Warren is an expert on the relationship between children (ages 0-to 15) and technology. He teaches at New York University, Rutgers and Michigan State University, and writes for a variety of publications, including the New York Times, Scholastic Parent & Child and Parents and Children's Technology Review, of which he is also the editor. He is the father of two daughters and a former preschool and public elementary school teacher.

Alice is VP of Social Responsibility for Cartoon Network US. She previously headed the Interactive Media for Children Program at the Markle Foundation and was the president of the Television, Film and Video group at Sesame Workshop. Alice also served as Director of Children's Programming at PBS. She and her partner live in Maplewood, NJ and have three children.

Harold is Vice-President, Media and Corporate Communications at MEGA Brands Inc., a global family of construction toys, games and puzzles, arts and crafts, and stationery. He is responsible for overseeing the company’s consumer, trade and internal communications strategies, marketing and promotional activities, consumer services, and online marketing initiatives. He plays an instrumental role in building brand awareness and developing relationships with key promotional partners.

Before joining MEGA Brands, Harold oversaw all execution of promotional plans including public relations, product launches, premiums, and retail and consumer promotions as Vice President of the Promotional Marketing Group at Spin Master Ltd, a multi-category child’s entertainment company.

Over the course of his career, he has spent time building marketing and communications departments from the ground up, has helped build awareness and successfully launch core brands, and has had the opportunity to work with world-class promotional partners including McDonald's, Duracell, Hershey’s, General Mills, Nickelodeon and Hit Entertainment.

Harold is currently the Co-Chair of the Canadian Toy Association’s Communications Committee and an active member of the Toy Industry Association’s Marketing Communications Committee.

Harold and his wife Jennifer have three children.

David is currently Professor Emeritus of Child Development at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. He was formerly Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Education at the University of Rochester. Professor Elkind obtained his doctorate at U.C.L.A. and then spent a year as David Rapaport's research assistant at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In 1964‑65 he was a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Piaget's Institut d' Epistemologie Genetique in Geneva. His research has been in the areas of perceptual, cognitive and social development where he has attempted to build upon the research and theory of Jean Piaget.

Perhaps Professor Elkind is best known for his popular books, The Hurried Child, All Grown Up and No Place to Go, and Miseducation.  A third edition of The Hurried Child came out 2001 and the 25th anniversary edition was published in 2007 along with his newest book entitled The Power of Play: Learning What comes Naturally.

Professor Elkind’s other books include Grandparenting:Understanding Today's Children, Parenting Your Teenager, Images of the Young Child, Understanding Your Child, a 3rd Edition of A Sympathetic Understanding of the Child: Birth to Sixteen, and Ties That Stress: The New Family Imbalance.

Judy is the founder and chair of America’s first baccalaureate program in Toy Design, launched at the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1989.  A graduate of Parsons School of Design with a BFA in Communication Design, Judy’s career has been rich with educational and professional experience.  As a designer at Chermayeff and Geismar, she designed an award-winning permanent bicentennial exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution and large-scale murals for IBM. At FIT, she provides students with an environment emphasizing an ethical design approach and commitment to community.  Judy has received two SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Faculty Service; an award from the National Women In Toys organization for outstanding contribution to the industry and the 2008 Wonder Women In Toys Award in the category Women to Watch. She spoken about children and design at numerous events including: The Yale University Inter-Disciplinary Bio-ethics program, the ITRA World Toy Congress, and The Smithsonian Institute Museum of American History Invention and Play exhibition.

Jim is president of Little Kids, Inc., which he co-founded in 1989.  He has held an active role in the toy industry for 34 years.  He is currently a member of the TIA Board of Directors.

Jim began his career at Hasbro, where for 12 years he held various sales and marketing positions; most notably being the marketing director for the original launch of Transformers in 1983. He also directed the marketing efforts of the Playskool Baby brand.

