TRACY HEILERS

Founder and Executive Director

Tracy Heilers lives in St Charles, IL and is married to Gary Heilers, Dept Chair of PE and Health at Glenbard North High School in Carol Stream, IL. For 18+ years, Tracy has taught yoga and mindfulness to a wide range of student groups. She is appreciative and eager to serve and has a strong desire to use her unique talents to help the mindful education movement grow in momentum, connecting educators with mentors as well as with all of the great mindfulness-based SEL resources now available. She completed her 200hr yoga teacher training in 2003, two of Mindful Schools’ online courses in 2016, and an MBSR training in 2019. She has a degree in Engineering from the University of Iowa. 

TOVI SCRUGGS-HUSSEIN

Board Chair and President 

Leader, Healer, & Award-Winning Educator, Oakland, CA

Tovi Scruggs-Hussein is a visionary, healer, and award-winning urban educator with almost 30 years of leadership and transformation experience. She is internationally recognized for her signature approach of Leadership Do-ing to Leadership BE-ing and Emotionally Intelligent Equity & Inclusion.  She is a recognized leader in meditation, resilience, and self-mastery, was highlighted by Mindful Magazine, and is on a mission to heal our systems through her unique integration of leadership development, racial healing, and trauma-responsive resilience. She is the visionary of Racial Healing Allies™, a movement to create truly inclusive schools and organizations. She is a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator, trained by Brené Brown, and is the founding co-teacher of the trauma-informed leadership course at Mills College.

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JENNIFER HASTON-MACIEJEWSKI

Treasurer

Teacher and Behavior Specialist at Greenfield-Central High School, IN

Jennifer Haston-Maciejewski is the lead teacher of an alternative placement program and behavior specialist at Greenfield-Central High School. She lives with her husband and 4 children in Greenfield, Indiana. After receiving her 200hour training in Yoga and mindfulness, she opened her own yoga studio and started a program called Stop.Breathe.Be. Her program focuses on restorative practices, replacing detentions and suspensions with a mindfulness program, skills to implement mindfulness into your classroom, and developing a personal mindfulness practice. She just completed her wilderness therapy training and hopes to bridge that with mindfulness in the future.

SHEILA ANDERSON

Secretary

School Counselor, Britton-Hecla School District, SD

Sheila Anderson is a K-12 school counselor at Britton-Hecla School District and former special education teacher at Tiospa Zina Tribal School.  During her time as a school counselor, she has been involved in the governing board of the South Dakota School Counselor Association and in 2014 was recognized as school counselor of the year for South Dakota and was honored by former First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House.  She is a Certified Yoga For Kids trainer and is also a Certified Resilience trainer with the Global Center for Resiliency and Wellbeing. 

LAUREN BEVERSDORF

Secretary

Spanish Teacher and SEL Specialist, Arbor Vitae Woodruff School, WI

Lauren Beversdorf recently moved to Wisconsin after teaching K-8 Spanish at Bannockburn School in Bannockburn, IL for many years.  With 18+ years of experience working with all age groups, she also coordinates, designs and implements SEL and mindfulness curricula and multi-age lessons for students and fellow educators. She received her mindfulness instructor training through Teacher Advancement Courses, Gina Biegel’s MBSR-T program, and Mindful Schools courses, and is an experienced certified yoga instructor. Lauren has led workshops, mindful groups, has spoken at conferences, and presented a variety of mindfulness strategies in schools and workshops. She is also a certified ELL/Bilingual Educator.

SALLY ALBRIGHT GREEN

Director of Social Justice & Equity

Instructional Coach, Valley View CUSD 365U, IL

Sally Albright Green is an instructional coach, and mindfulness practitioner and trainer. She has her MEd in Curriculum and instruction and is a Certified Teacher Evaluator in the state of Illinois.  She spent fourteen years teaching 8th grade ELA in a large ethnically diverse middle school, and is now a Teaching and Learning Coach at a K-5 Title 1 school in suburban Chicago. She has taken courses provided by Mindful Schools, The Mindsight Institute, Mindful Leadership and UCSD Center for Mindfulness.  She is part of the Racial Healing Allies™ trio and began studying her racial identity almost twenty years ago, and has worked to incorporate her sensitivities about race into her day to day life in and out of school.

KHAYREE BEY

Director of Social Justice & Equity

Middle School Health Teacher, Colonial School District, DE

Khayree Bey, BBSc, M.Ed., 2021 Colonial School District/McCullough Middle School Teacher of the Year, 2019 SHAPE Delaware’s Health Teacher of the Year. Recently appointed to the Delaware Senate Standards Board, Delaware State Education Association Trainer Cadre, Gift Global/Delaware Save Lives Foundation Trainer. Currently implements an equity-based trauma/poverty-informed culturally responsive approach to teaching students, community, and Colonial staff in the art of MBSR, Kemetic yoga (200YTT), and other self-care practices. He serves on his district's Educators of Color council which focuses on equity and the underrepresented population in teaching by recruiting, assisting, and maintaining educators of color and the newly formed Equity Audit Committee to better serve all Colonial students.

ATHEA DAVIS

Director of Communications

Mindfulness Educator, KIPP Texas Public Schools, TX

Athea Davis is a mindfulness educator at KIPP Texas Public Schools, and a coach, speaker, and writer dedicated to guiding kids and adults to re-ignite their inner spark. She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Policy and Leadership, is a Texas Certified Educator, an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500), and a Children’s Registered Yoga Teacher. She’s the author of Today’s Gonna Be Awesomesauce: Daily Meditations for Youth, Parents & Families and the creator of an affirmation + art card deck. Athea owns Sol Sense Yoga, a mindfully-infused education and leadership company, where she leads live mindfulness trainings + digital courses for leaders, educators, and parents. She is the host of the rising education podcast, Mindful Living with Athea Davis. 

