Randall Fielding, AIA
Chairman, Fielding Nair International, LLC
Randall Fielding, AIA, is the Chairman and Founding Partner of Fielding Nair International, LLC (FNI), an award-winning school planning and design firm with offices in Minneapolis, Tampa, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Denver, Providence, Melbourne, and Mumbai. The firm has consultations in 23 states around the U.S. and 30 countries on five continents. Randy oversees FNI’s primary mission to improve learning by serving as a world leader in the creation of new and renovated educational campuses that are in consonance with best practice and research.

Randy’s achievements have earned him more than a dozen design awards from the American Institute of Architects, The Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI), the American Association of School Administrators, and School Planning and Management Magazine. He is internationally recognized as an authority on innovative school design and received the CEFPI International Planner of the Year Award in 2007 — the most prestigious honor bestowed upon any individual in the field of educational design. He has been selected to serve as an architect, consultant, presenter and/or keynote speaker in Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Finland, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Singapore, The Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

One of Randy’s “signatures” is his ability to come down off of the podium, sharing ideas with heads of state, educators, and children with equal passion. This spirit of sharing extends to two million people each year, through DesignShare.com, an online forum for innovative learning environments that Randy founded in 1998. He continues to serve as DesignShare’s editorial director, but the focus of his work is to lead communities in the design of environmentally responsive campuses that foster personalized learning and strong connections to the community.

Randy’s design work leverages more than 500 case studies from 30 countries — the largest library of innovative school designs in the world. The interactive planning and design process pioneered by FNI is also grounded in a seminal book that Randy co-authored with Prakash Nair, entitled The Language of School Design. The book establishes key learning modalities for success in the post-information society, and provides a series of design patterns to support these modalities. Randy uses the design patterns as a tool in evaluating existing and proposed facilities, and as a launching point for developing customized solutions for each individual community, campus, school or district that he works with.

In addition to serving as a lead design architect, teamwork underpins all of Randy’s work, which takes him around the world to collaborate with public and private institutions, educators, developers, and local architects. Whether it’s a high school near ground zero in New York City, a series of vocational schools for the tsunami-damaged areas of Sri Lanka, a school for at-risk students in Minneapolis, a K-12 campus in Indonesia, or a college preparatory school in Switzerland, he finds more commonalties in each community than differences.

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Prakash Nair, REFP
President, Fielding Nair International, LLC
Prakash Nair is the President and Founding Partner of Fielding Nair International. He is a futurist, a visionary planner, architect and one of the world’s leading change agents in school design. He is also the Managing Editor of DesignShare.com which attracts over two million visitors each year. He is the recipient of several international awards including the prestigious CEFPI MacConnell Award, the top honor worldwide for school design.

He has written extensively in leading international journals about school design and educational technology and their connection to established educational research. He is also the author of two guidebooks on school planning including the landmark publication, The Language of School Design which he co-authored with Randall Fielding.

Prior to co-founding Fielding Nair International, Prakash worked for 10 years as Director of Operations for a multi-billion dollar school construction program for New York City.

In 2003, Prakash completed a project with the University of Wisconsin on a Rockefeller Foundation-funded grant to develop international best practice standards for tomorrow’s schools. He also led the effort to develop EFEITM (Educational Facilities Effectiveness Instrument) a new research-based tool that school districts and governments across the globe have used to assess over one billion dollars worth of school facilities. EFEI has revolutionized the way we look at how school buildings and campuses actually work to support teaching and learning.

Prakash has served as the Northeast Regional President of the Council of Educational Facility Planners International and served on the ICOPE Task Force — New York City’s Independent Commission on Public Education.

FNI has serviced projects in 30 countries on 5 continents. Prakash has served as the Managing Principal, School Planning and Design Consultant, Presenter and/or Keynote Speaker for clients in Australia (five states), Canada, Finland, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, The Netherlands, U.A.E., U.K., Ukraine and the United States.

By staying current with the research as well as national and international social, economic and cultural trends, Prakash is always able to bring best practice thinking from many disciplines and fields to bear on education-related problems and projects. This approach has helped education clients save millions of dollars while still achieving or exceeding their schedule and quality expectations.

Prakash’s signature talent lies in his ability to communicate his passion for a new approach to education across the globe. He has consistently built strong partnerships with local firms, helped client communities visualize their future, built consensus for uniquely tailored solutions, and helped execute them successfully.

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Jay J. Litman, AIA

Jay J. Litman, AIA has a deep understanding and appreciation of the educational challenges facing both children and adults within the learning environment. His 30-years of professional experience as a licensed architect has focused primarily on the planning and design of educational facilities for children, university facilities, public libraries, institutional projects and the reuse and rehabilitation of historic structures. His project background also extends to urban and campus planning.

He is deeply involved in the emerging theories of project-based, collaborative learning that is reshaping the language of school design. His evolution towards a project-based, collaborative educational model grew from his personal interest in the education of hearing impaired children using an “inclusion” model. The emerging theories of the time mandated fundamental changes in the design of the classroom environment such as; learning in smaller groups, working collaboratively on project based assignments, creating multiple modes of learning within one classroom as well as paying attention to acoustics and lighting. It became immediately apparent that the current 100-year old factory model for public education was highly resistant to change at the most fundamental levels.

Jay focused first on changing the model through design intervention by studying and improving acoustics, lighting and adjustments to the configuration of the classroom. In the design of new schools he utilized the “House Plan” model that created small learning communities of 100-students around a cluster of classrooms and labs. He is a founding member of the Rhode Island Chapter of the A. G. Bell Association for the Hearing Impaired and was involved on the RI Department of Education’s “Oral Education Task Force” in development of the “Rhode Island Strategic Plan for Children who are deaf or Hard of Hearing”

As Senior Planning Consultant and Architect with FNI, Jay advocates a workshop driven approach for the design of new schools and community campuses both in the United States and internationally. Jay is known for his “roll up the sleeves” approach in working directly with client and stakeholder groups in an interactive manner through drawings and discussions to conceive and develop design concepts right in front of the group.

Jay is presently working on a public school Master Plan for Middletown, Rhode Island where the FNI team has recommended consolidation of their current aged facilities into a lower school and an upper school campus through the radical rehabilitation of older school structures combined with new construction. In Serpong, Indonesia Jay is involved in the design of a new 1,400 student campus for a private academy (K-12), coordinating the FNI team on the design of nine distinct buildings including six Small Learning Communities a Global Learning Center, Design Arts Technology facility and a Health and Fitness Complex.

Jay also has a unique specialization in the planning and design of public and academic libraries. In his career he has designed over sixteen public and university library projects. His design for the Warwick Public Library represented a radical departure from the accepted design template for a large public library. The Library is anchored around a linear spine or promenade that links a private cafe, public meeting spaces, an outdoor garden and various library departments, much like an open mall. The high level of public acceptance and use (over 500,000 visits per year and increasing), out of town use, and visits from other library planning groups is a testament to the library’s success. Jay has presented papers on Library design at various conferences over the years including the “The Beauty Thing” and “Renovating the Small Public Library” at annual meetings of the New England Library Association. He has been a featured speaker at the Art Librarians Association of New England and he is a long standing member of the State Library Board of Rhode Island.

The approach to collaborative, project based learning and best practices of modern library design have recently come together in an FNI pilot project for Middletown, RI with a radical redesign of the Gaudet Middle School Library. The new design will expand the library’s ability to support many modalities of learning in a project based, collaborative atmosphere. Even the design of the book stacks is uniquely configured to accommodate cave type spaces for small group interaction. The new Library will offer multiple environments for classroom groups as well as a quiet refuge for individuals. Since furniture for this type of collaborative interaction does not exist, Jay developed prototypical designs to accommodate the expanded educational requirements. The new Gaudet Middle School Library will enable the teachers to fulfill the 21^st century mission of a school library, which is to teach children how to search for and recognize reliable, quality information from available global databases and to teach students how to collaborate effectively.

Prior to joining FNI Jay owned and managed a small 10-person practice that focused on Historic Preservation, Libraries and Schools. In 1995 Jay merged his firm with a large, regional multi-disciplined A/E practice where he served as Associate Director of Architecture. Jay secured and designed projects for many educational and institutional clients such as the University of Rhode Island, Brown University and the Acela program for Amtrak as well as several multiple school public school and public library projects. Notable projects included the Coastal Policy Institute at URI, the Warwick Public Library, and several middle and elementary schools. In late 1998 Jay left the A/E firm to help open and grow the Providence office of another Architecture practice from a staff of three to twenty-one professionals. As Senior Associate he marketed, secured, designed and managed a wide variety of institutional and academic clients. Key projects at this firm included the new Jesse M. Smith Library, the redesign of the Newport Public Library, Club Acela for Amtrak, and the award winning Hotel Providence and Temple Habonim.

