Campus Director/Principal

Amy Sanchez-Martinez

Amy Sanchez-Martinez is the Campus Director/Principal at Sand Creek High School in the District 49 Sand Creek Zone of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Amy oversees curriculum and instruction, staffing and evaluations, building personnel, operational budget and graduation guidelines for the high school. She is the English, JROTC and Social Studies department oversight. Along with being the school accountability committee lead, Amy is also the liaison to the district’s central office and board of education.

Principal

Angela Bush

Dr. Bush received a Bachelor of Arts and Master’s Degree in English Education from Alabama A&M University.  Dr. Bush, a life-long learner, continued her graduate studies at the University of Montevallo, receiving an Educational Specialist Degree in Teacher Leadership. As an ever-evolving professional, she expanded her scope of knowledge by attending Samford University, earning an Educational Doctorate Degree in 2012. As the Principal of Minor Community School, Dr. Bush made notable strides to move the school from a low-performing school to a model high-performing school in the school district, city and state. She has facilitated and presented at conferences locally and statewide. Throughout her 25 years as a professional educator and administrator, her success has been highly attributed to building positive and meaningful relationships within the community.  Her life philosophy is “When you value people, you will yield positive results.” Dr. Bush prides herself on always putting the best interest of the students first.

President

Ben Daley

Ben Daley joined High Tech High to teach physics as a founding faculty member in fall 2000. He has been a school director, chief operating officer and chief academic officer for High Tech High and is now the Graduate School of Education president. As a student at Haverford College, Ben majored in physics and was credentialed in secondary physics and math, student teaching at Lower Merion High School outside Philadelphia. After graduation, he traveled to the Philippines and taught science and math at an international school in Manila. Upon his return to the U.S., he taught physics and AP physics at the Madeira School, a girls’ boarding school in suburban Washington, D.C. He then moved to California to coach basketball and to teach physics at Pomona and Pitzer Colleges. He earned an M.A. in Science Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of California, San Diego. Ben’s research is focused on continuous improvement in schools, which is an effort to spread good practices in education using a broad range of both outcome and process data.

Assistant Director of Federal Programs

Blake Frazier

Mr. Frazier received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Florida in 1999 and a Masters’s Degree in education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2005. He also earned an Education Specialist Degree in instructional leadership from Samford University in 2012. An educator of 20 years, Mr. Frazier has served in a number of roles in his career from teacher, interventionist, assistant principal, principal and federal programs assistant director. Mr. Frazier believes in servant leadership and strives to support schools and administrators on their improvement journey, including federal programs guidance.  If we believe that all students can be successful, then we must remove barriers for our students, identify problems of practice, address those problems of practice and maintain an improvement mindset.  

Superintendent

Bruce Borchers

Dr. Bruce Borchers started his education career as an elementary physical education teacher in the Sioux City, Iowa, Community School District. He also has worked as an interim assistant principal and guidance counselor in Iowa City, Iowa, as assistant principal and principal in Mankato, Minnesota, and as associate superintendent of secondary schools for the Anoka-Hennepin, Minnesota, School District. Prior to joining Oak Ridge Schools, Dr. Borchers was the superintendent of the Rockwood School District from 2010 to 2013. Dr. Borchers earned a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, master’s degrees from Wayne State College and the University of South Dakota, and a bachelor’s degree from Morningside College.

Director of Curriculum and Learning

Casey Blochowiak

Casey serves as the director of curriculum and learning for the School District of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Casey has served as a high school social studies teacher, literacy specialist, associate principal, elementary principal and high school principal. She believes in the capacity of all teachers to make a difference in the lives of students. Casey holds a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University, a master’s degree in literacy from Concordia University-Wisconsin and is completing her doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in educational leadership and policy analysis. Her research interest is the value of improvement science to education, with a specific focus on positive deviance mythology.

Superintendent

Chris Hartley

Dr. Chris Hartley was sworn in as Humboldt County superintendent of schools in March 2017. Previously he was the superintendent of the Northern Humboldt Union High School District. He served the district in a variety of administrative roles for 21 years, a highlight of which was the startup of Six Rivers Charter High School, principal at McKinleyville High School and assistant principal at Arcata High School. Chris is a graduate of Humboldt State University and the University of La Verne. Dr. Hartley is dedicated to advocating for equitable services for rural school districts, fostering community partnerships and improving organizational performance to better serve the youth of Humboldt County.  

