| The Edvocacy Team
Edvocacy's start-up team comprises
experienced entrepreneurs well-seasoned in general management and across the key
functional areas, as well as subject matter experts in language-based learning
disabilities. The team will expand rapidly to include technology and academic leaders and
pioneers who will contribute to the achievement of Edvocacy's mission.
Carmen T.
Reitano
Prior to Edvocacy, Mr. Reitano was founder and President of WebKnowlogy, an Internet
consulting firm focused on corporate Website design and Web interfaces to legacy
applications. During his stewardship of WebKnowlogy, Mr. Reitano has had first-hand
experience with enterprises that help people directly, doing pro bono work for the Dana
Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund. From 1995 to 1997, with AT&T, he was an
early evangelist and business strategist for wireless technology applications. Previously,
Mr. Reitano was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Visual Technology, a supplier of
high-performance X terminals. Between 1991 and 1993, with the same title, he established
the sales channels for Natural Microsystems, a pioneering manufacturer of telephony tools
and interactive voice applications. In 1986, he was recruited as Vice President and
General Manager of Hyundai Electronics America, launching that company's entry into the
American market and ramping the business to $170 million in revenues in its first year of
operation. In 1981, he created the value-added reseller channel for Wang Laboratories,
eventually consolidating a series of third-party sales initiatives into a business
generating several hundred million in annual revenues. For 13 years, from the late 1960s
through the 1970s, Mr. Reitano worked for Burroughs Corp., lastly as corporate training
manager; during his tenure, he developed and patented several products. He started his
career as an accounting systems sales rep for NCR. Mr. Reitano holds a BS (1957) from
Merrimack College, served in the U.S. Navy and resides in Salisbury, MA.
Geoffrey D.
Cronin
Mr. Cronin is President and CEO of Edvocacy Research Corporation. Previously,
he served as President, CEO and Director of R3Media Inc., which pioneered technology to
enable intelligent delivery of rich media over the Internet. Previously, Mr. Cronin was
President, CEO, CFO, & Director of F3 Software Corporation, which he sold in late
1998; F3 was the North American market leader in electronic forms design systems.
Previously, he was President of Channel Strategies, an independent management consulting
firm. In the early 1990s, he was Vice President of Sigma Design, Inc., where he shifted
the company's strategy and built new distribution channels, enabling the company to
achieve profitability for the first time. From 1986-1990, Mr. Cronin was recruited as Vice
President of Sales and Marketing for Vermont Microsystems, Inc., where he was instrumental
in a turnaround to profitability. In 1980, he joined Wang Laboratories, Inc., where he
established the independent dealer operation, later serving in a variety of corporate
management positions, lastly with responsibility for strategic planning, marketing, and
support for U.S. resellers and software vendors (a $300 million business unit). Mr. Cronin
started his career with Data Terminal Systems. He holds a BA from Boston College, and an
MBA from Babson.
Paul F. Caldera
In his 25 years as a Software Engineer, Mr. Caldera has held positions across the spectrum in designing and developing, systems and applications. Computer language expertise includes Java, JavaScript, HTML, and C++. At IPeria Inc., and UNIFI Communications Inc., Mr. Caldera was responsible for leading development teams, writing functional specifications, defining database schemas, and establishing user interface and coding standards. While at SystemSoft Inc. his focus was on GUI functionality and usability. In the 1980s, Mr. Caldera held a variety of software development and management positions, primarily large-scale internal systems and applications at NEC Information Systems Inc. and Digital Equipment Corporation. At Edvocacy he has developed a patent-pending process for automating the scoring of early literacy assessments. He earned a BS in Economics from Springfield College and served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. Mr. Caldera and his wife live in Boston.
Sally Grimes,
M.Ed.
Ms. Grimes has worked in the field of education with a specialization in learning
disabilities and reading for 30 years. She serves as an educational consultant to schools
and government agencies, provides professional development for administrators and
teachers, and prepares teachers at the university level under the auspices of the Grimes
Reading Institute which she founded. She has consulted extensively with the Massachusetts
Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Education, the Ennis William Cosby
Foundation and many other organizations. She recently served as an appointed member of
both the Governor's Commission on School Readiness in Massachusetts, the Content Advisory
Committee of the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure, and the Grimes Institute was
recently one of three entities chosen to implement the Massachusetts Reading First
Professional Development Plan under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Ms. Grimes has
been an instructor at several universities, and a teacher, diagnostician, and admissions
director at the Landmark School, a pioneer in the field of learning disabilities. Ms
.Grimes holds a B.A. Special and General Education from the University of Chicago, and an
Ed.M. in Reading, Language and Human Development from Harvard University.
