• Grace Sammon, President and Founder, author, keynote speaker - district and school support
• Antonia Essig, Managing Partner - school support and coaching, partnerships and work-based learning
• Judy Neal, teacher, administrator - school support and coaching, instructional focus, common planning time
• Peggy Silva, teacher, author - instructional support and transition specialist
• Kim Stephanic, teacher, adminsitrator, director of high school reform - instructional support

Grace Sammon, president and founder of GMS Partners, Inc, is an educator, school reformer, consultant, "coach", speaker, and internationally recognized author. Grace has spent nearly 25 years working in one of the United States toughest institutions, the American high school. She has inspired change in schools, districts and government organizations nationally through her upbeat advice and sound, practical recommendations.

She has established GMS Partners as an organization dedicated to enhancing school communities through a focus on vision, alignment of resources, planning, coaching, professional development, and a commitment to continuous improvement. Under Grace's leadership, GMS Partners Inc. has worked in 32 states across the nation with a focus on whole school improvement. She is the Co-Founding Director of the National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC).

Grace has authored Battling the Hamster Wheel^TM: Strategies for Making High School Reform Work and the book and CDROM Tool Kit Creating and Sustaining Small Learning Communities: A Practitioner's Guide to Creating and Sustaining Small Learning Communities, eight manuals on school-to career transition, and articles on organizational change, school partnerships and staff development. She created Metro MANIA: The Great Train Ride Through Washington a board and street experience game to facilitate student use of public transportation while they gain an appreciation for the employment and cultural offerings of the Nation's Capitol. She also authored five integrated curricular pieces for use in middle schools and a teen pregnancy prevention curriculum and training manual.

She earned her Master's Degree in Education at The Catholic University of America. Grace has 10 years experience in higher education administration; has served as an adjunct university professor, and a long-term substitute teacher. Her professional notes include: listings in Who's Who in American Education and being named Outstanding Business Person of the Year by Future Business Leaders of America. In the spring of 1996 she was appointed to the U.S. Secretary of Defense's Joint Civilian Orientation Council. [Full Resume] E-mail: grace@gmspartners.org

Antonia (Tonia) Moreno Essig, Managing Partner of GMS Partners, Inc., brings with her 14 years of experience in the areas of career academy and small learning community development, work-based learning programs, and school-business partnerships. This work has included: assistance in the development and implementation of a school-to-work transition program for at-risk youth with an increased graduation rate of 91%; development of creative linkages and collaborative efforts between individual schools and school systems, federal and local government, community and faith based organizations, and private industry; training and coaching of high school administrators, faculty, support personnel and community and industry partners; numerous presentations at national conferences and trainings. E-mail: aessig@aol.com

Judy Neal is a former high school English teacher and has served as a high school principal at both a comprehensive and an alternative school. She has over twenty-five years in education. She works with schools involved in comprehensive school reform focusing on high standards curriculum, effective use of common planning time, and small learning communities and career academies/pathways. She works closely with organizations to identify professional development needs and facilitate organization planning, problem solving, program development and implementation, and team building with diverse groups. She successfully completed the California School Leadership Academy and holds an M.S. in Guidance and Counseling.

Peggy Silva is the co-author of Standards of Mind and Heart: Creating the Good High School, and the co-author of At the Heart of Teaching: A Guide to Reflective Practice, as well as the author of many articles on school reform. She is a charter member of the faculty of Souhegan High School in Amherst, New Hampshire. Currently the Writing Coordinator at Souhegan, Peggy taught Humanities on an interdisciplinary, heterogeneous team for the school's first ten years. Peggy holds an M.B.A., is a national facilitator for the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), a member of that organization's Editorial Board, and a national speaker on school reform and writing processes.

Kim Stephanic, completed her doctoral work in educational leadership and urban studies at the University of Delaware. She has twenty-four years of experience in educational reform. Most recently Kim provided local, state and national leadership as the Director of High School Reform in Baltimore. This initiative, supported through more than $20 million from local and national foundations, focused on the redesign of Baltimore's failing, neighborhood high schools. Through partnerships and Kim's deep understanding of curriculum and instruction, as well as creating personalized schools and classrooms, Baltimore has made significant gains in creating small schools that best meet the needs of students and the community. Prior to her work in Baltimore City Public Schools, Kim was a successful high school principal in Baltimore County Public Schools and Christina School District in Newark, DE. Dedicated to young people, Kim has demonstrated her ability to lead systems through data driven reform, leading to compelling results for students. Her doctoral studies focused on new teacher induction, which built upon her work with effective teaching and learning environments. She values the role of business and the community in reform and relies on the work done in the area of career and technology education as a foundation for reform. Originally trained as a special educator, Kim is passionate about students, believing that all children can learn at high levels, and remains committed to every child's success. E-mail: kim@gmspartners.org