connectedEDU.org ► Innovative Curriculum for High School EDUCATION

Leadership TEAM The program’s founder, Dan Mahowald, graduated with a Bachelor of Science and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.  He has lived in the Pacific Northwest region since 1989 and worked with prominent Fortune 100 corporations including Microsoft, PACCAR, Weyeraeuser, Nike, Intel, Micron, and Boeing.  He is currently a Vice President for SAP America, Inc. According to Dan “I am inspired by the quality our community, the intense focus we place on excellence, the values that guide us, and the promise on our collective horizon – the young people that we work so hard to inspire. connectedEDU is an idea and a dream with a simple and straightforward purpose. We have a phenomenal opportunity to open doors for those students that have intense motivation and drive to do great things with their lives, to be the next generation of global leaders. Our vision and our program will serve as a catalyst for that dream.”   Executive Board Daniel J Mahowald– Founder, Chairman of the Board, CEO Marc Hillestad – Senior Vice President, Faculty Sponsor Board of Advisors Edgar Martinez - CEO, Branded Solutions, Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame David Valle - CEO, Esperanza International. Television Broadcaster Gary Player - Golf's Global Ambassador Bill McDermott - President & CEO, Global Field Operations Executive Board Member, SAP AG Conrad Robertson - Chief Superintendant, Riverview School District Robert Gary - Principal, Rainer Beach High School, PhD Josh Siegel - Senior, Cedarcrest High School

Founder's letter... It is my great privilege to lead this program.  Education takes on many forms and if we band together leveraging our diversity of strengths, we will make it exceptional. Although our national, state, and local government organizations play a vital role in the process, it is unrealistic and unfair to expect that they will provide all the solutions.  connectedEDU is a program that will invest, innovate, take action, contribute to the solution, and help make education for high school students the best the world has to offer. We are building a dynamic curriculum and will bring it to life by connecting it to the real-world. In the process, we will build partnerships with high schools across this great nation and teach them how to get connected to their communities. I am pleased to report that we are well on our way. On the homepage of this website, there is a copy of our 2007 Annual Report. It chronicles our experience in 2007 and I respectfully ask that you take a few minutes to read it. Over the span of 20 years, my profession has allowed me to work and interact with some of the most successful and innovative Fortune 100 companies on earth.  These companies are loaded with talent and the premise of connectedEDU is to connect that talent to the education system and ignite the explosive reaction of learning.  I am inspired by the sheer volume of opportunity that awaits us, the quality of the communities we live in, the intense focus we place on excellence, the values that guide us, and the promise on our collective horizon – the young people that we work so hard to inspire.  As I often say to the students I meet, the opportunity to live this life and do something exceptional is an amazing privilege. My mother read a poem to me as I left home for college, the last sentence of which I have never forgotten. It was titled ‘If I had to Live My Life Over’ by Erma Bombeck. The last sentence reads.. “But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back”. Get busy living, challenge yourself, be a leader, change the world, start now.   My warmest regards, Dan J Mahowald

Dan pictured with his daughter Alicia