Denise Houghton
School Improvement Instructional Coach
Denise Houghton is a school improvement instructional coach at SREB, where she provides ongoing coaching, feedback and professional development to teachers as they work to improve their practice. She joined SREB in July 2021, bringing 24 years of experience in the public education system. Her experience includes serving various Arkansas school districts as a literacy instructional coach for over 18 years.
Elisa Jaden
Program Specialist, Student Access and Success
Elisa Jaden leads SREB’s regional tuition reciprocity programs: the Academic Common Market and the Regional Contract Program. She also serves as director for the SREB region to the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). In this role she follows state and federal higher education regulations and policy related to state authorization and program approval. Elisa works with the S-SARA Regional Steering Committee to inform and clarify policy changes made at the national level.
Diane James
Senior Editor
Diane James joined the Southern Regional Education Board in 2012 and brings more than 20 years of experience in journalism and education. Diane is responsible for editing publications, case studies, research briefs and brochures, and writing and editing newsletters that are provided to local and national education policymakers, principals and teachers. Prior to SREB, Diane was a writer and editor for CNN. She has held other reporting and writing positions in radio, television and print.
George Johnson
School Improvement Leadership Coach
George Johnson is a school improvement leadership coach for the Southern Regional Educational Board and its High Schools That Work program, where he brings 37 years of experience as a teacher and administrator in New Jersey public schools. George has worked in numerous states as a trainer for the Learning Design Collaborative. He is the lead editor for the SREB Literacy Ready transitional readiness course, and he is the lead literacy expert for the writing of the eighth and ninth grade version of High School Ready.
Veronica Johnson
Communications Specialist, Postsecondary
Veronica Johnson manages communication for the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program, the Institute on Teaching and Mentoring and a portfolio of other postsecondary programs and services. Veronica joined the Southern Regional Education Board’s communications team in 2017 as the digital communications specialist, where she managed SREB.org content, social media and analytics. Veronica joined SREB in 2014 as the administrative assistant/research associate for the Learning-Centered Leadership Program.
Lety Jones
Senior Designer and Production Manager
Lety Jones joined the Southern Regional Education Board as administrative assistant to the communications director in 1991. She has served as senior designer and production manager for more than 15 years. She received a bachelor’s in marketing from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.
Natalee Jones
Policy Analyst
Natalee Jones joined the Southern Regional Education Board in 2021 as a policy analyst working on high school, higher education, and the workforce. Natalee comes to SREB bringing experience in diversity and inclusion, congressional affairs, and data strategy through different fellowship and internship opportunities.
Natalee holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Brigham Young University and a Master of Public Policy from Georgia State University.
Kristi July
School Improvement Leadership Coach
Kristi July joined SREB in 2021, bringing more than 16 years of experience in the public education sector. She was a Signature Academy coordinator for four years with Mobile County Public Schools leading the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the district’s academy model to prepare all students to be college and career-ready. Later she served as a high school assistant principal.
Kristi holds a Bachelor of Science in secondary education from Spring Hill College and a master’s in educational leadership from the University of South Alabama.
Andrea Kiely
Program Specialist, Postsecondary
Andrea Kiely is a member of the Postsecondary team for the Southern Regional Education Board. She works as program specialist for the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program where she researches and advocates for faculty diversity in higher education. Andrea earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Alabama and her Master of Education in higher education administration from the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia.
Donn Kirkwood
Senior School Improvement Leadership Coach
Donn Kirkwood joined the Southern Regional Education Board in 2014 as a literacy coach for the Literacy Design Collaborative program, through which he helped teachers and leaders in seven states use LDC practices and backward design techniques to develop exemplary curricula, improve instruction and increase student outcomes.
Debra LaMothe
School Improvement Leadership Coach
Debra LaMothe is a school improvement coach for SREB, where she works with career and technical education teachers and school administrators across the country to improve college and career readiness. She brings many years of CTE education experience as a teacher, administrator and consultant. In her former role as a district CTE Supervisor, Debra supported teachers and administrators with curriculum, work-based learning, instructional technology, and postsecondary alignment and credentialing.
Debra received her doctorate from Oakland University in Michigan.
Stevie L. Lawrence II
Vice President, Postsecondary Education
Stevie L. Lawrence II joined Southern Regional Education Board in September 2019 as vice president for postsecondary education. In this role, he will lead SREB’s postsecondary programs, such as the Academic Common Market, Doctoral Scholars Program, education data services and state authorization reciprocity agreements. He will also be charged with developing additional initiatives to support postsecondary state offices and institutions.
John Michael Lee Jr.
Vice President, Development and Policy Research
John Michael Lee Jr. joined SREB in August 2019 as vice president for development and policy research. In this role, he will lead a new office within SREB focused on development to raise funds for SREB to expand its services and explore new opportunities for supporting our states. Additionally, he will lead the policy analysis office responsible for K-20 and workforce research and the informational technology office.
Rodriquez Leonard
School Improvement Instructional Coach
Rodriquez Leonard joined SREB in 2021, bringing 16 years of experience in public education. He was an English language arts teacher with the Birmingham City Schools district. He also worked as a master teacher, school improvement grant coordinator, and freshman academy coordinator.
Rodriquez holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Montevallo and a Master of Arts in English language arts – secondary education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Connie Lester
School Improvement Instructional Coach
Connie Lester joined SREB’s office of School Improvement as a leadership coach in April 2012. Prior to SREB, she spent 27 years as an English language arts teacher, department chair and high school writing portfolio cluster leader in Kentucky schools. After leaving the classroom, Connie became a member of Kentucky’s Highly Skilled Educator Program, where she provided schoolwide instructional and leadership support to struggling schools.
Kimberly Livengood
School Improvement Instructional Coach
Kimberly Livengood joined SREB as a school improvement instructional coach in July 2019, bringing more than 25 years of teaching experience at the high school level in North Carolina and Tennessee. She began her work with SREB as a math consultant. She earned her National Board Certification, her certification in Teaching the Gifted, and her endorsement to teach AP Calculus while teaching in North Carolina.
Kim holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She lives in North Carolina.
Susan Lounsbury
Director, Education Data Services
Susan Campbell Lounsbury joined the Southern Regional Education Board in 2014 as the director of education data services. She has more than 25 years of experience in higher education policy and practice. Susan is responsible for coordinating the collection of data for the SREB State Data Exchange. She analyzes data and produces publications, such as the SREB Fact Book on Higher Education, Featured Facts, and Indicators Report.
Connie Luper
School Improvement Senior Leadership Coach
Connie Luper joined SREB’s office of School Improvement in 2016. As a senior leadership coach, she brings more than 31 years of experience working on issues of education practice in the public education sector. In this role, Connie helps schools develop rigorous career pathways and CTE programs and blend them with a rigorous academic core. She also leads trainings for teachers and principals in literacy, numeracy, project-based learning and instructional leadership. Connie is currently supporting career academy development efforts in large districts in Alabama and Georgia.