Andra Hansen
Andra is a faculty member in the Communication Department at Brigham Young University-Idaho, where she has been teaching for eight years. Andra has designed persuasion, media law, moral reasoning and advocacy classes and have received an excellence in teaching award. Prior to coming to BYU-I, Andra spent 13 years teaching writing, business and professional communication and literature classes at Idaho State University. Her areas of expertise include political rhetoric, persuasion, mediation, negotiation, advocacy, and critical thinking. She is currently a lead faculty member of the Organizational Communication and Advocacy emphasis within the Communication Department at BYU-I.
Andra strongly believes that what is taught in the classroom is primarily valuable to the degree that it meets needs and provides insights applicable to everyday living. Her natural interests in people and language have led her to seek out a diverse range of professional experiences, including as a consultant and trainer for the Transatlantic Negotiation School of Business in Lagos, Nigeria; as a writing instructor for Native American students on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation; and as a legislative correspondent on Capitol Hill. Andra has an acute understanding of strategic communication within business, political, and social contexts.
Because she is passionate about learning, Andra pursues opportunities to gain further understanding of the relationship between communication, people, and problem solving. She has recently completed a Harvard Law School negotiation training and attended educational conferences focused on experiential learning and on critical thinking.
Andra is devoted to using communication skills to foster meaningful dialogue, promote peaceful resolutions to conflicts, maximize value for all parties involved in an exchange, and create safe, positive environments within which individuals in organizational and family contexts have the opportunity to thrive.
Dr. Geoff Thomas
Dr. Geoff Thomas is a life long educator serving as classroom teacher, coach and mentor before assuming administrative responsibilities. He has worked as a Superintendent for nearly 20 years. In 2015, Dr. Thomas was selected by his peers as the Idaho Superintendent of the Year.
Dr. Thomas is a passionate advocate for public education and an outspoken critic of excessive standardized testing, high stakes testing and other so called “Reforms.” He is married to Janalee his wife of 32 years. They are the proud of parents of five children and two amazingly talented and precocious grandchildren.
Dr. Thomas will be talking on the topic of Restoration not Reformation.
Here is a highlight about what he will be talking about.
To restore greatness in pubic education we need to return and restore those principles which are truly effective and not engage in pseudo reforms that have proven to be unworkable.
Nathan Gwilliam
Nathan Gwilliam is CEO/Founder of Elevati, the parent company of adoption.com. As a college student, Nathan spent almost two years as a missionary in Brazil. Nathan fell in love with the street children of Brazil and vowed to do something to make a lasting difference in their lives when he returned. So, Nathan created a thesis on how to use the Internet to help children through adoption. That thesis won multiple business plan competitions, and adoption.com was born. As CEO, Nathan grew adoption.com to become the world’s most-used adoption site.
Nathan grew the social follows of Deseret Digital from less than 100,000 to more than 40 million in 18 months. He created familyshare.com, which reached 22 million page views/mo. within 18 months. He launched a YouTube channel in four languages that received 1.7 million video views in first two months. He increase revenue by $5 million in 12 months for a Facebook app, which became a top 5 Facebook app with 90 million installs. He grew the social follows of Azul, a new Brazilian Airline, from 5,000 to 1.6 million in 12 months. Azul became the fastest-growing airline ever.
Nathan has received the “Angel in Adoption” award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, the “Adoption Hall of Fame” award from Families Supporting Adoption, and the “Best of the Decade” award from the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology.
Nathan has a Masters degree in Business Administration from Brigham Young University and is a huge BYU football fan.
Nathan loves spending time with his wife and three daughters. Nathan is a passionate advocate of adoption and other child welfare issues. He loves outdoor activities, such as skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, trail running, rafting, fishing, backpacking, and horseback riding. He also loves to create and grow things, such as digital ventures and his garden.
Bill Crawford
Bill Crawford graduated from BYU with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He went on to fly Air Force fighters and bombers before studying entrepreneurship and finance at Harvard Business School, where he received an MBA in 2006. He has worked in sales, marketing and product development for Ventana Medical Systems, Inc, an award winning fast growth medical device company acquired by Roche in in 2008 for $3.4 billion. He currently teaches entrepreneurship and marketing at BYU-Idaho.
- Gracie Marsden
Gracie Marsden is a Junior studying Philosophy here at BYU-Idaho. A proud Asian-American, she was born in Seattle but raised part of her life in Taiwan. She served a Mandarin-speaking mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Vancouver, Canada. She claims to have a black belt in jiu-jitsu but no one really believes her. Gracie began with a dream to become a veterinarian, then a writer, then a concert pianist, then a hobo. Currently her dream is to get her PhD in Ethics and to become a Professor of Philosophy. She is a huge advocate for education and women’s rights. Her hobbies include playing tennis, studying Philosophy, and sounding smarter than she actually is. She is very passionate in the journey of truth-seeking, and is trying to enjoy being proven wrong as part of her coming to truth. So far, her attempts are futile. Her greatest fears include insects of any kind, death by fire, and being called to serve in the Nursery.
Dr. Cameron Codd
Cameron Codd, DO is an OB-GYN at Seasons Medical’s Women’s Center. Originally from Lethbridge, Alberta Dr. Codd pursued his undergraduate degree in Zoology and Business at Brigham Young University. His medical training took him to A.T. Still University of Health Sciences in Kirksville, Missouri. He later completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Akron General Medical Center where he also served as a faculty member at Northeast Ohio Medical University.
Dr. Codd and his wife, Beckie, have five children. They are actively involved with competitive swimming, dance, music and birding. They especially enjoy hiking and the outdoors.
Dr. Codd was selected as a 2012 ‘Honorary Resident in Minimally Invasive Gynecology by the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists. His residency training emphasized minimally invasive surgery including robotics.
Special Thanks to:
Maija-Liisa Adams for providing speech coaching services
Sternberg and Shirley Providing Music for TEDxRExburg:
Scott Shirley is a life-long resident of Madison County, presently
serving as Pincipal of Lincoln Elementary in the Madison District. He
began playing in musical groups over fifty years ago, in spite of
having failed miserably as a music major in college. His love for
learning led him to a career in education and greater understanding
for students who struggle with unreasonable educational demands.
Doug Sternberg is a local resident who is a classicaly trained
guitarist. He has also been playing for the past fifty years in
professional guitar groups that touring Europe as well as in the
United States.
Both are life-long students of music as well as advocates for
education. They will be playing both traditional and original
classical guitar music at the upcoming TED event in Rexburg.