HundrED’s Global Representatives - Meet our new Country Leads

At HundrED, we believe the purpose of education is to help every child flourish in life, no matter what happens and we do this, by researching, selecting and helping spread impactful innovations worldwide.

The HundrED community comprises various roles including innovators, ambassadors, youth ambassadors, the academy, funders, and other experts from over 100 countries and growing. We firmly believe that change only comes from like-minded people working together towards a common goal. That's why we're strengthening our global community of education innovators and passionate education stakeholders by fostering collaboration and learning from each other to increase the pace of change in education everywhere. 

At the beginning of this month, we invited our community of Ambassadors to join our Country Lead network, a community of our leading ambassadors, ready for deeper involvement with HundrED’s mission to improve education, and believe the best way to do that is through impactful innovations. 

Being a small nonprofit with big ambitions, we understand that though our knowledge and expertise of global innovations continue to grow, our ability to inspire change is limited by complexities in local context, languages, and representation. Fortunately, through this process, we were able to identify 19 Country Leads carefully selected from over 500 ambassadors for this prestigious role.

We are excited to share their profiles with our larger network and get working to share more inspiring innovations, work with educators in their native language, and navigate the unique contexts to make change happen in schools. Together we hope to accelerate the pace of change far beyond HundrED’s current capacity.

		Meline Grigoryan, Armenia Meline Grigoryan is an Armenian based education researcher and trainer. She is the Manager of Education Programs at COAF, a non-profit organization seeking to advance rural communities by improving education, healthcare, economic development, and village life. With 12 years of experience in education and research, Meline believes that education should be fulfilled with positive and motivational aspects. Meline has gained her experience in the education field being a teacher, teacher trainer, program manager, author and more. She has pursued her Bachelor’s philology and pedagogy, Masters in Public Administration and PhD in Inclusive education Management from Brusov State University (Yerevan).
		Derek Bartels, Australia Derek Bartels is currently the Director of Innovation & Technology for the Lutheran Education Queensland district of schools in Australia. He has connected, promoted and been involved with HundrED since early 2017. Over the last 34 years, he has held a variety of local, state and national positions within a variety of Education Systems and Sectors. Derek’s current focus includes enabling educational leaders and teachers across schools to transform their culture and practice to enact contemporary learning transformation so that all learners are highly engaged, relevant and happy in today’s world. He believes this is possible when leveraging and developing a systemic culture across schools which is highly collaborative, agile and cohesive.
		Luciana Pölönen, Brazil Lucian Pölönen is a multifaceted professional with over 10 years of experience in the fields of education, innovation, and social entrepreneurship. She has spent her 20s in Finland where she got her Master of Arts at the University of Helsinki, majoring in Literature and Education, minor in Gender Studies, Early Childhood Education, and Multicultural Competencies. She had the opportunity to co-found a cooperative for service design and participated in several social entrepreneurial ventures. She currently serves as the Head of Service Design at national level for Escola Concept schools in Brazil. Luciana believes in equity in education through strategic design.
		Juan Manuel Pico, Colombia Juan Manuel Pico is an International business executive with 29 years of professional experience in Business Development and Corporate Public Relations in Fortune 500 Tech companies. During the last 10 years, he has been devoted to Educational Projects in low-income public schools in Latin America, closing the digital skill gap through World-class EdTech platforms. In 2016, he co-founded Education Soul, a private company that has impacted more than 20,000 children, leveraged by Artificial Intelligence engines. He holds a B.S. in Business from Los Andes University in Colombia, and an Executive MBA from Boston University. Currently, he serves as HundrED Ambassador.
		Vincent Dadzie, Ghana Vincent Dadzie is an Educator and Social Activist with over three years of experience in teaching and advocating. More than his role as an Educator and Activist, he is effective at public speaking and motivating individuals at all levels. Vincent earned a degree in B.Ed. Accounting and Economics in 2017 from the University of Cape Coast. He has also completed more than 15 certificate courses from various Universities around the world. In early 2020, he accomplished his studies at DePaul University as an International Baccalaureate (IB) certified Educator in both MYP and DP. He's open to challenges, conversations, and an exchange of ideas from top players in the field of Education.
