Marianne Kirkland

Moving across the globe as a shy 4th grader from Egypt to the United States, Marianne learned at very young age to be agile, to learn, to adapt, and to grow from all life's experiences. It was no doubt her strong family values that fostered her determination and strength to live, learn, and succeed in a whole new world.

Marianne's intelligence and determination were made obvious when as a 15-year-old a middle school student, she leapt straight into the role as a college freshman: being recognized by the state of Connecticut as the youngest student to enter college. As her life experience and education grew, she realized that she loved technology and leadership.

Following her passion for technology, Marianne earned an MIS degree at Central Connecticut State University, and then took her leadership skills and knowledge of technology to serve in a variety of roles within the world of Information Technology for the past 20 years. Having succeeded as a Developer, Programmer Analyst, Team Lead, Senior Product Owner and Corporate Vice President, she eventually landed at Tech Data, where she currently serves as an IT Manager. She is a results-driven servant leader, driven to boost revenues, while cutting company costs through innovative management techniques.

Kathleen Shiverdecker

Dr. Kathleen Hartman Shiverdecker has served in senior organizational leadership positions for the past 25 years in various educational and human resource roles in both public and private contexts. Kathleen and the teams she has had the privilege of supporting have designed equity-focused data utilization, recruitment, interview, selection, and performance management systems that have led to the identification of hundreds of highly qualified and diverse candidates in multi-faceted roles.

Kathleen served as a cohort facilitator for aspiring leaders at Denver University in the Morgridge College of Education's Ritchie Executive Leaders for Successful Schools program for 10 years. Kathleen is a trained Fierce Conversations facilitator, Grief Recovery Method facilitator, and a professional photographer. She completed her doctoral degree in 2021 at Northcentral University in the field of Organizational Design. Kathleen earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education, English, and French at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership at the University of Phoenix in Colorado Springs, Colorado.