Marcus "Esports" Howard

I have 15 consecutive years of strategic/tactical experience with building startups in various industries, including gaming, news media and restaurants. I specialize in identifying exponential growth opportunities and converging trends in consumer markets. Also, I excel at creating/executing blue ocean business strategies. Growth Hacker. Innovator. Techie. Leader.

Chief Growth Officer

We're redefining education and workforce development with esports. We offer end-to-end services clients needs to create a truly wow factor esports gaming space or large scale arena. We recently completed the world's largest investment in the high school education esports space. Reach out to us if you have any projects or questions that we could help you with.

www.vesselxr.com

Marcus Howard

Nick Martin

I’m Nick—an educator, technologist, and social entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in global development, tech for good, and social innovation.

As founder and CEO of TechChange (techchange.org), I lead a mission-driven team that designs hybrid courses, training programs, and convenings for organizations tackling global challenges—from digital health to climate resilience to financial inclusion.

I’m also a LinkedIn Top Voice, posting 6x/week about jobs, fellowships, coaching resources, scholarships, and tools for the social impact space.

In 2025, my goal is to help 100,000+ people and organizations connect meaningfully through learning, leadership, and community.

Stay connected:
• impactsource.ai – 7,000+ curated social impact jobs with salary info, filters, and a talent network to match with hiring orgs
• impactcoach.com – 50+ vetted executive and career coaches for global development, philanthropy, and mission-driven leadership
• nickatnoon.substack.com – Weekly newsletter with curated jobs, fellowships, and tools—sent Sundays at noon ET
• bit.ly/3vlXnkF – LinkedIn Learning course: “Build a Social Impact Career” (30-minute crash course)
• getkolab.ai – Kolab: A new platform for immersive, collaborative digital convenings.  Get early access now. 

***

What we do at TechChange:
We help leading organizations scale learning and build community. Our team delivers high-impact hybrid experiences—live cohort courses, leadership journeys, on-demand programs, and global forums.

We specialize in complex, high-touch learning programs that blend tech, facilitation, and storytelling. Services include instructional design, platform hosting, video production, translation, and participant engagement.

Flagship projects:
• Global Digital Health Forum – gdhf.digital
• FinTech Impact Forum – ftif.org
• Digital Health Training Program – digitalhealthtraining.org
• Custom programs for USAID, CRS, WHO, the World Bank, and more

We also advise on strategy and innovation for training and convening models.

*** 

Outside of Work
I spend time birdwatching in Costa Rica, surfing the Pacific, or working on my vocal range in singing lessons. These passions keep me grounded and curious.

Let’s Connect
If you’re hiring, building, learning—or just exploring ideas—send a message. Always happy to help or collaborate.

Founder and CEO

TechChange builds beautiful and engaging online learning and convening experiences on topics that matter.

*** CALL FOR SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS ***

Friends, TechChange is expanding our expert and consultant roster as we gear up for a busy slate of projects in 2026.

We’ve already got a TON of interesting work lined up this year… and we’re intentionally building out our consulting business to support organizations doing digital transformation, digital strategy, and applied AI work across a range of sectors.

That means we’re looking for more great people.

If you’re building (or expanding) your consultancy practice and want access to more project-based opportunities, take a few minutes to add yourself to our expert database.

We’ve already hired a bunch of folks from it. Planning to do a lot more of that in 2026.

I know it’s a rough market out there. I know many of you are stitching together work, exploring pivots, or just looking for something steadier. Hopefully this helps connect some dots and gets more people working on solid, meaningful projects.

We work with trainers, facilitators, and convening experts across sector and deep subject matter experts who can jump into real-world projects.

We’re especially interested in folks with experience in:
– Global development
– Digital development / ICT4D
– Climate & sustainability
– Social impact or social enterprise
– Health or agriculture
– Education or philanthropy
…or adjacent fields where tech, policy, and impact collide.

