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Condensed Resumes Andrew Adelmann, Project Coordinator An employee of Designs for Learning since 1993, Andrew is the organization’s project lead for evaluation and mandatory report. He has authored fifteen successful charter proposals. As part of Designs’ school services contracts, Andrew does evaluation work including drafting school improvement plans and annual reports; applications for federal Title funds; assistance with mandatory government reporting, board support, and planning/coordination of services. In addition, Andrew has taken part in all aspects of start-up for several new charter schools, including drafting charter proposals, obtaining 501(c)3 status, grant administration, promotion/publicity, recruiting and hiring staff, and coordinating the start-up effort. He has made presentations to charter school groups on topics such as Board governance, writing a charter school proposal and applying for federal nonprofit status, and has co-authored publications on school vouchers, on charter school laws across the states, and on parent involvement in charter schools. In December 2008, Andrew completed his Masters in Evaluation Studies (Department of Educational Policy and Administration) at the University of Minnesota. He has served on the Minnesota Council for Quality’s Board of Evaluators which evaluates organizations based on the Malcolm Baldrige quality criteria. Interests in evaluation focus on organizational improvement and the use of data to drive organizational decisions.
Susan Airhart, Director of Finance Susan joins brings to DL clients significant experience in school finance. She worked with Edison Schools, Inc. for the last 5 years in Business Services and Financial Management. Her most recent position was serving as Manager of Area Financial Management, Site Implementation. This position required Susan to oversee Financial Management for the Midwest, manage client relationships, as well as operations management. In addition to working for Edison Schools, Inc., Susan has experience in working at a legal and accounting firm, small businesses and schools. As Director of Finance for Designs for Learning, Susan oversees Financial Management for all of our Finance & Accounting clients. Managing and cultivating client relationships, as well as internal and external operations management are primary roles. She works closely with Directors and Boards and monitors “pulse points” monthly at the sites to foresee any issues and help find solutions as problem arise.
David Alley , President David serves as managing partner of Designs for Learning’s extraordinary team of education consultants and managers. He guides Designs’ development of new programs and services and provides leadership for its consulting work. He serves on the Higher Ground Academy Building Board. He is a member of the Education Industry Association and was a founding member of the national Education Industry Leadership Board. Clients include: more than 25 charter schools in Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Education, St. Paul Public Schools (High School of Tomorrow and Area Learning Center), Migizi Communications, Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, Charter Friends National Network, Seward Learning Systems (SBIR project), MN Agricultural Education Leadership Council, San Diego (CA) Children’s Museum charter schools. David has a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Memphis. He was Project Coordinator for the Community Learning Centers project funded by a five million dollar grant from the New American Schools initiative to reinvent American education. Before joining Designs for Learning, David gained extensive experience as an administrator in rural post-secondary education, serving as director of institutional evaluation and planning, associate academic dean, and vice president for student services at a small private college in Arkansas. He was a systems engineer at IBM and has extensive knowledge of educational technology.
Linda Bergum, Accounting Assistant Linda will be working with accounts payable, accounts receivable, account reconciliations, 1099's and special education billings for a number of our schools. She comes to Designs for Learning with 22 years of trust operations and accounting experience. Her organizational, reconciliation and computer skills make her an important part of the finance team. Other work experience includes coordinating computer conversions and training programs for trust departments; planning workshops, conferences and conventions for two non profit organizations; 3 years experience with payroll and tax reporting. Linda attended St. Cloud State College, University of Minnesota, American Institute of Banking, New York Institute of Finance and Prosource Real Estate School.
Steve Bosacker, Systems Development and Project Coordinator Steve Bosacker works from a base of over 15 years of experience in organizational development in education and non-profit sectors, as well as an extensive background in project management to Designs for Learning. Most recently, Steve has worked with PACT Charter School managing an $11.5 million facility and school expansion project. Expansion included improving the school’s organization, processes and policies. Steve’s work experience includes Director of Community and Organizational Development at the University of the Nations in Hawaii, Project manager for PCS Systems and Regional Coordinator of Volunteer Development for American Field Service in St. Paul, Minnesota. Steve completed his Bachelor of Arts at Macalester College, received a Master of Science degree and a Master of Education in Human Resource Development from the University of Minnesota. His expertise serves our clients in organizational development, technical support for management systems, facilities development and facilitating projects.
