Decision Makers
Board of Directors
Beth Wray is the CEO of Pearson Achievement Solutions. Because of her background as a classroom teacher with a focus on special education, Beth is passionate about education. She has worked in the field of educational publishing for 22 years and has held several key leadership positions in Pearson. Beth believes that K 12 school leaders in the U.S. are seeking new and innovative solutions to improve student performance and that an organization built on an integrated foundation of content, technology, and services like Pearson Achievement Solutions will play a critical role in improving current student outcomes through systemic school change, customized content, and professional development.
John was educated and gained his degree and accountancy qualifications in New Zealand. He worked for three years in audit, then a commercial firm until he joined Pearson in 1985, where he worked in various finance roles. John has been Chief Financial Officer for EMA since June 2003. In this role, he is responsible for all financial aspects of the business including monthly reporting, budgeting, investment appraisal, operations and acquisitions.
Allan Meese is the Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Pearson Achievement Solutions, where his principal responsibility is the financial and business planning, administration, and control across our three sites in Santa Monica, CA, Glenview, IL, and Boston, MA. As COO, Allan works with other senior managers to develop and execute strategic and operational plans to deliver results consistent with budgeted objectives. He is also responsible for the coordination and development of proposals and solutions that include products and services from more than one Pearson business unit. Allan has been with the company for 18 years, holding various financial operating unit leadership positions, including SVP and CFO for the Pearson Education Supplementary and Professional Development Group.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer |
Current |
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
Senior Vice President, Planning & Market Development |
Current |
Judy's love of martial arts started with cardiokick and kickboxing classes at the D.A.S. Martial Arts Academy. Her appreciation for the martial arts blossomed when she began formal Sho-Ku-Jitsu training under Sensei Mark Morisi in 1999. In 2002, Judy earned a Jeet-Kune-Do certificate from Dan Inosanto, lead disciple of Bruce Lee. In 2005, Judy was one of the first women to earn a Black Belt in Morisi's Sho-Ku-Jitsy system. That same year, Judy became a certified Lil' Dragons Instructor by Century Martial Arts. Judy has been instructing children's Karate classes at the D.A.S. Martial Arts Academy for several years. Professionally, Judy has a degree in Journalism and Graphic Design from Pennsylvania State University. Judy has worked in educational publishing for the past 20 years. She is currently a Vice President of Operations Planning for Pearson Education. She also volunteers as a Junior Achievement teacher at the Montebello Elementary School.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
Vice President of Operations Planning |
Current |
| D.A.S. Academy |
Instructor |
Current |
| The Pennsylvania State University |
Degree In Journalism and Graphic Design |
Former |
Tom Brown is the Vice President, Sales, of Pearson Achievement Solutions. Tom has spent over 25 years in the computer-based education and training industry in product development, product marketing, sales support, sales, and national and global sales management. Tom believes that Pearson Achievement Solutions' mission of improving teaching is a key component to drive consistent student achievement and to maintain a competitive edge in the 21st century and beyond.
Carrie Spagnola has been keeping a journal ever since she was able to hold a pen. Journaling has always been a creative outlet and expression of emotion for her. Carrie holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication and a Master in Business Administration degree. She works for Pearson Education as their Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and is also a part time Writing and Communication instructor. Carrie is member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), which is a not-for-profit international network of more than 13,000 professionals committed to improving the effectiveness of organizations through strategic business communication management.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
Director of Curriculum |
Current |
| Journal to Fulfillment |
|
Current |
Rachel Levy Wexler is the Director of Product Management. She is responsible for creating programs that not only anticipate and meet the districts' needs, but also represent innovative, comprehensive approaches. Rachel is enthusiastic about the various assets and capabilities that have been combined to form Pearson Achievement Solutions. Using creative technologies to leverage effective, engaging professional development, she believes that Pearson Achievement Solutions will help districts retain talent, drive positive student outcomes, and achieve new heights.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
Director of Product Management |
Current |
After graduating from Oxford, Victoria qualified as a solicitor in the Intellectual Property department at Clifford Chance. After 2 1/2 years with Amstrad in the mid 90's where she was company secretary and corporate lawyer, Victoria joined Pearson in 1997 as director of legal services.
