Concord Consortium Board of Directors

Concord Consortium board members comprise a distinguished group of educators and business people, including the following:

Richard Abrams – General Manager, Tom Snyder Productions, a Scholastic Company

A 22-year veteran of the educational software industry, Rick Abrams has guided the growth of Tom Snyder Productions from a start-up company into one of the leading educational software publishers in the K-12 market. He is a member of the Education Section board of the Software & Information Industry Association and is a board member of Educators for Social Responsibility. He is also a corporation member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Abrams graduated from Colby College. He and his wife Susan, an attorney, have three children and live in Lexington, Massachusetts. Abrams has been a member of Concord Consortium’s Board of Directors since 1997.

Goery Delacote – Chief Executive of At-Bristol in the U.K.

A renowned science educator, Dr. Goery Delacote has recently become the Chief Executive of At-Bristol, the award winning science center in Bristol, England. Previously, for fifteen years, Delacote was the Executive Director of the San Francisco Exploratorium, the finest and most innovative science museum in the world. Upon the death of the Exploratorium's founder and long-time director, Frank Oppenheimer, he took on the challenging job of leading this successful organization and giving it a vision and mission within an information-rich future. Delacote has recently accepted the challenge of expanding his influence by moving to At-Bristol where he will be working in collaboration with science centers throughout Europe as well as maintaining an on-going relationship with the Exploratorium. As a French physicist, he brings content, an international perspective, and a deep understanding of learning to the Board. Delacote has been a member of Concord Consortium’s Board of Directors since 1997.

Diederich Framhein – International Investment Consultant based in Europe

Diederich Framhein is an International Investment Consultant based in Europe. A German national, he earned a law doctorate from the University of Cologne and an MBA at INSEAD. In 1969 he joined S.G. Warburg & Co., Ltd., the British investment bank, where he held senior positions in London and Paris related to international finance until 1998. Since then he has been associated with a corporate finance advisory firm in Paris. His special interests include biotechnology-related research. Framhein has been a member of Concord Consortium’s Board of Directors since 2003.

Margaret Honey – Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Research, Wireless Generation

Dr. Margaret Honey is Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Research at Wireless Generation, a company that has pioneered the adaptation of mobile technologies for use in managing and improving teaching and learning in grades pre-K-12. Prior to joining Wireless Generation, Dr. Honey served as Vice President of the Education Development Center (EDC) and Director of EDC’s Center for Children and Technology (CCT).  In this role, she supervised numerous large-scale projects funded by organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences, The Carnegie Corporation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Energy.  She also served as Co-Director of the Northeast and Islands Regional Education Laboratory, the federally funded organization designed to help educators, policy makers, and communities improve schools by helping them access and leverage the most current and important education research findings. At Wireless Generation Dr. Honey oversees the company’s research and program evaluation activities, and works with other organizations to further the company’s continuing commitment to conducting innovative research and development.  She holds a doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University.

Tom Hsu — President, Ergopedia, Inc.

Dr. Tom Hsu is nationally known as an innovator in science equipment, curriculum and leader in teacher training. He is the author of six published middle and high school science programs in physics, chemistry, and physical science. A proponent of hands-on learning, Tom writes and illustrates his own textbooks, and also designs the experiments and apparatus to go with them. Tom is perhaps best known for the elegant wood teaching equipment he created and for the successful introduction of system approach to learning that includes coordinated textbooks, hands-on investigations, and science apparatus. He is now pioneering the use of (non-computer based) interactive media to allow all students access to powerful learning simulations and visualizations. Tom has broad personal teaching experience from elementary grades through graduate school and was nominated for the Goodwin medal for excellence in teaching at MIT. He holds a Ph.D. in applied plasma physics from MIT and an Honors B.S. magna cum laude from the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he studied both physics and engineering. Tom was the founder and president of CPO Science (formerly Cambridge Physics Outlet) until 2002. He is currently president of Ergopedia, Inc. a company he co-founded with Dr. Manos Chaniotakis of MIT.

