Timothy P. Shriver Chairman, CASEL Board of Directors Timothy Shriver is a civic leader, social…
Ann McKay Bryson Ann McKay Bryson is the Anchorage School District’s (ASD) social…
Background Collaboration is central to CASEL's approach. CASEL began as an entirely volunteer collaborative of…
Roger Weissberg is CASEL’s president and CEO. For more than 30 years he has dedicated himself—through collaborative action research with colleagues and students—to answering this question: How do schools, parents, and communities come together to promote positive behavioral outcomes in young people? Roger has worked with thousands of scholars and practitioners to design, implement, and evaluate family, school, and community interventions focused on evidence-based social and emotional learning practice. He has authored more than 200 publications focusing on preventive interventions with children and adolescents. As a leader and collaborator in the field of social and emotional learning, he believes that all children deserve a balanced education and the opportunity to become knowledgeable, responsible, caring, and contributing individuals who are well equipped to meet the complexities and challenges of the future.
Roger is NoVo Foundation Endowed Chair in Social and Emotional Learning and an LAS Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He also directs the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Research Group at UIC. Among his major published works are Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators (1997); Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning: What Does the Research Say? (2004); and Sustainable Schoolwide Social and Emotional Learning (2006).
Roger has received many awards for his scholarship, including the 2000 American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contribution Award for Applications of Psychology to Education and Training, the Society for Community Research and Action 2004 Distinguished Contribution to Theory and Research Award, and the 2010 Nan Tobler Award for the Best Review of Prevention Research from the Society for Prevention Research. He also received the 2008 “Daring Dozen” award from the George Lucas Educational Foundation for being one of 12 people who are reshaping the future of education. Roger and his wife, Stephanie Wright, a clinical psychologist, have two wonderful children, Elizabeth (age 24) and Ted (age 20).
Jason Cascarino is CASEL’s vice president for external affairs. He leads CASEL’s communications, public policy, and fund development functions. Prior to joining CASEL, Jason was the chief operating officer and acting chief executive officer for The Chicago Public Education Fund, a $25 million venture philanthropy. He led all aspects of that organization’s programs and operations, including more than $4 million in outstanding grant commitments, fund-raising, investor relations, branding and communications, and financial management. In his five-and-a-half-year tenure with The Fund, Jason was a program officer in charge of initiatives related to human capital strategy and principal and teacher quality. He was also responsible for a major rebranding effort, development and implementation of a balanced scorecard for performance management, communications, and board governance. In addition, he provided leadership for strategic planning.
Jason previously served as director of marketing and new initiatives for Citizen Schools, based in Boston, a national program to expand time for learning that serves 8,000 middle school students in their transition to high school. At Citizen Schools he led a brand overhaul of the organization and a major policy initiative to position it as a leader in education reform. Prior to that, he worked with New American Schools, based in Washington, DC, consulting with dozens of nonprofit education organizations and foundations nationwide, primarily to support program quality, growth, and financial sustainability. Before making the shift to education more than a dozen years ago, Jason began his career in national security as an analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense.
A native of Pennsylvania, Jason was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for study of comparative politics and international relations in New Zealand. He earned his master’s degree in international relations at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and a bachelor’s degree in history, summa cum laude, from the University of Scranton, a Jesuit university.
Libi Gil joined CASEL as vice president for practice in May 2011. She leads CASEL’s national implementation of evidence-based preschool to high school social and emotional learning. She is a former senior fellow/managing director at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), where she provided counsel on leadership and school improvement initiatives. She was the co-leader in launching the newly established English Language Learners (ELLs) Center at AIR, which was designed to strengthen the connections between research, practice, and policy in providing support to ELLs. She was also the lead consultant for high school renewal efforts on behalf of the Gates Foundation. Her focus on multiple strategies to address student achievement gaps included the creation of small schools and support for small learning communities in multiple projects across the country.
For more than nine years Libi was superintendent of the Chula Vista (CA) Elementary School District. There she engaged the community in creating a shared vision and core values that continue to serve as the district’s foundation for goal setting and operations. In addition to multiple awards and honors, she received the 2002 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education for her outstanding leadership as Chula Vista superintendent. She is widely recognized for her work in redesigning central office roles and functions to serve and support teaching and learning in classrooms.
