The Spotlight Stage SPL06
OEB Spotlight Stage: The Why, How and What of Private Higher Education Initiatives: Skillful Visions
Date Thursday, Dec 7 Time – RoomPotsdam 3
In this session on the Stage you will hear from two founders about their motivation to reinvent traditional university experiences, pedagogy, curricular pathways and more. Their successful higher education start-ups have clear views on how rich educational experiences can be offered to learners and what skills are needed for success in our rapidly-evolving, interconnected world. With many traditional institutions under extreme financial pressure how can ALL learners benefit from the science behind their initiatives? Are there trade-offs to their approaches? Join us for inspiration and conversation!
Ben Nelson
Founder and CEO, Minerva, USA
Ben Nelson is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Minerva, and a visionary with a passion to reinvent higher education. Prior to Minerva, Nelson spent more than 10 years at Snapfish, where he helped build the company from startup to the world’s largest personal publishing service. With over 42 million transactions across 22 countries, nearly five times greater than its closest competitor, Snapfish is among the top e-commerce services in the world. Serving as CEO from 2005 through 2010, Nelson began his tenure at Snapfish by leading the company’s sale to Hewlett Packard for $300 million.
Prior to joining Snapfish, Nelson was President and CEO of Community Ventures, a network of locally branded portals for American communities.
Nelson’s passion for reforming undergraduate education was first sparked at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he received a B.S. in Economics. After creating a blueprint for curricular reform in his first year of school, Nelson went on to become the chair of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education (SCUE), a pedagogical think tank that is the oldest and only non-elected student government body at the University of Pennsylvania.
Links
Manuel Dolderer
President, CODE University of Applied Sciences, Germany