Shelley Pasnik, CCT's Director from 2007–2021, is EDC senior vice president and spokesperson for promising futures for families, oversees EDC’s communications and strategic initiatives, especially those involving children and their communities of care. A nationally recognized expert in the thoughtful integration of digital media, she has guided the development of children’s educational services, conducted policy-influencing research, and cultivated high-profile public-private partnerships both in the U.S. and globally. This has included collaborations with the American Museum of Natural History, Apple, Bank Street College of Education, Boston Children’s Museum, Carnegie Hall, Cisco Education, Exploratorium, Fred Rogers Productions, GBH, Google, IBM, Intel Corporation, MIT Media Lab, National Geographic, NYSCI, PBS, Sesame Workshop, WNET, and many others.

In close collaboration with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Shelley leads the research program for Ready To Learn, the U.S. Department of Education’s signature investment in PBS KIDS. She also is the editor of Getting Ready to Learn: Creating Effective, Educational Children’s Media and is regularly quoted in news outlets, including the BBC, Washington Post, Axios, the Christian Science Monitor, EdWeek, and the Wall Street Journal MarketWatch.

In 2019, Shelley co-authored Integrating Technology into Early Learning: Promising Practices and Checklist with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and widely distributed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. She has served on advisory boards, including Apple ConnectEd, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and Global Action Project.

Shelley’s career began at the Center for Media Education, during which time, she testified before the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission on children’s media policy. She holds an MA from the University of Maryland, College Park.