When he co-founded Little Kids, Inc., the goal was to design innovative and high quality juvenile feeding products, creating simple solutions to often messy problems. The company’s success in this category led to Little Kids’ first toy introduction, The No Spill Bubble Tumbler, a product that literally turned the bubble category upside down. Sixteen years later, the No Spill Bubble Tumbler remains one of the most recognized and best selling products in the category.

Jim is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.  He and his wife Robin have 3 boys. He has also been an active volunteer in youth sports for 20 years.

Ellen is the President and Co-Founder of Families and Work Institute, NYC, a nonprofit center for research that provides data to inform decision-making on the changing workforce, family and community. She currently co-directs the National Study of the Changing Workforce, an ongoing study of the lives of US employees on and off the job; and the National Study of Employers, an ongoing study of employer supports for the family and personal life of employees. She also co-directs When Work Works, a project on workplace effectiveness and flexibility funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that has produced a series of research papers and has launched the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility, and is directing a collaborative Sloan Foundation project on career flexibility in academia. She is directing The Supporting Work Project, a Ford Foundation project on asset building for the low-wage workforce. She is also co-directing a project with Catalyst on Talent Management in the US, Europe, and Asia. In addition, she is the program director of the Work Life Conference co-convened by The Conference Board and FWI, and she staffs The Conference Board's Work Life Leadership Council. Ellen is also directing Mind in the Making, a project on the science of early learning that includes a prime time television show, videos and a book for families, and Learning Modules for Early Childhood Teachers. She is beginning a study on family caregivers of the elderly.

Ellen is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher, author and speaker and appears regularly at conferences, on television and in the media. She received her B.A. in Child Study at Vassar College, and her M.S. in Child Development/Education at Bank Street College of Education.

Richard is the Director of Special Projects at the Institute of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity and Behavior Disorders at the New York University Child Study Center and a much sought-after expert in child development and parenting issues. He is also Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the NYU Child Study Center. Dr. Gallagher has a national reputation in the treatment of children with Selective Mutism and with deficits in organizational skills, and has extensive experience working with children with ADHD and anxiety disorders. He has written and published numerous articles about parenting and is frequently quoted by the news media. He has also designed and evaluated parent education programs such as Thriving Teens, a program to help prevent smoking and substance abuse in young teens. Dr. Gallagher has served as consultant for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Target Foundation, and the Liz Claiborne Foundation's effort on teen relationship violence.

Stephen is an innovator in the field of children’s media. His experience includes over 20 years in the design, development and distribution of learning products, including computer software, online applications, toys, games, books and video. Trained as a child psychologist, Stephen began his career as an elementary school teacher; subsequently he has held creative leadership positions at Scholastic, Coleco, CBS Publishing, and Viacom.  He was a member of the original team formed to create Noggin, and has also served as Group President, Online at Sesame Workshop.

Currently, Stephen serves as president of every baby company, an organization he founded to develop early learning products, the first of which is the award-winning infant/toddler series, eebee’s adventures™. He served as an adjunct faculty member at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he taught a course on child development and interactive design. In addition, he is a member of both the Education Committee at PBS-affiliate Thirteen in New York as well as the board of trustees of the Toy Industry Foundation.

Stephen received a B.A. in psychology from New York University, an M.A. in developmental psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and completed work toward a Ph.D. in educational psychology at The City University of New York.

Jane is the Vice President, Consumer Insights, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group Research. She is responsible for coordinating all consumer insight research for all Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group assets, including: Nick Jr.; Noggin; The N; Nicktoons Network; Nick at Nite; and Nickelodeon’s digital brands including AddictingGames, Shockwave and Nick.com. She is also responsible for conceiving and conducting strategic consumer research on behalf of Nickelodeon’s production, consumer products, recreation and public affairs departments.

Jane, a nine-year Nickelodeon veteran, was most recently Director of Programming, Content Development and Research for Nickelodeon Australia. There, she was responsible for implementing several key research projects including: Brain Squeeze, a research project to generate critical data about tweens; and Australia’s first research study into interactive pre-school television.

