Leadership Spotlights 2010

Gavin Huntley-Fenner, Ph.D. is a Governing Board member of the Irvine Unified School District, a K-12 district of over 26,000 students and 32 schools with a $200,000,000 operating budget. By vocation, he is an applied cognitive scientist and President of Huntley-Fenner Advisors, Inc., a Human Factors and Product Safety consulting firm located in Irvine, California.Dr. Huntley-Fenner grew up in Guyana, South America and he immigrated to the United States 33 years ago. He has an unusually broad educational pedigree. In Guyana, he was educated under the British colonial system. Since then, he has attended or taught at just about every type of U.S. post-secondary institution including community colleges, state universities, small private colleges and large private research universities.

Dr. Huntley-Fenner’s Ph.D. is in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. He began his professional career in 1996 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at UCI where he founded the UCI Infant Cognition Lab. His research and teaching focused on problem solving, language development, cognitive development, and brain development. Dr. Huntley-Fenner also taught a variety of courses including a seminar on Mathematical Cognition in the UCI Department of Education. He left the University in 2001 to enter business consulting. Beginning with his doctoral thesis work, Dr. Huntley-Fenner has focused on and advocated for understanding and improvement of children’s cognitive and social and emotional development. His current professional work includes a focus on child safety involving toys and other products.

Dr. Huntley-Fenner’s commitment to public education and public service extends to the statewide and national levels. In 2007, he was appointed to the California Superintendent of Education’s Autism Advisory Committee where he helped to draft legislation designed to improve the quality of education for students with autism. He has also served as a consultant to the Food and Drug Administration Risk Communication Advisory Committee regarding risk/benefit information presented in advertisements to low income and minority populations.

Dr. Huntley-Fenner is passionate about learning. He is a firm believer in education as an effective vehicle for combating poverty and enhancing quality of life. His path to leadership on the school board began with his involvement in fundraising for public education and his service on the board of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation. While serving on the Irvine Unified School Board, he has advocated for:

• Improving the use of data in shaping K-12 teaching practices
• Reducing education performance and attainment gaps
• Increasing institutional accountability for the progress of each student
• Empowering individual initiative among parents, teachers and administrators
• Facilitating the sharing of best practices

Dr. Huntley-Fenner earned his Ph.D.  in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995. He lives in Irvine with his wife and two children.