Kim Yohannan (NVC Chair)

Kim Yohannan is responsible for the Palo Alto Networks Cybersecurity Academy program in the Americas. Previously, she managed the EMC / Dell EMC Academic Alliance program in the Americas for ten years and the global EMC Centera ISV Partner Program for two years. Before EMC, she worked at Xplana Learning, an educational software company, as their Senior Director of Operations. She also worked at Nortel Networks where she was part of the certification exam team and was responsible for the NetKnowledge Program which provided curriculum to academic institutions. Before Nortel, Kim spent seven years as a bilingual elementary school teacher with a focus in English as a Second Language (ESL).

Mercedes Adams
Employee Education Learning Ambassador, NetApp Learning Services

Mercedes Adams is responsible for employee education programs at NetApp, Inc. As a member of the Learning Services team, she empowers employees to build a foundation for business growth & success through their own professional development. Mercedes’ goal is to ignite the growth mindset of NetApp by fueling our culture of learning with empowered, confident, and knowledgeable employees.

In previous NetApp roles, Mercedes led Academic Alliances, seeking to extend NetApp University’s broad data management and cloud technology education offerings to our communities globally through partnerships with colleges and universities, as well as organizations focused on serving veterans, women in technology, and minorities. She also was an original member and then the manager for the Guiding Coalition at NetApp, a program empowering employees at all levels to unleash their passion to drive customer success, growth, and employee productivity.

Mercedes has been at NetApp 15 years supporting the World Wide Field and Customer Operations function as well as cross-company initiatives. She has been a part of Silicon Valley innovation for twenty years, previously at tech giants HP and Xerox PARC. Mercedes is proudly a graduate of De Anza Community College with an AA in Microcomputer Business Applications.

As part of her contribution to the community, Mercedes champions a variety of strategic programs internally and externally that touch leadership and development. She is focused on broadening awareness and starting new conversations to transform our workplace through her role on the NetApp WIT Steering Committee. Mercedes is also passionate about engaging our local communities to drive change, volunteering with Every Voice Engaged Foundation to facilitate participatory budgeting to engage her community.

Aaron Burciaga

Aaron Burciaga is a Data Scientist, AI Engineer, author, and advisor. As a seasoned technology and business leader in both startup and enterprise settings, he has focused his career on delivering efficiency and value through automation, data science, machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, quantum computing, and emerging concepts and innovative technologies. His development and implementation of programs and initiatives have enhanced multi-billion dollar programs and operational efficiencies across industries in commercial, federal, and defense.

Aaron's roles have included Global Operation Director for Data Science and Analytics at HCL Technologies, CTO at Analytics2Go, Vice President Data Science and AI at Booz Allen Hamilton, Global Analytics Platform Lead at Accenture, and Senior Research Scientist at Elder Research. Before turning his attention to commercial and public sectors, Aaron was a Marine Corps officer and Iraq war veteran and was the head operations research analyst and director of an operations analysis activity at the Pentagon, supporting the Marine Corps Headquarters. He is also a Marine Reservist, where he supports the Chief Information Officer at Headquarters Marine Corps-Pentagon as Lead Data Technologist.

Aaron is a Forbes contributor, frequently invited keynote and speaker, and Certified Analytics Professional (CAP). He is an appointed member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Technology Information Service advisory board. Aaron received his M.S. Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School and his B.S. from the US Naval Academy.

Carolyn Corbin
President, Center for the 21st Century

Carolyn Corbin is the founder of the Center for the 21st Century, which she created to provide speeches, executive briefings, consulting, and organizational training in critical 21st century issues. Although she is semi-retired after a 45-year career, Carolyn continues to hold the title of President of that corporation and serves a few clients per year. Mostly, however, her current mission is to give back to the greater community by serving community organizations who wish to tap into her knowledge and expertise developed throughout her career. She is being asked to lead innovative projects, develop place marketing initiatives, and identify pillars for community competitiveness. During her career as an internationally renowned socioeconomic futurist, author, and speaker, Carolyn’s work held a stellar reputation for its 95% accuracy rate and decisive strategies. She has been spotlighted in hundreds of TV, radio, Internet, and periodical interviews including ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates, CNN, the Gannett (owner of USA Today) newswire, and United Press International throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

She pioneered Computer Assisted Instruction research in the public schools and the aerospace industry during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Because of her interest in space business, in 1987 Carolyn, through her corporation, was first in her field to be allowed, if the opportunity ever arose, to conduct business on space stations, on any other planet or asteroid, and on spaceships or any other structure designed to sustain human life outside the earth’s atmosphere. In other words, her corporate charter was especially written to allow her to do business beyond planet earth—a condition open to very few corporations at the time, but becoming more prevalent today with the current interest in commercial space business and spaceports.

