§ Lyndal M. Bullock is a Regents Professor in Special Education at the University of North Texas in Denton.  He is the past president of the following International Associations:  The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) for 2 terms, Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders, and the Teacher Education Division of the CEC.  He is a past recipient of several professional awards:  the Midwest Leadership Award in Behavioral Disorders, J.J. Wallin Award (the most prestigious award given by the Council for Exceptional Children), and the teaching Excellence Award given by the Teacher Education Division of CEC.  He is currently on the editorial board of several journals (e.g., Behavioral Disorders, Teacher Education and Special Education) and has contributed significantly to the literature in special education.  He has been a strong advocate for children and youth with disabilities and has been a leader in teacher preparation in special education for many years.

§ Deborah Burgess is a special education teacher who teaches children with disabilities in an inclusion classroom at Pflugerville ISD. She has 17 years of experience teaching within the Austin and Pflugerville ISDs, including a number of years spent in resource classroom.  Deborah serves on the TCIP Access to the General Curriculum improvement committee.  She has also served on the validation panel for the Showcase of Promising Practices.

§ Eve Cugini is the mother of two sons with disabilities.  She is also the executive director of Family to Family Network in Houston.  Family to Family Network empowers families of children with disabilities to successfully navigate the complex educational, medical, and service delivery systems by providing information, referral, training, and support.  Family to Family Network administers a number of programs, including Partners in Policymaking.  She has served on a number of TCIP improvement committees and is an active participant in her children's schools.

§ Fran Dayal is a program consultant in the Division of Early Childhood Intervention (ECI)/Client Services in Austin.  She represents ECI on National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) Early Transition State Planning Committee, Autism Council, and Infant Mental Health.  She provides training and technical assistance on early transition and family-centered, routine-based early intervention.

§ Phyllis Gandy is the director of School Improvement Support Services at the Region XI Education Service Center (ESC) in Fort Worth. Prior to working at the ESC, she was a director of special education and a special education counselor. Phyllis has been working with students with disabilities for over 25 years.  She serves on several TCIP improvement committees, including the Texas Steering Committee since 2000.

§ Maria Garcia is the director of Uniting Parents, a parent case management program funded by the Texas Department of Health which serves 32 counties in the Texas Panhandle. Maria lives in Amarillo with her family. She is the mother of three children, one 10^th grader who is fully included and receives support for her learning disability, a 9^th grader, and a 6^th grader who has Down syndrome. Maria has served on ECI’s Board of Directors for 3 years. Previously, she has worked as a bilingual educator and school counselor for 11 years with the Hereford ISD.

§ Marjie Haynes is the division director for Instruction at Windham School District, which provides adult correctional education for offenders who are incarcerated in Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities. She has administrative responsibility for the development and implementation of the district's academic programs, vocational programs, and the counseling and testing components. Marjie has been employed by the district for 14 years, serving in her current position for the past 9 years. Prior to assuming her current duties, she served as an assessment specialist and the coordinator of special populations for the district. In addition to her correctional education experience, she has numerous years of experience in public school districts as a special education teacher and educational diagnostician. Preceding her employment by Windham School District, Marjie served as an educational specialist for a regional education service center.

§ Carol Hicks is a third grade general education teacher at Bushland ISD.  Currently Carol is working toward her master's degree as a reading specialist.  Growing up in the late sixties and seventies with a brother with cerebral palsy, she has lived with the strengths and weaknesses and successes and the frustrations of students with disabilities in the public school setting.  Carol feels privileged to work in a district that values and promotes "coloring outside the lines" in order to meet the needs of all the students in the district.

§ Yvette Hinojosa is the director of Texas Fiesta Educativa, a private non-profit organization in San Antonio. Texas Fiesta Educativa’s mission is to provide bilingual training and support services to families of children with disabilities and the professionals who work with them.  Prior to working with Texas Fiesta Educativa, she worked with an ECI program serving rural families.  She has worked with families with children with disabilities for over 17 years.

§ Connie L. Hughes lives with her family in Idalou. She is the mother of two children, one is a college student, and the other is a junior high student with cerebral palsy. Connie has taught special education children ages 0-3 years, worked with Early Childhood Intervention for the past 13 years and has served on the state ECI Board of Directors.