Lynn Dahlgren, Accounting Assistant Lynn Dahlgren comes to Designs for Learning with 16 years of experience in school finance. She worked for many years in a large public school system as a financial assistant and has brought that knowledge into the Charter School environment serving Charters School’s unique demands for the last two years. She has provided services to Charter Schools in their start up year and first year of operations in the areas of financial reporting, budget preparation and federal and local grant tracking and reporting. In addition, she has experience in School Nutrition Services with coordinating the implementation of a computerized food service record keeping and reporting system. Lynn has an Associate Arts Degree in Business, specializing in accounting. Her skills will be used at Designs for Learning in the areas of School Nutrition Services, Financial Management and School Start Up activities for our clients.
Gerry Fuller, Technology Support Gerry’s background is in Windows Systems, Server, and Network management. He specializes in setting up, configuring, and maintaining servers in the “Best Practices” model, whether they are stand alone or working together in a server farm. He also excels at systems organization and documentation so data and procedures can be accessed efficiently. Gerry has an Associate Degree in Business Management, 1-year certificate course on Systems/Network Administration, and A+ certification.
Mark Huggins, Technology Manager Mark has expertise in Networking, Programming, and Technology support. Mark is an A+ Certified Professional as well as MCP Certified (Microsoft Certified Professional), also he has an Associates Degree in Network Engineering from St Paul Tech. With his resourceful knowledge on new technology and well as an interest in increasing network performance, Mark makes a great addition to our Tech Team. Mark has skills in configuration and management in Windows, Linux/Unix Servers and Desktops, also database management and web application development.
Mary Hunn, Director of School Nutrition Services Mary brings to the DL team over 15 years of experience in the administration and operations of child nutrition programs and services. She has comprehensive knowledge and expertise in all areas of government programs administration, including agreements, reimbursements, training, compliance, policies, and legislation. In addition, Mary has extensive project management experience using business-oriented, customer-driven approaches to developing improved nutrition programs processes and systems. Her work experience includes a wide range of leadership, management, supervision, and specialist roles with the Minnesota Department of Education. Mary has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from the University of Minnesota. She is also a Registered Dietitian and has held a variety of community and clinical positions. The extensive experience that Mary brings to DL will provide clients with school food service consulting services including school nutrition programs administration, systems development and implementation, training and technical assistance, compliance review/audit coordination, new requirements and/or initiatives coordination, and funding opportunities research and development.
Claudine Knoblauch, Director of Special Education Services Claudine has over 30 years of experience in special education. For ten years, Claudine was the Director of Special Education for a suburban school district. While in that position, she provided leadership, policy development, supervision, program management, and staffing of special education programs. Claudine received her Bachelors Degree in Special Education from Moorhead State University, and went on to earn a Masters Degree in Education specializing in Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing and Multi-handicapped at Western Oregon State University. She completed her Administration license at the University of St. Thomas. Currently she is completing her Superintendent license. Claudine’s professional activities include:
Her expertise for clients includes recruiting, interviewing, employing, supervising and evaluating special education staff; providing professional development opportunities; coordinating contracts and tuition agreements with school districts, agencies, and individual providers; providing oversight of pre-referral activities, assessment procedures, individual program plans and instructional strategies for students with disabilities; and assuring that all mandates are followed and best practices are employed.
Pamela Meade , Director of Client Services Pamela Meade ’s expertise helps to coordinate Designs for Learning operations, spearhead strategic initiatives, and create systems and procedures for DL’s core services. She has been a Business Manager for three Charter Schools, most recently at Partnership Academy. At Partnership Academy, she was one of the founding staff members and helped the school to be financially sound, quality focused, and systems oriented. She assists schools with customized training aimed to build charter school internal capacity and self sufficiency. Pamela has an MBA from Westminster College in Professional Communications. She has worked in the fields of legal compliance, contract negotiation, project coordination, grant management and school finance.
Jesse White, Technology Support Manager Jesse has experience with Hennepin County as a Database Architect and with the Generations: Community Support Services organization as Network Administrator. He has a rich background working with Microsoft Access databases, tables, forms and queries to meet data tracking and reporting needs and to provide effective data management. Jesse also has expertise in planning, purchasing, configuring and managing complex information technology systems. He has Microsoft Network + certification and computer science training from Portland State University and Saint Paul College. Jesse is “tri-lingual” with skills and experience in Mac, Windows and Linux and is able to address both the technical and aesthetic sides of website development for DL clients.
Pam Young , Director of Finance Pam has over eight years experience in charter school business management and accounting. Pam’s work with charter schools has extended into other areas including capacity building with boards and staff and developing best practices for school finance functions. Her background also includes 25 years experience in administrative, operations and personnel management in nonprofit organizations and the University of Minnesota. She received a Master of Business Administration from the College of St. Thomas, an Accounting II Certificate from the University of Minnesota and a BA in Sociology from the University of Colorado. Pam provides clients with financial and business management services and capacity building.
