EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jennifer Rippner

Jennifer Rippner, Executive Director of GOSA, has served as Governor Perdue’s education policy advisor since 2005. Prior to this work, she directed the Charter School and Alternative Education Programs for the Georgia Department of Education. She also served as the Director of the Florida Charter School Accountability Center in Tallahassee and was the School Director of an elementary charter school in Micanopy, Florida. She earned a baccalaureate degree in Political Science and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida.

DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND DATA ANALYSIS
Eric Wearne

Prior to joining GOSA, Eric served as a University Supervisor for the Division of Educational Studies at Emory University, mentoring and evaluating student teachers in the Atlanta, Fulton, and DeKalb school systems. As a graduate student, he was named a Woodruff Fellow at Emory and a Dan Searle Fellow by the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University, and taught undergraduate courses in education policy and history. His writing has been published by Foxnews.com, the Cato Institute, and also by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, where he worked as a research assistant while in graduate school. Eric taught English and Debate at Duluth High School in Gwinnett County. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Studies at Emory University, an M.A. in English Education from the University of Georgia and a B.A. in English from Florida State University.

DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Kathleen Boyle Mathers

Kathleen Mathers has served as GOSA's Director of External Relations since June of 2007. Prior to this work, she directed a federal grant program aimed at improving math and science teacher quality through professional development strategies. Kathleen also served the Georgia Department of Education as a specialist in the training and implementation of the Georgia Performance Standards. In addition, she led the education efforts of a children's science center as their Vice President of Education after teaching elementary and middle school mathematics and science for eight years. She holds a baccalaureate degree from Saint Mary's College Notre Dame and a master's degree from Georgia State University.

ACADEMIC AUDITING PROGRAM MANAGER
Bob Clark

Dr. Robert Clark’s education career spans more than 30 years. He has served as a teacher, school psychologist, elementary and high school principal, and associate superintendent in Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. After retirement as principal of Parkview High School in Gwinnett County in 2002, Bob worked as Team Leader for the Georgia Department of Education in the Georgia’s Choice School Improvement program. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee Knoxville earning a B.S. in Liberal Arts and an Ed.D. in Educational Psychology.