TEDxMadtown

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Erica Halverson

  Assistant professor of Learning Sciences in the Educational Psychology department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will discuss art-making as a model for the new American high school

• Harry Webne-Behrman

  Harry Webne-Behrman has served as an educator, facilitator and mediator for over 25 years. Along with his wife, Lisa Webne-Behrman, he is a Senior Partner of Collaborative Initiative, Inc., a private consulting and mediation firm based in Madison, Wisconsin. Harry has recently joined with others to establish the "Culture of Generosity Project," an initiative organized to foster generous actions and attitudes in all aspects of society. Harry has worked with hundreds of businesses, schools, community groups and public agencies, and he maintains tremendous enthusiasm about the importance of learning to work collaboratively to build positive work environments. Harry also works with the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Office of Human Resource Development, coordinating and teaching professional development programs and courses on conflict management, communication skills, facilitation skills, managerial mediation and other areas. Harry has recently joined with others to establish the "Culture of Generosity Project," an initiative organized to foster generous actions and attitudes in all aspects of society.

• Hanna Roth

  Hanna Roth is a writer, editor, mother of two, and the founder of The Rainbird foundation, a volunteer-driven non-profit committed to the end of child abuse. She has worked with children for two decades in elementary and middle schools, and as a coach specializing in working with teens and their parents to resolve family issues. Ms. Roth is committed to the end of child abuse on the planet. The Rainbird Foundation is committed to creating an ongoing conversation for the end of child abuse. In partnership with other organizations, Rainbird builds leaders and raises money to fund research and projects committed to the end of child abuse not for a few, but for all children.

• Greg Tracy

  Greg Tracy is an advocate for open data. A concept that encourages governments to make as much data as possible open to the public and easily accessible. He is the creator of SMSMyBus. A mobile tool that lets Madison residents get real-time arrival estimates for Metro buses throughout the city. Greg has made a career out of building software products and enjoys applying his skills to solve civic problems for Madison as well as new tools for his kids and neighbors.

• James Carlson

  James lives and works at the crossroads of the co-working and maker movement. After leaving high school at 16, James launched a successful career as an entrepreneur and technologist but never stopped looking over his shoulder at school. He founded The School Factory, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the business, education, and creative communities together to transform public learning. In 2002, James engaged Milwaukee in creating Bucketworks, a health club for the brain. Bucketworks offers people and communities both a physical space and the tools to test-drive their ideas and their passions. Since Bucketworks opened its members have created more than 70 new programs and companies, ranging from high-tech startups to high schools, hundreds of pieces of art and technology, and thousands of events and experiences. As the economy compressed in 2008 and 2009 and hundreds of similar spaces sprung up across America to support displaced workers and new entrepreneurs, James partnered with these spaces to form the Space Federation, a national network of creative maker environments that share resources, tools, and expertise. To engage the business community in this conversation, James and his team created the Bucket Brigade, a for-profit company that brings the values of open source, open communication, and transparency into the workplace through social technology and social experiences. At the heart of these efforts is James’ fundamental passion and belief that all people are creative; each person has a “genius” which, given a place and the tools, will flourish. Through his work he strives to spark the creative potential in everyone, and change the game of economy, education, and community development.

• Rebecca Jallings

  Rebecca Jallings works at Madison West High School to highlight the multicultural urban environment of its students through MULTICO, a traveling theater troupe that writes and performs their own sketches to encourage open-mindedness on race, sexuality, and gender.

• Troy Dassler

  Troy Dassler is a first grade teacher at Leopold Elementary School in Madison Wisconsin. He works with the National Science Foundation funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) at the University that brings nanoscale science to elementary-aged students to engage and inspire them in the sciences (with some unexpectedly grand results).

• Mike Land

  Michael Land has a unique background. He has been a casino dealer, a massage therapist; studied hypnosis, Chinese Medicine, and Entrepreneurial Business and Economics at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. In his spare time Land experiments with meditative art.

• Erin Schneider

  Erin Schneider is a organic farmer at Hilltop Community Farm. She is a co-owner of soon-to-be-launched Just Fruit. Schneider also serves as a Fellow in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of Human Resource Development. She is a local food advocate.

• Justin Beck

  Justin has been programming since he was 12 years old. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Computer Engineering and Computer Science degree. He has interned as a Software Engineer at Google with the Product Search team, and as a Program Manager at Microsoft with the ASP.NET <http://ASP.NET> team. He is a passionate software entrepreneur, and is the co-founder and CEO of PerBlue where he leads a profitable small business of 13 people building mobile and social games like Parallel Kingdom which has over 300,000 players worldwide.

• Shannon Luehmann

  Shannon Luehmann is a third grade teacher at Prairie View Elementary School in Oregon, Wisconsin where she creates opportunities for students to use new technologies in their learning.

• Traci Fenton

  Traci Fenton is the Founder and CEO of WorldBlu, whose mission is championing the growth of democratically-run companies worldwide. WorldBlu publishes the annual WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces™, a list of the most transparent, collaborative and decentralized companies in the world, ranging from small to FORTUNE 500-sized organizations. As a leading expert in organizational democracy, she is recognized as one of the business thought-leaders of her generation as well as of the next generation of business.

• Alissa J. Bratz

  Alissa is a linguist, French teacher, dancer, and traceuse. She is passionate about the link between movement and learning, and this passion finds expression through her work as a French teacher, faculty member at the School of Madison Ballet, and as executive director and founder of Wisconsin Parkour, LLC.

• Ted Petith

  TEd Petith is an independent renewables and environment professional. His most recent work focuses on the expansion of the Capitol East District in Madison, Wisconsin, with plans underway for the Madison Sustainability Commerce Center – modeled after a similar structure in Madison’s sister-city Freiburg, Germany – a reality. The Center is slated to be an energy efficient and sustainable space for offices and retailers.