After receiving his professional degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design Mr. Litman worked for Mitchell/Giurgola Architects in New York City, Graham Gund in Cambridge, MA and Earl Flansburgh and Graham/Meus in Boston, MA. Notable project experience included the East Campus Master Plan for MIT, The Health Services & Technology Management laboratories at MIT, the Friuli Elementray School in Aviano, Italy, and the Boston Museum School. Jay served as project architect for the Emerson College Library and their Performing Arts School.

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Isaac Williams, LEED AP
Senior Designer and Planner, Fielding Nair International
Isaac Williams brings over a decade of professional experience from programming through construction administration to help FNI’s clients locate opportunities within their program, schedule and budget for innovative architecture that supports learning. As a senior designer with FNI, Isaac has provided design leadership in FNI projects around the world, including Douglas Park School and Herchmer School in Regina, Saskatchewan, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, Georgetown Primary School in the Cayman Islands, Sir James Douglas School and Acadia School in Vancouver, F.H. Collins High School in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and most recently Bloomfield High School in Michigan.

Isaac has lectured on school design and presented his design work nationally and internationally. He has served as juror for the American Institute of Architects Honor Awards, the National School Board Association’s “Learning by Design” awards, DesignShare’s international awards program, and served as a resource team member and panelist for the American Architectural Foundation’s Great Schools by Design program.

Isaac also brings to bear his academic background as an assistant professor at the University of Maryland where he has taught undergraduate and graduate design studios, including a graduate design studio on school design. His graduate seminar “Learning Places” explores the potential of architecture as a form of pedagogy in places of learning. Isaac has also taught architecture internationally in several study abroad programs around the world, including Dubai, Rome, Copenhagen, and Helsinki.

In 2007, Isaac was awarded a Henry C. Welcome Fellowship and a three-year grant by the Maryland Higher Education commission to continue his research and creative work focused on the relationship between space and learning.

Select Invited Lectures and Presentations

• Moderator. “Learning By Design: 10 Ways to Create Schools Where Students Thrive.” National School Board Association Annual Conference. San Francisco, April 10, 2011.
• Panelist. “21st Century Classroom” Slate Magazine. Washington, DC, November 8, 2010. Distinguished panelists included US Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education, and a founder of the nationally recognized Denver School of Science and Technology.
• Panelist. “Schoolhouse 3.0” Great Schools by Design. American Architectural Foundation. New York, New York, October 8, 2009.
• “Building Interface: Connecting the Experience of Learning to the Physical Environment.” Third Annual International Design Conference. Berlin, February 17, 2009.
• Keynote. “Learning Places.” Great Schools by Design. American Architectural Foundation. Austin Texas, November 5, 2008.

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Jennifer Lamar
Senior Interior Design Consultant
As an Interior Designer and Educational Planner, Jennifer’s role at FNI allows her to actively participate in all phases of the design process, including: facilitating design and planning workshops, developing Discovery Workbooks and planning materials for clients, produce Interior Design Workbook Guides, space planning and programming, and create 3D renderings and hand sketches for schematic designs. She is passionate about creating healthy and engaging learning environments so that students are uninhibited creatively and academically and inspired for a lifetime of learning. Working closely with the design architects, Jennifer ensures that the interiors function as a 21st century educational space to allow for maximum flexibility and variety with furniture selections and are aesthetically inspiring with interior details, lighting, finishes and color selections.

Jennifer also serves as an Senior Researcher for an innovative research project: Task Furniture for Education (TFE). TFE has involved top designers, furniture manufacturers and ergonomic experts from around the world to develop guidelines for educational furniture that responds to the recent trends in technology, flexibility, and collaboration in today’s schools

With FNI, she has worked on numerous projects, including: International School of Brussels, International School of Vietnam, Sinarmas World Academy in Indonesia, Medford Elementary Schools, Herchmer Wascana and Arcola Community Schools in Regina, Saskatchewan, North Central Shared Facility and Regina Skills and Trade Center in Regina, Saskatchewan, LAS Almaty in Kazakhstan, LAS Leysin in Switzerland, American Community School of Abu Dhabi, and Georgetown Primary in the Cayman Islands. Most recently she served as a Project Manager for schematic designs for P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School in Gainesville, Florida and Thomas Jefferson High School for Design and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia.

She received her Master of Interior Design degree from the University of Florida’s College of Design, Construction and Planning. Her studies cumulated in a thesis titled “Investing action research as a planning and designing approach: A post- occupancy evaluation of University of Florida College of Law’s Legal Information Center.” She strongly encourages the collaborative process of design by use of action research methodologies. Allowing the stakeholders from the community to be apart of the team-based design process ensures positive outcomes and changes for present and future generations. The ideas that emerge from involving the teachers, parents, administrators, and students lead to creating inspirational learning environments that the community is able to truly take ownership of. She has a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Theater from Skidmore College where she studied in London with the prestigious Shakespeare Programme participating in acting workshops with masters from the Royal Shakespeare Company.

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Michael A.van Hamel, UIA PhD
Senior Architect, Fielding Nair International
Vision, energy and a high level of design and technical expertise characterizes Michael’s 20 year career. The combination of these qualities has led to accomplishments with complex projects in a wide range of environments. These diverse experiences have exposed him to international approaches to educational architecture and master planning. Michael’s work has required him to communicate effectively within all stages of a project, serving not only as an architect but also cultural theorist, liaison, and educator. Most importantly, his working partnerships lead to projects success and client satisfaction.

With an extensive educational background ranging from Universiteit v. Amsterdam to Princeton University, Michael holds advanced degrees in architecture and a PhD in Environmental Psychology. He is a member in The International Union of Architects as well as being an adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design and lecturer for several east coast architectural programs.

Michael’s previous experience range from an engagement with the United States Government renovating American campuses in the Benelux and Asia to designing High-profile projects in Tunisia and Dubai. His recent FNI projects include the North Central Shared Facility and The Regina Trades and Skills Centre, both in Saskatchewan, Canada. The Middletown Public Schools, Forest Avenue Elementary and Gaudet Middle School Pilot Projects in Middletown, Rhode Island, USA. The Leysin American School – Geneva, Switzerland. The Pechersk School International- Master Planning and Architectural Design in Kyiv, Ukraine. And lastly, the award winning Sri Kdu School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Receiving the 2009 Council of Educational Facility Planners International- Project of Distinction.

Bert Taylor
Senior Designer, Fielding Nair International
Bert Taylor brings planning concepts to life in vibrant 3-dimensional form. In contrast to the often sterile computer-generated renderings of contemporary buildings, Bert develops colorful, varied interior and exterior spaces that support and express more than 20 learning modalities. He is both a skilled spatial inventor and collaborator, bringing the ideas of educators, planners, interior designers, and architects into reality.

High-profile projects with Bert’s signature include the 1,400-student K-12 Sinarmas International School in Indonesia, Scotch Oakburn Middle School in Launceston, Australia, and the Georgetown Primary School, Cayman Islands. His work on the Einstein Studio at Western Heights Academy in Geelong Australia and Da Vinci Studios at Blair Street School in Melbourne set new standards for interdisciplinary learning environments for science and art.

Bert gradated from the School of Fine Arts at the University of Minnesota. He has more than 20 years of experience in 3-dimensional design and rendering. His role includes architectural and interior design, custom furniture and equipment design, and exterior landscape elements. He serves as FNI’s top gun in three dimensional modeling and rendering.

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Mariana Boctor, M. Arch, LEED AP
Senior Designer and Planner, Fielding Nair International, LLC
Mariana Boctor, M. Arch, LEED AP is a Senior Designer and Planner at Fielding Nair International, LLC (FNI), an award-winning school planning and design firm with offices in Minneapolis, Tampa, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Rhode Island, India and Australia. Mariana has designed and planned several schools since the first one she worked on in Los Angeles- Cahuenga Elementary School, which was a LEED and CHPS (California High Performance School Design Guidelines) pilot project. This school was the first LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) CHPS pilot project, with an extra budget allocated for research on sustainable design for schools. This experience inspired her to earn her LEED credentials the first year it was offered in 2002. She has since collaborated on the design of several LEED certified school projects for 21^st century learning.

