Jeff Agnoli (BA/MA) is currently responsible for education, funding, and research development in the Office of Research | Proposal Development Office at The Ohio State University. Jeff has more than 30 years of experience in higher education and consulting with both non-profit and for-profit organizations. His primary areas of responsibility include facilitating interdisciplinary existing and emerging proposal teams; managing the education and outreach efforts for the Office of the Vice President for Research; managing the internal nomination programs for faculty; assisting faculty and staff with the identification of research funding opportunities; and managing the nomination and annual curation process for external scholarly awards and prizes. In 2017, The Ohio State University awarded his the Distinguished Staff Award in recognition of his outstanding service. Members of the National Organization of Research Development Directors (NORDP) elected Jeff to the Board of Directors in 2015. He has been a regular presenter at NORDP National and Regional conferences and served as NORDP’s Treasurer. He received NORDP’s Service Award in 2018 for his commitment to the organization and service to his peers.
Born and raised in the Mountain West in a state that boasts more antelope than people, he found his way to Iowa with the opportunity to play college baseball. He graduated a Hawkeye with a degree in Economics before embarking on a diverse and winding path of business and relationship development opportunities.
He is a sharp dressed, smooth talking, Tough Mudder that between Crossfit workouts and climbing the 14,000 ft peaks of Colorado spreads the gospel of the Iowa City area in an effort to attract business to the region. From Automated Vehicles and Education Technology to Natural and Organic Foods, Tom takes his work seriously, but rarely himself. He found his way to ICAD via a sorted and checkered career history with roles at Allsteel, Tippie College of Business, and community place-making with the Blue Zones Project. Along the way he has lived in Silicon Valley and Austin, TX, but proudly calls Iowa City his home.
His journey with Strategic Doing started in Dec 2016 and has led to over 45 local practitioners being trained since January 2018. He became a CWL in September 2019 with the goal of achieving Fellow in 2020. He has participated in nearly 2 dozen engagements to date and is working closely to become an SD Affiliate in partnership with the University of Iowa.
He is married with two teenage step-sons, three dogs, and a cat that keep things interesting outside the office. He volunteers his time as a High School baseball coach, enjoys golf, cooking, and a good bike ride. The simple things in life, like good beer, good food, and good conversations along with family and friends are what he finds the most rewarding.
Phone: (563) 506-3280
E-mail: tbanta@icadgroup.com
Dr. Doug Dunston is Professor Emeritus in Humanities at New Mexico Tech and KEEN Program Coordinator at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he designs and leads workshops that help School of Engineering faculty leverage research and ideas from the areas of curiosity, motivation, empathy, listening, improvisation, systems thinking, and experiential learning.
He has a deep technical and artistic background and divides his time between New Mexico and Minnesota. When weather and schedule align, he can often be found several thousand feet above the ground, regaining his sense of perspective in a two-seater RV-9A experimental airplane.
Janyce Fadden is Director of Strategic Engagement at the University of North Alabama College of Business. Her role includes implementing an innovation pipeline strategy called Shoals Shift Project and other business engagement projects. Currently using Strategic Doing, a flexible agile methodology, the Shoals Shift Project seeks to build a digital economy by enhancing the region’s competitiveness. This award-winning project recently recognized by the Appalachian Regional Commission with a significant grant to accelerate the results. The project has been recognized as outstanding by the University Economic Development Association and the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. In addition, using lean management techniques Fadden has been a key contributor with the College of Business Graduate recruitment team whose work has resulted in doubling the MBA enrollment thus becoming Alabama’s largest program. She has taught the 2.5 day practitioner training and facilitated numerous workshops in workforce development, economic development, higher education, entrepreneurship, community development, rural economies, manufacturing, and nonprofits.
Nancy Franklin, Principal of Franklin Solutions, collaborates with leaders of higher education, government, and business to facilitate strategic partnerships, innovation initiatives, talent development, agile planning, and program creation. Previously, she led strategic initiatives in community-university engagement, academic pathway development, STEM capacity-building, and integrating technology into teaching and learning at Virginia Tech, Penn State, and Indiana State University after an early career with IBM and ROLM. Nancy has been inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholars, is a member of the Strategic Doing Faculty, and is the author of more than a dozen publications. She holds a doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s from Virginia Tech, and a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University.
Tim Franklin, Ph.D., serves as Principal and co-Founder at Franklin Solutions (FS), which he rejoined full-time following his recent retirement from a 25+-year career as an innovating senior university leader/administrator that included many regional, state, and national recognitions for his projects and work. At FS, he translates this leadership experience into client value.
Franklin is an expert in higher education policy, experienced strategic planner, credentialed Strategic Doing Fellow and Workshop Leader, as well as bringing a history of starting new endeavors, including serving on the Strategic Doing Institute’s Core Team, which supports SDI’s ongoing development. Tim’s achievements include substantial contributions in founding, designing, advocating, and building two market-facing, special purpose institutions focused on technology development and economic growth. The New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) and Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) represent two successful national models, one confronting urban challenges and the other rural. Both leverage the strengths of polytechnic research universities (NJIT and Virginia Tech, respectively) through organizational interfaces designed around applied research, innovation labs, and a comprehensive set of related educational programs and outreach services. Franklin led these intermediary organizations from start-up through institutional growth of more than 125 employees (both) and $85M+ in annual operating expenditures (NJII).
Previously, Franklin held leadership positions at Virginia Tech, Penn State, Indiana State University, and New Jersey Institute of Technology, all of which focused on strategic change and partnerships. Franklin’s responsibilities have included strategic planning, government relations, policy analysis and advocacy, strategic initiatives, fostering institutional-scale programs, fund development, leading public and private partnerships, hiring institutional staff, and articulating programs to advance the University’s economic engagement and research missions. Franklin has strategically aligned numerous partnerships between higher education, community, industry, and government focused on delivering notable regional, cluster, and technology development impact. He has obtained funding for, developed staffing, and led/overseen numerous economic and workforce development programs. Franklin founded and led TRE Networks, Inc., a non-profit organization of leading national organizations and universities dedicated to advancing the role of research universities in transformative regional engagement (TRE) efforts.
Franklin brings skills and a reputation:
· As an incisive strategist, catalyzer of constructive change, and author of messages leading to trust in and commitment to new endeavors,
· As a master collaborator and team builder in both his internal and external relationships,
· For his vision, leadership, and skills in competitive contexts,
· For building talented, high-performing work teams, whose discretionary efforts make ambitious strategic goals achievable,
· For innovation and creative solutions in confronting complex, messy problems,
· For mastering the technical and policy subjects at the core of his efforts, and
· As a builder and for starting new endeavors.
