Jessica Heppen, a nationally recognized expert in education research, policy, and practice, is the president & CEO of AIR. Dr. Heppen been with AIR for 20 years and, in that time, has held several key roles during her tenure.
Marshal Conley is a principal technical assistance consultant at AIR. His current work focuses on policy, practice, and knowledge utilization related to digital and blended learning and integration of learning technologies with instructional practice for learners of all ages. Conley is also an expert in the design, implementation, and facilitation ...
Bobbi Newman is a principal researcher and director of AIR’s practice area for standards and assessments. She has more than 15 years of experience in research and evaluation of school reform efforts. Dr. Newman has worked at every level of the education system, from the classroom to the state. As ...
Veronica Tate is a managing director at AIR and serves as a senior leader on the management team that shapes the technical assistance delivery and supports effective collaboration across the comprehensive centers operated by AIR. She provides leadership, project management, and quality assurance supervision to ensure the effectiveness of services, ...
Eric S. Waters is a web development specialist at AIR. Waters has more than 16 years of experience as a database developer, with a particular focus on data tools and web applications serving internal and external education clients. In his present position, Waters creates and maintains both Drupal and FileMaker ...
Julie Jacobson Vann has more than 40 years of experience in health services that spans the delivery of public health and patient care services, health services and Medicaid managed care administration, research and evaluation, and academic teaching. More than 20 of those years have involved planning, managing and directing health ...
Darcee Simon is a TA Consultant at AIR. Simon’s expertise spans education, non-profit and workforce development with a focus on strategic partnership development, cross-program coordination and system alignment. Project work at AIR has included supporting state and local workforce development areas with strategic planning, coaching state grantee teams and state ...
Whitney Cade is a senior researcher at AIR. She currently supports multiple projects, including two Institute for Education Science grants and the Regional Education Laboratories Southwest. Her recent work focuses on understanding the impacts of 8th grade algebra on school trajectories and college readiness, evaluating UTeach teacher characteristics and program ...
Alise Crossland (Brann) is a senior researcher at AIR with more than 13 years of experience identifying and assessing digital learning technologies for both general and special education. Her work focuses on providing technical assistance and professional development to educators at the local, state, and national level on the use ...
Erika Kessler, Ph.D., is a researcher at AIR with expertise in climate change and environmental education and employing advanced statistical analysis techniques with large-scale, complex survey data.Dr. Kessler brings a breadth of work experience and expertise across a diverse array of topics to AIR. She has particular interest and experience in the ...