Meet a Marble
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Linda Bullock
Director of Learning and Curriculum
This irrepressible marble NEVER stops rolling! After starting out teaching K-12 and undergrads, Linda has worked as a reading specialist on a Navajo reservation, a magnet program curriculum coordinator, and a school district director of curriculum, assessment and professional development…working in spaces from a leaky portable to a World War II tank repair shop. With a PhD from University of Texas, Linda’s learning programs can now be found all over the US.
Linda is committed to keeping Austin “weird.” She’s a huge fan of Scandinavian mystery novels, host parent to 13 foreign exchange students, and is working to e-publish her own book, Paradise Taxi.
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Sujatha Menon
Director, International Content Development and Client Relationships
Sujatha helps build rock-solid relationships with our international clients. And as Six Red Marbles’ resident expert on copyright law, she also specializes in bringing real-world images to our learning tools. Today, she’s building and managing an entire picture research team. Before becoming a marble, Sujatha ran big projects and managed both editorial and picture research teams at Q2AMedia and Universal Learn Today. Now that picture should tell you something.
In Sujatha’s professional life, she’s worn many (many) hats. She’s a published children’s book author, a microbiologist, and has even worked as an international news correspondent.
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Sarah White
President, Founder
The “Rabble Rouser,” Sarah has steered Six Red Marbles through dramatic changes. In 1996, she founded the company with an ambitious goal: to collaborate with educational publishers and bring bold, creative technology products to life. She assembled a multi-disciplinary team whose experience spanned education, publishing and software development (the aforementioned “rabble”). And today, she and her passionate team create products that inspire learners everywhere.
Sarah's “body clock” runs from 4:30AM to about 9:30PM. She doesn't rise with the birds...she wakes them up.
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Mark Grayson
Executive Director of STEM
Mark heads up Six Red Marbles’ efforts in STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (or, as he likes to joke, “Everything But Reading”). Educators recognize STEM as critical for ensuring America’s competitive edge. So every day, Mark provides his management, vision, and perspective to help America’s kids rise to the challenge. He brings 20 years of experience in creating innovative curriculum materials. And he shows no signs of slowing down.
Mark is very proud of his science-based tie collection. He enjoys closely observing the politics of the Texas State Board of Education, and he wishes he could juggle.
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Gayatri Singh
President, India
Gayatri leads SRM’s international initiatives—with a passion for learning innovation that’s downright contagious! Over the past 20 years, she’s spearheaded the development of new, interactive learning tools for today’s tech-savvy kids across India, the US and Europe. The founder of Edpower2 and Q2A Media, and winner of the Tata Stree Shakti Award for Woman Entrepreneurship, this is one marble that really is changing the world.
Gayatri owned an Indian Contemporary Art gallery in London for 2 years where she brushed shoulders with celebrities and enjoyed seeing one of her shows profiled in OK magazine!
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Lauren Little
Senior Vice President of Business Development
Lauren lives to watch students succeed using the learning tools she helps bring to their schools. In her last role, she helped develop and deliver game-changing customized digital learning tools for the classroom. One of these, the digital platform icore™, won the 2011 CODiE Award for Best K-12 Instructional Solution. This marble also cares about building students’ character. In her spare time, she works to make every school a bully-free zone.
Lauren loves dancing and karaoke—whether or not she’s any good. She also likes hitting the beach and boating with her husband. And be warned, she’s viciously competitive at board games.
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Steve Berger
Chief Financial Officer
Steve oversees Six Red Marbles’ global financial strategy—as well as the day-to-day realities of tax compliance, information services, Human Resources and facilities functions. With over 20 years of financial experience, he brings a strong POV. Lots of CFOs choose to work behind the scenes and just focus on the numbers. But Steve interacts daily with investors, partners and clients—keeping everyone up to speed on what those numbers mean for education and kids.
In his free time, Steve enjoys competitive tennis and is an avid DIY-er. He also has a serious sweet tooth for a Baltimore delicacy: Berger cookies.
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Marie L. Brown
President, Chief Academic Officer
Marie is the editorial face of Six Red Marbles. And over her 30 years in the industry, she’s developed a spotless reputation. Marie is the proud founder of Brown Publishing Network. This full-service educational program development company was named one of the top 100 Women-Led Businesses in MA from 2003-2008 by Babson College and the Commonwealth Institute. When it comes to learning, Marie’s passion, love of kids and leadership are unsurpassed.
While teaching at a Department of Defense school in Germany, Marie joined a singing group that performed at military venues…and fulfilled her fantasy of living like her alter ego, Joan Baez.
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Robin Brandenburg
Director of Momentum and Innovation
Robin unearths important research and shares it with Six Red Marbles teams to support product development. She also lends her creative direction to many processes and projects. Like so many marbles, Robin is a former teacher with insights aplenty from education’s front lines. And with extensive experience in publishing to boot, she’s perfectly positioned to keep Six Red Marbles at the forefront of learning innovation.
r.brandenburg@sixredmarbles.com
Robin is an education lifer. She earned her BA in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and her Master’s in Educational Leadership/Education and Educational Training Management.
