Kathy Cox's tenure as the Chief Executive Officer for the U.S. Education Delivery Institute began July 1, 2010. Prior to this, she served as Georgia's State Superintendent of Schools from 2003 until 2010. She made significant strides in pointing Georgia's young people toward excellence. Under her leadership as superintendent, the state saw unprecedented achievement gains, with students scoring at or above the national average on reading and writing tests and have shown significant improvement on math tests. During her tenure, the state’s high school graduation rate reached an all-time high, improving by 15 percentage points. Cox was a classroom teacher for 15 years and served two terms in the state legislature before being elected to Georgia's highest educational post in 2003. She holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in Political Science from Emory University.
Dr. Rick Melmer is the Dean of the School of Education at the University of South Dakota. Melmer began his duties in November of 2008. Prior to his work as an Education Dean, Melmer served as the Secretary of Education for the State of South Dakota from 2003 - 2008. Dr. Melmer has worked at various levels in the K-12 educational system. He was a classroom teacher for five years, an elementary principal for seven years, and worked as a School Superintendent for twelve years. Melmer, a South Dakota native, holds a B.A. in Elementary Education and Psychology from Dakota Wesleyan University, an M.A. in Elementary Administration from South Dakota State University, and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Wyoming. Melmer has instructed several graduate courses at the University of Sioux Falls, Morningside College, the Iowa Area Education Agency, South Dakota State University, and the University of South Dakota. In his free time, he enjoys running, watching baseball, reading, and spending time with his family.
Dr. Jeri Echeverria is retired Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in the Chancellor’s Office of the California State University. Her career in higher education began in 1988 when she joined the Department of History at California State University, Fresno. Since that time, she has served as Chair of the Department of History, as Associate Dean of the College of Social Sciences, and as Associate Provost for three years before being appointed Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs of the CSU system in February 2004 for a term of six years, during which time she led in strategic and academic planning, developing graduate and joint doctoral programs, supporting student success initiatives, addressing gender and equity issues and diversity hiring, planning for instructional technology, and expanding grant and contract activity.
Sir Michael Barber is a leading authority on education systems and education reform. Over the past two decades his research and advisory work has focused on school improvement, standards and performance; system-wide reform; effective implementation; access, success and funding in higher education; and access and quality in schools in developing countries.
Barber recently joined Pearson as Chief Education Advisor, leading Pearson’s worldwide program of research into education policy and efficacy, advising on and supporting the development of products and services that build on the research findings, and playing a particular role in Pearson’s strategy for education in the poorest sectors of the world, particularly in fast-growing developing economies.
Prior to Pearson, he was a Partner at McKinsey & Company and Head of McKinsey’s global education practice. He co-authored two major McKinsey education reports: How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better (2010) and How the world’s best-performing schools come out on top (2007). He is also Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter.
He previously served the UK government as Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (from 2001-2005) and as Chief Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education on School Standards (from 1997-2001). Before joining government he was a professor at the Institute of Education at the University of London. He is the author of several books including Instruction to Deliver; Deliverology 101: A Field Guide for Educational Leaders; The Learning Game: Arguments for an Education Revolution and How to do the Impossible: a Guide for Politicians with a Passion for Education.
David Britt is retired President-CEO of Sesame Workshop, the global leader in early childhood education through media. Earlier relevant public service included USAID, the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation and EEOC.
Britt serves as board chair of The Education Trust, which works for effective public education for all children, and is on the board of INMED Partnerships for Children, which conducts children’s programs in the US, South Africa and Latin America. He serves on the Advisory Committee for the Initiative on Social Enterprise at the Harvard Business School.
He is a consultant to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on food marketing and childhood obesity. He served on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and Youth (Report, 2006). He also is a member of IOM committees on Obesity Prevention in Young Children, and on Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention.
Britt has a BA from Wesleyan University, and an MPA from the Kennedy School at Harvard. He lives in Amelia Island, FL.
Michael Cohen is a nationally recognized leader in education policy and standards based reform. Mike held several senior education positions in the Clinton Administration, including Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education and Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy at the White House. Earlier in his career, Mike held key positions in several national organizations that work with state education policymakers, including as Director of Education Policy for the National Governors Association, and Director of Policy Development and Planning for the National Association of State Boards of Education.
Kati Haycock is one of the nation's leading child advocates in education. She previously served as executive vice president of the Children's Defense Fund, the nation's largest child-advocacy organization. A native Californian, Haycock founded and served as president of the Achievement Council, a statewide organization that helps teachers and principals in predominantly minority schools improve student achievement. Before that, she served as director of the outreach and student affirmative-action programs for the nine-campus University of California System.
Dr. Quinn Gray, a wife and mother of a teen son, is a leader within the Delaware State Parent Teacher Association (PTA) serving as Unit President at Keene Elementary School in 2005-06, Unit Treasurer at Gauger-Cobbs Middle School in 2007-08 and Membership Chair at Shue-Medill Middle School in 2008-09. She has served as parent representative with Cohort II of the Vision 2015 Executive Leadership Academy, as well as numerous school committees and teams. Her outreach activities have spanned from the Bear-Glasgow YMCA of DE Community Gifts Campaign to serving as chair of the Joint Subcommittee on Diversity of the American Chemical Society.
She’s a native of Jackson, Mississippi where she graduated from Provine High School and later magna cum laude from Jackson State University with a bachelors of science degree in chemistry. She holds a PhD in analytical chemistry from University of Maryland, College Park, and currently works as a research manager for DuPont Crop Protection in Newark, DE. Teri was appointed President of the Delaware State Board of Education by Governor Jack Markell in June 2009.