Superintendent

Corey Golla

Corey Golla is presently serving in his third year as superintendent in the School District of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Prior to this, he served two years as director of curriculum and four years as principal of Menomonee Falls High School. Throughout this time he has been a lead learner as the team worked to apply the principles of improvement in the education setting. Corey began as a classroom teacher and now has over 25 years of experience in education in myriad roles. Corey earned a Master of Science in educational leadership from Marian College and his superintendent’s certification through Concordia University. He is presently working toward his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to his work as a middle and high school educator, Corey also served on a site team as an examiner for the Baldrige Performance Excellence Award and is a green belt in Lean Six Sigma. He has completed training in project management and the Kepner-Tregoe Decision Analysis framework. Corey’s passion and drive is combining his experience in leading change with his knowledge of improvement science to change outcomes for all students. 

Director of Parks & Land Use

Dale Shaver

Dale Shaver serves as the director of the Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use. Believing that “culture eats strategy,” Dale empowers a team to provide high-quality customer service for a comprehensive range of services in economic and community development, land information systems, land use planning and zoning, private wells, septic systems, restaurant licensing, storm water management, recycling, a countywide park system, ice arenas, golf courses and an exposition center. Dale serves as a cabinet-level adviser to the county executive. Waukesha County is a 2019 9 Principles Champion. Dale draws his energy from encouraging a culture of continuous improvement and mentoring high performers. Outside of work, Dale enjoys fitness, the outdoors and soccer. Dale holds a master’s degree in land use and environmental planning from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Superintendent

Ed Manansala

Dr. Ed Manansala is the county superintendent of schools for El Dorado County. He has served in this post since January 2016. Dr. Manansala’s tenure as the county superintendent has been marked by strong collaboration with education and community leaders to increase achievement and equity and successfully implement the California Statewide System of Support. Before becoming the county superintendent, he began his career as the coordinator of learning support services with the Sacramento City Unified School District. He transitioned to the principal and superintendent of St. Hope Public Schools. As the principal of Sacramento High School, the school demonstrated significant academic growth, and the four-year college acceptance rate increased from 25% to 75%. Dr. Manansala is the vice-chair of the State Board of Education’s California Practitioners Advisory Group, and currently serves on the California Special Education Finance Study Technical Advisory Committee. He was the 2018 president of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association and served on Governor Newsom’s Charter School Task Force. Dr. Manansala has the commitment and vision to be bold for students and to create the conditions for all students to flourish in college, a career and civic engagement.

Superintendent

Jeff Harris

Jeff Harris currently serves in the unique dual role as superintendent of the Del Norte County Unified School District in Crescent City, California and superintendent of the Del Norte County Office of Education. He has held these positions for the past seven years. He also serves on several nonprofit boards and commissions throughout the county. During his educational career, spanning 27 years throughout California, Jeff has been a middle school English teacher, assistant principal supporting curriculum and instruction and student services, turnaround principal for two middle schools and superintendent/principal for a small rural district.  

Superintendent

Jennifer Lowery

Jennifer Lowery has been superintendent of the Tea Area School District in South Dakota for almost a decade. She is concurrently an adjunct professor at the University of South Dakota. Prior to this role, she served as fourth through sixth-grade principal and district curriculum and instruction director.  Before working with Tea Area, Jennifer was a math teacher for Aberdeen School District. Jennifer earned her doctorate of education in school district administration from the University of South Dakota and her Master of Arts in educational psychology, quantitative and qualitative methods in education, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

Superintendent

Jenny Starck

Jenny has served as the superintendent of the School District of Cadott Community in Wisconsin since 2018. During that time she was fortunate to work with staff on continuous improvement strategies and effective leadership in change. She began her teaching career in special education and then worked as a special education director and curriculum director for the School District of Altoona. From there, she worked in the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District as the executive director of instruction for 13 years. 