Other schools she has designed collaboratively with her teams at FNI include: one of the top IB schools in the world- International School of Brussels (campus master plan for Grades 1-12 with new Arts Center and Athletics Center buildings), F.H. Collins High School in the Yukon Territories of Canada and Regina Public Elementary Schools in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Mariana grew up in South America in several countries attending IB International Schools and had the opportunity to contrast these wonderful learning spaces to California’s cells and bells 70’s public schools when she moved to a San Francisco Bay Area suburb. This experience of traveling and seeing the contrasts in schools and classmates behaviors led her to understand the effect good design can have on a child’s facility to learn. Mariana works in all phases of the design process, from facilitating design charrette and LEED workshops, to architectural and interior design. She works with clients to help them feel comfortable voicing their hopes and fears, while sketching and expanding their visions to set the groundwork for a collaborative relationship to create schools reflecting their school’s teaching paradigm and local ethos.

Mariana graduated from the Department of Psychology at UC Berkeley with a minor from the Department of Architecture in Social, Cultural and Psychological Factors in Architecture. She graduated from the Master’s Program at UCLA in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. Many of her experimental design build projects in Los Angeles were published in books, home design magazines as well as the NY Times and LA Times. Her residential and hospitality design-build skills have transferred to designing schools with home-like environments that pay attention to the details of structure, sustainable design, lighting design, colors, materials and dynamic yet friendly volumes.

As an adjunct professor at Woodbury University in Burbank, and at Parsons New School for Design’s School of Constructed Environments in New York, she has mentored students to help them become confident designers able to develop their concepts in a participatory design process as well as tackle technical issues of detailing by guiding them through hands on design build exercises. The site design and design workshop classes she team taught also challenged students to become innovators of the new global economy by analyzing the environmental fabric their proposed projects would exist in, and invent ways to transform space sustainably.

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James Seaman, AIA, REFP, LEED AP
Senior Designer, Fielding Nair International
James Seaman has over ten years of professional experience primarily focused on the design of educational facilities. A well-rounded architect, he was worked on numerous projects from initial programming all the way through construction administration. James began working with FNI in the summer of 2010 as the designer for the modernization of three schools in Puerto Rico.

A graduate of Lawrence Technological University, James holds a Masters degree in Architecture. He is a registered architect in the State of Michigan and is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Passionate about education, James serves as an adjunct faculty member at College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. He teaches beginning and advanced 3D modeling and animation classes in the Interior Design department.

James is currently the Michigan Chapter President of the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI). Through the organization, he received a Regional Service Citation Award in 2010 for his work on the Midwest Great Lakes Regional Conference and for co-creating the educational social networking site www.relearning2.org.

It is the cross-pollination of disciplines, and a holistic approach to design that form the cornerstones of James’ career. His influence extends beyond architecture as he regularly collaborates with educators. James believes that research is essential for the realization of new ideas. It is from this research that James has authored articles about 21st century learning, career and technical education, and sustainability. He enjoys sharing his research through presentations at educational conferences and critical discussion amongst colleagues on topics related to architecture and educational design. Recent presentations include: A Holistic Approach to Implementing Green in Career and Technical Education, Collectively Designing the Future of Education, and Educational Trends that Affect School Design in the 21st Century.

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Gayle Johnson
Operations Manager, Fielding Nair International
As FNI’s Operations Manager, Gayle has key responsibilities for coordinating FNI’s trademark Discovery Workshops and Discovery Reports. In this capacity Gayle has served as a central figure in several FNI projects including The British School Caracas in Venezuela, GATES High School in Tampa, Florida, Billings Public Schools in Montana, Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic School Board in Ontario, Canada and the American School of Bombay located in Mumbai, India. Gayle is also directly involved with recruiting, professional development and marketing for FNI.

Gayle brings many personal strengths to the FNI team including her organizational and communication skills as well as a deep commitment to FNI’s cause – which is to improve the future for all children. Her interest in a new way to educate children is born from a conviction that no two individuals are alike, and that the diversity in their natural talents, passions and learning styles must be matched by an educational model that best suits each student and helps him or her to achieve his or her full potential. As someone whose own talent was suppressed as a ward of the “cells and bells” school system, she is able to see how a child influenced by schools developed under the FNI vision will not only thrive in this creative age but also be part of a larger movement to expand opportunities for children worldwide.

Gayle is a native of Atlanta, Georgia and a graduate of Branell Women’s College. She spent several years as the Manager of Member Services for F.A.B., Inc., an international foodservice co-op that just celebrated their 50th anniversary. In this capacity, Gayle was responsible for planning and implementation of international sales, marketing, procurement and organizing stockholder conferences. She was also the key liaison between the upper echelons of member companies and F.A.B. officers. Gayle reports directly to FNI President Prakash Nair and serves as a key liaison on the various projects that the firm is involved in.

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Kelli Ogboke
Interior Design Researcher, Fielding Nair International
Kelli is currently representing FNI in Dublin at the National College of Art and Design as a Research Designer. This four year research project, called Task Furniture in Education, aims at the design and development of innovative school furniture for classroom tasks, accommodating the latest technology and responding to new teaching methods. Kelli’s design experience brings a unique perspective to school planning with her background in corporate and hospitality design in Italy, UK, France, Spain, Japan and the USA.

Kelli holds a Bachelor of Interior Design with high honors from the University of Florida and a Master of Industrial Design, with a focus on furniture and lighting design, from Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan Italy. Her master thesis in lighting design was published in Italian Design Magazine CASE DA ABITARE, October 2008 and then the prototype, created by La Murrina of Murano, debuted at EUROLUCE 2009 as part of the Salone Internazionale dei Mobili in 2009 and 2010.

Previous experience includes working with NEST workspace, retail and resort planning interior design team in Milan Italy, interior and furniture design in London, and Corporate office space design and management in Tampa FL. In 2009 Kelli was sole designer and project manager for a 2.3 million dollar “green” renovation of a 1960s warehouse into Class A office space in Tampa. She was recognized by Tampa Mayor, Pam Iorio, as an influential individual in the City of Tampa ‘Green City’ Initiative in 2010.

As an avid painter and social justice advocate she is involved in many community and charity arts initiatives in the UK and USA. She believes strongly in the power of arts in education, community growth and sustainability. Kelli is passionate about investing time and energy into the research design and development of more positive, healthy learning environments and furnishings with lifelong positive consequences on health, performance, learning and behavior.

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Aylin Inel, IIDA, LEED AP
Senior Interior Design Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Aylin Inel has over twenty years of experience in interior design, strategic planning, furniture design, surface design, project management, and construction. She has designed more than 10 million square feet of space for global companies that specialize in high-tech, media and entertainment. She involves herself in each project from conceptual design to move in, making sure that in every step of the process, clients’ needs are exceeded and sustainability is carefully considered.

Aylin is committed to conserving the environment and making intelligent use of our natural and cultural resources. She believes that societies across the globe are experiencing a shift in attitude from one merely concerned with surviving on earth to one concerned with changing how we live so that the earth can survive. She embraces this shift and seeks to enhance the impact of sustainable design and development as a basic tenet of her work. Aylin believes the ideas of sustainability have the potential and power to enrich and broaden world culture as well as architectural language.

Earlier in her career, Aylin was the VP & Director of Design both at Interior Space International and HLW design firms. Most of her projects have been published, and she serves as a judge for Design Excellence & Innovation boards, providing design supervision for many cutting-edge furniture manufacturers.

As Aylin holds both a Master in Structural Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Design, she has the unique ability to deliver cost-effective, construction friendly, time-efficient designs. Her track record in meeting accelerated schedules and limited budgets has guaranteed her many repeat clients.

Her many awards include: Interior Architecture Honor Award Los Angeles Chapter AIA, Sony Imageworks, Culver City, 1996; Caliber Award Los Angeles Chapter IIDA, Warner Music, 2004; MGM Design Competition First Place, Los Angeles, 2001; EMI Music Publishing Competition First Place, Los Angeles, 1998

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Gary Stager, Ph.D.
Senior Education and S.T.E.M. Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Teacher educator, journalist, speaker, teacher, activist and consultant, Dr. Gary Stager, is driven by a belief that “things need not be as they seem.” He has worked since 1982 to help teachers on six continents make sense of their roles in the digital age. In 1990 Stager led development efforts at the world’s first two "laptop schools" in Australia. Since then, Gary has worked with countless laptop schools from Maine to Melbourne to Mumbai. Most recently, he helped a new Korean international School launch 1:1 computing and project-based learning from grade one.

Some people think ‘outside of the box.’ Gary is unaware of the box’s existence!
- Dr. David Thornburg, author, speaker & futurist

Stager taught at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology from 1993 to 2010, most recently as a Visiting Professor. In 1998, Gary helped design Pepperdine’s groundbreaking Online Master of Arts in Educational Technology degree program and has taught online for fifteen years. In 1982, Gary created one of the nation’s first computer camp programs and was the Director of Professional Development for NJ’s Network for Action in Microcomputer Educator from 1983-93. He has taught at every level from preschool through supervising doctoral theses. One of his passions is working to change the trajectory of at-risk learners and worked in troubled schools in the USA, Canada and Australia.

