Delegation Members

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Sheryl Abshire is the District Administrative Coordinator of Technology in the Calcasieu Parish School System in Lake Charles, Louisiana. As a leader in technology integration, she has served as the catalyst to initiate the integration of technology into all curriculum areas throughout her school district, the state, and internationally. Sheryl has a B.S. in Early Childhood Education, a M.Ed. in Elementary Education, an Educational Specialist in School Administration and Supervision and a PhD from the University of New Orleans in Educational Leadership and Administration. She is an accomplished grant writer and regularly conducts institutes to fund innovative technology programs throughout the nation. A thirty-three year veteran educator, she has worked as a school principal, K-5 teacher, a library/media specialist, a classroom teacher, and as an adjunct professor at McNeese State University and Louisiana Tech University. 

She has been involved in diverse staff development programs throughout the nation and in Great Britain involving restructuring schools through the infusion of technology and curriculum enhancements.  As a 1991 NEA/NFIE Christa McAuliffe Fellow, 1990 Louisiana Technology Teacher of the Year, 1992 National Teacher Hall of Fame Inductee, 1998 Louisiana Computer Using Educator of the Year, 1999 McNeese State University Distinguished Alumnus and the 2002 National Christa McAuliffe Award winner, Sheryl is a nationally recognized consultant/speaker. She serves on numerous national, state, and district committees focusing on the role of technology and curriculum integration in changing educational practice. As a member of the ISTE NETS Writing Team and the Technology for School Administrators Writing Team she is deeply involved in infusing technology into standards based instruction. Additionally, she is a member of the ISTE Standards and Accreditation Committee working on the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) Refresh Project.

Mrs. Abshire has served as a consultant/grant writer and reader for ISTE, NCREL, eSchool News, Compaq Computer, National Foundation for the Improvement of Education, Apple Computer, Pioneer New Media Technologies, the American Online Foundation, the Beaumont Foundation, and Educational Resources. She is the past chair of the NEA Membership Advisory Committee, currently serving on the NEA Legislative Committee and is the past chair of the Louisiana Association of Educators Instruction and Professional Development Committee. Sheryl has served as a member of the national K-12 advisory councils for Compaq Computer, and Knowledge Adventure. Presently she serves on the national advisory boards for Blackboard, eSchool News, Pearson Digital Learning and Scholastic Administrator.  She is the Chairman of the Louisiana Department of Education Committee to Advance Technology Standards and since 1997 has served as Chairman of the Louisiana Technology Advisory Commission with the responsibility to oversee and approve proposals for the expenditure of over $200 million in technological advancements in the Louisiana schools.

Sheryl is the Chair of the Teacher’s Retirement System of Louisiana Board of Trustees and oversees the placement of over 15 billion dollars in retirement funds. She is the immediate past Board Chair for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) in Washington, D.C., is on the Executive Committee and also chairs their Public Policy Committee. As a nationally recognized speaker she has shared her expertise with audiences at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Consortium for School Networking Conference, National Education Computing Conference, National School Board Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals, eSchool News Grants and Funding Conference and at numerous local, regional and state conferences. In 2003 she was named a national semi-finalist for Ed Tech Leader of the Year.

James Bosco is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Educational Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan.   He earned a Bachelor’s degree at Duquesne University, a Master’s from the University of Pittsburgh and a Doctorate from Columbia University with specialization in curriculum research. He taught courses in research methodology, educational foundations, and educational technology. 

In addition he held a number of administrative positions in the College of Education which included the Director of the Grand Rapids Public School – Western Michigan University Center for Educational Studies, the Center for Educational Research, Director of Educational Technology, and Director of External Affairs. He worked on many program development projects in the College and most recently coordinated the development of an on-line graduate program for training educational technology directors.  This innovative program was one of the first such programs in the U.S. He was the recipient of numerous federal, state, and foundation grants such as a State of Michigan grant to improve the training of teachers and a Kellogg Foundation grant dealing with school reform at the secondary school level. 

Bosco has been a consultant for many school districts and also for several U.S. corporations such as Clarke Equipment, Upjohn Company, and General Motors and the United Auto Workers.  He played a major role in connecting schools in Michigan to the Internet and was a member of U.S. Senator Carl Levin’s educational technology working group that resulted in a series of school initiatives in Michigan.  He chaired a consortium of national educational organizations that developed national standards for school administrators pertaining to the information technology. Bosco has had extensive involvement in international education as a keynote speaker or consultant in several countries.

