NCDE Board

Susan Ballard

Susan is recognized internationally as a leader in the role school librarians can and must play to enable underserved learners to develop the literacy and media literacy skills they need to thrive in a digital society and economy. Past president for the American Association of School Librarians, Susan remains active and much in demand in a wide range of publishing, professional development and policy setting initiatives.

Zenagui Brahim

Zenagui Brahim is the President/CEO of New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NH  MEP), an affiliate of the National Institute of Standards & Technology under the US Dept. of Commerce. NH MEP has served more than 800 NH manufacturers and helped them improve productivity and compete globally. In February 2010, Zenagui was appointed New Hampshire Commercial Consul to North Africa. Previously, he was Director of the Institute of Professional & Executive Education at Merrimack College in North Andover, MA. He consulted with over 400 manufacturing and service organizations on quality management systems and process improvement. He spent many years working in management training and supply chain management.

Zenagui is a founding member a founding member of Greater Merrimack Valley Human Resources Association. He was Vice President of the Association of Manufacturing Excellence – Northeast Region and is currently Vice President of the Southern NH APICS Chapter. He is a founder of the Algerian-American Association of New England and former Chairman of Algerian-American Foundation for Science and Technology. In 2012-13, he served in the NH Commission to Study Business Regulations in New Hampshire. He serves as vice-chair in the NH Governor’s Advanced Manufacturing Education Council, the board of directors of NH High Technology Council, and was a member of the NH Economic Development Advisory Council. He is also Chairman of NH Aerospace and Defense Export Consortium and the National Center for Competency-based Learning. Recently he joined the Advisory Board of the Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center at the University of New Hampshire and the Working Group of NH School Administrators Association.

Zenagui was honored with the “Exemplary Effort Award” from the NH Dept. of Business and Economic Affairs for his leadership role in advancing New Hampshire manufacturing industry and, was a recipient of NH Business and Industry Association “Above and Beyond” Award. He has led his organization to receive the first Business Assistance Organization of the Year Award from NH Business Magazine.

He is a frequent speaker on continuous improvement, quality management, lean manufacturing, and supply chain management. He is engaged in a number of workforce development initiatives to prepare the next generation of skilled workforce in advanced manufacturing.

Fred Bramante

In 1995, Fred Bramante received the Alumni Achievement Award from Keene State College, where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Science (1970). In 2009, Fred was given the Alumni Achievement Award from Plymouth State University where he received his Masters Degree in Educational Leadership (2006). In 1964, Fred graduated 206th of 212 students in his high school; that year his applications for admission to both colleges were rejected.

Fred, a former 8th grade Science teacher, left teaching to put a full-time effort into his fledgling music business. With his life savings of $600, Fred founded Daddy’s Junky Music (1972) and grew it from the smallest of over 11,000 music dealers to the 15th largest in America.

Fred is a former candidate for governor and the past Chairman of the New Hampshire State Board of Education. Appointed by both Republican and Democratic governors, Fred served on the State Board of Education longer than anyone in the state’s history. In 2003, Fred led New Hampshire’s first full-scale effort to redesign public education since 1919. Fred’s work, chronicled in his book Off the Clock: Moving Education from Time to Competency (Bramante & Colby, Corwin Press. 2011), has received rave reviews in education circles around the nation.
Today, Fred is the Founder and President of the National Center for Competency-Based Learning (NCCBL) whose vision is “the world as the classroom.”

Kim Carter

Kim Carter, founder and Executive Director of the Q.E.D. Foundation, is committed to creating, inspiring, cultivating, and sustaining communities where each individual is empowered to use his or her unique voice effectively and with integrity in co-creating our public world.

Passionately curious and a zealous learner, her librarian roots are evident in the constantly refreshed information she brings to developing and supporting learner-centered systems and practices that enable student agency, equity, and community collaboration.

