ESS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
- Consultant With Education Support Services Group
Anthony Soria is a consultant with Education Support Services Group (ESS). ESS provides a comprehensive menu of services for governing boards, superintendents, senior management teams, school districts, and community colleges. The divisions of service include: leadership and governance; executive search services; curriculum and instruction; human resource management; and business and fiscal services.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Arlene Machado has over 47 years of public school experience. Starting as an elementary school teacher, she next served as an assistant elementary school principal and then elementary school principal for the Morgan Hill Unified School District. She later served as a district-level administrator in positions such as Interim Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources; Director, Instructional Technology & Enrollment; and Director, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment until her retirement.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Dr. Beth Brigante Higbee has more than 40 years' experience in education, having held positions from teacher with the Fontana Unified School District to Assistant Superintendent with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. As Assistant Superintendent, she had responsibility for all curriculum, instruction, and state and federal academic accountability programs such as the Curriculum, Instruction, and Academic Enrichment Department, the Local Control and Accountability Plan Support Services Department, and the AVID and College Success Department (a partnership with San Bernardino, Riverside, and Inyo counties). She also had oversight over such diverse programs as data analytics; statewide community engagement initiative; CalSOAP Grant; Cradle to Career interactive web resource development; organization of grant writing teams; administrative leadership programs; the county-wide student voice initiative, as well as service on various regional and state leadership committees.
Dr. Higbee is the recipient of several honors and awards, a few of which are: County Central Office Administrator of the Year (ACSA, 2010); State Central Office Administrator of the Year (ACSA, 2011); selected to serve on the State Curriculum and Instruction Executive Committee (2012-14; 2018-20); appointed to the State Advisory Panel for Updating the California Professional Educational Leadership Standards in partnership with WestEd and approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2014.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Beverly Hempstead has over 35 years of experience in education, including four years as a superintendent. In addition to her superintendent experience, Beverly served as Deputy Superintendent of Human Resources and District Operations, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Director of Student Services, an elementary and middle school principal and general and special education classroom teacher.
Following undergraduate study at the University of Southern California, Mrs. Hempstead received her Master's in Special Education from California State University, Los Angeles.
In 2013, Mrs. Hempstead received a certificate of recognition from the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators for her support of public education. In 2015, she received the California PTA Honorary Service award for her commitment and community service to children and youth.
Mrs. Hempstead has been involved in numerous professional organizations, including the California Services for Technical Assistance and Training (CalSTAT), the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Association of California School Administrators and the Superintendents Associations in Southern California.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
With over 30 years of public school experience, Dr. Charles "Chuck" Lewis began his career as a high school teacher, next a junior high school teacher, and then he moved into positions of leadership. He was an assistant principal, an elementary school principal, and Director of Human Resources for Anaheim City School District. He was the Chief Personnel Officer for Tustin Unified School District until his retirement. In that cabinet-level position, Dr. Lewis was responsible for planning, organizing, controlling, and administering the district's personnel system, including classified and certificated employees and programs; overseeing position control; planning, implementing, and administering the district's health and welfare programs and worker's compensation, among other responsibilities. He was also chief negotiator for the district for both certificated and classified personnel. Dr. Lewis was instrumental in moving the Personnel Services department significantly forward in the use of technology in evaluations, hiring, and workflow processing.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Corey James has more than 37 years of experience in K-12 education, including 12 years as assistant superintendent for human resources. In addition to his assistant superintendent experience, Corey has been a director for Educational Services, elementary and middle school principal, middle school assistant principal and a classroom teacher.
Mr. James completed his undergraduate study and his master's in educational administrative services from California State University, Fullerton.
In 1998 and 2016, Mr. James was honored with the Teachers Honoring Excellence award for his leadership, commitment, and integrity in education. As a site principal, Mr. James provided leadership at elementary and middle schools that led to state recognition as California Distinguished Schools. In 2010 and 2014, the Association of California School Administrators selected him as a recipient of charter leadership awards for Region XV.
Mr. James has been involved with numerous professional organizations, including the American Association of School Administrators, the Association of California School Administrators, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and School Employers Association of California. Currently, Mr. James is serving as a director and presenter for the Association of California School Administrators Personnel Academy.
