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Our Leadership
We believe DRC employs the best in the business when it comes to leadership. Our management team provides the guidance and direction necessary for continued growth in the quality and services offered.



Susan Engeleiter
Chief Executive Officer and President
With DRC Since 1998

Ms. Engeleiter has established a strong track record of extending and expanding technology and technical capabilities within DRC. She leads a senior management team that actively works to improve all processes in the organization. Ms. Engeleiter is responsible for business planning and development that includes strategic investments, acquisitions, partnerships, and legal and governmental affairs. Under her leadership, the company has achieved record levels of growth and profitability. The company’s full-time employee base has grown to more than 600 people, with more than 4000 temporary workers employed during peak periods. Her primary focus has been to create and improve processes and technologies within DRC, to keep pace with evolving customer needs and the increasing demand for our company’s services. Ms. Engeleiter is leading efforts to ensure that the visions, goals, and initiatives of DRC’s services are fully aligned with those of the corporation, while maximizing operational efficiency. Ms. Engeleiter holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.



Russ Hagen
Chairman of the Board
With DRC Since 1978

Mr. Hagen founded DRC in 1978. He has held positions on the boards of numerous educational, business, and civic organizations. Mr. Hagen earned a Bachelor of Science degree in both Chemistry and Mathematics from St. Cloud State University.








Mark Gedlinske
Senior Vice President, Education Program Management
and Technology
With DRC Since 2000

Mr. Gedlinske has more than 38 years of experience with project management and information technology management to support a wide array of end-users, including several state departments of education, the U.S. Department of Education, assessment and data collection companies, and large manufacturing firms. He is currently the senior manager responsible for DRC Education Division program management and technology. In this role, he oversees both the Education project management team and the information services teams that develop the solutions for our Education clients. Mr. Gedlinske holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Accounting from Iowa State University.



Stephen Larson
Chief Financial Officer
With DRC Since 2001

Mr. Larson leads the finance function for DRC. He provides advice and counsel to the entire organization, with a focus on financial impacts. Mr. Larson has a thirty-year track record of demonstrated success in a series of financial positions with high levels of responsibility. He has a diverse background, including financial experience in government and commercial business. Mr. Larson earned his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Business Administration from the University of Minnesota, Duluth.




David Chayer
Senior Vice President, Research
With DRC Since 1999

Mr. Chayer oversees all psychometric activities at DRC and ensures that methodologies and processes are valid and legally defensible. He has produced and evaluated measurement instruments and has coordinated, designed, and implemented standard setting procedures for the company. He has more than 22 years of experience performing and directing research and test development activities in norm-referenced, large-scale assessment, and licensure/certification testing programs for both paper-and-pencil and computer-based testing. Mr. Chayer holds a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology, specializing in Measurement, and a Bachelor of Arts in Statistics, both from the University of Minnesota.



Doyle Kirkeby
Senior Vice President, Operations
With DRC Since 1995

Mr. Kirkeby directs and manages DRC’s overall production scheduling, packaging, distribution and collection of materials, warehouse operations, document processing (scanning, editing, and clerical support), and handscoring. He offers more than 33 years of experience in software development and corporate operations management.







Alison Lyder
Vice President of Performance Assessment
With DRC Since 1987

Ms. Lyder, with fellow Vice President Sherri Woolf, oversees all performance assessment projects at DRC. She is responsible for budgeting handscoring services, monitoring project schedules and collaborating with other DRC functional areas to meet increasingly challenging timelines while maintaining quality. Ms. Lyder has worked on large-scale assessment projects in many capacities. Her 24 years in the assessment field give her an in-depth understanding of the kinds of information that must pass between the client and the scoring staff to ensure that student scores reflect the intentions of the assessment. Ms. Lyder has extensive experience in criteria refinement, anchor response selection/annotation, staff training, and project monitoring. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American Studies from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.



