Digital Media Academy
We help schools worldwide prepare their students for a digital world.
Empowering Education Since 1999
Digital Media Academy, born as the Academy for New Media at Stanford University in 1999, started as a catalyst for K-12 educators and high-school students eager to master cutting-edge digital media tools. By 2002, we transformed into Digital Media Academy (DMA) and unveiled our pioneering STEAM summer camps at Stanford University.
Expanding globally in 2008, DMA camps have been taught in world-renowned institutions like Harvard, NYU, Georgetown, UCLA, Oxford, and McGill University. Today, we’ve left our mark in over 1,000 schools across 125 countries, introducing 500,000+ students to the world of STEAM.
In 2017, we launched the School Partner Program, an initiative dedicated to bringing our forward-thinking experiences to schools and students. In 2022, this evolved into “Leading STEAM Schools in the World,” a membership and accreditation program empowering schools to future-proof tomorrow’s leaders.
Our vision is a world where STEAM education is the standard in all K-12 schools globally. Through our cutting-edge programs, we aim to unlock the full potential of every school, educator, and student and prepare the next generation of global leaders to succeed in a digital future.
Digital Media Academy is preparing the next generation of global leaders to succeed in a digital future through cutting-edge STEAM programs and experiences worldwide, inside and outside the classroom.
Led by leading educators and industry experts, we’re empowering schools, educators, and students globally with innovative world-class STEAM programs to inspire creativity, cultivate critical thinking, and instill 21st-century skills.
Innovation • Collaboration • Inclusion • Trust • Social Impact
Our Team
Andre Nudelman
Chairperson
Managing Partner at Addquire Private Equity | Philanthropist
Andre Nudelman
Among his past ventures, Maple Bear Schools Latin America, the largest franchised K-12 bilingual school chain in Latin America, sold in 2016. Presently, through Addquire Private Equity, in addition to Digital Media Academy he controls International Comprehensive (icomprhensive.com), a school quality improvement system; International Canadian Academy (icanadianacademy.com), a K-12 bilingual school franchising chain; Interactive Health International (cyberpatient.ca), a simulation online system for medical education; and Teacherwit.com, a global platform for teachers to share experiences and improve their practises.
His philanthropic and volunteer activities include: former Chairman of the Canadian Council for The Americas BC for ten years; former Cabinet Campaign member for Emily Carr University of Art+Design; former Advisory board member at McRae Institute for International Relations at Capilano University; Chairman of The Einstein legacy Project in BC at Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Ambassador of Vancouver Biennale; among others.
Jamie Turner
Chief Operating Officer
Global Operations Expert | EdTech Consultant | Growth Catalyst
Jamie Turner
Jamie currently holds the position of Chief Operating Officer at Digital Media Academy. He was appointed to this role in February 2022, after serving as the Director of Education since December 2019.
Before joining Digital Media Academy, Jamie spent four years teaching at the East London Arts and Music Academy in London, UK. This world-class 16-19 Academy provides young people with a comprehensive education in the music, games design, and film and television sectors, preparing them for successful careers. Jamie’s role at the academy involved delivering high-quality education and ensuring students had the necessary skills for their future endeavors.
With a background as a Music Educator, Jamie has accumulated more than a decade of experience in the education sector. He has held various curriculum development and design positions, including his work on curriculum design for the renowned Royal Opera House in London. Throughout his career, Jamie has consistently demonstrated a passion for creating authentic learning experiences and innovative educational designs.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Jamie has also made significant contributions to philanthropy and education access efforts. For over a decade, he has served as the President of Helping Point Canada Society, a not-for-profit education charity. The organization focuses on poverty alleviation and improving educational opportunities in central-eastern India, reflecting Jamie’s commitment to making a positive impact in the world.
As the Chief Operating Officer at Digital Media Academy, Jamie continues to drive educational excellence and innovation, ensuring the company’s STEAM curriculum empowers students worldwide to thrive in the digital age.
Glenn Fajardo
Chief Learning Officer
Lecturer at Stanford d.school | Former Director of Co-Design Practice @ TechSoup
Glenn Fajardo
Glenn Fajardo connects to create, exploring how we can be creative together when we are far apart and in different cultural contexts. He has been part of the Stanford d.school teaching community since 2014 and was the Stanford d.school’s Distributed Learning Teaching Fellow in 2020.
For 14 years, Glenn has been a practitioner of virtual collaboration, working with people and organizations across six continents engaged in social impact work. Glenn is the co-author (with Kursat Ozenc) of Rituals for Virtual Meetings: Creative Ways to Engage People and Strengthen Relationships.
