For over 30 years, Cindy has led the design and expansion of digital services, with a special focus on education. As the Executive Director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation since 2010, she collaborates with a talented team to enhance the organization's impact through initiatives like Edutopia and Lucas Learning, which focuses on authentic, project-based learning simulations for students, developed with strategic partners.
Before joining the Foundation, Cindy was the Senior Vice President of Interactive and Education at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). At PBS, she was responsible for the launch and growth of pbs.org and its related websites, such as pbskids.org, pbsparents.org and education resources. Cindy’s passion for online learning began in 1989 with text-based interfaces and 300 baud modems, managing teacher support and training for Learning Link, an early online service for K-12 classrooms. She holds a master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Ohio University.
Kim Meredith is the CEO of the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation and is chief strategist, fundraiser, grantmaker and advocate for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
Kim was previously Executive Director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Prior she was Chief Development Officer for Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York and Chief Operating Officer at Planned Parenthood Golden Gate in San Francisco. Early in her career, Kim worked for AT&T.
Kim serves on the board of directors for the George Lucas Educational Foundation and Trust for the Americas, and advisory boards of Steel Sky Ventures, Stanford PACS, UCSF Rosenman Institute and Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation. Past boards include Essential Access Health, YPO Pacific U.S. Gold Regional Board and Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund.
Kim earned a BA in Economics from Stanford. She was a fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders, and was sponsored at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Corporate Board Workshop.
Kate Lucas Nyegaard attended K-12 schools in Modesto, California, and the University of California-Berkeley. Married to husband Roland for 69 years, she raised a son and daughter and worked for 40 years as a medical practice manager. For more than 30 years, she's served as a director on the George Lucas Educational Foundation board. Between 1993-2005, she served as a Trustee on the Modesto City Schools Board of Education, overseeing 33 public schools serving 34,000 K-12 students. She's also served as a Trustee on the University of California-Merced Foundation Board, and as a Director on the Boards of the Gallo Center for the Arts, FUMC Tiny Tot Preschool, and Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte. Kate loves politics, PBS & BBC News, and film festivals.
Marshall Turner is also a board member of the AB Funds, a family of 81 mutual funds and ETFs managed by AllianceBernstein LLP, a board he chaired from 2014 through 2022. He is a former board member of Xilinx, MEMC electronic Materials, Dupont Photomasks, Splitrock Services, Bethesda Research Laboratories, and 16 privately held technology companies.
He retired as Chairman and CEO of Dupont Photomasks in 2006, and has also served as CEO or interim CEO of four other technology and communication companies. His experience includes twenty years in technology venture capital, and an early career as an industrial designer and biomedical engineer. While an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service at the NIH, he and a heart surgeon colleague designed a successful left ventricular heart assist pump and tested it through 29 implants in calves. His government service also included a year as a White House Fellow, two years as part of the founding leadership team of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and chairing the boards of two Federal organizations - the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He also chaired the boards of the Reed Union School District in Marin County during a period of major change, and KQED, Inc., San Francisco's public broadcasting stations, and served on the boards of the American Alliance of Museums, PBS, and the Museum of Radio and Television in New York.
Marshall earned a BS Degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MS Degree in Product Design from Stanford University, and an MBA from Harvard University.
Perhaps the most recognized initiative of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Edutopia is dedicated to sharing what works in education through interactive media and online community.
Its core strategies aim to educate the whole child, including project-based learning, comprehensive assessment, integrated studies, social and emotional learning, teacher development, and technology integration.
The newest initiative of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Lucas Learning leverages project-based learning research to build strategic alliances aimed at creating authentic learning simulations for schools.
The Lucas Education Research archive provides a curated selection of research studies and related curriculum links, demonstrating the effectiveness of rigorous project-based learning.