Joanne Kerekes served as the New Jersey Coordinator for Stronge and Associates from 2019-2021, and continues to serve as a trainer. During her 43 years in education, Joanne served as teacher, unit leader, staff developer, principal, and assistant superintendent. A contributor to several educational publications, Joanne was honored to receive the Rutgers Graduate School of Education Distinguished Alumni Service Award, the NJ Music Educators Administrator of the Year Award, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Principal Fellowship. Joanne has extensive presentation experience, including moderating at the AASA/NJASA /NJPSA Women’s Leadership Conference, facilitating at the Rutgers Institute for Improving Student Achievement Equity Conference, and being the keynote speaker for NJASL and Rutgers Ed Camp. As an early adopter of the Stronge Evaluation System and member of the Achieve New Jersey Advisory Committee and the NJ School Boards Equity Council, Joanne brings a wealth of expertise as an experienced practitioner and trainer to the job.

Rick Chromey joined Stronge and Associates in July 2019 as a trainer. His broad experiences throughout his 38 years in public education in New Jersey are a welcome asset to the Stronge and Associates Team. Early in his career, Rick taught at the elementary and middle school levels and served as a Team leader. He began his administrative career in 2001 when he became an elementary school principal. Rick went on serve as Director of Assessment, Director of Human Resources, and as Assistant Superintendent where he evaluated and supported school leaders using the Stronge Teacher and Leader Effectiveness System. He was a Geraldine R. Dodge Grant Recipient and was selected to serve on the Curriculum Advisory Committee for the National Middle School Association. Rick earned his Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from the College of New Jersey.



Bill Connolly joined the New Jersey team in August 2019 as a trainer. During a 34-year career in education, Bill served as a high school English teacher, coach, adviser, NJ secondary literacy specialist, and as a supervisor in K-12 and 9-12 districts. In several settings, he oversaw the evaluation system, professional development, and the mentoring program. He was fortunate to collaborate with a talented team of teachers and administrators on the integration of the district’s curriculum, instruction, and assessment systems. Bill evaluated teachers and supervisors using the Stronge TEPES and LEPES systems and believes strongly in the value and applicability of the standards, as well as the reflective and conversational components of the Stronge system.




Rich Hall, Ph.D., joined the S&A team in March 2024 as a trainer. With over 30 years of dedicated professional experience, he prioritizes student needs through support for teachers, advocacy for effective instructional practices, and mentorship in educational leadership. Currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Richmond and an educational consultant, Rich retired as the Director of Elementary Education in 2020 from Henrico County Public Schools (Virginia). His diverse career includes roles such as educational specialist, principal, International Baccalaureate Program coordinator, and more. He holds a B.A. from Wake Forest University and M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University. Rich actively contributes to the field by reviewing manuscripts for Corwin Press and serving in leadership roles for Learning Forward Virginia and Kiddie Kingdom childcare center in Ashland, VA.




Amy Griffin, Ed.D., serves as a trainer for Stronge & Associates. She currently, is the Deputy Executive Director of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS) and adjunct instructor for the Radford University Educational Leadership doctoral program. Previously, she served as an executive liaison with the VDOE Office of School Quality as well as consulted and coordinated projects for the Virginia Department of Education, including the teacher, principal, and superintendent performance evaluation systems. Amy served as superintendent of Cumberland County Public Schools for 10 years before retiring from K-12 public education. She also served as assistant superintendent, director of instruction, director of special education, elementary principal, and elementary teacher. She is a member of the Longwood University Call Me Mister Advisory Council, the Region 3 Go VA Council, the Virginia Credit Union Advisory Committee, the Nottoway Habitat for Humanity Committee, and a support network partner of the Commonwealth Learning Partnership.

Xianxuan Xu, Ph.D., served as the longtime senior research associate for Stronge and Associates. In 2021, she transitioned to a position at the Virginia Department of Education. She received her doctorate from the College of William and Mary's Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership Program. Her research interests include teacher effectiveness, professional development, and teacher and principal evaluation. Xian’s research also focuses on international comparative analyses of teacher qualities in the United States and China. She has presented findings of her research on U.S.-China teacher effectiveness and teacher evaluation at national conferences, such as American Educational Research Association, University Council for Educational Administration, and National Evaluation Institute. She has co-authored numerous books including Qualities of Effective Principals (2nd edition, ASCD, 2021), What Makes a World Class School (ASCD, 2017), and several other books published by Solution Tree and Eye on Education.


Mary Wallen is the Director of Project Planning. She has over 38 years of educational experience in an urban public school district in Virginia, serving in positions ranging from that of a classroom teacher to a central office administrator. Her classroom experience included both regular and gifted education in an elementary setting. After 15 years of teaching in the classroom, she spent the next three years as a "teacher trainer" providing professional development to teachers in grades pre-K through 12. Mary then became an elementary school administrator, serving as the principal of two elementary schools for the next 20 years. In her last role with the district she was a Leadership Coach, providing guidance and support to principals of Title I schools. Mary received her B.S. from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts and her MA. Ed. from the College of William and Mary.



Kate Wolfe Maxlow previously served as a trainer and content creator for Stronge & Associates. She currently works on special projects for the S&A team. She has worked as a teacher, an instructional coach, and a professional learning coordinator in Virginia school districts, with a focus on aligned and engaging instruction. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in History and from the College of William and Mary with a Master's in Elementary Education. Through her work with Stronge & Associates, she has traveled the country to train educators on topics such as teacher evaluation, creating more valid and reliable assessments, and providing evidence-based feedback. In her work with the Virginia Department of Education, she helped to create an Academic Review system for districts to self-assess their alignment between the written, taught, and assessed curriculum. She was the lead author on the book, 20 Formative Assessment Strategies that Work (2017, Routledge), which featured a start-to-finish guide for practical and engaging activities to assess student understanding.