Add yourself to our expert database here (takes 4 mins):

https://lnkd.in/gnY9m_34

Know someone looking for consulting work or project-based roles? Tag them below or send them this post.

Sharing is CARING.

Bridge builder | CEO @ TechChange | Prof @ Columbia | Top Voice (325K+)

*** CEO Opportunity at Girls Who Code ***

One of my favorite organizations is hiring a new Chief Executive Officer — and I wanted to make sure this landed in this network.

The search firm leading the process actually reached out to me directly… which says a lot about how thoughtfully they’re approaching this next chapter.

The role is live on ImpactSource, and I’m sharing it here as well because I know so many incredibly talented, mission-driven leaders who could be a great fit.

Girls Who Code is looking for a visionary CEO to lead a ~$21M organization with 75+ staff, a strong balance sheet, a trusted brand, and a fiercely loyal community of students, alumni, educators, and partners.

📍 NYC (hybrid)
💼 Chief Executive Officer
💰 $364K–$416K + benefits
🗓 Priority deadline: Feb 16

--> Full role details + application info:
https://lnkd.in/e-_DEF2X

Nick’s Take: This is a rare opportunity to help shape the future of an organization that already has real scale, deep credibility, and cultural relevance. The next CEO won’t just be a steward of what exists, they’ll be charting what comes next. Thinking seriously about what skills matter in an AI-shaped world… how tech education evolves beyond “learning to code”… and how partnerships across philanthropy, industry, policy, and community can work better together. Really really hoping someone from this network steps into this role. If that’s you — or someone you know — please take a look and share it along.

Tag someone who should see this 
Happy to help connect dots if useful.

Sharing is CARING.

Open article: Jobs at Girls Who Code | ImpactSource by impactsource.ai

*** Saturday cool job alert! ***

Sharing a couple of really strong education roles at Anthropic that I’m genuinely excited about... especially for the many teachers, educators, and education system builders in my network.

These are foundational program manager roles sitting on the education side of the house, helping shape and grow:
--> Global education initiatives
-->  US K–12 work

They’re looking for folks with:
- Deep education expertise
- Partnership + ecosystem experience
- Entrepreneurial, high-agency energy
- Comfort being technical and hands-on

If you’ve spent years in classrooms, school systems, NGOs, edtech, or global education programs, and you’ve been wondering how (or if) that experience translates into AI companies… this is a very real on-ramp.

--> Global education role: https://lnkd.in/gfBbnNRX
--> US K-12 role: https://lnkd.in/gq886B3M

Nick’s Take: Last fall I shared a role on the social impact team at Anthropic and was honestly blown away by how many incredible people from my community applied. This one's for the educators, program leaders, system builders... folks who don’t always see themselves reflected in “AI jobs,” but absolutely should.  Anthropic seems to be taking education seriously as core infrastructure. I know a ton of people in this network who would be excellent fits, and I really hope some of you go for it.

Friends, I’ll be sharing a ton of jobs this month and next as I try to help place folks from my network into great roles.. so follow me if that’s useful.

And hiring managers/employers: if you want help spreading the word, let me know. Lots of promotion options via ImpactSource dot AI.

Tag someone.
Send this to an educator friend quietly thinking about a pivot.
Sharing is CARING

Open article: Program Manager, US K-12 Education by job-boards.greenhouse.io

Who’s looking for a consulting role in sales + BD right now?

My team at  TechChange is ramping up our business development efforts this year…and we’re looking for some exceptional humans to join us on that journey.

We’re hiring Proposal Development & Business Development Consultants Hourly, remote, flexible… and genuinely interesting work.

At a high level, this role is about owning the full proposal lifecycle:
--> Early strategy and ideation
--> Program design and writing
--> Proposal project management including compliance and submission

You’d be a close thought partner to our leadership and delivery teams… bringing structure, momentum, and clarity the moment a bid drops.