Prior to Nickelodeon, Jane was President and founder of Looking Glass Insights, Inc. in Australia where she provided personalized, strategic, results-driven marketing research and production services for clients including: ACMA; MTVN Australia; Nickelodeon; and Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Gould holds a master’s of business degree from Queensland University of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Macquarie University in Australia.

Lisa is an education, science and technology writer who has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Consumer Reports, and other publications.

Since 2004, she has been digging into the topic of electronic media and young children – visiting developmental psych labs around the country and watching far more children’s TV than her own preschool-age kids. Her book Into the Minds of Babes, (Basic Books, 2007), uses new findings in psychology and cognitive science---as well as a few family stories---to make the case for the importance of considering content, context and children’s individual needs when creating and/or choosing media for the very young.

In 2005, Lisa was a Journalism Fellow in Child and Family Policy at the University of Maryland. In 2001, she was a Media Fellow at Duke University’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Communications. Lisa has her bachelors and masters degrees in English from the University of Virginia. She resides in Alexandria, Va., with her husband, their two daughters, two cats and a dog.

Andy is Chief Financial Officer for DonorsChoose.org, a website connecting classrooms in need with individuals who want to help. DonorsChoose.org has attracted contributors from all walks of life through an approach called Citizen Philanthropy, a unique approach that opens the process of donating to anyone with a desire to give. In 2007, donors funded over $8 million worth of resources. Yet, no matter their contribution size, each donor was treated to a level of service normally reserved for established philanthropists.

Previously, Andy worked for seven years at Audible, Inc. as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Earlier in his career at Time Warner, he served in various management positions in the US and Europe, including Chief Financial Officer of Time Life. Prior to that, he was with Ernst & Young LLP. Andy is a Certified Public Accountant, and holds a B.S. in Accounting from Florida State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He serves on the Board of Directors of VIP Community Services, an agency which offers services to individuals with a history of chemical dependency.

Alix is the Executive Director of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, a national educational center dedicated to the enjoyment and study of picture books for all audiences. Before that, she launched FamilyFun magazine, Wondertime magazine, and several other publications and brand extensions from Disney Publishing Worldwide, where she served as Vice-President, Editorial Director. Alix has a B.A. from Colgate University and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Massachusetts. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Michael is Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. He oversees the Center's efforts to catalyze and support research, innovation and investment in educational media technologies for young children. Prior to joining the Center, he served as Vice President of New Media and Executive Director of Education for Asia Society, managing the global nonprofit organization's interactive media and educational initiatives to promote knowledge and understanding of Asia and other world regions, languages and cultures. Previously, he oversaw Carnegie Corporation of New York's groundbreaking work in early childhood development, educational media and primary grades reform, and was a senior advisor to the New York City Schools Chancellor, where he directed dropout prevention, afterschool and early childhood initiatives. Michael has been a frequent adviser to the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, writes for public affairs journals, and often appears in the media. He was named by Working Mother magazine as one of America's most influential leaders in shaping family and children's policy and serves on numerous nonprofit boards, including We Are Family Foundation, Ready To Learn, Talaris Institute and Teach For America. Michael is also currently a senior associate at the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University. He received his Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandeis University's Florence Heller School and his B.S. from Cornell University.

Maggie is Vice President of Scholastic Media Interactive where she oversees the development and production of award winning content across numerous interactive platforms and distributes product through third party distributors, through exclusive business partnerships, and via Scholastic’s proprietary Fairs and Clubs channels. Maggie's experience in the interactive space encompasses a broad spectrum of delivery formats from digital downloads and the internet to handheld video games, consoles, electronic learning toys and interactive television.

