SETDA Names 2011-2012 Directors, Officers

• By Tim Sohn
• 06/29/11

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has announced the new lineup for its board of directors and officers for 2011-2012 as it celebrates 10 years of existence.

Membership of the nonprofit organization, based in Washington, DC, consists of educational technology directors from all 50 states. The group shares best practices, works on public-private partnerships, and provides professional development opportunities.

The officers and members of the board of directors are:

Jeff Mao, chairman, most recently served as vice president of the association. He is Maine's learning technology policy director. Mao kicked off his career as a teacher at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, NH, in 1993, taught and coached in Rochester, NY, then returned to Maine to take a position as district technology director.

Cathy Poplin, vice chairman, held the role of chairman last year. She is deputy associate superintendent for educational technology at the Arizona Department of Education. Poplin has worked for three public school districts in Phoenix, AZ, and 12 years in higher education. She has been active in the Arizona Technology in Education Alliance since 1998.

Bruce Umpstead, who was re-elected as treasurer, is the state director of educational technology and data coordination at the Michigan Department of Education. Previously, he was operations director for an e-learning company, project operations director for a math/science partnership and online learning faculty for a community college.

Melinda Stanley, secretary, is the state education technology coordinator for the Kansas Department of Education. She is involved with the State E-rate Coordinators Alliance, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the Kansas Mid-America Association for Computers in Education board. Stanley has served for 13 years as a district technology and curriculum coordinator, a consultant with IBM, and a bank executive.

Larry Cocco, board director, is the manager of the Office of Educational Technology for the New Jersey Department of Education. Since 2006, Cocco has chaired a committee to advise WNET on educational programs. From 2001-2004, he was senior audiovisual designer for Cosentini Information Technologies whose clients included school districts, colleges and corporations. From 1997 to 2001, he served as media integration project director at Jersey City Public Schools.

Rick Gaisord, board director, is educational technology specialist for the Utah Office of Education. Previously, he was an elementary school teacher, school technology specialist, district technology trainer, and technology specialist. He is a past board member and chairman of the SETDA board of directors and serves on the state Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and ISTE affiliate boards of directors.

Cathy Higgins, board director, is state educational technology director for New Hampshire. She has held project/program director roles for educational technology projects funded by the federal government and foundations. She was the ISTE Special Interest Group for Mobile Learning board member at large from 2009-2011.

Karen Kahan, board director, is educational technology director at the Texas Education Agency (TEA). She served last year as secretary for SETDA. Kahan previously was the technology applications curriculum director at the agency for 12 years. She worked at the TEA for 20 years in various capacities. Her involvement with SETDA began in 2001.

David Walddon, emeritus, started his career in education technology at the Washington State Department of Information Services where he served on the team that implemented the first statewide education network. Later, he worked for the Washington Department of Education, managing the K-12 implementation of the network and working on education technology policy. Walddon then worked for Microsoft for five years. He is currently an independent education technology consultant.