When the school year kicked off in fall 2016, so did the K-12 Newsletter from OverDrive Education. Every month, we take to the whiteboard in the Shakespeare conference room to carefully choose themes, brainstorm collection lists and discuss the most pressing topics of the moment in education. Not everything makes it to the newsletter, but we do our best to curate, write and source the best in edtech news and highlight popular school titles.

We know a little about the 25,000 people who receive our monthly mailing, and thought it might be a good idea to introduce ourselves, too!

Brian Byrne is the Communications Manager at OverDrive and has worked here for almost four years. He enjoys collaborating with the K-12 Newsletter team to share all the latest exciting developments in edtech and eBooks. Both lifelong Clevelanders, Brian and his wife, Michele, have a dog, Shep, and a cat, Lou.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patti Carlyle is a Public Relations Specialist at OverDrive. An education activist since 2011, her work with non-profits and public schools focuses on equity, funding and social-emotional learning. She joined OverDrive in 2016 to manage education-facing communications, social media, and as editor of the K-12 newsletter. She is a believer in chicken tikka masala, the storytelling of Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires and the Oxford comma, but is frequently overruled. On the comma.

 

 

Bailey Hotujac has been helping schools find eBooks with OverDrive since 2012. She loves to travel and recently returned from an escapade to London – where she was lucky enough to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on the West End. When she’s back in Cleveland, she likes trying new restaurants and playing board games with friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sydney Kalnay is a Training Specialist at OverDrive, which basically means she shows awesome people how to use cool stuff in a really loud (but friendly) voice. When she’s not swooning over digital content, she’s writing, lifting heavy things, trying to figure out if her cat is actually her familiar, and dreaming about makeup, travel, food, and a semi-obscure British rock band (not necessarily in that order).

 

 

 

Christina Samek is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive, focused on the K-12 platform. She spends her time developing resources that will help K-12 partners grow engagement among their students, faculty and parents. Prior to coming to OverDrive she worked in the magazine industry. She has a degree in Journalism and English Literature from Miami University (the one in Ohio!). She loves reading, running, her husband, cherry turnovers, and her dog Willow (yes, named for Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

 

 

Tiffany Wincek is an OverDrive Account Specialist who helps schools across the globe get the most out of their digital libraries. Prior to joining Team OverDrive, she wielded grammar hammers for 10 years as a public high school English teacher. She loves Cleveland, pockets, reading, time travel, baking extravagant cookies and treats, her dog, Bianca, and listening to nothing but Nothing But Thieves.