Dr. Stephen G. West
Founder and President
Dr. Stephen G. West has had a keen interest in education and especially
foreign language all his life. He has served on educational committees,
assisted with classroom education and is a member of the Association
for Childhood Education International. As commanding officer of
an army dental clinic in Japan, he was confronted with language
acquisition and the difficulties of functioning in a foreign culture
with little or no understanding of the language.
Dr. West created, refined and patented the PI Language Method to
provide an entertaining and appropriate way for young children to
be exposed to and acquire multi-lingual skills. He spent eleven
years researching the art and the science of language acquisition.
Direct observations of the didactic, in-class process of teaching
foreign language led Dr. West to explore methods and techniques
of enhancing the classroom experience. Recognizing the failure of
a didactics -only approach, Dr. West began consulting with University
language specialists and Pedagogues, and other "out of the
box" thinking education reformers. The PI Method is the
culmination of extensive efforts to integrate the manner in which
children naturally acquire language with modern entertainment technology.
Dr. West attended New York University for undergraduate studies
and received a DMD from the University of Pennsylvania School of
Dental Medicine. He taught dentistry at the Downstate Medical School
in New York and maintained a successful private dental practice
for many years until it was sold in 1990. Dr. West was a Special-Education
teacher at the prestigious East Chapel Hill High School, where he
provided expertise in teaching handicapped students.
Paul Meade
Co-Founder and Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Paul Meade currently serves as the Vice-President of Sales and Marketing
for Language Universe. Paul has had extensive experience within
the Pharmaceutical Industry as was previously Worldwide Commercial
Director for Predictive Medicine at Glaxo Wellcome, one of the world's
largest pharmaceutical companies. He was responsible for developing
global commercial strategies and marketing plans for a variety of
products and services. Prior to that he held various managerial
positions throughout Glaxo Wellcome, such as Director of Business
Planning and Strategy Development, International Director of Marketing,
Product Director, Product Manager and Sales Representative. He
received a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences from
the University of Guelph in Canada and a B.Sc. from Arcadia University.
He has also taken several business courses throughout his career.
Pierre
Kressmann
Vice President of Technology
Pierre Kressmann is
spearheading the development of Language Universe's next generation
products. Starting with a refreshed
internet presence and remastering
the product line to DVD video, he will be developing new content
and delivery concepts using the PI learning Method. Pierre has a
fine arts education background with extensive experience in new
media design, authoring, and marketing. He has worked with clients
such as GlaxoSmithKline, Lycos.com, and Endemol Productions.
Emilia Nuccio
President of International
Emilia Nuccio President of International for the itsy bitsy Entertainment
Company July of 1999 to present, after having served as of Executive
Director of International starting in. As such, she oversees all
international business related to the distribution, licensing and
merchandising of all company represented and owned properties. With
offices in Brazil and Germany Emilia Nuccio is strategically poised
to engineer the international expansion of The itsy bitsy Entertainment
Company.
In addition to the Sales & Marketing International responsibilities,
Emilia is on the creative and production committee whose task it
is to acquire, develop and produce new programming assets for the
company.
She joined The itsy bitsy Entertainment Company as General Manager
of Latin America in May of 1998. Her responsibility included the
marketing and sales of broadcast and licensing of the children's
television series, Teletubbies and Tots TV, in Mexico, Central and
South America. Teletubbies was successfully sold to broadcasters
in every country in Latin America. Emilia closed deals with major
manufacturers and licensees and Teletubbies became one of the most
successful licensed properties in the territory generating substantial
revenues for the company.
Prior to joining itsy bitsy Entertainment, Emilia Nuccio was Vice
President, Latin American Sales for BBC Worldwide Americas, the
commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the Americas.
She joined BBC in January of 1995 to head the Latin American program
distribution unit and to develop the strategy to increase the BBC
television presence in the growing Latin America market.
At the BBC her contributions were significant. She increased revenues
several million dollars or more than a 1000% in television sales
alone while developing the home video and library sales businesses.