Married for more than 37 years, Mrs. James is currently an elementary teacher. Mr. and Mrs. James have four children that are pursuing their own professional careers in the Southern California area. They also have four grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Diana Casato earned a B.S. in Human Services from California State University, Fullerton, and M.A.'s in both Special Education and School Administration from California State University, Los Angeles.
Additionally, Mrs. Casato has been directly involved in the resolution of several civil rights complaints, as well as over 200 due process cases, the majority of which settled with much success in their early stages.
Mrs. Casato is the mother of five children (three of whom are educators) within a blended family. She and her husband, John, are both retired education administrators, and reside in South Orange County. They are the proud grandparents of six beautiful grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
- Founding ESS Consultants
Dr. Alan Rasmussen has more than 40 years of experience in K-12 education, including 13 years as a superintendent. In addition to his superintendent experience, he has been an Assistant Superintendent for Personnel and Educational Services, elementary and middle school principal, and a classroom teacher.
As one of the founding ESS consultants, Dr. Rasmussen has been working with and assisting school boards and superintendents in supporting and building leadership capacities. Areas of focus include board governance training, superintendent evaluations, goal setting, conflict resolution, leadership coaching, policy revisions, human resource audits, and executive searches. In addition, Dr. Rasmussen is a trained presenter and facilitator of interest-based bargaining and has extensive experience working with districts during negotiations.
Job Titles:
- Superintendent of the Desert Sands Unified School District
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
- Member of ACSA
Dr. Laura Tellez-Gagliano began her educational career as a classroom teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) 40 years ago. After serving nine years with LAUSD, Dr. Tellez-Gagliano worked for the Garvey School District for 17 years in the capacities of Resource Teacher, Assistant Principal/Intermediate School, Principal of two elementary schools, Director of Curriculum and Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources. In 2003, Dr. Tellez-Gagliano joined the Alhambra Unified School District as Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources. In July 2012, Dr. Tellez-Gagliano was appointed Superintendent of the Alhambra Unified School District. She served in that capacity for five years and retired in June 2017.
Dr. Tellez-Gagliano has been a long-standing member of ACSA (Association of California Administrators) and the Rotary Club. She has received several honors, including the CSULA Charter College of Education ‘Distinguished Educator' in 2013, the Alhambra Latino Association Award in 2015, ‘Women of the Year' Award from Congresswoman Judy Chu in 2016, the ‘Service to Education' Award from the Alhambra Education Foundation in 2017 and the ‘Past Presidents' ‘Award from the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce in 2017.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
- Special Education Administrator
Dr. Lynn Busia has more than 37 years of experience in the field of education. Earning an undergraduate degree in English and a teaching credential from Marymount College, Dr. Busia began her career as an educator in the Pico Union District of Los Angeles. Seeing the need to provide support to personnel serving a diverse population of students in inclusive settings, she pursued studies in curriculum and instruction, special education, and administration, earning a Master's degree in Education from California State University, Los Angeles, as well as a Master's degree in administration from Pepperdine University. Dr. Busia continued her academic work at Pepperdine University where she was awarded a doctorate in organizational leadership.
Dr. Busia is best known for charting new paths in educational organizations by bringing a unique perspective to addressing public, procedural and management issues. She has knowledge, skills, and experience in:
Dr. Busia has been a special education administrator, student services administrator, principal, program specialist, and general education and special education teacher. In addition to her work in public, charter, and private pre K-12 schools, Dr. Busia has served as both a university program administrator and faculty member. Working with aspiring school leaders, she has taught for 14 years in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
- Member and Moderator
Dr. Michael Matthews has more than 35 years of experience in K-12 education, including over 11 years as Superintendent of Manhattan Beach Unified School District. His service also included school principal positions, positions as assistant superintendent, and 10 years as an adjunct professor.
