Our Leadership
Sharing a passion for educational equity, New Meridian’s leadership team is leveraging their decades of experience and powerful insights to develop a new way of assessment thinking.
Our Executive Team
The New Meridian executive team has extensive experience in education and state and national assessment programs. United by a shared commitment to improving educational opportunities, our team of passionate innovators sets the vision and foundation for our organization.
Arthur VanderVeen, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer Arthur VanderVeen, Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer at New Meridian, responsible for innovation, strategy, and customer engagement at the company he founded in 2016.
Randy Schuessler
Chief Technology Officer Randy Schuessler is Chief Technology Officer at New Meridian, responsible for the company’s technology strategy, customer and enterprise systems, data analytics, and security.
Will Bunting
VP, Program ManagementWill Bunting leads all aspects of New Meridian’s program management services, including contract execution, schedules, communication and risk management.
Kristopher John
VP, Product StrategyKristopher John leads product strategy for New Meridian. His work includes conceiving and developing high-quality assessment solutions for students across the country.
Board of Directors
Our Board Members are committed to expanding opportunities for all students through high-quality education and assessment. The Board helps New Meridian define its vision, mission, and purpose — and helps make sure we live up to those promises through sound organizational and financial planning and management, as well as compliance with relevant laws, bylaws, and policies.
Tom Higgins
ChairmanMr. Higgins brings more than 40 years of experience in financial management, process improvement, internal controls, and systems design.
Jesse Markow
DirectorFormerly Chief Strategy Officer for the WIDA Consortium, Mr. Markow helped develop standards, curriculum resources, and assessments for a consortium of 37 states in support of English language learners.
Eileen Shihadeh
DirectorMs. Shihadeh has over 20 years of experience as a senior executive in strategic planning, product management, marketing, branding, and sales.
Technical Advisory Committee
The Technical Advisory Committee ensures that New Meridian assessment solutions meet the highest professional standards in the industry. Committee members, who together have decades of experience in psychometrics and academic testing at all levels, review methodology and advise us on best practices to produce the most reliable student data available.
Dr. Alicia Alonzo
Technical AdvisorAlicia Alonzo is a professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, where she serves as program director for the Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education (CITE) Ph.D. program.
Dr. Henry Braun
Technical AdvisorHenry Braun is the Boisi Professor of Education and Public Policy in the Lynch School of Education & Human Development at Boston College. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from Stanford University.
Dr. Robert L. Brennan
Technical AdvisorDr. Brennan is the E. F. Lindquist Chair in Measurement and Testing (emeritus) and the Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Measurement and Assessment at the University of Iowa’s College of Education.
Dr. Derek Briggs
Technical AdvisorDr. Briggs is a professor in the Research and Evaluation Methodology program at the University of Colorado—Boulder’s School of Education. He is also director of the school’s Center for Assessment Design Research and Evaluation.
Dr. Richard Luecht
Technical AdvisorRichard Luecht, Ph.D. is a Professor of Educational Research Methodology at the UNC-Greensboro where he teaches graduate courses in applied statistics and advanced measurement.
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