Advisors
Gregory J.
Clary, Ph.D,
Dr. Clary currently serves as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Mi-Co of
Research Triangle Park, NC - an industry leader in mobile data capture and digital hand
writing software. Prior to Mi-Co, Dr. Clary was with the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
for five years working on handwriting recognition and pen input systems. Results of the
work were published by IEEE, and the IBM handwriting recognition product was recognized
with industry awards. Dr. Clary holds two U.S. patents related to electronic pen-on-paper
data capture and has four patents pending. He previously served as President of Epiteleo,
Inc., a North Carolina developer of handwriting-based electronic personal information
management software and handwriting-based electronic messaging software. Dr. Clary's
research interests include statistical pattern recognition, image processing, and the
design of flexible and scalable enterprise information systems. He holds B.S.E. and
M.S.E.E. degrees from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Barrett
Joyner
Mr. Joyner currently serves as Senior Vice President for Mi-Co, Inc., of Chapel Hill, NC.
Previously, he enjoyed an illustrious 16-year career at SAS Institute, most recently
serving as President of SAS North America, and contributing to the extensive growth of SAS
in becoming the world's largest privately held software company with annual revenues of
over $1 billion. Previously, Mr. Joyner served as CEO of FullSeven Technologies,
increasing its corporate customer base by more than 1200%. Additionally, Mr. Joyner served
as Executive Vice President at SciQuest where he was responsible for e-information
services, product marketing and corporate communications. Mr. Joyner frequently speaks and
consults on the executive's role in building productive and fully aligned work teams with
a "results through relationships" philosophy. He holds a BA in Political Science
from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Graeme G. Keeping
Mr. Keeping's career developed at The Reader's Digest Association where he served as
Executive Editor, General Books; as Director of International Marketing; and as Director
of Business Development. He acquired and served as CEO of the Digest's e-publishing
subsidiary, STC, recognized as a forerunner to America Online. Mr. Keeping subsequently
founded a database firm that provided business information and data to global financial
institutions; this business was subsequently purchased by publicly-traded Comtex
Scientific (CMTX), where he served as Chairman and CEO until 1989. In the 1990s, Mr.
Keeping worked with Inc. magazine, the nation's leading publication for entrepreneurial
fast-growth businesses, and in the late 1990s served as Chairman of F3 Software
Corporation. He was co-founder and CEO of NetPaper, an Internet digital distributed
learning software provider and, until 2002, served on the Board of Directors of The
Standard Register Company (SR).
Mark
Luetzelschwab
Mr. Luetzelschwab is President of Edvance, a non-profit organization dedicated to
improving student achievement by helping educational organizations advance good ideas to
sustainable implementation with measurable results. Prior to co-founding Edvance, Mr.
Luetzelschwab was Database Coordinator at the University of Texas Center for Reading and
Language Arts in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin, where he
oversaw all technical aspects of the Center including two major online professional
development projects (OTRA and RT3) reaching tens of thousands of teachers throughout
Texas. Prior to joining UT in 1998, he was Vice-President and co-founder of Lenox
Softworks, an electronic communications company in Lenox, Massachusetts. Over the past 15
years, Mr. Luetzelschwab has developed national and international award winning
educational software products and solutions. These include VideoPoint - a commercial tool
for analyzing motion captured on digital video for physics and math instruction, the LITEC
tutorials - support software for a large scale embedded control engineering course at
Rensselaer, and the Online Teacher Reading Academies and Reading Teachers Talking Together
- a two part innovative solution that provides effective professional development along
with expert and peer support to a very large audience. He is a Ph.D. candidate in
Instructional Technology from the University of Texas with a focus on facilitation of
online education.
Matthew Miller
At age 13, Matt Miller was troubled to see his younger brother struggling to read; his
11-year-old sibling was not diagnosed with dyslexia until fifth grade-after suffering
through years of academic frustration and failure. When asked to write a mock grant
proposal for English class, Matt chose dyslexia as his topic. He proposed that 180
kindergarteners in two Pacific Grove CA schools be tested for their ability to understand
sounds within words and, if necessary, be given special instruction to help them learn to
translate sounds into meaning. With teacher support, he pitched the plan to the Packard
Foundation and won a sizable grant (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/ dyslexia_grant010327.html).
Now 17, Matt has volunteered hundreds of hours to youth literacy programs, while
maintaining honors-level schoolwork and lettering in athletics. He has qualified for
consideration as a National Merit Scholar. A "Power of One" award winner in
2002, Matt was featured in Stone Soup in 2003. He now attends Stanford University.
Christopher
Parker, Ph.D.