§ Kay Lambert has been an Education Policy Specialist for Advocacy, Inc. for nearly 20 years. Within this capacity, she is responsible for monitoring, proposing, and sometimes opposing policy initiatives that impact students with disabilities and their families. In addition to serving on numerous task forces, advisory committees, and stakeholder groups, she also develops written materials on special education issues and provides parent training. She has a M.Ed. in Special Education and was a special education teacher for 11 years.

§ Cindy Martin has 30 years of service in special education.  She is currently the director of Special Education in Eanes ISD.  She holds a Masters in Education. She has participated in the Texas School Improvement Initiative (TSII) program and has served on the TCIP Early Transition Committee and the Discipline Committee. Previously, Cindy worked as Deputy Executive Director of Interagency Council for Early Childhood Intervention and Special Education Coordinator at Region ESC XIII.

§ Janice Meyer is the executive director of Partners Resource Network, a non-profit agency headquartered in Beaumont, that serves as the statewide, federally funded network of Parent Training Information Centers for parents of students with disabilities.  She has taught mathematics in a junior high setting for several years.  Janice holds a Masters in Education with an endorsement in severe and profound disabilities and certification as an educational diagnostician.  As the mother of a son with severe multiple disabilities (deceased at age 16), she was one of the pioneers in the implementation of Public Law 94-142 (now IDEA) in Texas in the late '70's and early '80's.

§ Leticia Padilla is the Community Parent Resource Center (CPRC) Parents Supporting Parents Network (PSPN) Coordinator in Weslaco.  PSPN focuses on training parents to become equal partners in their child's education.  She holds a Bachelor of Social Work from UT Austin. She is a member of the Texas Parent to Parent board and is very active in her son's education. 

§ Jean Polichino is a manager in the Special Education Division of Harris County Department of Education.  Her primary responsibilities are personnel and district contract management for related services.  Jean has 16 years of experience in special education as an occupational therapist.  She is currently the presiding officer of Texas' Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners, and serves on the Executive Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Examiners.  Jean is chair of the American Occupational Therapists Association's school system special interest section, and is a member of OSEP'S National Resource Cadre on IDEA (formerly the IDEA Partnerships Project).

§ Phyllis Ramsey is the Principal of West High School in West ISD.  Formerly she was the Assistant Principal for Administration and Scheduling at Memorial High School in Victoria, Texas. In that role, she performed master scheduling, personnel review, personnel recruitment and hiring, personnel records management and to ensure that MHS is NCLB compliant. She has worked as a former business and career technology instructor at various levels. In addition, she has served in central office as a district-wide curriculum and instruction specialist and has 5 years experience as a high school assistant principal. In each of her roles, she has been an advocate for serving special needs children in the regular classroom and has helped teachers utilize technology for improving delivery of instruction. She has actively served on ARD Committees, and has developed good rapport with parents of high needs children. In addition to the Texas Steering Committee, she is actively involved in Texas Association of Secondary School Principals (TASSP) and Career and Technology Education (CATE) organizations.

§ Penny Seay is the executive director of the Texas Center for Disability Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The Texas Center for Disability Studies is a federally funded program that conducts pre-service, in-service, continuing education, applied research, and policy analysis, and disseminates information on best practices in issues that affect people with disabilities and their families.  She is a special educator with nearly 30 years of experience in a variety of disability related areas.

§ Steve Shipley is the director of special education for Lamb County SSA.  He is a former general education and special education classroom teacher as well as a high school vice principal.  He holds a Masters in Special Education and a Doctorate in Education Leadership from Texas Tech University.  Steve also collaborates with Wayland Baptist University, Department of Education, in teacher preparation.  He has membership affiliation with Texas Council of Administrators of Special Educators (TCASE), Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), Texas Association of Secondary School Principals (TASSP), and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). In addition, he has also participated in the Texas School Improvement Initiative.

§ Cheryl Washington is the administrator for Radiance Academy of Learning which serves students with diverse learning styles and needs. Cheryl has served as a teacher (practitioner and administrator of students with special needs for 18 years, for the most part in alternative settings). She is a parent of a student with special needs and has developed many programs of acceleration for at-risk students. Cheryl has served on the CAC, a state-wide focus group with Region IV ESC, and several other local community and state-wide initiative groups to improve special education services in the State. She is certified in special education (PK-12) and mid-management (PK-12).