Sharon Bonney leads the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) as the Chief Executive Officer of the largest adult education association in the world. Celebrating her 25th year in the field of adult education, her accomplishments include implementing strategic and innovative strategies that led to exponential organizational growth from 1,300 members in 2009 to more than 50,000 active members in 2024. She was the guiding force behind designing and implementing a state-of-the-art national conference model that delivers nearly 500 concurrent sessions and brings together thousands of educators, business leaders, and learners annually as well as developing new state, national, and workforce partnerships with more than 100 organizations, refocusing the organization’s research agenda, and designing all new membership offerings, including webinars that have engaged more than 50,000 participants. Read Full Bio >

Lindsey has served as Project Manager since 2019. Known for her ability to multitask, Lindsey helps organize and orchestrate our adult education symposiums and virtual conferences as well as our advocacy events, such as AEFL week. She also coordinates COABE’s eblasts and weekly newsletter, and assists in updating our website. Additionally, she manages the production of COABE’s journal, oversees the awards process, helps with onboarding our new State Advocates for Adult Education Fellows (SAAEF) and collaborates with several team members to accomplish tasks. Lindsey is involved with most of the initiatives that COABE puts forward, and is an invaluable asset to our organization. 

Bethel became COABE’s Information Coordinator in early 2018. She updates our database with the most recent statistics available, responds to general inquiries from the field, and is ready to assist with any projects or tasks needed. In addition, Bethel plays a key role in assisting with registration for our well-attended annual conference. Known for her can-do attitude, Bethel coordinates with our Project Manager, Communications Director and Office Support specialist to assist our members and our team in every way possible. 

Moriah joined the COABE team in 2017. Today she serves as an Office Support specialist. Moriah always responds to our members within a 24-hour time period and maintains careful detail in her work. She creates and updates webinar information via Zoom, liaises with our webinar presenters, and often collaborates with our Information Coordinator to ensure the webinar experience runs smoothly for all of our members. Moriah also assists our team with the IBM SkillsBuild project. Known for her positive outlook and team spirit, Moriah is an asset to our team. 

Erin has been involved with adult education since 2013 in IET and ESOL programs in Illinois. She holds a master’s degree in linguistics and is the recipient of the 2022 IACEA’s President’s Award  for her advocacy work in Illinois and beyond. She is currently an educational training specialist for the Illinois Adult Education Professional Development Network where she helps create and conduct trainings for adult education staff, administration, and faculty across the state of Illinois. She is also currently the chair of the IACEA Legislative Committee.

Erin has been involved with COABE as a SAAEF fellow and co-host of our Advocast Podcast since 2021. She also serves as our SAAEF co-chair as well as having served as our Students as Leaders Coordinator. Now, as our Initiatives Administrator, Erin plays a pivotal role in advancing our organization’s strategic priorities and community awareness. She leads projects with organization-wide impact, requiring community engagement and alignment with strategic planning efforts. Given her work ethic and amazing success with other projects she has run for COABE, we are excited to see what more our organization can accomplish with Erin at the helm of our many initiatives. 

Christine Valdez has been a school social worker at Middletown Adult Education in Connecticut for 17 years. During the past few years, she has also acted as the English as a second language facilitator. She is a Connecticut native educated at the University of Wyoming and St. Louis University. She is currently finishing her second master’s degree in educational technology at the University of Connecticut and is quite passionate about it.

Robert Moore is assisting COABE by providing expert guidance to COABE’s local program members that are interested in learning about NCCER products and services. He is an educator with 30 years of experience in teaching and administration in high schools, community college, and adult education. He served as director of adult education in two Indiana school districts. After retiring in July 2022, he was invited to serve as a consultant for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, the Indiana Association for Adult & Continuing Education, the Indiana Department of Corrections, and the Colorado Department of Education. In those capacities, he has mentored new directors of local adult education programs, assisted local programs in improving performance, aligned adult education and post-secondary course standards with U. S. Department of Labor standards for pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships, and trained local adult education directors on program leadership.

Tamar D’Ambrogio started assisting COABE in 2024 on project specific tasks. Many of these tasks include data entry, spreadsheet management, and general assistance in the overall completion of large-scale projects. She additionally utilizes her talents volunteering in her children’s school and raising her four beautiful children. She is known for her ability to multitask and her quick, responsive work.