We put emphasis on having a creative work environment.
Meet Our Team
Umme Salma is currently the Principal of the New York Academy, a progressive American School in Hyderabad. She is the Founder and Executive Director of EdPodium. Umme is also an Adjunct Professor at Notre Dame de Namur University in California.
Umme was born in Hyderabad and moved to California to pursue her education. She received her Bachelors’ Degree in Child Psychology and her Masters Degree in Educational Administration from Santa Clara University.
After working for several years as a teacher and administrator in Elementary and Middle Schools, in the Bay Area (Silicon Valley), in California, she realized the need to learn more about Early Childhood Education. This is where every child begins his/her journey of becoming a lifelong learner. So unsurprisingly, she pursued her degree in Early Childhood Education. Having had the opportunity to be trained and working with some of the best educators at Bing Nursery School at Stanford University, Umme’s perspective on early childhood became more solidified. Having had extensive training at Stanford University Research Lab and Children’s Center of the Stanford Community, she became a more staunch, advocate of the importance of Pre K – 12 Education.
Umme believes that teaching and learning are irrevocably connected and effective teachers are the change agents in society. They have the power to create life-long learners with a growth mindset. Effective teachers help their students reach their full potential. Therefore, there is a critical need in the world today to train teachers in the art and science of teaching and learning.
Her vision is to enhance, expand, and support teacher training in India by equipping teachers with current brain-based research, knowledge, skills, and the mind-set to motivate and help their young learners. Umme collaborated with Notre Dame de Namur University in California, USA, and began a successful Pilot Teacher Training Program in India, 2018 -2019. She is determined to create a professional learning community in India where educators collaborate to enhance every aspect of the education system, which positively contributes to the holistic development of children.
Nisar is a principal SAP solutions architect in Cisco Advanced Services - Cloud and IT Transformation COE, working with global customers and partners to develop and deliver SAP OS/DB migration and re-platforming solutions, Data Migration & Big Data Services, and cloud integration to SAP HANA.
Nisar is helping Enterprise customers assess the journey to Cloud computing and migrating their infrastructure and ERP applications (SAP & Oracle) to the Cisco's next generation and converged architecture with deployment automation.
Nisar is a part of the following SAP delivery solutions:
1. SAP Migration to HANA (on-prem, cloud & hybrid), Classical database platform (Oracle, DB2 & SQL Server), or hardware refresh/change with Near Zero Downtime technologies & tools. Notably SAP Suite on HANA and BW on HANA migration services.
2. SAP Data migration services for HANA, and integration with Big Data/Hadoop and Analytics solutions.
3. SAP HANA TDI, Virtualized and Optimization & cloud integration.
4. Next Generation Data Center Architectures including SDN, Big Data, Application Centric Infrastructure and Cloud solutions.
Prior to this Nisar worked:
1. Over 7 years with Big4 consulting firms: Capgemini, BearingPoint, EDS and Infosys in multiple capacities with managing large scale of multi-million dollars SAP engagements in USA including pre-sales initiatives.
2. Over 12 years of consulting experience and provide business development support for large deals
3. As an Independent consultant/technology specialist & advisory.
Certification: SAP OS/DB Certification and SAP Certified Technology Specialist - SAP HANA Installation
Jefferson is the youngest of seven siblings, born in Stockton, California. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Leadership Education from Santa Clara University, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Communications from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Jefferson is also the Co-Founder/Executive Director of Camp Thrive, a non-profit organization helping low-income children to become well-rounded individuals to understand the value of spiritual reflection, leadership, and communication. His previous experience has been in the tech industry and higher education. He has a passion for working with children.
In his spare time, he enjoys playing basketball, watching movies, and spending time with his family.
Board of Directors
Our mission is to build an education ecosystem in India to help educators all across Asia and practice the Art and Science of learning, teaching, and leading.
Dr. Susan Charles has over 30 years experience as a teacher, counselor, and administrator in K-12 education and more than 15 years in higher education. Originally from the island of Dominica, in the West Indies, where she began her teaching career, she has lived with her family in the Bay Area since 1975 and worked with the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) for 28 years. She served in numerous roles in her nearly three decades with the PAUSD, working as the Human Relations Specialist, Counselor, Director of Special Services, Dean of Students, Head of Guidance, and Principal. She is a trainer with the 6 Seconds organization in emotional intelligence and teaching to the social and emotional well being of children and adults. She works with schools in India, China, the Bay Area, and has worked in the Caribbean and Africa.
