Tech Ed Services, Inc. Staff

Tech Ed Services. Inc. (TES, Tech Ed) employees include highly qualified individuals who each have demonstrated an alignment with the TES core guidelines of collaboration, communications and results – and who each have a minimum of 10 or more years of strong technology and/or education experience. Its full and part time potential project staff includes current and former university professors, state, county and district leaders, site principals, professional librarians, classroom teachers E-Rate experts, project and operational managers, marketing, and public relations professionals. All employee expenses, insurances and other benefits are the responsibility of Tech Ed Services. Inc.

Dr. Gina Amenta-Shin
As Senior Coach Mentor Facilitation Specialist for TES, Dr. Amenta-Shin has been employed by TES since 2002 and leads its LACOE partnership to support more than thirty district as they prepare teachers/coaches to support colleagues though a change process while implementing grant goals. Dr. Amenta-Shin has been a professor at the graduate school of education level, a national curriculum consultant, an instructional designer and online development developer, a contributor to ISTE research and facilitator at multiple USDOE conferences, a grant evaluator, program associate and consultant with NCREL and LACOE, a district technology coordinator, mentor teacher, task force chair, and elementary classroom teacher. Over the past 22 years, Dr. Amenta-Shin has pioneered the use of technology to support learning. Much of her work involves nurturing relationships and collaborating with valued colleagues for the purpose of preparing teachers in the use of technology to support student learning. She has numerous published works and presentations, honors and awards. Gina received her BA and Teaching Credential for Cal Poly, her Masters in Education Administration from Cal Lutheran University and her Ed.D in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University.

Dr. Joan Bravo
Dr. Bravo, an expert in educational reform, has successfully worked for TES with school sites and districts to secure grant funding, develop effective plans to achieve alignment of technology as a tool for improving student achievement, and successfully implement and evaluate funded grant programs, including Digital High School in which reform was a critical element. With over 20 year’s experience, Dr. Bravo has an extensive background in education, serving as advisor, site administrator, and teacher at the secondary level in LAUSD and other districts. She has researched, lectured, and consulted extensively on Education Reform, Total Quality Management, Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design, and Authentic Assessment. She has also served as a consultant to the Los Angeles Times, is a member of the Annenberg Institute of School Reform, and the Association of California School Administrators, and after serving TES as VP of Planning for almost seven years, currently is fulfilling a life long passion to serve as a Catholic School principal while assisting Tech Ed Services, Inc. with planning, data analysis and evaluation services on high-profile projects. Dr. Bravo earned her masters and doctorate degrees from Pepperdine University, and her Bachelors of Science degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Cindy Cabral
Ms. Cabral is one of the original founders of Tech Ed Services, Inc. and has more than twenty years experience in sales, marketing, finance, operations, and human resource management. In her role as Vice President of Tech Ed Services, Inc., Ms. Cabral oversees the planning, direction, and implementation of Tech Ed’s personnel programs and policies; corporate financial activities including budgeting and planning, payroll, and financial statement preparation; and participates in the overall strategic management of the company. She has spearheaded the overall design and implementation of operations flow for corporate processing of workflow data and system design and implementation respective to various automated administrative systems. Prior to joining Tech Ed Services, Inc., Ms. Cabral served in various management and marketing roles at Apple Computer where she led marketing efforts with K-12 customers. In addition, she has served in various financial and administrative capacities in the finance and banking industry. Since 2003, Ms. Cabral has been instrumental in the coordination of evaluation services and creation of value add tools and processes to lead the company’s grant evaluation projects and deliver exceptional reporting for many competitive grants awarded in Southern and Northern California, providing her operational leadership to district and county offices of education entities.

Irene Sanchez Cox
Ms. Cox has successfully written top-ranking grant documents for TES for the competitive phase of the federally funded Enhancing Education Through Technology Grant program for the past seven years. She has 18 years of district office administration, including school restructuring and reform, special project implementation and professional development. Her background includes secondary curriculum development, standards-based instruction, cross-curriculum integration, project-based learning, K-12 instructional technology, WASC accreditation, and coordinated compliance review. Irene formerly was a coordinator of technology and career preparation for a mid-size school district in Los Angeles County and currently leads those efforts on behalf of TES. Irene holds a Professional Administrative Services Credential; a Master of Arts Degree in Educational Administration from California State University at Los Angeles; a California Community College Credential, Office Services and Related Technology; a Standard Secondary Teaching Credential, Business Education Major and English Major; a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Business Education from California State University at Los Angeles; and an Associate of Science Degree from Mount San Antonio College. In addition to her work with TES, Ms. Cox serves as a CALSEP board member, is a past president of this state organization and current serves on numerous CALCEP committees, including chair of the 2010 California State Fall conference.

