Sharon Bonney began her career with COABE as a part-time administrator in 2009, moving up in the organization as she showed an unparalleled commitment to the field of adult education. Sharon has helped advance the organization on a number of fronts, including managing efforts to move it from a 1,300 member group in 2009 to 45,000 active members in 2022. She was the guiding force behind designing and implementing a new national conference model, developing new state, national, and workforce partnerships with more than 100 organizations, rebranding the COABE research journal and a related research-to-practice initiative, and designing all new professional development offerings, including webinars that have engaged more than 50,000 participants. Moreover, she has diversified and increased revenue streams for the organization by envisioning, designing, and implementing many innovative strategies.

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. 

Don Finn, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Regent University, COABE Journal Editor, and served on the COABE board of directors in several capacities including Board President (2019-2021). He chairs Regent’s Adult Education, C&I, and Educational Technology programs. His 30-yearlong career includes teaching middle, high, adult high school, master’s, and postmaster’s students. Dr. Finn has led projects for the Virginia DOE, VCU, and VAACE, Virginia’s adult education association, and has delivered numerous workshops and PD sessions nationally.

A former police officer, with attention to detail, Chad Boyer currently serves as COABE’s conference coordinator. Attending to conference logistics, Chad ensures that all of COABE’s national conference meeting rooms are well-planned and set up. In addition, he provides support to the award winners and keynote speakers, navigating busy schedules to create a seamless experience for the members attending. Chad also oversees the logistics and materials for COABE’s presence at state and national conferences. Chad’s strongest attributes are his communication skills, as well as his ability to stay organized. He is a motivated, hard-working individual who is always a team player. 

Heather Engelhart is currently an Adult Education Adjunct Instructor at Waubonsee Community College in Aurora, Illinois. She has 24+ years of experience in education. This includes areas of instruction, training, curriculum development, implementation of new programs, as well as mentoring. Heather began teaching at the primary level of public education where she received her master’s degree in Teaching and Curriculum. For the past 8 years, Heather has been an instructor in the Adult Ed program where she has taught a variety of classes including ELA, Microsoft Office ICAPs, ABE and ASE for math and language arts instruction. Heather has collaborated with colleagues in curriculum writing, she co-created a Technology Bootcamp to inboard new students, presented professional development opportunities for new technology and trained new teachers. The past three years, Heather has been teaching in a Flex Classroom. This gives her the opportunity to learn and understand how this modality can benefit the students’ varying learning styles and increase retention.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Heather has also earned a certification for ABE/ASE Language Arts Specialist and a Certificate in Effective College Instruction through ACUE. She has also had the honor of receiving Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member from Waubonsee Community College in 2022.