Currently, he co-chairs the International Committee for the Consortium for School Networking; previously he was the president of that organization which is based in Washington D.C.  He also  co-chairs an the CoSN International Symposium on national policy issues. He has had extensive publications and presentations in the U.S. and elsewhere.  His current publications and presentations are focused on educational reform. Currently, Bosco is the Western Michigan University coordinator for the “Kalamazoo Promise.”  Kalamazoo became the first city in the U.S. to provide full scholarships to any Michigan public college or university.  The “Promise” represents an effort at major educational reform involving the schools but also all of the other agencies, organizations, and networks that are involved in improving the health, education, and welfare of children. 

Trina Davis
(Biography coming soon)

Ann Lee Flynn, Ed.D. , Director of Education Technology, National School Boards Association. Dr. Flynn’s work in education technology addresses leadership issues across three areas: teaching & learning; administrative applications; and community & parental outreach. She works closely with the corporate community on a variety of projects including NSBA’s nationally recognized T+L Conference (formerly Technology + Learning) and hosts annual site visits to showcase model technology-using school districts. She has been in the Education Technology Programs department since 1992 and currently supports the association’s Technology Leadership Network, a district membership program for leadership teams. The National School Boards Association is a not-for-profit, national advocacy organization whose mission is to foster excellence and equity in public elementary and secondary education in the United States through local school board leadership. NSBA represents the 95,000 elected and appointed school board members who serve in nearly 15,000 school districts through its Federation of state associations. 

Dr. Flynn addresses industry and education groups about leadership & technology, 21st century learning, and establishing strategies that foster productive partnerships. She authored the chapter; “The Role of a School Board in the Purchasing Process” for The Experts' Guide to the K-12 Market, is active in coalition groups within the Washington ed-tech community, and serves as a member the National Education Advisory Board for Cable in the Classroom. Dr Flynn received a “Making It Happen” award in 2004.  Prior to joining NSBA, she held positions on the faculty of Louisiana State University and in the education travel industry. Her degrees include a BSE in Speech and Journalism and a Master of Education in Higher Education - Student Personnel from the University of Arkansas and a doctorate from the University of Virginia in Higher Education with supporting fields in Business and Education Technology with a research focus in experiential learning.

Kathy Hurley, Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, for Pearson School, is a 35-year veteran of the education industry. Prior to joining Pearson, Hurley served as Vice President, Education for PLATO Learning. 

Hurley has also served as the Senior Vice President for NetSchools (prior to its acquisition by PLATO Learning), where her responsibilities included overseeing the Sales, Marketing and Business Development departments of the company.

Hurley’s tenure in the education industry also includes her time as Senior Vice President of Education Marketing for The Learning Company, and Senior Vice President of Skillsbank Corporation.  In addition, Hurley held important positions with IBM, Mindscape, Grolier and DLM.

She currently serves on several key industry and education advisory boards, including, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), the National School Boards Foundation (NSBF), of which she is past Chairman, the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), Foundation for Education Investment (FEI), and National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET). She is also past president of the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) and she still sits on their Board of Directors. She was recently appointed to the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) board.

In addition, Hurley has received various awards for her service in the industry.  In 2001, Hurley was named the CoSN’s first ever Outstanding Private Sector Achievement Award.  More recently, in December of 2003, Hurley was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers Hall of Fame for her achievements and service to the education publishing industry. 

Hurley began her career in education working with learning disabled students, after receiving her Masters degree at Jersey City State College. To this day, she continues to support her undergraduate institution, the University of Dayton, by serving on their Advisory Board for the School of Education. Kathy is married to Charles Blaschke, President of EducationTURNKEY, an education information-focused group that provides market research, market projections, information on funding, and market strategy development. They live in Arlington, Virginia. 

Keith R. Krueger is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a U.S. nonprofit organization that serves as the voice of K-12 technology leaders, especially school district CTO’s, who use technology strategically to ultimately improve teaching and learning. 