Dr. Matthews is a member and moderator in the Superintendents Consortium 2034 and holds membership in Association of California Supervisors and Administrators. He has been awarded the ACSA Region 14 Superintendent of the Year (2013), District nominee for California Teacher of the Year (1990), and City of Malibu Dolphin Award ("Citizen of the Year") (1997). Under his superintendency, Manhattan Beach USD was named an Apple Distinguished School District (2012-2016), MBUSD also earned multiple California Distinguished School awards, National Blue Ribbon Awards, one National Green Ribbon Award, and numerous other recognitions.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Edward Knudson has 36 years of management experience, which includes 24 years in higher education, 10 years in the hospitality industry, with seven years as a property general manager. He proudly served four years in the United States Army as a NCO and is a Vietnam Era Veteran.
Mr. Knudson also served as Vice-President, Academic Affairs, at Bakersfield College, where he oversaw 250 full-time faculty, 400 adjunct faculty, and 300 classified staff in serving over 18,000 students per semester.
Mr. Knudson served as a faculty member for various universities and serves, or has served, on various professional and community associations and boards, such as Bakersfield Vision 20/20 Education Taskforce; CCLC Advisory Committee on Legislation; Redevelopment Oversight Board, Los Angeles County; and Edwards Air Force Base Civilian Military Board of Directors.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Dr. Gary Rutherford retired as Superintendent of the Desert Sands Unified School District in 2017, culminating a career in public education spanning 40 years. His 16 years as a superintendent also included service as Superintendent of the Upland Unified School District and the Huntington Beach City School District. A native Californian, Gary began his career in public education in 1976, enjoying successful teaching and site administrator assignments at the elementary, middle grades, and high school levels, before moving on to the central office as a specialist in curriculum and instruction.
Since retirement, Dr. Rutherford invests his decades of experience in K-12 public education as an executive search advisor, interim superintendent of schools, executive leadership coach, and consultant for governance team training and workshops.
Dr. Rutherford demonstrates his commitment to develop the next generation of school leaders as an adjunct professor in graduate programs for school administrators and doctoral candidates. An active and involved member of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), he leads a number of committees and institutes that support professional growth and build the capacity of school leaders. In addition, Dr. Rutherford supports the work of California administrators as an Advocate for ACSA's Member Assistance and Legal Services Team.
Dr. Rutherford earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Pepperdine University, a Master of Arts at California State University at Los Angeles, and a doctoral degree in Organizational Management from the University of La Verne.
In 2012, Dr. Rutherford was honored to be named as Superintendent of the Year for Region 12 of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). The following year, he was selected to represent ACSA in the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Superintendent of the Year recognition program. More recently, Dr. Rutherford was honored with the Visionary Leader Award by the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership in recognition of his work to develop, refine, and sustain career pathways for more than 71,000 in the region's K-12 schools.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Gayle Wayne brings ESS and Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo a rich and varied background in communications research, media development and management, and crisis communication. She has worked to support negotiations from Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo for more than 30 years, assisting districts to build trust and credibility and move discussion forward and away from concerted activities. This background, combined with her early experience as a newspaper reporter, a teacher, and a district-level administrator, bring to her consulting services both expediency and relevance.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
- Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer of the Buena Park School District
In August 2008, Greg Magnuson was appointed Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer of the Buena Park School District (BPSD). Having joined the District in 2002, he served as Deputy Superintendent and then Assistant Superintendent, Administrative Services. Mr. Magnuson worked with the District's Governing Board, community stakeholders, and staff to guide the District's California Common Core instructional standards and Local Control Accountability Plan implementations. He directed the District's successful 2014 Measure ‘B' general obligation modernization program, guiding the District team to enhance school safety and security and implement BPSD's "Classroom Without Limits" initiative supporting high-speed broadband connectivity, 1:1 student technology, and fully renovated classrooms to "Future Ready" standards. In partnership with the Buena Park City Council and Buena Park Library District, he also established the Buena Park Literacy Collaborative to create a community-wide focus on early literacy, and he supported service expansion for direct English language development and acquisition by Buena Park students and parents.
Prior to his employment at BPSD, Mr. Magnuson held management positions with the Los Angeles County Office of Education where he provided governance and technical support services to the county's school and community college district governing boards and administrators.
