Happy Friday, everyone. We hope you love the new newsletter format! And as usual, I hope you love my scoops—check them out now!
Ch-ch-ch-changes….
Mary Cullinane has a new role as Partner at Community Barn Ventures. Mary was previously Chief Content Officer and EVP of Product Planning, Development, and Marketing at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Community Barn Ventures was established to help entrepreneurs and growing businesses succeed, as well as to support the community in which the partners live and work. Join me in congratulating Mary on her exciting new role!
Carole Wacey has been appointed Chief Executive Officer for the Women’s City Club of New York (WCC). Carole has a breadth of experience in the public and private sectors, accomplishments, and strong networks at the city, state, and federal levels. The WCC is a nonprofit, non-partisan, multi-issue activist organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers. WCC shapes public policy through education, issues analysis, advocacy, and civic participation.
In her most recent role as Vice President of Education at WNET (parent company of Thirteen & WLIW and operator of NJTV) since 2012, Carole led a team that produced educational television (American Graduate Day, Ted Talks Education), online educational media for teachers (PBS Learning Media), and community engagement (Parenting Minutes, professional development). Previously, she served for a decade as Executive Director at MOUSE, a national nonprofit organization that empowers underserved youth to learn, lead, and create with technology. During her tenure, she vastly broadened MOUSE’s reach from 32 to more than 150 Title I schools across New York City, expanded to five other states, and created a global partnership with more than 20 countries.
Carole also served as the Director of the Markle Foundation’s Interactive Media for Children program, which worked to help realize the potential benefits of interactive media for children by building partnerships between industry, the academy, and consumers. She arrived at Markle from her position as a Political Appointee in the Clinton Administration where she held a number of leadership roles—as Deputy Director of the Office of Education Technology and Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Education. In that capacity, she provided leadership for the Clinton Administration on the development and implementation of national educational technology policy; e-Learning: Putting a World-Class Education at the Fingertips of All Children; and addressed issues such as telecommunications, the digital divide, Internet safety, privacy, and e-commerce.
In addition to working on educational technology, Carole spent four years as the U.S. Department of Education Liaison to the President’s Council on Sustainable Development and received a one-year appointment to The White House. There, she led the development of the first national education policy for sustainable development, Education for Sustainability: An Agenda for Action. Before joining the Clinton Administration, she served as a law and policy advisor at the United Nations Development Program. Her research, “Creating a Voice for Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations Development Program,” was presented at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.
Carole earned a Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from American University. She studied Public International Law at Oxford University and Environmental Leadership at Yale University. Currently, she serves as a member of the Board of Directors at MOUSE.
Join me in congratulating Carole on her new role and wishing her every continued success at cwacey@wccny.org!
Kristen Welch has joined the team at Illustrative Mathematics as Chief Financial Officer. Kristen brings extensive experience from her 27 years in key positions with Discovery Communications, including Chief Financial Officer for both Discovery Channel and Science Channel. Her extensive experience at Discovery will support Illustrative Mathematics’ strategic growth plan and will be invaluable in advancing the organization’s mission to create a world where people know, use, and enjoy mathematics.
Most recently, Kristen served as Senior Vice President, Global Content Operations for Discovery Communications, where she had responsibility for developing standard processes and systems for producing and broadcasting programs across 32 networks and 220 countries. As Senior Vice President, Corporate Financial Planning, Analysis, and Strategy, she coordinated the annual company-wide business and strategic planning process.
Kristen’s professional achievements and recognition extend outside of her work for Discovery Communications. For the past 10 years, she has served as a board member of the national Alliance for Women in Media (AWM), including two years as Chair. In 2013, she was honored with a Women Leading Women award from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. In 2011, she was named a Person to Watch by The Financial Manager, the magazine of the Media Financial Management Association.
Congratulations to Kristen on joining the awesome Illustrative Mathematics team!
Woo hoo!
Many of you know that Chip Fesko, Senior Director – Advertising & Sponsorships for the Teaching Channel, is an amazing artist. Chip currently has 14 of his original watercolors in a new art exhibit, “Abstract Pixel Geometric Patterns in Watercolors,” at the Newport Beach, California Public Library. The exhibit will run from through January 5th. Each painting is 56 cm x 76 cm and has over 10,000 quarter-inch squares per painting—all hand painted, not digital, and bursting with pixel-like squares of color. Chip said it has taken seven years to complete this series of 14 paintings. He also has three large watercolors in this exhibit, with each being 6 feet x 4 feet. His work is so beautiful. If you are in the Newport area, be sure to check out this impressive exhibit. The library is located at 1000 Avocado Avenue in Newport Beach. Congratulations on the exhibit, Chip. You are extremely talented!
Enjoy your weekend, friends. I will have those two precious younger grandchildren here for a sleepover and lots of fun. I will catch you back here next Friday! Till then….Vicki, the Snoop
[Send me your scoops at bighamv@aol.com and be sure to follow me on Twitter @Snoops4Scoops #SheSnoops]
