SXSWEDU

SxSW EDU: The future of learning and innovation in 2021

Annual education and ed tech conference looks at the future of education, equity, upskilling, and more
-

The annual SxSW EDU conference is underway. The three-day digital experience features keynotes, panel sessions, screenings, showcases, networking, and exhibitions through Thursday.

The focus, as always is on the future of learning and innovation, and this year there is added focus on the post-pandemic recovery, remote learning, upskilling, and diversity and inclusion.

Today, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry lead the opening keynote discussion on the impact of childhood trauma on who we become, the decisions we make, and how healing must start with one question ‘what happened to you?’

Kimberly Bryant, Founder and CEO of Black Girls CODE and Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code will be in conversation for Wednesday’s keynote discussion on the gender gap in computing and programming, especially in underrepresented groups.

On the final day of SXSW EDU Online programming, author Nic Stone and Brittany Hogan, Director of Educational Equity and Diversity at Rockwood School District, will give their individual and collective thoughts and ideas about how diverse literature can change the hearts and minds of students in the keynote, Empathy in Equity: Author and Educator.

Join WorkingNation for These Events

At 5pm CT today, WorkingNation presents A Conversation with Craig Newmark, a special Work in Progress podcast for SxSW EDU. Craig Newmark is one of the original tech billionaires, starting Craig’s List in 1995. Since 2016, Newmark’s spent the bulk of his time and money on philanthropy, donating to causes ranging from food insecurity, women in tech, fighting for teachers, veterans and their families, trustworthy journalism, local media, and more.

Newmark recently sat down with WorkingNation editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim to discuss the issues he’s funding through his Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

Tomorrow, at 1pm CT, Jamie Merisotis, president of Lumina Foundation, will moderate Will Robots Displace Workers of Color. Throughout the country, Blacks workers disproportionately perform repetitive job tasks that will disappear with increasing use of automation, AI, and robotics. How do we ensure they are prepared for the work that will replace these lost jobs, human work?

WorkingNation produced the session, which features an original short video. Panel members include Spencer Overton, president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; Vilas Dhar, president of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation; and Cecilia Muñoz, senior advisor to New America.

WorkingNation is an official media partner of SxSW EDU. Stop by the Exhibition Hall and look for the virtual WorkingNation booth to contact us and to find out what we have in store for the rest of the year.

You can still register for the SxSW EDU Online conference here.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.