Caroline Vander Ark
Caroline is President and COO of Getting Smart, a learning design firm. She oversees client engagements and the day-to-day operations of the company, business development, and participates in client projects on various levels. Previously, she worked at williamsworks, a strategic advocacy firm, as a project coordinator, managing the orchestration of high-profile, large-scale events and advocacy trips for nonprofits. In her early career in sports management, she worked at Capital Sports & Entertainment, an Austin based sports management firm: Goodwin Sports Management, a Seattle based elite basketball management firm; and the Seattle SuperSonics Professional Basketball Club in the basketball operations department. She focused on operations, athlete management, communications, and trip planning and execution. Caroline has extensive domestic and international travel experience spanning the globe from Japan, India, Africa, and Brazil. She holds a degree in communications from Washington State University with an emphasis in Public Relations, serves on the board of directors for Advancing Leadership as well as the SXSWedu Advisory Board.