Jeffrey Grove
Program Specialist, State Strategies
Jeffrey Grove joined the Southern Regional Education Board in 2006 as a research associate to the state services team, where he brings nearly 20 years of experience working on issues of education policy and practice in the public education sector. He has contributed to numerous editions of SREB’s Legislative Report, addressed inquiries on education policies and legislation from policymakers and their staff in SREB states, and authored reports and briefs on current education issues.
Tiffany K. Harrison
Research Associate, Education Technology and Multistate Cooperative Programs
Tiffany K. Harrison works with the Educational Technology Cooperative on research and policy efforts regarding the 10 Issues in Educational Technology. She joined the SREB benchmarking college- and career-readiness standards team in April 2017, bringing more than 10 years of experience in education research and program evaluation. Prior to joining SREB, she was a program evaluation and data specialist for five years with the North Carolina Partnership for Children. She is also a former research associate for the SERVE Center at UNC-Greensboro.
Dedra Hemphill
Accountant
Dedra Hemphill joined the accounting team at SREB in 2017, bringing nearly 20 years of accounting experience in both public and private sectors. She served as associate director and interim director at Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech for four years before opening her own fashion art and music boutique in Inman Park. She is a past accounting manager for Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center.
Dedra holds a bachelor’s of science in accounting from East Carolina University. She lives in Atlanta.
Rebecca Holt
Research Associate
Rebecca Holt works with SREB program directors and coaches to manage data collection for school improvement initiatives. She joined the Southern Regional Education Board in 2010. Rebecca has experience in program development, coordination, writing, editing, researching, reporting and database management with nonprofit agencies, including Habitat for Humanity, the Marcus Institute and Partnership Against Domestic Violence. Rebecca holds a master’s in sociology from Georgia Southern University.
Elisa Jaden
Program Coordinator, Education Technology and Multistate Cooperative Programs
Elisa Jaden facilitates the Academic Common Market, the Regional Contract program, the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) and the Education Technology Cooperative. In this role, she tracks developments in state- and national-level policy related to state authorization, governance, program approval, accreditation, and licensure or related areas; then analyzes the potential impact of those developments and changes to provides intelligence to the regional SARA director, regional compact leaders, and relevant state and institutional authorities and personnel.
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.
Veronica Johnson
Communications Specialist, Postsecondary
Veronica Johnson manages communication for the 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.
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.
Jasmine Jones
Administrative Assistant, School Improvement
Jasmine Jones joined SREB in 2017 as an administrative assistant for school improvement, where she coordinates training dates and schedules with contracting schools and districts and SREB consultants. She also conducts online research related to college and career readiness and manages staff webinars.
Prior to SREB, Jasmine worked as a manager for MeetingAdvice, where she coordinated weekly training programs for The Home Depot and built and maintained registration websites.
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.
Donn Kirkwood
School Improvement Instructional Coach
Donn Kirkwood is a school improvement instructional coach. He joined the Southern Regional Education Board in 2014 as a literacy consultant for the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) program, where he brings more than three years of experience using LDC in the classroom. At SREB, Donn has led LDC training in seven states to improve teacher instruction and student outcomes. Before SREB, he was a middle school teacher for six years and was recognized in 2013 as K-8 Outstanding Educator of the Year for North Carolina.
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.