As the West Virginia State Treasurer’s Director for School Financial Education Programs, Linda Hawkins has led efforts to implement a statewide Bank at School program. She has trained over 600 teachers and bankers how to teach financial literacy.

Formerly a secondary school teacher, Ms. Hawkins has also held the position of the Director of Research, Grants Writing, and Continuing Education for Mountain State University.

During a White House Rose Garden ceremony, on April 24, 2002, Chauncey Veatch was named National Teacher of the Year. Previously, he had been named California, Riverside County, Coachella Valley U.S.D., Coachella Valley High School, Bilingual Education and Migrant Education Teacher of the Year.

Veatch became a teacher in 1995 at the end of his active duty service in the United States Army. He first taught seventh and eighth grade science, mathematics, English, reading, writing, social studies, physical education, and ESL (English as a second language). In the evening Adult Education Program he also taught citizenship test preparation and English classes. In 1999 Veatch began teaching in the Social Studies and Vocational Technical Education Departments at Coachella Valley High School. He specifically requests that non-English speaking students, students with special needs, students with learning disabilities, pregnant teens, and students involved with gangs or drugs be placed in his classes. Since 2003 Veatch also teaches Pre-K, primary, and elementary school students in Head Start and reading intervention programs.

As the College Board’s International Visiting Scholar Veatch travels as a distinguished lecturer with published works on globalization, diversity, and access to post-secondary education. He also serves on Visa USA’s Educator Advisory Council and as a consultant for its financial literacy programs. He is an author and academic advisor in the development of students’ critical language and reading skills for Scholastic’s Zip Zoom English, Read 180, and RED programs. These are technology-based K-12 programs for school administrators, reading coaches, and teachers.

Veatch was recently named International Ambassador for Education by La Prensa Hispana. He is active in the Troops to Teachers Program, the PTA’s National Outreach program to African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native-American students. In addition to teaching in his district, Veatch is developing the International Student Leadership Academy as a teacher on assignment to the California Governor’s Office and the Riverside County Office of Education. Veatch also served on the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, the National Advisory Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and the Blue Ribbon Commission on the Year of Languages.

Veatch earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of the Pacific, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame, and teaching credential from Chapman University. He is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

As a mother of two young children, Young Lee Chalker has a special appreciation for the hopes and concerns of financial education in home and at school. Ms. Chalker received her M.A. in Education with a focus on Early Childhood Development at Columbia University's Teachers College in New York and her B.A. in English from the University of Illinois.

During her seven years of teaching experience, Ms. Chalker worked with junior high school students in New York City and was committed to bringing elementary school students on the south side of Chicago up to grade level or better in reading and math. Certified to teach in New York and Illinois, Ms. Chalker also taught English as a Second Language in Japan for two years while employed by the Japanese Ministry of Education.

Born in Chicago, Ms. Chalker lives in Manhattan with her husband and two sons.

Chris Shannon is a consummate educator with an extensive education teaching background. She has designed over 25 workshops for educators and business leaders, as well as 30 educational courses created workshops and classes. In addition, Chris has worked with a diverse number of agencies and organizations—such as Virginia Commonwealth University, Lawrence Literacy Works, the New York and Virginia Credit Union Leagues—training students, professionals and educators. She is a specialist in state content standards, designing crosswalks and aligning curriculum materials to meet NCLB educational goals.

Currently she plays a more active role in the development of youth policy and programming to ensure all youth are college and career ready, ensuring youth are prepared to transition into adulthood with the tools they will need to make informed and successful life decisions. Through Chris, financial literacy became a required component of all WIA funded youth programming in the Merrimack Valley. She currently works at Bristol Community College (BCC) as the Director of the Bristol Tech Prep Consortium, a program that provides students enrolled career and vocational education programming early access to college assessments and credit. Chris currently chairs and/or serves on multiple initiatives across the state of Massachusetts, including those affecting school-to-career transitioning (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education), at-risk youth (Pathways to Success by 21 (P21) Initiative and Governor’s Youth Task Force) and workforce succession issues (MWIB Links to Higher Education and Sector Initiatives Subcommittees). She is presently looking for ways to institutionalize financial literacy at BCC.