MITE Staff

Gary Lopez, Ph.D., Executive Director

An experienced educator and author, Gary has an extensive background in business management, media production and technology development. In 1983, he founded Archipelago Productions, a developer of award-winning digital product for the education market and documentary films for television. In 1997, Gary became President and CEO of NETg, a global leader in providing e-Learning solutions to many of the largest corporations in the world, including Shell, IBM, AT&T, Honeywell and Motorola. Under his leadership, NETg developed a library of more than 1,200 multimedia-based courses, grew to more than 800 employees, and had offices in 30 countries. As Executive Director of MITE, Gary continues his lifelong commitment to education.

Ruth Rominger, Director of Learning Design

Ruth Rominger is a designer of learning experiences and currently is tinkering with the design of reusable, open learning objects, distributed learning networks and visual facilitation techniques. Ruth's work history includes corporate and non-profit management positions. She served as Senior Acquisitions Editor and Manager of Editorial Systems at Dryden Press, a major academic publisher of management, organizational behavior and information systems textbooks; Vice President and General Manager of Archipelago Productions, an educational multi-media group; and Vice President of The Natural Step (2000-2004), a social and environmental sustainability consulting organization. Ruth continues to advise social benefit organizations committed to advances in education and global sustainability. Ruth is a popular meeting facilitator, known for her graphic facilitation techniques that generate creativity, shared vision, and actionable solutions. Ruth's current areas of practice and research are in the design of networked organizations and online learning communities focused on complex systems change. She has a bachelor's degree in writing and world literature from University of California, San Diego and is dabbling on a doctorate in Human and Organizational Systems at the Fielding Graduate University.

Terri Rowenhorst, NROC Membership Director

Terri Rowenhorst comes to MITE with 18 years of experience in educational publishing and technology. No stranger to new ventures in educational technology, Terri has previously contributed her skills in collaborative product development, business development, and marketing at Archipelago Productions, WebCT and Pearson's Learning Network. In the college publishing arena, Terri has contributed to a range of print and technology initiatives across disciplines in marketing, sales and editorial positions at Harcourt College Publishers, and most recently at McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Nancy Cook, Director of Operations

Nancy Cook brings to MITE broad operational experience having worked in a number of diverse organizations, including Texas A&M University, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Inflection Media, and Thomson NETg. She has expertise in large project management, including national and international events and complex film projects. Nancy has a strong financial management background having overseen multi-million dollar budgets, cost analysis, and budget projections. She has a distinguished history of bringing projects in under budget. Her knowledge and experience in academia, technology, television production and manufacturing make her uniquely qualified to manage complex operations.

Brian Rowlett, Director of Software Development and Technology

Brian Rowlett has over 25 years of experience with the design and development of educational technology products. Early in his career he designed and coded educational games, interactive videodiscs, and CD-ROM multimedia courses. As the Director of Technology for Archipelago Productions, he developed CD-ROM and web-based distance learning solutions for the secondary and post-secondary education markets. Brian is former Vice President of Technology at NETg, where he directed the design and development of authoring tools, learning management systems and deployment technology for multimedia training courses.

Jessica Everton, Director of Editorial Development

Jessica Everton has over a decade of experience in the design and creation of educational technology products. At MITE, she is responsible for managing the conversion and enhancement of courses donated to the library. She collaborates with Subject Matter Experts, media developers, and engineers across the country to ensure the materials all meet technical and educational quality standards. Prior to MITE, Jessica was the Director of Product Development for NexLearn, a custom online learning software company, where she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of courseware development. Other previous experiences include Senior Manage of Product Development for Thomson NETg where Jessica was responsible for the creation of NETg's professional development courses. Jessica began her career at Knowledge Communication as a courseware developer of simulation-based software.

Dani Pedrotti, Membership Manager

Dani Pedrotti joins the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education with nearly 12 years of experience in educational technology. Starting as a marketing manager at Archipelago Productions in the mid-'90s, she supported teaching and learning in both secondary and post-secondary education by encouraging the use of engaging multimedia content. In her role as Sr. Account Executive and then Regional Sales Manager for WebCT and Blackboard, Dani worked closely with educators to build strong elearning foundations that would enable the scaled growth of distance and distributed learning programs within institutions, agencies, states and provinces in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada.

Renae Bent, Project Manager

Renae Bent joins the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education with over 12 years of experience in educational publishing. She has served as a project manager for Archipelago Productions, Harcourt College Publishing, Thomson e-Learning and Inflection Media where she successfully managed the development of higher education, multimedia courses in micro and macro economics, biology, sociology, and work and employment. Most recently, Renae served as project manger for a National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) "Ocean Exploration" grant, guiding the development of fifteen multimedia, ocean-related learning objects that are now hosted on the NOAA website.