He serves on the Advisory Boards for eSchool News, and Scholastic Administr@tor Magazine, GetNetWise and Generation Y. He is a past Board Member for the Organizations Concerned about Rural Education (OCRE) and served for many years as Board Member and Treasurer of the National Committee on Technology in Education & Training (NCTET).  He has been honored as an eSchool News IMPACT 30 key national leader in educational technology.

Mr. Krueger has a global reputation as a key thought leader.  He has represented the National Science Foundation on a joint EU/US committee planning a joint research agenda for eLearning, and served as an NGO delegate to various United Nations and G8 international ICT in education meetings.  He has organized senior level U.S. delegations to visit Australia, Asia and Europe to examine best practice in educational technology.

As a Certified Association Executive, he has a long background in nonprofit/association management and is particularly interested in using information technologies for education, health and libraries. He has a Masters of Arts in Public Affairs from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.

Katie Lovett has been the Information Technology leader for two of the largest school systems in Georgia. As Chief Information Officer in Fulton County Schools, Ms. Lovett was responsible for leading the development and implementation of an enterprise strategic plan enabling positive student learning through the use of information and communication technologies. Under her leadership, Fulton County Schools implemented enterprise decision support systems, assessment systems, instructional management systems, and virtual learning technologies strategically aligned to the District’s Balanced Score Card. To sustain the district’s mission and goals, Ms. Lovett dramatically redirected IT staff and resources to enable a strategic infrastructure scalable to a new generation of “digital natives” for anytime anywhere learning.

Prior to her appointment in Fulton County, Ms. Lovett served as the Executive Director for Information Management in Gwinnett County Public Schools where she led the development of an Enterprise Information Management System. Ms. Lovett also has experience in assessing the impact of technology on student learning, where she led the development of the district’s technology assessment model that was awarded First Place in the Category of Advances in Methodology by the American Education Research Association (AERA).
Ms. Lovett is currently serving as the Board of Directors Chair for the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN).  In 2003, she initiated the Metro-Atlanta Chief Information Officers Council and in 2007, formed the Georgia CIO Council.    
  
Prior to her executive leadership roles in Information and Communication Technology, Ms. Lovett served as Director in public education for 10 years with responsibilities for leading information technology, planning, strategy development, implementation and evaluation.

Ms. Lovett received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Education from Ohio State University and Master of Science Degree in Education Administration from University of Akron, Ohio.

Tim Magner is the Director for the Office of Educational Technology for the U.S. Department of Education.  The Office of Educational Technology is responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of the Department's educational technology policies. The Office's main goal is to maximize technology's contribution to improving education through developing national educational technology policy and implementing that policy department-wide, to support the goals of NCLB.

Mr. Magner’s work experience includes serving as the Deputy Executive Director for the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Deputy Director for the Office of Educational Technology, the Executive Director K12 Education for the Microsoft Corporation and the Director of the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF).  He also served as the Director of Technology for the Framingham Public Schools in Framingham Massachusetts, and taught graduate courses in educational technology at Framingham State College and George Mason University. Mr. Magner began his career as a high school social studies and theater teacher at the middle and high school levels in the US and Europe.  Mr. Magner received his bachelor of arts from the College of William & Mary and a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University.

Jo-Ann McDevitt is publisher of 27 year industry-veteran Technology & Learning magazine, and its award-winning website and events: techLEARNING.com and Tech Forum, respectively. She has worked in education publishing for eighteen years, twelve of which have been with Technology & Learning magazine. Prior to this she was a classroom teacher, an administrator and a lecturer in the Rosemont College Education Department. She was also the director of the Creative Computer Learning Center, where she published and marketed computer programs for teachers and students.

Mark Nieker is the president and executive director of the Pearson Foundation, the non-profit arm of international media company Pearson. The Pearson Foundation extends Pearson's commitment to education in partnership with non-profit and public interest organizations, working with leading businesses and civic groups to support students and teachers and to sponsor community-based education programs across the globe. Mr. Nieker oversees Pearson's philanthropic activity worldwide, supporting programs created with non-profit organizations such as Jumpstart, the National Academy Foundation, BookAid and the Women's Commission, and developing education partnerships with public and private partners including Nokia, Intel, the Cisco Learning Institute and the US State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative. Prior to leading the Pearson Foundation, Mr Nieker held executive positions in Pearson businesses in the US. He previously worked in Microsoft's Consumer Publishing Division. He is the editor of the International Youth Foundation's 2006 publication, 'Alliances for Youth: What Works in CSR Partnerships'.