Shaun has been a member at FCC since 1985. He and his family, including wife Ila and sons Stuart (21), Alex (18), and Doug (14) live in Poughkeepsie. He is currently employed at Pearson Education as an Operations Manager. Shaun began working with the youth in 1996. He has served as a trustee, chair of the property committee, an usher, search and merge committees. What brought the family to the church was their desire to be "IN the world, but not OF it, and for their kids to have a place to worship consistently. "We were welcomed warmly" says Ila, "and we stayed". The thing he likes best about FCC is being part of the family. He works with the kids because they deserve it and because they bring him great joy.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
Operations Manager |
Current |
| Fcc Youth Group |
|
Current |
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Greenwood College |
Vice Principal, Curriculum |
Current |
| Pearson Education |
|
Current |
| Oise |
|
Current |
| Physical Education |
Head |
Former |
| Academics |
Director |
Former |
| Greenwood College |
Board of Directors |
Former |
| University of Toronto |
B.Ed. |
Former |
| Pearson Education |
|
Former |
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
|
Current |
| Rorfgw |
|
Current |
| Federal Maritime Commission |
Attorney |
Former |
| U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit |
|
Former |
| U.S. Court of International Trade |
|
Former |
| Supreme Court of the United States |
|
Former |
| Columbia Court of Appeals |
|
Former |
| United States Court of Federal Claims |
|
Former |
| Seton Hall University |
Juris Doctor degree |
Former |
| Fairleigh Dickinson University |
Master of Arts Degree |
Former |
| Florida Atlantic University |
Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude |
Former |
| The University of Texas |
Bachelor of Arts Degree |
Former |
Born in Jamaica, New York. Mr. Edwards is an expert on regulatory transportation and tariff issues. Mr. Edwards conducts tariff reviews and analysis on behalf of shipper and carrier clients. Mr. Edwards also regularly deals with issues concerning OTI/FMC licensing applications. He researches tariff and service contract matters involving ocean common carriers and ocean transportation intermediaries in both the foreign and domestic commerce. Mr. Edwards conducts historical research on tariff items, bonds, and rules and regulations of various federal agencies that deal with the ocean/land transportation industry. He is regularly in contact with the Federal Maritime Commission and the Surface Transportation Board.
Henry P. Gonzalez concentrates his practice in International Transportation, Admiralty and Maritime Law; Export Licensing; International Commercial Transactions; Shipper-Carrier Disputes; Freight Forwarder, NVOCC, and Carrier Surety Bond Disputes and Related Passenger Vessel Liability and Financial Responsibility Disputes; Alternative Dispute Resolution; and Civil Litigation. He represents transportation surety bond and insurance companies, air and ocean freight forwarders, NVOCCs, and other transportation intermediaries in litigation matters involving loss and damage to cargo, improper release, conversion, misdelivery, delay, freight collection, missing cargo, errors and omissions, and transit liability defense litigation. He also reviews and evaluates fraudulent claims against freight forwarders, NVOCCs, and surety bond and air and marine insurance companies. Mr. Gonzalez also provides representation and consultation to individuals and corporations in customs matters involving seizures, regulatory audits and compliance matters, FDA import issues, and subpoenas issued by Customs, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Department of Justice. Mr. Gonzalez was born in New York, New York, and is admitted to
Jerry S. Scacchitti joined Lipspeer Telecom in May 2005. He started out as Director of Operations guiding the organization towards a path of operating at a higher level. Mr. Scacchitti quickly changed the face of the company by putting in place the tools necessary for running a sound operation. Mr. Scacchitti quickly developed and implemented a solid system behind the scenes which was easy to duplicate, manage and operate. Lipspeer Telecom has become a organization operating on a higher level since Mr. Scacchitti has joined the team. The positive impact of Mr. Scacchitti directing the organization has made him the Chief Operating Officer, responsible for overseeing all aspects of operations. Mr. Scacchitti spearheads development of the company's partner channels and strategic relationships. His focus is on providing customers worldwide with a broad range of value-added products and services. Mr. Scacchitti brings more than 10 years of sales operations expertise to Lipspeer Telecom. Currently, Mr. Scacchitti also serves as a Curriculum Account Executive for Pearson Education; responsible for sales and total solution technology implementations of curriculum software, educational training and software support to educators in the K-8 market. He works with districts in funding their solutions through grant opportunities. Previously, Mr. Scacchitti was the Assessment Consultant at Riverside Publishing, a Houghton Mifflin Company. He was responsible for sales of a wide range of assessment products and data management solutions to educators in the K-12 market. Mr. Scacchitti also served as the Operations Manager for George W. Long Inc. were he directly tranined, supervised, scheduled and hired staff of ninety employees. He was promoted to Director of Operations still serving the responsibilities of his prior role while implementing leadership training and comprehensive management programs. Mr. Scacchitti earned a B.A. from Suny College at Geneseo in New York while also obtaining a New York State Certification in Secondary Education. Mr. Scacchitti also spent time as a Math Teacher at Brighton Central School District in New York.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Lipspeer Telecom, LLC |
