Betty Fry-Ahearn is a school improvement leadership coach. She began working with the Southern Regional Education Board in 2001 as a school leadership consultant. She brings more than 40 years of experience working in leadership roles across the elementary, high school, state agency, regional laboratory and university levels. At SREB, Betty has led a Wallace Foundation-funded initiative to redesign university educational leadership programs; assisted the development of 22 professional development modules for school leaders; and written a number of publications on school leadership issues. Prior to SREB, Betty directed an innovative principal preparation program at Valdosta State University, served as deputy director of the SERVE regional educational laboratory, and directed the Bureau of Teacher Education in the Florida Department of Education for 15 years. She holds a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies in education from the University of South Florida in Tampa.