She was instrumental in growing the BBC brand and in the launch
of the BBC World channel in the region.
She was a member of the BBC team creating joint ventures for channel
development and management in Latin America and around the world.
In 1997, Emilia negotiated the Latin America Program Licensing Agreement
with Discovery. In October of 1997, Latin America saw the launch
of People & Arts and Animal Planet, the first channels created
out of the Discovery/BBC partnership.
Ms. Nuccio has extensive experience in international and domestic
program distribution as well as in marketing, management, operations
and project development in the broadcasting, cable and satellite
industry. Prior to joining the BBC, she was Director of Sales
for Protele, the international distribution arm of the Mexican media
giant, Televisa. At Protele, Ms. Nuccio gained worldwide television
sales experience selling telenovelas, the number one revenue generating
program genre for the company.
Prior to Televisa, Ms. Nuccio spent 14 years at Westinghouse Broadcasting
Corporation, now CBS. In 1990, on special assignment in Paris, she
brokered Westinghouse first international sale of its award-winning
public service campaign to France, "For Kids' Sake". During
her tenure at Westinghouse, Ms. Nuccio was promoted several times
and held a variety of sales positions including Advertising Sales/
Marketing Executive and Syndication Executive.
Ms. Nuccio is a graduate of Queens College and a recipient of a
graduate Fellowship at Yale University in New Haven, where she studied
Spanish and Italian Language and Literature. Born in Italy and living
in the U.S. since 1971, Ms. Nuccio is fluent in English, Italian,
Spanish, French and has a working knowledge of German and Portuguese.
Her current professional affiliations include American Women in
Radio & Television and New York Women's Agenda. She resides
in Harrison, Westchester with her husband Robert MacFarlane. Ms.
Nuccio has traveled widely in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Norma J. Hart
Bilingual Advisory Chairperson
Norma J. Hart, former member of the "President's Bilingual
Advisory Committee", co-chair - Bilingual Special Education
Institute, NYS Regents Advisory Committee, Bilingual Advisory Committee-NY
City Board of Education, Consultant- Head Start Program.
Campbell R. Harvey
Chairperson of the Advisory Board
Campbell R. Harvey is the J. Paul Sticht Distinguished Professor
of International Business at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke
University. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau
of Economic Research of Cambridge, MA. Dr. Harvey obtained his doctorate
at the University of Chicago. His undergraduate studies were conducted
at the University of Toronto. He has served on the faculties of
the Stockholm School of Economics, the Helsinki School of Economics,
and the University of Chicago. Harvey has published numerous scholarly
articles and books, and is the recipient of numerous awards for
writing.
Advisory
Board
Dr. Joseph A. Fernandez
President of Joseph A. Fernandez & Associates, Inc. a consulting
services provider for school district improvement projects; past
president, The Council Of The Great City Schools 3⁄4 a coalition
of superintendents and school board members from 50 of the nation's
largest districts; past chancellor, New York City Public Schools;
superintendent, Dade County Public Schools (1963-90), the fourth
largest school district in the nation.
Norma J. Hart, Psy.D.
President's Bilingual Advisory Committee; co-chair, Bilingual Special
Education Institute; NYS Regents Advisory Committee; Bilingual Advisory
Committee; NYC Board of Education; Consultant, Headstart Program
Pegge J. Abrams
Director, Duke Language Center, Duke University; SCOLA Founder.
(SCOLA is an international consortium of universities involved in
teaching via satellite.)
Prof. Alan Rosenthal
Professor of Communications, Stanford University; Professor of Communications,
Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Campbell R. Harvey, Ph.D.
Campbell R. Harvey is the J. Paul Sticht Distinguished Professor
of International Business at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke
University. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau
of Economic Research of Cambridge, MA. Dr. Harvey obtained his doctorate
at the University of Chicago. His undergraduate studies were conducted
at the University of Toronto. He has served on the faculties of
the Stockholm School of Economics, the Helsinki School of Economics,
and the University of Chicago. Harvey has published numerous scholarly
articles and books, and is the recipient of numerous awards for
writing.
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