Advisory Committee
We are extremely pleased to introduce the following members of the Learning Transformed Advisory Committee.
Mack Armstrong
Dr. Mack D. Armstrong is currently serving as Assistant Executive Director for Professional Development at the Washington Association of School Administrators, and completing his 34th year in the public education system as an educator. His years of service include teaching and coaching in junior high and high school as well as administrative positions as high school vice principal and principal, and central office experience as administrative assistant, assistant superintendent and superintendent. He has served in five school districts in Washington State. Mack completed degree and credential work at Washington State University – B.A. and ED.D and Central Washington University M.ED.
Dennis Conners
Dennis Arthur Conners is currently the Program Director and Faculty Tutor of the Leadership Formation Program at Gonzaga University. The program is an innovative, non-traditional, state approved administrative program for superintendents, program administrators, and principals. Prior to coming to Gonzaga University, Dr. Conners served in a variety of administrative and teaching positions in both the K-12 and higher education systems. He did his doctoral work at the University of Houston and post-doctoral work at Harvard University.
Marty Daybell
Marty Daybell joined the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) in 2002 as Chief Information Officer and Assistant Superintendent of Information Technology Services. Marty has since added on to his responsibilities and is now the Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, Administration and Operations and the Chief Information Officer for OSPI. He brings more than 20 years of experience in information technology to OSPI, including technical expertise in data warehousing, client/server systems, database design, object based architecture, CMM, wireless solutions, and cryptography. Prior to joining OSPI, Marty was vice president/Chief Technology Officer for DMCare, Inc. a medical technology company. He also served as a project manager of Information Technology at FedEx and GTE. Marty has a Bachelor of Science degree in numerical analysis and engineering from the University of Utah; a Master’s degree in theoretical mathematics, network architecture, and chemical engineering from Brigham Young University. He is in the final stages of completing his doctorate in mathematics from Brigham Young University.
Denny Heck
Denny Heck retired as president and founder of TVW in August 2003 after leading the organization for 10 years. Although officially “retired”, Denny continues to moderate statewide conferences and maintains an active business and investment life. He is the co-founder and a Board member of Intrepid Learning Solutions, Inc., a company that provides learning and training services to Fortune 500 companies. Denny serves on the Board of Directors of the Washington State Historical Society in Tacoma. Governor Gregoire recently named Denny as one of four citizen commissioners to Washington Learns, her 18-month intensive study committee charged with making recommendations to restructure Washington State’s education system. Denny graduated from The Evergreen State College and attended graduate school at Portland State University. Earlier in his career, he was elected to five terms to the State House of Representatives where he rose to the position of Majority Leader. He later served as Chief of Staff to Governor Booth Gardner. Denny has written two books. His first, a nonfiction essay on the future of education, was published in 1987. His second book is a mystery novel entitled The Enemy You Know.
Lisa Holmes
Lisa Holmes has a diverse background in public education, technology, grant writing, and medical research. She has been in public education for twenty-four years and has served on a variety of committees locally and statewide. She was a member of the Smart Tools Task Force and later as a Smart Tools instructor in Washington State. She served on Governor Gary Locke’s statewide taskforce on online learning and continues to participate as a board member for the Digital Learning Commons for Washington State and the K20 advisory board for Internet2. She has served as a president of the Washington Association of Secondary School Principals and was a K-12 principal . Lisa is co-author of Net Savvy: Information Literacy, 1st Ed. She has also been a contributing author for teaching materials on other technology issues as well as Gifted Education.
Chip Kimball
Dr. Chip Kimball is the Assistant Superintendent and Chief Information Officer of the Lake Washington School District in Redmond, WA. The District serves 24,000 students and encompasses 46 schools. His responsibilities include the leadership and supervision of the Eastlake region of schools including curriculum, instruction, school improvement, and principal leadership. In addition Chip is responsible for Data Processing, Instructional Technology, Assessment, Public Information, Libraries, Partnerships, Hi-Tech Learning Centers, Career and Technical Education, and School-Community Relations. Prior to becoming involved full-time in education technology, Dr. Kimball was a high school science teacher in Madera, California. He received an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California in 1995 and a Master of Science degree from Eastern Washington University in 1991.
Gary Kipp
Gary Kipp has participated in public education for the past 30 years. He is currently the Executive Director of, and a former President of, the Association of Washington School Principals. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Superintendent of Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Principal of Mark Morris High School in Longview, and a middle level assistant principal. In addition, he was a charter member of the Professional Educator Standards Board and a member of the National Merit Scholarship Advisory Board. He received his Bachelors degree in English from Washington State University and a Masters degree in Education Administration from the University of Washington.
Jim Meadows
Jim Meadows works as an Instruction, Certification and Higher Education Specialist with the Washington Education Association, which represents nearly 80,000 K-12 and higher education educators. In his current role, he supports educators seeking National Board Certification, oversees professional development activities, advocates for commonsense teacher quality policies and serves as a liaison with educator preparation programs. Prior to his work at WEA, Jim was a high school teacher in the Edmonds School District, a district teacher leader, and a researcher with the University of Washington. He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies from the University of Washington with a focus on state educational reform policy, a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Puget Sound, and Bachelors Degree with Honors from Whitman College.
Terry Munther
Terry A. Munther, Ed.D., has nearly a quarter-century of experience as a teacher, coach, principal and superintendent in the State of Washington. He is currently Superintendent of Educational Service District 101 (ESD 101), a public education agency headquartered in Spokane, WA. ESD 101 was created to provide cooperative services to 59 public school districts and 46 state-approved private schools enrolling more than 96,000 K-12 students in Eastern Washington. The ESD 101 service area covers nearly 14,000 square miles in Adams, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens and Whitman counties. Prior to his appointment as ESD 101 Superintendent in 1998, Dr. Munther served two years as ESD 101's Assistant Superintendent for curriculum and instruction and also served as superintendent in the St. John-Endicott and Medical Lake school districts. Dr. Munther holds a doctorate in Educational Administration from Washington State University, along with Masters and Bachelors degrees from Eastern Washington University.
Dennis Sterner
Dennis W. Sterner is Professor of Education and Dean of the School of Education at Whitworth College in Spokane. Dr. Sterner was a public school science teacher and administrator prior to coming to Whitworth in 1988. He is active in professional education having served as president of the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education, president of the Washington Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, chair of the Washington State Professional Education Advisory Board, and for nine years was a member of the Board of Examiners for the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. He received the Washington State award for Excellence in Teacher Education in 1998, and was a national consultant for the Project for Excellence in Teacher Education. Governor Gary Locke appointed Dr. Sterner to represent private colleges on the new state Professional Education Standards Board in June 2000. He was reappointed by Governor Christine Gregoire and currently serves as vice chair of that board. His research interests include educational reform, science education, and assessment. Dr. Sterner received his Ed.D. degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in science and environmental education from the University of Montana.
Jennifer Wallace
Jennifer Wallace is Executive Director of the Washington Professional Educator Standards Board, a 21-member educator-majority policy board that governs the preparation and certification of educators in Washington State. Prior to this, Ms. Wallace served as education policy advisor for Governor Gary Locke. Her experience also includes policy center director for the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University, coordinator of Eisenhower professional development school partnerships for the Massachusetts Department of Education, and policy and research analyst for the Education Commission of the States. She holds a Masters degree in education policy from Stanford University.