Cheryl O’Donoghue, MS is an author, Founder and CEO at Emotional Intelligence Leadership Resources, and Co-founder at the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Mission Sisters Who Work.

Over the past thirty years, Cheryl has held senior executive roles in financial services, corporate education, nonprofit, and healthcare organizations where she’s been responsible for leading company-wide communications and training initiatives. Many of these were designed to help large populations of people (both customers and employees) adopt dramatically new operating models and technology-enabled solutions. In 2016, she left her position as Chief Communications Officer for a health care company in the Chicagoland area to write books showcasing women’s achievements in business, with a spotlight on emotionally intelligent leaders. How to Be a Woman in Business was published in 2018; How to Be a Woman in Technology was released in 2019; and Cheryl’s newest book How to Be an Emotionally Intelligent Leader was published earlier this year.

In 2016, Cheryl also started her own communications and training company—Emotional Intelligence Leadership Resources (BnEiLeader.com)—and works with executives to transform their organizations and the results they achieve through proven emotional intelligence leadership practices. Additionally, in 2018 she co-founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Mission Sisters Who Work (missionsisterswhowork.org). Mission Sisters provides self-empowerment and emotional intelligence books and training to all women, as well as scholarships to women with limited access to funding who are interested in business and STEM-related careers.

Chery’ls love affair with emotional intelligence leadership began in graduate school when she did her masters project on emotional intelligence and how the purposeful development of it in the workplace significantly contributes to the health and prosperity of organizations and the people in those organizations. Then in the late 1990s working as a senior executive for a global learning and consulting company, she received her first company-sponsored coaching certification. (She currently holds four, each of which are focused on applying widely accepted emotional intelligence boosting principles and practices.)

In the 2000s she was hired by Harper College in the Chicagoland area to create and facilitate courses to develop emotional intelligence in both adults and youth. In the 2010s, as part of her responsibility as Chief Communications Officer for VNA Healthcare, she led an organizational development effort to strengthen staff efficiency, effectiveness, and engagement through signature strengths and emotional intelligence leadership training. Within eighteen months of program rollout the company was awarded a Best Places to Work in Illinois designation. The award was based on an independent study of best practices and employee satisfaction. Employees commended the company for the personal and professional development training they received, indicating it was a primary factor for giving their employer a high rating.

Philanthropy has played a prominent role throughout Cheryl’s life. One hundred percent of the royalties earned from her book sales go to women served by Mission Sisters Who Work, in addition to a portion of all earnings from her work through Emotional Intelligence Leadership Resources.

To learn more about Cheryl’s work, visit BnEiLeader.com or cherylodonoghue.com. She can also be contacted on LinkedIn (Cheryl O’Donoghue, MS) or at cheryl@cherylodonoghue.com.

John Weiner is responsible for ensuring the technical quality and value of assessment solutions for employment, licensure, and certification assessments at PSI Services LLC.

John is an active participant in professional testing organisations (CLEAR, ICE, SIOP, NCME, ITC, ATP), serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Test Publishers, and frequently presents at international conferences.

ACT Chief Officer, Alina von Davier, PhD., leads ACTNext, a multidisciplinary innovation unit at ACT Inc. Von Davier is a pioneer in Computational Psychometrics, an emerging interdisciplinary field concerned with the application of theoretical psychometric models and data-driven computational methods for multimodal, large-scale/high-dimensional learning and assessment data. Von Davier’s unique approach drives ACTNext’s development of innovative solutions to challenging problems, and challenges the ways in which assessment is traditionally thought of. Her current research interests involve developing methodologies in support of adaptive learning in virtual environments that allow for collaboration, using techniques incorporating machine learning, data mining, Bayesian inference methods, and stochastic processes.

Two publications, a co-edited volume on Computerized Multistage Testing (2014) and an edited volume on test equating, Statistical Models for Test Equating, Scaling, and Linking (2011) were selected as the winners of the Division D Significant Contribution to Educational Measurement and Research Methodology award at American Educational Research Association (AERA).  Additionally, she has written and/or co-edited five other books and volumes on statistic and psychometric topics. She has received significant grants and contracts as a Principal Investigator; funding sources have included the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the US Army Medical Research, and the Army Research Institute.

Prior to leading ACTNext, von Davier was a senior research director at Educational Testing Service (ETS) where she led the Computational Psychometrics Research Center. Previously, she led the Center for Psychometrics for International Tests, where she was responsible for both the psychometrics in support of international tests, TOEFL® and TOEIC®, and the scores reported to millions of test takers annually.

Von Davier is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa and Fordham University, and the president of the International Association of Computerized Adaptive Testing (IACAT). She currently serves on the board of directors for the Association of Test Publishers (ATP), and she is also a member of the board of directors for Smart Sparrow and of the advisory board for Duolingo.

She earned her doctorate in mathematics from Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg, Germany, and her Master of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Bucharest, Romania.

Dania is the Chief Credentialing and Products portfolio Officer for the HR Certification Institute. Her areas of expertise are in licensure/certification program management, Computer Based Testing (CBT) and Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) adoption and transition.

Previous to her current role at HRCI, Dania was the Director of Global Certifications for Cisco Systems, Associate Director of Examinations at the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), and the Vice President of Research and Test Development for the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).

Christine Yoshida has over 20 years’ experience with some of the largest program sponsors in IT, Christine has in-depth expertise in creating, launching, and managing successful certification programs that benefit millions of IT workers around the world for Apple, Intel, Cisco, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Blue Jeans Network. Christine also offers training and certification consulting services through Enlitefy, Inc.

Marten Roorda is a pioneer in educational technology, leading innovations in computer-based testing, e-learning and adaptive learning since 2000. Marten Roorda is the Chief Executive Officer of ACT since October 1st, 2015. ACT, headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, is the global market leader in college and career readiness assessment and is leading the world in research & development of personalized learning and learning analytics. Before joining ACT, Marten was the CEO of Cito for thirteen years, an international organization in educational measurement, based in the Netherlands.

Marten Roorda has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Test Publishers for ten years, and was their Chair in 2010. In 2016 he received the Professional Contributions and Service to Testing Award of the ATP. Prior to working at Cito, Marten had several positions in the publishing industry, at VNU and Reed Elsevier among others. Marten holds a master’s degree in language and literature at Utrecht University.

Dr. Matthews-López is a Senior Psychometrician at Professional Testing and an adjunct instructor of mathematics at Ohio University. She holds a MS in applied mathematics and statistics from NC State and a PhD in Educational Research and Evaluation from Ohio University.

Prior to joining Professional Testing, Joy served as senior psychometrician at the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), psychometric supervisor at Prometric, Director of Research for the Centers of Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE) at Ohio University, and measurement statistician at ETS.

Joy is active in numerous professional organizations and is a regular presenter at national conferences. Joy’s current applications are in the areas of certification and licensure and her research interests include test adaptation, exam security, automated forms assembly, and innovative item development.

Dr. Robert McHenry is founder and Executive Chairman of OPP. For much of his career, he has worked as a consultant in business psychology for the public and private sectors on staff selection, performance management, succession planning and organisational change. Among his personal clients have been Cadbury Plc, Bass Plc, Intercontinental Hotels, Eli Lilly, Siemens, the Export Credits Guarantee Dept and the United Kingdom Agricultural Research Council.

Robert founded OPP in 1989 and has built the company into a global business with offices in Oxford, Paris and Amsterdam, and a network of international partners.

Robert holds a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University and is Tutor and Lecturer in Experimental Psychology at Oriel College, and a member of the Division of Medical Sciences.