Leadership Team

Dr. Ken Wallace

Superintendent

Dr. Ken Wallace is in his 12th year with Maine Township High School District 207, first as Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction and for the past 8 years as Superintendent. While Dr. Wallace was Assistant Superintendent he led improvements in the District’s technology program that included becoming Google’s first K-12 partner and pioneering 1:1 learning.

In 2015, Maine 207 received an International Digital Content and Curriculum Achievement Award from the Center for Digital Education, and was named one of America’s 14 Most Innovative School Systems in April of 2016 by Tech Insider. Dr. Wallace has made teacher leadership and job-embedded professional development a focus. District 207 is perhaps the only U.S. district that includes annual instructional coaching plans for all teachers who work with peer teacher coaches. One of the District’s four coaching paths includes authentic teacher action research, and the District has developed a research consortium with Northwestern, Illinois ASCD, several other universities and local Districts.

An educator for 31 years, Dr. Wallace was a high school English and journalism teacher for five years and taught computer science for six years. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Southern Indiana and Ed.S and Ph.D degrees from Indiana State University. Dr. Wallace was named the 2017 Illinois Association of Career and Technical Education Champion of the year for the District’s innovative work to improve college and career counseling and experiences for every District student.

Mr. Greg Dietz

Assistant Superintendent for General Administration

Mr. Greg E. Dietz serves as Assistant Superintendent for General Administration, a position he has held since 2005. Mr. Dietz has spent his entire professional career serving District 207 students and staff. Hired in 1988 as a chemistry and physics teacher, Mr. Dietz started his administrative career in 1995 when he became the Department Chairman for Science and later served as the Assistant Principal for Staff and Instruction at Maine South. In 1989, Mr. Dietz was named Teacher of Year at Maine South, an award voted on by both students and staff.

Recently, Mr. Dietz was honored at the 10th Annual State Conference for the Illinois Association of School Personnel Administrators, a state-wide organization that he and a few colleagues founded in 2007. Mr. Dietz’s work as the Assistant Superintendent for General Administration focuses on human resources, collective bargaining, union relations, policy development and staff recruitment. In his spare time, Mr. Dietz enjoys cooking, restoring railroad lanterns, running his eBay business and anything University of Iowa-related…Go Hawkeyes!

Mr. Shawn Messmer

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Innovation

After starting a career in advertising following his Bachelor’s Degree, Mr. Messmer realized through his work as a basketball coach that his passion resided in helping young people reach their full potential and prepare for a successful school and work life. From there, he taught middle school and high school before serving as an assistant principal for five years at Souderton Area High School in Pennsylvania, his home state. He earned his master’s degree in educational leadership and principal’s certification at Lehigh University.

In 2010, Mr. Messmer became the principal at Maine South. Additionally, he is currently a member of the Midwest Principal’s Center’s Advisory Board, serves as the secretary of the Central Suburban League athletic conference, and is pursuing his doctorate in educational leadership at Concordia University of Chicago. Shawn is a fan of all things Philadelphia and is the proud father of three children.

Ms. Mary Kalou

Assistant Superintendent for Finance

Ms. Kalou has served as the Assistant Superintendent for Business/CSBO for District 207 since July 2009. She has more than 20 years of experience as a school business official. &After spending several years at a large public accounting firm, Ms. Kalou began her school district career at District 207 in 1993, serving as the Director of Accounting. She served in that capacity for 5 years. She also has served as an Assistant Superintendent for both Arlington Heights School District 25 and Lake Zurich School District 95.

In addition to being a certified public accountant, Ms. Kalou holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University, a Master of Arts degree from Northern Illinois University, an ED.S. from Northern Illinois University and received her Chief School Business Official (CSBO) endorsement from Northern Illinois University.

Mr. Brett Clark

Director of Communications

Mr. Clark has worked in both higher education and K-12 schools for more than 20 years. He spent 13 years with Glenview School District 34 serving as Executive Director of Communications and Strategic Planning and Executive Director of Human Resources during his time with the district. He also has worked for Parkway School District and Ladue School District in Missouri. Mr. Clark also worked for Millikin University during his career.

Brett holds the Accredited in Public Relations certification. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism.

Ms. Jill Geocaris

Innovative Adult Learning Coordinator

Ms. Geocaris was previously the Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning at Maine South High School and a Social Studies Department Chair and Assessment Literacy trainer at Downers Grove North High School. Ms. Geocaris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Studies Education from Eastern Illinois University, a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Northern Illinois University and is currently pursuing an Ed.D in Educational Leadership from Concordia University.

Mr. Mark Ordonez

Chief Technology Officer

Mr. Ordonez has worked in education technology in secondary and higher education for nearly two decades. He has served as the Chief Technology Officer for District 207 since June 2017. He has held several positions in the Technology Department since joining District 207 in 2008, most recently holding the position of Director of Information Services. Mr. Ordonez holds a MS in Information Technology from Northwestern University, and a BA in Physics and Computer Science from Illinois Wesleyan University.

Dr. Ben Collins

Principal, Maine South High School

Dr. Collins is in his second year as Principal at Maine South. Prior to his appointment, he was the Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning at Maine West. From 2012-2014 he was the Division Coordinator for Fine Arts, CTE, and Physical Education at Batavia High School and the Music Department Chair from 2009-2012. Dr. Collins has taught general music and band at Lemont and Batavia High School and has a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Music Education from the University of Illinois, a Master’s in educational leadership from Aurora University and a Doctorate in School Administration and Supervision from Loyola University Chicago.

His research targets teacher and leader evaluation systems design and administrative capacity. Dr. Collins is a board member of the Illinois Principals Association North Cook Region, a past president of the Illinois Council for Instructional Coaching and a board member of the Music Educators Development Division for ILMEA. He is a frequent presenter on teacher and school leader accountability, instructional coaching, and Arts standards utilization and alignment across the state.

Dr. Mike Pressler

Principal, Maine East High School

Dr. Pressler is dedicated to a strengths-focused approach to teaching and learning that honors each student’s individual assets and proclivities as the basis for creating relevant and engaging learning experiences. Helping students identify interests and passions and then weaving those into learning experiences at school is central to his personal educational mission.

Dr. Pressler has been a District 207 administrator for 25 years: he has been Principal at Maine East since 2010, following five years as Assistant Principal for Instruction. He earlier served as Fine Arts Department Chair and Director of Bands at Maine South, during which time the department received state and national recognition for exemplary arts education programs. Before coming to Maine 207, he taught at Lyons Township High School, Wichita East High School (KS), and in downstate Carlinville, Illinois. Pressler holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from National-Louis University, a Master of Science in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music from Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas. Additionally he has completed advanced degree course work in public school administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Marina Scott

Interim Principal, Maine West High School

Dr. Scott served as Libertyville High School Principal from 2009 to 2017, after working one year as  Associate Superintendent in the same district. For the first 25 years of her career, she served High School District 211 in numerous capacities, including five years as principal of Fremd High School in Palatine, and as an Assistant Principal at both Fremd and Palatine high schools.

Ms. Maria Ward

Interim Principal, Maine West High School

Since 2011, Ms. Ward has utilized her expertise in assessment literacy to serve as an educational consultant to numerous suburban districts, including District 207. She served as principal of Downers Grove North High School from 2005 to 2011 and as principal of Glenbard East High School in Lombard from 2001 to 2005.  She began her career as a teacher of English and reading at Rolling Meadows, West Leyden and Glenbard West high schools before serving as English Chair, Foreign Language Chair and Assistant Principal for Instruction at Glenbard East from 1991 through 2001.