Dr. Stager worked with Seymour Papert to create the Constructionist Learning Laboratory at the Maine Youth Center. Gary’s work with incarcerated youth in Maine was the subject of his PhD. dissertation documented Dr. Papert’s last institutional research project. As a leading “constructionist,” Stager worked with Dr. Papert for twenty years to bring his ideas to life in schools around the world.

Dr. Stager was a collaborator in the MIT Media Lab’s Future of Learning Group and the One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s Learning Team. He is the Executive Director of The Constructivist Consortium, founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute and an associate of the Thornburg Center for Professional Development.

He sees through the No Child Left Behind fog with laser vision with eye-opening suggestions on how to truly engage and challenge learners. Having seen Gary work with children around the world, I can attest that Gary is a true champion of children.
- Peter H. Reynolds – Award-winning author, illustrator, animator & software developer

Gary was Senior Editor for District Administration Magazine, Founding Editor of The Pulse: Education’s Place for Debate and Editor of ISTE’s Logo Exchange. He is a frequent consultant, conference presenter, workshop leader and keynote speaker at conferences across the USA, Canada, China, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Qatar, Brazil, Mexico, India, Switzerland, France, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Peru, South Korea, South Africa, The Slovak Republic and Venezuela. Dr. Stager studied early childhood education innovations in Reggio Emilia, Italy and has been sharing “The Best Educational Ideas in the World” through conference presentations and a forthcoming book.

Gary has a B.A. degree in elementary education from William Paterson College and once studied to be a jazz musician at Berklee College of Music, Rutgers University and with Frank Foster and Barry Harris at New York’s Jazz Cultural Theatre. His Ph.D. is in science and mathematics education from The University of Melbourne (Australia).

Mr. Stager continuously demonstrated high levels of initiative and creativity. His work with teachers is outstanding and effective, particularly in providing new approaches and procedures for educators to overcome daily, weekly and monthly challenges. His presentations have always served to challenge long held paradigms in education. Few are left in his workshops that do not feel inspired and motivated.
– Ron Canuel – CEO of the Canadian Education Association

Dr. Stager has worked with public schools, private schools, gifted students, at-risk learners, governments and homeschooling communities, Dr. Stager’s corporate clients have included: Disney, Microsoft, LEGO, Apple Computer, Compaq, Tom Snyder Productions, Universal Studios, Toshiba, Logo Computer Systems, Inc., Generation YES and Claris. He co-founded We Learn @ Home, a company providing services to homeschooling families and The Constructivist Consortium, an alliance of six competing education publishers committed to children, creativity, computing and constructivism.

Gary is an outstanding educator who makes a powerful impact on teachers, parents and students. Gary worked with our school for five days. During that time, I was able to observe him leading faculty meetings, facilitating parent question and answer sessions and working with students in whole class settings. In each case, Gary provided quality instruction, insight and modeling of effective practices. He was able to quickly identify our specific needs and tailored his workshops and interactions accordingly. Gary is an enthusiastic, committed practitioner who challenges the status quo in a manner that promotes inquiry, reflection and substantive change. Gary keeps student learning as his central focus and left our teachers, students and parents energized and motivated to expand their view of how the learning environment can be restructured to improve engagement, motivation and achievement. Overall, it was an outstanding week and we appreciated all that Gary had to offer.
- Lisa Mireles, Assistant Superintendent – American School of Bombay, India

Gary Stager was a finalist for best columnist in the 2006 Association of Education Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards. In 1999, Converge Magazine named Gary a "shaper of our future and inventor of our destiny." The National School Boards Association recognized Dr. Stager with the distinction of "20 Leaders to Watch" in 2007. The June 2010 issue of Tech & Learning Magazine named Gary Stager as "one of today’s leaders who is changing the landscape of edtech through innovation and leadership."

He sees instantly to the heart of complicated situations, whether it be a classroom dynamic or a problem of professional politics and infighting. He cuts right through the irrelevant details and gets to the aspect of the situation at which an intervention might be possible.
- Brian Harvey, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley Department of Computer Science

Dr. Stager was a keynote speaker at the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference before an audience of more than 4,000 educators. He has been a Visiting Scholar at The University of Melbourne’s Trinity College and Scholar-in-Residence at Lesley University.

A man of many passions and talents, Gary was the new media producer for The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmeri Project – Simpatíco, 2007 Grammy Award Winner for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. The album also won a similar award from the Jazz Journalists Association. Dr. Stager is a contributor to The Huffington Post and a fearless voice on behalf of children and progressive educators. Gary’s “Hope for School” was captured in the documentary, Imagine-It2!

Contact Gary Stager

Melvin Freestone, B.A. (Mod), M.A., H.Dip.Ed., M.Sc.
Senior Professional Development Specialist, Fielding Nair International
Melvin Freestone is a Senior Professional Development Specialist with Fielding Nair International and brings to the group vast experience in teaching as well as in school and curriculum development in primary and secondary schools. He has held Senior Teaching positions in Ireland and Tasmania. Until recently he was Principal of Montagu Bay Primary School in Tasmania.

In addition to his teaching role, Melvin has led and advised numerous State and National Primary and Secondary curriculum development projects, specifically relating to science, technology and personal development.

Melvin’s experience extends beyond Australia’s borders: he has carried out a review of Technology Education in Pacific Rim countries for the OECD’s Pacific Circle Consortium. He has conducted residential programs for primary and secondary teachers in Thailand in association with the University of Tasmania. He has worked extensively over many years in providing both pre-service and in-service courses and programs for teachers and senior staff. He is currently working with teachers in Nepal.

Melvin focuses on empowerment of the people whom he works. He works collaboratively – ‘at the shoulder’ – with educational leaders, senior staff, teachers, parents and members of school communities.

Melvin’s educational experience and expertise enhance dialogue and action.

Melvin is a molecular biologist as well as an experienced educator, and has carried out research into the hospital pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.

Contact Melvin Freestone

Bob Pearlman
Senior Education Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Bob Pearlman has been a key leader in the design, development, and implementation of 21^st Century Secondary Schools. He is currently a strategy consultant for 21^st Century school development. Bob served from 2002-2009 as the Director of Strategic Planning for the New Technology Foundation in Napa, CA, a school development organization. In this role he worked with communities in 9 states to launch 50 new 21^st Century Secondary Schools based on the New Technology 21^st Century High School model. Bob consults and speaks widely in the US and the UK on 21^st Century Learning.

As the former National Consultant on Educational Technology for the American Federation of Teachers and as a founder of the Co-NECT School New American School Design Team, Bob has been a pioneer in designing new schools, integrating project-based learning, work-based learning, and technology into the schools, and in training teachers, administrators, and parents in the application of new technologies and their role in restructuring schools.

Bob is the author of many articles on 21^st Century Learning, including “Making 21^st Century Schools” (Educational Technology, September-October 2009), “New Skills For A New Century” (Edutopia, June 2006), “21^st Century Learning in Schools – A Case Study of New Technology High School in Napa, CA“, (New Directions for Youth Development, Summer 2006: The Case for Twenty-First Century Learning), and “Reconsidering the Design of Schools through the Lens of Project-Based Learning” – Interview, DesignShare and Education Facility Planning News, March, 2007. A new chapter, “New Learning Environments for 21^st Century Learners”, will be published Spring 2010 by Solution Tree Press in a new book on 21^st Century Learning.

Bob has had a unique career as a teacher, Co-Director of Computer Education, teacher union leader and negotiator, Foundation President, Director of Education and Workforce Development, and Director of Strategic Planning for the nation’s largest network of innovative 21^st Century Schools. Bob’s experience and expertise includes New School Development, Whole District Reform, Business-Education Partnerships and coalitions, School-to-Career and Workforce Development, Union—School District Negotiations, School Restructuring and Technology, Project-Based Learning, Professional Development, Educational Finance, and School-site Assessment and Accountability.

Bob is the former President of the Autodesk Foundation (1996-2000), the organization that revitalized Project-Based Learning in the 1990s, the former Director of Education and Workforce Development at Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and the Coordinator of Educational Reform Initiatives for the Boston Teachers Union.

Contact Bob Pearlman

Joanne Hopper, Ed.D.
Senior Education Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Joanne Hopper has spent nearly 30 years in K-12 education, with the majority in leadership roles. She has maintained a focus on student-centered learning, active engagement and real-world ca name=”Melvin_Freestone” id=”Melvin_Freestone” onnections. For the past 13 years, she has served as a Director or Education Services at a regional educational service agency where she directs and implements programs serving local school districts. In this role she has lead professional learning community, scho Century SchoolsJoanne Hopper, Ed.D.ol improvement, curriculum and instruction, and staff development initiatives. She has a strong experience base in online learning and has been directly involved for over 15 years in new program development from distance learning to virtual high schools. The most recent venture being a virtual high school for dropout and expelled youth.

