My B.S. is in Civil Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. Right out of college (many years ago), I had a successful 11 year career with global consulting firm, Accenture, with expertise in large systems design and implementation, financial systems and operations, and oil and gas/utility industries. I left Accenture to started my own consulting practice focused on helping small-medium sized start up companies. I eventually served as a part-time CFO and business operations manager of a small, privately held technology company in Atlanta for 7 years. During that time, I started substitute teaching in private middle schools for math - sometimes taking 4 month assignments. I fell in love with teaching math AND with working with middle school aged students. There was always an instruction/training component in my previous career - I had trained all levels of management from executives to staff levels - and I always loved the role of instructor. So, my transition to a teaching career was not surprising to anyone. It has allowed me to combine my passion for math and STEM with my love of teaching and working with young people. I hope to make a real difference in the lives of my students. My biggest struggle is my work load - I teach all grades (6,7,8) and last year Algebra also. I an also disappointed in the lack of incentives for qualified people like myself to move into teaching. It's part of the problem in the U.S. I am a big fan of common core and I am relieved to finally see some rigor returning to our schools. We have had far too many years of dumbing down students - it's time to turn things around. I am married (26 years) to Ed - an engineer, technologist and ultra runner. We enjoy travel, cooking, theatre, reading, entertaining, and volunteering.