The I-CAN Team

Jon Beard, CEO
Jon designed I-CAN from his experience with knowledge transfer in education and business while taking advantage of emerging technologies.

William (Bill) Sarine
Vice President, Business Development
Cultivates, establishes and maintains strategic relationships with leading industries, government agencies and educational institutions.

Justin Beard
Product Manager, Education
Justin recently graduated from UNC Wilmington with a Business/Marketing degree. He represents the new generation of college students with a solid understanding of what motivates, engages and inspires students in the classrooms today.

Lloyd Spruill
Vice President, Education
With many years of public school experience under her belt, particularly in the high school classroom, Lloyd brings a passion to I-CAN grounded by her work with high school students, recognizing the lack of motivation that many students suffer.

Michael Sotire
Vice President, Social Entrepreneurship
Michael has many years of national workforce development and social enterprise solution experience.  Michael leads consulting efforts to integrate education and emerging enterprise solutions to meet workforce demand. 

 

 

I-CAN was developed to motivate and inspire individuals in communities to improve personal and economic growth to the benefit of the entire community. As an Internet platform and using 21st Century technologies, I-CAN helps a variety of communities, education, social, business, as well as geographic, scale individual learning and access to knowledge to meet strategic goals.

Vision:

  • To enable and motivate all communities of learners to achieve personal and economic goals.

Beliefs:

  • Every individual should have access to the Internet with tools to provide value and structure for personal growth
  • Communities of learners will succeed best through an integrated use of technologies
  • Every student should have the ability to explore interest and careers beyond their sphere of environment
  • Interaction with successful individuals in occupations and industries of interest to the participant is a powerful motivator
  • Using technology to "Push" and "Filter" relevant information to learners is a foundation for differentiated learning

Key factors for the I-CAN concept:

  • Career Day - Everyday!! Those wishing to explore career opportunities should not be limited by annual events or local contacts. I-CAN provides a platform for exploration anytime and with the convenience of the Internet.
  • Many of us are not motivated by academics. We need to see the "real world" application and how it aligns with academics or provides an approach to our interests and goals.
  • Everyone needs an opportunity to explore personal goals - many of our students/citizens/employees do not have the network of family/friends/business associates to guide their interests to careers that are personally and economically satisfying.
  • Having Internet access does not necessarily lead to equality; it only provides the opportunity for equality. We must add structured value to insure a higher degree of return on investment (ROI).
  • It is important to track, measure and report on the value of our technology. I-CAN tracks activity of participants for measurement and reporting.