Glenn was formerly the Director of the Co-Design Practice of the TechSoup Global Network at TechSoup, a nonprofit social enterprise founded on the belief that technology can be a powerful enabler for greater social change. Formally trained in nuclear engineering sciences and public policy, Glenn also plays electric bass and likes to cook in other people’s kitchens.
Sarah Abji-Endicott
Chief Product Officer/ Chief Marketing Officer
Educator | Teacher Wellness Advocate | EdTech Consultant | Web Developer | Marketing Expert
Sarah Mae Abji-Endicott
Sarah is a highly experienced educator and coach who has dedicated her career to making a global impact on students’ lives. With over 20 years of experience in the education sector, including five as a high school teacher with the Vancouver School Board, Sarah is well-versed in the challenges that students face and is committed to helping them navigate the 21st century. She holds a BA in Political Science and a BEd in Curriculum and Instruction. As a board-certified teacher and Human Potential Coach, Sarah brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the education field.
Sarah is also a self-taught full-stack WordPress developer and has extensive experience in website development, branding, email marketing, and social media engagement.
Her passion is to bridge the gap between what the school system fails to teach and the 21st-century skills needed to live a life with more passion and less burnout.
Lacey Giles
Director of Education
Educator | Researcher | Science Literacy Specialist | Global Citizen
Lacey Giles
Lacey is a dedicated educator with a diverse background and comprehensive understanding of education institutions beyond the classroom. Previously, she worked as a chemistry, biology, and physics teacher before transitioning into a curriculum director role, leveraging her expertise to shape impactful learning experiences.
Lacey’s academic journey reflects her passion for interdisciplinary studies, as she holds a B.A. in the History of Science and an M.A. in Classics. This interdisciplinary background has nurtured her creative thinking and fuels her dedication to improving the role of education in society.
In her current role at the Digital Media Academy, Lacey aims to create a vibrant and inclusive community of STEAM schools worldwide. Through collaboration, forward-thinking strategies, and a pursuit of excellence, she is committed to developing digital learning experiences that best serve students and address the exciting changes faced by educational professionals.
Michelle Carrega
Director of Global Partnerships
Michelle Carrega
Michelle works to discover solutions through human-centered design. Her areas of expertise are social innovation, educational outreach, program design, and organizational development. She has over fifteen years of experience in leading global teams and consulting.
Michelle previously managed and drove the strategic evolution of LinkedIn’s Global Emerging Talent Programs and Pathways organization for almost nine years, overseeing programs such as LinkedIn’s Intern Program, Year Up, HBCU & HSI, and launching the Apprentice Center of Excellence (ACE).
In Michelle’s free time, you’ll find her with her family hiking, biking, or drinking on Argentine maté.
Chris Bennett
Learning and Engagement Specialist
Affiliate at Stanford University Graduate School of Education | Game Designer
Chris Bennett
Chris Bennett is an award-winning Game Designer and Stanford invited lecturer who has combined creative ideas with digital engagement to reach millions of players with his credited games. Chris teaches, studies, and practices ways to apply his science of Game Design Thinking to improve lives in the real world.
Chris has over 20 years of experience in the entertainment software industry, including three very successful franchises; The Sims, Diner Dash, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour.
Chris has talked about games and game design for major media outlets, including NBC TV, NPR, Forbes.com, and the San Francisco Chronicle. He is called on by organizations such as Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, and USAID for his game design expertise.
Mehul Gadhavi
Senior Accountant
Bookkeeping | Business Administration | Audits
Mehul Gadhavi
Mehul joined Digital Media Academy in August 2019 as an Accountant. He has been supporting a team with a wide range of accounting experience to ensure smooth functionality of financial operations.
Mehul has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting & Auditing.
Alyssa Li
Learning Experience Design Lead for Global Innovation Race
UX Designer and Researcher | Stanford and MIT grad
Alyssa Li
Alyssa Li is a UX designer and researcher from Albany, California. She recently graduated from Stanford with a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering and has a Bachelor’s degree from MIT. As a designer, Alyssa primarily works on digital products for complex, multi-stakeholder systems — like social services. Over the past few years, she has done design work for nonprofits, a software startup, engineering consultancies, and the City of Philadelphia. Her ultimate goal is to have a lasting, positive impact on people’s lives.
Alyssa is also an experienced educator. At Stanford, she has helped teach three graduate-level design courses. She has also taught at other summer programs for international students: Canada/USA Mathcamp and Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow. She is excited to get to know everyone in the Global Innovation Race!
Fun fact: Alyssa loves to dance. She has performed in an airport terminal, SF’s Asian Art Museum, the streets of Boston, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She has also taught ballet to 5-year-olds.
