Our Board

Chair

Governor Bev Perdue is the founder and the board chair, please click to read her full bio.

Vice Chair

Jim Geringer, the director of policy and public sector strategy of Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), was governor of Wyoming (1995-2003) and in the Wyoming Legislature (1983-1994). While governor, he focused on improving education through standards, accountability and technology. He modernized Wyoming's economic base to extensively include technology, and implementing strategic planning and information systems. Governor Geringer is a founder and current chair of the Board of Trustees for Western Governors University, a nonprofit online university founded and supported by 19 U.S. governors that certifies competency based education.

In his role with ESRI, Governor Geringer works with senior elected and corporate officials on how to use geospatial technology for place-based decisions in business and government. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University, then spent 10 years active and 12 years reserve service in the U.S. Air Force, working on unmanned space programs for both the Department of Defense and NASA. His projects included remote sensing satellites, the GPS system (NAVSTAR), Mars Viking Lander, the NASA HEAO and others.

Bob Wise is president of the Alliance for Excellent Education (the Alliance) and former governor of West Virginia (2001 to 2005). Prior to his governorship, Governor Wise served in the U.S. House of Representatives for eighteen years. He is recognized as one of the nation’s renowned education policy leaders for his vision of higher quality education standards and achievement for all students.

Since joining the Alliance in 2005 as president, Governor Wise has worked tirelessly to accomplish the Alliance’s mission of ensuring that every student graduates from high school ready for college and a career. Governor Wise is one of the nation’s leading advocates for the Common Core State Standards initiative. In addition, he was one of the first in the nation to promote the use of high-quality digital learning and the effective use of technology to improve education for all students. Governor Wise is currently working to help school districts plan to transform schools into more modern, student-driven learning models.

In 2010, Governor Wise joined former Florida governor Jeb Bush in chairing the Digital Learning Council, a bipartisan effort that culminated in the release of the “10 Elements of High-Quality Digital Learning.” Gov. Wise is chair of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and author of Raising the Grade: How High School Reform Can Save Our Youth And Our Nation. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University School of Law.

Craig Horn is a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives where he serves as Appropriations chair and co-chair of the Digital Learning Environments Committee. He sponsored recent legislation to further digital learning by requiring the use of digital media in public schools, digital licensing standards for teachers and administrators and development of a statewide budget plan for scaling wireless in all public schools.

Before retiring and moving to North Carolina, Representative Horn was active in his Maryland community. Elected to three terms on the Laurel City Council, he was twice elected chairman of the council. He served as president of the Prince Georges’ County Municipal Association and on the Economic Development Commission of Howard County, MD. He served nearly eight years in the U.S. Air Force Security Service as a Russian linguist and continues to be active with the American Veterans Center in Washington, DC.

Howard Stephenson was first elected to the Utah State Senate in 1992 and retired from service in 2018. He represented Senate District 11, which covers portions of Salt Lake and Utah counties. Senator Stephenson served as Senate Chair of the Revenue and Taxation Committee and Senate Chair of the Administrative Rules Review Committee. He also served on the Senate Education Standing Committee, Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee, the Education Task Force and the Governor’s Excellence in Education Commission.

Senator Stephenson is nationally recognized as a legislative expert on digital learning and has addressed hundreds of state legislators and school administrators regarding how digital learning tools can significantly increase student learning and how to effectively implement high-quality digital learning. His legislation has resulted in Utah leading the nation in the number and percentage of students involved in Dual Language Immersion including Chinese language and culture, and the percentage of students involved in daily personalized learning through adaptive computer-assisted instruction. He led the way in removing taxes on capital equipment purchases by Utah manufacturers and mining operations, making Utah more competitive internationally.

Senator Stephenson earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and aerospace studies from Brigham Young University in 1975. He went on to receive his Master of Public Administration in 1977. He lives in Draper, Utah with his wife Julie. They have 5 children and 12 grandchildren. Howard and his family love exploring Utah’s backcountry on mountain bikes and their four Missouri Foxtrotter horses.

