Ali Ganjalizadeh

Ali Ganjalizadeh, otherwise known as Ali G., will hit his 10-year Blackboard anniversary this coming February.  Starting in Client Support, moving to QA, and ultimately finding his home in Product Management, Ali has kept customer success the foundation of his work ethos. Having attended The Catholic University of America for undergrad and The University of Maryland for his MBA, Ali has been a Washingtonian for nearly his entire life (D.C., not Washington state).  When not soliciting excellent customer feedback and improving Bb Learn, Ali likes to play guitar, go camping, and embark on one big international adventure every year.

Claudia Myrick

Claudia Myrick, Director of Solutions Engineering at Blackboard, works with North America Higher Education customers on a range of activities from identifying client needs and determining the appropriate solutions that align with institutional goals to directly assisting clients with their effective use of technology to support teaching and learning and improve student outcomes.  Prior to joining Blackboard, she was the National Business Development Manager for Panasonic Higher Education where she worked with higher education customers to identify, prioritize, and build business use cases to define the company's product development and release strategy.  She also spent over 12 years at Belmont University where she served in multiple roles and capacities.  Her experience includes student financial services, academic program support, learning management system implementation and administration, instructional design, faculty development, training (ground and remote), faculty and student orientations, as well as faculty and student technology support.

Amy Ricci

Amy is the Director of Online Education in Johnson & Wales University’s College of Online Education, where she oversees online course design, delivery, and quality. Amy has been at Johnson & Wales for eight years, previously overseeing the institution’s academic technology team and leading the university’s initial implementation of Blackboard. Prior to working at JWU, Amy worked in academic technology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and in distance education positions at Syracuse University and Rochester Institute of Technology. She is in the final stages of completing her Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration at Northeastern University.

Pat Schmohl

Pat, who has been with Quinsigamond Community College more than 11 years, has served in a variety of faculty and administrative capacities, including as Coordinator of the Fire Science Program, Faculty Senate President, and most recently as Acting Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs.  Additionally, Pat has more than 20 years of emergency medical and fire service experience.  Pat earned both an Associate Degree in Nursing and an Associate Degree in Fire Science from Quinsigamond Community College, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fire Science, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Anna Maria College, and a Master of Science Degree in Nursing – Community /Public Health from Worcester State University.

Pat has over 20 years of service as a Firefighter in Massachusetts in the communities of Amherst, Princeton, and Rutland. Held the rank of firefighter/paramedic through Fire Chief.   Pat also worked as a per diem registered nurse in the Saint Vincent Hospital Critical Care float pool and Emergency Department for over 5 years.