Steven McCreanor
GIR Experience Manager
Educator | Visual Effects Artist | Game Developer
Steven McCreanor
Steven is a true multidisciplinary artist who has worked as a Graphic Designer, 3D Game Developer, VFX (Visual Effects) Artist, and Twitch Livestreamer. He brings to Digital Media Academy a combination of artistry, industry experience, and leadership. His VFX film credits include major feature films, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has trained and upskilled teams of upcoming artists who have gone on to professional success.
As an educator, Steven focuses not just on knowledge but mindset, creative thinking, communication with clients, and design analysis. Steven believes the best designers are the ones who not only have good ideas but have the forward focus and technical execution to bring them to life.
Fun fact: Steven has also enjoyed many years as a solo game dev, creating his own game from concept to playable in Unreal Engine 4.
Our Advisors
Esther Wojcicki
Advisor
The Godmother of Silicon Valley. A leading American educator, journalist, and mother | Leader in Blending Learning
Esther Wojcicki
Wojcicki is a leading American educator, journalist and mother. Leader in Blending Learning and the integration of technology into education, she is the founder of the Media Arts program at Palo Alto High School, where she built a journalism program from a small group of 20 students in 1984 to one of the largest in the nation including 600 students, five additional journalism teachers, and nine award-winning journalism publications. Wojcicki serves as Vice Chair of Creative Commons and has previously worked as a professional journalist for multiple publications and blogs regularly for The Huffington Post.
Esther has been intimately involved with Google and GoogleEdu since its inception, where she was one of the leaders in setting up the Google Teacher Academy and remains a guiding force.
With two Honorary Doctorate Degrees – Palo Alto University (2013) and Rhode Island School of Design (2016). She was California Teacher of the Year in 2002 by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; a recipient of the Gold Key by Columbia Scholastic Press Association in recognition of her outstanding devotion to the cause of the school press; a board member of Alliance for Excellent Education in Washington, DC, and on the Board of Newseum in DC; and a has been a consultant for the U.S Department of Education, Hewlett Foundation, Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching, Google, Silicon Valley Education Foundation and Time Magazine Education.
Prashant Loyalka
Advisor
Associate Professor of Education and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University
Prashant Loyalka
Prashant Loyalka is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education and a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. His research focuses on examining/addressing inequalities in the education of children and youth and on understanding/improving the quality of education received by children and youth in multiple countries including China, India, Russia, and the United States. He also conducts large-scale evaluations of educational programs and policies that seek to improve student outcomes.
Kenton Low
Advisor
Dean, BCIT School of Business and Media | Former President Universal Studios On-Line and VP Disney
Kenton Low
Kenton is an educator and senior executive with a record of leadership in companies ranging from entrepreneurial ventures to two of the FORTUNE 50 most admired companies in the world. His previous roles include Corporate Chief Marketing Officer for Universal Studios, Chief Marketing Officer for Ritchie Bros., and President of New Media BC (now DigiBC).
He was also Vice President at Disney’s Internet Group, Disney Interactive, and Walt Disney Imagineering where he led international development and coordinated the activities of a multi-disciplinary team that resulted in approval to build Hong Kong Disneyland. As an educator, Kenton has taught strategic planning, marketing, and customer experience courses at corporate training programs and various North American universities, and served as an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business.
In addition to his impressive portfolio, Kenton has served several communities as an active board member for numerous organizations including United Way of the Lower Mainland, Junior Achievement BC, the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, and the Los Angeles Food Bank.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UBC and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Yuval Shahar
Advisor
Head, Medical Informatics Research Center at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev | Stanford Researcher
Yuval Shahar
Yuval Shahar is a professor and previous chair of BGU’s Information Systems Engineering department.
He holds a B.Sc. and an M.D. degree from the Hebrew University, an M.Sc. in computer science from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Medical Information Sciences from Stanford University. After a decade at Stanford as a researcher and full-time faculty member in Computer Science and Medicine, he has joined BGU in 2000 to found and head its Medical Informatics Research Center.
Over the past 25 years, Prof. Shahar’s research has focused on temporal reasoning, temporal data mining, therapy planning, decision analysis, information visualization, knowledge acquisition, knowledge representation, and knowledge-based systems, applying his work mostly in biomedical domains, as well in domains such as homeland security and information security.
Among multiple awards, Prof. Shahar was granted in 1995 a NIH 5-year FIRST career award and an NSF award to explore the theoretical and practical implications of the temporal-reasoning methodology he had developed; in 2005 an IBM Faculty Award, and in 2008 an HP Worldwide Innovation Program award. He was elected in 2005 as an International Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI).