Cadott is a rural district with approximately 840 students and 120 staff members. In the past four years, the high school has moved out of the “failing to meet expectations” category on the state report card. The district has recently updated the five-year strategic plan and continues to improve each year.

Director and Chief Executive

Jon Malone

Jon Malone is committed to helping education leaders strengthen the work they do on behalf of children by helping effectively align and engage adults in the workplace. He is currently the director and CEO of the Northwestern Illinois Association (NIA), a regional education cooperative that assists Illinois school districts to provide special education services to their students. For six consecutive years, NIA has earned employee engagement and customer satisfaction results in the 90th-100th percentile range when benchmarked alongside other school districts and education service organizations. Jon holds an M.S. in educational administration from National Lewis University. 

Executive Director of Teaching and Learning

Kelly Williams

Dr. Kelly Williams serves as the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning in the Oak Ridge Schools.  Prior to serving in this role she was the literacy coordinator and supervisor of Title I. Williams began her work with Oak Ridge Schools as a reading specialist in the school district.  She is dedicated to making this Portrait of a Graduate live in classrooms and making a difference for all students. 

District Administrator

Kristin Mueller

Dr. Kristin Mueller shares her passion for students and their learning as the district administrator of the School District of Holmen in Wisconsin.  Dr. Mueller leads a team of administrators and directors that share that same passion and find creative ways to prepare students for tomorrow through an engaging and inclusive educational community. Kristin began as an educator nearly 30 years ago as a classroom teacher.  After more than 15 years in the classroom, she transitioned to the leadership roles of instructional program manager of assessment and accountability, high school principal (summer), supervisor of standards, assessment and program improvement and, most recently, district administrator. Kristin earned her Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from Edgewood College in 2013.

Superintendent

Krystal Lomanto

Krystal Lomanto has been superintendent of the San Benito County Office of Education in California for almost six years. Krystal is passionate about ensuring that all students are provided with outstanding educational opportunities. She earned her Master of Arts degree in urban education and leadership from Grand Canyon University and her bachelor’s degree in human performance, kinesiology and biology from California State University, Fresno.  

Superintendent

Larry Ouimette

Dr. Larry Ouimette is the president of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators (WASDA). He is currently serving his 17th year as superintendent in the Lac du Flambeau School District in Wisconsin and has over 35 years of experience in education as a teacher and administrator. Prior to becoming superintendent, he served seven years as principal of Horace Mann Middle School in Wausau, Wisconsin. Dr. Ouimette earned his doctorate of education in school district administration from Edgewood College in Madison and his Superintendent Certification and Master of Science in educational leadership from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. In addition to his state leadership role as president of WASDA, Dr. Ouimette has served as the Wisconsin state chair for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) for the past 16 years. Dr. Ouimette received the Outstanding Administrator of the Year from both the Wisconsin State Reading Association (WSRA) and the Wisconsin Title I Association for his outstanding leadership in the field of literacy. Dr. Ouimette advances continuous improvement in school districts through the planning and execution of strategic actions that incorporate cultural context of the community as a key factor in achieving student success.

Superintendent

Lisa Herring

Dr. Lisa Herring brings a servant heart and more than 25 years of experience in education with her to Atlanta Public Schools. A Macon, GA native and graduate of Spelman College and Georgia Southern University, she established her professional career by teaching in both public and private schools in urban and rural settings. These experiences allowed her to impact the lives of students from diverse social, economic and ethnic backgrounds. Previously, Dr. Herring served as the Superintendent of the Birmingham, AL City Schools (BCS) system. Since joining the system as Superintendent, she led BCS through a significant transformation, stabilizing leadership, improving system performance and increasing student achievement. Under Dr. Herring’s leadership, BCS received its first award of full district accreditation after being under state takeover and conditional accreditation for several years. Dr. Herring’s focus on instruction significantly reduced the number of failing schools as identified by the Alabama State Department of Education school report
card. Among other accomplishments for Birmingham City Schools, Dr. Herring, in collaboration with the board, launched the system’s strategic plan, Force for Greatness 2018-2023, executed an organizational realignment to drive student achievement increased organizational effectiveness and established advisory groups to enhance stakeholder communication.