Having served in local, regional and state leadership roles, Joanne is the current chair of the Education Committee of St. Clair County, Michigan Blue Meets Green, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Michigan Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. She also serves on the statewide advisory board for Regional Data Initiatives, and the Education Task Force of St. Clair County Community Foundation. In the recent past, Joanne served as president of Michigan Mathematics and Science Center Network.

Joanne has led 21^st century learning efforts and has worked closely with architect colleagues to foster dialogue and change in learning space design. She chairs the 21st Century Learning Symposium in St. Clair County and hosted with Stephen Heppell the first Be Very Afraid eXtra student exposition in the United States. Joanne is actively involved with the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) and serves as the Michigan Chapter’s President-Elect.

Joanne holds a doctorate degree in educational leadership from Central Michigan University. Her studies focused on change leadership within the context of a professional learning community. She has presented on a variety of topics including 21^st century learning and school leadership at state and national venues.

Contact Joanne Hopper

Lynne Irvine
Educational Planning Consultant, Fielding Nair International
With more than three decades of professional experience as a teacher, a school leader, an educational consultant and an interior designer, Lynne Irvine understands the synergy between the physical and pedagogical re-design of schools.

Lynne holds K-12 teaching certification in Art, with studio majors in painting and textiles, from Central Michigan University where she was first introduced to progressive education through the Honors College and a study tour of Pre-Columbian Art in Mexico. She championed the start-up of a private art school, enrichment programs in six public and private schools, two public charter schools, and an international interior design firm. Her gift for marketing and communications increased enrollment from 50-100% in one year.

Collaborators describe Lynne as, “A visionary who understands that education, wherever it may happen, must foster partnership among stakeholders.” “A leader with the ability to cut through complicated group dynamics and tactfully shine a spotlight on the elephant in the room.” “A trailblazer who can seamlessly run both ends of the spectrum, from board room to finger painting with children.” “A passionate collaborator with a keen intellect, and a powerful work ethic.” “A highly creative person with a natural empathy for the needs of creative young people and adults.”

Lynne believes good schools sensitively reflect their communities, are built on shared values, and are dynamic and ever-changing.

Contact Lynne Irvine

Matthew Cropper
Senior GIS and Master Planning Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Matthew Cropper is FNI’s GIS expert. He is also involved with long range Facilities Master Planning including the development of Demographic Analyses, Enrollment Projections and preparing Redistricting Studies.

Matthew Cropper has worked in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and planning industry since 1997. He has a Bachelors Degree in Geography with a Specialization in Geographic Information Systems and Analytical Cartography. He has worked with school districts of all sizes across the United States. He specializes in planning with a focused approach of using GIS mapping technology to assist in problem solving. Matthew has worked primarily with K-12 school districts, but he has provided consultation to municipal governments and private companies as well.

Matthew recently directed the largest redistricting effort that Henrico County, Virginia (surrounds Richmond) has ever undertaken. He has worked on demographic studies for districts in New York (Buffalo City, Corning Painted Post), and is currently working with West Chester Ohio, Champaign Illinois and Bloomington Illinois on demographic studies. Additionally, Matthew is also currently providing redistricting and planning consultation to Baltimore County Schools MD, Charleston County Schools SC, and Akron Public Schools OH. Matthew also serves as an expert witness for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

Contact Matthew Cropper

Bipin Bhadran
Management Consultant
Bipin is a Management Consultant with Fielding Nair International. In this capacity he directs many of the Company’s administrative, management and business development initiatives. He brings with him significant experience in managing business enterprises from diverse industries. FNI benefits from Bipin’s expertise in commercial operations, business development & international marketing.

Prior to joining FNI, Bipin provided end to end human resource solutions acting as a representative in India for the Ministry of Education, Rep. of Maldives. He was responsible for recruitment, selection and providing curriculum awareness to secondary school teachers. He was also associated with the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, serving as India Events Manager for all education promotion and marketing activities conducted by several private and public Malaysian universities. He organized road shows and exhibition events in various cities across India. He also undertook a market research project in India to analyze student behavior in considering overseas higher education. This project provided a platform for assessing the effectiveness of a marketing scheme adopted by Malaysian universities for the Indian marketplace. He continues to render consulting services to a number of organizations in South East Asia, The Middle-East and UK.

After being based in UK for a while, he currently heads the Indian affiliate of FNI, Education Design Architects (EDA) spread across six locations in India. Bipin holds his first degree in Computer Science & Engineering from and also an MBA from the Leeds University Business School, UK.

Contact Bipin Bhadran

Mikael Gevorkian
Architectural Designer and 3D Visualization Artist
Mikael Gevorkian is based in our Los Angeles studio and graduated cum laude from The University of Southern California’s Architecture Department in 2009 and has 10 years of experience in 3D modeling and is always researching and experimenting with the latest technologies. His passion for design and artistic talent combined with his ability to use various 3D and animation gaming software programs in innovative ways helps the design team and our clients seize the opportunities to create beautiful spaces for fluid 21st Century learning. His rendered 3D views and animation movies of FNI designs are tools our clients have benefited from by using them for marketing endeavors. His ability to quickly do 3D spatial studies supports our collaborative design process with our clients and local architects of record in which our team explores many ideas before settling on what is best for a given school design. He also recognized for his strong technical, organizational and lighting design skills, which he gained by working for his family’s business in construction and electrical sub-contracting.

Mikael’s roles at FNI have included both architectural and detailed interior design including acoustical and lighting design on our most fast track projects. He was a key member of the design teams for International School of Vietnam, Taiwan Adventist Prep Academy and Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School.

Contact Mikael Gevorkian

Kristie Lane Anderson, LEED AP
Design Associate
Kristie Anderson graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Oregon in 2011 with a Bachelor of Architecture and a minor in Landscape Architecture. Her academic work focused on designing engaging spaces that support place-based and naturalist learning.

Kristie’s experiences as a wilderness camp counselor and leadership facilitator inspire her to create engaging learning environments that help young people realize their full potential. She loves to think outside the “box”–not just of the classroom, but of the school building itself.

Since starting with FNI, Kristie has worked on schematic design for an environmental high school in Florida and master planning for school districts in Montana and Ontario.

Contact Kristie Anderson

Deepti Nair
Associate Planner
Deepti has been working and studying film and communications for over 5 years, and brings a multimedia perspective to FNI. Having lived in NYC, Reykjavik (Iceland), Berlin, and India she understands the global uses of technology and communication and is able to relate it to education. She has done work for True Entertainment, the Style Network and Fuse Music Television, all in television production, and is an asset when it comes to media related work. As an associate planner for FNI she helps with writing, editing, research and layout work.

Having recently graduated from Hampshire College, a highly selective liberal arts school in Amherst, MA known for its innovative approach to education, Deepti brings personal experience and a young, fresh viewpoint to school design.

Deepti was a co-keynote presenter in Tasmania, Australia in 2004, where she spoke to senior educators including the education minister at an international conference on school design. Currently, Deepti is involved as a key FNI client representative on the Educational Facilities Effectiveness Instrument (EFEI), supporting the company website, providing graphic design services, assisting with community workshops and report writing.

Contact Deepti Nair

Jody Sampson
Vice President, Fielding Nair International
Jody has worked to promote the missions of non-profit and public organizations for almost 20 years, doing advocacy, fundraising, public relations and marketing. Jody earned an MBA in Strategic Management and Marketing at Columbia University with an interest in applying private-sector methodologies to public-sector ventures. After graduate school, Jody joined the New York City School Construction Authority where she worked for 10 years as a member of an internal management consulting team. She worked on a broad range of projects, from an in-depth competitiveness study to overhaul the design department to establishing a quality management program for the agency.

Jody is an advisor to a project at Columbia Journalism School, the establishment of an institute to encourage journalists to work with high-risk urban high-school students. She has been advising on fundraising, marketing and strategic planning, as well as helping to write the business plan.

Jody is also a founding member of Urban Educational Facilities for the 21^st Century, a non-profit that advocates for good school design for urban children. She is an editor and contributing writer for its Schoolhouse Journal. At Fielding Nair, Jody has many responsibilities including operations, administration, writing, interviewing, in-depth plan analysis and marketing.

Contact Jody Sampson

Bruce Dixon
Senior Technology Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Bruce Dixon is a Senior Technology Consultant with Fielding Nair International. As a teacher, Principal, educational software developer and college lecturer, Bruce’s focus over the past three decades, has been on driving reform initiatives that significantly improve the opportunities for learning through the use of technology.

