Washington, DC, 9 November 2023 — The Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community is excited to announce the appointment of Steve Smith as their new Executive Director. Mr. Smith brings a wealth of interoperability and privacy leadership expertise to the A4L Community, both as a leader of district and state-level technology projects, and as the Founder of the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC).
Mr. Smith has nearly 28 years of both rural and urban district leadership. He is currently employed as the Chief Information Officer of Cambridge Public Schools, Cambridge, MA, where he has overseen the transformation of IT services for the past 17 years. Prior to that Mr. Smith was the CTO of Waterville Public Schools, Waterville ME.
Through this work, Mr. Smith brings an incredible breadth of experience: representing both Maine and currently Massachusetts on the National Forum on Education Statistics, and contributing to the Forum’s Education Data Privacy, Civil Rights Data Reporting, Longitudinal Data Systems, School Course Code Working Group, Virtual Education, Facilities Data Management, Technology Suite, Crisis Data Management, Cyber Security, Metadata and Digital Equity working groups.
Mr. Smith has also been extensively involved in the A4L Community, where he has served as the North American Management Board Co-Chair, member of the Association Board of Directors and SDPC Management Board. He has also been instrumental in many project teams over the years.
“I’m very excited to serve as the Executive Director of the A4L Community.” commented Mr. Smith. “I’m looking forward to building upon the great work the Community has accomplished at the intersection of privacy and interoperability by continuing to evolve the SIF/Unity Standard, data privacy resources and services, and provider security obligations. As a PK20W ecosystem we are on the precipice of meaningful impact on the entire marketplace to address all users’ needs.”
Reports Dr. Benjamin Silberglitt, Association Board of Directors Co-Chair “It isn’t often that the perfect candidate comes along at the perfect time for your organization. Steve’s leadership acumen, understanding of the needs of districts, states, and vendors, and his passion for this work makes him ideally suited to guide our organization into a bright future. The A4L Community is ready to deliver the next generation of privacy, security, and interoperability standards with Steve at the helm.”
Mr Smith’s appointment as Executive Director will be effective 1 February 2024.