MMS Education Leadership Team

Leadership Team

[photo of Ed Meell, Chairman]

Edward J. Meell, Chairman

Ed Meell is the founder and chairman of MMS Education. Before he founded the company as Media Management Services, Inc. in 1977, Ed held a variety of publishing positions, including editorial director of McGraw-Hill Films, a division of McGraw-Hill Book Company, and vice president of Learning Resources Company. Ed was a teacher and administrator at Mt. Lebanon High School in Pittsburgh. He received a B.A. in history from the University of Notre Dame and earned a Master's degree in education from Duquesne University. As the founder and chairman of MMS Education, Ed was responsible for developing the business into what it is today, starting with the introduction of innovative systems, concepts and sales strategies for selling directly to the school market using an inside sales force. Through the years, MMS has been an industry leader in promoting, marketing and selling to the education market, and has developed and implemented many innovative, breakthrough concepts for our clients.

Today Ed continues to provide a leadership role in education. He has served on the board of trustees of Cedar Crest College and on the board of directors of the Da Vinci Science Center, both in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He is an active member of the Carl F. Ewig/Martec International Advisory Board in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Ed has served on numerous corporate boards as well as advisory groups at the local, state and national levels in education, business and telecommunications. Some of these include: Foundation for Free Enterprise Education Board; National History Day Board of Trustees; Dirksen Congressional Library (IL); Congress Link Advisory Board; Pennsylvania Small Business Conference; Bucks County Economic Development Task Force; White House Conference on Small Business; Lower Bucks County Chamber of Commerce Legislative Action Committee, Transportation Committee and Education Committee; and the U.S. Small Business Administration Task Force on Government Competition with Small Business.

Ed has always been active in the telecommunications field and has served on the Joint Cable/Telecommunications Advisory Board for Bucks County and as vice chair for the Upper Makefield (PA) Cable Television Advisory Board. He has participated in the Pennsylvania State Senate Distance Learning Task Force. Ed continues to be an avid supporter of lifelong learning and believes that one should never stop acquiring knowledge.

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[photo of Susan Keipper Meell, CEO]

Susan Keipper Meell, CEO

Susan Keipper Meell joined MMS Education in 1986 with more than a decade of experience in publishing and specialized marketing. Susan is a native of Indiana and a graduate of Miami University (Oxford, OH). She began her publishing career in Boston and then worked for Education Management Corporation in Manhattan in educational sales and marketing.

Since joining MMS Education, Susan has helped clients evaluate their sales and marketing initiatives, and then develop, test and implement new strategies for growth. She has served as consultant and executive project manager for a number of clients and their projects, including Time Warner's FORTUNE Education Program, the Walt Disney Company's Disney Educational Productions, Educational Testing Service, Evan-Moor Publishing, Math Solutions, Zaner-Bloser, and numerous other publishers and content providers. She also has developed and managed a number of market research projects for clients, including PLATO Learning, Children's Television Workshop, Riverside Publishing and the Law School Admission Council. Susan has overseen the development of EdReach.info, a customized, proprietary CRM system that MMS uses with clients specifically in the education market. Since becoming CEO in 1999, Susan’s primary responsibilities have been overseeing MMS Education's long-term strategy and growth, working with clients and developing the company’s management team.
 
Susan currently serves as an outside director on the board of the privately held Junior Library Guild in Columbus, Ohio, and is an active member of Vistage, the national organization for CEOs. From 2000–2008, she served on the board of directors of the Mid-Atlantic Employers Association and the Princeton (NJ) Chamber of Commerce, where she was active with its education committee. From 1997–1999, she served as a faculty advisor to high school students participating in Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week.
 
For the past two decades, she has been a featured speaker at industry events and webinars sponsored by Market Data Retrieval (MDR), Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) and MKTG (recently acquired by MDR). She has also contributed to a number of professional marketing and education newsletters.
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[photo of Karen S. Ellis, Principal]

Karen S. Ellis, Principal

Karen Ellis is responsible for building and maintaining key client relationships for MMS Education, as well as new business development. Her primary focus areas include strategic planning, research, strategic communications and project launches. Much of her recent work with clients has focused on the issues of school wellness and childhood obesity prevention; other focus areas have included science education and technology in education. Karen earned a degree in international relations at Tufts University. In addition to her 25-year tenure at MMS Education, she has worked in publication production and design for Springer-Verlag New York, an international publisher specializing in science, mathematics and technology, and as a designer of books and periodicals for a variety of trade and university presses.