With more than 4 decades of local, state, and national education redesign experience, facilitating youth, adult, and system capacities for co-creating learning communities and co-constructing learning experiences, Kim has been involved in the founding and launch of four schools, including award-winning Souhegan High School in Amherst, NH. She is proud to be in professional community with colleagues in NHASCD, School Reform Initiative, Education Reimagined, and SEED+SPARK.

Kim was the 1991 New Hampshire Teacher of the Year, 1996 New Hampshire Media Educator of the Year, and a first cohort Distinguished Fellow with Students at the Center Research Collaborative. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Arizona.

Kathy Carroll

Kathy Carroll was the 2020-2021 president of the American Association of School Librarians. She currently serves on the AASL Board of Directors, the American Library Association Council, the ALA Nominating Committee, the ALA Transforming ALA Governance Task Force, and is an ALA Spectrum Scholar. Carroll was on the PRAXIS National Advisory Committee for School Media Specialists in 2020 and is a former Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) Site Visitor. She has worked on numerous National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBTS) projects including the Library Media Specialist Standards Committee and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Teacher Leadership Competency Framework Committee. She also participates in international professional development opportunities including the Toyota International Teacher Program in South Africa and the  Fulbright Teacher-Scholar Program in Tokyo, Japan. Kathy is a school librarian at Westwood High School in Blythewood, SC.

Dr. Robbie Melton

Dr. Robbie Melton, Associate Vice President for the SMART Global Technology Innovation Center and Graduate Dean and tenured professor at Tennessee State University, serves as a global researcher and international consultant for Emerging IOE (“The Internet of Everything”) Smart Mobile Technology of mobile devices, smart phone-tablets, wearables, smart gadgets and tools, and mixed reality of VR and AR. She formerly served as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Emerging Technologies for the Tennessee Board of Regents and the primary developer and chief administrator for the system wide Regents Online Degree Programs. Her tributes include: 2019 USDLA Hall of Fame, 2018, Distinguished Women of Legend, 2017 OLC Leadership, 2016, WCET Life TimeAchievement, 2014 Top 30 Technologists, 2013 Apple Distinguished Educator, 2012 Top Fifty Technology Innovator; and 2012 WOW EdTechnology Awards. She was a featured speaker at the UNESCO Mobile Learning Symposium. She known as an ‘App-ologist, for her extensive research of best practices with mobile devices (smart phone, tablets, wearable, and the creation of a Mobile App Resource Center. Currently serving as the UNICEF Teacher Education Technology Trainers for the Country of Malawi (Africa) in the use of mobile devices with limited internet and power.

Dr. Gerry Hanley

Gerry Hanley Ph.D. is the Executive Director of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, www.merlot.org) and SkillsCommons (www.skillscommons.org) which are free and open digital libraries of academic and workforce development teaching, learning, and training resources administered at California State University Long Beach.  At CSULB, Gerry is also the Director of the Center for Usability in Design and Accessibility and Professor Emeritus of Psychology; he teaches Human Factors, conducts research, and leads projects for industry, education, and government agencies.  In 2020, Gerry was inducted into the United States Distance Learning Association’s Hall of Fame and in 2015, he was awarded the Frank Mayadas Leadership Award in Online Education.  Gerry’s previous positions included Assistant Vice Chancellor & Senior Director for Academic Technology Services at the CSU Office of the Chancellor (2000-2019) where he created the Affordable Learning Solutions programs and scaled Cal State Online to over 200 online degree and certificate programs.  His earlier positions included the director of faculty development, and director of strategy planning at the CSU Long Beach campus (1993-2000) where he began his academic career in 1984. He received his BA, MA, and PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in Experimental/Cognitive Psychology.

Dr. Paul Resta

Paul is known worldwide for his deep and broad understanding of policies and strategies that foster effective uses of learning technology for educational opportunity and success. Paul was founding president of the International Society for Technology in Education, the world’s largest educational technology organization. He currently holds the Ruth Knight Millikan Centennial Professorship in Learning Technology for the University of Austin-Texas. For several years, he served as founding chair of the National Commission for Technology and the Future of Teacher Education and, more recently, for several years he chaired UNESCO’s international jury on best practices in learning technology..