Libi began her teaching career in the Los Angeles Unified School District and has taught in various districts and programs including early childhood, English as a second language, bilingual education, and gifted and talented programs. As a teacher, she and her colleagues created a successful K-12 alternative school and numerous alternative classroom programs. She has held a variety of administrative positions including school principal and area administrator, supervising K-12 principals, and assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. She has a PhD in curriculum and instruction with emphasis on bilingual and multicultural education from the University of Washington.
Paul Goren joined CASEL as vice president for research and knowledge use on April 1, 2012. Previously he was a senior advisor to the Chicago Public Schools and the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute. He recently served as the Lewis-Sebring Director of the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research. He was senior vice president of the Spencer Foundation from 2001 to 2010 and executive director of the Spencer Forum, which focused on the dissemination of research to the policy and practice communities. Previously, he was the director of child and youth development at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
A former middle-school teacher, Paul worked as executive director (assistant superintendent) for policy and strategic services in the Minneapolis Public Schools from 1995 to 1998 and as a policy analyst and educational researcher in the San Diego City Schools in the mid-1980s. He worked in and subsequently directed the education policy studies division of the National Governors Association (NGA) in Washington, DC between 1991 and 1995.
Paul has written on professional development and public engagement for the NGA; served as chief accountability officer in the Minneapolis Schools, where he helped develop capacity for data driven-decision making; and led the Spencer Foundation’s efforts to disseminate studies and findings to multiple audiences. Most recently he led a team that evaluated the University of Michigan School of Education. Along with numerous presentations at philanthropic, practitioner, policy, and research forums, he served on the National Academy of Science Task Force on How People Learn. His writing includes commentaries for the National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook on Developing the Teacher Workforce, for Education Week on the relationship of philanthropic foundations to school districts, and for the Peabody Journal on formative assessments. In 2009, he received the Ian Axford Fellowship in public policy to study Maori education policy through a New Zealand Fulbright fellowship.
Paul currently serves on the board of Y.O.U., a social service and support agency for students in the Evanston, IL public schools. He also serves on the boards of the Donors Forum of Illinois, Foundation 65/Evanston Public Schools, and the national Center for Teaching Quality. He holds a PhD from Stanford University, a master of public affairs degree from the LBJ School at the University of Texas, and a bachelor’s degree from Williams College.
Amy Sauer joined CASEL as vice president for operations in April 2011. She leads CASEL’s efforts to increase its internal capacity, overseeing human resources, finance, information technology, and legal functions. She was the former COO of The Chicago Public Education Fund, a venture philanthropy for public education that has dramatically improved the quality of human capital in the Chicago Public Schools. As COO, Amy ensured that human resources, financial systems, and technologies were sufficient to meet the needs of a rapidly growing organization. She was also a member of the strategic planning and development teams that raised nearly $25 million for the organization’s third investment fund.
Previously Amy practiced law at Mayer Brown in Chicago, focusing on corporate, securities, and employee benefits matters. Before attending law school, she worked as a certified public accountant for the Price Waterhouse financial services group in New York City.
Amy earned her JD cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center and graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in economics.
Patricia Chesler is CASEL’s director of special projects. She is an expert in strategic change management with the goal of helping children, families, and the agencies that serve them. Over the course of her career in human services – 20-plus years in the private sector and ten years as a public official – she has specialized in agency start-up and turn-around. In recent years, she has worked with public and private agencies that are struggling to deliver needed services with shrinking revenues.
In competitive environments she has been able to help private agencies grow and adapt to changes in their fields. In the public sector, she has designed system improvements proven to reduce costs and improve outcomes for children and families. Her ability to form strong partnerships and develop innovative strategies has garnered over $330 million in new revenues for agencies. She has worked in the areas of education, child welfare and mental health, juvenile justice, youth advocacy and youth development, and substance abuse prevention, and she brings these perspectives to her work at CASEL.
Cynthia Coleman is executive assistant to the CASEL President and CEO Roger Weissberg. She is also the director of operations for the Social and Emotional Learning Research Group at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has been with CASEL since 2003.
Before coming to CASEL, Cynthia was the program manager for Harvard University’s Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. The project was a $32 million, seven-year longitudinal study aimed at deepening society’s understanding of the causes of juvenile delinquency, adult crime, substance abuse, and violence. She was responsible for directing the administrative supports to field operations, human resources, and facilities management for a staff of more than 100 as well as overseeing day-to-day operations.