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LINDSEY FRANK

Director of Chapters

Climate and SEL Coach, D59, IL

Lindsey J. Frank, M.Ed. is a well-being coach and she is a districtwide Climate and SEL Coach in Illinois. She has developed her district coaching role since its creation in 2017 and has layered wellness approaches that start with the adults that span outward. She has taught and supported students ranging from early learning through junior high as an SEL coach, learning behavior specialist, interventionist, and teacher. Her master’s degree is in Educational Leadership and Supervision. She is a certified yoga, meditation, and mindfulness instructor for adults and children with a healing-centered focus. Additionally, Lindsey developed her company The Butterfly Within, LLC for well-being coaching for teachers and leaders, and is the author of Big Change, Better You, Beautiful World.

OHILDA HOLGUIN

Director of Partnerships & Grants

Education Consultant and Trainer, New York City, NY

Ohilda Holguin is an education consultant and trainer, author, keynote speaker, and wellness coach. Ohilda worked in the field of domestic violence for over 15 years, managed after-school programs, and taught middle school reading before entering the world of educational publishing and technology for the last twelve years. Currently, she is a Breathe for Change trainee where she is studying to be certified in yoga and social emotional learning and is in a mindfulness training program at Mindful Schools. She develops powerful leadership training, consultation, and coaching programs.  Her areas of specialties include K12 education technology, social emotional learning, business development, innovation, leadership, and women’s empowerment.

ANNE KASA

Director of Partnerships & Grants

Instructional Technology Coach, The Learning Technology Center, IL​

Anne Kasa has been a classroom teacher and reading specialist/literacy coach and is currently an instructional technology coach with The Learning Technology Center in Illinois. She creates professional development opportunities that embed cooperative SEL for adults and children alike. She also creates workshops for educators outside of the school day. She was fortunate to be introduced to SEL while teaching in a Tribes school where she was provided the Basic and Artistry Tribes TLC Training. She is a facilitator for the Character Education Certification program with North Central College. She is an SEL certified educator through Mindful Practices and is currently enrolled in coursework to become a certified SEL facilitator and mindfulness/yoga teacher with Breathe for Change. 

MEGHAN LeBORIOUS

Director of Communications & COSEM Voices

SEL Coordinator & Mindfulness Teacher, Brooklyn,  NY

Meghan LeBorious is a writer, teacher, and meditation facilitator. She currently teaches mindfulness to teens at Cobble Hill High School of American Studies, where she is also the Social and Emotional Learning Coordinator. She is passionate about sharing mindfulness tools for empowerment and self-healing with students and families. Meghan holds the following degrees: BA in Art History, BFA in Painting, MFA in Mixed Media Fine Arts, and MS in the Education of Urban Adolescents with Disabilities. She is also a graduate of the Mindful Schools yearlong certification program, a trained Restorative Justice facilitator, and a certified teacher in the 5Rhythms dance and movement meditation tradition. She has been formally practicing meditation since 2006.

LAURIE SEIDEL

Director of Membership

Coordinator of Mindfulness Education, Roanoke City Public Schools, VA

Laurie Seidel is the Coordinator of Mindfulness Education for Roanoke City Public Schools. She offers professional learning in self-care, resilience, communication, and mindfulness for staff, partners with classroom teachers to bring mindfulness into the classroom, has developed the role of Mindfulness Coach in each school, and teaches a mindfulness class for high school students. Prior, she was Educator for the Dept of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Carilion Clinic, where she offered mindfulness practice drop-ins weekly and was principal investigator for a program of mindfulness research. At Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, she teaches The Foundations of Mindfulness Practice. Laurie is a master's-prepared psychiatric-mental health nurse. She is certified through Koru and CARE.

MATT WELD

Director of Professional Learning

Director of Innovation & Technology, Area 5 Regional Offices of Education, IL

Matt Weld is Director of Technology and Innovation for the ROEs of Area 5 (Southwestern IL by St. Louis). He manages TeachIllinois.org and DirectionsConference.com after being a 7th-grade science and ELA teacher, JH assistant principal, and K-8 tech coach. Matt is a Google Trainer and a Registered Yoga Teacher who makes things, reads, and goes outside. He facilitates workshops on finding balance as an educator, including a Wellbeing Masterclass that incorporates breathwork, intention setting, readings, and yoga. Wellbeing is always forefront in conversations with educators in the area, and he is looking to expand those opportunities for educators around the state with new programs on TeachIllinois.

EVAN WHITEHEAD

Director of Membership

Director of Special Services, Lindop School District, IL

Evan Whitehead M.Ed. has been an educator for 20+years holding the positions of special education paraprofessional and teacher, community outreach coordinator, and asst superintendent of special services. In his current role as the director of special services for a PK–8 school district in Illinois, he oversees special education, English learners, early childhood education, MTSS, SEL, equity, diversity, and cultural competency. Evan is an author, mindfulness practitioner, consultant/trainer/presenter with Dr. Ruby K. Payne’s aha! Process, Inc., and a Certified Mindset & Accountability Coach. He promotes a lifestyle and self-advocacy in the areas of mental health, mindset, self-care, and wellbeing through his 3Bs #BalanceBoundariesandBreaks.