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 , 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. A veteran information industry executive and entrepreneur, she was part of the senior management launch team for the earliest field trials for North America's first consumer online service, a joint venture of AT&T and Knight-Ridder. She also played a pivotal role, as head of the New York office, in the introduction of the first networked interactive public video kiosk service, a partnership of Southam Inc.(the oldest and largest cross-media group in Canada) and Times-Mirror Corporation. Prior to conceiving CyberSmart! she co-founded the award winning interactive financial information service Stockalert, Inc. whose customers included Citicorp, Merrill Lynch, the NASDAQ Stock Market, MCI WorldCom, and the Washington Post, among others. In her pre-online corporate life, she launched a new business publication for Fairchild Publications/Capital Cities.
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 dozens 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 and in another life was Academic Director at the Caledonian School, the premier language institution in Prague, Czech Republic. He is currently earning a doctorate in educational technology at the University of Delaware.
Kim Merlino, Curriculum Director
Kim Merlino is a well-known and highly-respected curriculum consultant and is responsible for directing the development of the CyberSmart! Student Curriculum. 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.
Academic Business Advisors, LLC, Distribution Services
ABA believes that when marketing AND product development planning are undertaken together, the delivery of a successful product and market outcome are the result. While students are the ultimate customers, to build a business one must understand the needs of the actual decision makers: administrators, teachers, instructors, managers and educators. These are the people challenged with delivering a product that satisfies the needs of a critical and changing audience. Academic Business Advisors principals bring their 40+ years of virtual and actual classroom experience, editorial, marketing, sales, and business development perspectives to the creation, introduction, and management of the business of learning.
Alan Stern, spearheading ABA's distribution services, is helping clients expand their selling efforts nationally.With more than 25 years experience in educational sales and publishing, Alan understands the sales process from the ground up, and is adept at maximizing the effectiveness of sales channels. Alan was National Sales Director of the Siboney Learning Group, responsible for the development and activities of a hybrid sales force, including resellers, tele-sales, and company representatives. Before that, he was VP of Sales at Educational Activities, Inc., a leading publisher of supplemental instructional materials for the pre-kindergarten to adult education market.