Leon Lederman – Nobel Prize Recipient, Fermilab Director Emeritus, Pritzker Professor of Physics at the Illinois Institute of Technology

Leon Lederman, internationally renowned specialist in high-energy physics, is director emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Since 1998, he has held the position of Resident Scholar at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and since 1993, Pritzker Professor of Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Lederman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science (1965) and the Nobel Prize in Physics (1988). Lederman became a member of the Concord Consortium Board of Directors in June 2005.

Penny Noyce – Co-PI for Partnerships for Advanced Learning in Math and Science (PALMS)

Penny Noyce is a co-Principal Investigator for the National Science Foundation Systemic Initiative Projects in Massachusetts, including the PALMS project (the Partnerships for Advanced Learning in Math and Science). A practicing internist, Dr. Noyce is also a Trustee of the Robert Noyce Foundation, which honors her father, one of the founders of Intel. Her expertise as a physician, educational activist, and funder contributes to our work in significant ways. Noyce has been a member of Concord Consortium’s Board of Directors since 1997.

David Rose – Founding Director/Chief Scientist, Cognition & Learning, CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology

In 1984, David Rose helped to found CAST with a vision of expanding opportunities for all students, especially those with disabilities, through the innovative development and application of new technologies, resulting in the development of the theory and practical framework of Universal Design for Learning. Dr. Rose is the co-author with Anne Meyer of the books Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning (ASCD, 2002) and Learning to Read in the Computer Age (Brookline, 1998), and the author of numerous articles. Dr. Rose holds a B.A. in psychology from Harvard College, a master's in teaching from Reed College, and a doctorate in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Rose became a member of the Concord Consortium Board of Directors in June 2005.

Lev A. Sviridov – Doctoral candidate, University of Oxford

Lev A. Sviridov is a graduate of The City College of New York of the City University of New York, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and conducted research in the compositions and origins of aerosols. While at CCNY, Lev served as the student body president of the most diverse college in the United States and served on the Fiscal Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York. In addition to college-related activities, Lev served as the permanent representative of the Glasnost Public Foundation to the United Nations, representing the only human rights NGO from Russia to be recognized by the DPI NGO of the UN. Currently, he is reading for a Doctorate Degree in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Peter Battle and with the funding support of the Rhodes Scholarship. He is a proud resident of the city of New York, where he resides with him mother, Alexandra, and dog, Duda.

Robert Tinker – President & CEO, The Concord Consortium

Robert Tinker has for a quarter-century pioneered constructivist approaches to education, particularly novel uses of educational technology in science. He earned his Ph.D. in experimental low-temperature physics from MIT and learned about education on the job at a historically black college in the 1960's. In the ’80’s, he developed the idea of equipping computers with probes for real-time measurements and of using the network for collaborative student data sharing and investigations. In 1994, he started the Concord Consortium so he could concentrate on applications of technology to improve the quality of education. Dr. Tinker now directs several major research and development projects and a staff of 35. Current research includes work on large-scale tests of online courses for teachers and secondary students, developing a set of technology-based activities for elementary math and science curriculums, educational applications of portable computers, sophisticated simulations, the development of technology-rich materials for sustainable development education, and a scientific study of student assessment using technology. Tinker is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Concord Consortium.

Lauren Walters – Lawyer, private venture and real estate investor

Lauren Walters is a Concord resident and former Chairman and Member of the Concord-Carlisle Regional School Committee. Walters earned a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and a law degree from Georgetown University. He was a Fulbright Professional Scholar in Law and International Business. Walters has been in private law practice, worked with Arthur D. Little, Inc., and served as a professional staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget. He is a private investor in early state new media, technology, and biotechnology companies and provides management and strategic consulting to the private and public sectors. Walters has been a member of Concord Consortium’s board since 2002.