Kathleen Leos President and Founder Kathleen Leos  is the President and CEO of The Global Institute for Language and Literacy Development, LLC, (GILD).  Prior to establishing this new endeavor, Ms. Leos served six year (2002-2007) presidential appointment as the Assistant Deputy Secretary and Director to the US Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) established by Congress in the 2002 No Child Left Behind-Title III legislation.  In that position, Ms. Leos served as principal advisor to the U.S. Secretaries of Education, Dr. Rod Paige and Margaret Spellings, on all matters related to ELL students, and developed regulations, policies and procedures to create a national education and accountability infrastructure in 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico for the 5.5 million Limited English Proficient students who grace America's classrooms K-12. The six year effort included assisting states in developing: new English language proficiency standards, aligned ELP assessments, research-based instructional strategies to train teachers to instruct language development and literacy skills simultaneously, and provide communities and parents with effective education models that support ELL high academic achievement. The goal is to create a national education system that includes ELLs in state accountability systems for the first time in the history of US K-12 public schools. Ms. Leos' energetic approach to her work comes from her belief that "Each student that crosses the threshold of any one of America's schools deserves the best education this country has to offer.  This is every educator's responsibility and every student's civil right." As the President of GILD, she continues this vision, mission and commitment by ensuring that the individuals who are the key to ELL academic success have all the information and instructional tools necessary to transform education for every ELL student.
	Lisa C. Saavedra Vice President Lisa C. Saavedra is the Vice President of The Global Institute for Language and Literacy Development, LLC, (GILD).  Prior to establishing GILD, Ms. Saavedra was the Bureau Chief for the Bureau of Academic Achievement through Language Acquisition for the Florida Department of Education.  Ms. Saavedra has dedicated her professional career to the field of education: ensuring the language and literacy development and high academic achievement of all English language learners for more than 25 years. In her position as Bureau Chief, Ms. Saavedra served as educational expert to the Florida Department of Education on all matters related to education of ELLs.  Her responsibilities included development of legislation and rules for the state governance and the legislative process.  She served as expert advisor during several legal class action complaints filed in federal district court regarding the provisions of equal access for ELLs and the protection of their civil rights.  Ms. Saavedra provided leadership to all 74 Florida school districts in the development of comprehensive plans for instructional services to the 300,000 ELLs in the state.  She has written technical assistance papers used by Florida education experts to interpret rules and regulations, and implement educational policy; delivered more than a thousand workshops, training sessions and presentations to district and school level personnel on the development and implementation of a uniform statewide system for identification and assessment of ELLs; developed data collection and reporting procedures; provision of equal access to students;  and initiated effective implementation of research-based instructional models and content-based instructional strategies for teachers.  Ms. Saavedra also coordinated the development of the State's  first English language proficiency standards and was the lead in researching, developing, field testing, and implementing assessment accommodations for ELLs in the state's statewide content assessment.  In the last five years at the Florida Department of Education, Ms. Saavedra was the lead project manager in the development, field testing, and statewide implementation of the State's first English language proficiency assessment for measuring progress and attainment of English proficiency for all ELLs. She assisted in coordinating statewide committees to conduct standard setting, including cut scores and base line data for use in setting annual targets.  Ms. Saavedra has also presented at numerous national conferences on topics such as designing data collection and analysis systems; assessment of English language learners; accommodations for English language learners on content assessment; effective implementation of research based instructional models; alignment of language proficiency standards and content standards; and systems reform efforts based on data-driven decision-making and achievement gap analysis. Ms. Saavedra's unwavering commitment to ensuring equal access and academic achievement for ELLs is founded on her belief in the three A's of education accountability: Academic Achievement for All.  As Vice President of GILD, Ms. Saavedra continues this mission and commitment by sharing her expertise and promoting the transformation of education systems through evidence-based research targeting the achievement of English language learners from early childhood to post-secondary academic environments in states, districts, schools and communities across the nation.