Following his teaching career, he was an educational software developer, and in the late 80’s co-founded what became the largest educational technology services company in the Southern Hemisphere, which oversaw the rapid expansion of technology use in Australian schools as well as the development of 1 to 1 (student to computer ratio) programs across Australia and New Zealand. He then took the concept to North America, Canada and the UK, before establishing a learning, technology and strategic consulting practice, Prestondixon. He has continued his pro-bono work through the establishment of the Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation.

He consults to schools, School Districts, Education Departments, Ministries of Education and corporations in the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, UK and New Zealand, has been invited to speak at events across Asia, Europe and North America, and continues to work on a diverse range of exciting projects making learning a more compelling experience for kids.

Contact Bruce Dixon

John Sole
Senior Professional Development Specialist, Fielding Nair International
John Sole, is a Service Learning Master Teacher, educational consultant, and videographer. He was an educator in the School District of Philadelphia for 20 years. In 1998, John left the classroom to become the Service Learning Specialist for the District. In that capacity, he assisted in the development and implementation of District-wide Project Based Service Learning and worked diligently to integrate technology into all projects as a 21^st century teaching and learning tool. In his position as SL Specialist, he helped individual teachers, students and schools conceive, plan and implement hands-on-projects in the classroom. As the Service Learning Specialist, John created District-wide, student-directed projects such as “Designing the School of the Future”, the “Student Paper Recycling Initiative”, “Seeds to Trees”, and the “Children’s Water Monitoring Network”. All projects are designed for students to develop leadership and citizenship skills and to achieve mastery of grade appropriate curriculum and state mandated standards across the disciplines. Community Partnerships are integral to all projects in which John has been involved.

He has trained thousands of teachers from throughout the United States as well as from Canada, Japan, Serbia, the Ukraine and Russia about Service Learning and its implementation and has been directly responsible for involving tens of thousands of students in hands-on projects on the front lines in their classrooms.

Since 1999, John has created dozens tightly edited videos of real students conducting real projects, in and out of real classrooms.

In 2001, John co-founded Green Woods Charter School. Until June, 2004, he served as the Projects Specialist there. Green Wood’s pedagogical focus is environmental and project-based.

Beginning in 2004, John Sole has devoted himself full time to his educational consulting organizations. Sole Productions, is his video technology studio for visually documenting compelling student projects. Guerilla Educators (www.guerillaeducators.typepad.com) works to address the critical global need of providing the tools necessary for educators to practice world-class, hands-on Project Based Learning in their classrooms, schools, and Districts.

As a consultant, John also works closely with school architects, designers, and planners to powerfully connect the design process of school construction directly to students and curriculum via Project Based Learning.

Currently, John is in the process of developing another school, the Elementary School for Sustainable Design.

• “Sparking School Design Via Project Based Learning”. Q&A with John Sole, Project-based Service Learning Master Teacher and Founder of Guerilla Educators November, 2006
• Getting REAL, Part One — Q&A with John Sole, Project-based Service Learning Master Teacher
• Getting REAL, Part Two: The Philadelphia Story — Q&A with John Sole, Project-based Service Learning Master Teacher

Contact John Sole

Andrew S. Horowitz
Senior Design Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Andrew has over 15-years of professional experience, earning his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Miami in Florida and practicing in San Diego before settling in Massachusetts. Throughout his career he has been recognized for his ability to quickly understand the unique needs of his clients. He is recognized for his collaboration skills and his ability to manage large and complex projects. His experience ranges from existing conditions through construction administration and includes educational, commercial, retail, medical, residential, historic preservation, and renovation projects. His focus and passion however center on educational projects. While working with Flansburgh Architects and Newport Collaborative Architects his projects include numerous schools, public libraries, community centers, and historic rehabilitation projects.

Andrew feels strongly that, just as an architect should be responsible for the physical shaping of a community, he should also participate in shaping the ideological structure of a community. His passion for community led him to teaching architectural design at the New England Institute of Technology, is a regular guest critic at Roger Williams University’s School of Architecture and is a community athletics coach in Rehoboth, MA.

Since 2008 he has been an integral part of the FNI project teams on several key projects including his continuing role as the key project manager for the development of a series of educational pilot projects for Middletown Public Schools. This includes the Internet Café/Learning Center and the new 4th/5th Grade Learning Academy at the Gaudet Middle School, the K-2 Learning Center at the Forest Elementary School and the new Bradley Learning Center at the High School.

Andrew has been a key member of the FNI design team for the schematic development for the new Discovery World School in Indore, India; a 1,500 student K-12 International School Campus. He coordinated the evolution of the layouts for the Small Learning Communities of each school Building as well as the layout of all the enrichment buildings. Andrew also played a key role in the development of the building layout of the North Central Shared Facility in Regina, Saskatchewan; a new Collegiate School (High School) designed with fully integrated community facilities.

Contact Andrew S. Horowitz

Alex Suarez
Senior Designer, Fielding Nair International
Alex Suarez works to integrate FNI’s clients’ educational vision with inspired architectural responses and led the master planning for International School of Brussels and PK Yonge Developmental Research School. With over 13 years of experience, Alex’s interdisciplinary approach to design mirrors what is happening in the world of education. It evolves from critical research in exploring relevant and contemporary strategies to design problems. His education work benefits from his experience with a vast repertoire of project types. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Temple University in Philadelphia before earning his Master of Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied under the architectural leadership of Thom Mayne, Daniel Libeskind, and Anthony Vidler, among other distinguished faculty. In addition to the US, he has also worked and lived in Brazil, Istanbul and Amsterdam. In Brazil, Alex worked for the American Consulate in Rio de Janeiro doing surveys and research to create a feasibility report to help them find a new site for their headquarters as well as renovating one of their buildings. He also worked for Progetto Arquitetura E Interiores on the 1997 Instituto Arquitetos do Brasil Public School Competition in Sao Paulo.

He is currently the Director of the Interior Architecture Master Program at the Piet Zwart Institute, a centre for postgraduate studies and research, Rotterdam, NL. Prior to this appointment he was teaching design studios and seminars courses at Woodbury University, Los Angeles. He has formed international workshops and taught design studios and seminars in Barcelona, Paris and Istanbul. For Alex, the intersection of academia and professional practice are reciprocal vehicles to test, explore and implement design ideas.

His work has been published and won numerous awards. In 2008, he won the NAS (Novosibirsk Architecture Society) Award for his competition entry “TransPavilion” for a temporary architecture + design summer pavilion in Novosibirsk, Russia. In 2005, he designed and exhibited ‘Ulterior Motifs’ an exhibition in Los Angeles that showcased work produced in a Barcelona CAD/CAM study abroad program. His 2009 project “WhiteOut” is an installation produced and exhibited at The Historic Hallein Salt Factory in Austria. In 2010, he was invited by the European Ceramic Work Center for a CAD/CAM art-in-residency to research digital design and fabrication.

Contact Alex Suarez

Neil A. Shaw
Consultant in Acoustics and Presentation Technologies, Fielding Nair International
Neil A. Shaw, FASA, FAES, consultant in acoustics and presentation technologies, has over 30 years of experience with in the design and operation of performance, production, and academic spaces as well as corporate meeting and conference facilities, sacred spaces, and research laboratories.

He studied Electrical Engineering at the Cooper Union and received his BS Engineering and MS Engineering degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was the author of, and was the adjunct faculty for, acoustics courses at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Thornton School of Music at University of Southern California, and has presented invited papers for the Acoustical Society of America and the Audio Engineering Society. He is a Fellow of both the Acoustical Society of America and the Audio Engineering Society and is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

His commissions include the renovation of Barnum Hall and the expansion of the Music Building at Santa Monica High School; the renovation of the auditorium at Malibu High School; the new Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill, California; and the new South Region High School No. 9 in Los Angeles. University projects include the the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences building at the University of California, Riverside; the Arts building at the University of California, Irvine; the South Lawn building at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and the Intimate Theater at California State University, Los Angeles. Performance and production venues include the Coral Sky Amphitheater in Palm Beach; the scrstrong /peening room and production spaces for Media Artists, Pty, in Chennai, India; the Getty Villa Amphitheater; the Getty Museum Auditorium; the screening room and edit facilities at MGM Constellation Headquarters in Century City, California; new edit and production rooms at Capitol Records in Hollywood; and performance spaces in the Legend of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas, Disney Magic, and Crystal Harmony cruise ships.

Contact Neil A. Shaw

Michael Gamson
Chief Technology Officer, Fielding Nair International
As FNI’s CTO, Michael specializes in optimizing schools to leverage the use of web 2.0 resources. By utilizing open source, crowd sourcing, and cloud based services, Michael helps schools maintain maximum return regardless of their technology budget.