Officer

Jane Smith Patterson is president of Jane Patterson and Associates providing consulting services about information technology and broadband deployment, adoption and use to companies in this country and abroad. She served as executive director of the e-NC Authority, an organization with a goal of bringing affordable high-speed Internet access to the citizens, businesses and institutions of North Carolina, particularly in rural areas. Prior to taking this leadership position in 2001, Patterson worked for North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt through his four terms in office, first as secretary of administration, then as chief advisor for policy, budget and technology, and finally as senior advisor for science and technology and director of the office for technology

Patterson has served in many positions that have direct impact on the growth of Geographical Information Systems technologies, including chairing the founding year of the Global Spatial Data Initiative. Patterson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has completed post-graduate degree work at N.C. State University and additional studies at Harvard University. She serves on a number of boards for nonprofit organizations, including the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Officer

John Wilson, a long-time special education teacher and association leader, became executive director of the National Education Association on November 1, 2000. The nation's largest teachers union, NEA also represents education support professionals, higher education faculty, school administrators, retired educators, and education students who plan to become teachers. In all, NEA has 3.3 million members, a staff of 555, and an annual budget exceeding $300 million.

During his tenure as executive director of NEA, Wilson championed a minimum salary of $40,000 for every teacher and a living wage for Education Support Professionals. He also launched an NEA initiative to engage the best teachers in sharing ideas on staffing high poverty, low achieving schools with the most accomplished teachers.

Wilson has chaired the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a coalition of 33 businesses and education groups that advocates for every child in America to graduate from high school with 21st century skills. The 3E Institute presented him with the Educator 500 President’s Award in 2006 for being “a true entrepreneurial educator.” Wilson has also chaired the Learning First Alliance, a partnership of 18 leading education organizations with more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America’s public schools.

Kevin is a highly accomplished senior executive, C-Suite officer, entrepreneur, consultant, and board member with 20 years of success in education, educational assessment, publishing, software, IT, and technology. Leveraging extensive experience in leadership and strategic planning, he is a valuable asset for similarsector companies under $25M looking for market identification, value proposition, marketing strategy, product development, and launch, sales, and growth. His broad areas of expertise include entrepreneurship; startup companies and divisions; general management; business analysis, strategy, planning, and execution; assessment and reporting; market positioning and content messaging; sales forecasting and management; solutions and relationship sales; customer relationship management (CRM); business process engineering (BPR); turnarounds; software development; program management; and investor and industry relations.

In his executive career, Kevin has held leadership positions at Proficiency First LLC (Founder/Managing Director); K-12; Edify Learning LLC (CEO); ACT Aspire LLC (President/CEO); Mango Learning (U.S. CEO): The National Education Association (CIO); and McGraw-Hill (SVP/CTO/New Media). He is a senior education technology executive strategically positioning companies for growth and expansion with proven success in sales, marketing, business development, P&L management, operations, and ERP implementation.

As founder and managing director of an educational assessment and technology consultancy focused on precision marketing and accelerated sales initiatives, Kevin directs brand development and product distribution campaigns in the targeted markets of K-12 learning and assessment as well as in career-development education. For district and school blended-learning programs, he designs and implements unique titles, initiatives, and services to help students attain their academic goals during formal school hours, along with technology-supported education and learning systems available anywhere and anytime. Kevin’s broad experience includes international achievements with mobile technologies for education in India–spearheading ambitious go-to-market breakthrough successes in immersive game-based mobile learning applications for the institutional and consumer education niches. He has also planned and led the successful ownership transition for an educational assessment company renowned for its innovation and growth. As SVP/CTO and new media strategy leader, he took over responsibility for a $1.1 billion segment of a global publisher. He held full P&L responsibility for an $80 million budget and 180 personnel across 64 countries and 37 publications, including Business Week Online.

Kevin’s guiding premise is every child can achieve. This inclusive belief serves as an important driver and career constant that brings not only significant learning opportunities to the widest range of challenged children–but also binds personal satisfaction to all his professional achievements. Kevin obtained a B.A. in Economics from Vassar College. He has served on boards and advisory councils, including for Education World and ACT Aspire.

Michael H. Levine, Ph.D. is Senior Vice President, Learning and Impact, for Noggin, Nickelodeon’s direct-to-consumer interactive learning service for preschoolers. An early learning and social policy expert, Dr. Levine focuses on deepening Noggin’s value to children and families through content and interactive experiences developed for learning and impact. Noggin subscriptions have grown by triple digits year over year from 2018 to 2019, and the ad-free service currently features over 1,500 iconic, full-length library episodes, short-form videos, Spanish-language videos, music videos featuring preschoolers’ favorite characters, and more.