Karen has chaired and served on several National Science Foundation review panels for Informal Science Education grants in media and technology. She has earned several distinguished achievement awards from the Association of Educational Publishers and an Emmy Award as co-executive producer of a live videoconference that aired nationally on PBS, titled "TV and Teaching Science."

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 [photo of Pierce Baugh, MIS Consultant]

Pierce Baugh, Vice President, Information Technology

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Since 1996 Pierce Baugh has overseen the development of the technology infrastructure and applications to deliver customized data, information and knowledge management solutions to our clients. As Vice President, he leads a team of IT professionals within MMS and manages the ongoing evolution of the technology services we provide.

Pierce is the systems architect behind all of MMS Education's internal applications and IT systems, including MMS 2100 and EdReach.info., our proprietary CRM system created specifically for the education market. Before joining MMS, Pierce had extensive experience in the field of Information Technology as the founder and President of Information Pyramid LLC. Previously, Pierce was the Human Resources Information Systems manager for Deloitte & Touche and architect of their HR Discovery software series.

Pierce is a cum laude graduate of Marist College.

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[photo of Ling-Ling Fan, Vice President, Finance & Business Administration]

Ling-Ling Fan, Vice President, Finance & Business Administration

Ling-Ling Fan joined MMS Education in July 1992. Prior to joining the company, Ms. Fan was employed as accounting manager for Deeter Associates, where she was responsible for the financial operations. She was also involved with all aspects of financial management as a partner of Cosmos Trading Company. A native of Taiwan, Ms. Fan is a graduate of Marywood College in Scranton, PA, with a Master's degree in accounting management.

Ms. Fan currently serves as vice president of finance and business administration. She holds management responsibilities for the company’s finance, accounting and budgeting processes, benefits, personnel practices and policies.

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[photo of Linda F. Duda, Vice President]

Linda F. Duda, Vice President

As vice president, Linda has special project and client responsibilities. These responsibilities include serving as the primary contact for clients; hiring, training and managing the personnel assigned to these projects; overseeing operations; and providing account management. Primary clients have included The Walt Disney Company, Verizon Foundation and Turner Broadcasting. Before becoming vice president of MMS Education, Linda worked on a variety of projects as a sales representative, sales supervisor, project manager, general manager and director of support services, which included coordinating daily operations and staff of the customer service department, data services, communications and facilities.

Linda came to MMS in 1988 with a B.S. degree in education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a background in teaching at the middle school level.

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[photo of Connie Schofer, Vice President]

Connie Schofer, Vice President

Connie Schofer is the vice president responsible for management oversight on several sales and outreach programs in the higher education and the K–12 markets. Since joining MMS Education in 1994, Connie has worked on a variety of projects as a sales representative and project sales manager, including Educational Testing Services, Evan Moor and Perfection Learning. She has expertise in project development and start-up as well as database applications. Connie also has IT and office automation management responsibilities at MMS and focuses on providing a secure technology environment for MMS employees and clients.

Connie’s background includes teaching math and science at the middle school level. She has also worked in computer support and software development in the private sector.

Connie earned a B.S. in elementary education from Pennsylvania State University, an M.A. in education from the University of Michigan and an A.S. degree in computer science from the State University of New York.

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Management Team

 

[photo of Darlene Fackleman, Editor]

Darlene Fackleman, Editor, Editorial Project Coordinator

 
Darlene Fackleman is responsible for providing writing, content development, editing, copyediting, proofreading and research services for various projects at MMS. Since joining the company in 2008, she has managed production of the Fortune Education Program’s biweekly Preview Guide, developed monthly EdTrends reports on behalf of Dairy Management, Inc., and worked extensively with Action for Healthy Kids in the creation of key outreach tools designed to expand awareness of the organization and its objectives, including managing the revision of an after-school program for children. Darlene coordinates and supervises the use of outside contractors, including writers, researchers and graphic designers, to accomplish the company’s creative goals in a timely fashion.
 
Darlene is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and is a summa cum laude graduate of Rutgers University, with a B.A. in English. She has academic and trade publishing experience with Racher Press, Inc. (NY), Enslow Publishers (Berkeley Heights, NJ) and Rutgers University Press (New Brunswick, NJ).

 

 

 

[photo of Cheryl Glover, Project Manager]

Cheryl Glover, Project Manager

 
Cheryl joined MMS in 2005 as part of a sales and marketing team for educational assessment software products. She came to MMS well served by her 20 plus years of experience as a national program director with Educational Testing Service and Assessment Systems, Inc., in the areas of program administration and new product development for professional training, licensing and certification programs.
 
