Meet our Board of Directors

Jim Cole has over 20 years of experience in leading-edge software development for companies including Adobe and Intuit. As founder of the Covero Consulting Group, a successful computer consulting firm, Jim brings substantial business management expertise as well as technological savvy to the Big Learning organization. He holds a masters in Economics from San Jose State University and a B.S. in computer science, Phi Beta Kappa, from Indiana University. He holds 7 U.S. patents for computer design.

Jennifer Knudsen is a senior mathematics educator at the Center for Technology and Learning at SRI, International, an active volunteer at her daughter's San Francisco elementary school, and, of course, a parent.

At SRI, Knudsen designs programs and materials for students and teachers, helping a broad range of students learn high-level mathematics even at the middle-school level. She directs a research project funded by the National Science Foundation, developing and testing new professional development techniques for teachers. Previously, at the Institute for Research on Learning, she designed innovative, technology-rich programs for students, parents and teachers, which were one source of inspiration for the Big Learning framework.

Knudsen was a high school mathematics teacher in New York City public schools and, as a volunteer, developed an artist-in-residence program bringing weekly art experiences to the youngest children at her daughters' elementary school. Her education includes a BA from the Evergreen State College and graduate studies at Stanford University and Columbia Teachers' College. 

Judith B. Saks is an experienced education writer, editor, and publications manager. After working as an education reporter for The Boston Globe, she spent a year on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association. She then worked as a senior editor of American School Board Journal , an award-winning education magazine. Later, after stints in publications management for non-profits and for Comsat World Systems, she became an editor and program officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), where she collaborated with high school science teachers to develop and evaluate curricula related to the Institute's annual science lecture series.

As a freelance writer and editor specializing in education and science education topics, Saks wrote a “parents' advocate” education column for the Bethesda Gazette and wrote or co-authored trade paperback books for the National School Boards Association on charter schools, character education, public engagement, and the ways in which school boards and superintendents can work collaboratively to raise student achievement. She also wrote a chapter on college-level biology teaching and course design for an HHMI publication for postdoctoral fellows and new faculty and has written articles on science education programs for the HHMI Bulletin .

She served as a member of the board of directors of the Washington Independent Writers Legal and Educational Fund for 12 years. Currently, she is a lay leader in adult education for a synagogue in Rockville, Maryland , and for an umbrella organization, the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning.

Saks holds a B.A. degree in English literature from Boston University, magna cum laude, and an M.S. degree in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.