After earning a degree in Special Education at The University Of South Florida, Michael began working with the unique population of special needs students at Florida’s busiest domestic violence shelter. While working with these students, many of whom were homeless and facing a 2 to 3 grade level academic deficit, Michael realized the potential for technolo gy as a great equalizer for students with special needs.

As he and his children’s services team developed innovative therapy techniques for child witnesses to domestic violence, Michael continued to explore ways to enhance therapies and education through the use of technology.

For the past 10 years Michael has served as the IT Director at the Hillel School of Tampa. His philosophy is to discontinue the old educational technology designs where computers exist in the vacuum of a computer lab in favor of total classroom integration of technology. His design goal is for technology to be as ubiquitous and unobtrusive as a common pencil in every classroom.

Contact Michael Gamson

Kristina Fielding
Senior Interior Designer
Kris develops color palettes, interior finishes, and furnishing plans that epitomize the stimulus-rich environments demanded by 21^st century learning environments. Laura Porter-Jones, Director of Paideia Academy, wrote of Kris’s work: “The school is absolutely beautiful — in 15 years I have never been privileged to work in a facility half as lovely as this one. Thank you!”

Kris has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, and more than 20 years of experience in interior architecture and design. Kris’s educational designs include: Cayman Islands High Schools and Primary Schools; Scotch Oakburn College, Launceston, Tasmania; Advanced Learning Environment Solutions, Jacksonville, Florida; Community Trade & Business Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Sage Academy, River Heights Charter School, Great River Montessori School, and Paideia Academy in Minnesota.

Interior design is inseparable from effective architecture, and Kris works seamlessly with both FNI and partner architects. She has a powerful ability to visualize finished spaces from preliminary design sketches, and integrates her work with structural elements, lighting, and landscape.

Contact Kris Fielding

Chris Hazleton
Senior Education Consultant
Chris Hazleton has been an education innovator, entrepreneur and school leader for eighteen years. He has dedicated his professional career to the improvement of the school experience for young people. Prior to joining the FNI team, Chris cut his teaching teeth while working with struggling teens in the outdoors. Outdoor therapeutic recreation and education proved to be a gateway for Chris to teaching in public schools but he struggled with the static systems and practices that continually got in the way of  great learning opportunities for students. After teaching high school and middle school social studies, Chris was moved by the opportunity to incite change in education by starting a charter school in Duluth, Minnesota. He designed and opened Harbor City International School, www.harborcityschool.org, an accredited, student centered and inquiry-based public charter school recognized for quality and innovation. As Executive Director, Chris led Harbor City High through its first 9 years by creating learning, teaching and administrative programs that married the best practices of a student centered, inquiry-based learning programs with effective traditional methodologies and programs. Recognizing that a student’s success is dependent on competent, passionate, “teacher entrepreneurs,” Chris created and refined a consensus driven, distributed leadership and professional development model. Despite Harbor City’s high level of economically and academically disadvantaged student population, the school’s academic performance and attendance results as well as exceptional staff retention rate illustrate that this educational model works. It was in this capacity that he first began collaborating with FNI, who served as the design architect for Harbor City International School.

Chris believes that the fundamental underpinnings of effective education are dependent on teacher and student ownership of the learning process and experience. Teachers and students thrive when they are challenged with relevant learning experiences tied to their own interests in an environment that fosters critical thinking. He brings both a teacher’s and administrator’s mindset to  the school design and transformation process. His broad background and understanding of best practices and top innovations equip him to  offer FNI’s clients support in value-based curriculum design and mapping, effective and creative scheduling, stakeholder buy-in, teacher development, strategic planning, governance development and leadership support. Chris also has experience in managing four extensive facility expansion and enhancement projects and understands the natural relationship between a school facility and the curriculum it supports. He currently serves as Senior Educational Consultant with FNI in developing a new curriculum for “Learning Across Community” in an integrated facility in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Contact Chris Hazleton

Walther Hetzer, PhD
Senior Education Consultant
A graduate of the University of Vienna with over thirty years experience in international education, Walther has recently set up a new international boarding school in Austria. Over the years, he has been highly involved in architecture and innovative school design. He likes the German word “Lernlandschaften” (learning landscapes does not quite do it justice), and the founding of the St. Gilgen International School has provided opportunities to create unique synergies between the school, the host community, and the surrounding region. Recently, Walther has joined the FNI team on the Campus Development Project of the International School of Brussels.

During his career, Walther has taught at the University of Ottawa and the New School for Social Research in New York. Within international schools, he has taught International Baccalaureate History, Philosophy and Theory of Knowledge. He has served at various times as Examiner, Teacher, Head of Humanities, High School Head, and Director of leading international schools such as the United Nations School in New York, the United World College of the Adriatic, the Vienna International School, the International School of Brussels and the American International School of Abu Dhabi.

Schools engaged in the Self Study for Accreditation and schools assessing the effectiveness of their learning spaces travel many common paths. Walther is an experienced Accreditation Advisor for the Council of International Schools and has chaired numerous Visiting Teams. Walther has served terms on the Boards of the European Council of International Schools, the International Schools Association and the Emirates College for Higher Education and has given numerous workshops and presentations around the word.

Walther has always been influenced by the educational philosophy of Kurt Hahn (founder of Gordonstoun and mentor of the United World College Movement), who combined the striving for academic excellence with an emphasis on sharing outward-bound and social service activities with all students.

Experienced as a journalist and exhibiting photographer, Walther is bilingual in German and English, fluent in Italian and French, with adequate Spanish, some Modern Greek, and very beginning Arabic. Interested in all forms of communication between people and schools, Walther is on the Board of The Alliance for International Education, which endeavours to establish new links in furthering international education.

Contact Walther Hetzer

Jane Morelli Johnson
Senior Education Consultant
Jane Morelli Johnson, presently Middle Division Head at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, Florida, served as the Middle School Director at Duke School, in Durham, NC, for three years. During this time, she has seen Fielding Nair’s award-winning design at Duke School go from paper to the successful implementation of the completed new learning spaces. “We moved the entire Middle School in three days over a long weekend! Now the challenge is working with teachers and students to optimize the use of these spaces and communicate their purpose to families.” Jane’s on the ground knowledge of building new educational environments that support different ways of learning makes her uniquely suited to help others doing this work. Prior to her current position, Jane was the Elementary Principal at The Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School in North Miami Beach Florida where she worked with teachers to redesign their learning environments to be more student centered and collaboration focused. She has served on NAIS accreditation committees and consults in school design, teacher leadership, differentiated instruction, and creating interdisciplinary learning. Jane has spent thirty years in the independent school world of progressive education and has taught every grade K-12.

Jane’s career includes an Assistant Headship at the Town Hill School in Lakeville, CT where she helped design student centered progressive learning environments. Jane has also taught middle school and high school in Hawaii and Colorado. She was trained in the International Baccalaureate in Brussels, Belgium, and taught in the IB programme at the American Overseas School of Rome, Italy.

One of Jane’s unique gifts is her ability to “talk constructivist learning” in a down to earth way to parents, students, and school administrators and faculty. Her school design workshops are practical and support schools in transition from conventional to progressive learning models. The focus of Jane’s work with students, parents, and teachers continues to be the implementation of solid school design that reinforces constructivist learning pedagogy. The challenge is working with all constituents to understand and use progressive learning environments, communicate the educational Best Practice of such environments, and provide training in space use and curriculum development for such unique learning spaces.

Ms. Johnson is a member of the American Association of University Women, the National Association of Independent Schools, and the National Council of Teachers of English. She has been named in “Who’s Who of Outstanding American Educators”.

Contact Jane Morelli Johnson

Professor Stephen Heppell
Senior Education/ICT Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Prof. Stephen Heppell is a Senior Consultant with FNI advising clients on a wide range of education and ICT issues. Stephen’s work extends into multiple, but overlapping, domains:

“Professor Stephen Heppell: the UK’s leading on-line education guru” Channel 4 TV 1999

Stephen pioneered collaborative virtual learning spaces. Past projects range from the Guinness Book of Record’s largest internet learning project in the world last century, through a community of 20,000 headteachers to the worldwide Think.com. A string of very-large-scale projects showed and still show just how seductive online learning communities could be and he started these in the pre-web days of the 1980s.

“The father of ICT, Stephen Hepell” think:lab blog 2007

In Architecture and Design his pioneering research work for CABE and RIBA redefined the scope of learning spaces, largely informed by the emerging pedagogies in his virtual spaces. He is involved in the building, or redevelopment, of a mass of learning spaces worldwide, from community and corporate, through to Higher Education and of course a good number of radical, effective and seductive schools.

