Jonathan Finkelstein is the founder and Executive Producer of LearningTimes and the President of the LearningTimes Network. As an educator, technologist, industry expert, and producer, he is focused on creating and deploying engaging, web-based and web-enhanced human environments and programs that foster learning, collaboration and community.

Over the last several years, he has worked with numerous leading educational, corporate, and publishing organizations to build learning programs and communities online, including: Columbia University, the New York City Department of Education, the World Bank, the Campus Computing Project, Harvard, CalState University, New Visions for Public Schools, Houghton Mifflin, NASA, MetLife, and The Princeton Review.

Jonathan has acted as the Executive Producer and Director for two unique, interactive and standards-based K-12 humanities curricula. Working closely with Columbia Teacher's College and the Academy of American Poets, he co-created PoetryLive, a web-based distance learning and classroom-enhancement program that connects professional poets to learners and uses poetry as a common language to explore social issues. Jonathan also built a coalition of renowned museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the New York Transit Museum, to design and deliver HistoryQuest.US, in which students teach remote peers in online virtual classrooms.

Jonathan is regarded as an industry expert and is a frequent speaker and panelist on the topic of effective, interactive, web-enhanced learning and community-building at industry conferences. As the Executive Producer of LearningWeek Live, Jonathan produced and co-hosted a live, interactive, weekly webcast about the people and technology of learning. His recent book, Learning in Real Time (Jossey-Bass), translates his many years of experience facilitating live online learning into a practical resource guide for instructors teaching online.

Jonathan was a co-founder of one of the industry's first platforms for live teaching, learning, interaction, collaboration, and community-building over the Internet. As Senior Vice President of Product Strategy, Jonathan's role included establishing and executing upon the company's product vision, developing innovative ways to teach and learn online, and maintaining a deep understanding of the needs of educators and learners. Several of the products Jonathan designed were recognized for industry awards, including recognition by Online Learning Magazine, US News & World Report, Brandon-Hall, and the SIIA Codie Awards. Jonathan also oversaw the company's Professional Services division, where he led major efforts to design educational technology curricula and programs for high-profile clients, and guided the integration of multiple platforms to create engaging, interactive, innovative and useful educational applications.

Jonathan also regularly conducts seminars and courses on topics such as blending face-to-face with web-based instruction, designing effective virtual learning spaces, scaling human interaction in online learning environments, and fostering professional development communities on and offline. Valuing the power of real-time interaction and community-building, Jonathan has delivered well over 8000 hours of live online instruction and has coached hundreds of individuals on re-discovering their own teaching styles when bringing their instruction online.

Jonathan serves on the editorial and advisory boards of industry groups and publications. He has also served on several grant review boards and award panels. He is often sought for guidance and quoted in publications on learning online.

Jonathan has also worked as a strategic, multimedia, and public relations consultant in the Boston and Washington, D.C., offices of ML Strategies, Inc. There, he created a wide variety of technology-based systems and communications tools and programs for high-profile clients like America Online, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Time Warner. In addition, he has conducted formal work in a wide range of fields, including: surgery research (Harvard Medical School), psychology (MIT), and entertainment (a magician since the age of nine).

Jonathan received his AB degree cum laude in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University, where he led the world's most comprehensive civic education program for secondary school students, attracting over two thousand students in the United States and Europe annually. He is the proud son of two New York City public school teachers with over 60 years of teaching experience between them.