Robert L. Smith is director of Corporate Branding and Public Relations at Eli Lilly and Company. He is responsible for the company's philanthropic, community and Indianapolis government relations activities. He also serves as president of the Lilly Foundation and is responsible for leading a team dedicated to helping employees conduct business in a way that maintains and enhances the company's reputation with key stakeholders.
Smith has been with Lilly since completing his MBA in 1996. He has served as a financial analyst supporting Lilly's global diabetes and growth hormone businesses. In addition, Smith served as the coordinator of Lilly's minority business development program and the manager of investor relations at Lilly. During Smith's tenure, the Lilly IR group consistently received high marks from Wall Street analysts and institutional investors regarding the quality, consistency and transparency of investment community communications.
Smith was promoted to director of Corporate Communications in February 2002. In this role, Smith managed a team responsible for coordinating all corporate media relations activities, including financial, public policy and scientific communications.
Smith earned his bachelor's degree in accounting and master's degree in business administration (finance) from Indiana University-Bloomington.
Sally Goetz Shuler is the Executive Director of the National Science Resources Center (NSRC), which is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and The National Academies. The mission of the NSRC is to improve the teaching of science in the nation's schools. Since the inception of the NSRC in 1985, Ms. Shuler was the Deputy Director for Development, External Relations and Outreach. In that capacity, she was responsible for outreach programs, external relations, and development for the Center's programs. Programs include disseminating information about exemplary science curriculum resources, developing innovative science curriculum materials for students, and sponsoring leadership development and technical assistance programs for school districts and community leaders.
She has over three decades of experience working to improve K-12 science education at the local, national, and international levels. At the classroom level, she has ten years of experience as a high school biology, earth science, and mathematics teacher in both private and public schools. She has also been a science instructor for adult education in Fairfax County, Virginia. At the district level, she served for five years as the K-12 science resource specialist for the Fairfax County Public Schools, the nation's tenth largest school district. In this position, she worked with teachers and school administrators representing 130 elementary schools, 23 intermediate, and 23 high schools to develop and sustain high-quality inquiry-centered science programs for 160,000 K-12 students.
Ms. Shuler has a M.S. in Environmental Health Sciences from George Washington University, and a B.A. from Edinboro State University, with majors in Biology and Geology.
Bill Walker is the Executive Director for the I-STEM (Indiana Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Resource Network. As Executive Director for the I-STEM Resource Network, Bill organizes and manages the creation of a statewide resource network for K-12 STEM education. I-STEM activities have included addressing professional developments needs for teachers of mathematics and science; facilitating the development of a webpage that will be a leading information source to students, parents, teachers, administrators, and higher education personnel in K-12 STEM education, and initiating a statewide network with regional lead institutions of higher education to facilitate regional and statewide improvement in K-12 STEM education. Bill is also the Director of Science K-12 Outreach at Purdue University, which creates professional development programs for teachers of science and mathematics. Prior to working with I-STEM, Bill taught high school and middle school mathematics for eight years.
As the Science Curriculum Specialist at the Indiana Department of Education, Dr. Hicks is responsible for the development of Indiana's Academic Standards for Science and the accompanying resources, and for promoting science education throughout Indiana. She has taught at the university and high school levels, and has teaching licenses in California (Life Sciences) and Indiana (Chemistry and Life Sciences). Prior to this she was a high school science teacher in California for eight years. She was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis in the Biology Department. She received her Ph.D. in Visual Sciences and her B.S. in Biology at Indiana University.
As the Director of Operations for the I-STEM Resource Network, Brandon facilitates the relationships within the network and with other organizations outside of the network. Activities have included the network's web presence, redevelopment of a feedback loop in partnership with the Independent Colleges of Indiana, coordination with the primary contacts of the network's lead institutions, reforming science education in Indiana, and communicating information about the network to other Indiana STEM institutions such as museums, botanical gardens, and zoos. Previously, Brandon spent 11 years as a K-12 school district administrator overseeing technology and professional development.