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Dave Reinhold
Director of Production Technologies
Dave spearheads an integrated production technology team with vast responsibilities. He communicates across departments—ensuring that every step of a project moves along efficiently. Dave has been with Six Red Marbles for 18 years. His experience spans all the departments he now coordinates: production, editorial, technology and project management. So Dave is not afraid to propose a new, innovative approach—or roll up his sleeves.
Dave grew up on a farm and learned to fly his Dad’s private plane in high school. He also has an Apple logo tattooed on his arm. (The man loves his Macs.)
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Todd Mahler
Director of Product Development
Over the past 12 years, Todd's experiences at Six Red Marbles have ranged from business development to managing projects to developing superior applications. He brings an extraordinarily broad view of the K-12 industry. And he works closely with clients to analyze their needs and oversee the complete architecture, design and engineering of their technology products. He has a BA in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Villanova and an EdM from Harvard.
Todd is also an all-star player in multiple sports—softball, basketball and tennis. But his two Jack Russell terriers can easily outrun him.
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Katie Turcot
Director of Finance and Administration
Katie is an experienced Human Resources professional with over 10 years in the field. Her main goal is to keep the “human” in Human Resources, so her door is always open. Have any questions about the 401(k), HRA, FSA or FMLA? Katie’s your go-to. But she also has a strong background in finance. This made it possible for her to work closely with her CFO—and assume responsibility for all Six Red Marbles invoicing and payroll. Happy, busy Katie.
Over the summer, Katie loves to beach and boat at her home on Cape Cod. But come winter, she’s a certified Hockey Mom. Both her son and her daughter play for the Natick Comets.
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Jacques Driscoll
Chief Executive Officer
Since 2009, Jacques has led Six Red Marbles' rapid transformation into one of the most innovative and respected companies in the learning space. Previously, he helped West Publishing transition from a print-centric model to a fully-integrated print/digital platform. And as founder of Spyglass Creative, he helped more than 35 companies build strong brands and achieve record sales. Jacques received his BA from Harvard and his JD from William Mitchell College of Law.
Jacques grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota, but he remains an uncertain cow milker and believes horses are best appreciated from the ground.
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Joanne Markow
Chief Operating Officer
Joanne is responsible for “Making it Happen,” ensuring the success of every project by bringing together the right mix of marbles, processes, and tools. Joanne has spent 17 years in K-college educational technology spearheading change—to bring next-generation learning to America’s schools and universities. An advocate for cross-cultural exchanges, Joanne received her Master's from Harvard, where she studied anthropological perspectives on cognition.
When she's not burning the midnight oil on Six Red Marbles projects, Joanne figure skates competitively, sky dives and enjoys bizarre travel expeditions.
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Amy Losi
Director of Assessment
Amy admits to being “testy” after spending the last sixteen years developing assessments for publishing companies including Steck-Vaughn, Macmillan, and The Princeton Review. She created the assessments for Macmillan’s Treasures reading program and wrote 140 reading and math test blueprints for New York City. Amy ran training sessions for item reviewers and administrators, and kept audiences awake with test jokes, such as: “I didn’t know anything before I started going to school. I still don’t know anything, but now they test me on it.” As a teacher she created Family Math nights, an after-school Drama Club, and wrote and directed classroom plays. She has a B.A. in English/creative writing and master’s degrees in English and Elementary Education. And she loves to bake!
On weekends, Amy runs to auditions or indulges her passion for acting at one of New York’s off-off-Broadway theatres. In less than two years she has appeared in a dozen plays, a commercial, a TV show, and a comedy/improv show that ran for over a year.
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Julio Ricardo Varela
Editorial Director, Reading/Language Arts
Julio is a fearless editorial leader for Reading/Language arts, with 20 years of development and publishing experience. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (where he took on multiple leadership roles), he led the first fully electronic workflow in the School Division. With his own companies, v5 LLC and Publish, he helped clients from Pearson to Encyclopedia Britannica embrace new media and technology. This marble is reimagining the learning industry—and public education.
j.varela@sixredmarbles.comJulio freely admits to a maniacal passion for sports, especially the Red Sox, Knicks, Arsenal, Barcelona and Patriots. For the record, he shed his allegiance to the Yankees in the 90s.
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Heather Gunsallus
Executive Director/STEM
This math and science-minded marble heads up our STEM teams—informed by a rich history in curriculum development. Heather first started out teaching geometry and algebra. Then she went on to strategize, create and deliver inventive learning materials across print and digital for publishers, virtual schools and universities—engaging students from early childhood through higher ed. Talk about getting on a roll.
Heather married her high school sweetheart (aw). She loves baking, hanging out with her family, and getting way too involved with her daughter’s math and technology class projects.
