Peter Smith discusses access to higher education

Peter Smith, author of "Free Range Learning in the Digital Age" on what society misses by not giving people access to higher education.
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Peter Smith, on what society misses by not giving people access to higher education.

Peter is the author of “Free Range Learning in the Digital Age” and his career in higher education includes serving as founding president of both California State University Monterey Bay and the Community College of Vermont.

In 2007, Peter joined Kaplan University as a senior vice president for academic strategies and development and more recently served as founding president of Open College at Kaplan University. In that role, he used no-cost Open Educational Resources to support learners who work toward a competency-based degree in Professional Studies. 

Peter also served his home state of Vermont as a state senator (1980-82) and as Lt. Governor (1982-86). He ran successfully for the U.S. House of Representatives as Congressman-at-Large from Vermont and served from 1989-1990. 

The ASU GSV Summit brought together the nation’s most committed leaders in business, education, nonprofits, government, and entertainment for the three-day conference. A collaboration between Arizona State University and Global Silicon Valley (GSV), the annual conference is the industry catalyst for elevating dialogue and driving action around raising learning and career outcomes through scaled innovation. 

WorkingNation set up its cameras at the Summit and interviewed the speakers and attendees about the important issues of education and workforce challenges. You can follow the conversation on our social media under the hashtag #WorkingNationOverheard.

Read more about the event 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.