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.

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.

Eileen Shihadeh - Chief Operating Officer
Eileen Shihadeh

Chief Operating Officer Eileen Shihadeh is New Meridian’s Chief Operating Officer, spearheading the company’s growth strategy, improving operational efficiency, and driving the achievement of company goals.

Randy Schuessler - Chief Technology Officer
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.

Ashley Eden - Senior Vice President, State Partnerships, Business Development and Policy
Ashley Eden

Sr. Vice President, State PartnershipsAshley Eden leads sales strategy, account management, and policy for New Meridian, supporting current state partners, identifying new sales opportunities, and managing relations involving various decision makers at the state level.

Will Bunting - Vice President, Program Management
Will Bunting

VP, Program ManagementWill Bunting leads all aspects of New Meridian’s program management services, including contract execution, schedules, communication and risk management.

Maria Cammack - VP, Assessment Design and Development
Maria Cammack

VP, Assessment Design and DevelopmentMaria Cammack oversees assessment design and development at New Meridian, serving as executive leader of both the content and psychometric teams.

Kristopher John - Vice President, Product Strategy
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.

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
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.

Henry Braun
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
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
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
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.