Carolyn has written five award-winning, best-selling books. Her last book, Community Leadership 4.0: Impacting a World Gone Wiki, was launched in 2011, in both traditional and digital formats. It immediately became the Number 1 Top Rated Amazon.com Kindle eBook in Public Affairs & Administration and held that ranking for 18 months. The book has also become a Book Pick of the World Future Society. In March, 2013, Community Leadership 4.0 was named Book of the Month by the Malaysian Foresight Institute of the Prime Minister's Department in Malaysia.

Her clients and sponsors for her work include such diverse organizations as the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency; Yahoo; IBM; Ericsson; U.S. Department of Defense; Texas Economic Development Council; Texas Municipal League; Dallas-Fort Worth Area Tourism Council; North Texas Commission; Harley-Davidson Motor Company; Detroit Tigers; AMR Corporation; Johnson & Johnson; University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs; American Heart Association; National Kidney Foundation; Arizona State University; California State University; University of Zululand, South Africa; Caribbean Government Consortia; Leadership USA; Indiana University; Leadership Texas; Virginia Local Government Management Association; City of Dallas; and numerous chambers of commerce.

Carolyn is active in the McKinney (Texas) community, serving on multiple education, civic, religious, and historical boards and committees.

Linnea Fletcher
Austin Community College

Linnea Fletcher received a BS in Biology, BA in Chemistry, MS in Biochemistry from the University of California at Irvine, and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Texas. In 1999 she started the Biotechnology Program at Austin Community College, and joined the Bio-Link team. Since that time, she has been involved in several NSF grants, served as a rotating NSF program officer in the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation, and is now the Texas CSBI Workforce Development delegate. Presently, she is PI of the NSF-funded ATE Center known as AC2 Bio-Link Regional Center and the newly funded NSF-funded InnovATEBIO, the National Biotechnology Education Center.

Matt Glover
CTO, Le-Vel

Matt Glover is a military veteran and a technology executive with 30 years of industry experience. He is the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) for Le-Vel, a mid-market health and wellness company in Frisco, Texas.

He has been honored by his peers by being selected as a finalist as Tech Titans Corporate CTO of the Year for two years in a row (2016 and 2017).

He serves as Chairman of the Business Industry Leadership Team for the National Convergence Technology Center. The center is responsible for guiding the curriculum for more than 70 colleges nationally to make work force ready students in STEM related fields.

Mr. Glover was previously the CIO and CISO for AMX, a global hi-tech company. Prior to that he served as Senior Vice President of Technology at Bank of America and has helped lead technology for industry giants like HP, Intuit, and MetLife. Formerly a member of the CTO Roundtable at the White House whose mission was designed to build the “Tech Hire” initiative nationwide. This initiative was focused on pathways for non-degreed citizens to move into STEM fields.

Mr. Glover holds seven degrees, spanning Management, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Finance, Accounting, Marketing and Economics. He attended George Washington University in D.C. and Hawaii Pacific University in Hawaii. In addition to his college education he earned a Journeyman as an Electronic Technician while serving his country.

He started his technology career on Fast Attack Submarines and served his country with distinction for nearly ten years; spending nearly five years of his life under water.

Tu Huynh
Vice President of Digital Business Transformation Office, Comerica Bank Incorporated

Tu Huynh is the Vice President of Digital Business Transformation Office at Comerica Bank Incorporated in Dallas, TX. He has worked at Comerica Bank since 1997. During this time, he has worked on many critical projects for Comerica, including relocation of the Comerica’s headquarters from Detroit to downtown Dallas. He has efficiently managed and executed multi-million engineering projects for the past 23 plus years and designed a highly scalable and adaptable technology infrastructure that allowed Comerica Bank to grow and gain competitive advantage over other financial institutions, in addition to various other significant accomplishments.

Huynh is a successful and proven information technologist with diverse experience within network engineering, operations, and business management. He has served as an adjunct professor for Cisco and Microsoft Academy’s Technology Division and was a senior technical consultant for Sawtek Incorporated in Orlando, FL. He specializes in Infrastructure Engineering and Designs; Cicso LAN, WAN and Storage Networking; Microsoft Enterprise Server Architecture; Business Continuity Planning (BCP), and a host of other technical and management skills in which he holds numerous industry certifications.

Huynh is the recipient of several awards including Comerica Bank – Texas: President’s Quality Award Finalist; Recognition Quality Team Level II Award and National Quality Excellence Award; in addition, he received the Dallas County Community College: Excellence in Teaching Award for Adjunct Faculty. His community services include: Collin County Community College: Member of Advisory Board of Convergence Technology and Business Council, Dallas County Community College: Technology and Student Affairs Advisory Board and Westwood College: Program Advisory Committee (PAC). He has a Master of Science and a Master of Business Administration in Production and Supply Chain Management from the University of Texas, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Texas.

Lynn Mortensen
STEM Advocate & Volunteer

Lynn Mortensen is currently following her passion as a STEM advocate and volunteer after spending 30 plus years in the aerospace and defense industry. She started her career as a Computer Scientist with a degree from California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She retired from the Raytheon Company in 2013 having held many positions within the company in program management, product development and engineering management including vice president of engineering of a $3B business segment.