A few signals this might be you:
--> 7+ years in proposal development / BD
 --> Strong writer and strong organizer
 --> Comfortable driving timelines and nudging senior folks when needed
 --> Experience with international development or tech-for-social-good work (global health a big plus)
 --> Uses AI tools thoughtfully to draft, synthesize, edit, and manage complexity
 --> Calm under pressure, low-ego, gets things done

Nick’s take: OK very biased on this one. But seriously friends, this is a great role for someone who wants to sit at the intersection of strategy, writing, and execution and actually own the process, not just contribute a slice of it.
We’re a small, senior, globally distributed team doing work across events, training, digital advisory services, and some newer experiments (including our collaboration platform, Kolab). The work is varied, the pace is real, and the expectations are high, but its a great team that supports each other and take pride in doing things well.

If you like autonomy, clarity, and working with smart humans who don’t love bureaucracy… this tends to be a very good fit.

Details:
 --> Compensation: $60–70/hour (commensurate with experience)
 --> Remote; flexible engagement 

If this sounds like you  or someone in your network I’d genuinely love to see applications come in from my beloved LI community. Historically, folks from this network tend to do really well in these roles.

Full role details + how to apply: https://lnkd.in/egUA4hz9 

Tag someone who should see this.

Sheerin Vesin is the hiring manager and happy to answer questions via DM.

Sharing is CARING

*** FINAL CALL FOR ABSTRACTS ***

For the ICT4D Conference 2026... Deadline is January 30th (three days from now)
 
If you’ve been meaning to submit something to ICT4D…This is the moment.

We’re closing the call for abstracts and shaping the agenda now — and we want it grounded in what practitioners are actually dealing with in the field. 

Reminder This year’s conference is organized around three core themes plus a dedicated hands-on learning track. 

A few highlights to help you sense where your work might fit:

DATA: Charting the Future of Data in Development & Humanitarian Response

We’re looking for sessions that grapple with questions like:
 → Where is AI genuinely helping — and where is it creating new risks?
 → How do we get better at data sharing, integration, and interoperability across orgs?
 → Who holds power in data collection and use, and how do we design more ethical, inclusive approaches?
 → How do we protect critical data systems in moments of disruption?
Why this matters: data-driven work only delivers impact if it’s trustworthy, ethical, and accountable — especially in fragile contexts.

FUTURE: Shaping Tomorrow — Building Equitable & Sustainable Digital Futures

This track focuses on what comes next as the sector shifts:
 → Digital localization and putting local institutions in the driver’s seat
 → Youth as builders, not just users, of digital systems
 → Digital public infrastructure as a foundation for inclusion and sustainability

Why this matters: funding models are changing fast, and the future of digital development depends on who leads, who benefits, and who decides.

IMPACT: Delivering on the SDGs in a Fragile World
We’re especially interested in applied work across:
 → Climate resilience and adaptation
 → Food systems and agriculture
 → Digital health and health system transformation
 → Emergency response, from geospatial tools to digital finance

Why this matters: when resources shrink but challenges grow, digital approaches are one of the strongest levers we have to sustain impact.

PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATIONS & INTERACTIVE LEARNING
Very much an ICT4D classic.
 → Short demos of tools in action
 → Deeper workshops for skills, problem-solving, and co-creation
 → Peer-to-peer learning from practitioners actively testing and iterating

Why this matters: it’s not just about ideas — it’s about what actually works (and what doesn’t).

Formats we welcome:
 → Workshops
 → Case studies
 → Research + evidence
 → Practitioner talks
 → Panels and debates

 Submit by January 30. Tag someone who should apply. Save this so you don’t forget. Share with your network

Drop questions in the comments or DM me — happy to sanity check ideas.

ICT4Dconference dot org

Let’s build an agenda that feels practical, rigorous, and future-facing… together.

Sharing is CARING

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Marcus Howard

Nick Martin

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Nick Martin's LinkedIn Performance

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