Former Head of Lake Country School

Author Kathleen Coskran was head of Lake Country School in Minneapolis from 1995 until 2004. Under her direction, the school developed the Lake Country Land School at a recently acquired 180 acre farm to create a residential program for adolescents into the standard curriculum of the school. She is also a writer whose collection of short stories, The High Price of Everything, won a Minnesota Book Award as did Tanzania on Tuesday: Writing by American Women Abroad which she co-edited. She is the recipient of numerous artists’ fellowships and residencies including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Bush Artist’s Fellowship, and two grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

*GRETCHEN HALL

President, Association Montessori Internationale / USA Board
www.amiusa.org

Gretchen Hall serves as the director of training at the Montessori Training Center of Northeast (MTCNE). She received her AMI primary diploma from Washington Montessori Institute and an M.Ed. from Loyola University Maryland. She is the director of the Montessori Magnet School, an urban public Montessori school in Hartford, Connecticut. Gretchen brings over 20 years of Montessori experience to her role with the AMI/USA board of directors, currently serving as its president.

STEVE HUGHES, PHD, LP, ABPDN

Pediatric Neuropsychologist
www.pragueenglishpsych.cz

MARYELLEN KORDAS

AMS credential: Administrator
www.amshq.org

JACQUIE MAUGHAN

President, North American Montessori Teachers Association Board
www.montessori-namta.org

Jacquie Maughan received her AMI Primary Diploma in Palo Alto, CA. In 1980 she founded Woodland Montessori School, and in 1985 Pacific Crest Montessori School. After her retirement from Pacific Crest in 2013, Jacquie began Access Montessori. Jacquie brings her long history and commitment to the fundamental principles of Montessori education to her work. She is president of the Board of North American Montessori Teachers Association and is a participant in the Educateurs sans Frontieres initiative of the Association Montessori Internationale.

STEPHANIE MILLER

Former Executive Director, Trust for Learning

Stephanie Miller is the former Executive Director of Trust for Learning whose mission is to make ideal learning real for all children, regardless of their socioeconomic status. She has worked in the field of strategic philanthropy for over twenty years, focusing on collaborative grantmaking in education and community development. Stephanie founded a national network of community literacy education organizations that served marginalized communities across the country. Prior to her work with Trust for Learning, Stephanie maintained a philanthropic advising practice, advising a wide range of private grantmakers

MOLLY O’SHAUGHNESSY

Executive Director and Director of Primary Training Montessori Center of Minnesota
www.montessoricentermn.org

Molly O’Shaughnessy is an accomplished AMI trainer as well as a consultant and lecturer. She has led the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota (MCM) for over 20 years of expansion, growing a teacher training center into a movement to bring high-quality Montessori education to hundreds of underserved children. In 2008 O’Shaughnessy opened MCM’s campus in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood in East St. Paul. The campus includes an early childhood center, a teacher training center, and a one-of-a-kind Montessori museum. Additionally, MCM partners with Cornerstone Montessori Elementary School, a separate charter serving children kindergarten through sixth grade. Through a pilot program called Montessori Partners Serving All Children (MPSAC), O’Shaughnessy helped launch ten other Montessori schools in under-resourced neighborhoods. Montessori Partners forms partnerships with local communities to increase access to high-fidelity Montessori early childhood (0-6 years), and to strengthen the bonds between home, school, and community in a culturally responsive way. A noted authority in the field of Montessori training, she has served on the board of the Association of Montessori Internationale in Amsterdam, was a long-time member of the AMI Trainers Group, Chairs the board of the MM75 fund which provides assistance for future AMI teacher trainers, and was a member of the Montessori Leaders Collaborative. She is in demand as a speaker nationally and internationally and has presented keynotes and workshops across the United States as well as Canada, Australia, Mexico, China, and Europe. She has consulted on several Montessori projects nationally and internationally. She has a Master’s degree in Education from Loyola University in Maryland and a Bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Scholastica.  She serves as Community Faculty for Metropolitan State University.

JOYCE S. PICKERING, HUMD, MA, SLP/CCC, CALT, QI, AMS/EC

Executive Director, Emerita Shelton School and Evaluation Center
www.shelton.org

Joyce Pickering is an over fifty-year Montessorian, speech and hearing pathologist, and learning disabilities specialist. Currently, she is Executive Director Emerita of Shelton School & Evaluation Center in Dallas, Texas, the world’s largest private school for children with learning differences. Under her tenure as executive director (1990–2010), Shelton saw significant growth and development, including an expansion of the application of the Montessori philosophy and practice and, in 2009, the launching of Shelton Montessori Teacher Education Center. She is the 2013 Living Legacy Recipient for American Montessori Society, an active member of several AMS committees and was President of AMS Board of Directors (2013 – 2014).

*DR. TIMOTHY PURNELL, EDD

Executive Director, American Montessori Society
www.amshq.org

Dr. Timothy Purnell joined AMS as executive director in August 2017. Previously he served as superintendent for Somerville public school district in New Jersey. There, he and his team designed and launched a non-traditional high school with a focus on reaching academically at-risk students and students disenfranchised with the traditional high school educational experience. He was one of just 100 educators selected to attend President Obama’s ConnectED Initiative at the White House, was selected as the 2016 NASS National Superintendent of the Year, and honored as the 2015 Highest Rated Professor in the nation. He is enthusiastic about Montessori education, and is looking forward to pursuing Montessori training.

TIM SELDIN

President, Montessori Foundation Chair, International Montessori Council
www.montessori.org

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WE ARE DEEPLY GRATEFUL FOR THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THESE ADVISORS. AS WE REMEMBER THEM, WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK TOWARDS ALL CHILDREN HAVING ACCESS TO QUALITY MONTESSORI EDUCATION.

JACQUELINE COSSENTINO (1964 – 2019)

Co-founder and Former Executive Director of the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector
www.public-montessori.org

An ethnographer by training, since 2001 Jackie Cossentino had drawn from her direct experience as head of an independent Montessori school and principal of a large, urban public Montessori school to produce an internationally recognized body of scholarship on Montessori education. Her 26 years in education included roles as a middle and high school English teacher, an elementary school principal, a professional developer for schools, districts, and museums, and a professor of educational leadership at the University of Maryland. She was a Lecturer in Loyola Maryland’s Montessori Studies program and served on the boards of Montessori Northwest and the Montessori Charter Management Organization.

LUCY SWIFT (1961 – 2019)

Film Development & Distribution Consultant

Lucy was a “citizen of the world” having grown up in Japan, France and England. After college, she lived and worked across the United States before settling in Minnesota. Lucy enjoyed spending time as a community connector, leadership mentor and strategic planning partner.  She was Vice President of Minnesota productions and partnerships for Twin Cities PBS. In that capacity, she oversaw all broadcast and multi-media initiatives associated with local partnership and grant-based productions – telling high-impact stories across a wide range of social issues. She also participated in multiple statewide collective impact endeavors including Graduation Minnesota, focused on eliminating the graduation rate disparities gap and joined the board of the Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging.