Larry McWherter provides leadership to the NITIC team, overseeing the strategic direction of all initiatives, and serving as the deliverable lead for the IT Innovation Network’s Community of Practice. Larry is an associate professor of cybersecurity at Columbus State. He held the role of Cybersecurity Degree Coordinator and served as the PI for the NSF ATE Ohio Region Cybersecurity Technician Training Pipeline grant (No. 1501194), playing a pivotal role in establishing and launching the AAS degree. Larry then served as PI for the NSF ATE Information Technology Career Pathways through a Flexible Apprenticeship Model grant (No. 190211), creating effective pathways for aspiring IT professionals. In addition, he spearheaded initiatives that led to the College’s designation as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defenses (CAE-CD), served as the lead faculty for GenCyber Summer Camps for high school students, created articulation agreements with local universities, and developed the College’s Cyber Center for the Cyber Club.

In recognition of his contributions, Larry received the HI-TEC Educator of the Year Award in 2022. He retired as a Colonel from the Air Force/Ohio Air National Guard after a 30-year career in Intelligence. He has a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from the Ohio State University.

Stephanie Schuler, a member of Columbus State’s Office of Advancement, serves as the leader for NITIC operations, ensuring the successful implementation of all deliverables. As a project manager, she led initiatives for the College’s information technology grants, which resulted in the creation of new IT degree programs, enhanced program curriculum, and expanded pathways and work-based learning opportunities for students. Notable NSF ATE grants in her portfolio included Building an Industry Aligned Pathway to Careers in Cloud Computing (No. 1800988), Data Analytics Technician Advancement (No. 1700454), IT Work Study Flexible Apprenticeship Model (No. 1902211), and Strengthening Mobile Applications Resources and Technician Training (No. 1700519). Stephanie also served as the program director for GenCyber Summer Camps for high school students.

In recognition of her contributions, Stephanie received Columbus State’s Women’s HERstory Month Award for Outstanding Woman Leader. Prior to her current role, she was a project manager for a school software company and spent over ten years as a K12 educator and school administrator. She received her Master of Educational Leadership from the University of South Florida.

Diane Meza, Executive Director of the Maricopa IT Institute (MITI), helps lead NITIC’s professional development initiatives and Business Industry Leadership Teams (BILTs). As the sector driven institute Director, Diane works across multiple colleges building strategies to grow new talent and develop needed curriculum with industry and faculty. Diane nurtures and develops industry and economic partnerships to stay current with changing technologies. The Maricopa IT Institute will stay current with the ever-changing needs of the workforce and will provide a sound foundation that will keep Maricopa capable of delivering the changing technologies of the future.

Diane brings experience with growing technologies through 30+ years of work in the field of education. She worked for Mesa Public Schools and was named “Teacher of the Year” in 1997. Diane has spent 20 years as a technology/curriculum director and administrator serving as the K-8 technology teacher, technology administrator, vice principal for The Diocese of Phoenix, and principal for Leman Academy of Excellence. Serving students is Diane’s passion, and she continues her pursuit of excellence currently working towards her Ed.D. in Instructional Technology through the American College of Education.

Kyle Jones, a professor and the Information Technology Chair at Sinclair, serves as the lead of NITIC’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. He is also a CAE2Y Principal Investigator, the Principal Investigator for the Community College Scholar for Service Program, and the Principal Investigator for the Community College Cyber Scholarship for Service Program. Additionally, he has led numerous classes for the National Science Foundation’s National Cyber Centers, focusing on CMMC, ITIL, and Security+.

Kyle has a diverse background in the IT field, with over 15 years of experience spanning various roles and industries. His career has ranged from working as a small business PC repair technician to serving as a Senior Security Infrastructure Administrator for a Fortune 500 company.

Kyle holds several professional certifications, including CompTIA Strata, A+, Network+, Security+, CySA, and ITIL Foundations. He earned an Associate degree in Network Engineering from Southern State, a Bachelor of Business from Wilmington College, and a Master’s degree in Information Assurance and Security from American Public University.

Kyle is a recognized public speaker on cybersecurity topics. He recently participated in a roundtable discussion on the current landscape of cybersecurity hosted by the Dayton Business Journal and was featured in a vignette about “Good Cyber Hygiene” on WDTN Dayton-Channel 2. His contributions to the field have earned him accolades such as IT Leader of the Year and a spot on Dayton’s top 40 under 40 list. Additionally, he actively participates in the Ohio Cyber Reserves.

Rajiv Malkan, Ph.D. leads NITIC’s efforts to develop IT education curriculum materials through the clearinghouse repository. Additionally, he drives the center’s software development initiatives. He has over 35 years of leadership contributions in higher education within multiple settings. He has engaged in leadership roles including Founding Dean, Division Chair in transforming education. His involvement in driving key initiatives spans in education delivery, thought leadership, grant writing, global partnerships & engagements on emerging trends. He holds proven expertise in college accreditation & state compliance including Dual Credit/Pathways initiatives for academic & workforce programs.

