President, International Center for Leadership in Education
As President of the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE), Sue Gendron leads a team of forward-thinking and innovative education leaders in developing and implementing the tools, resources, and relationships necessary to advance our nation’s education agenda. Gendron also leads the ICLE’s education consulting services with development of comprehensive assessment systems and 21st century-based technology plans for school districts.
Gendron started her career in the 1980s teaching kindergarten. She then became a primary school principal, high school principal, Assistant Superintendent, and Superintendent of Schools in Windham, Maine. In 2003, she was named Maine’s education Commissioner. During her tenure, she helped expand the laptop program, begun in 2002, into Maine’s high schools and furnished every Maine middle school student with a laptop computer. The expansion allowed Maine to continue to set the bar on incorporating technology in education.
In April 2010, Gendron became Policy Director for SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, a coalition of 35 states working to develop assessments that accurately measure student progress toward college and career readiness. She has been a Board Member of the Council of Chief State School Officers since 2006, and is a past president of the national organization, two roles in which she was at the forefront of efforts to develop common state standards and common assessments.