The Arkansas Association of Career and Technical Education's leadership consists of a board of directors and a number of committees.
If you are interested in running for Arkansas ACTE leadership, fill out the application.
Arkansas ACTE Executive Board Members:
Stacey Southerland
President
Stacey Southerland has been an educator for 22 years. She started her career in 2000 as a non-traditional teacher in science and junior high mathematics. She held this position at Foreman High School for 10 years with a heart for student achievement. Stacey served on numerous leadership and personnel policy committees during this time and earned Foreman High School Teacher of the Year in 2009. She then had the opportunity to step into Career & Technical Education as Foreman High School's Family & Consumer Science teacher and she remained in this position while adding a Masters of Curriculum & Instruction to her licensure until 2013.
In 2013, Stacey joined DeQueen-Mena Education Cooperative as the Career & Technical Education Coordinator. She has served on the LDC team, the MDC team, the Leadership team and has expanded the CTE department in numerous ways since assuming her position. Stacey manages Perkins funding for 11 of the 12 member districts and supports over 50 CTE teachers in her coop area. Stacey can be quoted as saying, "This is a job I truly love. My Bachelor's degree in Ag Business along with my teaching experiences have prepared me for the position I hold at DMESC."
Stacey has been a member of ACTE for 8 years. She has attended several national Vision conferences, all Arkansas state conferences and has served as the president of the Administration division for the last three years. She has also served as the Nominating Committee Chair.
Stacey lives with her husband in Foreman where they have owned and operated a diversified farm for 26 years. She has three children, five grandchildren, and enjoys her family, her church, reading and almost anything outdoors!
Jennifer Turner
Past President
Jennifer Turner lives in Ozark with her husband Brad and daughter Jessica. They live on a small family farm in the Ozark foothills.
Jennifer started her career as an Agriculture Instructor at Lincoln High School, then got the opportunity to move home to help develop a new Agriculture program at Ozark High School. She got the opportunity to step into Administration for CTE at the Western ESC which is now the Guy Fenter Education Service Cooperative. Jennifer is now the CTE Coordinator and works with 21 schools in the River Valley and NW Arkansas to develop and improve CTE programs.
Jennifer has been on the ACTE board as the Administration Division President for 3 years and since 2019 served on the ACTE Region IV Policy committee where she was elected as the group's Secretary. She has been an ACTE member for 26 years and has attended several national ACTE Vision conferences and several Region IV conferences. She had the privilege to attend National Policy Seminar 2021.
Some of the opportunities that Jennifer has had include:
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AVATA Young Teacher of the Year 2001
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NAAE Young Teacher of the Year 2001
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ACE Career and Technical Leadership Institute 2011
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National Career Pathways Leadership Certification 2011
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Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators –Administrator of the Year 2018
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Arkansas ACTE Marketing Division Administrator of the Year 2019
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Arkansas ACTE Administrator of the Year 2019
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AATFCS Career Guidance Award 2020
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Arkansas ACTE Career Guidance Award 2020
Katie Robertson
President-Elect
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Katie Robertson is a 2000 Southern Arkansas University graduate in Business Finance and has been in education for 11 years. She started her career in education as a substitute teacher then as a speech language aide for two years. An opportunity presented to transition as a non-traditional business teacher at Taylor High School. At Taylor she was an FBLA Advisor, attended Nationals and produced multiple yearbooks that won Publication awards. After 5 years at Taylor there was an opportunity at South Central Service Cooperative as a Career and Technical Education Coordinator.
At South Central Service Cooperative she supports 11 schools in 9 school districts with over 75 teachers, for their Perkins Accountability. Katie also serves on the policy committee within her consortium, SADA, South Arkansas Development Alliance, and is a member of her work ready community.
Katie has been an active member of ACTE for 7 years. She has attended several national Vision conferences, multiple Arkansas state conferences, a Regional Conference, and National Policy Seminar. She served as the 2022-2023 president of the Administration division, the Nominating Committee Chair, and was a member of the Awards Committee. Katie is also a 2023 member of the ACTE Experienced National Fellowship Program from Division 4.
Katie has one son who is a Sophomore at Louisiana Tech University studying Electrical Engineering and two step children. Her hobbies include spending time with family and friends and being outdoors.
Molly Lindsey
Executive Director
Molly Lindsey is a National Board Certified Teacher who earned her BSE from Henderson State University. She retired in June 2020 after teaching Business Education for 32 years at Mena High School. After only a few years of teaching, she was tasked by her area educational cooperative with bringing local teachers into the world of educational technology and continued teaching professional development there for over 20 years. In 2017, Molly taught Louisiana teachers how to prepare students for and administer the Adobe Certified Associate exams for the Louisiana Department of Education when they began requiring all students to earn a certification in order to graduate. Over the years, Molly has taught adjunct classes at her local community college and professional development at her school district. For six years, she administered and coordinated the Perkins program for Mena Public Schools.
In her years of advising FBLA, Molly has had numerous district and state officers and enjoyed many FBLA national trips in addition to the district and state conferences. She has always been a proponent of career and technical education and is proud to be able to contribute to the advancement of career and technical education in Arkansas.
Molly and her husband of over 30 years (Randy) have two daughters and sons-in-law, Toni (and Andrew) and Dani (and Seth), and two precious grandchildren, Brentley and Sutton. She enjoys reading in her free time, as well as crocheting, cross-stitching, and quilting, but her favorite pastime is being with her family.