Officers
Fran Mazzolini
President and CEO
Fran was a founding officer of Standards Plus and has been the President and CEO for more than eight years. Before joining Standard Plus, she was a public educator for 35 years. Prior to her presidency with Standards Plus she served as the Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services in a large, diverse, urban school district. During that time she coordinated the efforts to make substantial changes in the district which led to the district receiving an Ed. Trust Award. To fulfill the mission of this nonprofit organization, Fran continues to put the organization’s resources toward activities that support increased student achievement throughout the country.
Joseph Deem, Ed. D.
Executive Vice President
Dr. Deem was a public educator for 25 years. He was a classroom teacher for 12 years, a site administrator for 6 years, and a district office administrator for 7 years. Previous to his current position, Dr. Deem was the Director of Interim Assessment for the Educational Testing Service in their San Bernardino Office.
Marlin Brown, Ed. D.
Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Brown was a public educator for 30 years. Previous to his tenure as the CFO of Standard Plus, he served as a classroom teacher for 13 years and as a site administrator for 17 years. He was also the Director of Technology for a California school district. Dr. Brown served as an elected Board of Education member in a large urban school district for 25 years . This service includes over 8 years as the board president.
Executive Directors
Pete Watson
Executive Director, Marketing and Professional Relations
As the Executive Director of Marketing and Professional Relations with Standards Plus, Pete Watson brings an extensive educational background to his position. He began his education career in 1974 and has served for 33 years in three different California school districts leading reform efforts through professional development and quality leadership. Most recently Pete served as a Senior National Consultant for ETS after retiring as Superintendent of the Upland Unified School District where he also was the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services and Director of Curriculum and Instruction.
Pete’s career experience has allowed him to teach at both the elementary and middle school level, to serve as an Assistant Principal at the middle school level and to lead as a Principal at both the Elementary and Middle School levels. As a Principal, both of his schools were designated as California Distinguished Schools and the middle school was a National Blue Ribbon School. As Superintendent of a diverse 12,000 student K-12 district, all of his schools showed sustained student performance growth and met all of their AYP targets. Additionally, eight of the 10 elementary schools were designated as either California Distinguished Schools or Title I High Achieving Schools under his leadership.
Pete has served on many state committees and organizations and most recently was a member of the ACSA Superintendent’s Council. He has been a major contributor to the middle school movement and was an original member of the California League of Middle Schools. He had significant input in the “Caught in the Middle” document as well as being an author and contributor to “Taking Center Stage”. Pete has presented at many major conferences and workshops to support the efforts of public education.
Marilyn Lippiatt
Executive Director, QES Professional Development
Ms. Lippiatt has served public education for the past 35 years as a teacher, principal, state professional development director and superintendent. For the past four years she worked as director of Instructional Development and Data Management for The Pulliam Group and later ETS. She has extensive experience in over 20 states in curriculum and instructional improvement and standards based teaching and assessment. She is currently working in California and Hawai’i with schools and districts on high impact teaching strategies to improve student achievement and on leadership knowledge and support of quality teaching and learning in the classroom. As Executive Director of Professional Development, she oversees the work of consultants and content specialists in districts and schools throughout California and Hawai’i.
Angela Turner
Executive Director, Client Solutions
Prior to joining Standards Plus, Angela Turner worked in public education for eleven years. While working at the middle school level, she assisted with the development and monitoring of after school intervention and English Language Learner support programs. She was a pivotal team member during the site’s Comité evaluations.
Since joining Standards Plus in 2004, she has led the creation of the Client Solutions Division which includes our Client Solutions Representatives, Account Managers, Warehouse, and Shipping Departments.