Two Take on Important Interim Roles for WCER

September 11, 2022   |   By WCER Communications

WCER has been very fortunate in recent weeks to sign on two key replacements for important roles at the center on an interim basis.

In early August, Dan Langer agreed to answer WCER’s urgent call for support in the chief operating officer role. His first day was Aug. 25, and he is expected to do the job for 3–6 months, depending on how quickly a search firm charged with finding a high quality, permanent COO can work.

Langer, who retired from UW–Madison in the spring as assistant vice chancellor/controller, came highly recommended, WCER Director Courtney Bell says.

“As I learned about him from colleagues, there were several recurring themes—he is hard-working, smart, detail-oriented, an excellent leader, and a can-do person,” Bell says. “You know as well as I do how valuable these skills are. He will provide unique insights. Lucky us.”

In other COO search news, Bell also thanked Amber Wilke Fournier for agreeing to chair the search committee again.

Bell also recently appointed Latoya Holiday to be the interim executive director of the MSAN Network for one year.

Holiday came to WCER in March as an educational policy specialist with the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC). She previously worked for the state Department of Public Instruction—3 years as special assistant to the state superintendent and 7 years involved in work with charter schools and the state’s private school choice programs.

Longtime former MSAN Executive Director Madeline Hafner left WCER in August for a new job as a faculty member at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The MSAN Network is a national coalition of multiracial school districts that have come together to understand and eliminate racial opportunity gaps that persist within their schools.

WCER offers a warm welcome to Langer and Holiday and wishes Hafner good luck!