Members of MEC Board of Directors bring a wide range of expertise and experience to their role of advising and enhancing MEC work.

Jody Walmsley

President
Jody’s broad experiences both nationally and internationally in the area of mathematics education allow her to contribute the invaluable perspective of a teacher in the classroom. Currently an elementary teacher in the Edmonds School District (WA), she has dedicated her entire career to being a classroom teacher and a mathematics teacher-leader.

Joan Akers Mitchell

Secretary
As a leader in mathematics education for more than 35 years, Joan has considerable experience in working with teachers, writing curriculum, and developing a number of guidelines and frameworks. Starting as a classroom teacher, Joan worked as a Mathematics Education Consultant at the district, county and state levels, retiring several years ago from the California State Department of Education. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Marta Civil

Marta is a professor in the mathematics department at the University of Arizona. She is an expert in mathematics, the cultural and social aspects in the teaching and learning of mathematics, equity, and parental engagement in mathematics, primarily in working-class, Latino communities. Marta is currently the Principal Investigator of NSF-funded CEMELA (Center for the Mathematics Education of Latinos/as), a Center for Learning and Teaching. CEMELA is an interdisciplinary, multi-university consortium focused on research and practice on the connections between the teaching and learning of mathematics and the cultural, social, and linguistic contexts of Latino/a students.

Terry Souhrada

Terry brings 45 years of experience and a mathematics teacher preparation and secondary mathematics perspective to MEC’s Board of Directors. He earned his masters in mathematics education and doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Montana. His years of experience cover a wide variety of activities in mathematics education from teaching mathematics in middle and high school classrooms to implementing pedagogical change in community college math courses and four-year college mathematics teacher preparation programs. Terry also brings over 12 years of experience with MEC as a workshop and leadership academy participant.

 

Past Board Members

Tom Siebold

A former English and Art History teacher in Minnesota, Tom’s passion about the value of public education was a powerful influence on his contributions to MEC’s board. He also brought valuable perspective from his work with corporations, schools, and non-profits as a business consultant writing professional learning programs.

 

Tom Richardson (Founder)

Tom brought his expertise in management and development of non-profit organizations to MEC’s Board of Directors. Previously CEO and later Chair of a large non-profit organization developed during the War on Poverty era, in his retirement he served on the Board of Directors of four not-for-profit organizations focused on public policy and practices surrounding either public education or the treatment of people with mental illnesses.

 

In Memory of James Howe
As a founding member and the first president of the MEC Board, Jim brought broad expertise in the areas of the workings of government and directing successful non-profit endeavors. He was a former member of the Policy Planning Council of the U.S. State Department with a concentration on relations between the U.S. and the Third World, a former President of the International Renewable Energy Service, a former Director of the Program Offices of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Programs to Vietnam and Brazil, and Director of the American aid program to the East African Union consisting of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Jim was a founding member and President of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and chairman of the NAMI Board at the state level in Maryland and Washington. Jim’s insight and guidance were instrumental to both the creation and success of MEC and he is greatly missed.