Executive Board of Directors

IDA TENNESSEE • BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

		PRESIDENT GAY LANDAICHE Gay has her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Louisiana State University and her trainings include several Lindamood Bell courses, IMSE, and Associate Level training with the Orton Gillingham Academy. She has a long history in education and learning support working as a Director of Instruction with Sylvan Learning Center in her early years and as a Learning Specialist in several private school settings. Gay recently was in charge of outreach for a school that serves students with dyslexia. Gay also holds a position on the board of directors of Communities in Schools – Memphis and she lives in Shelby County.
		VICE PRESIDENT PAM DEMATO Pam has her Bachelor’s of Education from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT and her Master’s of Education from Christian Brothers University in Memphis. She is also a graduate of the Vanderbilt Parent Advocacy Program. She is a parent of 2 sons with dyslexia, a CERI and ALTA certified Dyslexia Interventionist, and owner of RISE Learning Center in Collierville, TN. In addition, she is also the Executive Director of Shelby Literacy Center where she works in the adult literacy area. Pam has been a proud IDA-TN board member for over 15 years.
		PAST PRESIDENT MICHELE RICHTER Michele has her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Texas A&M University, and her Master’s in Administration and Supervision from Lipscomb University. Post graduate work includes receiving a special education license endorsement along with training in S.P.I.R.E., LiPS, Wilson, REWARDS, Slingerland, and Take Flight. Michele is a Certified Structured Literacy and Dyslexia Interventionist through the Center for Effective Reading Instruction (CERI). She is completing coursework this fall to become a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT). Michele currently teaches special education middle school English Language Arts and reading intervention at a private school in Williamson County. Not only has she been an educator for 27 years, she is a mother of a child with dyslexia. She sits on TN DOE’s Dyslexia Advisory Council and Early Literacy Reading 360 Council. In November 2020, she graduated from Vanderbilt’s Volunteer Advocacy Program. She is also a Parent Mentor for the TN Disability organization.
		TREASURER PAMELA FAHEY Pamela has a Bachelor of Arts in French from Southern Methodist University and a Master’s Degree in Education from Trevecca Nazarene University. She has served in public education as an involved parent of two, a substitute teacher, a paraprofessional, an elementary classroom teacher for nine years, and is currently in her 7th year as reading coach at Liberty Elementary in Franklin, Tn. She has administered the universal screeners and additional dyslexia screeners for kindergarten through fourth grades at her school over the past six years. She is passionate about ensuring that all elementary students receive explicit, systematic, multisensory phonics instruction.
		RECORDING SECRETARY JESSICA DAINTY Jessica has a Bachelor’s degree in English from University of Tennessee (Knoxville), an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, and a PhD (December 2022) in Literacy Studies from Middle Tennessee State University. She has worked in public education for twelve years as a classroom special education teacher and, most recently, as a system-wide consulting teacher with the Putnam County Schools special education department. She has adjunct taught at Tennessee Technological University in the English department and in the department of Curriculum and Instruction. She is a published novelist and is passionate about both the science of reading and the love of language. She currently serves as the Statewide Dyslexia Coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Education.

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