MITE Staff

Gary Lopez, Ph.D., Executive Director

An experienced educator and author, Gary has an extensive background in business management, media production and technology development. In 1983, he founded Archipelago Productions, a developer of award-winning digital product for the education market and documentary films for television. In 1997, Gary became President and CEO of NETg, a global leader in providing e-Learning solutions to many of the largest corporations in the world, including Shell, IBM, AT&T, Honeywell and Motorola. Under his leadership, NETg developed a library of more than 1,200 multimedia-based courses, grew to more than 800 employees, and had offices in 30 countries. As Executive Director of MITE, Gary continues his lifelong commitment to education.

Ruth Rominger, Director of Learning Design

Ruth Rominger was the Senior Acquisitions Editor and Manager of Editorial Systems at Dryden Press from 1991 to 1995. She was initially responsible for acquiring and managing eight titles per year and a list of more than 30 titles with an extensive ancillary program. From 1995 to 1999, Ruth was Vice President, Publisher and General Manager of Archipelago Productions. Initially she managed editorial operations, hiring and training 24 employees and coordinating over 100 college faculty members and doctorates as writers, reviewers, and authors. Ultimately she assumed responsibility for the entire operation, including the development of eight highly innovative multimedia course titles. Most recently Ruth was the Vice President of The Natural Step (2000-2004), a non-profit consulting organization that does research and advises organizations on strategic planning and implementation of environmental and social sustainability programs. She was responsible for strategic planning, organizational development, operations, and new program growth.

Terri Rowenhorst, NROC Membership Director

Terri Rowenhorst comes to MITE with 18 years of experience in educational publishing and technology. No stranger to new ventures in educational technology, Terri has previously contributed her skills in collaborative product development, business development, and marketing at Archipelago Productions, WebCT and Pearson's Learning Network. In the college publishing arena, Terri has contributed to a range of print and technology initiatives across disciplines in marketing, sales and editorial positions at Harcourt College Publishers, and most recently at McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Nancy Cook, Director of Operations

Nancy Cook brings to MITE broad operational experience having worked in a number of diverse organizations, including Texas A&M University, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Inflection Media, and Thomson NETg. She has expertise in large project management, including national and international events and complex film projects. Nancy has a strong financial management background having overseen multi-million dollar budgets, cost analysis, and budget projections. She has a distinguished history of bringing projects in under budget. Her knowledge and experience in academia, technology, television production and manufacturing make her uniquely qualified to manage complex operations.

Michael P. Carter, Ph.D., Director of Special Projects

For nearly three decades Michael has focused on new technologies and learning. He shaped the curriculum that Oxford, Stanford and Yale deliver to their alumni online and created programs with faculty from leading business at Pensare. At Apple he oversaw educational new media research and funded laboratories world-wide. His academic career includes professing European history at Dartmouth and directing academic computing at Stanford. At Digital Pictures he created What's My Story? to help children learn to speak for themselves. Currently he is Co-PI on an ethnographic study of digital youth and is staffing Dr. Lopez on collection of essays on digital media and learning.

Brian Rowlett, Director of Software Development and Technology

Brian Rowlett has over twenty years of experience with the design and development of educational technology products. Early in his career he designed and coded educational games, interactive videodiscs, and CD-ROM multimedia courses. As the Director of Technology for Archipelago Productions, he managed the development of CD-ROM and web-based distance learning solutions for the secondary and post-secondary education markets. Brian is former Vice President of Technology at NETg, where he directed the design and development of authoring tools, learning management systems and deployment technology for multimedia training courses in CD-ROM, LAN and Web-based formats.

Jessica Everton, Director of Editorial Development

Jessica Everton has over a decade of experience in the design and creation of educational technology products. At MITE, she is responsible for managing the conversion and enhancement of courses donated to the library. She collaborates with Subject Matter Experts, media developers, and engineers across the country to ensure the materials all meet technical and educational quality standards. Prior to MITE, Jessica was the Director of Product Development for NexLearn, a custom online learning software company, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of courseware development. Other previous experiences include Senior Manage of Product Development for Thomson NETg where Jessica was responsible for the creation of NETg's professional development courses. Jessica began her career at Knowledge Communication as a courseware developer of simulation-based software.

Dani Pedrotti, Membership Manager

Dani Pedrotti joins the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education with nearly 12 years of experience in educational technology. Starting as a marketing manager at Archipelago Productions in the mid-'90s, she supported teaching and learning in both secondary and post-secondary education by encouraging the use of engaging multimedia content. In her role as Sr. Account Executive and then Regional Sales Manager for WebCT and Blackboard, Dani worked closely with educators to build strong elearning foundations that would enable the scaled growth of distance and distributed learning programs within institutions, agencies, states and provinces in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada.

Renae Bent, Project Manager

Renae Bent joins the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education with over 12 years of experience in educational publishing. She has served as a project manager for Archipelago Productions, Harcourt College Publishing, Thomson e-Learning and Inflection Media where she successfully managed the development of higher education, multimedia courses in micro and macro economics, biology, sociology, and work and employment. Most recently, Renae served as project manger for a National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) "Ocean Exploration" grant, guiding the development of fifteen multimedia, ocean-related learning objects that are now hosted on the NOAA website.

Diane Threlkeld, OCEP Project Manager

Diane Threlkeld has over 20 years of experience in managing university extended education and economic development programs in the California State University (CSU) system. During that time, she developed international business partnerships to bring needed training programs to countries just opening to global commerce. Diane worked with faculty and industry representatives to design and manage a variety of off-campus undergraduate and graduate degree programs. As Director of California State University, Fresno's University Business Center, she successfully led partnerships in developing and delivering new workforce development, business incubator, and entrepreneurial training programs. Her extensive responsibilities in managing the funding, marketing, and implementation of collaborative academic programs bring a unique perspective to MITE's Online Course Evaluation Project.