Director of Organizational Development

Luke Braughler

Luke Braughler has been on the team at Child Development Development Centers for over eight years. During this time, he has worked to further the mission of educating children to succeed by leading operations and filling roles in the human resource department, employee care, program oversight and now as the director of organizational development. He has a master’s degree in organizational leadership.

Principal

Maria Osborne

Maria is a principal for Charter Alternative Programs for the El Dorado County Office of Education. In her twenty-five years in education, Maria has worked in comprehensive and alternative systems; this has provided the depth and sphere of understanding necessary to lead a change effort for breaking the barriers created by trauma and other factors which can limit a student’s ability to reach learning goals. Maria’s work in discovery through the feedback loop provides an opportunity for staff, students, families, and the school community to participate in continuous improvement together. Meeting students and families where their needs are and making connections at every level of need has resulted in an environment committed to the whole child and family.

Superintendent

Mark Bielang

Mark Bielang is the superintendent of Portage Public Schools. He works with an exceptional leadership team to continuously improve the learning culture for 10,000 students and staff. Having spent more than four decades in Michigan’s public schools, Mark applies what he learned as a builder to create organizations with strong foundations. Mark has been a teacher, high school principal, and for the past 26 years, superintendent in two school districts. In addition, he was elected to serve his profession as president of both the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) and the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA). He continues to stay connected as a builder by serving as president of Habitat for Humanity-Van Buren County. Mark holds a Bachelor of Science in industrial education from Western Michigan University (WMU), a Master of Arts in educational leadership also from WMU and an Education Specialist degree in educational administration from Central Michigan University. When his schedule and weather allow, he can be found on a country road riding his Harley. 

Superintendent

Mark Martin

Mark Martin is the superintendent of Meade County Schools and is entering his fourteenth year in public education. Martin spent the first six years of his career as an elementary special education teacher, academic team coach, and high school football coach in Daviess County Public Schools before becoming the special education director in Meade County Schools in 2014. As the director of special education, Martin’s team led a districtwide systematic approach to improve academic and behavioral outcomes for students with disabilities. Meade County Schools is committed to serving the needs of all children with a “Student First-Team Always” approach. 

Meade County Schools was awarded two best practice awards in 2019 by the Kentucky Department of Education Continuous Improvement Division for their special education model and their Close The Gap professional development structure. Martin was recognized by the Kentucky Board of Education for the 2020 Johnnie Grissom Award for Innovation in Special Education and by the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children as the 2020 Kentucky Special Education Administrator of the year. He also contributed to John O’Connor’s recent 2nd Edition of Great Instruction Great Achievement for Students with Disabilities: A Road Map for Special Education Administrators.  

Superintendent

Marty Lexmond

Dr. Martin Lexmond began his career in education as a social studies teacher in the Milwaukee Public School District. In addition to teaching, he managed the school stage crew for seven years and became a teacher coach who mentored new teachers in the district. Marty spent two years as an administrator at Vincent High School before departing Wisconsin for the Denver Public School System. In Denver, he served as a literacy specialist. When he returned to Milwaukee, he took a position as the assistant principal at Vincent High School. He was later promoted to the Milwaukee Public School District and served as director of high school redesign followed by the director of school innovation. Marty’s career as a superintendent began when he accepted the position of high school principal and superintendent in the town of Kohler located in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. In this position, he moved from the largest, most urban school system to one of the smaller, most affluent school districts in Wisconsin. During his tenure, he gained valuable experience in school administration. In his second year, the high school had the highest ACT composite score in the state and was later named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. From Kohler, Marty returned to the Milwaukee area. He served three years as the superintendent in the north shore community of  Shorewood, Wisconsin. During this time, Marty pursued an opportunity to combine his rural, suburban and urban leadership experience. Currently, he is the Superintendent of the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District (WAWM), which is the twelfth largest in Wisconsin and among the most culturally diverse public school districts in Wisconsin. During his tenure in WAWM, Marty successfully resolved a significant financial challenge and moved the district from one with three failing schools and only one high-performing school to a district with no failing schools and five high-performing schools. This work is guided by a very focused strategic plan, an equity mindset and a commitment to deeper learning.