Mr. Magnuson serves in numerous state and local leadership positions, including: President, North Orange County Fringe Benefits Joint Powers Association; Director, Casa Youth Shelter; and Member, SchoolsFirst FCU; Los Angeles/Orange County Advisory Board; and Risk Management Committees. He is also a current member and past Chairman of the Orange County Superintendents Organization, the North Orange County Special Education Local Plan Area, and Superintendent's Cabinet. He has taught education business law and finance at the university level.
He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Loyola Marymount University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Pepperdine University. Prior to his career in public education, Mr. Magnuson held technical and management positions with one of the nation's largest aerospace firms.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Jose Banda has more than 40 years of experience in both rural and urban K-12 education, including over 14 years as Superintendent. His service also included school principal positions and positions as deputy/associate superintendent. He was also a high school counselor and a migrant education counselor for three high schools.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Dr. Joseph Condon has more than 40 years of experience in education, 35 of which were in administration, including 19 years as superintendent of school districts in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. In addition to his superintendent experience, Joe has been an Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Director of Professional Development, elementary and middle school principal, and classroom teacher. Dr. Condon's formal education includes degrees from Cal State University, Northridge, the University of Southern California, and a Doctoral degree in Organizational Leadership from the University of La Verne.
Dr. Condon has been involved with numerous professional organizations, including the American Association of School Administrators, and the Association of California School Administrators. He also served as the Vice-President of the Urban Superintendents Association made up of superintendents from across the US and Canada. Dr. Condon has been an adjunct faculty member at Pepperdine University, Cal State University, Dominguez Hills, and Concordia University.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Starting as a high school teacher, Dr. Joseph Farley has over 40 years of public school experience, spanning a variety of teaching and leadership roles. He spent 14 years as Superintendent in three California school districts, with his career culminating as the Superintendent of Capistrano Unified. Throughout Dr. Farley's tenure as a school leader, he also served as a lecturer, adjunct professor on school law at CSU, San Marcos, and adjunct professor of Educational Leadership and Human Resources Development for San Diego State University.
Dr. Farley has served in a number of advisory roles including: advisory board member for the College of Education, Cal State, Fullerton; advisory council member for the School of Education, Brandman University; and board member/secretary, Anaheim Prep Sports/Activities Foundation. He has also been an expert witness for employment-related litigation cases for various Southern California law firms.
Dr. Farley is the recipient of the Distinguished La Verne Educator Award and the Point Loma College "Educap" Award for his leadership development in San Diego County. As a sought-after speaker, Dr. Farley has numerous keynotes and presentations to his credit including Los Amigos of Orange County; Cal State Fullerton; Capistrano Unified Council of PTSA's Hot Topics in Education; and Preparing Future Leaders for OCDE. He also appeared on KPBS's Full Focus as an expert panel member on school finance. Dr. Farley is a prolific writer with numerous publications in state and national journals.
Juan M. López retired in 2015 as the District Superintendent for the highly acclaimed Val Verde Unified School District. Val Verde is a very successful school district serving 20,000 students in 21 schools. For 25 years, he served as an Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in districts ranging from 5,000 to 60,000 students. In retirement, he has served as the Interim Superintendent in Coachella Valley (2), Redlands, Westminster, Colton-Redlands-Yucaipa ROP, West Covina and Fontana school districts.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Dr. Karen Reed has over 30 years of experience in K-12 education, including an aggregate 19 years as a principal or assistant superintendent and 11 years as a K-12 teacher. Additionally, she has taught at the university level as an adjunct professor for the past 17 years.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Kathy Kessler has 43 years of experience in K-12 education, serving as superintendent, assistant superintendent of human resources, elementary school principal, curriculum reading specialist and elementary teacher. She was President of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) State Human Resource Council, was co-chair of the ACSA Personnel Institute and a frequent presenter at the Personnel Institute and ACSA Negotiators' Symposium. She also served as Chairperson of the Orange County Personnel Administrators Association, was named ACSA Region XVII's Personnel Administrator of the Year, and was awarded ACSA's Ray Curry Award for Excellence in Personnel Administration.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Marianne Tonjes has more than 30 years' experience in a variety of education and HR-related positions. She has served the educational community starting as a personnel analyst and then as an instructor for an MBA program. She went on to become a lead college instructor, developing curriculum and instructing students in organizational psychology/human resources. She is currently retired from the position of Executive Director for CODESP. Ms. Tonjes oversaw a self-supporting JPA of over 750 public organizations, including school districts, college districts, cities, counties, transit agencies, utilities, ports, airports, water and sanitation districts, public health and superior courts to provide human resource services including training, recruitment, employee selection materials, software tools, HR consultation, and services to assist customers in the recruitment, assessment, selection, and management of employees at conferences and through social media.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Dr. Marylou Wilson has over 35 years of public school experience covering a wide area of the state of California, her career culminating in the superintendency of St. Helena Unified School District. She began her career as a classroom teacher, moving up to assistant principal in a K-8 school, elementary school principal, and then on to Coordinator of Special Projects, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources, and Director of Instructional Support Services before becoming Superintendent.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Michael Crass has more than 45 years of experience in K-12 education, including 20 years as a superintendent. In addition to his superintendent experience, Michael has been an Assistant Superintendent for curriculum and instruction, elementary and high school principal, Director of Professional Development, and elementary, high school and college teacher.
