Bios & Headshots
Our experienced team of executives, psychometricians and AI experts are available to speak at conferences, events and webinars. If you want to invite a MetaMetrics speaker to present at your event or need additional information, please contact Elizabeth Lattanzio, Vice President of Marketing Communications at elattanzio@lexile.com.
Meet Our Speakers
Biographies and headshots are available for select members of the MetaMetrics team.
Brad Baumgartner, CEO
As the new CEO of MetaMetrics, Brad Baumgartner brings an impressive background from the edtech industry. Prior to leading MetaMetrics, Brad recently held the position of CEO and President at BookNook where, under his leadership, the high-impact tutoring company expanded growth and reach to impact more students. He’s driven by a deep-seated belief that every learner has a right to high-quality education and the support they need to be successful. Brad’s entire career has been devoted to the edtech field, including K–12, higher education and corporate learning roles both domestically and internationally. Brad’s long record of success in the education space includes successfully building and scaling of companies from $20M to $130M in revenue and from 90 to 270 employees. Brad’s leadership approach centers on the concept of empowering people and supporting their personal and professional growth.
Malbert Smith, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board & and Co-founder
Recognized worldwide as one of the major thought leaders in educational innovation and reform, Malbert serves as an advisor to a number of educational publishers, is on the board of several educational non-profits and is a keynote speaker for numerous educational conferences. Along with A. Jackson Stenner, Ph.D., Malbert co-founded MetaMetrics. Malbert has worked on a number of prestigious research projects with the National Center for Education Statistics, the Gates Foundation and others to study a myriad of issues such as summer reading loss, the effectiveness of the NAEP assessments and English language learning. Malbert has taught graduate seminars at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which he received the Distinguished Alumni Award. He has also been named a research professor at UNC’s School of Education, focusing on psychological and human development studies.
Alistair Van Moere, Ph.D., President
Alistair is the President of MetaMetrics where he drives innovation in assessments, and helps organizations make sense of measurement and test scores. Before joining MetaMetrics in 2017, Alistair was President of Pearson’s Knowledge Technologies group, where he managed artificial intelligence scoring services for speaking and writing. He also oversaw the development and delivery of standardized assessments for tens of millions of learners. Alistair has worked as a teacher, examiner, director of studies, university lecturer, and test developer, in the US, UK, Japan, and Thailand. He has an MA in English Language Teaching, a Ph.D. in Language Testing, and an MBA. He is frequently an invited speaker at conferences and has authored over 20 research publications with a focus on educational technology and language assessments.
Jillian Balow, Chief Strategy Officer
Jillian Balow, a visionary education leader, has made indelible impacts throughout her career that has focused on children and families. With eight years of exemplary leadership as the state superintendent in Virginia and Wyoming, Jillian spearheaded remarkable transformations in education policy and practice. In Virginia, she led the implementation of the groundbreaking Virginia Literacy Act, fostered parental engagement through the establishment of the Office of Parental Engagement, and championed initiatives to enhance early care and education, career and technical education, and teacher recruitment and retention. In Wyoming, Jillian enacted vital legislation expanding tribal education, prioritizing reading science, codifying computer science education in K-12, and elevating career readiness. Her national leadership roles, including president of the Council of Chief State School Officers board, and involvement in shaping federal policies like the Every Student Succeeds Act showcase her influence on a broader scale. Jillian’s remarkable achievements have garnered recognition from prestigious organizations and institutions, affirming her status as a changemaker in the field of education.
Jason Turner, Chief Operating Officer
Over the last ten years, Jason has had a variety of roles with MetaMetrics before becoming Chief Operating Officer. Jason has worked extensively in the training and implementation of the Lexile® Framework for Reading and Quantile® Framework for Mathematics in classrooms across the globe. He has also worked closely with assessment and publishing partners around the world in the implementation and development of reading and math programs. Jason has published extensively on educational topics, including measurement and performance standards, trained thousands of educators and administrators, and has presented at conferences and symposiums around North America and the UK. Prior to joining MetaMetrics, Jason worked across a variety of educational and commercial fields, including as a consultant and professional development trainer.
Lisa Bickel, Vice President, Customer Success
Lisa supports customer success by helping MetaMetrics partners understand and leverage Lexile® and Quantile® measures. She communicates with partners to ensure successful implementation of every aspect of MetaMetrics deliverables and offers sales and implementation training for Lexile and Quantile measures and related products. Joining the company in 2013, Lisa has used her extensive background in product development to direct efforts in advancing the Quantile Framework for Mathematics. That work included quantifying the demand of mathematics materials to create a path for college and career readiness. In addition, Lisa worked with mathematics publishers to add Quantile assessments and measures to their products.
Jing Wei, Vice President, AI & Product Innovation
Jing is the Vice President for AI and Product Innovation. She is responsible for shaping MetaMetrics’ AI capabilities and impact, providing thought leadership on using AI to drive business values, and integrating innovative solutions into MetaMetrics’ existing and future products. Prior to joining MetaMetrics, Jing served as a research scientist at the Center for Applied Linguistics, leading the development and validation of a portfolio of high-stake digital assessments used by millions of students every year. Jing brings 15+ years of experience in test development, measurement and statistics, machine learning, and product development. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Shanghai International Studies University, a M.Phil. in Second Language Education from University of Cambridge, and a Ph.D. in Language Testing from New York University.
Add the power of industry experts to your event!
MetaMetrics speakers can share their expertise on:
- AI in Education
- College and Career Readiness
- ESSA, Federal Policies & Reform
- Five Pillars of Literacy
- Science of Reading
- Growth Modeling
- Summer Learning
- Text Complexity
- Oral Reading Fluency
- Reading Instruction for English Language Learners
- Educational Technology & Innovation
- Language Assessment
- Teacher Development
- Learning Progressions
- Promoting a Growth Mindset
- Vocabulary
- Machine Learning
- Data Analytics
- Rasch Modeling