Elaine McClendon
Educational Sales Consultant

Elaine McClendon was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She attended De Sales University in Center Valley, PA where she received a B.A. in Communications with a minor in Secondary Education. After earning her PA teaching credential, she began her career under the auspices of the English Department Chair at Southern Lehigh High School, just a stone's throw from the University.

Elaine later moved to Southern CA and worked for several years at an ESL publisher before joining the Ballard & Tighe family. This year marks her twelfth year as an Educational Consultant with Ballard & Tighe. Elaine enjoys training teachers and presenting workshops at conferences across the U.S. far and wide, from Alaska to New Mexico and Alabama (among others), as well as regions in Canada. Most of all, Elaine feels privileged to have met teachers in these places and to have helped them effectively implement our programs, and in doing so, maximizing student success in their language acquisition process. She looks forward to this opportunity to hear from Ballard & Tighe customers and to assist them in this same way.

Fonda Quinn
Educational Sales Consultant

Fonda Quinn was born in the great state of Texas and grew up in a small town just northeast of Dallas. She attended East Texas State University (now Texas A&M at Commerce) and Dallas College of SMU, graduating from ETSU with a B.A. in English and French. After working for a few years in the business world, Fonda began teaching French and English at Terrell High School where she and her family moved from the city so the boys (two sons) could grow up in the country with horses and room to play.

Fonda continued teaching at the secondary level in several districts as her husband's job moved them to different north and east Texas towns until she joined Ballard & Tighe in 2001 as an Educational Consultant. She has traveled the entire state of Texas as well as other areas, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Florida to name a few, regularly presenting at workshops and training teachers and districts on administering and implementing the IPT. Fonda has been the face behind the IPT Help Desk for the past several years and looks forward to continuing her relationship with Ballard & Tighe customers through the new Ballard & Tighe Help Desk.

Karen Shaw
Educational Sales Consultant

Karen grew up in La Mirada, CA and attended Brigham Young University, where she received her Bachelor's degree in elementary education. Upon graduation she started her teaching career in an ESL classroom in El Cajon, CA working at the Grossmont Adult School. Karen also taught at both the Whittier and Downey ESL adult school programs for many years. In 1993 her family moved to Las Vegas, NV where she taught for three years as a pull-out ESL teacher for the Clark County School District.

Ballard & Tighe was a natural fit for Karen when she joined the team as an educational sales consultant in 1996. At Ballard & Tighe, Karen has headed up state implementation trainings, worked with ELD leaders at the state, district, and school level, as well as maintained her own sales territory. She received her CA Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and uses her expertise to work as Product Specialist, with Ballard & Tighe's Product Development Team. Karen has five children and six grandchildren.

Karen welcomes the opportunity to communicate with and to help educators fully implement Ballard & Tighe's instructional materials.

Synthia Tandaju