Based in New York, Dr. Levine previously spent 12 years at Sesame Workshop where he served as Chief Knowledge Officer, a member of the senior executive team responsible for driving organization-wide learning, educational partnerships, knowledge exchange, and policy leadership. He is also the Founding Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, a pioneering thought leader in the digital media and learning field.

Prior to that, Dr. Levine was Vice President for Asia Society, managing interactive media and educational initiatives to promote knowledge and understanding of other world regions, languages and cultures. He conceived and directed a national campaign, “I Am Your Child,” with entertainment, policy, philanthropic and practice leaders, which led to major state and national investments in health care, early learning and parenting education. He also previously oversaw Carnegie Corporation’s groundbreaking work in early childhood development and educational media, and was a senior advisor to the New York City Schools Chancellor, where he directed dropout prevention, afterschool and homeless programs.

Rick Stout has served in the role of Superintendent for the past seven years and is currently in his third year with Onslow County Schools in Jacksonville, NC. The Onslow County School System currently serves over 26,000 students, approximately 40% of who are children of military families. Onslow County is a growing community that has seen tremendous growth over the past 20 years. As superintendent, he has been able to establish a partnership with the County Manager and Commissioners in building a strategic plan that provides a funding formula for local funding to the schools and a schedule to construct five new schools over the next ten years.

In his 29 years as an educator, Rick has served in the role of a teacher, coach, assistant principal, assistant superintendent of finance and human resources, and assistant superintendent of instruction and auxiliary services. In 2008, he became superintendent of the Scotland County School System in Laurinburg NC. Mr. Stout has earned both M.ED and Ed.S. at East Carolina University.

Rick Stout serves as a leader for local, regional, state, and national level boards and organizations that focus on educational leadership and student opportunities. He is an advocate for 21st century learning, presenting locally and nationally regarding technology innovation and Early College partnerships. Mr. Stout was selected by the White House to be recognized as one of a hundred school districts that is leading the way for technology. He was nominated by his peers as president of his regional superintendent association, as well as being a recipient of the prestigious NC Lighthouse Award and the Golden Apple Award for technology.

Terry Holliday is the board chairman of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Dr. Holliday has more than 40 years of educational experience ranging from classroom teaching to educational leadership in district, state and national roles.

Tom Miller is the executive director of the Entrepreneurship Initiative at NC State University and leads its mission to empower students to become entrepreneurial leaders. He initiated the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program in 1992 and remains active in setting its academic goals and developing partnerships. Dr. Miller is also vice-provost for distance education and learning technology applications. He is a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, a member of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State, a recipient of the Joseph M. Biedenbach Outstanding Engineering Educator award from IEEE, and a News & Observer “Tarheel of the Week.”

Dr. Miller earned his B.A. degree in mathematics and chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976. He earned his M.S. degree in biomedical engineering and mathematics in 1980, and the Ph.D. in 1982, both from UNC-Chapel Hill. In his role as vice provost, Dr. Miller is responsible for strategy, deployment, and implementation of the university's learning technologies and distance education programs. He has taught courses in digital systems, computer architecture, microprocessor systems design, and C and C++ programming. He also founded and served as president of X Engineering Software Systems Corporation, developer of first native X-Window spreadsheet.

Tom Vander Ark is author of Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World and Smart Cities That Work for Everyone: 7 Keys to Education & Employment. He is CEO of Getting Smart, an education advocacy firm and partner in Learn Capital, an education venture capital firm investing in edtech startups. Previously he served as the first Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Tom served as a public school superintendent in Washington State and has extensive private sector experience including serving as a senior executive for a national public retail chain.

A prolific writer and speaker, Tom has published thousands of articles, has written and contributed to six published books and co-authored more than 35 white papers. He writes regularly on his Education Week blog, Vander Ark on Innovation, and makes daily contributions to GettingSmart.com.

Tom is Treasurer for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), board chair of Charter Board Partners and is a director of Bloomboard, Digital Learning Institute, Imagination Foundation, and Strive for College. Tom is a national advisory board member for Communities In Schools, National Association for Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), and New Classrooms.

Tom received the Distinguished Achievement Medal and graduated from the Colorado School of Mines. He received his M.B.A. in finance from the University of Denver. He continues his education online. Tom advocates for innovations that customize and motivate learning and extend access.