Questar Assessment CEO and leadership

Stephen (Steve) Lazer serves as Questar Assessment’s president and chief executive officer. A long-time veteran of Questar’s parent company, Educational Testing Service (ETS), and highly respected throughout the industry for his assessment expertise and business acumen, Steve plays a pivotal role in driving innovation and ensuring that the company continues to build on its track record of exceptional growth and achievement. Before joining Questar, Steve served since 2013 as ETS’s senior vice president of ETS’s Student and Teacher Assessments. In this role, he was responsible for a range of tests, products, and services including K–12 summative assessments, teacher licensure and effectiveness assessments, College Board® testing programs, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). From 2010 to 2013, he served as vice president of Student and Teacher Assessments. Steve brings more than 30 years of large-scale assessment design and management experience to Questar. He joined ETS in 1985 and worked as a test developer before moving into a role supporting ETS work on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1991. Between 1996 and 2004, he was the executive director overseeing ETS work on NAEP. Starting in 2004, Steve served as vice president of assessment development and was responsible for managing the nearly 600 individuals who developed all assessments and related materials at ETS. In 2010, Steve was named vice president of ETS’s Teacher Licensure and Certification and NAEP businesses. In 2013 he became senior vice president of Student and Teacher assessment, adding management of ETS work on College Board Programs to his portfolio. Steve has published widely on assessment matters such as assessment design, group score assessments, computer-based testing, assessment linking, and the results of national and international assessments. He is currently a member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the National Council for Measurement in Education (NCME). He earned a graduate degree in political science from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree (a joint honors degree in English and political science) at McGill University. Before joining ETS, Steve served as a policy analyst for the World Policy Institute, as well as a lecturer at Princeton University.

Since joining Questar Assessment in 2015, Kristin Werk, PMP, has proven herself to be a highly effective and adaptable leader, advancing rapidly from the role of senior director of sales effectiveness to vice president of partner effectiveness. During that time, she led several departments, including marketing, sales/proposals, IT project management office, and quality assurance. Along with her management duties, Kristin took the lead on long-term internal initiatives designed to improve processes and increase Questar’s organizational effectiveness. In the role of vice president of partner effectiveness, Kristin provides executive support to the program management teams to help ensure that Questar consistently meets and delivers all services and products accurately, on time, and within budget. Kristin previously held several director-level positions at Thomson Reuters, including director of strategic communications, director of channel marketing and process improvement, and director of strategic projects. Kristin holds a Master of Business Administration in project management from Capella University and a Bachelor of Science in mass communications and journalism from St. Cloud State University. She is also a certified project management professional and a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

Brendan Kealey is a Chief Information Officer at QUESTAR ASSESSMENT, INC. and VP:Software Product Dev at pearson. He attended University of Iowa.

Brad Baumgartner heads the organization’s domestic and international sales effort. With 10 years of experience selling enterprise level software and services to the government and education markets, Brad brings an elevated focus and direction to Questar’s sales and marketing strategies. Most recently Brad served as vice president of global sales at ConnectEdu, an online service provider for career and college planning. Before ConnectEdu, he worked as director of business development at Ellucian (formerly SunGard Higher Education), where he helped educational institutions align information technology with academic strategic plans. Brad was also director of global business development at Elsevier, a leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical products and services. Brad began his career as an account manager for Dynix, the industry leader in the development of library and digital asset systems. Brad is a graduate of Indiana University.