Melissa Straw is the Director of Data Warehouse and Decision Support at Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction. With over seventeen years of experience managing and leading large-scale data warehouse and business intelligence projects, Melissa is an expert at delivering data products that improve decision making. She has spent the last seven years overseeing a team in charge of building and expanding the statewide WISEdash Data Dashboard and Data Warehouse solution. Schools and districts use WISEdash for improvement planning, early warning identification, in addition to snapshot and data quality reporting. The team is also tasked with meeting federal and state reporting requirements, as well as maintaining the public-facing dashboard. In addition, Melissa has focused expertise in implementing proven organizational data governance and data quality solutions. Linkedin

Carl Frederick is a research analyst at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. In addition to managing the department’s research agenda and building tools to put data into the hands of decision makers, he is the chair of the Wisconsin Education Research Advisory Council and acts as a liaison between DPI and their external research partners. Prior to working at DPI, Carl earned his PhD in Sociology with a focus on educational inequality and civic outcomes of education at the University of Wisconsin and was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Saguaro Seminar where he worked with Robert Putnam documenting growing class gaps among American youth for the book Our Kids.

Justin Kenney is the Chief Performance Officer for the State of Vermont where he plays a key role driving the adoption of continuous improvement principles, methods, and tools throughout state government. He believes that good government is only achieved through a combination of capable staff, clear direction, robust process and data management, and a strong understanding of how conditions are changing for the citizens of the state. He is excited about all the opportunities that exist for making government better.

Dr. Waterman Irwin is a veteran researcher and evaluator with Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC). She leads the Vermont Universal PreK Research Partnership and Early Childhood Workforce Development Research Alliance for REL Northeast & Islands at EDC. She is co-director of Partnership for Early Education Research (PEER) and has led several state contracts. She’s also the lead author of Survey Methods for Educators: Collaborative Survey Development and regularly publishes her findings in peer-reviewed journals.

Before joining EDC, she served as a research specialist for Providence Public School District. She is a heck of a research team leader, and her work regularly helps policymakers make decisions in more data and empirically driven ways. She’s got some serious quant chops, specializes in measurement, and manages to balance quantitative and qualitative methods with the kind of acumen and grace most of us can only aspire toward. Plus, she’s a distance runner, so you know this woman has what it takes to do the really hard stuff. Just sayin’.

Nancy Smith, CEO and principal consultant with DataSmith Solutions, LLC, helps state, regional, and national education organizations improve the development and use of statewide longitudinal data systems. Dr. Smith specializes in developing data governance programs for intra- and interagency data sharing, analysis and reporting across the early childhood, K-12, and postsecondary education sectors, and she provides professional development training on data governance, privacy, analysis, and reporting. Dr. Smith conducts needs assessment surveys and focus groups concerning data capacity, strategic planning, data system management processes and procedures, and communication activities. She has developed data governance program documents and professional development materials on data systems, governance, and use for many clients.

Before founding DataSmith Solutions, Dr. Smith directed the Longitudinal Data Systems Initiatives program at the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). In this capacity, she oversaw the Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grant program and the development of Common Education Data Standards and the Privacy Technical Assistance Center. Prior to joining NCES, she served as a consultant on longitudinal data systems to states, advocacy organizations, and NCES. She was also a founding partner and deputy director of the Data Quality Campaign. Dr. Smith’s experience with longitudinal data dates to her tenure at the Texas Education Agency and work with Just for the Kids/National Center for Educational Achievement.

Dr. Gregory “Greg” Petrics is a mathematician and educator with research experience in sub-Riemannian geometry, institutional research, and applications artificial intelligence to biomedicine. At Vermont State University-Johnson (VtSU-J) Dr. Petrics teaches a wide variety of undergraduate mathematics, education, data science, and computer science courses.

In 2015 Dr. Petrics began working during the summer months with the Vermont Mathematics Initiative (VMI) as an instructor and a consultant to support VMI’s mission to improve the mathematics content knowledge and pedagogy of elementary and secondary educators and support staff in the State of Vermont. In 2020 Dr. Petrics was a co-author of the new Post- Masters Certificate of Graduate Study (CGS) in mathematics instruction at VMI. Dr. Petrics teaches one or two courses per year at VMI.

Starting in 2013, Dr. Petrics became involved in institutional research in the Vermont State College System (VSCS). He spearheaded the data collection and analysis for the successful Johnson State College 2016 re-accreditation application, and co-authored the reaccreditation self-study with Daniel Regan. He has also authored several internal VSCS reports related to student retention and success, including research into the relationship between engagement and success in online learning in the VSCS.

With a Master’s in Statistics and a PhD in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon, G. Matthew Snodgrass is an analytic strategy consultant focused on driving value through economic and statistical modeling in the natural resource and energy sectors. Beyond pure quantitative analysis, he engages in risk assessment, risk management, and the development of negotiation positions for his clients. This guy knows his math and how to use it! Yowzah! goes here. Linkedin

Blazing the trail as the very first Chief Data Officer for the State of Vermont, Andrew got his start in Engineering. Today, he enables the State of Vermont to realize the value of its rich data assets through enterprise information management, data governance, and operational intelligence. His specialties include systems thinking, business systems architecture, modeling, and engineering, GRC, MDM, DevOps, portfolio management, and being one of the kindest, most patient people you’ll probably ever meet. Linkedin

Lindsey is a recent graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing and Publishing program, where she practiced across genres but concentrated in creative non-fiction. Her final thesis project was a 108-page memoir in essays titled Why Are You So Emo. She was a fiction reader and a member of the copyediting staff for the 2018 edition of Hunger Mountain, VCFA’s annual literary journal. She also had the opportunity to intern at The Wendy Sherman Agency in NYC as a reader for in-process fiction manuscripts being prepared for publication. She considers it a privilege to have other writers hand their hard work to her with implicit trust, and couldn’t have been more excited to help with this project

For the past ten years or so, Nick has worked and studied in the fields of graphic design and digital illustration. In that time, he has both led, and collaborated on various creative endeavors; ranging from corporate ad campaigns and logo design, to greeting cards and outdoor murals. As a full-time designer and lead illustrator for Susi Art LLC, a custom apparel shop in Braintree Massachusetts, Nick has tackled numerous corporate and small business design challenges. He also continues to take on illustration and design commissions through his website nickmaskell.com

In addition to designing both volumes of the EDDR book series and website elements, Nick has done freelance work for several of the authors, including designing elements for websites, reports, and presentations. Not only is this guy super talented, he’s kind of a dream to work with.