Certification

Illinois State board of Education Initial Elementary Certificate (Type 03), January 2010.

Education

DePaul University, Chicago IL

Master of Education (with distinction),  December 2009. 

Member of DePaul University’s Professional Development School Cohort

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Bachelor of Arts, Speech Communication, December 1988

Education Related Experience

Vice-President, Board of Directors, Frazier Preparatory Academy-Charter School, Frazier Preparatory Design 501 (c)(3), Chicago, IL.  Spring 2010-Spring 2012

Teaching Experience

Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, IL  K-8 (students with special needs), 01/04/2010 to 12/20/2013

Francis W. Parker School, Chicago, IL  K-12, 01/04/ 2010 to 12/20/2013

Teacher in Grades 1-12 for all content areas.

Teaching Related Field Experience(Practicum for Masters Degree)

Mark T. Skinner Elementary School, Chicago, IL  K-8 Grades.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        For special needs and general education students, I created a safe, nurturing and structured learning environment by implementing a classroom management strategy that incorporated the existing framework with new behavior patterns, attainable but high performance expectations and consistent appropriate reinforcement.  This was for self contained and inclusion classrooms.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Created and delivered daily lesson plans integrating all content areas, when possible.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Designed, implemented, guided and assessed a cross-curricular quarter long project that incorporated language arts, reading, social studies, technology and art.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Designed homework activities to enhance daily lessons.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Created and administered both formal and informal assessments that were used to differentiate each student’s learning style and assess progress.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Collaborated with special education teachers to better enrich and differentiate instruction for the students with special needs that were included in their classroom.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Took an active role in the interaction with parents during both formal and informal conferences. 

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Divided students into both hetero- and homogeneous ability groupings in ways that enhanced the student’s self-esteem, ability to work and communicate with others while improving the student’s problem solving skills.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Mentored an 8^th grade student that had demonstrated significant negative behavioral issues.

Alcott Elementary:

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Assisted and guided 2^nd and 7^th grade students in the iEarn Project, an internet based technology for students to interact cross-culturally and share environmentally responsible arts based projects with each other globally.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Taught and assessed guided reading in 4^th grade classroom.

Oscar Meyer Elementary: 

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Assisted and taught 2^nd grade guided reading and developed arts integration project for increased comprehension.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Developed readers theater workshop.

St. Alphonsus Elementary:

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Assisted and taught 5^th grade writers workshops focusing primarily on poetry.

St. Benedict Elementary:

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Assisted and taught 5^th grade social studies unit on Native Americans of the Southwest United States.  Developed lesson plans based on personal experiences with the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Developed social studies unit plan on Chicago.

Otis Elementary K-8^th Grades:

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Worked with children with autism in self-contained classroom environment.  Students were non-verbal and lower functioning. 

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Assisted in self-contained classroom of students with visual, auditory and/or higher functioning autism learning issues.

Sabin Elementary: 

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Developed and taught 4^th grade math lesson plans on pattern recognition and multiple digit divisors. 

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Taught lessons from the curriculum book, Everyday Math. 

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Developed and taught 6^th grade science lesson plans on gyroscopes.

Sales and Marketing Experience

Significant Responsibilities:

·         Oversaw multi-million dollar product placements and sales in billion dollar business segments.

·         Directed and managed national account managers, internal sales forces and customer service personnel.

·         Developed and managed manufacturers representatives networks.

·         Revised sales policies and protocol for customer engagement, contract negotiation and pricing.

·         Manage international supply chain programs.

·         Establish national and international outsourcing relationships for high volume production.

·         Developed and implemented comprehensive direct marketing and e-commerce marketing initiatives. 

·         Head marketing initiatives including tradeshows, publications, networking events and distributor shows.

·         Develop and institute CRM and ERP solutions.

·         Initiated and managed quality assurance programs with Fortune 500 customers. 

·         Developed company operations policies and procedures.

·        Coordinated product development, marketing and sales teams in strategic business planning processes. 

·         Conducted due diligence for company acquisitions. 

·         Oversaw training of customer personnel in design and effective use of represented products.

·         Consultant to recording studios, production and post-production houses.

·         Coordinated dealer, contractor, consultant and product manufacturer relationships.

Notable Achievements:

·         Increased top line sales revenue by 75%, 1997.

·         Renegotiated sales contracts resulting in 50% profit growth, 2002.

·         Developed and maintained multi-million dollar strategic relationships with Fortune 500 Companies, 1990-2001.

·         Achieved key customer year over year sales growth in excess of 200%, 1999.

·         Largest single sale of new technology product to leading telecommunications equipment provider.

·         Increased annual sales ten-fold, 1998. 

·         Increased gross profit margin by 18% and sales volume by over 300%, 2000.

·         Increased represented product lines from 2 to 12, 1993.

·         Recipient:  5 National Sales Excellence Awards.

·         Recipient: 1999 President’s Club For Sales Excellence.

·         Invited Speaker: 1999 National Symposium on Radio Frequency and Microwave Products.

Work History:

Fitch Metal Solutions, Huntley, Illinois – Director of Sales and Marketing      2001-2002

Manufacturer of highly engineered metal fabrication products; $20MM in annual sales.

Tripp Lite Manufacturing, Chicago, Illinois – National Sales Director               1998 – 2001                                                                         National Account Manager                 1998

Manufacturer of power protection equipment for computer and electronics industries; $200MM in annual sales.

Avnet, Inc., Arlington Heights, Illinois – Account Manager                                  1996 – 1998

Distributor of high technology electronic components to original equipment manufacturers;

$9 billion in annual sales.

Steffey Marketing, Northbrook, Illinois – Sales Manager                             1990 – 1994

Manufacturer’s representative of professional and commercial audio equipment.

Real Estate Development and Sales Experience

Bermont Realty,  Chicago, Illinois- Real Estate Consulting and Managing Broker          1994 – Present

Sole Proprietorship: investment, residential and commercial real estate brokerage 

·         Acquire, develop, market and sell, to date, over $350MM of residential, investment and commercial real estate in the Chicago market.

·         Hire and manage subcontractor personnel.

·         Secure third party project financing

Education and certifications

Bachelor of Arts                                    University of Minnesota                             12/88

Real Estate Broker’s License              State of Illinois                                      08/94

Master of Education (with Distinction)    DePaul University                       12/09

Teacher Type 3         Certificate                   Illinois State Board of Education                01/10

Internationally Certified Therapy Dog Handler with Max the Great Dane

Therapy Dogs International, New Jersey

We work with kids and young adults on the Autism spectrum, those with socio-emotional issues, learning/literacy/development issues.

We also work with Veterans of all ages suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.