Frances Valintine is an education futurist from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. She has won numerous awards for her educational programmes and is the Founder and Chair of The Mind Lab and Tech Futures Lab. and Tech Futures Lab. Frances is known for her commitment to working to improve the outcomes for the next generation through contexualising education delivery and content in the 21st Century.

Early life and education

Valintine was raised on a farm in

Hāwera Hāwera is the second-largest centre in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, with a population of . It is near the coast of the South Taranaki Bight. The origins of the town lie in a government military base that was established i ...

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

, and moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

's North Shore when she was about fourteen years old. She attended four different high schools. When she was 17, she moved to London and then to Turkey before returning to New Zealand. After returning to New Zealand she initially worked bringing students from South-East Asia to study in New Zealand. In 2013 she studied part-time at the University of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to study for a master's degree in tertiary education management. In 2016 Valintine attended the Singularity University.

Career

From 1998 to 2013 Valintine was at Media Design School, a private tertiary provider of creative and digital technology training. In 2011 it was bought by

Laureate International Universities Laureate Education, Inc. is a corporation based in Miami, Florida, United States. The firm owns and operates Laureate International Universities, with campuses in Mexico and Peru. The company is publicly traded on the Nasdaq. Corporate history ...

. Frances continued in the role of CEO until 2013. In 2013 Valintine opened The Mind Lab in Newmarket, Auckland. It aimed to provide students with different ways of learning and exploring, particularly using collaborative learning techniques, and with a focus on science, creative and technology programmes. While running the programmes, Valintine realised that teachers lacked training in this area, and in July 2014 The Mind Lab launched a postgraduate programme in digital and collaborative learning. The organisation expanded into other centres to meet demand for its programmes, opening centres in Gisborne, Wellington, Christchurch and satellite centres in 16 other regional centres including Whangarei, Rotorua, Ruatoria, Whanganui, Whakatane, Tauranga, Masterton, Balclutha, Invercargill, Dunedin, Rolleston, New Plymouth and Hamilton. In January 2016 Valintine launched Tech Futures Lab to help business executives prepare for the future with a focus on business disruption, the impact of technological advances especially in the fields of automation & robotics, machine learning & artificial intelligence and data science. Valintine sits on the board of Callaghan Innovation, KEA, Talentnomics (WashingtonDC). She was previously on the boards of Education New Zealand, NZTech and the New Zealand Game Developers Association, Santa Fe University of Art & Design, Auckland Screen & Digital Content and a member of the Small Business Development Group. Frances is a member of Global Women.

Awards

In 2014 The Mind Lab won Best Engagement of Youth in ICT at the NZ CIO Awards and Best Start-Up in Asia Pacific judged by Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak. The same year, it won the Excellence in Social Innovation Award at the New Zealand Innovators Awards. In 2015, Valintine was named NEXT Woman of the Year in education, she was named one of the Top 10 most influential women by Idealog and also received the

New Zealand Women of Influence Award The New Zealand Women of Influence Awards are an annual set of awards which recognise women who make a difference to everyday New Zealanders' lives. The Awards were first made in 2013 and were initially sponsored by Westpac Bank. In 2016, Stuff N ...

in innovation. In 2016, Valintine received a Blake Leader Award from the Sir Peter Blake Trust. and she was named one of the Top 50 EdTech Educators in the world alongside people such as Salmon Khan and Satya Nitta. Frances also won the New Zealand Walk the Talk Award and the NZ Diversity Awards. In 2016 her business The Mind Lab won the NZ CIO Award for best Engagement of Youth in ICT for the second time in three years. Frances Valintine CNZM investiture

In the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, Valintine was appointed a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

, for services to education and the technology sector.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valintine, Frances Living people People from Hāwera 21st-century New Zealand people Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand educators New Zealand women educators University of Melbourne alumni New Zealand businesspeople New Zealand women in business New Zealand Women of Influence Award recipients Year of birth missing (living people)