Fanniel Cooper-Bijou is CASEL’s receptionist. She has had 20 years of customer service and administrative experience, including positions as an administrative assistant at PMIGUYS LLC and Outreach Services in Chicago. Outside of work, she is dedicated to volunteering in the community and continuing her practice in ASL (American Sign Language). She plans to use her ASL experience to work with hearing-impaired children on a volunteer basis.
Ruth Cross is CASEL’s Illinois training specialist. She also coordinates the CASEL and Du Page Regional Office of Education Partnership, which was formed for the purpose of creating a replicable model for district-wide social and emotional learning implementation for regional and state service providers. Until her retirement in 2007, she worked for 34 years as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. As a building principal she was instrumental in the implementation of programs that enable students to acquire skills to improve interpersonal relationships and prevent conflict. During the past several decades, she has taught workshops for parents and teachers on the I Can Problem Solve program in Kane, DuPage, Cook, and St. Clair Counties.
Prior to joining the CASEL staff, Ruth co- chaired the CASEL-IC Advisory Council, whose primary goal was to assist schools with the implementation of comprehensive, research-based social and emotional learning programs in Illinois. From 2003-2007, she was co-chair of the School Policy and Standards Committee, which was created by the Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003 as a part of the Children’s Mental Health Partnership. Ruth continues working to expand social and emotional learning in Illinois by presenting administrator academies and leading workshops around the state on the importance of teaching social and emotional learning and adhering to the Illinois social and emotional learning standards.
Reginald Gordon staffs CASEL’s financial department. He comes to CASEL with 15 years of diverse experience in accounting and finance, including his training as an Aviation Bookkeeper at the Meridian, Miss. Naval Technical Training Center and subsequent service in the US Navy. This was followed by ten years in accounting positions in the private sector. His experience managing accounts and procedures supports his work at CASEL as the organization’s bookkeeper.
Rebecca Liebman joined CASEL’s administrative team in 2010 as executive assistant. Her past experience in the finance and human resources divisions in a large advertising agency supports her role at CASEL. She has worked for six years in for-profit organizations and brings her diverse organizational experience and administrative skills to CASEL.
Pamela Randall joined CASEL in September 2011 as the director for practice. She was a former school improvement officer for high schools in the Houston Independent School District in Houston, Tex. There she was responsible for supervising and coaching principals to create high-quality teams and programs focused on student academic growth, achieving bold and measurable goals, and working with their communities.
Pamela has also served as an area instruction officer and deputy chief officer in the Office of High School Programs of the Chicago Public Schools, where she had broad responsibilities for the city’s high schools. Previously she was the interim superintendent for the St. Louis Public Schools, where she also served as deputy superintendent and executive director of secondary education. While she was principal of Metro Academic and Classical High School in St. Louis, the school had the highest academic ranking in the state. She was also a member of the contract negotiation team for St. Louis public school teachers and was elected president of the American Federation of School Administrators local association in St. Louis.
A graduate of the Broad Academy for Urban Superintendents, Pamela began her career in education as a high school dance teacher in University City, Mo. She holds a doctorate in education administration from St. Louis University and a master’s degree in education administration from Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. She completed her bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where she was an honors graduate.
Juan Phillips joined CASEL’s administrative team in 2011 as an administrative assistant. Her 15 years of providing administrative and executive support in the fields of accounting and finance and her experience in meeting and event planning, excellent organizational skills, and attention to detail will play a key role in CASEL’s success in the years to come.
Adam Sanders is responsible for the day-to-day accounting of CASEL’s financial transactions and for financial reporting. His background includes experience as an external auditor for a top audit firm and as a manager of accounting departments in nonprofit organizations. A C.P.A., he obtained his master’s degree in business from the University of Illinois at Urbana.
Jennifer Schneider is CASEL’s development manager. She previously worked at The Chicago Public Education Fund, where she led investor relations, managed grant-making activities, and helped to secure more than half a million dollars for the organization. Jennifer previously worked as development associate at the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides high school scholarships and academic support to Chicago eighth–grade students. Prior to that, she worked in development at the Chicago Public Art Group, a nonprofit organization that creates collaborative public art in Chicago communities.
Jennifer received her certification in nonprofit fund-raising and philanthropy at Northwestern University. She earned her master’s degree in modern art history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her bachelor’s degree in art history at the University of Michigan.