issue. Leonid felt that this is a major challenge to the psychological well-being of children and adults and spent a lot of

time thinking about how to bring people together through play to help them relax, socialize and enjoy the moment together.

All these factors served as a foundation of Play-A-Maze - the startup that Leonid founded to channel his passion and interests to address a market need and make a difference.

Play-A-Maze focuses on designing and developing educational and STEM toys that create a fun-to-learn environment for children and adults of all ages. The team analyzes the toy industry trends and maintains contacts with their customers.

But they do not stop there. They look into psychological, anthropological, and economic factors that define their customer's attitudes towards playing and learning. This includes anxiety levels, socialization patterns, education trends and more subtle factors such as deficit of micromotor sensations caused by the prevalence of screens.

Play-A-Maze team strives to understand how it feels to be a toy store owner, a sales representative, an educator, a child, or a parent to anticipate their needs and offer them products that provide answers to questions and issues which these people haven't even formulated yet.

This enables them to see not just the industry but the world in which this industry exists to determine what play and toys mean for children and adults. Leonid adds, “We play with kids a lot. Many people in the toy industry can't even imagine how informative and fun it is to play with kids. What a mistake!”

Aiming for the Sky

Sharing the company's vision, Leonid states, “We want the name of our company – Play-A-Maze - to become the synonym of innovative mechanical and electronic STEM toy products. We want to be the company that will be described in X years from

now as the “guys who revolutionized puzzle maze toys.”

Thus, they are striving hard to develop a strong company that sells teacher's highly sought-after toy products for explaining all the basic scientific concepts. The best part is that they are also excellent for children and parents to share a great family time.

Leonid's vision is his remarkable achievement, and he constantly fosters this vision in all his employees to fulfill all the work and reach the goal together. Owing to this, he also feels honored and proud to have ignited a new fire of passion and vision among his employees and earned huge respect among his business partners.

Life as a responsible CEO

Being the CEO of Play-A-Maze, Leonid is mainly responsible for all aspects of the company. They all take challenges as opportunities to understand and learn new things that help them become smarter and more professional. He also promotes

looking at the bigger picture and preventing narrowing down. For that, he keeps reading and learning from different areas of knowledge to develop a nuanced perspective on toys and play. This multidisciplinary knowledge has helped in unlocking his creativity as well as outside-thebox thinking.

Leonid shares, “Failure is a steppingstone towards success, not a tombstone! When people understand this and see a common goal that they consider important and desirable (ex. efficient play-based learning), I don't need to motivate them. In turn, they motivate me by their determination and resourcefulness!”

Fusion of Work and Life

For Leonid, professional and personal lives are always fused for better outcomes. While working, he addresses personal life issues, such as using his toy prototypes to help his wife be more efficient and productive by fostering STEM learning in the community.

This fusion also helps in offering valuable feedback and shortening product development cycles to create a highly efficient startup. He also shares, “This may sound simple and self-evident but believe me, it works by creating a smooth and stress-free transition between life and work and vice-versa!”

At home, Leonid tries to amalgamate relaxation and personal development, and imbibe creativity with classical music, reading about different subjects, as well as focusing on sports.

He states, “All along, I accept the fact that I can't control and plan everything – a bit of unexpected chaos can be good for you because it creates something new in life. I see such events as opportunities to learn and understand something new. To sum up, I cultivate a reflective mindset that helps me relax, reenergize and see things that otherwise I will not notice.”

Laying out a Bright Tomorrow

The future of Play-A-Maze is bright as they are launching a new product line to enter the US and EU markets. Moreover, they are open to new partnerships with everyone looking for products that combine play and learning, such as new retail buyers, STEM organizations, play centers, and after-school organizations. It will surely enhance the brand sales and recognition.