The Project Lead Team is spearheading the initiative to expand Chinese language capacity in Washington state. We became involved in this project as planners for the 2006 International Education Leadership Summit: Expanding Chinese Language Capacity in Washington State.
To contact the team, email action@internationaledwa.org.
Project Lead Team Members
David Woodward is President and CEO of Associates in Cultural Exchange (A.C.E.), which he first joined in 1980. Woodward has led in the development of various business startups and educational projects involving small businesses, universities, corporations, and government agencies. Clients Woodward has worked with include the Japanese Ministry of Education, the Yemeni Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources, Samsung Corporation, World Learning, AMIDEAST, Academy for Educational Development, Kuwait University, Boeing, USAID and EPA. He has established contracts for services, branch offices and representative service arrangements with client organizations in United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Oman, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, Korea, Australia, and six U.S. states, as well as managing for-profit and not-for-profit subsidiaries and spin-offs. Activities have included managing personnel in over 80 locations in the Pacific Northwest, marketing internationally, organizational development, and setting up strategic relationships worldwide. He has led in the formation of several key international marketing consortia, and collaborative initiatives across professional disciplines. Woodward currently provides consulting services for Quality Schools International headquartered in Slovenia, assisting with the development of its international K-12 school system now operating in 26 countries. Woodward holds several degrees from the University of Washington including a Master of Arts in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, a Master of Education in Higher Education with a specialization in Teaching English as a Second Language, a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, and a Bachelor of Arts in History. Woodward is fluent in Arabic, Farsi, and French. Contact davidw@cultural.org.
Michele Anciaux Aoki is World Languages Program Supervisor at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Prior to taking this position, she consulted with schools on language learning and assessment and businesses and non-profits on project management and effective communications. For over 15 years she has been actively involved in local, state, and national education reform efforts. Since 2002, she has been part of a national effort to promote international education in the schools, and in 2003, she co-founded the Washington State Coalition for International Education http://internationaledwa.org to help Washington achieve the goal of preparing all students for today's interconnected world. She is state organizer for Washington's Capitol Forum on America's Future, a nationally recognized program from Brown University that provides an opportunity for high school students to deliberate on the U.S. role in the world. Michele has a B.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Slavic Linguistics, all from the University of Washington. Contact michele.aoki@k12.wa.us.
Sam Kaplan, as Vice President for the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, assists with the strategic management of the organization. He is also responsible for producing marketing materials, including brochures, videos and other presentations He manages Trade Alliance’s web site which includes a listing of Greater Seattle companies, information on the region in 18 languages, the latest news of what’s happening in the region, industry sector brochures and IPC Seattle’s Journalist Reference Guide. He manages the organization’s International Press Center which assists foreign journalists covering the Greater Seattle region. Previously Sam worked as a legislative assistant handling foreign affairs and trade issues for now retired U.S. Representative John Miller. Representative Miller served on the Foreign Affairs Committee and its Subcommittee on International Trade. In his work there, Sam helped Representative Miller liberalize U.S. controls on exports overseas. As vice president of the Trade Alliance, Sam writes a column for the Redmond Chamber newsletter and has also been published in the World Bank’s Urban Age magazine, as well as in many other publications. He is a member of the Board for the Ethnic Heritage Council and was selected as World Affairs Fellow for the World Affairs Council program. He has also served as editor of the Fringe Rag for the Seattle Fringe Theatre Festival. Contact samk@seattlechamber.com.
Scott Heinlein, as Deputy Director of the China Relations Council, is primarily responsible for daily business operations at the Council, and he has been instrumental in creating many new programs and initiatives including: the education initiative that was developed under the auspices of the Ad Hoc Committee to welcome President Hu Jintao to Washington State in April 2006 – which was supported and agreed to by Governor Gregoire and President Hu Jintao (in their April 18, 2006 meeting) – calling for the establishment of a Confucius Institute in Washington and opening a Washington State Higher Education and Vocational Training Center in China. Scott joined the WSCRC in February 2000 and prior to the Council he worked at the Foundation for Russian American Economic Cooperation as the CLEAR-PAC Program Director. Contact: Heinlein@wscrc.org.