Members of MEC Board of Directors bring a wide range of expertise and experience to their role of advising and enhancing MEC work.
Kevin Benson
President
Kevin is a coach, consultant, speaker, professor, and performer who believes that bringing compassion, empathy and possibility to our work will change the world. He is passionate about changing the way organizations and individuals think about how we work, communicate and interact with one another. Kevin brings this passion as well as his experience as a college communications instructor and youth center administrator to his position on MEC’s board.
Marta Civil
Vice President
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.
Ginger Warfield
Treasurer
Ginger has been actively involved in mathematics education since 1971. As a university professor, she led and was involved in many projects focused on discovery learning and innovative teaching. As these efforts expanded, she recognized the need for greater communication between the various institutions that educate future teacher in Washington State. In response, she founded the Washington Teachers of Teachers of Mathematics (a.k.a. WaToToM), which sponsored annual gatherings of mathematics teacher educators. Ginger contributes this broad and deep experience to MEC’s board, as well as a growing passion for equity in mathematics education, an interest she has continued to foster since retiring from the University of Washington in 2012.
Michelle Chaney
Michelle is a leader and facilitator who thrives on seeing others grow, learn, and discover new things about themselves. She is a Master Chief Petty Officer in the Navy Reserves with 10 plus years of active-duty experience. She is currently working on her master’s in social work at Louisiana State University, works as the client coordinator at Sea Level Counseling & Wellness, and is the Command Senior Enlisted Leader for Navy Reserve, Navy Medicine and Readiness Training Command, Portsmouth. Michelle has been facilitating a character-based leader development curriculum in the Navy for five years including topics like self-awareness and self-management; diversity and climate of inclusion; behavioral ethics and decision making; navigating stress and building toughness; and communication and feedback.
Anne Gallagher
Anne Gallagher is an educational leadership coach supporting superintendents, district and building leadership, and leadership teams with continuous improvement efforts focusing on aligning school systems and best practices to effect change in student achievement and growth. She has an extensive background in math education from teaching and coaching K-12 mathematics, to serving as math faculty for various colleges and universities and serving as the Director of Mathematics for OSPI where she led state-wide math initiatives and projects that continue to drive high quality math instruction across Washington. In her role as the Director of Teaching and Learning for the Olympia School District, Anne focused her work and leadership on implementing inclusive practices to support successful learning experiences for the district’s most marginalized students. As a national Advanced Systems Thinking Facilitator, she brings her systems thinking lens to all aspects of education.
Bill Moore
Dr. William S. Moore is currently the Director of the Bridge to College initiative for the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC). Since 1990 he has helped lead higher education assessment work in the state, in recent years focusing his efforts on college readiness in mathematics and high school/college articulation issues. Over the last decade Dr. Moore has led or been involved in several collaborative K-16 statewide initiatives, including the Transition Math Project, the Re-Thinking Precollege Math project, Math Pathways, Launch Years, and the ongoing Bridge to College initiative. Dr. Moore has a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Texas and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Maryland focused on higher education, organizational change, and college student development. His core “through-lines” of interest in higher education have been the influence of student beliefs and personal epistemologies on their approaches to learning and the challenges of promoting and assessing deep and lasting learning in college.
Laurie Morrison
Laurie Morrison is currently an Executive Director with Spokane Public Schools, working with school principals and their leadership teams to improve the educational experience and outcomes for students. She has spent nearly 20 years in public education, as a teacher, instructional coach, new teacher mentor, school administrator, educational consultant and executive coach. Laurie holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Washington. Her doctoral research centered on theories of motivation and culture in relation to the work of early career teachers and their students, which ultimately informed a revitalized, multi-year teacher induction pathway in Seattle Public Schools that emphasized Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. Throughout the tenure of her work with schools and communities, Dr. Morrison remains committed to a vision of equitable practices and partnerships that elevate the whole child and family, and that nurtures the growth of adult social-emotional learning in tandem with student development and success.
Jamie Souhrada
Jamie has 16 years of experience teaching mathematics to grades 4-12 in Nevada and Washington State. She obtained her master’s degree in teaching middle level mathematics from the University of Montana where she focused her work on sustaining cognitive demand for all learners while implementing rich/open tasks. Jamie has facilitated MEC workshops for K-20 math educators in southwest Washington and on the Flathead, Rocky Boy, and Blackfeet Reservations in Montana. She worked with MEC for the duration of the Washington State MEC MSP grant and implements the goals of that work in her teaching. The belief that drives Jamie’s instructional moves is simple: “The largest barrier to student success is the beliefs they hold about themselves. It is our job as educators to help them use their voice so that we can see through their eyes and learn alongside them. Only when students begin to understand that they have something valuable to offer, that they are a gift to our community of learners, will we see all that they truly have living inside of those incredible minds.”
Past Board Members
Janet Frost
Terry Souhrada
Joan Akers Mitchell (Founder)
Jody Walmsley (Founder)
Tom Siebold
Tom Richardson (Founder)
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.