Dr. Malkan has led strategic planning & leadership development along with C-suite & committees. He has been a pioneer in developing alternative instructional delivery systems-open entry/exit courses, competency-based education (CBE), online learning & working with corporate clients for custom courses. He has also led curriculum development, effective facilities management, and innovative course schedule for 8,000+ students organization that offered guarantee with no class cancellation policy & supervised more than 80 faculty and staff where individual accountability & performance-based outcomes are key measures of effectiveness using the Balanced Scorecard approach. On the global front, he initiated unique immersion language program and has conducted an in-depth qualitative skills gap research in India & visited Vietnam and Kosovo to teach Entrepreneurship/Technology seminars.

Dr. Malkan has been instrumental in soliciting funding through grants from DOL, DOE, DOD, USAID, NSF & TWC. Currently, he is awarded a grant to incorporate Drones, Robots, VR in the curriculum & he is Co-PI of sub-recipient organization for NSF funded grant (2023-2028, $7.5 M) for National Information Technology and Innovation Center (NITIC.org).

Dr. Malkan is active with various professional organizations and is continuing his drive in AI, Data Science & incorporating data driven decision making in higher education organization by presenting at various conferences on Gen AI tools, data analytics, while executing on awarded grants and serving in community colleges, corporate education and correctional institution program.

Shane Kirby led the development of the NITIC proposal and assembled the partnership that leads the center. He continues to serve as a Senior Advisor for NITIC and guides the mini-grant program, partnerships with national organizations, and support for colleges planning to pursue ATE funding. At Columbus State, Kirby serves as the Director for Advancement Partnerships at Columbus State Community College, collaborating with regional and national partners to advance strategic priorities for the college. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida as a double major in Finance and Marketing and earned his MBA with distinction. Since Kirby assumed leadership over the Columbus State grants operation in 2013, he has increased the external funding portfolio from $12m to over $70m in 2023. He and his team has led the development on over 18 funded NSF ATE grant awards. He designed the nationally recognized grants operation and assembled a dynamic team that continues the work today. In addition, he has worked with multiple community college presidents and leadership teams to organize their grant efforts, often resulting in assistance to prepare their first federal proposals. He serves as the Executive Director on the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program for Columbus, a business education program to grow and provide access to capital for small businesses in the community. Shane serves as a mentor for the Pathways to Innovation (PTI) Grant Seeker Academy and FORCEE-ATE programs, and as a partner on the Community College President’s Initiative (CCPI-STEM).

Dr. Ann Beheler strategically leads the Business Industry Leadership Team (BILT) for NITIC, as well as three other National Science Foundation (NSF) national centers and several regional efforts. She is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) for the IT Skill Standards NSF grant based at Collin College and the PI for the Pathways to Innovation NSF grant based at CORD. Both use the BILT model to build high employer engagement and to align skills for technical programs.

For over 20 years, Dr. Beheler has led major NSF national grants including the previous NSF IT Center entitled the National Convergence Technology Center that preceded the NITIC grant. All grants led by Dr. Beheler have been co-led by a broad range of employers, to align hundreds of college and university projects and programs with employers’ future needs, while deepening overall employer relationships.

Over the past several years, she has dedicated herself to helping educators to better align undergraduate education in technical fields to the future knowledge, skill, and ability needs of business and industry through the BILT process she originated. This work has resulted in a much wider pipeline of well-qualified job candidates and increasing business engagement with higher education programs overall. She has trained dozens in how to effectively implement the BILT model to accomplish this alignment because it benefits employers, faculty, and most importantly the students who are the workers of the future.

She is known for successfully connecting employers and educators, as evidenced by her receiving the “2020 Future 50” award from Dallas Innovates, an online news source that provides information about DFW startups, enterprise, education, invention, creatives, technology, and social innovators. Dr. Beheler has split her career between corporate leadership in various IT roles and passionately working to help others to achieve learning that launches their careers in numerous areas of IT and Cybersecurity. She was Director of Certification Testing and Training at Novell, Director of Product Development at Raytheon and Project Manager for the first distributed system pilot project in IT for Rockwell International. Additionally, she has been an instructor, a Dean, and a Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Mark Dempsey leads NITIC’s deliverable support teams for “Professional Development Models” and “Business and Education Partnership Models.” Mark joined Collin College in 2012 as Program Manager for the National Convergence Technology Center (NSF DUE 1205077, DUE 1700530). In 2017 he was promoted to Assistant Director. Mark planned and implemented the special events for the CTC, including the long-running Working Connections program that trained IT faculty from across the country in cutting-edge skills. He also managed the Convergence College Network community of IT educators from 90+ organizations across 31 states. When the CTC grant ended in 2023, Mark joined the NITIC team to help build on the successful work of the CTC. Prior to Collin College, Mark worked for eight years at UCLA Extension, the continuing education division of UCLA. There, he managed domestic and international custom-designed seminar programs. For several years during his tenure at UCLA Extension, Mark served as a co-instructor for the capstone online class “The Business of Hollywood,” which employed a unique role-playing element to explore strategies of film financing and negotiation. Mark holds a BA from Southern Methodist University and an MFA from Loyola Marymount University.