Mr. Crass has served on several boards, including School Employees Association of California, ASCD, and the California Education Coalition for Health Care Reform, where he serves as the Management Co-Chair. Mr. Crass was selected as the Superintendent of the Year for ACSA Region IX in 2006.
Professionally, Mr. Lopez passion has been the Transformation of School Culture, English Learners, Parent Engagement and serving as a Mentor/Coach. He has served on the Teacher Preparation Advisory Boards at Chapman University, Whittier College and UC Riverside, as well as the Administrative Leadership Advisory Board at Cal Poly Pomona. He has also been active as a Chairperson with WASC for over 20 visitations. He is a long-time member of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and served on the statewide ACSA Urban Education Committee.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Ms. Gerrie Fausett has more than 30 years' experience in education, having held positions from elementary school teacher to superintendent. She possesses a wide range of experience as a consultant and an investigator, having worked with Santa Barbara Unified School District, Santa Barbara City College, and Santa Barbara County Office of Education. Ms. Fausett has also served as a candidate screener on various searches and she has conducted superintendent searches for the following school districts: Santa Paula; Panama Buena Vista; Santa Maria-Bonita; Buellton; Stockton; and Auburn.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Nora Roque has served in California's public school systems as a Human Resources Coordinator/Credential Analyst, Coordinator of Administrative Services, Director of Classified Personnel and, most recently, as Chief Human Resources Officer for the Inglewood Unified School District. During her time in human resources, she negotiated three-year contracts twice with both certificated and classified bargaining units in a district under state receivership. She has developed positive working relationships with unions, resulting in regular roundtable at district level and collaboration on calendar committee, curriculum/instruction committees, and a benefits committee.
She earned both her Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration (HRM emphasis) and her master of arts in human resources management, with an emphasis on organizational development, at National University.
Ms. Roque is particularly adept in the areas of leadership/communication skills, team building, contract negotiations, employee relations, staff motivation, and organizational restructure and change, and has undergone training at the ACSA Personnel Academy, the SCPCA Merit System Academy, and the ACSA Personnel Institutes. She is a member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) and a retired member of the Association for California School Administrators (ACSA).
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Patricia Jaffe has 42 years of experience in K-12 education, including experience as a superintendent, an Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, a middle school principal, and a classroom teacher. In 2004, Mrs. Jaffe received the ACSA Secondary Principal of the Year Award for Region XIV.
Following undergraduate work at the University of Southern California, Mrs. Jaffe received a Master's degree in Education from the University of Southern California and a Master's degree in Administration from Pepperdine University.
