Glynn D. Ligon, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Barbara S. Clements, Ph.D.
Vice President
Steven King
Chief Technical Architect
Evangelina Mangino, Ph.D.
Vice President
Jim Rife
Vice President of Product Development
Barbara H. Andrepont
Senior Data Management Consultant
Glynn D. Ligon, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Dr. Ligon, the president and chief executive officer of ESP Solutions Group, is a nationally recognized expert on issues relating to student record collection and exchange, data quality, data reporting, and large-scale system design.
The National Center for Education Statistics, the U. S. Department of Education, and over 25 state education agencies have consulted with Dr. Ligon on various areas of his expertise. He has a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Quantitative Methods from The University of Texas at Austin and is licensed to teach in the State of Texas.
Prior to starting ESP in 1993, Dr. Ligon directed the Austin (TX) Independent School District's information and technology organization. As the executive director of management information, he led the district's efforts in developing and reporting on district-wide program evaluations, many of which won national awards from the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Ligon was also a leader in the advent of SPEEDE/ExPRESS, the EDI standard for the exchange of electronic student transcripts.
From 1992 to 2000, he served as a member of the U.S. Department of Education's Planning and Evaluation Services Review Panel. Dr. Ligon's whitepapers; A Technology Framework for NCLB Success and Steps for Ensuring Data Quality are prominently featured within the U.S. Department of Education's 2005 National Education Technology Plan, meant to help motivate and incite technology-driven transformation in education.
At the beginning of his career, Dr. Ligon taught in predominantly Spanish-speaking schools near the Texas-Mexico border. He is an experienced evaluator of Title I, Migrant, compensatory education, and bilingual education programs.
Barbara S. Clements, Ph.D.
Vice President
As the vice president of Education Services, Dr. Clements leads ESP's Federal Practice Group in Washington, DC. She is widely recognized as the leading expert on federal K-12 education data collection programs, policies, and content. In recognition of that knowledge, she serves as a key advisor to the U.S. Department of Education's senior staff on the national collection of data from state education agencies, particularly through the Performance Based Data Management Initiative (PBDMI) and its successor, the Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN). She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Quantitative Methods and is a licensed Spanish teacher.
In addition to her current role, Dr. Clements helps propel the development of automated data collection and reporting systems, unique student identifier systems, and electronic transcript/record exchange systems for state education agencies. She also advises state and federal education agencies on confidentiality, reliability, FERPA compliance, and privacy matters.
Earlier in her career as project director for the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Dr. Clements drove the strategic direction of a series of projects promoting better collections and management of education information. Prior to that, Dr. Clements worked as the education program director at the Texas Education Agency on projects such as educator assessment, teacher training, and professional development.
Dr. Clements was a founding committee member on SPEEDE/ExPRESS, the EDI standard for the exchange of electronic student transcripts. She served on the National Education Goal Two Advisory Committee and led a resource group to analyze and make recommendations for information systems development.
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Steven King
Chief Technical Architect
Mr. King has extensive knowledge of the data management and coordination needs of state education agencies and school districts. He is uncommonly skilled at dealing simultaneously with the low-level details of data system design and coordination, and the upper-levels of strategy and policy recommendation.
He has over 20 years experience at the Wyoming Department of Education coordinating data collection and reporting activities across all federal and state education program areas. His vision and data management skills were instrumental to the adoption and implementation of the Wyoming Integrated State Education data system (WISE). WISE is the first full state implementation of the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) in every school district in the state.
Mr. King has been active in the national education data policy arena, serving in key leadership positions of the National Forum on Education Statistics and the Education Information Advisory Committee (EIAC) of the Council of Chief State School Officers. He serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the Schools Interoperability Framework Association. He is a past chair of the General Statistics Permanent Standing Task Force.
Under Mr. King’s leadership, Wyoming was a lead state in reporting data for the federal Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN). Wyoming was the only state to report exclusively using XML technology. The U.S. Education Department continues to seek his review of both system design and implementation strategy.
