Forum Network

**Lauren Prestileo** is the Series Producer for the critically acclaimed and award-winning PBS history series American Experience. Her work puts her at the heart of the evolution in content development and distribution at a time of rapid change. Lauren oversees the flow of the series’ content from television to digital platforms, and leads the theatrical distribution for the series, most recently shepherding the theatrical release of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Last Days in Vietnam. Lauren joined the American Experience staff in 2004 as a publicist for the series. She went on to serve as Project Manager and Series Manager, overseeing all aspects of the community engagement campaigns for the landmark series We Shall Remain, and for the 2011 Emmy Award-winning documentary Freedom Riders. In her work for the series, she has created high-profile partnerships with organizations such as the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. She recently served as an associate producer for the Emmy Award-winning American Experience film JFK. Prior to her tenure in public television, Lauren worked in public affairs in Washington, DC, specializing in public relations and grassroots organizing.

**Mike Rubenstien** is the Vice President of Integrated Operations at Hill Holiday, where the divide between “Digital” and “Traditional” advertising is nonexistent. Primarily because of people like Mike, who provide vital connective tissue between departments, specialties, and technologies. Leveraging his expertise as an art director, producer, and studio manager, Mike applies a holistic approach to projects in the integrated space, working closely with multidisciplinary teammates to ensure that their core concepts are supported by the right expertise to yield cross-platform optimization. Recently, Mike was part of the team from Hill Holiday working on the first commercial in-motion Oculus Rift experience at Sundance 2015 for Merrell called #TrailScape – an immersive journey that transported people to a virtual basecamp in the mountains. The installation brought a new level of physicality to virtual reality, engaging participants with an experience that allowed them to explore a virtual environment by actually walking through it, interacting with the objects they encountered, and expanding what would typically be a strictly audio/visual medium into a tactile one as well.

**Steve Curran** is Founder and Creative Director of Pod Design, a branded games and interactive design studio that was acquired by Connelly Partners in 2013. With Connelly Partners, Steve has been Executive Creative Director leading the development of games, mobile applications and VR solutions. Steve has been delivering award-winning interactive entertainment and marketing since 1990. He has directed website design and branded content for clients such as A+E Television, WGBH, Warner Brothers, History Channel, Red Bull Records, Sony Entertainment, Burger King, and many others. Before starting Pod, he was VP / Creative Director of Gametek where he was involved with the development and marketing of numerous best-selling titles for Nintendo, Sega, Sony and Playstation. He is the author of Motion Graphics: Design for Television and Film, and Convergence Design for Interactive Television, Broadband and Wireless, and a contributing author to the book, Connected Marketing.

**Andrew Amato** is an experienced online publisher, having written about everything from Alexander the Great to Guitar Hero. Before working on DRONELIFE he covered tech startup news for StreetWise Media and developed mobile applications for Dreamkind Inc. DRONELIFE is a dynamic resource on the latest drone news, product releases, videos and legal precedents for consumers to stay informed about the rise of the commercial drone. Andrew holds two B.A.s from Cornell University. He is always interested in hearing about the next wacky application of drone tech, feel free to hit him up on Twitter: **@Tamato\_Amato.**

Peter’s work at Acadia Center focuses on cleaning up the energy supply across all sectors of the economy. Driving market-based emissions reductions is at the core of this work, using cap and trade policies such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which Acadia Center has tracked since the program’s early development in the 2000s and which Acadia Center is now promoting beyond the region. Peter also leads parallel efforts to price carbon emissions in the transportation, building, and industrial sectors, and to provide incentives to boost clean energy supply in the electric and thermal sectors. As Massachusetts Director, Peter oversees Acadia Center’s work on grid modernization, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, and renewables in the Commonwealth. Peter received a B.A. in History from Yale, and an M.S. in Environmental Science from Trinity College, Dublin, where he focused on the impact of carbon markets on development in Mexico.

Cindy has worked with Clean Water Action since 1994, helping to coordinate a number of coalitions and community-based efforts to reduce pollution and promote a cleaner, more sustainable economy. She sits on a broad range of steering committees and boards, from national chemical reform efforts to local grassroots groups including HealthLink and the Massachusetts Climate Action Network. Among other clean energy and climate initiatives, she coordinated the Northeast Clean Power Campaign which successfully pressed for clean-up of the region's biggest industrial polluters, the oldest and most polluting coal and oil-fired power plants in New England. She represents Clean Water Action on the Green Justice Coalition which is dedicated to stimulating green jobs creation in growth sectors such as energy efficiency and providing pathways out of poverty in low income communities of color in Massachusetts. She also acts as a senior strategist and steering committee member for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a national effort dedicated to replacing toxic chemicals in personal care products with safer alternatives. Prior to her work at Clean Water, Cindy coordinated the Cree Speaking Tour for Massachusetts Save James Bay and was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic.

**Jamie Wilson** is an activist, a feminist, a storyteller, a media maker, but more than anything, she is a natural-born thought leader. As Executive Director of Women, Action, & the Media, the former YTH Executive Director, TED Prize Storyteller, and former Vice President of Programs at The Women’s Media Center, Jamia has been a powerful force in the social justice movement for nearly a decade.

**Sergio Fagherazzi** studies geomorphology, hydrology, and coastal and marine geology. His research is oriented in three main directions: the morphological modeling of the continental shelf—formation and evolution of riverine networks during sea-level lowstands and subsequent channel filling during high-stands; the study of the hydrodynamics and morphology of salt marshes—observation, understanding, and modeling of creeks and channels developing on a salt marsh surface; and the numerical study of equations characteristic of coastal processes and hydrology—a dynamic model linking phenomena occurring at different spatial scales.

**Eileen Rudden** is an established leader and board member in both the education and technology sectors. She is the co-founder of LearnLaunch, an organization that provides support for the creation and growth of education technology and learning companies in New England, and LearnLaunchX, Boston's education technology accelerator. Previously, Eileen served as Chief Officer, College and Career Preparation, at Chicago Public Schools, where she led the efforts of the third largest public school system in the U.S. to ensure that its 400,000 students are college and career ready. Eileen was a 2009 Broad Fellow and graduate of the Broad Superintendent's Academy, and currently serves on the boards of KnowledgeWorks and the Achievement Network.

Dennis Littky is the co-founder of Big Picture Learning and the Met Center in Providence. He is nationally known for his extensive work in secondary education in urban, suburban, and rural settings, spanning over 40 years. As an educator, Dennis has a reputation for working up against the edge of convention and out of the box, turning tradition on its head and delivering concrete results. Presently, Dennis’s focus is to expand the Big Picture Learning design to include college-level accreditation through College Unbound, where students will have the opportunity to earn a B.A. and advanced certifications through a critically challenging, real-world based, and entrepreneurial course of study.

Nick Massa studied at Western New England College and obtained his PhD at the University of Connecticut. Massa is the Principal Investigator for the NEBHE Advanced Manufacturing Problem Based Learning Project.