2020 - 2021 Officers
2020-2021 President
John Lewis, Ed.D.
John Lewis, Ed.D.
Dr. Lewis is a consultant, speaker, and coach on the topics of human capital and strategic change within the knowledge-driven enterprise. John helps leaders and organizations reach their peak potential through evidence-based performance strategies. John has “Big 4” management experience and was acknowledged by Gartner with an industry “Best Practice” paper for an innovative global knowledge management solution.
John is the author of Story Thinking: Transforming Organizations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which goes beyond storytelling to provide sensemaking in our approaches towards change, learning, and leadership. He is also the author of The Explanation Age, which Kirkus Reviews described as “An iconoclast’s blueprint for a new era of innovation.” He is an associate editor for Leadership and Organizational Behavior with the Journal of Innovation Management, and is on the review board for the Journal of Knowledge Management.
John has worked with some of the top global organizations, including PricewaterhouseCoopers where he was a human capital principle consultant; Adobe Systems where he was the manager of the instructional design department; Capital One Financial Services where he was the knowledge management department head; Lockheed Martin where he launched GPS satellites and designed the certification course for satellite operations; and the Applied Research Lab at Penn State where he led federal projects requiring advanced human capital and knowledge-based solutions.
John holds a Doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California. He is a certified coach in Collaborative Change Leadership from The CoHero Institute, with a certificate in Leadership Coaching from The John Maxwell Team. John is a member of ISPI (International Society for Performance Improvement), and a founding member of EBLI (Evidence-Based Learning Institute) where he currently serves as its President.
John is the author of Story Thinking: Transforming Organizations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which goes beyond storytelling to provide sensemaking in our approaches towards change, learning, and leadership. He is also the author of The Explanation Age, which Kirkus Reviews described as “An iconoclast’s blueprint for a new era of innovation.” He is an associate editor for Leadership and Organizational Behavior with the Journal of Innovation Management, and is on the review board for the Journal of Knowledge Management.
John has worked with some of the top global organizations, including PricewaterhouseCoopers where he was a human capital principle consultant; Adobe Systems where he was the manager of the instructional design department; Capital One Financial Services where he was the knowledge management department head; Lockheed Martin where he launched GPS satellites and designed the certification course for satellite operations; and the Applied Research Lab at Penn State where he led federal projects requiring advanced human capital and knowledge-based solutions.
John holds a Doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California. He is a certified coach in Collaborative Change Leadership from The CoHero Institute, with a certificate in Leadership Coaching from The John Maxwell Team. John is a member of ISPI (International Society for Performance Improvement), and a founding member of EBLI (Evidence-Based Learning Institute) where he currently serves as its President.
2020-2021 Secretary
Michael Zimmer, ESQ.
Michael Zimmer, ESQ.
Michael J Zimmer works with the Voinovich School of Leadership & Public Service as an Executive- in -Residence and Professional Fellow at Ohio University. He has served the Voinovich School over the past 15 years on a wide range of educational, public policy and public service issues, as well as on curriculum development, project management, project finance, economic development and public- private partnership (P3) issues in the Appalachian region. He has been at the forefront of many public policy changes in the country since 1975, initially serving as Counsel for Prentice-Hall, Inc., then as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of the American Gas Association. He has been engaged in the private practice of law in Washington, D.C and Virginia since 1980 until his retirement in 2014.
He has served on national committees and assignments for the American Bar Association, the Capital Markets Partnership, the National Institute of Building Sciences, Americans for Community Development, and the Microgrid Institute. He is a cofounder of the Evidence-Based Learning Institute (EBLI) in 2020 and currently serves as its Secretary. He has been educated and a cum laude graduate from both Providence College and the University of Baltimore School of Law. He also attended courses at Brown University and the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business.
He has served on the boards of various organizations including Caterpillar Capital, Inc., Sphere- E, Inc. (a software as a service company which he chaired from 2011-13), Power Generating, Inc. and Federal Strategies, Inc. He has been the author of several national articles, publications and books during his professional career. He has been a guest lecturer at several universities, and has also appeared as a frequent speaker at national conferences and trade meetings since 1978.
He has served on national committees and assignments for the American Bar Association, the Capital Markets Partnership, the National Institute of Building Sciences, Americans for Community Development, and the Microgrid Institute. He is a cofounder of the Evidence-Based Learning Institute (EBLI) in 2020 and currently serves as its Secretary. He has been educated and a cum laude graduate from both Providence College and the University of Baltimore School of Law. He also attended courses at Brown University and the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business.
He has served on the boards of various organizations including Caterpillar Capital, Inc., Sphere- E, Inc. (a software as a service company which he chaired from 2011-13), Power Generating, Inc. and Federal Strategies, Inc. He has been the author of several national articles, publications and books during his professional career. He has been a guest lecturer at several universities, and has also appeared as a frequent speaker at national conferences and trade meetings since 1978.
