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Contact Consultants


For assistance in selecting a consultant, contact Ben Niehaus:

Ben Niehaus
Director of Member Services

bniehaus@wasb.org, 608-512-1706

Ben serves the WASB as its director of member services, leading the WASB search and governance consultants in addition to collaborating with each department of the WASB to support and enhance services for the WASB membership. Ben is a former rural school district administrator who served both the Goodman-Armstrong Creek and Florence County school districts. He began his professional career as a business education teacher. Beyond his role as a school administrator, he has served on various associations and committees speaking in advocacy for rural schools, their students and communities.

Ben was Wisconsin’s 2019 Rural School Superintendent of the Year. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater and administrative licensures from UW-Whitewater and Winona State University as a business manager, principal and superintendent.

 

WASB Consultant Team


 

Fran Finco, Ed.D.
Search and Governance Consultant

ffinco@wasb.org, 608-780-6101

Fran specializes in continuous school improvement and building board/administrator relationships. He also has extensive experience with professional learning communities. Fran has 43 years working in the educational field. During his first 16 years, he worked in Minnesota as a teacher, activities director and administrator. For the next 27 years, he worked for the School District of Onalaska as their middle school principal, director of instructional services and superintendent. He also served as an adjunct instructor at UW–La Crosse and Viterbo University.

Fran received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Northern Michigan University, his master’s degree in counseling from the University of North Dakota, his specialist degree in educational administration from Moorhead State University, and his doctorate in educational leadership from National Louis University.

Cheryl Gullicksrud, M.S. Educational Administration
Search and Governance Consultant

cgullicksrud@wasb.org, 715-530-0121

Cheryl specializes in superintendent searches, board and administrator relationships, and school district fiscal operations. Over the past 36 years, Cheryl has served Wisconsin schools in a variety of positions including business education teacher, CTE coordinator, district assessment coordinator, curriculum coordinator, principal, superintendent, and CESA administrator.

Cheryl received her undergraduate degree from UW-Eau Claire and a masters degree from Winona State University.

Patrick Mans, M. Ed.
Search and Governance Consultant

pmans@wasb.org, 715-293-6827

Pat specializes in developing board/superintendent relationships and rural school district operations/governance issues. Patrick was most recently superintendent of the Crivitz School District where he served for 12 years. Before that, he served in the roles of elementary and middle school principal at Crivitz.

He received his bachelor’s degree in education from the UW-Stevens Point, a master’s degree in education administration and curriculum and instruction from Viterbo University, and his superintendent certification from Cardinal Stritch University.

Roger Price, M.S. Educational Administration, M.S. Business Management
Finance and Operational Consultant

rprice@wasb.org, 608-212-0990

Roger specializes in operational effectiveness and all facets of budgetary planning and Wisconsin school finance. He spent his career of 35 years involved in all aspects of educational operations and business management in K-12 and higher education.

He earned his master’s degree in educational administration from UW-Madison and his master’s in school business management from UW-Whitewater. He received the Wallace E. Zastrow Award (lifetime achievement) from the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials. Roger served as an adjunct professor at Edgewood and UW-Whitewater and has been engaged in consulting services the past 10 years.

George Steffen, Ed.D.
Search and Governance Consultant

gsteffen@wasb.org, 815-353-9441

Specializes in school board and administrator leadership and relationships, long-range planning, and school district collaboration, reorganization and consolidation. George has dedicated 44 years to working with Illinois and Wisconsin public school districts. After receiving a degree from National College of Education, he received his master and doctorate degrees from Loyola University in educational administration. George taught fourth, sixth, and eighth grade prior to pursuing his career as a superintendent. He served as assistant superintendent and then as superintendent for 29 consecutive years at Amboy (IL), Prairie Grove (IL), Trevor and Trevor-Wilmot (WI).

He has served as an adjunct professor at Aurora Univ. and Northeastern Illinois Univ. and a guest lecturer at Loyola Univ. in the field of educational administration. In addition, George is trained in the DPI model of teacher and principal observation/evaluation.

Cheryl Stinski, B.S. Human Services
Governance Consultant
President and Founder, Alternative Resolutions, Inc.

cstinski@wasb.org, 920-850-4527

Cheryl Stinski is a highly experienced facilitator, trainer, mediator, and coach who brings more than 20 years of know-how to working with school boards.

In addition to building strong leaders through training and coaching, she excels in facilitating productive conversations and collaborative problem-solving that leads to effective, durable solutions. Her work in the school arena includes training school board members, administrators, teachers and students; facilitating referendum planning, community/school problem solving, parent/school board meetings, and IEP meetings; and mediating staff issues and special education cases.

Kelly Thompson, Ph.D.
Search and Governance Consultant

kthompson@wasb.org, 262-366-4904

Kelly specializes in continuous improvement processes, strategic plan development, progress monitoring and stakeholder and survey feedback. She also has significant experience with referendums, facility master planning, human resources and school board governance. Kelly retired from Muskego-Norway Schools after serving 30 years in various roles, including superintendent for 11 years, assistant superintendent for human resources, director of curriculum and instruction, associate high school principal and director of pupil services.

Kelly has a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee along with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in educational psychology.

Patti Vickman, M. Ed.
Search and Governance Consultant

pvickman@wasb.org, 920-495-0400

Patti specializes in human resources and community relations. She has experience with referendums, surveys, summits and other methods of collecting community feedback. Patti was most recently superintendent of the Southern Door County School District, a position she held since 2012. Before that, she was executive director of administration and executive director of human resources at the Oshkosh Area School District.

She has a bachelor’s degree from Saint Norbert College and a master’s in education from the University of Louisville, Kentucky. Her administrator certification is from UW-Madison and her superintendent licensure from Marian University. 

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