Mr. King started his career as a math and computer science instructor working with students from upper elementary through college. He has a Bachelors degree in mathematics from the University of California at San Diego, and an Education degree from San Jose State University.
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Evangelina Mangino, Ph.D.
Vice President
Dr. Mangino has extensive experience working on issues related to large-scale, high-stakes assessments both at the school district level and for the Riverside Publishing Company. She has designed and provided training on assessments and has designed assessment reports for different audiences. She played a crucial role designing graphical reports with multi-year data points for the Fund for Colorado's Future Tech Tools Institute.
She has conducted in-depth analyses for state-level determinations of adequate yearly progress, and the application of rules for confidentiality and statistical reliability. She managed the data acquisition from states for the Real Time Data Project, which included importing education assessment data from pilot states into a common format for review by the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education. She also worked with state education agencies to review the quality of data submitted to NCES in a pilot resulting in the creation of an XML data exchange standard. With APQC, Dr. Mangino conducted a nationwide review of the factors impacting the use of assessment results in schools.
Dr. Mangino developed ESP’s Disaster Prevention and Recovery (DPR) Planning Toolkit for School System Technology™. She has used the toolkit, which is designed specifically for school systems, to develop disaster recovery and business continuation plans for school districts.
Recently she developed ISInsight™, an ecosystem visualization template she has used to work with districts and states to conduct in-depth analysis of their data collections, repositories, and reporting tools. She is currently functioning as the systems architect for the creation of an internal/client portal that will house district- and school-observation tools. This project utilizes SharePoint and PDA development technology.
Dr. Mangino has over 30 years of experience working with education agencies to support their use of data to make decisions to strengthen the services they provide students. She has a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin.
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Jim Rife
Vice President of Product Development
Jim Rife has an expansive background in Information Technologies. As the VP for product development at ESP Solutions Group, Jim oversees all product development and service hosting engagements. Jim directs the software development team, acts as the senior business analyst for all software projects, and manages the Information Technology resources for the company. Before assuming responsibilities as Vice President, Jim acted as Implementation Manager for ESP.
He began his career in Silicon Valley working for the Lockheed Martin Corporation. He worked in a wide variety of positions over a 15 year period at Lockheed. Those positions included systems administration, software project management, intelligence analysis, and business development for Department of Defense contracts.
After relocating to Austin, Texas, he was involved in a number of software startup companies ranging from very early incubator stage companies to companies which have experienced extraordinary success and growth, including companies such as Tivoli (acquired by IBM in 1997) and MessageOne (acquired by Dell in 2006). It was at Tivoli where Jim first had exposure to the enterprise software development market, and it was in an environment of uncompromised commitment to getting things right for the customer – a commitment he infuses in his work to this day.
Jim's experience includes over 5 years of software development, over 10 years of quality assurance, and over 8 years of IT management and process improvement. He is especially interested in the management of software projects throughout their entire lifecycle – an interest that led him to work for ESP Solutions Group.
As a long-time resident of Austin, Jim is fully integrated into the Austin music community having performed as a vocalist with both the Austin Symphony and most recently the Austin Lyric Opera. He holds a B.S in Computer Science from Purdue University.
Back to topBarbara H. Andrepont
Senior Data Management Consultant
Ms. Andrepont is a highly experienced IT/MIS senior executive who earned a national reputation for her work with the Louisiana Department of Education. She has over 30 years experience working at the state education agency level as well as valuable experience consulting with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).
As the information technology director for the Louisiana Department of Education, Ms. Andrepont championed the department's technology planning efforts, implemented statewide education data collection systems, chaired the State Education Technology Advisory Committee, and served as the vice president of the Council of Information Services Directors.
Ms. Andrepont has consulted to the chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Education on data standards initiatives and issues, and assisted in federal education data resolutions. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF), representing the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Ms. Andrepont served as president and board member of the Louisiana Computer Using Educators (LACUE), Louisiana's education technology organization. She completed her MBA at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
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