2020-2021 Treasurer
Ronald Gerola, Ed.D., PMP
Ronald Gerola, Ed.D., PMP
Dr. Ronald Gerola studies the application of human performance technologies in both corporate settings and academic environments, with a passion for cultivating new talent in the 4th Industrial Revolution workplace. As a licensed professional engineer and certified project manager, he leads global cross-functional project teams as part of a 30-year career spanning energy, aerospace, and information technologies with Lockheed-Martin, IBM Global Services, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and other well-known organizations. He also serves as Adjunct Faculty at the University of California Berkeley Extension and at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, teaching risk mitigation and strategic risk management. Ronnie has taught over 120 undergraduate engineering and project management course sections as an adjunct instructor over three decades, while mentoring aspiring students on constructive career paths.
As a Founding Member of EBLI, Ronnie believes that organizations of all types must not only be agile and willing to change when necessary, but in fact should embrace change as healthy. Acknowledging that change is not always easy, he leverages his human performance background within the art and science of program management to lead modernization initiatives and organizational transformation.
As a Founding Member of EBLI, Ronnie believes that organizations of all types must not only be agile and willing to change when necessary, but in fact should embrace change as healthy. Acknowledging that change is not always easy, he leverages his human performance background within the art and science of program management to lead modernization initiatives and organizational transformation.
2020-2021 Business Development, Marketing, and Communications
Jamie Mulkey, Ed.D.
Jamie Mulkey, Ed.D.
Dr. Jamie Mulkey is Vice President of Sales for Xvoucher, a FinTech software company dedicated to providing learning and credentialing commerce solutions. Dr. Mulkey has a distinguished history, holding major positions in testing organizations, certification task forces, and testing-related non-profit associations. She is a founder of Caveon Test Security and has been a major contributor to shaping the testing industry’s discussion around test security and bringing test security services to market through her numerous articles and presentations. Dr. Mulkey believes that education should be evidence-based; it should be supported by practical application and applicability of concepts and principles and should be measured as such. Her current focus is working with clients to design functional channels for the distribution of learning and credentialing materials.
Dr. Mulkey has held a number of leadership positions in the testing industry, including: Executive Director of both the Institute for Exam Security and the Certified Exam Security Professional program, Chair of the Board of Directors for ATP, Chair of ATP’s Security Initiative, American National Standards Board (ANSI) PCAC member, jCert Initiative board member, and member of the Editorial Board for Certification Magazine. Dr. Mulkey currently sits on the board of Evidence-based Learning Institute (EBLI) and is the Sales and Marketing Chair for the organization.
Jamie holds a Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Technology from the University of Southern California.
Dr. Mulkey has held a number of leadership positions in the testing industry, including: Executive Director of both the Institute for Exam Security and the Certified Exam Security Professional program, Chair of the Board of Directors for ATP, Chair of ATP’s Security Initiative, American National Standards Board (ANSI) PCAC member, jCert Initiative board member, and member of the Editorial Board for Certification Magazine. Dr. Mulkey currently sits on the board of Evidence-based Learning Institute (EBLI) and is the Sales and Marketing Chair for the organization.
Jamie holds a Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Technology from the University of Southern California.
2020-2021 Membership and Sponsorship
Dan Blair, Ed.D.
Dan Blair, Ed.D.
Dr. Dan Blair has led many human performance improvement initiatives over the past 30 years. As an educational and business leader he has engaged with a wide range of vocational challenges: from managing a high technology educational sales force to serving as an executive suite trusted advisor, to professor and dean of a college of business. He has had opportunities to build and deliver human capital business cases, learning strategies, high-impact educational solutions, and strategic visioning workshops to corporate (profit and non-profit), public sector, military, and academic environments. Because of his expertise in business, education, and strategic human capital development, he has been requested as a contributor to professional conferences and large-scale initiatives.
Dan’s publications range from prestigious peer-reviewed international journals to very practical how-to job-aids. He began his vocational work life as a summer-time clerk typist for the Department of the Army, he served in the United States Air Force (Air Training Command), finally retiring from the Department of Defense, with a top-secret security clearance (Defense Intelligence Agency). For two decades he dedicated his talents to the Hewlett-Packard Company, where he led several worldwide initiatives, including the development of HP’s first world-wide training management system, under his directorship of the human performance technology and systems lab. He made significant contributions to the training profession as the American Society for Training and Development’s Director of Research, where he created the Learning Executives’ Network. Dr. Blair was Dean and Professor for Ohio Valley University (OVU) where he developed a commercial regenerative indoor agriculture learning program.
