Ellen Dorr serves as the director of digital learning for Renton School District. She works with schools, administrators and teachers to make the instructional shifts necessary to leverage high-potential digital resources in a systemic, sustainable way. In addition, she partners with learning and teaching and with tech services in order to ensure that resources to support students’ learning are available and used intentionally. She works to support schools transitioning into digital learning environments which better meet the needs of all students. She identifies and plans implementation of high-potential digital tools that meet specific learning needs and evaluates data on these tools, while also supporting integration of this instructional model across the district.

Michael Farmer has been an educator for 20 years. After spending the first 10 years of his career in the classroom teaching, science, history and leadership in the Highline and Kent School Districts, he began his career in administration, serving one year as a dean of students and then moved to an assistant principal in the Tacoma School District. After four years at Stewart Middle School, Michael started Tacoma’s online high school, Tacoma Virtual Learning. In 2011, he became the director of instructional technology and held that position through June 2015. He is now the executive director of innovation and learning in the Eatonville School District. Throughout Michael’s entire career, he has been an advocate for innovation and worked hard to get more technology into the hands of more kids. He strongly believes that all students deserve an education that prepares them for the rest of the 21st century and that technology is the key to transforming teaching and learning.

Eric Ferguson has worked for the Bellevue School District for 20 years. He has been in his current role for the past two years and has deployed approximately 9,000 devices into students’ hands to redefine teaching and learning. Prior to his current role, Eric was the assistant principal at Highland Middle School for five years. He also worked in the curriculum department to support middle school science teachers in his free time. He and his family are Sounders fans.

For 20 years, Mark Finstrom has focused his efforts in support of education. With a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education, a Masters in Education and a CETL, he serves as CTO for Highline Public Schools. He is committed to equity in education, high expectations for all and partnering with families and the community to ensure that all children achieve their potential. His team’s work embodies the strategic plan as they strive to integrate tech-savvy and tech-literate goals into every pillar of their work.

Brooke Trisler is CTO for Mukilteo School District in the Greater Seattle Area. Previously, he provided leadership and oversight to instructional technology, online learning and library services for Renton School District as the director of instructional technology. Brooke spent his early career teaching a wide spectrum of technology-based, career readiness and fine arts high school courses for one of the largest career and technical education districts in the U.S.
Brooke holds a Master of Education with a focus on Supervision and a Bachelor of Science in Technology with a concentration on Technology Education. He obtained his Certified Education Technology Leadership through the Consortium for School Networking in 2014.