Dr. Sasha Thackaberry-Voinovich founded Newstate University in 2026 as part of a team of educational innovators. She has over two decades of experience in education. She formerly served as the President of SkillsWave, having led the Wave team and D2L for Business at D2L before the division spun off as a privately held, stand-alone company. SkillsWave is an education benefit company, connecting employers with education partners to fill skills gaps and develop talent into a competitive advantage. Previously, she served as the Vice President for Student and Partner Services at Pearson, leading the learning design and student retention teams. She was the inaugural Vice President for Online and Continuing Education at Louisiana State University, leading fully online programs, support for online and blended courses, and continuing education that encompassed professional development, K-12 and lifelong learning. 

Other previous positions include Assistant Vice President for Academic Technology, Course Production and New Learning Models at Southern New Hampshire University, and District Director for eLearning Technologies at Cuyahoga Community College.

She has consulted for Fortune 500 companies as well as colleges and K-12 districts. She is on the Quality Matters Board, and has formerly sat on advisory committees for the national CHLOE survey, and has served as the Chair of the Executive Committee for WCET, and been the Co-Chair for the Council Chief Online Learning Officers through UPCEA.

Dr. Thackaberry-Voinovich’s new book “How to Grow Enrollment in Online Higher Education: Marketing and Recruitment” is available from Routledge in hardcover, paperback, and digital editions.

She has published articles in Inside Higher Ed, EDUCAUSE Review, eLearn Magazine, Distance Learning, e-Literate, WCET, evoLLLution, and the League for Innovation’s Learning Abstracts.   She is the co-recipient of the 2013 MOOC Award for Excellence through the Open Education Consortium, and a 2010 Innovation of the Year award through the League for Innovation. Sasha holds a PhD in higher education administration with a research focus in Competency-Based Education as well as an MAT from Kent State University. Her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance is from the University of Akron.

Charlotte Bencaz is a seasoned marketer and strategic leader in higher education, known for building collaborative, high‑performing teams and driving strong enrollment and revenue outcomes. She has a track record of scaling organizations, strengthening operations, and leading cross‑functional groups in marketing, recruitment, and student support to deliver consistent, measurable results.

At LSU Online & Continuing Education, she played a central role in transforming a small unit into a large, mature organization with a broad portfolio of degrees, certificates, and MicroCred programs. She expanded partnerships, strengthened internal capabilities by transitioning away from an OPM model, and managed a rapidly growing marketing operation while maintaining strong conversion and retention performance. Her leadership helped establish LSU as a national presence in online education.

Charlotte’s partnership expertise spans major employers, universities, and corporate clients. She has built national relationships with well‑known brands, launched dozens of university partnerships in a single year, and supported enterprise clients at D2L/SkillsWave. Earlier in her career at Pearson, she managed a multimillion‑dollar portfolio with full P&L responsibility, delivered meaningful revenue growth, and led strategic planning across a suite of online programs. Her passion is leveraging AI for operational efficiencies.

Jaime Mordue is a transformational academic learning executive with over 20 years of progressive leadership experience driving innovation in ed-tech and instructional design.

Known for her passionate dedication to education and learners, Jaime has a proven track record of aligning strategic vision with measurable business outcomes in rapidly evolving educational technology landscapes.

Her career highlights include scaling global teams of over 100 professionals, managing multi-million-dollar budgets, and delivering over 2,000 online courses annually. While at Boundless Learning, she served as Senior Director of Global Learning Design, where she led a global team of over 100 professionals across four countries, while undergoing significant organizational changes and business transformations. Jaime implemented professional development, mentorship and innovations programs for instructional designers focused on upskilling, design thinking and AI technologies.

At Pearson Online Learning Services, Jaime cultivated a high-performing team of over 25 instructional designers and implemented a comprehensive onboarding program that reduced new designer ramp-up time. She pioneered innovative design methodologies that reduced course development time and improved student retention rates across all programs.

As an Instructional Designer/Corporate Training Consultant at TalentSprout by Sykes, she developed comprehensive customer service training for Capital One and AT&T call centers. Her work at Perdoceo as a Course Development Project Manager included orchestrating the simultaneous development of over 50 courses annually.