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 leads SREB’s HBCU-MSI Course-Sharing Consortium and serves as director for the SREB region to the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA), for which she follows state and federal higher education regulations and policy related to state authorization and program approval. Elisa works with the SREB SARA Regional Steering Committee to inform and clarify policy changes made at the national level.
Veronica Johnson
Program Coordinator, Doctoral Scholars Program
Veronica Johnson provides program and communications support for the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program and Institute on Teaching and Mentoring. Veronica joined SREB in 2014 and has worked with the Learning-Centered Leadership Program and Office of the Communications as well. Prior to SREB, she was a newsroom information specialist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a freelance writer. Veronica holds a bachelor’s in mass media arts with a concentration in journalism from Clark Atlanta University.
Natalee Jones
Policy Analyst, State Strategy and Policy
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.
Lety Jones
Senior Designer and Production Manager
Lety Jones has served as senior designer and production manager for more than 15 years. She joined the Southern Regional Education Board as administrative assistant to the communications director in 1991. She earned a bachelor’s in marketing from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.
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.
MJ Kim
Senior Analyst
MJ Kim is a Senior Analyst of Postsecondary Data and Analytics in SREB’s Office of Postsecondary Education. MJ earned her Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Leadership Studies with a concentration in Higher Education from the University of Washington-Seattle. She also holds a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Ewha Womans University. In her current role, MJ is responsible for managing and collecting large-scale data from SREB stats.
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.
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, Postsecondary Data and Analytics
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.
Jahana Martin
Communications Manager
Jahana Martin joined SREB as an editor in 2018 and later served as a communications specialist for the Office of School Improvement. In her role as communications manager, she manages SREB.org and helps develop, implement and manage external communications. Jahana has over 15 years of experience in communications. She earned a bachelor’s degree in media and a master’s in accounting and finance and is an alumna of Hampton University.