Instructor Spotlights and Insights

Instructor Spotlight: Bill Mead

A Pioneer in Web Design

Bill Mead, M.Ed., started building websites in the mid-1990s…way back when the internet was just beginning to dip its toe into everyday life. “I saw the web—and web design—as an amazing field with lots of opportunity for expression, even in the very early years,” he said. 

Instructor Spotlight: David Pardes

David Pardes, M.S., MBA, a tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Francisco, brings 12 years of wine industry experience, and a bit of humor, to his decade’s-long career of teaching finance, accounting and taxation to vineyard and winery owners and executives.

Instructor Spotlight: Rebecca Bleibaum

Rebecca N. Bleibaum, instructor and co-founder of UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education’s Applied Sensory and Consumer Science Certificate Program, has been passionate about sensory science since discovering it as a student at UC Davis. Since that time, she has worked alongside pioneers in the field and around the world, focusing on turning academic concepts into applied sensory research.

Instructor Spotlight: Janet Mahrle

We sat down with instructor Janet Mahrle, Professional Certified Coach and owner of Mahrle Coaching Services, to talk about her popular course, Conversational Intelligence®: Strategies for Effective Conversations. Read what she had to say about the impact of making conversations more effective. 

Instructor Spotlight: Dawn Karner

What it means to be a ‘leader’ is changing. That’s according to Dawn Karner, a coach, trainer and leadership consultant who teaches our three-day course, Leading Through Emotional Intelligence and Coaching. Karner feels that the ‘soft skills’ she teaches have become essential qualities in today’s leaders.