Dan is currently the director of the K-20 curriculum development initiative for Balance Holdings, Inc., chartered by its non-profit arm, FIRM Foundation, Inc. This K-20 initiative is developing a FIRM Foundation AGtivities Curriculum to promote high-density nutritional food produced by sound agricultural science and technology to enable the feeding and clearing of the world . Dan holds Bachelor of Science (Ag Business, Elementary Education, & Biochemistry) and Master of Arts (Instructional Design & Technology) degrees, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Southern California.
Dan’s publications range from prestigious peer-reviewed international journals to very practical how-to job-aids. He began his vocational work life as a summer-time clerk typist for the Department of the Army, he served in the United States Air Force (Air Training Command), finally retiring from the Department of Defense, with a top-secret security clearance (Defense Intelligence Agency). For two decades he dedicated his talents to the Hewlett-Packard Company, where he led several worldwide initiatives, including the development of HP’s first world-wide training management system, under his directorship of the human performance technology and systems lab. He made significant contributions to the training profession as the American Society for Training and Development’s Director of Research, where he created the Learning Executives’ Network. Dr. Blair was Dean and Professor for Ohio Valley University (OVU) where he developed a commercial regenerative indoor agriculture learning program.
Dan is currently the director of the K-20 curriculum development initiative for Balance Holdings, Inc., chartered by its non-profit arm, FIRM Foundation, Inc. This K-20 initiative is developing a FIRM Foundation AGtivities Curriculum to promote high-density nutritional food produced by sound agricultural science and technology to enable the feeding and clearing of the world . Dan holds Bachelor of Science (Ag Business, Elementary Education, & Biochemistry) and Master of Arts (Instructional Design & Technology) degrees, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Southern California.
Fred Estes, Ed.D.
Dr. Fred Estes has worked within the PK-12 system, community colleges, universities, museum education, and corporate learning as an educator, leader, author, and consultant. He most recently served as the Science Coordinator/Science Specialist at The Nueva School, an independent school in the San Francisco Bay Area. At Nueva, he coached elementary science teachers, in addition to teaching elementary and middle school science students. He was involved in the formation of Nueva's world-renowned Innovation Lab and currently works with teachers from around the country through Nueva's Design Thinking Institute. Fred has also worked as a leader in corporate education at Hewlett-Packard and other organizations. In Fred's university teaching, he brings expertise in innovation, design thinking, learning design, and research-based practice.
Steve Huff, Ph.D.
Dr. Huff has been an active member of the mental health and wellness community for over 30 years serving as a case manager, program director, supervisor, teacher, consultant, board president and researcher. Steve is the founder of three companies (B&H Consulting, Interactive Learning, and RellaFit) in the fields of mental health, education technology and social/emotional learning, managing teams of diverse professionals, organizing large training events and providing clinical supervision/support.
After receiving his PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Kansas in 2001, Steve started a training and consulting company (B&H Consulting) where he and his team trained thousands of human service professionals on the use of the Strengths Model, recovery and wellness, job training and supports, and integrating effective outcome measurements into the daily work of social service professionals.
Steve was part of the team at the Mental Health Center of Denver that created Reaching Recovery, an innovative online measurement platform technology to track meaningful recovery outcomes that is currently used in over 300 public mental health organizations across the United States.
In 2015, when Steve noticed the negative effects that social media was having on today’s youth, he began a startup called RellaFit (short for Relational Fitness), a social emotional gaming company. Steve believes that technology is not necessarily a problem, but rather an opportunity, if the power of social media and online gaming can be harnessed in the right way. Steve brought together a diverse team of professionals to develop new frameworks and tools that could transform the world in positive ways.
Steve created the “Social Service Best Practice Framework” that integrates the three fields of social emotional learning, trauma informed care, and the strengths model into one operational visual tool. Steve created MAGIC2: A Design, Delivery and Measurement Framework for Self-Development. Steve is a founding member of EBLI: Evidence Based Learning Institute.
After receiving his PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Kansas in 2001, Steve started a training and consulting company (B&H Consulting) where he and his team trained thousands of human service professionals on the use of the Strengths Model, recovery and wellness, job training and supports, and integrating effective outcome measurements into the daily work of social service professionals.
Steve was part of the team at the Mental Health Center of Denver that created Reaching Recovery, an innovative online measurement platform technology to track meaningful recovery outcomes that is currently used in over 300 public mental health organizations across the United States.
In 2015, when Steve noticed the negative effects that social media was having on today’s youth, he began a startup called RellaFit (short for Relational Fitness), a social emotional gaming company. Steve believes that technology is not necessarily a problem, but rather an opportunity, if the power of social media and online gaming can be harnessed in the right way. Steve brought together a diverse team of professionals to develop new frameworks and tools that could transform the world in positive ways.
Steve created the “Social Service Best Practice Framework” that integrates the three fields of social emotional learning, trauma informed care, and the strengths model into one operational visual tool. Steve created MAGIC2: A Design, Delivery and Measurement Framework for Self-Development. Steve is a founding member of EBLI: Evidence Based Learning Institute.