Global Citizenship Larry Nelson

Well, here it is.  My first blog as Director of Global Citizenship.    I'm kinda nervous about this....so I'll keep it pretty basic to start....and appreciate your indulging me. 

For those of you who don't know me, I've been at Sun for 7 years.   My background is largely from the educational technology industry and I come from a family of educators:   my grandparents taught; my mother was a teacher, principal and superintendent; and my sister is a teacher today.   I myself never taught in a classroom---but I was a TA/Tutor in accounting at B-school which totally doesn't count.  :-)   

After a few years of marketing and brand management at Bloomingdales', Procter & Gamble and General Foods---I decided that as challenging as it is to build Jell-O brand share, that building a business where you are "giving something back" can be much more rewarding.   So I left GF to dive into the education software industry pretty much when it was just taking off.   

I ran an educational curriculum software company (Decision Development Corporation) for ten years and followed that up by doing an Internet start-up (SchoolCity.com) for about two years.   While at SchoolCity, I attended Sun's 2000 World Wide Education Research Conference (WWERC) in Barcelona (BCN)---which led to 1. my love of BCN; and 2. the opportunity to join Sun's Education team in January of 2001.   

Initially what drew me to Sun was the opportunity to "go global" with my passion.

During the past seven years Sun has challenged me with a number of really cool jobs which have gone far beyond the initial allure.   I ran Sun's Global Primary/Secondary Education Strategy & ISV relations, and also helped to start a community that creates open source curriculum.   This community---originally known as the Global Education & Learning Community (GELC)---was conceived by Scott McNealy at Sun's 2004 WWERC in Madrid.    In October 2006 we "spun out" the GELC from Sun and turned it into an independent non-profit corporation, now known as Curriki.   

Top 10 career moments that came out of this include presenting Curriki with Scott at the 2005 Educause Conference to 5,000+ educators (see below); and working directly with Scott in setting up Curriki; and continuing that work today as a member of Curriki's Board of Directors.

The job I just started at Sun is awesome!   As Director of Global Citizenship, I'm working with a kick-butt team that is responsible for the Sun Foundation acitivities; driving Sun's messaging and commitment to corporate citizenship; and creating programs, partnerships, and initiatives that tie to Sun's cause to eliminate the digital divide.   We have the opportunity to work on the very thing Sun is driven to achieve.   How cool is that?! 

This job totally connects with my passion for being mission-driven and driving solid business objectives that simultaneously result in "giving something back".  

Even though there are many paths to reach our objectives---reminds of the road sign I photographed in November at a roundabout in Barbados (below)---the best part is that our group is not alone in this endeavor!   We are guided by the activities and support of 33,000+ of the best employees on the planet to make this happen.  

I'm proud to be a Sun employee and am humbled by the opportunity to do the work our team does.

Stay tuned...much will follow.

P.S.   Our team recently gathered for a holiday celebration.  All were present but Julie Smith...fortunately the restaurant where we ate had wireless so we shared a toast with all via video chat on www.mebeam.com.   After the meal, we took a photograph which Julie updated with the help of technology to ensure her presence in our digital record of the event. 

Pictured Left to Right:   Mary Smaragdis, Joyce Murata, yours truly, Julie Smith, Liz Griswold, Dan Zucker, Natalie Ajluni, and Donna Mar.