Kathleen Gilroy
147 Magazine Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-973-9400
kathleen@ottergroup.com
Kathleen Gilroy has been working for 20 years revolutionizing the use of new communications technologies for professional education. She is the founder and CEO of The Otter Group, a company that designs, builds, and manages e-learning programs for the world's most prestigious corporate and academic universities.
Since 1985 Ms. Gilroy has developed electronic education programs for over 100,000 professional learners. Her programs, across many subject areas, have received consistently high marks from their participants. She was responsible for developing Harvard Business School’s first e-learning program, “Achieving Breakthrough Service” (1992), which was seen by over 7,000 HBS alumni and colleagues. In 1995, Ms. Gilroy developed the first e-learning program on e-commerce, “Competing in the Marketspace.” She has worked with leading figures in academia, science, politics, and journalism, including Peter Drucker, Andrew Lo, William Sahlman, William Ury, Len Schlesinger, Earl Sasser, James Heskette, Mark Moore, Martin Linksy, Deborah Ancona, Jeffrey Rayport, Henry Kendall, Joseph Nye, Joseph Wiesner, and Richard Garwin.
Through her extensive direct experience in the field of e-learning, Ms. Gilroy has developed a highly regarded methodology for online teaching and learning that emphasizes peer-to-peer learning. She believes the best courses have their foundation in highly effective learning communities. Her model includes personalization through complex profiling and polling and an open source technology strategy that shares best practices weblogs.
Ms. Gilroy’s programs have been covered in the New York Times, The Financial Times, and professional journals. She has published white papers on the subject of e-learning, including “Collaborative E-Learning: The Right Approach,” and “Emergent Learning: What the Dean Campaign can Teach Us About Online Learning Programs.” She is a speaker at industry conferences and gives seminars to private clients on e-learning strategy and best practices.
Personal
Ms. Gilroy received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University (1979). She has served on the boards of the Boston Film and Video Foundation and the Stanford Club of Boston (former officer). She is currently a member of the board of directors of the Feathered Pipe Foundation. Charitable services include volunteering for the AIDS Interfaith Ministry and Cambridge Cares about AIDS. Ms. Gilroy is a Big Sister and has led a Girl Scout Troop in Somerville, Massachusetts. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband, Harry Fix, a jazz pianist.
Highlighted Credits
2002-2004 Investments with Andrew Lo.
2002-2004 Re-framing Conflict. An online program on conflict resolution for Camp, Dresser & McKee.
2003 Emergent Learning: What the Dean Campaign can Teach Us About Online Learning Programs. White Paper. Author
2001 Collaborative E-Learning: The Right Approach. White Paper. Author
2001 The Art and Science of Persuasion with Gary Orren. KSG Leadership Series. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
2000 Investments with Andrew Lo. Sloan School of Management at MIT. Pilot e-learning program for 25 Merrill Lynch fixed income securities traders.
Initiatives in Strategic Philanthropy with Martin Linsky, Adele Simmons, Mark Kramer, John Abele, Wendy Puriefoy, Peter Karoff, Ellen Remmer, Melinda Marble. The Philanthropic Initiative.
1999 The Strategic Triangle with Mark Moore. KSG Leadership Series. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Pilot program.
1997 Nonprofit Management with Peter Drucker. The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management. Over 10,000 students enrolled.
1995 Competing in the Marketspace with Paul Callahan (Forrester Research), Jeffrey Rayport and John Sviokla (Harvard Business School) and Sam Whitmore (PCWeek). First e-learning program on e-commerce. Over 2,000 students enrolled. (consistency in identifying institutions)
1994 Achieving Breakthrough Service for the Professional Service Firm with Jim Heskett, Earl Sasser, and Len Schlesinger. Harvard Business School and Coopers and Lybrand. Over 2,000 students enrolled.
Achieving Breakthrough Service in Libraries, with James Heskett and Earl Sasser, Harvard Business School and the American Library Association. Over 12,500 students enrolled.
1993 Achieving Breakthrough Service, with James, Heskett, Len Schlesinger and Earl Sasser, Harvard Business School. First e-learning program for Harvard Business School. Over 7,000 students enrolled.
The Learning Organization, with Peter Senge. Coopers & Lybrand. . Over 2,000 students enrolled.
Issue Resolution, with Bill Ury. Coopers & Lybrand. Over 1,000 students enrolled.
1990 The Visioneer's Apprentice. Polaroid Corporation. A dramatic videotape on Polaroid's customer of the future.
1989 Human Rights Now! A satellite press conference for Amnesty International and Reebok featuring Sting, Peter Gabriel, Jackson Browne, Tracy Chapman, and others
1987 Polaroid Satellite Conference '87. A national satellite teleconference. Polaroid Corporation. Over 14,000 participants.
1986 An Open World with McGeorge Bundy, Jerome Wiesner, Sergei Kapitza, Victor Velhikov, Richard Garwin, and Joseph Nye. American, Soviet, and Danish Academies of Science. The first teleconference to link the USSR with Europe and the U.S. Watched by millions worldwide.
From Trinity to Star Wars with Senator Albert Gore, Robert McNamara, Leslie Gelb, and Nobel Laureate Henry Kendall. Union of Concerned Scientists. Thousands of participants at hundreds of locations in the United States.
1984 Weapons in Space with Carl Sagan, Richard, Garwin, and Henry Kendall. Union of Concerned Scientists. Over 3,000 participants in 40 locations.
Awards
1990 For The Visioneer's Apprentice. The Intercom Film and Video Festival Silver Plaque Award.
1979 Mademoiselle College Fiction Contest. Honorable Mention.