Northwest Regional Education Service District
Home MenuExecutive Leadership
Superintendent
Dan Goldman, 503-614-1401
Dan Goldman serves the educational communities across Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook and Washington counties in Northwest Oregon as the Superintendent of the Northwest Regional Education Service District (NWRESD).
Before joining NWRESD in July 2019, Dan was the Superintendent of the Hood River County School District, leading significant improvements in student achievement, educational equity, fiscal performance, and community engagement. A struggling district prior to his arrival, Hood River County was ranked as one of Oregon's top 10 school districts by the Portland Business Journal in 2018.
Before leading in superintendent roles, Superintendent Goldman served as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction and Elementary Programs in the Tigard-Tualatin School District where he supervised principals and oversaw all PreK-12 curriculum, instruction, assessment, instructional technology, and school improvement efforts.
Superintendent Goldman has been a professional educator since 1994. He began his career as a special education teacher working with students with severe behavioral and emotional disabilities in residential settings in Washington and Oregon. Before beginning his work in system-wide educational administration, he served in Portland Public Schools as a principal, school psychologist, special education teacher and coach at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
Superintendent Goldman holds a Master of Science degree with Oregon endorsements in administration and school psychology. He has presented extensively at the state and national levels on Response to Intervention (RTI), early literacy development, equity leadership, Positive Behavioral Supports (PBIS), program evaluation, assessment and action research. He co-authored Oregon's Technical Assistance Guide to Response to Intervention Programming and was awarded the "PBIS Champions Award" by the Northwest PBIS Association in 2015. Superintendent Goldman currently chairs the Northwest Early Learning Hub board and serves on the boards of the I Have a Dream Foundation (Greater Than) and the Hood River County Education Foundation. He has been a finalist for Oregon’s Superintendent of the Year in 2018 and 2025.
Dan moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1991 from the New York City area and enjoys the outdoors and concert-going with his wife, Nicole, and their two daughters.
Chief Academic Officer
Megan McCarter, 503-614-3169
Megan McCarter is the chief academic officer at NWRESD. She joined the organization in July of 2021 as the executive director of instructional services and served as interim chief academic officer the following year. In July of 2023, she became the permanent chief academic officer. In this position, she ensures strategic alignment and collaboration across the instructional services, early learning and K-12 special education teams.
Before joining our team, Megan spent three years as principal of Scott Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, a Spanish language immersion program. In her tenure at Scott School, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding reading growth targets increased from 22% to 52%. Megan also rebuilt the school’s leadership team to reflect the racial diversity of the school community and initiated weekly social justice lessons with students.
In Chicago, Illinois, Megan collaboratively led a school turnaround effort moving the Dewey School of Excellence, a prekindergarten to eighth grade school, from the bottom three schools in Illinois to the top 15% in Chicago. And while teaching at Rowe-Clark Math & Science Academy in Chicago, she set a historical record for math growth on state end-of-grade assessments for algebra students receiving special education services.
Megan earned her doctoral and a master's degrees in education from National-Louis University. She also holds a master's degree in school leadership from Columbia University.
Early Learning Executive Director
Stacy Rager, 503-614-1251
Stacy Rager is the executive director of our early learning team. In this role, she oversees a team of more than 300 staff members who work in four main programs. These include Child Care Resource and Referral, Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education, Early Learning Hub and Northwest Parenting.
Stacy is an experienced special education administrator and school psychologist with more than two decades of experience in education. She is well-versed in special education law and practices and has several years of experience managing budgets, programs and staff. She is passionate about inclusion and making sure every child has the opportunity to participate in early learning opportunities until they start kindergarten no matter how complex their disability.
Previous positions at NWRESD include Columbia Service Center administrator, special education coordinator of our Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education programs (first at the Beaverton Early Childhood Center and later the evaluation team), and school psychologist. She also worked as an administrator and school psychologist for the North Clackamas School District.
Stacy has a master’s degree in school psychology from Lewis and Clark College and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from George Fox University. She received her administrator’s licenses from Lewis and Clark College and Concordia University.
Instructional Services Executive Director
John Peplinski, 503-614-1330
John Peplinski is the executive director of instructional services. He joined NWRESD in July of 2023.
John oversees more than 40 staff and a dozen educational programs, including instructional coaching and mentoring, attendance services, the migrant education program and a variety of professional learning initiatives. The instruction team also frequently partners with NWRESD’s other academic departments, which include early learning and K-12 special education, to align and advance academic objectives throughout the region.
John brings over two decades of educational leadership experience, including 19 years with the Beaverton School District where he expanded career and technical education opportunities, led the Future Ready Schools initiative, managed a $58 million technology bond, and guided a Title I school to Model School status.
