Maria M. Kennedy joined the Bridges Academy staff as Phoenix division
director after more than 20 years as an educator. While attending the Manchester Youth Theatre, Maria was encouraged by the program director to go to drama school. While there working with elementary students, she discovered her passion for teaching. Maria received her B.Ed. and M.Ed. in education from Manchester University, as well as several advanced teaching certificates and diplomas. Early in her career she created a new curriculum for a student in her class who was struggling to learn the same way as his peers. This led her to search for innovative teaching methods for other students with educational challenges. She has traveled and worked in different parts of the world in order to gain more insight into how children learn. Maria taught for 10 years in Manchester where, because of her abilities to develop new curriculum and her skills in the classroom, she was awarded Advanced Teacher Status by the Department of Education. As a result of her work, she has received several awards: Teacher of the Year in North Carolina; Golden Apple, Elementary Teacher of the Year in the Cayman Islands; and New American Hero, an award for teaching and leadership excellence in Louisiana. Maria believes that to be an effective educator you must continue to learn and grow as a person. With this in mind, she currently is working toward a Ph.D. in special education. maria.kennedy@bridges.edu
Doug Lenzini has served as Director of Admissions at Bridges Academy since 2001. Prior to joining Bridges, he was director of Sylvan Corporation learning centers in the Compton, CA. public school district. The centers are designed to help inner-city students improve their reading and math skills. For several years, Doug was Director of the Theatre of Arts, Los Angeles’ oldest school for the performing arts. He has worked as a professional actor, writer, producer and director in film, television, radio, commercials and industrial films and was president of Benson Productions, a Denver-based entertainment corporation. He conducts acting and workshops across the country. Doug spent the first decade of his career as a journalist working in virtually every medium—newspaper, magazine, wire service, advertising, marketing, and public relations. At age 23, he was the youngest managing editor of a daily newspaper in the U.S. doug.lenzini@bridges.edu
Catherine Kirby is a social entrepreneur and founding partner of Australia’s only not for profit organization, KIDS LIKE US, that caters for both the mental health, and social and academic needs of the 2e student. catherine@kidslikeus.org.au Melissa Knepper is a Pennsylvania Middle School Educator and leader, pursuing her PhD in Educational and Social Change. kneppermelissa@gmail.com Susan Krause is a lifelong fan of children’s literature and bookstores. After a 25-year career in marketing, she now writes children’s and YA fiction. Her first novel, BACKGROUND NOISE, is based on the experiences of her oldest son at age 12 after his diagnosis with ADHD-Inattentive type. A parent of two 2E boys, she blogs about the experience of raising gifted and learning-disabled kids and supports the efforts of authors writing for and about 2E readers at BackgroundNoiseBooks.com. She lives with her family in Gilbert, AZ. susan@backgroundnoisebooks.com Andrea Lein, PhD, is the Head of School at The John Dewey Academy, a therapeutic college preparatory boarding school in western Massachusetts. She is passionate about helping creative, bright young people get in touch with their dreams and learn the hard and soft skills to make those dreams a reality. For the past 15 years, she has pursued several of her own dreams, weaving together interests in the psychology of the gifted, positive psychology in psychotherapy, developmental psychopathology, and alternatives to the medical model. She earned her M.Ed. (Educational Psychology, Gifted) and Ph.D. (Clinical & School Psychology) at the University of Virginia, where she also worked at the National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented. aesperatlein@jda.org Heather Lembcke has been a development associate at Bridges Academy
for four years, specializing in advertising and social media outreach. Additionally, Heather teaches a high school art class at Bridges. She received her Masters of Fine Art from Claremont Graduate University in 2008 with an emphasis in painting and drawing, and her BA in Fine Arts from Humboldt State in 2000. She has continued to pursue a rigorous studio art practice for the last 20 years that she enjoys sharing with her students. Her time in the classroom gives her a fresh perspective on the needs of the 2e student. Her professional background previous to her time at Bridges includes commercial art, museum and galleries, and administration in the non-profit and corporate worlds.
heather.lembcke@bridges.edu
Lori Lepler is founder and President of BRANDspeak LLC, an executive
coaching and leadership development firm. Lori founded BRANDspeak in 1999 after serving in senior leadership roles at some of the world’s largest advertising and marketing firms. One of her greatest passions has been developing and unlocking the potential of those working with her. During her corporate career, Lori has launched many individuals into the executive positions they hold today. Lori is the mother of two sons, one of whom is a student at Bridges Academy. Lori currently serves on the Bridges Academy Board of Trustees. lori@brandspeakllc.com
Jann Leppien, PhD, is an associate professor at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. She is the recipient of the Margo Long Chair in Gifted Education, an endowed chair funded by James P. and Wanda Cowles Whitworth’s Center for Gifted Education, which supports and develops policies and practices that encourage and respond to the diverse expressions of gifts and talents in children and youth from all cultures, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and socioeconomic groups. To this end, the center supports and engages in research, staff development, advocacy, and communication and collaboration with other organizations and agencies that strive to improve the quality of education for all students. In this new position, she will teach courses in gifted education for teachers who are seeking endorsement credits and obtaining master’s degrees in gifted education. Prior to this position, she taught courses, at the University of Great Falls in Montana, in curriculum and assessment, gifted education, educational research, and social studies methods. She also teaches curriculum and thinking skills courses online and in the Three Summers Program at the University of Connecticut. Before joining the faculty at the University of Great Falls, she worked as a research assistant for The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT). | 27