Michael D. Quesnell, Ph.D., the Director of Research & Business Development for Atomic Learning, Inc., is responsible for the development and coordination of all business intelligence activity and the company’s business to business (B2B) initiatives.

Prior to joining Atomic Learning, Dr. Quesnell coordinated an $8 million three-year federally funded public school initiative.  In this capacity he developed research methodologies that examined child and adolescent well being (violence, relationships, mental health, and family support) in the context of the school and community in spearheading policy development both locally and at the national level.
 
From 2001-2002, as the Associate Director of Saint John’s University’s Global Institute (Collegeville, Minnesota), Dr. Quesnell was responsible for the day-day-day operations of the Institute’s informational, educational, and advisory services.  He also led in developing the Institute’s global research agenda while creating models for corporate social engagement.  His work at Saint John’s was precede by eight years in the Czech Republic where he led a youth development organization and provided brand, people and community consultant support with several international corporate partners, businesses, and non-government organizations.

Dr. Quesnell received his B.A from Bethel University in Minnesota, Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, and his Ph.D. from the University of Wales, Trinity College.  He is a licensed Minnesota school superintendent and resides in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota with his wife and their three children.

Helen Soulé, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Cable in the Classroom, the cable telecommunication industry’s education foundation. The mission of Cable in the Classroom is to improve teaching and learning for children in schools, at home and in their communities.

Previously Soulé served as chief of staff to the assistant secretary for the Office of Post Secondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education and for eight years, was director of the Mississippi Department of Education Office of Technology with responsibilities for planning, coordinating, directing and supporting Mississippi’s education technology initiatives and programs.

Soulé is one of the founders and past chairman of the State Education Technology Directors Association, is a member of the George Lucas Educational Foundation Advisory Board and has served on the board of the Consortium for School Networking. She is the recipient of Converge magazine's 30 "Shapers of the Future" award for 2001 and a recipient of the 2001 E-School News "Impact 30 Award for Excellence".

Soulé holds a B.S. in Elementary Education from Mississippi State University, M.A. in Educational Administration from Mississippi State University and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Irene Spero serves as Chief Operating Officer of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), an association working to advance K-12 technology leadership. At CoSN she is the project director for its Data-driven Decision Making Initiative, Vision to Know and Do.
Prior to joining CoSN in 2003, Ms. Spero was the first executive director of SchoolTone Alliance, a global consortium of education technology and service provider companies.  Ms Spero served as Director of External Relations at the Web-based Education Commission where she was responsible for directing its outreach efforts, organizing its public hearings and managing its public relations and communications efforts. The Commission submitted its report, The Power of the Internet for Learning: Moving from Promise to Practice, to Congress and the President in December 2000.

Ms Spero served for 16 years as Executive Director for Federal and State Relations at the College Board. Based in Washington DC, her primary responsibility was to represent the interests of the association by conducting and directing a comprehensive government relations program at the federal and state level.
Ms. Spero received a BA degree cum laude with honors in political science from Bryn Mawr College and an MA in Public Law from Columbia University. She is actively involved in a wide range of community and professional activities in the Washington, DC area and currently serves as President of the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET), a non-partisan, non-profit organization that promotes and supports the effective use of technology to improve education and training.

Barbara Stein manages technology partnerships and policies, as well as  k-12 online learning issues,  at the 3.2 million member National Education Association.  She facilitates NEA’s work with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and also leads a team at NEA that is incorporating the 21st century skills approach programmatically throughout the organization and  its affiliates She currently serves on the boards of COSN (the Consortium for School Networking),  the Virtual High School Inc. , and as secretary of the NCTET (the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training.)

Julie A. Walker is Executive Director of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).  Prior to serving in this capacity, Walker was the Director of Library & Media Services for the Round Rock (TX) ISD.  For the past nine years, she has been responsible for directing a number of national programs, including the implementation plan for the association’s guidelines for school library media programs.  She has worked extensively in promoting information literacy – the ability to find and use information – as an essential skill for lifelong learning. 

Walker currently serves on the board of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the advisory committee for the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries.  Walker is also a past-Chair of the Alliance for Curriculum Reform, a group of organizations committed to improving curriculum, instruction and assessment in P-12 schools.