For the past eight years, Jesse has worked as an independent consultant in strategy and business development for companies and NGOs in K–12 education, with a focus on strategic planning and language proficiency testing. Previously, he spent over a decade with the WIDA Consortium at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, serving as Director of Assessment, Director of State Relations, and Chief Strategy and Development Officer. He was the primary liaison for state education departments and launched initiatives including the WIDA Annual Conference and WIDA International.
Earlier in his career, Jesse worked on teacher education programs for the Center for Teaching International Relations at the University of Denver. He also held leadership roles in large-scale test development at ETS and Riverside, including California’s STAR testing system, and has consulted with organizations such as Avant Assessment, TESOL, Pearson, and ELPA21.
Jesse lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of New Meridian Corporation and chairs the Education Division of the Association of Test Publishers. He holds degrees from the University of Colorado–Boulder and Northwestern University, and taught geography and social studies for 18 years in the U.S. and abroad.