Chief Operating Officer |
Current |
| Lipspeer Telecom, LLC |
Operations Consultant, Lipspeer Telecom Llc |
Current |
| Pearson Education |
Curriculum Account Executive |
Current |
| The Riverside Publishing Co. |
Consultant |
Former |
| Suny |
B.A. |
Former |
Kymberli Waller has been a board member since January 2005. Kymberli serves as an Educational Consultant with Pearson Education and an ESL teacher. She has a masters in teaching from Columbia University Teachers College and has been a professional educator since 1996. In June, 2005 Kymberli designed and coordinated the first Awassa Children's Project Summer Learning Camp, a successful program that will be replicated for years.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
Educational Consultant |
Current |
| Awassa Children's Project |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Columbia University Teachers College |
Masters In Teaching |
Former |
Meredith Chandler is the Senior Sales Consultant for the career education institutions in South Florida. She has been working for Pearson Education for 11 years and has experience in all areas of the educational publishing world. She is a native of New York (although she has been in South Florida since 1983), loves cooking with her 2 children, reading (in the little spare time she has) and playing sports.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Learning Solutions |
Senior Sales Consultant |
Current |
| Pearson Education |
|
Current |
Thomas J. O'Donnell concentrates his practice in Customs and International Trade Law. Mr. O'Donnell received a Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, from Florida Atlantic University in 1967, a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University in 1973, and was admitted in that same year to the Illinois State Bar and the Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In 1974, he was admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Court of International Trade; the New York Bar in 1988; the District of Columbia Bar in 1988; and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995. He is also a licensed Customs broker. Mr. O'Donnell is member of the Illinois State, Chicago and American Bar Associations, the District of Columbia Bar and the Customs & International Trade Bar Association. He practices Customs and International Trade Law, focusing on all aspects of the import and export process, including tariff classification and valuation of imported merchandise, country of origin determinations, marking, comprehensive import, export and NAFTA compliance programs, antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings, defense of sureties, broker/forwarder matters, intellectual property protection, quota/visa issues, and drawback.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
|
Current |
| Rorfgw |
|
Current |
| The District of Columbia Bar |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Florida Atlantic University |
Bachelor of Science Degree |
Former |
Todd Fineberg was of counsel to Carlos Rodriguez & Associates (1994-2005), and participated in international transactional and trade matters, managed approximately 130 Harbor Maintenance Tax cases on behalf of exporter and freight forwarder clients in the Court of International Trade and U.S. Customs Service, and wrote and filed with Carlos Rodriguez amicus curiae briefs on behalf of exporter clients in the U.S. Supreme Court (1998) and Federal Circuit Court (1999).
Tom is a professor of Interactive Multimedia through the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning's School of Media Studies.. Like all faculty in the program, Tom believes his students deserve to be taught by instructors who are regarded as experts in their field and whose knowledge of their subject is current with industry best practice. Tom is the author of 12 books with Pearson Education and friendsofED, including such best selling books as Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers, Foundation Flash CS3 Video and From After Effects to Flash:Poetry in Motion Graphics. He has also produced a video training series for Lynda.com Fireworks CS3, Essential Training, available online and on DVD. Tom is also an Adobe Community Expert, a member of Adobe's Higher Education Advisory Board, an Adobe Higher Education Champion, and a member of the Product Advisory Boards for Flash Media Server, Captivate, and Fireworks at the Adobe Corporation. Tom is in great demand as a speaker and regularly does presentations at major industry conferences around the world. These conferences include FlashintheCan, Spark Europe, TODCON, FITCHollywood, Adobe Max, Web Design World and Digital Design World. Tom has conducted experts lectures at such post secondary institutions as Rochester Institute of Technology, Pasadena Community College, Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, University of Wisconsin, EMMA Foundation Master Classes for post secondary students in Hamburg, Germany and Toronto, and the Red River Community College in Winnipeg. Along with these industry efforts, Tom is also a Partner at CommunityMX and regularly contributes articles and tutorials to Digital-Web magazine, Community MX, the Adobe Design Center and the Adobe Developer Center. In addition, Tom is a founding member of one of the largest Adobe User Groups in the world- FlashinTO.
