Who Are We?
In a Word… You!

Amy Dykens, EdD

CEO & President

Amy has worked in higher education for over two decades. First serving as faculty and then assistant academic dean, Dr. Dykens’ research interests include curriculum mapping, high-impact educational practices, learning assessment, and institutional effectiveness. Joining Weave in 2012, she has assisted hundreds of institutions in applying best practices to their institutional effectiveness work. As Vice President of Product, beginning in 2016, she oversaw the modernization of the Weave platform, including a focus on curriculum mapping, as she believes mapping to be the foundation of successful learning centered curriculum and assessment.

Sheri Popp, EdD

Senior Director, Professional Development & Accreditor Strategy

Sheri spent eight years serving as an Associate Dean for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness at a small college, where Weave played an important part in the assessment program. Prior to that, she spent 14 years as a K-12 classroom teacher. She is passionate about sound educational practices, including assessment that allows institutions to improve student learning while meeting accreditation requirements.

Jennifer Gray, MSW

Senior Product Manager

As the Director of Institutional Effectiveness at a SUNY school, Jen’s valuable knowledge shapes the Weave user experience. Since joining the team in 2012 Jen has led over 150 institutions in using Weave and has turned their feedback into action through perfecting the interface and functionality of Weave.

Beth Ardner

Product Manager

Beth Ardner is a self-professed learning and data geek. She has been helping colleges and universities meet and exceed their goals for teaching and assessing essential skills since 2015. Prior to that, Beth helped universities around the world embed research resources and skills into their libraries and classrooms. In her free time, she enjoys getting lost in a good book, baking, and moonlighting as an aspiring novelist.

Terra Boston

Member Success Specialist

Terra has spent her career working in higher education. She served three years in student services at a medical sciences university. Prior to that, she worked three years in enrollment services at a small college where she was able to assist in tracking enrollment trends to evaluate and develop new practices. She is passionate about the opportunity to serve institutions in discovering ways Weave can best work for each of their unique needs.

Vag Boutsakis

Lead Product Developer, UI/UX

With over 15 years of programming and development experience, Vag is a critical part of Weave’s software. His skill for creating attractive and intuitive interface that is also powerful for institutions has helped thousands of users in their IE work. He has a knack for anticipating end user experience and creating workflows that are productive yet easy to use.

Jordan Day

Director, Community Engagement

Contributing to higher education for ten years, Jordan spent her first five years in assessment working with faculty and staff to create meaningful assessment plans and supporting the institution in best telling their story. She continues that same great work as part of the Weave team, assisting assessment and accreditation leaders from hundreds of institutions with their initiatives. Her passions include assessment, accreditation, service excellence, and community building.

Jeremy Fairley

Member Success Specialist

Jeremy has been an educator in the classroom for the past 13 years. He is well practiced in the art and science of tailoring information to fit unique individual needs. He is excited to bring his experience and knowledge of curriculum development, implementation and assessment to the Weave team. Jeremy is committed to making each user’s experience streamlined and practical. In his free time, he enjoys camping and teaching yoga to strengthen mind, body and community.

Laura Francabandera

Director, Security and Compliance

Laura is an information professional with over ten years’ experience. She advocates for web accessibility and loves helping institutions meet their compliance needs. Laura has written extensively on accessibility in higher education and loves bringing that passion to information security at Weave.

Carissa Johnson, EdD

Learning Systems Technologist

Carissa has spent her career in higher education serving institutions across various roles. Her experience working with both faculty and students has fueled her passion for technology, student support, and assisting institutions with accessible ways to create seamless learning experiences through learning management systems and portals.

Kelsey Kirland

Director, Member Success

Kelsey spent five years serving as an Associate Director for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness at a large research university. Prior to that, she spent five years doing program evaluation for a multi-institutional collaborative. She is passionate about working with faculty and simplifying assessment and accreditation processes.

Brian Lodis

Senior UX Designer

With over 16 years in design, Brian improves the Weave experience throughout our solutions. He is involved in working with higher education professionals on how Weave can solve challenges of IE work through an intuitive interface. His creative perspective ensures that Weave users navigate through best-practice workflows flexible for any type of institution.

George Nikitakis

Front End Developer

George is an enthusiastic developer. His passions include exploring new technologies and innovative solutions while staying current with the latest trends and advancements in the field. George’s contributions to Weave provide a modern and intuitive user experience for members.

Dan Powell

Architect

Dan Powell has over 25 years of startup, management, architecture, and development experience. He has spent most of his career solving large-scale data problems, focusing on high-volume data processing, web and mobile systems.

Victor Rivera

Director, Product Experience

Victor has a long track record of excellent customer service experience at two large companies prior to joining Weave in 2018. He strives to give the most accurate and professional service possible through thoughtful questions and careful listening.

Sandy Siddons

Manager, Accreditor Member Success

Sandy has worked in education for over 10 years. Serving as Director of Institutional Research and then Assistant Professor, Dr. Siddons’ research interests include assessment and institutional effectiveness. She is passionate about high-impact educational practices in higher education, including ways to meet the requirements of accreditors while improving student learning outcomes.