At NWRESD, John continues to lead with a focus on strategic improvement, regional partnership, and instructional excellence. His focus has been on driving system-wide improvements in instructional practices as schools continue to recover from the pandemic. A believer in continuous improvement and data-based decision-making, he ensures educators throughout our region have access to quality professional learning, instructional rounds, and coaching and mentoring. He’s also a skilled budget manager and enjoys mentoring new administrators.
Before becoming an administrator, John worked for more than 10 years as a classroom teacher. He has a bachelor’s degree in education from Western Oregon University and master's degree also in education from the University of Washington.
K-12 Special Education Executive Director
Cathleen Jensen, 503-614-1335
Cathy Jensen is the executive director of K-12 special education. She has been in this role since July 2018. Cathy oversees several programs, including regional inclusive services, contracted special education staffing, and social emotional learning school programs. She previously worked as a special education coordinator.
Cathy first joined the NWRESD team in 1997 as a school psychologist. She worked in various roles while assigned to Tigard-Tualatin School District over the course of 17 years, including offering supports to behavior classrooms, providing professional learning for educators supporting students with complex behavioral needs, and coordinating a district behavior support team. She is particularly interested in improving outcomes for students with complex needs through culturally sustaining practices, evidence-based interventions and multi-tiered systems of support.
Cathy earned a master's degree in school psychology at Lewis and Clark College in 1997. She completed her administrative licensure through Lewis & Clark College.
School Performance and Workforce Development Executive Director
Adam Whalen, 503-614-1278
Adam Whalen joined NWRESD in July of 2025 to expand career-technical education (CTE) and workforce development programming in our four-county region.
In this role, Adam oversees nearly 30 staff members and three educational programs, including outdoor school, career and college readiness initiatives and dual-credit opportunities. His team also works to provide more of our region’s 98,000 students with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.
Before joining NWRESD, Adam worked as the director of secondary partnerships at Willamette Education Service District where he oversaw CTE, workforce development, Willamette Promise Dual Credit, and juvenile detention and youth corrections programs.
At Willamette ESD, Adam Whalen led major regional initiatives to expand access to career and college readiness opportunities. He played a key role in launching a first-of-its-kind regional CTE facility and significantly increased student participation and district engagement. Adam also cultivated broad partnerships across education, industry, and government, and oversaw the growth of a dual credit program that opened new pathways to higher education for thousands of students.
Adam has served on the board of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships and has held key leadership positions in Oregon, including as the K-12 Academic Officer for the state’s Transfer Council and as Chair for the Oversight Committee on High School-based Partnerships. He currently serves as a K-12 representative on the Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s Future Ready Manufacturing Consortium. He has also worked as a Spanish teacher in Stayton and Jefferson High Schools and as a researcher with the University of Oregon.
Senior Equity and Family Partnerships Director
Sharif Zakir Liwaru, 503-614-1491
Since joining NWRESD in 2019, Dr. Liwaru has advanced the agency’s commitment to racial equity, anti-racism, and inclusive partnerships. As senior director of the Office of Equity and Family Partnerships, he collaborates with other education service districts, school districts, community organizations, and elected leaders to advise on strategic actions that remove systemic barriers and improve outcomes for historically and contemporary marginalized students and communities. His leadership has catalyzed the development of Equity Affinity Groups, regional equity summits, and cross-district collaborations such as the Columbia County Belonging Collaborative. Liwaru holds a doctorate in education (Ed.D.) from George Fox University, a master's degree in public administration for nonprofit management, and a bachelor's degree in Black studies from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Chief Human Resources Officer
Catherine Dalbey, 503-614-1635
A seasoned educator and administrator with nearly three decades of experience in education, Catherine brings a blend of technical expertise, strategic thinking, curiosity and a team-centered approach to the role.
For her, the work has always been about the students and creating the right conditions for educators to help them succeed.
She has nearly a decade of experience in labor relations, including managing union partnerships, resolving disputes and fostering collaborative labor-management relationships. She is also skilled in navigating complex systems, ensuring compliance with federal and state laws and creating a culture of continuous improvement.
Since joining NWRESD in 2023, Catherine has overseen recruitment, hiring, onboarding, labor relations and retention for the roughly 400 staff who work in K-12 special education and instructional services. She has led investigations within NWRESD and at the request of districts in our region and ensures staff who need accommodations through the Americans with Disabilities Act receive them.
She previously worked as the director of human resources for eight years for the Hood River County School District and 11 years as both the principal and assistant principal at Wy’east Middle School. Before becoming an administrator, she spent nearly a decade in the classroom -- first in Denver teaching students English -- and later as an elementary teacher and migrant preschool recruiter at Pine Grove Elementary in Hood River.