Carmen Dean
Ms. Dean, an educational technology consultant with Tech Ed Services. Inc., has worked in the field of education for 30 years. As an Instructional Technology Consultant for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, and within the Los Angeles Unified School District as a district curriculum specialist, classroom teacher, school librarian, special education and reading resource teacher and coordinator of the gifted program. While at LACOE, she lead the EETT grant support and podcasting efforts on behalf of the ITO; supported development and delivery of integrating Technology for English Language Learners (iTELL) program; was chair of professional development for Improving Mathematics Achievement Through Emerging Mobile Technology, among other responsibilities. Ms Dean was California Teacher of the Year for LA County, and was recognized for numerous awards while at LAUSD, including educational partnership and video in the classroom citations. She has been a presenter at numerous conferences. Carmen earned her MS degree in School Management and Administration from Pepperdine University and her BA in English from Cal State Long Beach.

John Henzel
Mr. Henzel currently consults exclusively with TES, facilitating the administration and management of the company’s call center and accounts receivable functions. He brings to TES over thirty years of senior management experience in the direct sales, marketing, and administration of educational products. Prior to Tech Ed Services consulting work, he founded a privately held company where, as CEO and President, he negotiated key business alliances with Apple Computer and many top educational software publishers, building one of the largest value add reseller organizations within Apple Computer nationally. As former Senior Vice President of Sales for Grolier Inc., Mr. Henzel was responsible for the development of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues and profits for the company and was the recipient of numerous corporate awards for his outstanding leadership, strong motivational capabilities, and sales management achievements. Mr. Henzel has actively supported National PTA projects and was a founder of The Association of Catholic Student Councils (TACSC).

Pamela Kinnaman-Korporaal
Ms. Korporaal is an educational technology consultant with Tech Ed Services. Inc. as well as an adjunct professor in the Whittier College Department of Education, and a professional expert to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, ITO-CTAP. She was formally a director of Instructional Technology, Assessment and Evaluation for the Norwalk-La Mirada USD, has served as a member of several national, state and local technology conference committees and as board member and president of CUE, is a co-author and editor of various journals, books and instructional materials and has presented numerous papers and presentations at conferences nationally. Ms. Korporaal has extensive staff development/consulting experience in professional societies and associations, including several board member and governance council roles, and has been recognized as district administrator of the year, received multiple outstanding and distinguished alumni awards, and was a Christa McAuliffee Institute Fellow. She earned her BA from Whittier College and her Master of Science Degree in Educational Computing from Pepperdine University.

Susan Luciano
Co-founder of Tech Ed Services, Inc., Ms. Luciano has been instrumental in managing and executing hundreds of technology training programs for thousands of educators across 75+ districts. Ms. Luciano developed groundbreaking programs that played a critical role in helping schools to advance student achievement. She has developed Train-the-Trainer, Classroom Integration Strategies, Model Lesson Plans, Bilingual Programs, Parent Training, and customized programs such as designing WebQuests for elementary, middle and high school student projects, applying spreadsheets to middle school math curriculum, utilizing the Internet in primary grades, and dozens of others. Ms. Luciano was a pioneer in integrating technology in education since 1981; her background in computer sales and marketing combined with her teaching experience within various elementary and middle schools, adult ESL, and special education students defined her unique perspective which has enabled the development and delivery of effective, meaningful, and collaborative trainings that translate to the overall academic success for educators and students alike. Currently serving as a consultant for special TES projects. Ms. Luciano holds a Bachelors degree in Liberal Arts from California Lutheran University and a K-Adult Multi-subject California Teaching Credential.

Dr. Jennifer Murphy
Dr Murphy has worked with Tech Ed Services, Inc. on numerous corporate projects since 2003, providing grant support and middle school professional development technology integration facilitation on the largest funded EETT-C grant in the nation (South East Educational Technology Consortium) and more recently, acted as the company’s facilitator and document lead on the Alhambra USD 2010 Technology Plan. Dr. Murphy’s other professional work experiences include: Executive Director, LA County charter school; Adjunct Professorships at Chapman College University and Mercy College; Teacher of English, Journalism, Drama and/or American Studies among several California, New York, Canadian and European high schools. She is a member of the national Council of Teachers of English, International Society for Technology in Education and the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Murphy holds a BA in English and Psychology Education, and earned her Masters in Teaching and Doctorate in Educational Technology and Leadership from Pepperdine University.

Dr. Linda G. Polin
Dr. Linda Polin is the Davidson Professor of Education and Technology at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP), where she teaches in the hybrid (online and face-to-face) doctoral program in educational technology. She teaches courses in learning, technology, and design, as well as in research design. Her research interests focus on learning and knowledge sharing in online communities. Her current research interests centers on knowledge co-construction and sharing, such as learning in informal online communities. Dr. Polin is studying informal yet self-organized learning communities in massively multiplayer online gaming and literature-based role-playing communities on the Web. Dr. Polin sits on the national advisory board for Cable in the Classroom, and consults with school districts, universities, and software developers. She is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (AMC) and faculty sponsor of the Pepperdine GSEP student chapter of ACM. Dr. Polin is a member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and past program chair for the AERA Cultural Historical Research Special Interest Group.

