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 deep experience in education and state and national assessment programs. Working towards the same goal of equity in education, our team of passionate innovators set 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.
Terran Brown
Vice President, Assessment Design and DevelopmentTerran Brown oversees assessment design and development at New Meridian and serves as the executive leader of both the content and psychometric teams.
Will Bunting
Vice President, Program ManagementWill Bunting leads all aspects of New Meridian’s program management services, including contract execution, schedules, communication and risk management.
Ashley Eden
Vice President, Policy and AdvocacyAshley Eden leads policy and advocacy for New Meridian. Her work includes engaging federal, state, and local stakeholders, leading a policy agenda, and managing funding goals.
Kristopher John
Vice President, Product StrategyKristopher John leads product strategy for New Meridian. His work includes conceiving and developing high-quality assessment solutions for students across the country.
Tauseef Khan
Chief Information OfficerTauseef Khan is New Meridian’s Chief Information Officer, in charge of architecting, next-generation systems to facilitate the highest quality educational assessments.
Bethany King
Vice President, Marketing and CommunicationsBethany King leads marketing and communications for New Meridian. Her work includes thought leadership, go-to-market and business development strategies, as well as increasing brand awareness and engagement across multiple audiences.
Neil Lane
General CounselNeil Lane is New Meridian’s General Counsel, advising the company on all issues related to legal compliance, licensing, contracting, intellectual property management and more.
Matt Lisk
Senior Vice President, SalesMatt Lisk is in charge of sales at New Meridian, in charge of building relationships with states and other partners and helping them solve problems.
Gina Rivera
Chief Operating OfficerGina Rivera oversees New Meridian’s general operations, including contracts, finance, accounting, data security and compliance with federal, state and local regulations.
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
DirectorMr. Higgins brings more than 40 years of experience in financial management, process improvement, internal controls, and systems design.
Jeff Livingston
DirectorMr. Livingston spent more than a decade as a senior executive at McGraw-Hill Education. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Education Policy and Strategic Alliances.
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.
Cheryl Thompson
DirectorCheryl Thompson has over 20 years of professional experience in education. Prior to coming onboard at Schusterman, she most recently served as the Senior Executive Director of Programs for New Leaders.
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. 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.
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. Linda Cook
Technical AdvisorDr. Cook worked at the Educational Testing Service for 32 years, holding positions that included executive director of the SAT Testing Program and vice president of the Assessment Division.
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.
Not Pictured: Henry Braun
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