At PBLWorks, we know that meaningful change happens when leaders with diverse perspectives, deep expertise, and a shared commitment to student-centered learning come together.
We're excited to welcome Laura McBain, Sabba Quidwai, and Rhonnel Sotelo to the PBLWorks Board of Directors. Together, they bring decades of experience in design, innovation, educational leadership, student wellbeing, and emerging technologies—all grounded in a belief that students learn best when they tackle authentic challenges, think creatively, and develop the confidence to shape their futures.
Designing Learning for What's Next
As Managing Director at the Stanford d.school and Co-Director of the K12 Lab, Laura McBain has spent her career helping organizations use design as a catalyst for innovation and transformation. She leads strategic partnerships across education, philanthropy, and nonprofit sectors while helping shape the future of learning through human-centered design.
For Laura, discovering Project Based Learning early in her career transformed her understanding of what education could be.
"Learning wasn't something students had to get through—it became something they leaned into. Classrooms became places of curiosity, creativity, and real-world problem solving."
That vision continues to inspire her work today.
"What draws me to PBLWorks is its deep commitment to making that kind of learning the norm for all students," she said. "It holds a powerful line between rigor and equity, ensuring that all students have access to learning experiences that are relevant, challenging, and deeply human."
Laura's own educational journey also shaped her perspective. Growing up with reading challenges and an auditory processing disorder, she experienced firsthand how traditional systems can underestimate students' potential.
"Every student deserves an education that uncovers their potential, helps them see there is more within them than they may believe, and invites them to engage with real-world challenges."
Laura McBain
As a member of the Board, Laura is particularly excited to help PBLWorks continue expanding its impact while thoughtfully navigating the opportunities presented by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
"We're in a moment where AI and other shifts are redefining what it means to learn and work," she said. "I'm excited to help PBLWorks ensure Project Based Learning remains both deeply human and future-facing."
Reimagining Learning for the AI Era
Joining Laura on the Board is Sabba Quidwai, CEO and futurist at Designing Schools, whose work focuses on the intersection of design thinking, emerging technologies, and education.
Sabba believes Project Based Learning and design thinking are natural complements.
"Both start with real problems, both center student agency, and both insist that learning should look like the world young people are actually entering."
Her passion for redesigning education grew from an unexpected experience early in her teaching career. After graduating in 2007, she received multiple layoff notices during the Great Recession despite strong performance in the classroom. That experience led her to deeply explore how education should prepare students to be comfortable with ambiguity and failure while building curiosity and creativity.
Later, while teaching in a one-to-one iPad program serving many multilingual learners, she witnessed students reveal talents and voices that traditional classroom assignments had never surfaced.
"I'll never forget grading video projects and thinking, 'Who are these people?' Students who had been quiet in class were suddenly expressing themselves through music, art, and storytelling."
Those experiences ultimately shaped her research into future-ready learning and convinced her that approaches like Project Based Learning already cultivate the very skills today's world demands.
"PBL has been teaching these skills and mindsets for years. Creative confidence, metacognition, collaboration, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to ask better questions aren't trends—they're evidence-based practices aligned with what the world now requires."
Sabba Quidwai
As artificial intelligence transforms classrooms and workplaces, Sabba sees an opportunity for PBLWorks to help educators move beyond simply using new tools toward designing richer learning experiences.
"The real skill isn't using the tool," she said. "It's knowing when and how to use the right tool for the right purpose. PBL, by design, gives students opportunities to make those decisions."
Championing Belonging and Authentic Learning
Also joining the Board this year is Rhonnel Sotelo, Executive Director of the Room to Breathe Project, a San Francisco-based foundation dedicated to growing the mental health and wellbeing of children ages 0 to 12. Though he describes himself as an urban planner at heart, Rhonnel has spent the past 20 years as a grantmaker supporting youth, communities, and education.
Rhonnel's connection to Project Based Learning goes back to the early days of Envision Education, where he first learned about the approach from Bob Lenz and the late Daniel McLaughlin. Watching students defend their learning left a lasting impression.
"Watching a student showcase their learning is both humbling and hopeful," he said. "I'm not sure why we call them portfolio defenses, because it's really a student on the full-out offensive, demonstrating their skill, depth of understanding, and creativity."
That belief in every student's capacity is deeply personal for Rhonnel. After his father passed away in 2015, his mother gave him a folder his father had quietly kept for years: class pictures, report cards, and standardized test scores, including a record that Rhonnel was reading at a third-grade level in the eighth grade.
"I'm still a slow reader, and I read a lot for work," he said. He credits a handful of teachers and professors who saw past the test scores and lifted up his strengths instead. "The running theme across all those educators was they lifted up my strengths as a learner: storytelling, creativity, personal connection."
"PBLWorks is at a moment of inflection. After seeing a demo of TEACH, I knew I wanted to be there when it takes off."
Rhonnel Sotelo
Above all, Rhonnel is a husband and father, and he says his family's interests have become his own: his wife Chris's watercolor painting and gardening, his older daughter Quin's work in costume design in London, and his youngest daughter Kate's move to San Francisco to pursue a career in climate and the environment.
Looking Ahead
Laura McBain, Sabba Quidwai, and Rhonnel Sotelo share a common belief: education should help every student discover their potential while preparing them for an increasingly complex world.
Their combined expertise in learning design, innovation, educational leadership, student wellbeing, and emerging technologies will help strengthen PBLWorks's mission as we continue partnering with educators and school systems to bring high-quality Project Based Learning to more students.
Please join us in welcoming Laura, Sabba, and Rhonnel to the PBLWorks Board of Directors. We look forward to the insight, leadership, and vision they will bring as we continue working to transform teaching and learning for all students.