Sue Zabilla , Senior Accountant Sue is responsible for accounts payable, accounts receivable, and account reconciliations for the charter schools which contract with Designs for Learning. She also ensures accurate recording of transactions and payments are made in a timely manner. Sue has a B.S. in accounting from the University of Illinois and 25 years of accounting experience in a manufacturing environment as well as in the construction business. Most recently, she worked as an accounting assistant in an urban charter high school in St. Paul.
Patricia A. Kallio , Senior Accountant Patricia Kallio graduated from Roosevelt High School in Virginia, Minnesota, then went on to graduate, with honors, from the Minnesota School of Business in Minneapolis. She traveled with her husband while he served as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman during the Vietnam era. While residing in San Diego and San Francisco, CA and Jacksonville, FL, Pat performed support work for a large church and parochial school, a major audit firm, and for a government ship-building agency. Upon returning to Minnesota, Pat joined the MECC team (Minnesota Educational Computing Corporation) and worked in numerous capacities for more than 20 years. Pat assumed various roles within the company, from coordinating the State distribution of the Apple II microcomputer contract, to her final role as Public Relations Coordinator. Pat helped to significantly grow the marketing efforts by raising MECC product awareness to a national level. She very successfully promoted MECC by pitching products to reviewers, journalists and the editorial staff at leading publications, and in doing so, helped to secure many trade awards for outstanding computer products. When MECC succumbed to a competitor buy out, Pat joined the Special Education Department of the St. Anthony-New Brighton School District 282, where she was employed for nearly a decade. As Special Education Assistant, Pat supported the Director of Special Education by handling all aspects of tuition billing, including Child Count and MARSS data collection. In addition to being the point person for the department, Pat was responsible for assisting the Special Education staff with student reporting and training on the SpEd Forms software program. At Designs for Learning, Pat will be tasked with assisting the Special Education Director and staff with special projects. In addition, she will help to market Designs for Learning and is eager to assist where she is most needed to ensure that the company continues to thrive as a quality provider of services to learning organizations.
Tamera Pulver, Director of Special Education Programs
Tamera has worked in special educational services for the last ten years in both traditional and charter school settings. Serving the needs of students in a variety of positions, Tamera brings her knowledge as a paraeducator, teacher and administrator to each of her schools. She has worked to assure compliance of state and federal laws from faculty, staff, county and itinerant service providers for students with disabilities. Additionally, Tamera is experienced in team building, data analysis, school-wide goal setting, staff development, and instructional leadership. Tamera has her M.S. in Special Education with a license in Emotional Behavior Disorders and certification in Autism. Additionally she has a Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership, licensed as a Director of Special Education and K-12 Principal.
Bruce Seal, Special Education Director and Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) Trainer
Bruce Seal has over 30 years experience in Minnesota education. Bruce graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, a Driver Education certificate from the University of Minnesota, and a MA in Special Education and special education administration certificate from the University of St. Thomas. He has over 20 years experience as a teacher of English, Driver Education, and special education– emotional and behavioral disabilities. Since 1998 Bruce has been working in school administration, first as a principal of an Area Learning Center, and then as an administrator of special education. He worked as an Assistant Director and Director of Special Education for the Minnesota Charter Schools Special Education Project for three years. He has been a Special Services Director for an independent school district where he supervised programs in special education, English Language Learning (ELL), and health services.
Bruce received a certificate from the Conflict Resolution Institute for completing Level I Mediator Training. He is a certified by Crisis Prevention Institute as a CPI trainer, and has been a certified trainer for crisis prevention since 1990 with over 225 hours of training school staff in crisis prevention/CPI techniques.
Deonna Perez-Evans
Deonna has over six years experience working in human resources in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Her strengths are in strategic planning, employee training/coaching, team development, conflict resolution, recruitment and retention, federal and state regulatory reporting, human resource best practices, compensation planning, payroll, and global benefits planning and administration. Deonna has a bachelor’s degree in management with a minor in organizational behavior from The College of St. Scholastica.
George Ward, Accounting Specialist George brings over 20 years of accounting and bookkeeping knowledge to his work at Designs for Learning. He has worked in several industries for companies such as Cargill, Tonka Corporation and LandAmerica. He also was owner and manager of his own company, The Outdoorsman of Pine City. George has an accounting degree from Duluth Technical College. He assists Designs for Learning schools with accounting, payroll, and audit preparation services.
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