Mrs. Jaffe has been an adjunct professor and a university supervisor for the Institute of School Leadership and Administration at Loyola Marymount University. She has been a member of numerous professional organizations, the Association of California School Administrators, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Delta Kappa Gamma.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Dr. Patricia Koch has more than 30 years' experience in school business management as a school district official and as a consultant. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning, school finance, facilities, asset management, employee benefits, and risk management. Since 2009, she has served, on behalf of the Orange County Department of Education, as fiscal expert to five school districts in California: Capistrano Unified School District; Fullerton Joint Union High School District; Saddleback Valley Unified School District; Santa Ana Unified School District; and Westminster School District. Dr. Koch has facilitated budget reduction workshops in the Capistrano, Fullerton Elementary, and Newark (California) districts. She has also facilitated strategic plans in the San Diego County Office of Education and the California Association of School Business Officials. Dr. Koch served as Interim Assistant Superintendent in the Westminster and Brea-Olinda school districts, and Interim Chief Financial Officer in the San Diego Unified School District.
Dr. Koch is the former Assistant Superintendent, Business Services, of the Huntington Beach Union High School District. Dr. Koch was previously the Assistant Superintendent, Business and Operations, of the ABC Unified School District. She also served in various capacities in the Los Angeles Unified School District, including Assistant to the Superintendent for Policy Implementation, and Financial Planning Manager.
Dr. Koch served as State Chair of the Professional Development Committee of the California Association of School Business Officials, President of Southern California School Business Executives, and as a Management Trustee for the Southern Counties Employer Employee Trust, a joint labor-management benefits trust. She was also a member of the working group on Finance and Facilities for the Joint Legislative Committee for California Master Plan for K-University Education.
Dr. Koch graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in international affairs. She received her master's degree in human learning from the Institute for Behavioral Research, and her doctorate in special education from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
- Member of American Association of School Administrators
Richard Tauer's 40 years of experience in K-12 education culminated in his three years as superintendent. Mr. Tauer's twelve years' extensive experience as a Human Resources administrator was built on a foundation that included elementary, middle, and adult school teaching, graduate-level professor, school principal, as well as director of state and federal programs and compliance.
Richard is a member of American Association of School Administrators and the Association of California School Administrators. Currently the co-director of ACSA's Personnel Academy, Mr. Tauer has access to numerous resources and contacts and potential administrative candidates throughout California.
Job Titles:
- Consultant / Education Support Services Group
Dr. Suzette Lovely's career has spanned 38 years in K-12 education and leadership development. As a young college student, her love of teaching materialized while serving as an instructional aide in San Bernardino. Suzette subsequently spent 27 years as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, deputy superintendent, and acting superintendent in Capistrano Unified School District. In 2009, she left Capistrano to serve as Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in Placentia-Yorba Linda. Dr. Lovely finished her public school journey as Superintendent in Carlsbad Unified before retiring in 2016.
Following her undergraduate work at UC, Irvine, Suzette earned a master's degree in educational administration from National University and a doctorate from Cal State University, Fullerton. She has mentored and trained hundreds of aspiring school leaders with affiliations at: CSU, Fullerton; Chapman University; Brandman University; the School Superintendents Association (AASA); the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA); and Orange County Department of Education (OCDE).
During her tenure as Superintendent in Carlsbad, Dr. Lovely spearheaded several efforts to engage stakeholders in the work of public education. This included: implementation of a $13 million county-wide Career Pathways Trust Grant; facilitation of the Legislative Action Network (LAN) to engage state and local legislators in public policy discussions; collective impact work with local industry giants such as Qualcomm, Viasat, TaylorMade, Thermo Fisher, and Lego; and leveraging state standards, funding, and accountability systems to boost student learning. Dr. Lovely was among a select group of San Diego superintendents invited to meet with the Governor to discuss LCAP implementation, ESEA reauthorization, and state-wide education priorities.
Dr. Lovely is the author of four books and numerous articles on school leadership. Her latest work, Ready for Anything (Solution Tree, 2020), pushes educators to look beyond the four walls of the classroom to prepare students for the "any collar" workforce. Since retiring, Dr. Lovely has remained active in strategic planning work, leadership coaching, school design/redesign facilitation, and superintendent searches. She is also co-founder of the Women in Education Leadership (WEL) Network in Southern California. Suzette has been recognized for her visionary leadership by Senator Patricia Bates, the California PTA, the Hi-Noon Rotary, the Chamber of Commerce, the Master Teacher Publication, and the San Diego Art Education Association.