Michael Klentschy is a researcher currently studying the longitudinal effects of inquiry-based science education on language minority populations and with the science-literacy connection in North Carolina, Idaho, New Mexico and Colorado. He is the former Superintendent of Schools of the El Centro School District in El Centro, California. He served in that capacity from February 1994 - June 2007. Dr. Klentschy also has served as a faculty member in the Graduate School of Education at San Diego State University. He is He received his doctorate degree in educational research and evaluation from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dr. Klentschy was the Principal Investigator of the Imperial Valley CaMSP Science Project, Co-Director of the California Science Subject Matter Project Regional Center at San Diego State, Principal Investigator for the Valle Imperial Project in Science. Dr. Klentschy served as Co-PI on several NSF funded elementary science initiatives at the California Institute of Technology. In these capacities, he has conducted and published numerous research studies on the longitudinal effects of inquiry based science programs and their impact on student achievement, English Learners and closing the achievement gap. He serves on several advisory boards including the California Institute of Technology and the Center for Assessment and Evaluation for Student Learning.
Dr. Klentschy was named the Southern California Superintendent of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators in 2001. In November 2004, an international jury, containing 5 Nobel Laureates, in Saint Etienne, France named Dr. Klentschy as co-laureate for the inaugural Le Prix Purkwa (International prize for the scientific literacy of the children of the planet). The National Science Education Leadership Association named him Administrator of the Year for 2005. The California Science Teacher's Association named him the recipient of the Margaret Nicholson Award for lifetime service to science education in 2007. He is the author of Using Science Notebooks in Elementary Classrooms by NSTA Press and Scaffolding Science Inquiry through Lesson Design from Heinemann Press. His latest book - Using Science Notebooks in Middle School Classrooms will be released in Spring 2010 by NSTA Press.
Karen Heilman is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt at Eli Lilly and Company. Over the past four years she has led numerous successful Lean Six Sigma projects across diverse environments, including manufacturing, quality, research and development, training, and procurement, resulting in almost $4 million in bottom line benefits. She is a skilled mentor, having coached 18 black belt and green belts, as well as developing a variety of hands on training simulations and specific lean training classes. In 2009, she formalized the process for Lilly experienced belts to use their six sigma skills in the community to benefit the public sector. Her current assignment is to work with several community partners to plan the third annual Global Day of Service, a day-long event in which employees around the globe unite with one common cause: to improve the community where they live and work.
Karen Heilman has a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.
John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D., is chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Company. Lechleiter served previously as president and chief operating officer of Lilly, beginning in 2005, when he also joined the board. In 2004, he became Lilly's executive vice president for pharmaceutical operations. Prior to that, he had served as executive vice president for pharmaceutical products and corporate development since 2001.
Lechleiter received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 1975. He subsequently studied organic chemistry as a National Science Foundation Fellow at Harvard University, where he received his master's and doctorate degrees. In 2006, Lechleiter received an honorary doctorate of business administration from Marian University (Indianapolis).
Joining Lilly in 1979 as a senior organic chemist in process research and development, Lechleiter became head of that department in 1982. In 1984, he began serving as director of pharmaceutical product development for the Lilly Research Centre Limited in Windlesham, England. He returned to the United States in 1986 as manager of research and development projects for Europe. In 1988, he became director of development projects management, and in 1989, he assumed additional responsibility for pharmaceutical regulatory affairs. In 1991, he was named executive director of pharmaceutical product development, and in 1993, he became vice president. He was appointed vice president of regulatory affairs in 1994. In 1996, he was named vice president for development and regulatory affairs. Lechleiter became senior vice president of pharmaceutical products in 1998.
For more than 20 years, Bennett has served Indiana's school children and families as a teacher, coach and administrator, helping ensure Indiana's students receive the first-class education they deserve. After nine years in the classroom as a science teacher, Dr. Bennett began his career in administration, quickly developing a reputation as a gifted leader with a talent for school management, strategic planning and efficient budgeting. Dr. Bennett received his Ed.D. and Indiana Superintendent's License from Spalding University. He earned his Certification in Secondary Administration and Supervision, a Master of Science in Secondary Education, and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Indiana University Southeast.