She received her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University in psychology and Spanish, and she holds a master’s degree in education administration from Concordia University. She is a member of the Oregon School Personnel Association, Coalition of Oregon School Administrators and the Association of American School Personnel Administrators.
Chief Information Officer
Stuart Long, 503-614-1412
Stuart Long is the chief information officer of the Cascade Technology Alliance, a collaboration of technology teams from Northwest Regional and Multnomah ESDs. In his role Stuart is responsible for the overall execution, deployment and support of technology to the 30 school districts directly served by the members of CTA. He has worked in this role since July of 2020.
As a certified information systems security professional, Stuart has been on the forefront of cybersecurity efforts in K-12 in Oregon. He established cybersecurity teams at all three Portland metro ESDs in order to help school districts improve their cybersecurity readiness.
Before joining Northwest Regional ESD, he worked as the chief information officer at Clackamas ESD. During his 11-year tenure there, Stuart partnered with Clackamas County to bring high-speed, affordable internet connectivity to more than 130 school buildings in Clackamas County through the Clackamas Broadband eXchange and more than tripled the ESD’s role as a regional service provider.
Stuart has a master’s degree in applied information management from the University of Oregon and a bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia Commonwealth University. He also serves on the board of directors for LinkOregon as one of two directors representing K-12 in the effort to expand broadband access in the state of Oregon.
Chief Financial Officer
Jordan Ely, 503-614-1253
Jordan oversees NWRESD’s budget and works with Superintendent Dan Goldman to set the financial vision for the agency. He oversees a team of 20 people who provide accounting, budgeting, payroll and other fiscal services to NWRESD and to several school districts in our service area. He joined as chief financial officer in July of 2023.
Most recently, Jordan worked as the CFO for the Gresham-Barlow District where he oversaw an annual operating budget of more than $165 million and an overall budget of $260 million. Gresham-Barlow employs more than 1,200 people and serves more than 11,000 students.
In addition to his work in Gresham-Barlow, Jordan worked as a director of budget and analysis for Portland Public Schools. He also held various roles in Ashland School District, including CFO, director of finance and operations and director of business services. Before working in school finance, Jordan worked as a consultant and supply chain planner for energy companies in Alaska.
Jordan has a master’s degree in business administration from Southern Oregon University and a bachelor’s degree in operations and project management from Southern New Hampshire University. He serves as a board member for the Oregon Association of School Business Officials in zone 5, which covers Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, and as a board member for the Gresham Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center.
Senior Communications Director
Kelsey (Cardwell) Soltysiak, 503-614-1469
Language and storytelling are powerful tools to convey a purpose, shape our worldviews, foment empathy and mobilize progress. Kelsey joined Northwest Regional Education Service District in October 2019 to harness communications toward building trust in and support for a socially just public education system. She oversees both communications and Spanish-language interpretation/translation, where she and the rest of the team strive to make information accessible for diverse audiences.
Prior to NWRESD, Kelsey worked as the strategic communications officer for Clackamas Education Service District where she curated a student art show, convened local school communicators, and consulted for Hood River County School District. Kelsey was also the communicators director at Stand for Children Oregon where she worked on the Measure 98 campaign. Other prior professional and volunteer experiences include: President of the Northwest Trail Alliance, a volunteer-run mountain biking stewardship organization; AmeriCorps VISTA at Hacienda CDC; communications associate at JML Marketing + Communications; mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters and Higher Achievement programs.
Kelsey graduated with a bachelor's degree in foreign language and visual media and a minor in graphic design from American University. She has also lived and studied in Heredia, Costa Rica, and Cartagena, Colombia. In her free time, she enjoys windsurfing, foraging, and practicing Polish.
Senior Director of Research, Assessment and Evaluation
Brian Bain, 503-614-1262
Brian Bain has more than 20 years of experience coordinating and conducting assessment and data analysis in large Oregon school districts. He spent a decade working for Tigard-Tualatin School District before joining NWRESD in 2020.
Brian has taken on many statewide leadership positions over the years. He has served on the Oregon Department of Education’s Assessment Advisory Council for a decade and has been the chair of the Region One Assessment Consortium more times than he can count.
He excels in using data visualization and applied statistics to enable data-driven decision-making in school systems. His dedication to fostering a culture of continuous improvement is unwavering, as evidenced by his commitment to developing multi-faceted strategic monitoring plans and robust MTSS systems to ensure every student's success.
With a passion for leveraging data to drive positive change in education, Brian remains at the forefront of the application of educational data in Oregon.