• Robert McLaughlin, Chair
    • Susan Ballard, Treasurer
    • Susan Dreyer-Leon, Secretary
    • Lance Whitehead
    • Tyler Coté
    • Cindy Gallagher

Susan Ballard — Adjunct Professor at Simmons College School of Library and Information Science

Susan Ballard is past president of  the American Association of School Librarians, and a member of the editorial advisory board for both Teacher Librarian and Knowledge Quest. She is also the retired Director of Library, Media, and Technology Services for the Londonderry (NH) School District and a past recipient of the National School Library Media Program of the Year. Ballard is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and Simmons College SLIS and has served as president of the New Hampshire School Library Media Association (NHSLMA) and the New England School Library Association (NESLA).

Among various awards, she was the first-ever recipient of the NH Excellence in Education Award (the “EDie”) for Library Media Services. In 2005, she was cited in the American Library Association (ALA) Whole School Library Handbook as one of the country’s “103 Outstanding School Librarians” and in 2008 was inducted into the New England School Library Association Hall of Fame.

Ballard has published numerous articles in a variety of professional and scholarly journals. Her article “Creation of a Research Community in a K-12 School System Using Action Research and Evidence Based Practice,” (with Gail March and Jean Sand) in the University of Alberta’s e-journal, Evidence-Based Library and Information Practice 4.2 (2009): 8-36, was selected by the Library Instruction Round Table of the American Library Association as one of the top twenty library instruction articles of 2009.

Tyler Cote – CEO, Santear, LLC

Susan Dreyer-Leon, Ed.D. — Director, Experienced Educators’ Program at Antioch University New England;

Susan Dreyer-Leon is a former alternative public high school teacher/leader in New York City and Vermont, a School Reform Initiative National Facilitator. and an experienced Coalition of Essential Schools teacher and leader. Her special interests include the development and support of equitable, democratic and joyful schools, mindfulness and education, facilitative leadership, and sustainable and place-based educational practices.

Cindy Gallagher — Principal, Keene High School

Robert McLaughlin, Chair — Executive Director, National Collaborative for Digital Equity

Bob leads the National Collaborative for Digital Equity (www.digitalequity.us), mobilizing teams in poverty areas to utilize philanthropic and banking funds for sustained systemic digital equity. He is a member of the State Education Technology Directors Assn., Grantmakers For Education, and board member for the QED Foundation, New Hampshire Learning Forward, the EquityLab Charter School, and digital equity board liaison for the NH Society for Technology In Education.

Previously, Bob served as associate dean and education chair at New England College, overseeing undergraduate, Master’s CAGS and doctoral programs and certification programs in education. Prior to this he served as director of leadership for learning innovation (LLI) at the Education Development Center in Waltham MA. LLI’s talented staff conceive and carry out innovative school improvement initiatives. During this time, his pilot efforts persuaded the Federal Reserve to issue guidance encouraging banks to offer funding for digital equity under the Community Reinvestment Act.

For five years Bob led review of educator preparation programs for the NH Department of Education, where he served as a member of the State Education Technology Directors Association and liaison to the NH School Library Media Assn. During this period Bob and his colleagues transformed state policy on approval of preparation programs, and engaged teacher educators as proactive partners embracing the challenges and opportunities of owning accountability and transformation.

Bob’s experience also includes leading a five-year $10 million initiative to infuse learning technology into 30 school/university partnerships in low and moderate income communities, and six-years co-directing a USDOE funded Eisenhower Regional Consortium for systemic STEM education reform for the northeast and islands region.

Awards include the 2013 President’s Award from the Association of Teacher Educators and the New Hampshire School Library Media Association’s Impact Award for 2013.

Lance Whitehead — Architect, Principal, Lavallee/Brensinger, P.A.

Lance has 17 years specializing in the design of educational environments, educational programming, long range planning and complex implementation. He is creative and passionate about education and design, with a strong belief that beautiful, enlightened, educational environments are critical to the purpose they serve.