KDP Board of Directors

Dr. Misty Hathcock is a fifth-generation educator from Wadesboro, North Carolina, and a five-time graduate from UNC Charlotte. She received her BA in Intermediate Education, MED in Instructional Systems Technology, MA in School Administration, CAS in Educational Leadership, and EdD in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction. For 11 years, Misty was an elementary/middle grades teacher, administrator, and beginning teacher coordinator in Anson County Schools. In 1998, Dr. Hathcock followed her passion for working with beginning teachers and became a faculty member of UNC Charlotte’s College of Education as the first full-time Director of the NC Teaching Fellows Program. Hathcock, a Clinical Professor in the Reading and Elementary Education Department, serves as Regional Director for the NC New Teacher Support Program, Director of Alumni Engagement, and student teaching supervisor for the Cato College of Education. Dr. Hathcock serves on several university boards in leadership roles such as President of the UNC Charlotte Alumni Association Past Presidents Council; Counselor for KDP, Honor Society in Education; and Treasurer for Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. For her work and service to schools, Hathcock is the recipient of the Bonnie Cone Lifetime Achievement Award and Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UNC Charlotte Alumni Association, Southeast Counselor of the Year by KDP, and the Public Service Award from the Southwest Education Alliance.

Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) M. Elliott is a Professor in the College of Education at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), where she has been since 2001. In addition, she serves as Director of Little Eagles Learning Center, an Educational Research Center for Child Development located on the campus of FGCU. Prior to university teaching, she was a teacher in public schools for almost 10 years in the Florida Keys. Dr. Elliott served as Board President of Kappa Delta Pi, Honor Society in Education from 2020–2022. She works with various court systems and attorneys as an expert witness in child custody, parent supervision, and childcare cases involving young children, many of which are pro bono. She is a Florida native; however, after receiving her PhD from the University of Tennessee, Dr. Elliott is a proud Vol for Life (VFL). She is also a proud graduate of the University of South Florida. Her research interests include leadership development, emergent literacy, and teacher preparation.

Dr. Angela Goodloe joined KDP in 2007 and remains committed to its mission, which inspires and equips new teachers to thrive in today’s diverse classrooms. Her journey as a classroom teacher has led her from the west to east coast of the United States to international settings in both Kenya and Spain. She has also served in educational leadership roles in the private and public sectors. Presently, she is an Assistant Professor of Education Leadership at Norfolk State University School of Education, within the Department of Secondary Education and School Leadership in Norfolk, Virginia. Dr. Goodloe earned a doctorate in Education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her research pursuits promote the integration of administration leadership, social justice, and diversity, as well as the recruitment and retention of teachers and educational leaders of color. She holds an Administration and Supervision K–12 license and a Division Superintendent license from the Virginia Department of Education. She has also earned a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University. She uses her credentials and skills to advocate for educators and to promote equity in schools and educational organizations.

Mr. Paul Kleinkauf is a change agent and evangelist who is passionate about solving customer problems and working in great partnerships with high-performance teams. He is a proven sales leader with expertise in delivering results through data-centric value analysis and sales processes. His specialties include assisting clients with evaluation of ROI and understanding how to drive the business value of a recommended solutions. Currently, Paul is an executive assisting healthcare systems and organizations with consumer engagement, service, and operational transformation projects for Pegasystems. Paul was Senior Vice President of Sales, Capital Markets, and Compliance Markets for Merrill Corporation, where he worked for 23 years in various leadership positions assisting firms in raising capital across the globe while based in Atlanta, Frankfurt, London, Melbourne, and New York. He earned his master’s degree in Technology and Human Resource Development from Clemson University, South Carolina. Paul has been inducted into Kappa Delta Pi, Honor Society in Education; Alpha Epsilon Lambda, Graduate School Honor Society; and Epilson Pi Tau, Technology Honor Society. He has Board experience with the Association for Corporate Growth Chapter in Atlanta. He has held membership in Turnaround Management Association, Society of Corporate Governance Professionals, and several other leading financial and corporate associations.

Matt is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with over 10 years’ experience as a finance and accounting professional, including time as Treasurer of a nonprofit in central Indiana. Currently, Matt is a Manager at Verizon Communications in their Controlling and Reporting Accounting group in Lake Mary, Florida. In this role, he is a leader of a team of accounting professionals responsible for consolidating, closing, and reporting for all of Verizon's companies. In his free time, Matt enjoys spending time making memories with his family.

Jeremy Coleman EdD, is Principal of Brookview Elementary School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Coleman has taught and led in public schools for nearly 20 years. He started his career of service as a youth mentor and has served as a correctional officer, coach, teacher, and administrator. He has consulted for private and public schools on a range of topics, including school climate and classroom culture, parent and community engagement, and school leadership. He has partnered with The National Organization of Black Chemist and Chemical Engineers (NoBBChe) to deliver cutting-edge STEM programming to students in elementary, middle, and high school. Dr. Coleman worked with the PassWord Community Mentoring program, The 100 Black Men of Indianapolis, Student Development Resources and Scholarships (SDRAS), and served as a guest lecturer at Marian University. He also worked as a professional development coach for Teach for America. He currently serves as a committee member for Keep Indiana Learning, where he is tasked with improving Indiana school leadership and school culture. Dr. Coleman earned his EdD in Building Administration from Ball State University.

Nichelle N. Cook is an educator, attorney, and multi-disciplinary expert at addressing inequities that affect the academic and professional success of individuals living with neurobehavioral challenges. Having been formally trained in the fields of education, law, and policy, coupled with years of experience in the field of public health, her diverse background allows for a unique blend of skills that lend themselves to innovatively crafting solutions that respect and honor neurodiverse populations. She often credits her deep passion for these issues to having personally battled undiagnosed I-ADHD for most of her life. Like 40–60% of individuals who share her diagnosis, anxiety has also been a constant. Empowered by her faith, she continues to persevere in hopes of inspiring and unlocking the potential of others who share similar plights. Nichelle is a proud graduate of Spelman College, where she received her BA in Political Science. She also holds a JD from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and two MAs from Xavier University of Louisiana in Educational Leadership/Supervision and Curriculum and Instruction. Currently, she serves as a K–12 gifted/2e educator and undergraduate adjunct professor. She also studies Clinical Neuropsychology at Teachers College – Columbia University in efforts to expand her work on behalf of neurodiverse populations.

Dr. Christopher J. Cormier is a former special education teacher and a current postdoctoral fellow in the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. He has taught Grades 1–12 in Title 1 schools in the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. In his research, he focuses on the social and cultural contexts of minoritized learners and teachers in special education. He first joined Kappa Delta Pi as a master’s degree student at Pepperdine University in 2009. Currently, he serves on the editorial board for two of KDPs journals: The Educational Forum and KDP Record. In fall 2022, Dr. Cormier will join the faculty at Loyola Marymount University as an Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning.

Dr. Joi Patterson has more than 25 years of experience in education, as a vice-president of academic affairs/chief operating officer, director, department chair, associate professor, licensing advisor, accreditation reviewer/liaison, college professor, superintendent, principal, middle school bilingual science teacher, online instructor, NCATE/CAEP liaison/reviewer, and, currently, Director of Educator Preparation for Governors State University, Illinois. Dr. Patterson’s service and tenure in education is inspired by the need to improve the lives of others and their families through education. Dr. Patterson’s service and scholarly interests include teacher retention and teacher shortage in high-need teaching areas such as with science, persons of color, and the disenfranchised.