Contact: Patricia M. Mikelson
Highlights Corporate Communications
pmmikelson@highlights-corp.com or 614-324-7003
KEY HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN, INC. EXECUTIVES
KENT S. JOHNSON
Chief Executive Officer, Highlights for Children, Inc.
KKent S. Johnson is chief executive officer of Highlights for Children, Inc. and a member of the corporation's board of directors. The company, which publishes educational products for children, including the popular children's magazine Highlights, has grown to include five wholly owned subsidiaries. These include a children's book publisher, a consumer catalog and e-commerce business, a textbook publisher and a publisher of professional development books for teachers as well as a company that provides direct training seminars for teachers.
Johnson is only the third CEO in the history of the company, which Garry Cleveland Myers, Ph.D., and Caroline Clark Myers, founded in 1946. He is the great-grandson of the founders, and a member of the fourth generation in the family-owned enterprise. Previously, Johnson served as a corporate vice president of strategic management.
Johnson received his bachelor's degree from Amherst College and his doctorate in Physics from Harvard University. Prior to joining Highlights, he served in various roles in research and development, manufacturing and operations.
Johnson lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and two young sons.
CHRISTINE FRENCH CLARK
Editor in Chief, Highlights Magazine and Highlights High Five Magazine
Christine French Clark is editor in chief of Highlights magazine and Highlights High Five magazine, editor of the interactive Web site at www.HighlightsKids.com, a member of the board of directors of Highlights for Children, Inc. and a trustee of the Highlights Foundation, Inc., a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to excellence in writing and art for children.
Clark, who has more than 28 years of experience in educational publishing for children, began her career as an associate editor of preschool curricula. She edited other children's publications for 13 years prior to joining the Highlights magazine staff in 1994.
Clark earned her bachelor's degree in Communication Arts from Judson College in Elgin, Illinois. She lives in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and has two children.
KENT L. BROWN, JR.
Executive Director, Highlights Foundation, Inc.
Editor in Chief, Emeritus, Highlights for Children<br>Publisher, Boyds Mills Press, Inc.
Kent L. Brown, Jr. is executive director of the Highlights Foundation, Inc., a national not-for-profit foundation dedicated to excellence in writing and art for children. He is also publisher of Boyds Mills Press, Inc., and serves on the Board of Directors of Highlights for Children, Inc.
Brown, a grandson of Highlights for Children, Inc. founders Garry Cleveland Myers, Ph.D., and Caroline Clark Myers, was editor of Highlights magazine for 22 years.
Brown received a bachelor's degree in English from Hobart College and a master's degree in English Education from Syracuse University. He is married and has three children and four grandchildren.
HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE EDITOR BIOS
CHRISTINE FRENCH CLARK
Editor in Chief, Highlights Magazine and Highlights High Five Magazine
Christine French Clark is editor in chief of Highlights magazine and Highlights High Five magazine, editor of the interactive Web site at www.HighlightsKids.com, a member of the board of directors of Highlights for Children, Inc. and a trustee of the Highlights Foundation, Inc., a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to excellence in writing and art for children.
Clark, who has more than 28 years of experience in educational publishing for children, began her career as an associate editor of preschool curricula. She edited other children's publications for 13 years prior to joining the Highlights staff in 1994.
A frequent speaker at national writers' and professional educators' conferences, Clark's professional memberships include the American Society of Magazine Editors, the Association of Educational Publishers, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Clark earned her bachelor's degree in Communication Arts from Judson College in Elgin, Illinois. She lives in Honesdale, Pennsylvania and has two children.
KATHLEEN HAYES
Editor, Highlights High Five
Kathleen Hayes is editor for Highlights High Five magazine, the newest Highlights for Children, Inc. publication.
She began her career as a children's librarian and later joined the faculty at the Bank Street College of Education, where she taught four- and five-year-olds at the Bank Street School for Children. She has been a mentor and coach to public school teachers and has taught graduate-level courses in children's literature, curriculum, art and classroom management.
She has worked with a number of publishing partners to produce early-childhood curriculum materials and has provided educational consultant services to Head Start classrooms and public school districts throughout the United States. She continues to consult with the International Step by Step Foundation, for whom she conducts teacher-training workshops and implements parent-education programs in Latvia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.
Hayes co-authored Classroom Routines That Really Work for Pre-K and K Teachers (Scholastic, 2002) and Putting the Children First: The Changing Face of Newark's Public Schools (Teachers College Press, 2003). In addition, she has written several children's books for Macmillan/McGraw-Hill and Time for Kids.
Hayes holds a master's degree in Library Science from the University of Washington and a master's degree in Early Childhood Education from the Bank Street College of Education.
Highlights for Children, Public Relations Office, 614-487-2640