Prior to joining Scholastic, Maggie was Director of Development at Nickelodeon Home Entertainment. She oversaw product development for their video, DVD, and audio businesses. Maggie has produced live action television shows for Cablevision and has created children’s content for and in partnership with media and publishing companies inclusive of LeapFrog, Fisher Price, Sesame Workshop, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Rhino Records, Silver Lining Productions, Callaway Publishing, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Publishing, ICM Management Group and Weston Woods Studios. Maggie has a Masters degree in Education and Theater from New York University. Prior to her work in children’s media and entertainment, she spent eight years in the educational arena as a teacher of grades 7 to 10, and as a teacher trainer and curriculum development designer.

Scot is Creative Director of MIT’s Education Arcade, and leads the design of a number of games about math, literacy, science, history and language learning, including Labyrinth and iCue. Before coming to MIT, he was the Senior Designer at TERC, where he designed Zoombinis’ Island Odyssey, winner of the 2003 Bologna New Media Prize. Scot is the creator of the Zoombinis, and co-designed the multi-award winning Zoombinis’ Logical Journey, and its first sequel, Zoombinis’ Mountain Rescue. He is the also the designer of the TERCworks games Switchback, and Yoiks!  Other software designs include work on the educational products InspireData, Tabletop and Tabletop Jr., and The Nature of Science. Previously, he worked in Public Television.

Mitch, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, develops new technologies to engage people (especially children) in creative learning experiences. His Lifelong Kindergarten research group developed the "programmable bricks" that were the basis for the LEGO MindStorms and PicoCricket construction kits. Mitch co-founded the Computer Clubhouse project, an international network of after-school learning centers for youth from low-income communities. His group recently developed a new programming language, called Scratch, which makes it easier for kids to create their own interactive stories, games, and animations -- and share their creations on the web.

Nancy has been the director of the 92nd Street Y Nursery School in New York City since 1990. She is also a member of the 92nd Street Y Wonderplay Leadership Team, the Y’s early childhood initiative. Before joining the 92nd Street Y, she was the admissions director and a teacher at Horace Mann Lower School in New York from 1973 to 1990. Nancy has served on the ISAAGNY (Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York) Board since 1984 and is co-editor of the New York Independent Schools Directory. She serves on the NYU Child Study Center Education Advisory Board and the Syracuse University School of Education Advisory Board. Nancy received a B.S. in Elementary Education from Syracuse University and an M.A. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from New York University.

Nancy is the co-author of Practical Wisdom for Parents: Demystifying the Preschool Years Knopf July 2007.

Alice is Co-Creator and Head of Research and Education for Super Why!  This PBS Kids property helps preschoolers learn reading fundamentals through interactive stories. Simultaneously she is the co-creator of Think It Ink It Publishing, a new venture designed to promote creative writing for kids.

Formerly, Alice was a Producer and the Director of Research and Development for Nick Jr.’s break-out preschool series, Blue’s Clues and Developer of Blue’s Room. She conducted all of the formative research used in the creation and ongoing production of the series, and all of its ancillary businesses including publishing, online, magazine, consumer products and special events.  She also co-authored the curriculum on which the shows were based, and wrote scripts, books, educational workbooks, and columns for the magazine and on-line.  She has been nominated for Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Preschool Children’s Series as well as Outstanding Writing in a Children’s Series. 

Wilder also served as the Director of Research and Development for Oswald, and Little Bill, both animated series on Nick Jr.

Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Wilder served on research teams at Children’s Television Workshop (CTW), Columbia University and Skidmore College.  Additionally, she was Program Data Coordinator at PBS, Manager at Children’s Workshop, and Assistant Teacher at Kindercare.

Alice is a graduate of Skidmore College and Columbia University’s Teachers College, where she earned her doctorate in Educational Psychology and was awarded the Miriam Goldberg Research Award for her dissertation and the 1999 Early Career Award. She is currently President of the Teachers College Alumni Council and on the advisory boards for The Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation (CEO&I) at Teachers College Columbia University, the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, and Nick Jr. Magazine.