Board

Executive Board

President
Cindee McCarthy
Cindee has a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Minnesota and is currently a senior manager of International Logistics at General Mills, Inc. For the past two years, she has applied her business expertise to IDA-UMB within a variety of roles, including: Membership Committee chair and past role as board vice president. Her community involvement goes beyond IDA-UMB. Cindee is the co-founder and chairperson for Parent Advocates for Students with Dyslexia (PASD), a local advocacy group. She has received PACER Parent Advocacy training and has been active in working with the Minnesota Legislature to improve teacher candidate training for reading instruction. In addition, Cindee has been a parent advisor for the Center for Reading Research at the University of Minnesota, working to develop an automated computer-based assessment system (CBAS) to evaluate the level and rate of early reading development. She has been a member of the Wayzata School District Technology Committee, Parent Advisory Group. Cindee and her son, Ryan, are sought-after presenters in the area of assistive technology to support reading and writing at both the local and national level. Cindee says her interest in IDA-UMB was sparked by personal experience with family members who have had to overcome and compensate for reading and writing difficulties.

Vice President
Kelly O’Rourke Johns
Kelly is an author, editor, and writer with over 30 years professional publishing and marketing experience. The former Director of Creative Services for Kalmbach Publishing, she currently serves as Editorial Director for Renew Media and continues to write professionally. Her career in communications includes roles as entertainment publicist for Guttman & Pam Ltd. (Beverly Hills, CA), development associate for Cosgrove Meurer Productions (Burbank, CA), script analyst for Tri-Star Pictures (Century City, CA), Editor, Commerce Magazine (Chicago, IL), and publications director for Lester B. Knight & Associates (Chicago, IL). Her works have been published in Cosmopolitan, Billboard, and many other national and local publications. She is the mother of a young child with dyslexia and has worked to advocate early intervention and reading strategies in her local school district. Johns is the founding chair of The Foundation for Early Childhood Family Services, and the outgoing chair of the national non-profit, Cheerful Givers.

Second Vice President
Jeanie Munsterman
Jeanie is currently a reading intervention teacher working with small groups of first and second grade students in a public school setting, using the Orton-Gillingham method. Jeanie’s passion and desire for reading success for all students, combined with her constant quest for high-quality teacher training to fulfill that desire, led her to IDA-UMB in 2003. As a result, Jeanie went on to supplement her elementary teaching degree with Orton-Gillingham training. She is a certified member of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators (AOGPE) and is completing her Master's in Human Development with the focus on scientifically research based reading instruction. Jeanie has served as director/teacher of a preschool, taught kindergarten, first, second and fourth grade, developed and implemented an after school reading program and volunteered as a reading therapist. Jeanie served on the Content Advisory Committee Birth to Grade 3 Test Framework Review for the new reading rules and the MN Teacher Licensure Examinations Materials Review.

Secretary
Debbie Moran
Debbie holds a BA from Carleton College in English and an MA from The University of St. Thomas in special education (learning disabilities specialty). She is currently Lower School Admissions Director at Groves Academy (a school in St. Louis Park, MN, for students who have dyslexia, other language-based learning disabilities and attention disorders) and helps coordinate outreach activities there. As a former teacher, she has worked as a private tutor and as a community liaison for a public school in Minneapolis. At Groves, and through her work with IDA-UMB, she has helped many families and community members who are looking for support. She is adept at defining needs and accessing resources within the community and brings a wealth of expertise to the board including consensus building, community building, education/advocacy, and goal-setting.

Treasurer
Marcy Pohlman
Marcy is a consultant and lay advocate for parents and children with disabilities. She is a retired certified public accountant (CPA) and former teacher for deaf and hearing impaired students. Over the years, she has developed her skills in advocacy, leadership and public policy with hands-on experience as well as education from Wrightslaw IDEA training, Council of Parents, Attorneys & Advocates (COPAA) seminars, PACER workshops, MN State Bar Association school law conferences, MACMH workshops, and others. Marcy serves as our representative on both The Coalition for Children with Disabilities (PACER), and MN Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities’ Children’s Committee. And, she is one of many parents who were instrumental in advocating state legislators to improve teacher candidate pre-service training and licensure rules as they relate to reading instruction, with the passage of House File 2, in May of 2009.