Christina Titus supports several NITIC deliverable support teams by leveraging her experience with past grants. Christina started with Collin College in 2012 to work for the Networking, Information Security, Geospatial Technology Consortium, funded by a $20 million Department of Labor grant. She then progressed to the position of Program Director for the Centers Collaborative for Technical Assistance NSF grant. She is currently the Program Director of the IT Skill Standards 2020 and Beyond National Science Foundation project. In this capacity, she ensures the success and quality of programs while overseeing the day-to-day operations and timelines in collaboration with the Executive Director. Christina’s previous experience as a Project Manager, an administrative assistant, a lab supervisor, and a payroll clerk gave her experience managing projects and planning events. Christina holds a BBA in Marketing from Our Lady of the Lake University and an MBA in Management from Texas A&M Commerce.

Leah Palmer, Executive Director of the Arizona Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AzAMI), helps lead NITIC’s efforts on future technologies, emphasizing cross-section integration with manufacturing. She also contributes to the center’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Leah established a proven record of transformative results with over 20 years of forging partnerships and collaborative solutions to build the needed talent pipelines. As the Executive Director for AzAMI, she has developed systemized workforce strategies to connect the talent supply with competency-based training for semiconductor, Automation, Robotics, Electronics, 3D printing, Battery, EV impacting the growing workforce demands in Arizona. Her expertise is strategic planning, program design, grants management, and building a systems approach that supports a collaborative process for faculty and industry to build new models.

Leah also served as the Director for Workforce and Community Partnerships, both credit and noncredit training pathways, the Associate Director for Community Partnerships provided supporting The Center for Public Policy, and supporting the East Valley Think Tank (EVTT) convening P20 education initiatives. Leah served as the Grant Administrator for the Gates Foundation and Communities Learning in Partnership (CLIP) Grant to enhance college completion of low-income youth. Leah is currently best regarded for the “Quick Start Program” for Semiconductor designing opportunities for the underserved. Leah holds a Master of Arts, Organizational Communication – Training & Development and a Bachelor of Arts, Communications & Interpersonal Development.

Alie Hernandez, a member of Columbus State’s Office of Advancement, is the Program Coordinator for NITIC assisting in project operations and implementation. Prior to her role with NITIC, Alie was a coordinator in the Office of Talent Strategy, working on the NSF IT Work Study Flexible Apprenticeship Model and Modern Manufacturing Work-Study under the DOL OMWP grant. While working with these two programs, she planned and executed several events, communicated with internal and external stakeholders, and formed relationships with local Columbus IT and manufacturing employers. Alie holds her Master of Science in Sport Administration from the University of Cincinnati.

Grayson is a member of the post-awards team at Columbus State’s Office of Advancement. He leads NITIC’s evaluation and reporting efforts. In the two years he’s been a part of the Grants Office team, his portfolio has included several NSF grants in both manufacturing and IT as well as other funders such as the US Department of Labor, the state and federal Departments of Education, and private entities. Prior to his current role, Grayson was involved in Student Affairs through Residence Life and received his Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from Kent State University.

Deborah Hecht Ph.D. is the Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Advanced Study in Education at The Graduate Center. She is the NITIC external evaluator. Deborah is particularly interested in how educational programs and innovations promote and sustain social and educational change. She uses mixed-method approaches to evaluate and develop insights into educational initiatives. She works as a critical friend, helping partners identify and optimize their successes. Deborah has worked in areas including STEM education, service-learning, character education and charter schools. As the lead evaluator on numerous projects, including many NSF ATE, she has explored interconnected STEM learning, engineering pedagogy, educational reform, experiential learning, undergraduate research, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Additionally, she has been involved locally and nationally in the development and study of service-learning as an educational pedagogy. In 1994 she was a co-founder of one of the first charter schools in New Jersey, a school that has been nationally recognized as a leader in service-learning.