Patricia McDivitt
Senior Vice President, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
With DRC Since 2002

Ms. McDivitt is responsible for overseeing all phases of the item and test development process for K–12 standards-based assessments for statewide testing programs. She has over 22 years of test development experience and is an experienced facilitator of teacher committees, including item writing committees, alignment review committees, content item and item/data review committees, bias, fairness, and sensitivity review committees; and committees of educators responsible for the development of performance-level descriptors and grade-level expectations. Ms. McDivitt began her career as an educator, serving as a classroom teacher and/or counselor for 12 years. In addition, Ms. McDivitt serves on the board of directors of the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, Western Michigan University Evaluation Center, where she has been instrumental in the development and launch of The Student Evaluation Standards. She is also past president of the Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education (AACE), and she is a member of the editorial board for the Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development (MECD) journal. Ms. McDivitt has written several chapters on assessment, including chapters on helping educators develop assessments. She holds a master’s in Education Guidance and Counseling and English Language Arts and a degree in Education English Language Arts, both from the University of Indiana.



Lisa Peterson-Nelson
Chief Quality Officer
With DRC Since 2001

Ms. Peterson-Nelson is responsible for leading the implementation of quality management strategies across the organization. She has an engineering and operations management background spanning 22 years with several Fortune 100 corporations. She has led, developed, and implemented Six Sigma quality approaches and processes within these organizations. Ms. Peterson-Nelson attended Michigan Technological University, where she earned a Master of Science degree in Operations Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.



Doug Russell
Senior Vice President, Strategic Marketing and Surveys
With DRC Since 2003

Mr. Russell provides direction for all sales, marketing, and operations/manufacturing functions for both the Document Services and Surveys business units. He has over 30 years of experience in the industry, mostly with direct division P&L responsibility. For the last nine years, Mr. Russell has operated at the general manager and vice president levels, focusing on the education, commercial, and government markets. Additionally, he has a strong background in operations and marketing, working in both plant and corporate environments.



Betsy Shober
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
With DRC Since 2001

Ms. Shober is responsible for directing the overall corporate human resources function by developing and implementing strategies and practices which focus on developing organizational capability and supporting DRC-wide business strategies. Ms. Shober has more than 34 years of human resource management experience within diverse industries, including professional services, information management, manufacturing, agriculture, and finance. She has experience integrating human resource programs and services for acquisitions and mergers as well as developing and implementing human resource strategies to enable organizational change and growth. Ms. Shober holds a Master of Leadership degree from Augsburg College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Washington State University.



Russ Spencer
Senior Vice President, Education
With DRC Since 1996

Mr. Spencer is responsible for Education services project management and partnerships, including third-party relationships, and supports the delivery of DRC services to statewide educational testing programs. He has more than 25 years of experience in large-scale, document-based testing and survey projects. Mr. Spencer has worked on a variety of contracts, including data capture services for the U.S. Department of Education, and has an extensive background in large-scale logistics management, complex software development programs, and technology-based fulfillment. Mr. Spencer holds a master’s in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh to complement his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University. He has also completed postgraduate work in Numerical Analysis.



Sandra Wiese
General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Government Affairs
With DRC Since 2004

Ms. Wiese establishes and maintains regulatory and legislative relationships on behalf of DRC. She sponsors and lobbies for legislative reforms at the federal level and in key state legislatures and represents DRC in industry trade groups. Ms. Wiese is a senior corporate attorney, with more than 20 years of experience in government and regulatory affairs, insurance, corporate law, and small business assistance. She was the Chief of Staff to the Wisconsin State Senate Minority Leader from 1984 – 1989 and the Chief of Staff to the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C. from 1989 – 1991. She holds a Juris Doctorate from William Mitchell College of Law and a bachelor of Art’s degree in Political Science from the University of Minnesota.



Sherri Woolf
Vice President of Performance Assessment
With DRC Since 1997

Ms. Woolf, with fellow Vice President Alison Lyder, oversees all performance assessment projects at DRC. She is responsible for budgeting handscoring services, monitoring project schedules and collaborating with other DRC functional areas to meet increasingly challenging timelines while maintaining quality. In addition, Ms. Woolf has played a pivotal role in the development and highly successful implementation of DRC’s Image Scoring System. Ms. Woolf brings a unique blend of assessment experience and perspectives to DRC, having served as a classroom teacher, a state department client, and a contractor. Ms. Woolf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Human Resource Development.