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Danny Franklin
Executive Director of Curriculum and Learning
Danny is “the neuroscience guy,” responsible for designing, developing and delivering Six Red Marbles’ most innovative, interdisciplinary, multi-media learning systems. He’s the primary force behind the company’s Natural Learning Approach—which was largely informed by his advanced training, MBA and PMP in the neuroscience of learning. He holds these degrees in addition to a BA, MTS, PMI and PhD! Simply put, Danny exemplifies what it means to be a marble.
On the rare occasion he’s not studying mathematics or neuroscience, Dan enjoys playing (and winning) squash. But he’s most grateful for his health and cherished family.
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Kathy Reynolds
Director of Art and Design
Kathy is in charge of managing Six Red Marbles’ design teams to create strong visuals. She works closely with clients, and even visits classrooms to talk to kids, to harness the instructional power of illustrations and design. She brings over 40 years of experience working with publishers like Houghton Mifflin, D.C. Heath and Silver Burdett Ginn. She’s taken on ambitious projects—like the Saxon Early Learning program and Navigator books for Benchmark Education.
Kathy’s a bit of a design marathoner. She managed 100 Phonics Practice Readers for MacMillan, and 355 books for Fountas and Pinnell’s Leveled Literacy Intervention program for Heinemann.
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Roy O’Neill
Director of Information Technology
Roy is Six Red Marbles’ systems integration and infrastructure specialist, responsible for “All Things IT.” With 15 years of experience in the industry as everything from a Desktop Technician to his current leadership role, Roy is an IT lifer. He’s particularly proud of his experience and talent in web application design and development. He taught a class on web design applications for four years, and his course material was submitted through the State of Florida.
Roy enjoys taking his family on geocaching outings—outdoor treasure hunts powered by GPS devices. He will, however, go acoustic…when his baby girl wants him at her tea party.
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Pam Garner
Director of Mathematics
Pam oversees Six Red Marbles’ Mathematics projects, ensuring that they meet and even exceed client standards—and always get delivered right on time. She also hires, trains and mentors the editors and project managers who work with her every day. Pam brings 30 years of experience in education. For 15 years, she worked at major textbook publishers. And she taught secondary math for 15 years—giving her a frontline perspective on what kids need in education today.
Pam has kissed Danny DeVito, wrapped toilet paper around Dale Evans’ house, babysat for Matthew McConaughey, and gotten email from Billy Idol.
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Jason Gorman
Director of Learning Design
Jason works with his team to shape content delivery and redefine learning environments as natural, vibrant spaces for students to build their own knowledge. He has demonstrated his passion for innovation at Boston University, Simmons College, and most recently at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Jason started out as an English teacher and taught as far away as the United Arab Emirates. Today, his insights are at work across K-12 schools, universities, non-profits and companies.
When Jason isn’t working hard as learning design marble-in-chief, you’ll find him playing with, learning from, and generally goofing around with…his two daughters.
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Emily Levitt
Director of Instructional Design, Humanities
Emily is responsible for directing development of programs in Reading, Writing and other Humanities. She brings a blend of teaching, instructional design, and educational technology. Prior to joining Six Red Marbles, Emily worked at Sylvan, Plato Learning, and other education companies producing computer-adaptive curricula. Emily uses this experience to infuse her programs with fun and engaging concepts, solid processes, and sound educational philosophies.
Emily was once the only grown-up in a horseback riding class for children and is trying to teach herself to speak Welsh.
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Bonnie Dobkin
Executive Director of Humanities
Bonnie is an undisputed expert in words, writing and education. And every day, she helps conceptualize and develop print/digital programs for Six Red Marbles clients. Bonnie started out as a teacher. Then, in 1979, she stormed the world of educational publishing. As VP and Editorial Director for Language Arts at McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, she led development of several flagship programs (leading to big increases in market share). She’s also a well-published author.
Bonnie has written, directed and performed in musicals since age seven. Her love of all things theatrical led to 15 minutes of fame in 2004, when she appeared on the reality show Mad Mad House.
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Audra Bailey
Director of Project Operations
Audra is in charge of “Projects and People.” She coordinates operations, using her strong background in business, project management and editorial to keep hundreds of details organized. Audra started out working at a non-profit educational development company in Washington, DC. Then she spent 13 years with Brown Publishing Network. She attended Colby College and received her MBA from Babson College's Olin Graduate School of Business.
When she's not working, you will find Audra trying to tame her flower garden or playing Wiffle Ball with her English bulldog.
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John Kenney
Senior VP of Business Development
John is in charge of expanding Six Red Marbles’ business and building strong, substantial relationships with clients. He bolsters the company’s presence in the market—letting educators, school systems and publishers know just what Six Red Marbles can do to help them succeed. John has been with the company for seven successful years. Previously, he worked in financial services. But like so many other marbles, he started out in education as a teacher.
When he’s not rolling around the office, John has his hands full raising three young boys. He coaches both soccer and lacrosse—and loves his family time.