Vinicius David
Advisor
CEO and Founder @ VDX AI | Silicon Valley Executive | Educator at UC Berkeley
Vinicius David
Before establishing VDX AI, Vinicius led product and solution development in the corporate domain, with a focus on machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). He demonstrated his leadership capabilities by overseeing a $3 billion business and driving innovation to disrupt established business models through technology.
Outside the corporate sphere, Vinicius invests in startups and teaches at UC Berkeley. He’s on the boards of JA and a Canadian private equity fund and often mentors founders and CXOs as they grow their businesses.
Vinicius has a B.S in Industrial Engineering, an MBA in Business Management, and further training in AI for business from Stanford GSB. He lives in Mountain View, CA with his wife, Marta, and daughter, Maria. When he’s not working, he enjoys reading, giving talks, investing in startups, participating in triathlons, and meditating.
Bob Regan
Advisor
Senior Director of Education at Gates Ventures | Former Pearson and Adobe Product Developer
Bob Regan
Bob Regan is the Senior Director of Education at Gates Ventures. Based in Seattle, Bob divides his time between building products, advising other education efforts, and thinking about the future of education. His efforts include leading the Big History Project and the World History Project. Each combines a set of free, online materials for teaching history with a vibrant community of teachers using these courses used in more than 3,500 schools across the US and Australia.
Bob began his career in the classroom as a teacher of math, French, and technology in Chicago and New York City schools. Bob earned a Master’s in Elementary Education from Columbia University Teachers College where he focused his research on performance assessment. From his first days in the classroom, he expressed a deep passion for improving teaching and learning through the use of technology in schools. Bob went on to study education policy and technology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before focusing on software development full-time in 2000.
At Macromedia, he oversaw product development for the Education and Government markets. He was instrumental in leading Macromedia’s Accessibility efforts, pioneering techniques in accessible rich media, and helping shape accessibility standards for people with disabilities around the globe. He was also heavily involved in building and shaping e-learning standards and advancing the concept of the Rich Internet Application. In 2005, Bob joined Adobe with the acquisition of Macromedia where he became the Director of Worldwide Primary and Secondary Education in 2007.
As Director of Worldwide Primary and Secondary Education at Adobe Systems, Bob led the marketing, product development, and business strategy for schools. This included a period of time when Adobe developed a massive partnership with the state of New South Wales, Australia around a ubiquitous deployment of creative tools for students and teachers. With Bob’s leadership, Adobe saw sustained growth in the education business through an exceedingly challenging economic climate.
Bob went on to join Pearson Education in 2011 as Director of Product Development. While at Pearson, Bob led the development of a new, tablet-based product focused on Common Core standards and founded a product innovation studio focused on teacher publishing and project-based learning.
Bob lives in San Francisco, CA with his amazing wife and two incredible daughters who inspire him each and every day.
Bruno Gomes
Advisor
Instructor, Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration at Douglas College
Bruno Gomes
A passionate entrepreneur, educator, product development, and technology leader with over 20 years of experience planning, developing, and commercializing new products, designing strategic roadmaps, and managing high-performance teams in the educational industry.
Skilled in Leadership, Product Development & Management, Project Management, Technology Transfer, Startup Life-Cycle, Startup Fundraising, Sales & Marketing Strategy, Entrepreneurship Education, Partnerships, Ideation, Business Modelling, Social Media Engagement, Presentations & Facilitation.
Katherine Tong
Advisor
EdTech Business Strategist and Entrepreneur | Harvard Alumni | Private Equity Advisor
Katherine Tong
Katherine Tong is a business consultant/strategist specialized in education sector with extensive experience in education technology and cross-curricular curriculum design and implementation in public and private schools.
Katherine has broad management and operation experience in planning, product development, and project management. Sector experience includes early stage to multinational public companies in technology, education, resource, and visual arts industries in North America.
With a passion in international travel, culinary arts, and arts, Katherine served as board member and volunteer at various community and non-profit organizations.
Katherine completed an undergraduate computer science degree program from Cornell University and earned a master’s degree in business and management system from Harvard University.
Our Partners
Digital Media Academy has exclusive partners operating Digital Media Academy’s programs for students in different locations of the globe. Our partners operate the same world-class programs delivered by Digital Media Academy for over 20 years at the most prestigious universities in North America. If you want to join our network of partners, contact us to learn more.
DMA Bahrain
Latifa Al-Khalifa
Managing Director
bahrain@digitalmediaacademy.org
DMA Vancouver, Canada
Jack Liu
Managing Director
vancouver@digitalmediaacademy.org
DMA Saudi Arabia
Rani Matar
Managing Director
saudiarabia@digitalmediaacademy.org
DMA UAE
Deniz Kara
Managing Director
uae@digitalmediaacademy.org
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