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Executive Office

Lynn M. Gangone

Lynn M. Gangone, Ed.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer
Phone: 202-478-4505 (executive assistant)
lgangone@aacte.org

View Biography

Dr. Lynn M. Gangone is a seasoned education leader with association, agency, and campus-based leadership experience. As a faculty member, campus senior administrator, association executive, and lobbyist and policy analyst, Gangone brings a unique perspective to her work. She began her career in education working on Carl Perkins Vocational Equity grants, working through the New York State Education Department, and later, New Jersey, developing and delivering PK-12 professional development to teachers and guidance counselors. Later, as vice president of the Maryland Independent College and University Association, she led the association’s academic policy and related lobbying work, with specific oversight of teacher education and education accreditation. She has held faculty appointments at two colleges of education, the George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development (DC) as a visiting professor, and a full professor (clinical)at the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education.

Prior to her appointment as president and CEO of AACTE, she served as vice president at the American Council on Education (ACE), where she and her team guided ACE’s suite of programs, products, and services for current and future leaders. She served as dean of Colorado Women’s College, University of Denver, one of 12 deans and 7 vice chancellors within a private doctoral/research university dedicated to the public good. She has also served as executive director of the National Association for Women in Education, and as vice president of development, as well as vice president/dean of students, at Centenary University (NJ). She consults, writes, and speaks on education leadership, advancement of underrepresented men and women, strategic planning, and change management.

Gangone received an Ed.D. and M.Ed., with a concentration in organizations and leadership, from Teachers College, Columbia University (NY); an M.S. and C.A.S. in counseling psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York; and a B.A. in political science from the College of New Rochelle. She was a member of the class of 2010 Harvard Institute for Educational Management (IEM) and is certified through Trustee Leadership Development. She is also a member of the Colorado and Washington, DC, chapters of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) and served as Colorado’s 2013 president; she has served the IWF Leadership Foundation as a fellows mentor. Some of the many honors she has received include Twenty-Five Most Powerful Women in Colorado, Women of Distinction—Girl Scouts of Colorado, Women Making History—Colorado Black Women for Political Action, Diamond Honoree—American College Personnel Association, and the Ursula Laurus Alumnae Award from the College of New Rochelle.


Marta Perez Drake

Chief Operating Officer
Phone: 202-478-4507
mdrake@aacte.org


Janae Blanscet

Janae Blanscet

Special Assistant to the President & CEO
Phone: (202) 478-4505
JBlanscet@aacte.org


Leslie T. Fenwick, PhD

Leslie T. Fenwick, Ph.D.

AACTE Dean in Residence
Phone: 202-478-4505
lfenwick@aacte.org

View Biography

Leslie T. Fenwick, PhD, has worked in every sector of education – as a PK-12 school teacher and administrator in urban public and private schools; university faculty member and administrator; foundation program officer; and, legislative aid in the State of Ohio Senate when the state crafted its first omnibus school reform legislation. Additionally, she has worked with federal programs committed to education equity including Head Start and Upward Bound.

Described as a “fearless voice” for educational equity,

Dr. Fenwick is Dean in Residence at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). AACTE members are School/College of Education deans, faculty members, and partner organizations that prepare the education workforce of the future. In her role as Dean in Residence, Dr. Fenwick works with AACTE’s national office to ensure that all PK-12 students receive high quality teachers and instruction.

Dr. Fenwick is also Dean Emeritus of the Howard University School of Education where she served as dean for nearly 10 years and during which time the School of Education attained

first-time ranking by U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) as one of the nation’s top-100 Schools/Colleges of Education and held an annual Capitol Hill Policy Forum attended by 300 educators and legislators dedicated to crafting education and social policies that advance equity. She remains a tenured professor of educational policy at Howard University.

A former Visiting Scholar and Visiting Fellow at Harvard University, Fenwick also serves as a Senior Fellow for the McDonald Character Leadership Program at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Fenwick is regularly called upon to testify about educational equity, college access, and school leadership and teacher quality and diversity to the U.S. Senate, National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Urban League, Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Education Writers Association (EWA), National Education Association (NEA), National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE), and the Washington Policy Seminar. Additionally, she has been an invited speaker at the National Press Club and appeared on CNN, C-SPAN, and local television networks discussing equal educational opportunity and access.

A nationally known education policy scholar, Dr. Fenwick is co-founder of the Urban Superintendents Academy at the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), The School Superintendents Association. Additionally, she held term appointments as a member of the Harvard University Principals Center Advisory Board, AACTE Board of Directors, and EduTopia’s (George Lucas Education Foundation) National Advisory Board.

Notably, Dr. Fenwick served as an appointed member of the Committee that produced the National Academy of Sciences’ first study about mayoral control of public schools. Recently, she was among a select group of nationally-prominent scholars who advised the National Academy of Education about its teacher diversity study.

Dr. Fenwick is a contributor to the best-selling book, The Last Word: Controversy and Commentary in American Education. Her op-ed articles about education, the economy, and urban development have appeared in the Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Education Week, The Huffington Post, and Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Her research on teacher diversity has been cited by the New York Times and the Center for American Progress.

