About Us.

We began working with the Stanford Center for Assessment Learning & Equity (SCALE) in 2019 to define what it means to be a creative, self-directed leader.

After doing a deep dive in these areas, we developed a program to help students build these important skills. We began implementing this program with our students at Design Tech High School @ Oracle, with great success. Today, our work with Stanford serves as the foundation of our innovation program, which is now available to students anywhere in the world.

Who We Are

Dr. Ken Montgomery

DESIGN TECH
Executive Director
Ken Montgomery is the Co-Founder of Design Tech High School @ Oracle (a.ka. “d.tech”) and has served as the executive director for over ten years now. Ken completed his PhD in administration and policy analysis at Stanford University. While at Stanford he published several articles about charter schools and school leadership and developed a school leadership course. As a teacher Ken held a variety of positions and won several awards including being named a member of the USA Today All-teacher team and becoming a National Board Certified teacher.
Nicole Cerra

DESIGN TECH
Director of Innovation
After 15 years of working in schools throughout the west coast, Nicole and a small group of like-minded educators founded Design Tech High School (a.k.a. “d.tech”) with the goal of graduating the next generation of innovators. D.tech opened its doors in the fall of 2014. In addition to teaching creative problem solving, Nicole has been responsible for leading the d.tech team in curriculum development, instructional strategy, and professional learning.
In 2019, Nicole and her colleagues launched the Design Tech Innovation Program for students across the globe to learn creative problem solving skills. She is passionate about giving all students the chance to develop the creativity, leadership, and initiative needed to not just get into college, but to graduate and do meaningful work with their unique skill set.
Jennifer DiGrande

DESIGN TECH
Director of Marketing & Growth, Innovation Programs
Jennifer has over fifteen years of experience in development and marketing innovation programs to youth and adults, including the LEAD Business Certificate at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Throughout her career, Jennifer has embraced entrepreneurship opportunities and education. From starting her own small business as a teen to teaching entrepreneurship through the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and more recently promoting online innovation programs, Jennifer enjoys fostering a culture of curiosity and authenticity.
Nathan Pierce

DESIGN TECH
Course Curriculum Designer
Nathan is a passionate, future-focused educator and learning-experience designer with 25 years of demonstrated success in public education. As a Certified Learning Engineer at PlayLab he provides peer coaching, async app feedback, and leads AI tool-building initiatives. In parallel, he teaches English 12 at d.Tech and is spearheading the Design Your Future curriculum. He coordinates partnerships that leverage the responsible use of AI while deepening engagement and equity.
His classroom emphasizes extreme personalization, data-informed instruction, and the purposeful application of learning science. Nathan is a sought after presenter at education and AI conferences, has been recognized as an AI for Equity Vanguard Fellow, and is a winner of the ISTE GenerationAI Luminary Award.
Patrick Sullivan

DESIGN TECH
Innovation Program Instructor

With over two decades of teaching experience, Patrick’s journey in education has taken him across the globe, fostering learning in diverse communities such as South Korea and Vietnam.
Throughout his career, Patrick has been deeply committed to crafting innovative curricula that seamlessly blend creativity, collaboration, and digital skill development using cutting-edge educational technologies. His early career experiences as an Instructional Technology Specialist for the Millbrae School District laid the foundation for his exploration of Design Thinking—a methodology that he first encountered during this time. Furthering his expertise, Patrick became a fellow in the prestigious MERIT program at Foothill College.
Georgina Fakoukaki

DESIGN TECH
Innovation Program Specialist
Georgina brings over nine years of experience in design thinking within education, specializing in creating transformative learning experiences that foster co-creation and enhance the student-teacher dynamic.
As both a UC Berkeley and d.tech alumna, she has personally witnessed the power of human-centered problem-solving—an approach that has profoundly shaped her career. Her work includes founding a nonprofit in Puerto Rico dedicated to integrating design thinking into public high schools and mentoring early-stage startups in applying these principles at the UC Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology.

Our Advisory Council

The Innovation and Creativity Council provides the executive director and the director of innovation with insights and resources that can help improve our offerings to ensure that when it comes to preparing students we remain future-forward.

Tom Alison

HEAD of FACEBOOK
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Colleen Cassity

ORACLE
VP, Oracle Social Impact
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Amit Koren

JLL
CEO, Leasing and Capital Markets Technology
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Savannah Kunovsky

IDEO
Managing Director, Emerging Technology

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Sam Yen

J.P. MORGAN CHASE
Chief Innovation Officer, Commercial Banking
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"We need our up-and-coming adults to be innovative and adept at designing solutions. Love seeing more of these design-based thinking programs for high school students"

Jennifer Vancini—General Partner at Mighty Capital
"Just imagine, a bunch of us industry analysts at Oracle for updates on Oracle's vision and direction, AI strategy, data and design innovations, healthcare advancements, and overall digital innovation. It's all impressive, as you would expect. But we have never perked up more than we did listening to d.tech students changing the way we think about solving problems to make the future better."

Jess Von Bank—Global Leader, HR Transformation & Technology
"The Design Tech Innovation Certificate Program and summer internship prepared me for the future by enhancing my technical skills, boosting my problem-solving abilities, and providing valuable real-world experience in web development and team collaboration."

Dayna— Student
"Thank you so much for all the amazing experiences & learning I’ve had through the Innovation Certificate Program. It’s been incredibly rewarding to work hands on creating my own designs & growing through such a creative and supportive environment.”

Sitanshu—Student

About Us.

We began working with the Stanford Center for Assessment Learning & Equity (SCALE) in 2019 to define what it means to be a creative, self-directed leader.

Who We Are

Dr. Ken Montgomery

Nicole Cerra

Jennifer DiGrande

Nathan Pierce

Patrick Sullivan

Georgina Fakoukaki

Our Advisory Council

Tom Alison

Colleen Cassity

Amit Koren

Savannah Kunovsky

Sam Yen

"We need our up-and-coming adults to be innovative and adept at designing solutions. Love seeing more of these design-based thinking programs for high school students"

"The Design Tech Innovation Certificate Program and summer internship prepared me for the future by enhancing my technical skills, boosting my problem-solving abilities, and providing valuable real-world experience in web development and team collaboration."

"Thank you so much for all the amazing experiences & learning I’ve had through the Innovation Certificate Program. It’s been incredibly rewarding to work hands on creating my own designs & growing through such a creative and supportive environment.”