Dr. Stefani Arzonetti Hite
Dr. Stefani Arzonetti Hite is a graduate of the American School in London, Tufts University, and the University of Pennsylvania. After a decade working in the marketing industry, she changed careers to become an educator, pursuing an MSEd with Penn’s Project START (Student Teachers as Researching Teachers). After several years in the classroom, Stef returned to Penn’s Educational Leadership program to complete doctoral work which involved researching program implementation. Drawing heavily on the Rand research of the 1970s, her dissertation highlights critical conditions for the success of improvement and change initiatives.
Stef’s wide-ranging career began as a drawing-board (pre-digital) marketing designer. She became an award-winning art director, developing unique approaches to marketing by harnessing new possibilities offered by emerging technology solutions in the industry. Since changing careers, she has taught students from age 5 to 75, been a central office administrator, and headed up an international school in the UK. In 2009, Stef began to design and facilitate professional learning and systemic redesign for a range of organizations. She now works worldwide on process improvement and change initiatives. Stef’s customized support enables groups to collaborate and build team capacity to address both small and large-scale needs.
On a personal note, Stef’s passion is travel. She serves as the Director of Education for Small World Travel (an affiliate of Brownell) to design meaningful learning experiences for clients using their travel itineraries as the basis for exploration. Stef and her educator husband have designed and implemented a wide variety of student travel and exchange programs since 2003, believing that immersive cultural experiences are a life-changing opportunities for all ages.
In these complex times, communities, organizations, and people need support to become resilient and innovative. Stef’s experience in guiding groups to learn their way through complex problems directly impacts their ability to build collective efficacy, the key to innovation and continuous improvement.