Chief Academic Officer/Assistant Superintendent

Melissa Stephanski

Melissa Stephanski serves as the chief academic officer and assistant superintendent in one of the fourth largest school districts in Kentucky, the Warren County School District. As a dedicated educator for more than 26 years, Mrs. Stephanski also has experience as a teacher, guidance counselor, alternative school administrator, assistant principal and school principal. She holds her Master’s and Rank I in school counseling and additional certification for K-12 administration. She also maintains certifications for DPP, instructional supervision and superintendency. Melissa is currently ABD in the educational leadership doctoral program at Western Kentucky University, where she also serves as practitioner partner for administration coursework. Mrs. Stephanski serves on state committees, presents at national conferences and maintains membership in state and national administrator organizations. In addition to state and national work, Melissa is a member of the WISE Agile Leaders of Learning Innovation Network (ALL-IN) global education group.

Executive Director of Charter Alternative Programs

Michael Gillespie

Michael graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a teaching credential from the University of the Pacific and earned his administrative credential. He also earned his Master’s Degree from California State University Sacramento in Educational Leadership. Michael has 29 years of experience in education with expertise in charter schools and bilingual education. He taught third through sixth grade and was principal of a dual immersion charter school in Lodi, California for 12 years. He then served for eight years as the assistant superintendent for Gateway Community Charters which educates over 5,000 students in nine schools in the Sacramento region. At Gateway, he had the responsibility and oversight of the school principals and over a dozen programs. Michael currently serves as the Executive Director of Charter Alternative Programs with the El Dorado County Office of Education where he supports charter schools, adult education, alternative education, education for adjudicated youth and adults and childcare programs throughout the county.

Superintendent

Nick Ouellette

Dr. Ouellette has been the Superintendent of the Hudson School District since 2015. He started his service in education as a High School Technology Education Teacher in Illinois and then in Iowa. As a teacher, he taught classes in Career and Technical Education including building trades, automotive technology, manufacturing processes, computer-aided design and metalworking/machining. While teaching, he had the opportunity to be an adjunct instructor for Des Moines Area Community College in the area of building trades. He then advanced to a high school assistant principal and soon after to high school principal. As a high school principal, Dr. Ouellette led the implementation of new courses, including expanding dual-enrollment options for students and a student-built house project. During his tenure as principal, he was also an adjunct instructor for Iowa State University in their educational leadership and policy studies department. In 2012, Dr. Ouellette began his work as a superintendent in Iowa before coming to Hudson, Wisconsin. Dr. Ouellette has worked in districts of all sizes and geographic makeup. He believes that high levels of professional development and support for all employees will result in high-level academic achievement for all students. Dr. Ouellette is currently leading district-wide leadership development that aligns with district scorecards, which is aligned to the newly developed strategic plan. Dr. Ouellette has a Bachelor’s Degree in technology education with a minor in general industry from the University of Northern Iowa. He completed his Master’s Degree in educational administration at Aurora University in Illinois. He has both a Certificate of Advanced Studies and a PhD. from Iowa State University in educational leadership and policy studies.

Superintendent

Randy Drost

Randy Drost is the Superintendent of the Rice Lake Area School District, currently serving in his sixth year in this role, and in his twenty-sixth year in the district. Prior to becoming superintendent, he spent nine years as elementary principal at Hilltop and Haugen Elementary schools, five years as a Dean of Students/Assistant Principal at Rice Lake High School and six years teaching students math and coaching wrestling at Rice Lake High School.

Randy holds a bachelor’s degree in Math Education from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a master’s degree in education and professional development from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a master’s degree in PK-12 administration from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and an Education Specialist degree from the University of Wisconsin Superior.