Jan Hagedorn, MA
Currently the Reading Readiness Director at The Reading Center, Dyslexia Institute of Minnesota, Jan received her MA in Human and Health Services Administration from St. Mary’s University. In her role at The Reading Center, she has developed and implemented a Reading Readiness program using scientific, research–based principles for pre-readers and their parents—to prepare children for reading. As an Individual Reading Therapist, Jan provides one-on-one instruction to children with reading difficulty using principles of O-G. Her many accomplishments include consulting for PAIIR (the early childhood programs for ISD# 535 Rochester, MN), serving as co-chair of Federation 2002, a multi-state convention for fiber artists, PTSA president at elementary, middle school and high school, PTSA treasurer, Area Council of PTSA treasurer, regional representative for Minnesota Parenting Center, and she is a PACER-trained parent advocate. Jan is active in volunteering her time toward collaborating with state legislators for best practices in reading instruction.

Board Members at Large

Lee Baker
Lee Baker is a parent advocacy consultant/educator who has a broad background in marketing communications. Baker championed her son’s progress through school after he was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade. Baker’s son, a former honor roll student, now attends college, and Baker has utilized her accumulated knowledge in successfully supporting him to help other families in the areas of advocacy, assistive technology and transitioning from high school to higher education. She has served on the board of the Parent Education Committee at St. Paul Academy for 10 years, and as the Parent Coordinator for that committee for three years. She is a founding board member of the Saint Croix Sailing School.

Nancy C. Lawlor
An Orton-Gillingham certified reading therapist and a handwriting specialist, Nancy has a BA in elementary education and is completing graduate work at Hamline University. The mother of three and an active volunteer in school communities, she has a private practice as a reading therapist, providing services for students ages six to 21. Nancy has played a strategic role in helping to design and facilitate IDA-UMB’s Youth Strand at our recent spring conferences.

Wendy Mathistad
Wendy Mathistad has a Bachelor of Science in education from Eastern Illinois University. She is a teacher and lower school co-division director at Groves Academy (St. Louis Park, MN), a school for students diagnosed with dyslexia, other language-based learning disabilities, and attention disorders. She is trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach and is certified in The Wilson Reading System.

Robin Rovick
Robin Rovick is a reading therapist and academic tutor who utilizes the Orton-Gillingham method in helping students, both youth and adults, who are dealing with reading challenges. Her skills in advocacy and knowledge of academic accommodations are utilized to support her students as they gain lifelong literacy skills. She designed and developed innovative instruction materials and youth training programs in the United States and Belize, and has taught literature programs for gifted children, developing the curriculum and materials. Robin has served IDA-UMB in the capacity of information retrieval, answering our phone lines and website visitor questions. She has served on several boards and is passionate about helping families navigate through the journey of dealing with dyslexia and other reading disabilities.

Sarah Smith
Sarah Smith is an Orton-Gillingham tutor and a graduate student pursuing a Master of Arts in teaching, elementary education license, and K-12 reading endorsement, at the University of St. Thomas. She has a background in grant writing. Sarah is interested in event planning and grant writing for IDA-UMB and has a passion for advocating for students with dyslexia, SBRI, and assisting parents and professionals in understanding the challenges associated with this language-based learning disability.

Lynda Whisney
Lynda Whisney is a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science in communication and marketing, and a Masters degree in Human Development – with a focus on holistic therapies – from St. Mary’s University. Lynda has a strong personal and professional interest in the impact of stress and emotional distress experienced by the child and family of a student with a learning disability. She became acquainted with IDA-UMB ten years ago through the organization’s annual conference, while searching to find out how to help her son learn to read. For the past two years, Lynda has volunteered by planning and co-teaching the Youth Strand of the IDA-UMB spring conference, along with her son Brian. She is a founding member of a local parent advocacy group for students with dyslexia (PASD), and a passionate parent advocate in the IEP process.