In 2002, then an adjunct instructor, Susan began a successful partnership between the PAUSD and Santa Clara University, in Santa Clara, California, by starting a cohort for training new administrators, in Palo Alto. This partnership was extended to other neighboring districts and private schools. Susan, in 2009, became the Director of Educational Leadership/ Administrative Services programs at Santa Clara and presently is the Director of the M.A in Administration/ Preliminary Administrative Services program and also Director of the M.A. in Education and Curriculum at Notre Dame de Namur University, in Belmont, California.
Susan sits on various boards in the community. She has been on the Advisory Board of Palo Alto YWCA; Free the Children; Synapse School; Girls Middle School; Palo Alto Child Care Cooperation (PACC); Supporting Our Sons; and DreamCatchers. She is a consultant for Imagination School.
Dr. Charles received her B.A, M.A/P.P.S. in Counseling; Professional /Clear Administrative Services Credential from Santa Clara University; Preliminary Administrative Services Credential from U.C. Berkeley; and her Ed.D. at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.
In her spare time, Susan enjoys spending time with her family, grandchildren and friends, gardening, and cooking. She hopes to find more time to lie on the beach in the Caribbean and to be able to research, write, and publish.
Her Noble Goal is to teach and influence educators to make a difference in the lives of children!
Dr. Robert Ferrera is a Professor of Education and the Director of the Multiple Subject Credential Program at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. He has been an Assistant Superintendent of Student Services in the Santa Clara County of Education and Superintendent of Schools in three Districts and States in the U.S. He has also been an adjunct instructor at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, in Minnesota and Grand Valley University, MI.
Dr. Ferrera is a co-founder and instructor in the teacher-training program for teachers in Hyderabad, India.
Other than his administrative and teaching experiences, Dr. Ferrera has six publications and is a presenter for many professional organizations and schools.
He is also a member of the California School Administrators (ACSA), American Association of School Administrators (AASA), Association of Supervision and Curriculum (ASCD), California Council of Teacher Education (CCTC), and Phi Delta Kappa.
Dr. Ferrera received his Doctor in Education from University of Southern California, his Master of Arts and General Administration Credential from San Francisco State University, and his Bachelor of Science from University of San Francisco.
He was awarded the “Distinguished Service to Students and the Preparation of Teachers,” presented on March 28, 2014 at the CCTE Spring Conference in San Jose, California.
Dr. Ferrera also was awarded “the San Mateo School Board’s Association Kent Award for Outstanding Partnerships between a School District and a University,” presented at the San Mateo County School Board’s Award Dinner on May 19, 2014.
Jennifer Winters is the Director of Bing Nursery School and Lecturer at Stanford University in the Department of Psychology. Bing Nursery School is a laboratory school within the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University that serves 450 children, ages 2 through 5. She has 33 years of experience in the field of early childhood education as a teacher, administrator, advocate, mentor and leader. She holds a B.S. in Elementary Education and Special Education from the University of Maryland and a M.A. in Child Development from San Jose State University. She has presented locally, nationally and internationally on numerous topics in the field of early childhood education.
She has a passionate commitment to serving young children and their families by reaching out and sharing the knowledge and experience in child development at Bing Nursery School with the parent community and with early childhood educators from around the world. She believes strongly that for young children play-based learning is best for their development across all domains – cognitive, social, emotional, and physical. She is an advocate for play-based learning for young children around the globe.
Bhavna Narula is currently a middle school Principal in Los Altos, California. Through the course of her career spanning two decades, Bhavna has taught preschool through graduate school students as well as led district wide improvement efforts in student support systems and teacher learning. In her current role, Bhavna has led school wide change to standards-based grading, implemented co-teaching as an instructional model to support all students and built a school climate and culture rooted in universal design for learning and inclusion. Bhavna truly believes that it is the engagement of all stakeholders including parents and teachers that creates transformational change in education. Amplifying and empowering student voice and choice in all aspects of instructional decision making as well as school wide decision making are Bhavna’s guiding principles.