Superintendent

Rob Clayton

Rob Clayton is Superintendent of Warren County Public Schools, located in Bowling Green, which is the fourth largest and one of the most diverse school districts in Kentucky. Despite having the second-lowest per-pupil funding (more than $3,000 per pupil below the state avg), WCPS is generally recognized as a leader across the state of Kentucky. Since his arrival in 2013, Clayton has been instrumental in implementing numerous systems and processes which have positively impacted student achievement and opportunities in Warren County Public Schools. Most recently, WCPS recorded the 21st highest ACT composite score across the Commonwealth and had a high school and two middle schools reach the top twenty on the state assessment. Since 2013, assessment data trends demonstrate continuous improvement on KPREP and ACT results across the district. Multiple high schools have undergone multi-million dollar renovations and additional improvements at the other twenty-one schools will position WCPS to become the most energy efficient school district in Kentucky by 2020. Due to continued enrollment growth, WCPS opened the district’s fifteenth elementary school this past August and an additional elementary school is in the design phase. In the fall of 2017, Warren County Public Schools opened Kentucky’s first International High School, GEO, which provides a unique learning environment for English Language learners. WCPS is the first district in the nation to implement the Leader In Me program K-12 and is home to seven Lighthouse elementary schools. Mr. Clayton’s collaborative leadership approach has been instrumental in the development of a unified vision and the district remains committed to ensuring student safety, student achievement, and opportunity for all students, regardless of their background.

Director of K-12 Education

Robert Hughes

Robert “Bob” Hughes, director of K-12 Education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation United States Program, oversees the work to ensure that all students are prepared for success in college and career. Before joining the foundation, Bob was president of New Visions for Public Schools, a New York City school network of 70 district schools serving approximately 45,000 students. During his tenure, New Visions created 99 district and seven charter public schools, provided mentoring services to hundreds of new principals, developed school-based certification programs for teachers and principals, secondary curricula now accessed by thousands of teachers and data management tools to streamline school operations and track student progress toward graduation and college. Hughes has also led or been involved in individual and class action litigation in special education and state school finance. He started his career providing legal representation to homeless parents and students in the New York City public school system and worked extensively with community organizers around education issues. Bob serves as a board member of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Prior board affiliations include Advocates for Children of New York, Fund For Teachers, and Projects in Education, the nonprofit publisher of Education Week.

Superintendent

Ryan Carpenter

Ryan Carpenter has been an educator and leader for 14 years and has served as the superintendent of the Estacada School District since 2017. For the past three years, the Estacada School District has been in pursuit of sustaining high levels of improvement science methodology and has been a partner with Studer Education since 2019. Carpenter’s leadership has received recognition as the 2016 Oregon Future Business Leaders of America Principal of the Year. Also in 2016, he was recognized as a school emergency preparedness leader by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). The Estacada Chamber of Commerce awarded Mr. Carpenter the 2018 School Employee of the Year. Ryan’s work on improvement science has also been published in books and professional journals. While serving as superintendent, the Estacada School District has also received accolades for organizational excellence. In 2020, the Estacada School District was honored as one of only 19 school districts in the United States to be recognized as a Model PLC District by Solution Tree. Estacada Schools also achieved the highest honors from its employees and in 2020 was selected for The Oregonian’s Top Workplaces in the State of Oregon. For six consecutive years, Estacada High School has also been recognized as a “Top High School” by U.S. News & World Report. 

Superintendent

Ryan Nelson

Ryan Nelson is the superintendent of Augusta Area School District in Wisconsin. Nelson is a graduate of UW Eau Claire with a bachelor’s degree in middle childhood and early education. He obtained his master’s degree in education leadership from Viterbo University and continued on to receive a specialist degree from Viterbo University. Superintendent Nelson has thirteen years of experience in teaching and leadership roles in Northwestern Wisconsin. He began his teaching career in middle school at Independence for three years then Chippewa Falls for another three years. His career at Augusta brought him into the Principal role at the elementary school for three years and into district administration.

Superintendent

Sean Dorsey

Sean Dorsey is the superintendent in District 49 Sand Creek Zone in Colorado who continues to build a sense of community and provide open communication so the focus in schools remains on students. As the global workforce changes, education must change to prepare learners for excellence in and out of the classroom. As the leader of the Sand Creek Zone, Sean strives to help his organization to provide experiences to prepare learners for any post-secondary destination they desire. Mr. Dorsey led the development of a new zone plan with a focus on growth and innovation to attract students, identification of Zone “Identity Elements” and the development of Standards of Excellence for the zone. He is a firm believer in stakeholder involvement and says, “When the community is involved and parents are involved, students succeed.” Mr. Dorsey began his education career over 24 years ago as a special education teacher and has served as an assistant principal and principal. Sean moved to Colorado Springs, within District 49 in 2010, and serves as the Zone Superintendent. Sean holds a Master of Arts in special education from the University of Northern Colorado. When his schedule allows and weather permits, he can be found on the golf course with his wife and twins.