Patricia K. Sanford
Serving as President/CEO and founder of Tech Ed Services, Inc., Ms. Sanford is a driving force behind the company’s mission to support school efforts to transform education and utilize the power of technology to facilitate student learning. Ms. Sanford possesses over three decades of experience in executive leadership and has been recognized for her regional and national efforts in reading improvement projects and initiatives to integrate and sustain technology in education. She oversees the company’s staff and customer projects in grant writing, implementation, evaluation, professional development and technical support. Prior to forming Tech Ed Services, Inc., Ms. Sanford served as vice president of a national educational technology firm and prior held various executive management positions regional vice president of Grolier, Inc. Ms. Sanford is an active member of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Los Angeles-based ETA-LA. She served on the LA New Schools – Better Neighborhoods advisory, the national board of The Association of Catholic Student Councils, and the California State PTA, from whom she received their Lifetime Service Award. Ms. Sanford was a nominee for Women Who Make a Difference in Los Angeles, has been a presenter at numerous national conferences and brings a unique, pragmatic leadership commitment and perspective to the company’s staff and client base.

Kevin Solis
Mr. Solis has worked in the business technology industry for over 17 years as a senior technology manager with experience coordinating the delivery of complex Information Technology systems to numerous clients. His extensive IT experience in information systems management at the Director level and consulting in Internet, application development and LAN/WAN technologies, brings an important resource to Tech Ed Services’ educational technology offerings. He has worked as a Senior Technical Services Account Executive for CompUSA, and Director of Integration Services Group for US Bancorp Oliver Allen Corporation, among others. Mr. Solis holds Bachelor of Science Degrees in Political Science and Behavioral Science, both from California State University at Dominguez Hills. He holds numerous certifications including Compaq and Gartner Group administering Total Cost of Ownership surveys, Master Certified Novel Engineer (MCNE) with specialty in multi-server, internetworking and TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and SNA networking topologies, and Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) with specialties in messaging and security, including MOM, WDS and WSUS. Master Certified Novell Engineer (MCNE) with a specialty in multi-server and internetworking with experience in TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, IPX/SPX and SNA networking topologies.

Catherine Steinhoff
Ms. Steinhoff is an experienced educator and library services mentor whose mission is supporting instruction through the use of print, non-print and computerized media. She is skilled in curriculum support, systematic planning, technology planning, grant writing, grant evaluation and is dedicated to sharing her love of learning. Ms. Steinhoff holds multiple advanced degrees, has served in senior district library media management and consulting positions for the past twelve years and prior taught at the secondary level in Massachusetts, New York and California. Ms. Steinhoff is a member of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Computer Using Educators (CUE), the American Library Association, American Association of School Librarians and California School Library Association. Since 2003, Ms. Steinhoff has worked on the Tech Ed Services teams in the development of local assessment processes for measuring student and teacher technology use and proficiency and contributed to the performance reporting on various grant evaluation projects.

Brenna Terrones
Brenna (Deering) Terrones is the TES Senior Specialist for E-Rate nationally. Brenna’s eight years’ of employment with Verizon, including as a corporate specialist in E-Rate services where she provided USF training and consultation on a national level, provide her with a unique knowledge base and perspective for her hand-on E-Rate consulting development with TES. Brenna’s contributions to the E-Rate/California Telecommunications Fund (CTF) training collaborative have been formally acknowledged by former and current California State Superintendents Delaine Eastin and Jack O’Connell respectively, as well as by other notable leaders on a national basis. Well over one hundred school district administrators know and can attest to Ms. Terrones deep E-Rate knowledge and her passion for accuracy and excellence. Since her 2005 full time employment with TES, she has spearheaded the company’s-Rate strategic consulting efforts, working with school and library TES clients and TES staff on a local, state and national level, to meet organizational goals while maintaining the highest level of integrity and commitment to results. Brenna earned her BS at UCLA and resides in San Pedro with her husband, daughter and son; their children attend LAUSD schools where Brenna also serves as an active parent volunteer.

NOTE: Various Tech Ed Services. Inc. (TES) educational technology project requests may require additional staff or experience to meets specific project goals, objectives and deadlines. Since 1993, TES has a strategy for augmenting its teams that includes: cultivating then selectively broadening its circle of outreach among TES employees with whom the company has worked successfully and/or connecting with former client staff and/or university partners (Pepperdine; UCLA/UC Irvine; Cal Poly; other) to identify associate professors and/or graduate students in the schools of education/business whose qualifications, experiences and time availability meet the roles and responsibilities required for the stated TES project and utilizing its corporate relationships (Chamber of Commerce; National Association of Women Business Owners; other) for other operational/administrative staffing and management augmentation. Training and continuing education is also a high priority to TES; its employees and consultants continuously connect, both formally and informally, discuss best practices and resolve project challenges, review results and customer feedback, identify trends and needs, as well as attend industry conferences (CUE; CASBO; ISTE; other) and professional seminars and leadership development offerings (Apple, Stephen Covey; Cognitive Coaching/Adaptive Schools, other) at the company’s expense to continuously broaden TES staff knowledge and skills.