“when I finally spotted him, Stephen Heppell didn’t look at all like I imagined. This geek of geeks, this net-head of all times, this revolutionary who is yanking the British education system out of its Victorian slumber and shaping it for the digital information age, surely it couldn’t be this genial fellow before me with his whitening Father Christmas beard and Hush Puppy fashion sense” Design Magazine

In 2008 Stephen still does “geeky“. Pioneering projects have consistently reached out for the early adoption of people-power technologies, like Hypercard, into learning. Pioneering CD ROM projects in the 80s led onwards onwards to hand held projects – like the radical eVIVA project with QCA using mobile phones to capture learner narrative in a formal viva.

“Europe’s leading online education expert” Microsoft 2006

(Almost) finally, at the centre of all this, Stephen carries a significant policy portfolio supporting a range of front running nations worldwide. His work ranges from horizon scanning for the DfES/DCSF through to what can only be described as a full policy revolution in the Caribbean. As well as his own policy consultancy heppell.net ltd he sits on a small number of corporate boards and is chair of trustees for the charity “Inclusion Trust” with its remarkable Notschool.net project.

“The most influential academic of recent years in the field of technology and education” Department for Education and Skills (DfES), UK, 2006

But everyone who knows Stephen well, will also know his passion for sailboat racing – from coaching the UK Mirror Class Squad to a World Championship win in Kingston, Canada to his annual campaign around the UK’s Solent and East Coast in his rather high tech (!) yacht Cracker with partner, friends and family. “Sailing” says Stephen, “is what I do – the rest is a hobby”.

In this Mobile Learning Institute film, Heppell makes his way through London, describing his vision for schools, meeting with kids at the Be Very Afraid conference, and exploring ideas for classroom design in a technology pilot school in Teddington.

Contact Professor Stephen Heppell

Annalise Gehling
Educational Planning Consultant
Annalise Gehling is a Melbourne-based teacher, geographer and planner and serves as FNI’s Educational Planning Consultant. Annalise has worked on National School Planning Standards in Abu Dhabi, trained Government Officials on School Facilities Assessment in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, researched and authored a detailed Master Plan of the Cayman Islands’ school environments, acted as chief planner for a school library refurbishment, and played a key role in FNI’s School Planning contracts in the United States, India, Ukraine, Victoria, Malaysia, Tasmania, New Zealand, UAE and the Cayman Islands.

In addition, Annalise has had a number of speaking engagements at regional, national and international events, and has authored papers for The Anneberg Institute at Brown University, British Council for School Environments, Australian Education Union, Edutopia and the School Libraries Association of Victoria.

Annalise’s work with FNI draws upon her recent teaching experiences, big-picture educational philosophy and broad understanding of educational literature. Annalise earned a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Adelaide, Australia, in 2002. Her excellent results in majors of Geography, and Media and Communication showcased her talents as a spatial and linguistic thinker. After working as a graduate in the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Annalise turned to her passion for education and completed a Bachelor of Teaching (Primary and Secondary) at Deakin University.

Annalise is a member of the Australian College of Educators, and also teaches part-time at several Melbourne schools.

Contact Annalise Gehling

Tiffany Green-Abdullah, M.Ed
Market Development Consultant
Tiffany Green is an Atlanta-based Education Consultant and Trainer, Project Manager, and Education Policy Advocate.

Tiffany earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics in 1998 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville TN. She received a Masters in Education and Technology from the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University in 2002. Tiffany was formerly the Policy Aide to Minneapolis City Council Vice President, Robert Lilligren. Tiffany was the founder and co-Project Manager for the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) in Minnesota. Tiffany formerly served on the board of Community Action of Minneapolis and Resources for Child Caring.

Tiffany’s natural talent for design was uncovered while working as a Flooring Consultant alongside ASID Interior Designers in Nashville. Growing up in Chicago IL also spurred Tiffany’s love of architecture. Tiffany has worked with FNI as an Educational Planner on projects including the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School (Educational commissioning and Operating Manual), Meadowdale Oregon School District, Regina Saskatchewan Canada School District, the University of Chicago Charter Schools, Cayman Islands School District and provided FNI clients with numerous tours of innovative schools throughout the Twin Cities. Tiffany’s diverse experiences include design, sales, community outreach, parental engagement, policy development, project management, and creating collaborative partnerships. Tiffany has a broad understanding of educational literature, high efficacy for technology, classroom management and cross-cultural communications.

Tiffany now lives in Atlanta with her architect husband, Tariq Abdullah and their 4 children, Rashida, Amira, Zacharia and Muhammad.

Contact Tiffany Green

Gareth Long
Senior Education Consultant, Fielding Nair International
As a leading education specialist and independent consultant with 30 years experience, Gareth brings a wealth of knowledge and a dynamic approach to all areas of education. He is involved in a wide range of UK and international projects.

Gareth was a highly experienced school leader. As a ‘trouble shooting’ Headteacher he transformed two schools in London and was also sent into one of the UK’s most notorious failing secondary schools as part of a very successful Headship Team . He also led the transformation of a school in the Cayman Islands. One school he led quickly became a case study on the Standards Site for changing community perceptions. Amongst many accolades, his leadership was described by HMI (Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools) as “outstanding”.

Gareth was previously the Senior Strategic Education Advisor to the Minister of Education of the Cayman Islands, working at the highest levels of Government and playing a pivotal role in transforming the Cayman Islands education system including the design of ‘cutting edge’ new secondary and primary learning environments. He also acted as Chief Education Officer of the Cayman Islands during a period of transition.

He is a regular guest contributor to the Scottish Government’s Learning Technologies Blog as well as several ‘future of education’ seminars. Gareth is often quoted in a variety of media interviews and articles and speaks and chairs conferences. Future 2011 speaking engagements include seminars at the cefpi World Conference in Nashville and Education Suppliers Conference in Texas. Gareth regularly attends the invitation only WISE Conference in Doha.

Gareth is friends with, and works alongside many of the worlds leading education visionaries. He works extensively on a variety of projects with Professor Stephen Heppell especially but also with Prakash Nair.

Gareth is Education Lead for ‘Class of Your Own’ and an Associate of ‘Connecting Learning’. He is pleased to have been Chair of Judges for the 2010 British Council for School Environments Industry Awards recognizing Excellence and Innovation in School Design.

Gareth has recently been on numerous work related trips to America, Germany and Qatar and recently been named in numerous bids, by a variety of companies, for work throughout the UK and internationally from South Korea to Russia and Australia, Trinidad through to Mongolia.

“Gareth Long is a visionary educator. His quiet leadership and passionate commitment for reform have been important drivers in the amazing educational transformation now happening in the Cayman Islands. Gareth has a rare talent for bringing together diverse interest groups and getting them to work collaboratively towards a common goal…” Prakash Nair, Fielding Nair International

Contact Gareth Long

Susan J. Wolff, Ed. D.
Senior Planning Consultant, Fielding Nair International
Dr. Wolff is a Senior Planning Consultant with Fielding Nair International. She serves currently as the Dean of Instruction at Columbia Gorge Community College, located in The Dalles, Oregon. Prior to this position, Susan directed the Professional Development System at Oregon State University and coordinated the national research project, New Designs for Career and Technical Education at the Secondary and Postsecondary Levels. The latter project was included in the original scope of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, a five-university consortium funded through the U. S. Department of Education. Wolff has been a community college or university instructional administrator for over 25 years. Dr. Wolff is well known for her coalition building among education, business, industry, and community leaders. Other areas of specialty include training, workforce and economic development; distance learning and instructional technology; faculty development; continuing education; and program development.

The focus of her doctoral research was in the design features of the physical learning environment that support collaborative, project-based learning, http://www.designshare.com/Research/Wolff/Project_Learning.htm and led to the formation of her own business, Wolff Designs. Dr. Wolff has worked with school districts, community colleges, and four-year institutions of higher education across the country in educational and facilities planning including master facility planning, pre-design, design, and renovation projects. Her work in this area and in career and technical education has resulted in several publications and invitations to present and chair conferences, both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Wolff is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges, National Council of Instructional Administrators, Association of Career and Technical Education, National Council of Workforce Education, and the Council of Educational Facility Planners, International. Susan has been invited by the American Institute of Architects to be a juror for the 2005 School Design Awards, was a juror for the Washington State Council of Educational Facility Planners school design awards in 2004, has been a reviewer for the Design Share/School Construction News design awards the last three years, http://www.designshare.com/articles/article.asp?article=103, and co-chaired the American Institute of Architects Committee on Architecture for Education national conference in 2004. Two of the projects Susan has participated in, the Canby High School Applied Technology Center and Cy-Fair Community College, have received several national and international awards.

Contact Susan J. Wolff