Superintendent

Sergio Menoza

Sergio Mendoza serves as superintendent in the Burton School District, located in Porterville, California. He is a passionate leader dedicated to serving his community and helping students reach their potential. Sergio served as an administrator in the Burton School District for many years and left to take a position as a director of assessment and accountability in a neighboring school district. His heart was in Burton, and he was pleased to return to serve as superintendent in 2018. In Burton, he has recently completed a comprehensive strategic plan and is diligently working on a journey toward excellence. He instills a belief of service in his team.

Superintendent

Stephanie Elizalde

Stephanie S. Elizalde is the superintendent of the Austin Independent School District, serving more than 80,000 students and 12,000 employees. Dr. Elizalde, a native Texan and the district’s first Latina superintendent, is a lifelong educator committed to equity and excellence in education for every student. She has a proven track record of raising student academic achievement while being focused on building a culture of inclusion and equity with diverse communities. She understands the importance of developing collaborative relationships with the city and individual communities that are home to each individual school. 

Superintendent

Steve Herrington

Steven D. Herrington, Ph.D., was elected Sonoma County superintendent of schools in 2010. He is a native Californian who began his career in education as a history teacher. He served as superintendent for three Northern California school districts. In these positions, he gained experience in rural, suburban, and urban settings. He has led educational services for students from prekindergarten through high school. Steven is a Vietnam era veteran who served in the United States Army and National Guard. He is a recent widower and lives in Windsor. He has two grown children, both graduates of California public schools and its university system. His daughter is a project director supporting charter school teacher induction for the North Coast School of Education in the East Bay. His son works as an account manager for a technology company in Denver.   

Improvement Expert and Senior Lecturer

Steven Spear

Steven Spear is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and at the Engineering Systems Division at MIT. Spear is a well-recognized expert on how select organizations manage complex development, design, and delivery efforts to create unmatched rates of internally generated, broad-based improvement and innovation. His work investigates how the resulting leadership on reliability, agility, cost, quality and safety produces sustainable competitive advantage even in the face of intense rivalry. Prior to MIT Sloan, he worked for the investment bank Prudential-Bache, the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment and the University of Tokyo. He also taught at Harvard Business School for six years. As a consultant and an advisor, Spear works actively with organizations to develop their capacity for high-speed, sustained improvement and innovation. He played an integral role in developing the Alcoa Business System, which has been credited with saving hundreds of millions of dollars in Alcoa’s annual report, and the Perfecting Patient Care system of the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative, which helped raise the quality and safety of care in area hospitals and which has been credited with saving many lives and much money. His clients include organizations such as Lockheed Martin, John Deere, Intel, Intuit, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He consulted for the MacArthur Foundation and works with Toyota on supplier development efforts. A senior lecturer at MIT Sloan and at the Engineering Systems Division, Spear teaches a course on high-velocity organizations in the Leaders for Global Operations Program and in several executive education programs. He supports the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s efforts as a Senior Fellow.

Superintendent

Tim Hire

Tim A. Hire is the Tulare County superintendent of schools and serves over 100,000 students in 48 Tulare County school districts and charter schools in California’s Central Valley. Tim began his education career as a high school agriculture teacher and was quickly recognized as an educational leader. He earned his administrative credential as a participant in the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Fellowship program through CSU, Fresno.  He has served as both an assistant principal and principal at the secondary level before spending nearly 12 years as a district superintendent.  His visionary leadership has brought about increased academic performance for all student groups, especially English language learners, in the districts he served through initiatives that create equity and access using technology; 21st century classroom redesign; ongoing, rigorous and consistent instruction; and other facility upgrades to build the highest-quality learning environments that inspire students and staff to excel. As Tulare County superintendent of schools since January 2019, Tim envisions the creation of programs that promote greater access to career technical education, extracurricular activities, STEM careers exploration, skills development for young adults with special needs, and increased support for English language learners and their teachers.