In keeping with her research about teacher quality, during her tenure as dean Dr. Fenwick served as co-PI for the Ready to Teach Program – a $2.1 million innovative teacher preparation program funded by the U.S. Department of Education that was lauded as a national model by the U.S. Secretary of Education. Dr. Fenwick also managed an $11 million (Wallace Funds) teacher pipeline initiative in 7 southeastern states when she was a program officer at the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) and served as a lead researcher on a $12 million Annenberg Foundation-funded project about school reform, neighborhood revitalization, and community rebuilding.

Presently, Dr. Fenwick is one of 11 members of the Scholarly Advisory Committee for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) which was established by noted historian Dr. John Hope Franklin to help set the museum’s intellectual agenda and exhibition content.

A former middle school science teacher and science enthusiast, Dr. Fenwick was appointed by NASA Administrator (director) General Charles Bolden to NASA’s inaugural Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) Committee. Additionally, she is a 2014 Salzburg Global Fellow (the cohort was convened in Salzburg, Austria to examine globalization and leadership) and a member of the 1999 cohort of American university administrators invited to the University of Oxford (Exeter College) to discuss ethics and leadership. Dr. Fenwick is the 2011 recipient of the WEB DuBois Award for Leadership in Higher Education from the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE). She has delivered the WEB DuBois Distinguished Lecture to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Black SIG, the Benjamin E. Mays Distinguished Lecture at Georgia State University, and the Distinguished Researcher Lecture at Kansas State University.

Dr. Fenwick earned a PhD in educational policy and leadership from The Ohio State University where she was a Flescher Fellow and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Virginia. She began her career in education as a 4th grade teacher and was locally celebrated in her hometown of Toledo, Ohio as a Rookie Teacher of the Year. Dr. Fenwick and her husband, H. Patrick Swygert (President Emeritus of Howard University and former president of the State University of New York, Albany) are lifelong educators.


Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.

AACTE Consultant, Research, Policy, & Advocacy
Phone: 202-478-4587
jking@aacte.org


MaryGrace Wanda

Operations Assistant
Phone: 202-478-3854
mwanda@aacte.org


Whom should I contact?

Select a topic below to find the staff responsible for key AACTE programs and activities. Please direct questions in order of the contacts listed.

Please contact:

Janae Blanscet

Janae Blanscet

Special Assistant to the President & CEO
Phone: (202) 478-4505
JBlanscet@aacte.org


Katrina Norfleet

Senior Director, Marketing & Communications Strategy
Phone: 202-478-4517
knorfleet@aacte.org


Cookie Walner

Director Meetings and Events
Phone: 202-478-4508
cwalner@aacte.org


Cookie Walner

Director Meetings and Events
Phone: 202-478-4508
cwalner@aacte.org


Altovise Davis

Project Manager
Phone: 202-478-4504
adavis@aacte.org


Katrina Norfleet

Senior Director, Marketing & Communications Strategy
Phone: 202-478-4517
knorfleet@aacte.org


Tyler Pointer

Director, Communications & PR
Phone: 202-478-4593
tpointer@aacte.org


Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.

AACTE Consultant, Research, Policy, & Advocacy
Phone: 202-478-4587
jking@aacte.org


Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.

AACTE Consultant, Research, Policy, & Advocacy
Phone: 202-478-4587
jking@aacte.org


Weade James

Weadé W. James, Ph.D.

Vice President, Organizational Advancement
Phone: 202-478-4591
wjames@aacte.org


Peggy Andrews

Human Resources
HR@aacte.org


Weade James

Weadé W. James, Ph.D.

Vice President, Organizational Advancement
Phone: 202-478-4591
wjames@aacte.org


Gloriatine Jones

Senior Manager, Member Services & Events
Phone: 202-478-4516
gjones@aacte.org


Gloriatine Jones

Senior Manager, Member Services & Events
Phone: 202-478-4516
gjones@aacte.org


Janae Blanscet

Janae Blanscet

Special Assistant to the President & CEO
Phone: (202) 478-4505
JBlanscet@aacte.org


Tyler Pointer

Director, Communications & PR
Phone: 202-478-4593
tpointer@aacte.org


Weade James

Weadé W. James, Ph.D.

Vice President, Organizational Advancement
Phone: 202-478-4591
wjames@aacte.org


Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D.

AACTE Consultant, Research, Policy, & Advocacy
Phone: 202-478-4587
jking@aacte.org


Tunara Moore

Manager, Digital Communications
Phone: 202-478-4503
tmoore@aacte.org


Marta Perez Drake

Chief Operating Officer
Phone: 202-478-4507
mdrake@aacte.org


Brooke Evans, MA

Assistant Director, Research & Practice
Phone: 202-478-3855
bevans@aacte.org


Nicole Dunn M.B.A.

Director, Strategic Initiatives & Equity Programs
Phone: 202-478-4560
ndunn@aacte.org


Carola Enriquez

Senior Accountant
Phone: 202-478-3854
cenriquez@aacte.org


Jennifer Dorsey

Director of Member Operations
Phone: 202-478-4501
jdorsey@aacte.org


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