About Us

Eric spent ten years in the North Carolina State Senate where he chaired the Senate’s technology committee, served as chair of Human Services Appropriations and on the Education Oversight Committee. Prior to the Senate, Eric served on the Raleigh City Council for two terms and has spent most of his professional life focused on public policy issues.

In addition to public policy, Eric served as the General Counsel and Director of Public Affairs for SchoolDude.com, the nations largest provider of online facility management software tools for schools.

Eric’s interest in SchoolDude is directly related to school infrastructure needs and learning environment issues. Eric also advises and consults with government oriented technology companies and nonprofit organizations on issues ranging from criminal justice, curriculum, assessment, student management, and, health and human services.

Eric received his undergraduate degrees from Duke University and his law degree from Wake Forest University. As a 2002 Eisenhower Fellow, Eric studied EU internet economy competition strategies.

Dr. Valerie M. Browning-Thompson served students in Ohio public education for 31 years. She served eight years as an English and Social Studies teacher as well as teaching Gifted Education. She began her administrative career as a district Gifted Education Coordinator. In 1996, Valerie took her first principalship and served as a middle school and elementary principal in two districts for nine years. Her first superintendency began in a small rural district in 2005. She later moved to a suburban district near Cincinnati where she served as superintendent for six years. After three years as the superintendent of a large suburban district near Columbus Valerie retired from public Education in 2017.

During her career in public education, Valerie has shared her knowledge of effective leadership and practices through presentations at national and state conferences. She has also been an active member of many professional organizations and has served in leadership positions on several boards and community organizations. She assisted the State of Ohio in the development of the Ohio Principal Evaluation System and Superintendents Standards. Additionally, she served on the State of Ohio Standards Board.

Dr. Browning-Thompson received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from Wright State University. In 2003, she earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Dayton.

Betty has more than 30 years of experience in public education. She has served as a teacher, principal, and administrator in large urban, suburban and rural districts throughout Texas. Betty’s last position in a Texas public school system was Deputy Superintendent for teaching and learning in San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD). Before joining SAISD, Betty served as Associate Executive Director of Instructional Support and Leadership Development for the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA). She is an independent specializing in leadership development and strategic planning for results-oriented organizations.

With a wide range of experience in curriculum, instruction and professional learning at all levels, Betty has shared her knowledge through presentations at national and state conferences. Well known for her expertise in leadership development of campus and district administrators, she was awarded the 2011 Excellence in Educational Leadership by the University Council for Educational Administration.

Dr. Michael Grego is an innovative leader who served in public education in the state of Florida for 42 years. He served twenty-eight years in Hillsborough County in a variety of positions that included Assistant Superintendent of Technical, Career and Adult Education followed by leading the Curriculum and Instruction division. He also served as Florida’s Chancellor of K-12 Education and an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida followed by serving as the Superintendent of Schools in two districts, three years in Osceola County and his last ten years in Pinellas County. Dr. Grego moved both school districts forward through innovative programming and partnerships, never losing sight of the vision of 100 percent student success.

A nationally recognized administrator, Dr. Grego served as the 2020-2021 president of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents and was the 2018 Florida Superintendent of the Year. Under Dr. Grego’s leadership, Pinellas County Schools earned districtwide accreditation, achieved record-high graduation rates and successfully narrowed achievement gaps between minority students and their peers. During his tenure, Pinellas realized tremendous growth in magnet, STEM and career education programs.

Dr. Grego’s accomplishments earned him numerous honors and awards including:

• • The USF College of Education Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Award
  • In 2018, the Florida Association for Career and Technical Education Superintendent of the Year
  • In 2019, the Florida Music Education Association Superintendent of the Year Award for his ardent support of music education
  • In 2020, the Administrator of the Year for the National Association for Gifted Children and one of the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 25 People to Watch
  • And in 2021, the Magnet Schools of America Superintendent of the Year for his efforts to increase choice options for families and make magnet programs a priority.

Rene Martinez was born and raised in Dallas, Texas being first generation Mexican American. He was educated in the Dallas Public Schools and attended Southern Methodist University receiving his B.A. in Latin American Studies, Spanish, and History. He did post-graduate work at SMU in Public Administration and received his Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Texas A&M at Commerce.

Martinez has been involved in public education, both as a community advocate and educator for the past 43 years. He was one of the original Tri-Ethnic Committee Chairs, appointed by U.S. District Judge William M. Taylor, to help monitor the School Desegregation Court Order in 1971. He later was the Co-Chair of the Dallas Alliance Task Force that developed the 1976 School Desegregation Court Order for the Court and Dallas Independent School District.