		Colman Ho, Hong Kong Colman is a serial entrepreneur, specializes in sales and marketing with experience in media & advertising, travel & hospitality, education & entertainment, ecommerce & IT industries across 3 continents. In his career continuous learning is in the core of his works and his passion with inclusion, empathy and endurance directed him to a career that include merging impactful innovation with education. Colman is currently a partner of investment advisories from Europe and Asia, helping edtech, deeptech and traveltech to grow globally via strategic partnership, investment and marketing. He is also a mentor of HK Science and Technology Park, advisor of companies in China, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong in communication, wellness and co-working sectors.
		Edoardo Montenegro, Italy Edoardo has a strong passion for learning and a deep love for community, change and communication management. He developed his professional skills working for the banking industry in Italy, where he learned to plan and execute communication projects in marketing and HR. Once he understood the impact innovation has on companies and society, he gave space to his entrepreneurial vocation and co-founded Betwyll, an edtech startup that fosters reading through social networking, working with more than 600 schools and universities worldwide. All this led him to Northern Europe, where he learned to work both as edtech entrepreneur and an ecosystem builder.
		Enos Magaga, Kenya Enos Magaga is a graduate from Moi-University Kenya, with a major in Special Needs Education. He works for BEADS for Education in Kenya, Africa. Magaga views quality education to play a key role in fighting poverty and attainment of a successful life. In 2016, he was awarded by the Kenyan Ministry of Education for being an exemplary Biology teacher. Magaga believes in student-centered teaching pedagogies that instill creative and critical thinking among learners. He teaches at Tembea Academy- a school founded by BEADS for Education in 2013 to foster critical thinking and leadership skills among girls from vulnerable Maasai Communities in Kenya.
		Kevin Fullbrook, Kuwait Kevin Fullbrook is the Deputy Director at Al-Bayan Bilingual School, Kuwait. Having started his career as a Math and Physical Education teacher in a remote Australian school, he then worked at a range of schools across the country, before serving in leadership positions in the Middle East, China and Australia. Having participated in the Think Tank on Global Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2016, Kevin then went on to be named one of 'The Educator' magazines Rising Stars of Education under 40 years old.
		Nicholas J. Martino, Mexico Nicholas J. Martino is an impact-driven educational consultant and curriculum architect. After teaching anthropology and leading global learning expeditions for a decade, Nick now works to implement higher-level educational change as founder of the Authentic Learning Lab and NJM Global Consulting. Nick has worked to design the Changemaker Curriculum at THINK Global School & BIT School (Mexico City) while consulting with various global schools and non-profit organizations. In 2009, he was awarded the title of Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction and in 2011, he was recognized as Washington Post Teacher of the Year and Virginia's Stafford County Teacher of the Year.
		Beatriz Jiménez Gómez, Spain Beatriz is the general manager of the first MBA specialized in education in Spain. She is a Teach For All Alumni who has been working for more than 8 years in the educational field both in and outside schools. She is an expert in Edtech and launched the first ITC group in Spain where ITC experts from different schools gather to grow and explore together, and she usually works with school leaders for implementing change at their educational institutions. She is a PhD Student in gender theories applied to education, Moishe House Fellow and IamRemarkable Facilitator.
		Sibel Yalı, Turkey Sibel is an educator based in Turkey, a PhD candidate in Social Studies Education (İstanbul University, TR) interested in historical thinking, history teaching and methodology. She holds a BA in History (Bogazici University, TR) and two master degrees in Knowledge Management (Marmara University, TR) and European Studies (İstanbul University, TR). She is the co-author of books related to history education and post-truth, and currently works as an area editor at Journal of TUHED. She is also married and a mother of two kids.
