Staff Bios
Ellen Wagner, Executive Director for WCET. She continues in her role as Partner and Founder of Sage Road Solutions, LLC, providing advisory oversight for industry intelligence and enablement services and solutions practices.
Ellen is the former senior director of worldwide e-learning, Adobe Systems, Inc. and was senior director of worldwide education solutions for Macromedia, Inc. Prior to working in software solutions marketing and product development, Ellen was Chief Learning Officer and Director of Education for Viviance New Education, a Swiss-based elearning company with offices in 10 North American and European countries. She was Chief Learning Officer and Vice President of Consulting Services for Informania, Inc., prior to its acquisition by Viviance.
Before joining the private sector, Ellen was a tenured Professor and Chair of the Educational Technology program at the University of Northern Colorado, and held a number of administrative posts, including Director of the Western Institute for Distance Education and Coordinator of Campus Instructional and Research Technologies, Academic Affairs. She was a Visiting Scholar with WCET while on sabbatical leave from UNC. Her Ph.D. in learning psychology comes from the University of Colorado - Boulder. Her M.S. and B.A. degrees were earned at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
As Deputy Director, Research and Analysis for WCET, Russ Poulin organizes information-sharing activities among WCET's members. Recently, Russ has lead national responses on new federal distance education regulations. Russ coordinates WCET's efforts in researching the management of online learning, works on multi-institution elearning consortia issues, and consults on WICHE's Adult College Completion Network. Previously, Russ coordinated distance education activities for the North Dakota University System. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Colorado Denver and a Master's in Statistics and Research Methodology from the University of Northern Colorado.
Mollie McGill serves as Deputy Director, Programs and Membership for WCET. She assists with the overall management of member services and communications that inform the e-learning community of relevant policy, practices and developments. She facilitates the advancement of several committee projects, such as those dealing with academic integrity and student identity authentication, student retention in online learning, institutional policies and practices for adjunct online faculty, and ownership of learning management systems. In 2009-2010, she has worked with the WICHE Policy Analysis unit on the Statewide Articulation and Transfer project, specifically to study state transfer web portals. Mollie spent nearly 20 years working for WICHE in the early part of her career and, among other accomplishments, was instrumental in founding WCET in 1989. Most recently she directed learning innovations and technology initiatives for the University of Colorado System and served in leadership roles for several Colorado statewide e-learning projects. She received her education degree from Emporia State University. As the parent of twin teenage boys, she has first-hand experience with the technology and study habits of today's millenials.
Sherri Artz Gilbert, Manager, Operations, has been with WCET since 1999. Her principal responsibilities include preparing and managing the budget, coordinating the membership effort, and database maintenance. Prior to joining WCET, she worked for the Reading Musical Foundation, a non-profit that promotes and facilitates music education and appreciation in order to preserve and develop musical experience and culture in Berks County, Pennsylvania. There she was responsible for donor management and administrator of the Blues in the Schools program. She received a B.S.B.A from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania with a major in Management and Marketing. Originally from Pennsylvania Dutch country, Sherri currently resides above 9200 feet in the Colorado Mountains with her husband and three dogs.
Peggy Stevens, Coordinator, Technical Services for WCET is responsible for content management for the WCET website and is involved with creation of and data input for WCET's wikis. Peggy is tasked with information organizing, meeting arranging, and communications for the WOW Awards. She works on various projects with Russ and Mollie, including editing and proofing of the news digest. Peggy is working on the Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework project, which is a collaborative multi-institutional data-mining project. With PAR, she is the technical support person for the collaboration software, processing contracts and invoices, and build-out of the PAR web sub-site. Peggy has served as the WICHE Accounts Payable Specialist from 2007 to 2012 in addition to her role with WCET. Peggy has an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Secretarial Technology with Administrative Emphasis and has over 25 years experience in the secretarial and accounting field for diverse Colorado and Nebraska companies. She enjoys softball and volleyball.
Cali Morrison, Manager, Communications, has responsibility for WCET's communications strategies and keeping our members connected to the cooperative. Cali holds a B.A. in Public Relations from Western Kentucky University, a M.Ed. in Adult & Higher Education from Montana State University, an online graduate certificate in Women's Studies from Western Kentucky University and is currently pursuing an Education Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Higher Education Administration from Montana State University. Prior to joining WCET, Cali worked at Montana State University in various positions for over seven years. Cali lives in Bozeman, MT with her husband, daughter and dogs, where she is active in the community, especially with the CAP mentoring and Girls for a Change programs.
Megan Raymond, Manager, Events and Programs, has been with WCET since 2007. Her primary responsibility is the coordination of the program and logistics for WCET's Annual Meeting. Prior to joining WCET, she was the Assistant Director of housing and conference services at Fort Lewis College, a small liberal arts college in Durango, CO. Megan oversaw a successful conference services program and supervised 22 student staff members and two full-time professional staff. She also adjudicated resident discipline cases and coordinated staff development programming. Megan received a Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Marketing from Fort Lewis College and a Masters in Nutrition and Health Education from Hawthorn University. Running, biking, and trail marathons help Megan burn off stress and occupy her spare time.
Beth Davis, Business Strategist for WCET. Beth is Partner and Managing Director of Sage Road Solutions. She is responsible for company oversight, as well as for the company's market development services and solutions practice. She has been providing business consulting services to technology companies since 2005. As Vice President and General Manager of Macromedia, Inc. Beth had responsibilities for managing all products, including Flash, Dreamweaver, Flash Communication Server, Contribute, Director and Authorware, as well as vertical-specific roles managing Higher Education, Students and the Non-Profit markets. She was actively involved in M&A activities at Macromedia including the acquisition of Presidia, (the creators of Macromedia Breeze/Adobe Connect), Allaire, and eHelp Corporation, [the developers of Adobe Captivate]). She was a major contributor in the efforts associated with Macromedia's acquisition by Adobe Systems, Inc. Beth's early career in marketing and technology includes product management and marketing roles at Sega, Knowledge Adventure, Mattel, and the Walt Disney Company where she was responsible for managing product lines that include licenses from Barbie, Hot Wheels, Marvel Comics, DC Comic, and properties from Steven Spielberg. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and holds an MBA from the Anderson School of business at UCLA.