Christopher Parker is President and the Lead Educational Consultant for IDEAL Consulting
Services, Inc. He is also a Visiting Professor in the Department of School Psychology at
the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he oversees project assistantships and
teaches a course on Best Principles and Practices related to Reading Instruction. He is
presently helping school systems in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey affect
changes in their general education and special education approaches to students'
achievement and behavioral difficulties. In addition, he is consulting with the
Massachusetts Department of Education on assessment practices related to its Reading First
initiative. His areas of expertise include the use of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM)
and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) within a Problem-Solving
Assessment Approach, the linguistic underpinnings of early literacy acquisition, effective
instructional principles for diverse learners, and the implementation of Instructional
Support Teams. His current research interests involve the development of technically
adequate measures of vocabulary skills for young children at risk for reading
disabilities, and the effects of early intervention approaches on students' long-term
reading and social-emotional outcomes. He has B.A. and M.A. degrees in Child Study from
Tufts University, a C.A.G.S. degree in School Psychology from Northeastern University, and
a Ph.D. degree in School Psychology from the University of Oregon. He is also a
Massachusetts certified early elementary education teacher and school psychologist.
Joan Sedita,
M.Ed.
Ms. Sedita is founder and director of Sedita Learning Strategies, and is an experienced
educator, nationally recognized speaker, teacher trainer, and author. She has worked for
over 25 years in the education field, and has presented to thousands of teachers, parents,
and related professionals at school, colleges, clinics, and professional organizations
throughout the United States. The Massachusetts Department of Education recently selected
Ms. Sedita as one of the three lead trainers for the state's Reading First Initiative, a
part of the federal "No Child Left Behind" program. In this role, she has
co-developed the state's Reading First training modules, facilitated training for over 70
master trainers, and continues to advise and consult trainers as they deliver Reading
First training to thousands of Massachusetts K - 3 teachers. Ms. Sedita worked at the
Landmark School in Massachusetts for 23 years as a teacher, diagnostician, supervisor of
tutorials, and high school principal. She was also the founder and director of the
Landmark College Preparation Program, and director of the Landmark Outreach Teacher
Training Program. Additional experience includes work with Children's Hospital Medical
Center, Boston; The Learning Disabilities Network; Boston Public Schools; WGBH/All Kinds
of Minds "Developing Minds" video series; Kurzweil Education Group (software
development); Brownsville (Texas) READS Task Force; and the Middle School Reading Task
Force for the Mass Department of Education. Ms. Sedita is currently an adjunct instructor
at Fitchburg State College and has authored a number of books and articles, including the
"Landmark Study Skills Guide" (1st ed. 1989) and "Study Skills: A Teaching
Guide" ( 2nd ed. 2001). She received her Masters in Reading Education from Harvard
University in 1980, and her B.A. from Boston College in 1975.
Meryl L. Sheriden
Ms. Sheriden is an expert in language-based learning disabilities who has held a wide
variety of significant positions over the past twenty-five years with the prestigious
Landmark School, a world-renowned leader in the field of dyslexia and related learning
disabilities. With Landmark, Ms. Sheriden been a diagnostic tester, Admissions Director,
and Director of Development; she is currently Vice President for Institutional
Advancement, responsible for managing Landmark's first capital campaign, an initiative to
expand and secure the school's future. Ms. Sheriden has unparalleled experience with
dyslexic children, having interviewed, interacted with, and counseled thousands of
students from across the country and overseas. She is also an expert in guiding parents of
dyslexic children as they seek the proper course of action for each individual case. Ms.
Sheriden founded the Landmark Diagnostic Center, has presented at many conferences and
workshops, and has been involved in staff training and facilitating panels composed of
students and alumni with language-based learning disabilities. She taught in both public
and private schools before joining Landmark. Ms. Sheriden is a graduate of Monmouth
College and holds a Master's Degree in Special Education from Lesley College.
Andries van Dam,
Ph.D.
Widely regarded as the ÒFather of Computer Graphics', Dr. van Dam established Brown
University's Department of Computer Science in 1979. As University Vice President for
Research, Dr. van Dam chaired the National Science Foundation's Technology Center for
Graphics and Visualization; wrote the most widely used reference book on graphics
technology (Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics) as well as other books and
hundreds of articles and scientific papers; is a renowned expert in text processing and
hyper-media systems, and is well known as a pioneer of electronic books. Dr. van Dam, who
is extensively published and the recipient of countless awards, is past chairman of the
Computing Research Association and co-founder of SIGGRAPH. He was recruited by Bill Gates
to serve (1990-present) on Microsoft's Technical Advisory Board. B.S. Swarthmore College;
M.S. and Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania.
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