During her career, Lynn was the recipient of several awards including the Malcom R. Currie Innovation Award and Raytheon Womens Network Woman to Watch Award. In 2011, she was selected as a Women Worth Watching in Technology from the Diversity Journal. Lynn was selected by the Society of Women Engineers for the 2017 Spark Award for her contributions to the advancement through mentorship of women at all levels.

Lynn is active in the community promoting STEM education through her participation as a member of the Tech Titans STEM Talent Team, the University of Texas at Dallas Jonsson School of Engineering Industry Advisory Council and the University of Texas at Arlington Engineering School Board of Advisors. Lynn is also active with the Collin College Department of Engineering as a mentor to students, partner in outreach activities, and member of the Convergence Technologies Business & Industry Leadership Team.

As a member of the Dallas Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Outreach Committee, Lynn has taken on leadership roles for the signature Dallas SWE Design Your World STEM Conference for Girls and as the lead for the Scholarship Committee. Lynn is also an active volunteer at BEST robotics events and a Board Member for High Tech High Heels, an organization focused on granting funds to girl serving STEM organizations.

Lynn is also an active member of the STEM Advisory Council for the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas (GSNETX) and the Education and Research Committee for the Dallas Arboretum.

Lynn continues to share her experiences with the next generation of engineers in the hope of increasing the number and diversity of engineers for the future.

Tom Pensabene
Associate Vice President of Workforce and IT Innovation, Metropolitan Community College

Tom Pensabene is Associate Vice President of Workforce and IT Innovation at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. In that role he oversees corporate training and high impact grants and contracts. Tom has been active in NSF projects for over 15 years. He is the champion for the new Center for Advanced and Emerging Technology which opens at the historic Fort Omaha Campus this fall.

Gerhard Salinger
Gerhard Salinger became a program officer at the National Science Foundation in September, 1989 in a program to fund the development of materials for science and mathematics education K-12. His interest in technology education led also to the funding of instructional materials in technology and engineering education. His interests have been in materials and teacher professional development that support students developing increasingly sophisticated understandings of STEM concepts and practices. As a result of this work, the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association established an award in his name for those enhancing STEM education through technological/engineering design-based instruction. He also was awarded the Kreindler-Rowe award from Its About Time publishers for contributions to science education.

Because of this interest in technology education, in 1992 he was asked to establish and lead the Advanced Technological Education program along with Elizabeth Teles. As co-lead program officer, he set policy, wrote Program Solicitations and recommended funding of regional and national centers. He also contributed to the planning of the annual meetings of Principal Investigators. He retired from the Foundation in May, 2014 but continues to be involved in projects concerned with technician education.

Before going to the National Science Foundation, Salinger was a member of the Physics Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy New York for twenty five year and the chairman of the department for eleven years. His research interest was the thermal properties of disordered materials at very low temperatures.

Salinger received his B.S. in Physics from Yale University in 1956 and an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois in 1958 and 1961 respectively. Before going to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1964, he spent two years establishing a low temperature physics laboratory at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Glenn Wintrich
Glenn Wintrich is the co-founder and principal consultant at RDM Innovation Training. He has more than 40 years of international delivery, marketing, service line management, and innovation training and consulting experience. His global business experience, systematic approach, and leadership in systems architecture allowed customers to take full advantage of current and emerging opportunities in their business environments. In early 2006 Glenn joined Perot systems as the Global Director of Information Systems Product Management. From 2011 through 2016, he assumed responsibility for customer/Dell global innovation initiatives. Glenn’s team developed, taught, and consulted for Dell and their global customers. He has taught innovation concepts and application in six countries with stops at Harvard University in Boston and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Additionally, Glenn has provided customer innovation consulting across eight industries and in over ten countries. Glenn currently serves as Futurist in Residence at InterLink, a workforce and education non-profit organization.

Gordon Snyder
Gordon F Snyder Jr is currently an Engineering Professor at Holyoke Community College in Massachusetts. He is past director of the National Center for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT Center, formerly the National Center for Telecommunications Technologies or NCTT) at Springfield Technical Community College in Massachusetts and a consultant at the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education. These centers are both National Science Foundation funded Advanced Technological Education Resource Centers of Excellence.

He's authored four engineering and engineering technology textbooks and have over 20 years of consulting experience in engineering technology education, communications and information technology.

In addition to his work with the NSF Centers, he's served as the Verizon Next Step New England telecommunications curriculum leader and on several technology boards around the United States including the Microsoft Community College Advisory Council, the Massachusetts Networking and Communications Council and the National Skill Standards Board.

In 2001, he was selected as one of the top 15 STEM faculty in the United States by Microsoft and the American Association of Community Colleges and in 2004 was selected as the Massachusetts Network and Communications Council Workforce Leader of the year.