Dr. David Birchfield, Founder and CEO
As Founder and CEO of SMALLab, Dr. David Birchfield brings more than two decades of passion for learning, technology, and student achievement in the classroom. He has over 10 years of classroom teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate level. He is has led interdisciplinary research across the Learning Sciences, and has trained hundreds of teachers over the years. He is also the proud father of a preschooler and a kindergartner!
While a professor at Arizona State University, Dr. Birchfield led the early research and development that is the foundation of SMALLab today. In that role, he led a 5-year research initiative that was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, Intel Research and others. This research yielded over 50 peer-reviewed publications. He developed a national network of partners spanning government agencies, foundations, industry partners, schools, and museums.
In 2010, Dr. Birchfield founded SMALLab Learning as a spinoff from Arizona State University. He has led the company ever since.
Dr. Birchfield received his Doctorate from Columbia University, with a focus on music, digital media, and interactivity.
John Trionfo, COO
John Trionfo is the Chief Operating Officer of SMALLab Learning. John has a deep passion for helping students reach their full growth and potential, and has trained hundreds of teachers in the tenets of embodied and inquiry learning, active classrooms, curriculum integration, and performance analytics. In addition to his work training teachers, Trionfo has taught several hundred students in SMALLab across all grade levels and subject areas.
As a market development executive for more than 25 years, John brings expertise in building companies, developing markets, and launching new divisions for larger companies. He has worked for several startups, and specializes in bringing products to market in a manner that enables early adoption and scalability. His career spans a broad range of areas including enterprise software, embedded systems, virtual design and simulation technologies, data services, and educational technologies. He has managed operations, sales, marketing, and engineering divisions over his career. John holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering Technology.
Cyndi Boyd, Operations Manager
A passionate advocate of using technology for learning, Cyndi Boyd is an Account Manager at SMALLab. She has 20 years of experience involved with management of operations, sales & marketing, and customer service. She holds an MBA with a specialization in entrepreneurship and a particular interest in working with children, enhancing their learning capabilities through technology and interactive learning experiences to build critical thinking skills.
Kim hall, curriculum & teacher support specialist
Kim Hall is an experienced teacher, mentor, and curriculum development specialist. She holds a Master's degree from California State University, Bakersfield in Education with an emphasis on Curriculum and Instruction. She has 10 years experience in the classroom in California and Texas across multiple grade levels and subjects. Kim has been the Curriculum and Teacher Support Specialist for SMALLab Learning, an ed-tech learning company, since 2018. She has developed curriculum, created standards, managed projects, and helped support teachers create an engaging learning environment for their students.
Kim has a passion for education, specifically helping students progress based on their specific learning needs and goals. She enjoys assisting teachers in creating lesson plans, analyzing student data, and ensuring that each and every child is receiving the education they deserve.
Lee Ann Segalla, director, smallab leadership academy
Lee Ann Segalla is a retired teacher, coach, administrator, and change agent with 35 years of experience in public education. She has taught young children to read, intermediate students to reason mathematically, adolescents, to wrestle with environmental concepts, classroom teachers to reflect on their instructional practice, and graduate students to have more thoughtful investigations. She led 96 Wake County Elementary Schools (Raleigh, NC) in the adoption inquiry-based math and science, balanced literacy, implementation of PLCs and standards-based grading. During her tenure in Guilford County (Greensboro, NC) she was part of a team that led the district’s implementation of Response To Intervention, developed district-wide practices in serving Academically Gifted students, and increased the numbers of students taking Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. She was a contributing author of Getting Started with Rigorous Curriculum Design. You can find her in her garden, entertaining, at a fabric store or painting when she’s not working with educators!
lauren milam, curriculum specialist
Lauren Milam has over 8 years of experience as a classroom teacher. She has a passion for creating engaging activities and integrating technology into the classroom. She has taught in multiple states and has taught all subjects at a variety of levels. In addition to being a classroom educator, she has served as a technology coordinator and website manager. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the University of Central Oklahoma. She began working with SMALLab in 2019. She resides in a suburb of Houston, TX with her husband and two children.