Alan Stewart discovered SF while in primary school, and fandom at University, and has never left since. His first convention was Aussiecon 2. He then became involved with the Melbourne Science Fiction Club and was Secretary for over 20 years straight. After graduating as a Chemical Engineer, he has lived in Melbourne, Australia, and currently works as an editor for Pearson Education. A couple of years ago he was in the top 50 rated tournament Scrabble players in Australia. He edits fanzines including Thyme which was a Hugo nominee and Ytterbium (an ANZAPA zine). He won the Ditmar Award for fanzine editing 1990, 1995 and 1997 and the William Atheling Jr. Award for SF criticism 1997. He has had over 50 poems professionally published, mainly SF or fantasy themed. Alan was Bid Chair for the Australia in '99 bid, and is on the board for the 2010 bid. In 1991 he was the FFANZ delegate to New Zealand, and in 1994 the DUFF delegate to North America where he attended Conadian.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Paterson Gospel Church |
Teaching Pastor |
Current |
| Pearson Education |
Production Editor |
Current |
| Life Development Institute |
Director |
Former |
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| The Writers Studio |
Master |
Current |
| Pearson Education |
Editor |
Current |
| Oberlin College |
|
Former |
The company's founder, Steven R. Kursh, Ph.D., CSDP, has extensive experience in the computer software industry and the Internet. He was the founder of a software company that was acquired by McGraw-Hill. Dr. Kursh is the author of academic and professional articles related to the software industry, telecommunications, and finance, and he is the author of a book published by Financial Times Prentice-Hall. Professor Kursh has been admitted as an expert to testify before arbitration panels and in the federal courts in matters related to computer software, including trade secrets, copyrights, and patents; the computer software industry, including software development practices, marketing, management, and valuation; and the Internet. Dr. Kursh is an Executive Professor at Northeastern University where he develops and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Finance, Telecommunications and graduate-level multidisciplinary courses that include topic coverage of software architectures, software project implementations, Information Technology (IT) investments, and IT assessments. He has also taught courses at Harvard University, at the University of Pennsylvania, and for CPE programs. Dr. Kursh was named a Fulbright Scholar in 2005. He has earned several teaching awards, including the Beta Gamma Sigma Award for Best Teacher and the University Excellence in Teaching Award. He serves as a General Editor in Finance and Information Technology for a division of Pearson Education. Dr. Kursh has also been a mentor capitalist and was recently awarded a patent. Professor Kursh received his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and his AB from Boston College, Magna Cum Laude, Scholar of the College. He has earned the IEEE Computer Society Software Development Professional Certification (CSDP). The qualifications for the IEEE CSDP include documentation of at least 9,000 hours of software engineering experience. Candidates must also pass a rigorous examination covering the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge. Dr. Kursh is a registered member of the IBM Academic Initiative program and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society, and the Project Management Institute (PMI). He is affiliated with the Cutter Consortium, an international IT advisory firm, and he serves as a reviewer for several business and technology journals.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Software Analysis Group |
Founder of the Company |
Current |
| Pearson Education |
General Editor |
Current |
| Association for Computing Machinery |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Association for Computing Machinery |
Member |
Current |
| Software Analysis Group |
The Company's Manager |
Former |
| Boston College |
Ab |
Former |
Joanne Dresner is President of Pearson Education's English Language Teaching division, and Chairman of Pearson Education Latin America. Pearson Education is the global leader in educational publishing.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Pearson Education |
Chairman |
Current |
| White Plains Public Library |
Board of Directors |
Current |