Senior Director of Professional Learning

With a track record of transforming schools and districts across the state of Illinois, Suzy is a proven leader in K-12 education. She is skilled in Professional Learning and Development, School Improvement, Team Motivation, and Instructional Coaching. Before joining West40, Suzy served in a variety of roles in schools, districts, and on the state level.

Suzy has guided universal professional learning opportunities at the Illinois State Board of Education, served as an educational consultant both independently and for ROEs, taught high school students and middle school students, and worked as Instructional Support Coordinator at District 87 in Bloomington. Some of Suzy’s favorite content areas in professional learning are Inclusion, Co-Teaching, Mentoring and Induction, and Instructional Strategies.

Director of Professional Learning

Sonya is an energetic, research-savvy, data-driven educator. Her career in education began at the turn of this century. She began as a substitute and taught elementary and middle school students for 12 years prior to becoming an administrator in 2009. She also served school communities as a supervisor of instructional technology, principal, and assistant superintendent, specializing in building positive school culture. She has taught graduate courses for Illinois’ first alternative certification program at Governor State University focusing on the history in education and foundations in education. After successfully defending her dissertation A Case Study of Student, Teacher, Parent and Administrator Perceptions of Cyberbullying at a Public Elementary School in the USA, Sonya earned her doctorate from Roosevelt University in 2012.

Sonya attended Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Principal Center to complete course work and action research in Closing the Achievement Gap and The Art of Leadership. She has experience in auditing/evaluating curriculum for alignment with standards, preparing for IAR state assessment, evidence-based instructional practices, professional learning communities, strategic planning for school improvement, mentoring programs, evaluation, and PERA implementation. Sonya joined the West40 team in July 2021.

Professional Learning Specialist

Angela is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Class of 2019, and has a history of sharing her enthusiasm for teaching. As a freshman in college, Angela and her sister Maria founded Chance to Dance, a non-profit organization that provides an equitable and affordable dance education to children of low-income families in West Suburban Chicago.

Prior to joining West40, Angela spent nearly seven years as a 5th grade teacher at Berwyn South School District 100 and was an Instructional Coach in Berwyn South School District 100 and Pennoyer School District 79. She also taught Spanish at Ogden Elementary School in 2015 after graduating from DePaul University with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Teaching. In 2017, Angela earned her master’s degree in Education from Dominican University, specializing in Technology and English as a Second Language.

Angela applies her coaching skills at West40 by focusing on kindergarten through 8th grade with an emphasis on intentional integration of instructional technology to transform teaching and learning. Her experience in long-term and strategic planning—and many other areas—are a great asset to the team.

Professional Learning Specialist, Executive Coach

Prior to joining West40, Julie served as superintendent of an Illinois Pre-K to 12 school district for 15 years, where she transformed the educational vision, climate, and culture through strategic planning, involving internal and external stakeholders. She specializes in systems development, policy and governance, organizational management, community relations, and human resources development. Social and emotional development is at the core of Julie's work. She led her school district through the ongoing work of developing racial equity and inclusion for all students and by the end of her tenure, the district had closed the graduation rate racial achievement gap while increasing the overall graduation rate by 10 percentage points.

Before becoming superintendent, Julie served as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, high school building level administrator, and vocational child care and food service teacher. Julie is a registered executive coach, has taught master- and doctoral-level classes in educational leadership, provided training around a culture of inclusion and racial equity, and has mentored at least 10 of her administrators as they earned their doctoral degrees in education leadership.

Professional Learning Specialist

Prior to joining the West40 team, Gina worked in elementary education for 26 years. She spent time working as a reading teacher and taught various levels from kindergarten through 6th grade. Gina worked as both an Assistant Principal and Principal during her seven years in school administration. In addition to her work within schools, she served on the Boards of Education for both Komarek School District 94 and Riverside Brookfield High School District 208.

Having this diverse background within the field, she is able to collaborate with schools as they focus on a variety of timely school topics including the school improvement process, mentorship of new teachers, evaluation of staff, assessment, and social-emotional learning. It is with this varied background within the educational field that Gina brings a broad perspective to her work with districts.

Adminstrative Assistant

Karla is the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Professional Learning. She is the perfect embodiment of the West40 mission and is willing to go out of her way to support the West40 districts and staff in any way possible. She has many valuable skills and attributes that she brings to the team.

Karla motivates the team and keeps them focused on their mission to empower educators and staff on their journey to be the very best they can be for the students they serve. She supports the team so they can continue providing amazing work to all districts in the West Cook region. If you need help finding a network, need resources, or have any questions, feel free to send Karla an email and she'll help you out or point you in the right direction.