About Us
Key People
Jim Teicher, CEO and Executive Director
Jim Teicher is Cofounder and CEO of CyberSmart! Education, a leader in facilitated online professional development and curriculum fostering 21st century skills to increase student engagement and prepare students to achieve in today's digital society. In 2007 Jim founded CyberSmart! Africa—partnering with The Millennium Villages Project, a joint initiative of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Millennium Promise and the United Nations Development Programme—to provide a sustainable, scalable solution to 21st century learning. Jim currently serves on the advisory board of the US Congressional Internet Caucus, is a founding sponsor of the National Cyber Security Alliance, has served on the board of directors of the Internet Alliance trade association, and currently serves on the consumer advisory board of McAfee. He is widely cited as an expert in the field of 21st century skills education.
Jim was formerly President of Smart Tone, Inc., a leading innovator in voice biometric authentication. Prior to this, he cofounded and served as CEO of Stockalert, Inc., the award-winning financial information service. In his prior corporate life, Jim was Divisional Vice President of the PaineWebber Group Incorporated and managed consumer online product development at AT&T. He has consulted for such organizations as the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris; the New York Stock Exchange; and Citicorp.
Jim completed all of his course work toward a doctorate in education from Cornell University. He holds a master's in education from Cornell and an additional master's in communication from Ithaca College.
Mala Bawer, Executive Director
Mala Bawer is Co-founder and Executive Director of CyberSmart! Education. She is widely recognized as a leader in the planning, development and distribution of online professional development in 21st century skills. Mala managed the development and growth of the CyberSmart K-12 Student Curriculum—the first-of-its kind standards-based online safety and digital citizenship curriculum—implemented in thousands of schools and used by millions of students globally. Mala's efforts to advance 21st century learning have received numerous accolades from school associations, school administrations, the media, and most importantly, from teachers who have gained value from using CyberSmart's curriculum and participating in CyberSmart online professional development. An information industry veteran, Mala was cofounder of the award winning interactive financial information service, Stockalert, Inc., and was part of the senior management teams that launched America's first consumer online service and North America's first networked interactive public video kiosk service.
Mala received her MBA degree from the Darden Graduate School at the University of Virginia and her BA degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Barry Mansfield, Director of Education
Barry Mansfield's hands-on expertise in the areas of educational technology and instructional design have made him an invaluable resource as a coach and mentor to hundreds of teachers in thousands of schools and classrooms worldwide. Most recently, Barry directed programs for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology in Education Consortium (MAR*TEC) at Temple University's Center for Research in Human Development and Education (TUCRHDE), one of ten federally funded regional education laboratories. While at MAR*TEC Barry designed, implemented, and evaluated instructional technologies, Web resources, videos, and online tools for K-12 teachers and students to help them successfully infuse technologies into classrooms. During his time with MAR*TEC, Barry also co-created the innovative and acclaimed Reflection Connection, an online collaboration tool for teachers.
Barry holds a master's in education degree from Temple University. He is currently earning a doctorate in educational technology at the University of Delaware. Previously he was Academic Director at the Caledonian School, the premier language institution in Prague, Czech Republic, where his responsibilites included a professional development program for over 200 teachers.
Kim Merlino, K-12 Education Consultant
Kim Merlino, a well-known and highly-respected curriculum consultant was responsible, in her prior position as Curriculum Director, for managing the development of the research-based CyberSmart! Student Curriculum, purchased in 2010 by Common Sense Media. In addition, her expertise in instructional design supported the creation of CyberSmart! Online Professional Development. Currently, Kim consults for CyberSmart! Africa and CyberSmart! Professional Development. Beginning her career as an environmental educator in California and then as an elementary school teacher in the New York area, Kim eventually turned to writing instructional materials for children. She then embarked on a successful 20-year career editing nationally distributed instructional programs for major educational publishers, including Silver Burdett Ginn, Scholastic Inc, and Houghton Mifflin Company. Most recently, as an educational consultant for both nonprofit organizations and publishers, Kim developed plans for curricula that meet national and state education standards. She is an active member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Science Teachers Association, and the International Society for Technology in Education.
Kim received her master's in education from Rutgers University and her bachelor of science degree from Cornell University.
Diane Cordell, Chief CyberSmarty
Diane Cordell took her first online course through CyberSmart! and refused to leave. She presently serves as a facilitator and editor for the company. For the past ten years Diane has been district librarian at Fort Ann Central School in New York State. Prior to her 20-year career in university, public, and school libraries, Diane worked as a social worker, antique and bookstore employee, child care provider, and special education assistant.
Diane received her bachelor's in English from the College of White Plains and her MLS from C. W. Post. She spent a deeply satisfying summer studying at Oxford University and still reads any fiction she can find set in that glorious city.
Roland Dietz, Senior Advisor Business Development
As an international business leader and chief executive, Roland delivers great results and shareholder value through product and business model innovation, international commercialization and business transformation initiatives. At Elsevier, the world's largest scientific-technical-medical publisher, he led the development of new business models, drove product innovation through in-depth customer engagement, and directed the successful commercial roll out of the ScienceDirect product line around the world. He has personally forged key relationships with governments consortia and key universities and corporations around the world resulting in a dramatic increase in access to, and usage of, key education literature and scientific research. Coupled with his broad prior experience as a founder of a software company and marketer of computer hardware; Roland offers unique expertise in creative strategy development, innovation, technology deployment and execution for information based businesses.
Roland is a dual citizen of the Netherlands and the USA. He speaks five languages and holds a M.Sc. degree in Artificial Intelligence from Delft University of Technology and did candidates work in Biomedical Engineering. He has furthered his executive education through Harvard, Stanford and Oxford (Templeton College) Universities.