		Francis Bizoza Bigirimana, Uganda Francis Bizoza Bigirimana is a Founder and the Team Lead at Teachers Empowerment Platform – TEP an organization focused on building teachers’ capacity through continuous professional development to provide quality education. A teacher by training with a Bachelor’s degree from Makerere University Uganda. His passion for education was ignited in one of his classes at the university where he was a beneficiary of the 21st Century teaching and learning approaches. Francis believes that the best way to improve the quality of education is to empower and equip teachers hence TEP. He has served a two-year fellowship with Teach For Uganda, an experience that has given him a deep appreciation of the plight of both teachers and learners in Ugandan rural public schools.
		Hanna Dudich, Ukraine Hanna Dudich is a teacher of English and a vice-principal at Taras Shevchenko Himnazia in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine. She has been teaching for 20 years. She is a HundrED Ambassador, a PenPal Schools Ambassador, a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, a Nearpod Certified Educator, a National Geographic Certified Educator, a Scientix Ambassador, a NAYTEA STEAM Ambassador, a SIMA Teachers Award 2020 recipient. In 2017 Hanna became a Global Teacher Prize top 50 finalist and a Global Teacher Prize Ambassador, which gave her the opportunity to connect with leaders in the field of education.
		Alex Bell, United Kingdom Alex Bell is Director of www.PortlandEducation.co.uk with over 2,000 hours of leadership coaching experience and six years of bespoke vision-to-strategy consultancy for schools in the UK and globally. He was named Hundred’s global ambassador of the year for 2020 and is co-founder of non-profits www.Xtalks.org included in the HundrED global collection 2020 and www.LinkOnlineLearners.org included in the OECD/HundrED Covid-19 solutions spotlight. He is co-founder and curator of This Is Our Chance, the world’s first free online film festival about education futures, co-founder of global innovation www.Leadership-Lemonade.com and runs leadership development programmes for schools on and offline throughout the year.
		Justin Blake, United Kingdom Justin is an award-winning leader, connector and advisor for education, social business and Government. His school was awarded 'School of the Year' for his inspirational innovation and impact in the UK and overseas. He has 30 years of experience in education and is a consultant and thought leader on learning, innovation and social impact. He is the Founder of Conscious Learning and a member of the Meris Education team leading on 21st Century skills innovation. He advises on national conferences and facilitates strategic events and is a moderator for high level Government meetings. He is also involved with Future Capital, working with the United Nations and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
		Jenny Finn, United States of America Jenny Finn’s research, mentoring, and teaching invites people to deepen the relationship they have with themselves in order to serve the world with greater clarity, courage, compassion, and creativity. Her work has taken many forms including non-profit leadership, trauma and hospice care, chaplaincy, clinical private practice, community building through the expressive arts, and education. Jenny holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Education and is co-founder of Springhouse Community School in Floyd, Virginia. She sees education as a primary agent to transform culture and iis reimagining education in ways that foster the vitality within and around us all.
		Nathan Strenge, United States of America Nathan Strenge is a Senior Learning Designer at Fielding International, where he works with innovative schools and educators around the world to create environments where learners and communities thrive. In addition to his role at Fielding, Nathan is an active member of the Learning Lab with Education Reimagined as well as the Transcend Design Community. He enjoys facilitating conversations that bring together youth, educators, and community members to re-envision the future of education – he’s optimistic that all over the world people are reimagining how education can be designed to cultivate learners with agency and aspirations to contribute to a better world.
		Lissette Rojas, Venezuela Lissette Rojas is the co-founder and CEO of Trix and Trax, an educational program that encourages students to discover and develop their talents. A lawyer by training, with a MIB degree from the University of Wollongong in Australia, she has won multiple awards as TV creator, entrepreneur, and educator. Today, she spends her time implementing Trix and Trax's, “Superhero Talent Program: Peer Learning and Role Playing”, in schools in Venezuela and elsewhere. She's a passionate believer in talent nurturing through fun and creative experiences that ultimately lead to building self-confidence, long-lasting relationships with students who are encouraged to dream big.

To know more about the Country Lead role, head to this information page.