Matt Urey

Senior Director, Business Administration and Human Resources

Matt has been with Weave for 15 years and uses his background as an Assistant Director of Admissions to assist our team and customers in our business office. With a degree in writing and graphic design, Matt is also an important part of the events and marketing teams at Weave.

Mike Velonakis

UX/UI Developer

Mike has a long experience in front end development in various industries. He likes to work in a methodical and consistent way, always having the best user experience in mind. His perception of the workflow of each part of the project and the attention to detail helps users maintain an excellent user experience.

Dr. Stephen Biscotte, PhD

Director of General Education,
Virginia Tech

Dr. Biscotte has devoted much of his professional research to general education. He has given various presentations as well as facilitated workshops on innovative structures, university reform efforts, and program evaluation both locally and nationally. Prior to his role at Virginia Tech, for 10 years he taught high school courses in anatomy and physiology, biology, and physical science.

Kelsey Kirland

Director, Member Success
Weave

Kelsey spent five years serving as an Associate Director for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness at a large research university. Prior to that, she spent five years doing program evaluation for a multi-institutional collaborative. She is passionate about working with faculty and simplifying assessment and accreditation processes.

Dr. Joseph D. Levy, EdD

AVP of Accreditation and Quality Improvement,
Excelsior University

Experienced with multiple institutional types’ assessment efforts, Dr. Joseph D. Levy is a member of the Student Affairs Assessment Leaders (SAAL) Board of Directors, leads the Applying and Leading Assessment in Student Affairs open course, and is an endorsed speaker for the National Institute of Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA). Joe earned a BA in English from Baldwin-Wallace College, an MS in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Colorado State University, and his Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership from National Louis University.

Anthony Marziliano, MS

Director for Academic Assessment, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences,
St. John’s University

With 10+ years of higher education assessment experience, Anthony manages all assessment workflow and leads in scholarship and publishing efforts. His research includes higher education assessment, qualitative methods for improved student learning, goal achievement and outcomes, and quantitative statistical analysis of student learning.

Dr. Kristen McIntyre, PhD

Professor | Provost’s Faculty Associate in Assessment
University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Kristen A. McIntyre (Ph.D., North Dakota State University) is a full professor in the Department of Applied Communication at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and serves as the Provost’s Faculty Associate in Assessment. She directs the ACOM 1300: Introduction to Communication program as well as the UA-Little Rock Communication Skills Center.

Joy Medford, MBA

Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness,
Angelina College

Ms. Row works closely with department chairs and division directors to create assessment plans that allow faculty and staff to evaluate and present their work for many purposes other than accreditation.

Dr. Tisha Paredes, PhD

Author, Speaker, Consultant

Dr. Paredes started in 2005 as a graduate assistant in the IE office and has held several positions there. In her former role, she worked closely with faculty and staff in creating assessment plans and reports as well as monitoring SACSCOC standards for the institution. Tisha is an experienced presenter, consultant, and author.

Dr. Sheri Popp, EdD

Senior Director, Professional Development
Weave

Sheri spent eight years serving as an Associate Dean for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness at a small college, where Weave played an important part in the assessment program. Prior to that, she spent 14 years as a K-12 classroom teacher. She is passionate about sound educational practices, including assessment that allows institutions to improve student learning while meeting accreditation requirements.

Dr. Ray Van Dyke, EdD

Senior Vice President Emeritus,
Weave Academy

Ray is an IE professional with decades of hands-on experience in the field of institutional research, planning and assessment. He was the founding Director of Weave Academy.

Linda Suskie

Author, Speaker, Consultant

Linda Suskie is an internationally recognized consultant, writer, speaker, and educator on a broad variety of higher education assessment and accreditation topics. Her books include Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide, one of the best-selling books on assessment in higher education, and Five Dimensions of Quality: A Common Sense Guide to Accreditation and Accountability.

Linda worked seven years as a vice president at the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Her higher education experience includes work in assessment, institutional research, strategic planning, and quality management.

Linda has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in assessment, educational research methods, writing, statistics, and developmental mathematics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in quantitative studies from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s in educational measurement and statistics from the University of Iowa.

Tancy Vandecar-Burdin

Director, Social Science Research Center,
Old Dominion University

Dr. Tancy Vandecar-Burdin is the Director of the Social Science Research Center (SSRC) at Old Dominion University. She has been with the SSRC since its inception in 1998. She as more than 20 years of experience with survey research (to include phone, mail, and web surveys) as well as conducting focus groups and interviews. She works with faculty and other research partners to support their research and data collection needs and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the SSRC’s operations, as well as serving as project manager or principal investigator for most of the SSRC’s projects. She has taught undergraduate courses in criminal justice and graduate courses in public policy and survey research. She has managed survey research and other evaluation activities on a variety of topics including: programs/services for university and community college STEM/cybersecurity students, awareness of campus suicide prevention resources, perceptions of mental health and substance abuse services in Virginia and New Hampshire, general quality of life in southeast Virginia, and the experiences of families with receiving early intervention services in Virginia. Dr. Vandecar-Burdin also serves as the chair of the ODU Institutional Review Board and is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), the American Evaluation Association (AEA), and the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations (AASRO).