As Education Director for the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, he was instrumental in developing and implementing the White House recognized Adopt-a-School Program and Leadership Dallas. He also coordinated the implementation of the Magnet School Program, creating Townview and the Arts Magnet at Booker T. Washington at Dallas ISD.

He has been an administrator, manager, college instructor, and entrepreneur. He has served on over 50 boards and commissions including MALDEF, Tejano Democrats, the United Way of Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Dallas Concilio. He was also appointed by various mayors to serve as the Vice Chairman of the City of Dallas Planning and Zoning Commission and Vice President of the Dallas Parks and Recreation Board. In 2006, he was appointed by LULAC to serve as a delegate representing the DFW area on the Instituto de Mexicanos del Exterior, (Institute of Mexicans Abroad), an initiative of the Mexican Government.

Martinez is currently an adjunct professor at the Dallas County Community College District teaching undergraduate courses in Human Development, English as a Second Language, and a Teacher Assistant Program for aspiring teacher aides. He has taught at SMU and TAMUC both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, enabling students to better understand the changing demographics and learning how to engage parents and the community in public education.

Dr. Gabe Soumakian earned his doctorate at Azusa Pacific University (APU) in Educational Leadership focusing on technology staff development and change leadership. He has taught at the doctoral level at APU on organizational change and building communities, as well as, courses for teacher and administrator preparation for using instructional technology. He has been actively involved and presented at numerous leadership organizations, including ACSA, AASA, CSBA, CALSA, Partnership for the 21st Century, TICAL on topics of Personnel, 21stCentury Learning, eLearning Summit, Personalized Learning Summit, and Linked Learning Convening.

Most recently, Dr. Soumakian serves on the CoSN Superintendent’s Advisory Council, Future Ready Leaders Panel of Visionary Educators in August, and EdSurge CDE “Tech for Schools” Summit in August. Dr. Soumakian was recognized as one of ten Superintendent who was accepted as a Lexington Education Leadership Award (LELA) Fellow in conjunction with EdElements. Dr. Soumakian was a feature speaker on High School Redesign at the Model School Conference this summer in Atlanta.

Dr. Soumakian has over thirty-eight years of experience in education, including 14 years of service at Loyola and St. John Bosco as a high school teacher and a coach. His public education experience has been primarily serving as a High School Principal and as an Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in Burbank USD prior to serving as Superintendent in the Oxnard Union High School District.

Dr. Lloyd Verstuyft has over 33 years of public education experience. He started his public education career in 1989 as a teacher and served all 33 years at Southwest ISD. During his tenure at SWISD he was a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, director, assistant superintendent and retired in 2023 after serving 13 years as superintendent. While serving as a middle school principal, Lloyd was part of a team that moved a TEA designated “low performing campus” to the school districts first ever secondary “recognized campus” four years later. In 2000, that same campus was designated as a USDE National Blue Ribbon School and on behalf of the teachers and staff, Lloyd received one of six national Terrell H. Bell Awards for instructional leadership. During his over three decades, Lloyd was able to embrace a number of experiences in operations, environment, curriculum and professional development. Lloyd continues to serve his community as a board member for a local credit union, Habitat for Humanity, and Junior Achievement.

Education:

• Ed. D. Public Education, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, May 2010
• Texas Superintendent Certification Program, University of Texas Cohort, San Antonio TX, August 2002 M.S. Education Administration, Texas A&M Kingsville, Kingsville, TX, December 1993
• B.S. Education, University of Texas San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, May, 1990
• Holdsworth Leadership Center Graduate, Austin, TX, April 2019

Honors:

• Teacher of the Year, 1992
• Texas Successful School Awards
• State Recognized Campus Award, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001- 02, 2002-03
• USDE – National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, McAuliffe Middle School, 2000
• Recipient United States Department of Education USD, Terrell H. Bell Award, 2000
• Texas Education Gold Performance
• Recipient South Chamber of Commerce Legend Award, 2017
• ESC Region 20 Superintendent of the Year, 2019

Bob Watkins is the Director of the Kansas/Missouri Superintendents Leadership Forum which is a professional development program for approximately 90 Superintendents from the two states. Since retiring as Superintendent from the Independence, MO school district he has conducted over one hundred Superintendent searches from Missouri School Districts. He spent thirty-four years in public education as a Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent searches for Missouri School Districts. He spent thirty-four years in public education as a Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, high school Principal and taught school finance for the University of Missouri-Kansas City for over ten years. He has also worked with Boards of Education as a facilitator and consultant.