Waste, Fraud and Abuse Task Force Members

Having been involved with the E-rate program since its inception, Harry Cook has participated with numerous committees, task forces, industry groups and educational organizations seeking to improve the E-rate program.   As a service provider who has modified internal systems to better support the E-rate program, he is also very familiar with how even small changes to process and operational side of the program impact the service provider's cost structure.

Sara Fitzgerald is vice president, communications, of Funds For Learning LLC, an educational technology consulting firm that has focused on the E-rate program since 1997.  Funds For Learning provides support for school and library applicants throughout all phases of the application process.  It also provides independent consulting support to the vendor community.  Through its web site, Funds for Learning tracks program developments and offers tools for program stakeholders.  Ms. Fitzgerald also serves as project director of the Consortium for School Networking's Taking TCO to the Classroom and Safeguarding the Wired Schoolhouse initiatives.

As the Administrative Director for a community of Catholic elementary schools in Washington, D.C., Maureen Foley has been involved with the E-rate program since its inception.  With a background in information systems and education, Ms. Foley has worked with the schools to develop technology plans, negotiate with vendors, complete applications at all phases of the program and implement technology.

Wayne Hay is the IT Manager for the Westchester Library System (WLS), a cooperative of the 38 public libraries in Westchester County, New York.  WLS has been an E-rate applicant since the first year of the program, submitting about 40 applications per year.  Mr. Hay has been a member of the American Library Association E-rate Task Force since its beginning.

Win Himsworth is the Executive Director of E-Rate Central.  E-Rate Central, a division of CentralEd, is a private consulting company specializing in the provision of E-rate services since 1997.  E-Rate Central provides full E-rate application services for over 100 large- and medium-sized applicants, serves as the E-rate coordinator for New York State Education Department, and runs E-Rate Central’s nationally recognized web site.

Vicki Hobbs is currently a Telecommunications Policy Analyst with the Rural School and Community Trust, a national nonprofit foundation, and a member of EdLiNC, the Education and Library Networks Coalition.  Ms. Hobbs has been involved with research and analysis of the E-rate program since 1995 and testified before the FCC on behalf of the Regional Education Labs.  She has served as Telecommunications Panel Chair for the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) at the University of Missouri; director of an 18-school two-way I-TV network; and past president and co-founder of the Missouri Distance Learning Association.  In those capacities she has worked with the E-rate program as a researcher, an analyst, an applicant, and a consultant.

Toni Pickle serves as Division Manager for Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, Inc.  For the past seven years, her responsibilities have included: coordinating all E-rate and OUSF activities for Pioneer Telephone departments as well as for the applicant community.  She has made presentations on Universal Service and the E-rate Program and Process at numerous state and regional conferences.  She also participated in a team that assisted in developing information for the  “Service Provider’s Manual” on the SLD website.

Gary Rawson is currently the Infrastructure Planning Coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS).  He has served as Mississippi's State E-rate Coordinator since the program's inception.  Gary served on the SLD's Year Three Task Force representing the National Association of State Telecommunications Directors (NASTD).  He is the former Chair of the NASTD E-rate Action Committee and is the current Chair of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) National Alliance of State E-rate Coordinators. The CCSSO Alliance is made up of approximately 40 states and has a membership of 79 E-rate coordinators.  Mr. Rawson has worked with the SLD through NASTD and CCSSO since the beginning of the program.  Mr. Rawson brings many perspectives to the table: those of state networks, master contracts, state procurement, and small, rural applicants.

Ron Reynolds is Executive Director of the California Association of Private School Organizations.  CAPSO is the California state affiliate of the Council for American Private Education (CAPE), the organizational portal to the nation's private school community.  Mr. Reynolds has devoted 25 years of service to private education as an organizational executive, professor and consultant, and has served as the primary reviewer of school technology plans for a SLD-certified approving agency.

Lauren Brown is an Accounts Receivable Special Billing Supervisor at EarthLink, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Brown joined the Finance team in 2002 and got involved with the E-rate program soon thereafter. Her involvement with E-rate has been managing the project from an ISP perspective, working with public schools, private schools, and libraries.

Barbara Buchhorn Stoll joined the Sprint education team in 1998 and has worked with E-rate ever since.  Prior to joining Sprint, Ms. Stoll worked as a teacher, both in the United States and overseas, and served three years with the U.S. Department of Education.  In addition to her K-12 and E-rate responsibilities at Sprint, she is active with her twin sons' PTA in the suburban Kansas City area.

Tony Wening is Director of State and Federal Programs for the Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet).  MOREnet serves K-12 schools, public libraries, higher education and state government with Internet access, training, technical support, licensed online resources, and teacher professional development.  Mr. Wening has been involved with the E-rate program since its inception and currently participates in both the American Library Association E-rate Task Force and the Council of Chief State School Officers E-rate Alliance.  He also served on SLD’s Year Three Task Force.

Bob Westall has directed technology services for Philadelphia Public Schools, the nation's eighth largest school system, since 1997.  He has coordinated Philadelphia's successful implementation and participation in the Universal Service E-rate program since its inception and has been actively involved in the program's evolution.  Mr. Westall serves on the Task Force on behalf of the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of 60 of the nation's largest urban public school systems.  Urban districts overwhelmingly represent the largest and most successful beneficiaries of the E-rate support mechanism and have become key stakeholders in the continued development of the program in its support for the betterment of technology in elementary and secondary education.

As senior marketing consultant to K-12, Alecha Stackle is responsible for developing programs to enable Dell to address a wide variety of issues facing the K-12 marketplace. In this role, she is Dell’s subject matter expert for topics ranging from No Child Left Behind legislation to E-rate funding and is a primary point of contact for Dell’s work with educational organizations such as CoSN, ISTE and the Department of Education. The programs Ms. Stackle has developed for Dell focus on institutional effectiveness, improved student performance and identifying ways educators can implement technology to improve student outcomes.