Dr. Charlene M. Dukes served as President at Prince George’s Community College from 2007 to 2020 and as Interim President, Montgomery College from 2021 – 2022, both located in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. area, She led institutional strategy, organizational development, fundraising, and helped develop community and business partnerships supporting over 44,000 students. Dr. Dukes is a past chair of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Community Colleges and has served on the Boards of a variety of higher education associations and both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. She is the founder of the Dukes Group LLC, which provides consulting services tailored to higher education, community nonprofits, and policy groups in support of organizational development and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Dr. Dukes was recently appointed to the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

Matthew Glover is a military veteran of the “Silent Service” and has over 32 years of experience building, operating and securing scalable infrastructure, cloud computing and enterprise applications worldwide. He currently leads a fractional CIO leadership company and is a co-founder of an enhanced AI Bot trading platform called YERN. Matthew served as Chairman of the Business Industry Leadership Team (BILT) for the NSF ATE National Convergence Technology Center for nearly 10 years, where he helped to guide curriculum for more than 100 colleges. He also helped lead the “Tech Hire” initiative as a member of the White House Office of Science & Technology CTO Roundtable.

Doug McCollough embraced the rich community of innovation that is Central Ohio as the former CIO of Dublin, Ohio USA. He works to connect people to opportunities, remove barriers, and promote change in initiatives ranging from Smart and Connected Cities, IT Workforce Development, expanding broadband access, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, and Blockchain in Government. He speaks as a Subject Matter Expert and advocate on using technology for community development. Doug is the CEO of Color Coded Labs, which targets underserved, underrepresented, and marginalized communities, seeking gritty working adults to present new, transformative career pathways in the technology industry.

Prior to his current work, Doug held positions within the State of Ohio Departments of Public Safety, Commerce, Industrial Commission, and Medicaid. He served as the Director of Information Technology for the City of Richmond, Virginia, and as CIO for the City of Dublin, Ohio. He is on the boards of Per Scholas Columbus, TECH CORPS, and Jewish Family Services of Columbus, is a cofounder of Black Tech Columbus, and a Trustee for the Central Ohio Transit Authority.

Doug earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo in Information Systems and Operations Management and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Rocky Parker is the Senior External Affairs Officer for Nationwide. In this role, Parker creates and drives critical workforce development efforts for Nationwide. Responsible for educating stakeholders within trade associations and policymakers at the federal, state, and local governmental levels. Accountable for advancing workforce-related initiatives in the communities where Nationwide has a strong presence, leveraging internal expertise in the areas of HR, Government Relations, Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Sustainability. Parker previously served as Nationwide’s Senior Vice President, Talent Acquisition and was responsible for the company’s acquisition of talent from C-suite executives to first year interns and directing the organization’s leadership rotation programs, relocation, university relations and outplacement efforts. Additional positions include, Vice President, Talent Management; Associate Vice President, Talent Management; and Associate Vice President/Officer, Associate Service Center. He is active in the industry as well as the local community and has served on numerous executive steering committees and nonprofit boards including organizations supportive of workforce, education, and community issues. Parker obtained a master’s degree in organizational management and bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.

Dr. Sands has over 30 years of experience in education and workforce research in the areas of data communications, manufacturing technologies, information technology, information security management, and cybersecurity. Dr. Sands is the Principal Investigator/Executive Director of the NSF ATE Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA) and the Co-Principal Investigator for the NSF ATE National Cybersecurity Training & Education Center (NCyTE).

Anand Sekaran leads Strategy, Growth & Innovation for North America – Advanced Technology Centers for Cloud First & Data/AI capabilities for Accenture. He is also an Executive Sponsor for Corporate Citizenship initiatives like Apprenticeship program and Junior Achievement of Central Ohio, creating experiential learning opportunities for local college and high school students. He also serves as an ambassador for ‘Charting the Life Course’ program specially focused in advocating and helping special needs children and their families.

Dr. Stout leads a network of over 300 community colleges working to become profoundly accessible hubs of learning, credentialing, and economic mobility that eliminate inequities in educational and workforce outcomes. Dr. Stout serves on multiple community college boards and national advisory committees. She was nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate to serve a six-year term as a member of the National Council on the Humanities.

Pat leads nearly 100 presidents and CEOs of Ohio”s top companies towards improving Ohio”s business climate and economic vitality. Pat had a 17-year tenure in the U.S. House representing central Ohio and served as a senior member on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Worth oversees projects that partner community colleges with industry-relevant solutions through federal, foundation and/or company investments. The scalable solutions are documented and shared with the member colleges through projects and events such as the Workforce Development Institute. Worth has held positions at the National Center on Education and the Economy, the Academy for Educational Development, the Center for Post-Compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning and the National Association of Workforce Boards. Worth has staffed AACC President and CEO on US Department of Labor Advisory Council on Apprenticeship (2021-2023), the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board (2018-2020) and the Joint US Departments of Commerce and Labor Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion (2017-2018). She holds a master’s degree in public policy and management from the University of Melbourne in Australia.