During her tenure at MMS, Cheryl has worked with several different clients to help them with sales and marketing initiatives. She is currently responsible for managing and supporting the sales and marketing activities of The JASON Project, a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Geographic Society that connects young students with great explorers to inspire them to learn science. Her duties also include working with independent sales representatives as well as coordinating science and technology conferences nationwide.
 
Cheryl has a B.A. from Morgan State University in Art and Humanities and M.A. studies from the University of Maryland.
 
 

[photo of Stephanie Hallman, Project Manager]

Stephanie Hallman, Project Manager

Stephanie Hallman manages various types of outreach programs on behalf of several clients. Her responsibilities include serving as the primary client contact and account management. She supervises the creation and fulfillment of promotional mailings, email campaigns, advertisement placing, website creation and revisions, as well as conference and event planning. Since joining MMS Education in 1992, Stephanie has worked on various projects as a sales and customer service representative.

Stephanie holds a B.A. in politics and history from St. Joseph’s University (PA) and her paralegal certificate from the American Institute of Paralegal Studies (IL).

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[photo of Ginny Hutt, Manager of Research and Evaluation]

Ginny Hutt, Manager of Research and Evaluation

Ginny Hutt serves as our manager of research and evaluation. In this role, Ginny manages all market research projects, including online surveys, print questionnaires, focus groups, in-depth interviews, pilot testing, competitive analyses, and data and market analyses.

Ginny began her career with MMS in 1992 and has served as the project manager for numerous projects, including the Bridges Project, a two-year market research endeavor to evaluate training and prototype resources in elementary schools; the school outreach program for the PBS series, Scientific American Frontiers; the GTE GIFT Program, a grant program for math and science teachers; website development projects; competitive product evaluations; and many others.

Ginny is a technology enthusiast and thoroughly enjoys learning about, using and incorporating technology into many aspects of work and life. She has served as a software trainer and welcomes the opportunity to help others in the use of technology.

Ginny is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and is a magna cum laude graduate of Gettysburg College (PA) and holds a B.A. in business administration. She is currently pursing a Master’s degree in instructional systems at Penn State University.

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[photo of Kelly Stewart, Project Manager and Business Development]

Kelly Stewart, Project Manager/Business Development

Kelly provides project management for direct sales, sales support and outreach programs. Since joining MMS in 2005, she has served as a project manager for the FORTUNE Education Program, Casio America, Dairy Management, Inc. and RFB&D (Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic). Kelly also develops measurable e-marketing campaigns for various projects and is a champion of online marketing as a method of understanding and engaging customers.  She is also responsible for marketing and developing business relationships for MMS Education.

Kelly earned a B.S. in business administration with a marketing concentration from Holy Family University (PA). She holds an Advanced Email Marketing certificate from the eMarketing Association.

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Technology Team

 

[photo of Craig Duda, Systems Analyst]

Craig Duda, Systems Analyst

Craig Duda fulfills many computer- and data-related roles at MMS Education, including data administration, data analysis, programming and technical support. Since joining MMS Education in 1992, Craig has worked on many different projects for a variety of clients, including Disney Educational Productions, the FORTUNE Education Program, Action for Healthy Kids, Dairy Management, Inc. and others.

Before joining MMS, Craig worked in the Merck Pharmaceuticals call center, supporting consumers, sales representatives and health care professionals. Craig has a B.A. in general science from Pennsylvania State University.

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[photo of Rowland Girton, Office Automation]

Rowland Girton, Office Automation

Rowland is responsible for computer hardware support and for LAN, WAN and peripheral devices attached to the LAN. He also oversees the specification, ordering and installation of  workstations, laptops, servers and software. His other responsibilities include LAN wiring, registering web domains, e-mail administration and troubleshooting.

Rowland started with MMS in 1997, following 30 years' experience in the programming field on mainframe and personal computers.

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[photo of Julie Sepe, Data Services Administrator]

Julie Sepe, Data Services Administrator

Julie Sepe is the manager of the MMS Education Data Services department. She is responsible for managing all aspects of the department, including database management, order entry, invoicing, payment applications, plus weekly and monthly financial reports for a variety of programs. Over the years, Julie has provided support for both clients and in-house personnel for their project programming, website maintenance and e-mail campaigns. In addition, Julie also manages the MMS telephone system, including training, programming and technical support for the system.

Julie has been at MMS since 1997 and currently is completing her B.S. degree in business at LaSalle University.