Meet The Reading Center’s Staff
Under the leadership of Executive Director, Cindy Russell, The Reading Center is managed by talented directors and other instrumental support staff. We also have more than 70 tutors working full or part time with students and training adults in our Orton-Gillingham training institutes.
If you are interested in working for The Reading Center, please visit our recruitment page.
Reading Center Directors
Cindy Russell
Executive Director
Cindy joined The Reading Center in 2007. She has a M.A. in Religion from Yale University and has spent her career serving non-profits. Her focus has been non-profit management, fundraising, marketing and program supervision. She is the parent of three children who are dyslexic, all of whom received tutoring from The Reading Center.
Fay Van Vliet, Fellow/OGA, CDT/IDA
Clinical Director
With The Reading Center since 1996, Fay is a Fellow of the Orton-Gillingham Academy, and is a Certified Dyslexia Therapist through IDA. She holds Minnesota State Teaching Licenses in elementary education, middle school language arts, and K-12 reading. She is a Lead Instructor for the Orton-Gillingham Training Institutes, a Diagnostician, Master Teacher, and Educational Therapist. Passionate about reading, Fay has more than 35 years of experience at all levels of education. As an adjunct instructor at Rochester Community and Technical College, she researched and developed Orton-Gillingham in the collegiate classroom, and assisted adult learners in gaining literacy skills. Fay helped develop the Rochester Reading Champions' program, which reaches the underserved with Orton-Gillingham instruction, and remains active as its liaison. She presents locally, regionally and nationally.
Kristen Bieber
Director of Tutoring Programs - Twin Cities
Kristen joined The Reading Center as a staff tutor in 2022. She has a B.S. in Elementary Education from Winona State University.
Evalina Day
Director of Tutoring Programs - Southeast Minnesota
Evalina joined The Reading Center in 2021. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois. Prior to becoming an Academic Language Therapist, she worked at non-profits serving children and youth in Illinois, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. She has two children; her husband and son are both dyslexic.
Ashley Lund
Director of Reading Readiness and Testing
Ashley Lund became a staff tutor for The Reading Center in 2018 and moved into the Director of Reading Readiness role in fall 2021 and added Director of Testing duties in Spring 2022. Ashley has her Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis as a Reading Specialist. She has over 10 years of public school teaching experience including first grade, third grade, as well working as an intervention specialist.
Jamie Schwaba
Director of Development
Jamie joined The Reading Center in 2021. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Carroll University and a M.S. in Adult and Continuing Education from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has spent her career serving non-profits with a focus on education and the arts. Jamie works as a volunteer with adults with disabilities through Home & Community Options and has served on the Winona Nonprofit Alliance and River Arts Alliance Boards.
Staff Tutors
The Reading Center employs staff tutors who work for us full-time, and more than 50 others who work with students on a more limited schedule. Each of our tutors has taken our comprehensive training that includes classroom instruction and supervised student practicum.
Lillian Stewart
Practicum Instructor, Staff Tutor, Tester and Program Navigator
Lillian has been a tutor since 2010. She is a Practicum Instructor for our new institute trainees, conducts all levels of testing, and tutors students of all ages - specializing in math instruction. She also responds to many of our new intake client calls - so she is one of the first people you meet when you join The Reading Center family. Lillian has a BBA from Howard University.
Polly Raatz
Placement Coordinator, Academic Language Therapist, Practicum Instructor
Polly is an Academic Language Therapist, and has tutored over 20 students ranging from ages six to fifty-nine! Polly has written many of the materials on our Tutor Resource including advanced wordlists and grammar material. Further, she is one of our tutor discussion and practice group leaders, a Best of Basics teacher, writing class instructor, and a Practicum Instructor for Basic Institute.
Barb Walbruch
Practicum Instructor and Staff Tutor
Barb has been a tutor since 2004. She is a Practicum Instructor for our new institute trainees and 1:1 tutor for students of all ages.
Elena Walden
Staff Tutor, Best of Basics Coordinator
Elena joined The Reading Center in 2021. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Jenny Zweber
Staff Tutor
Jenny joined The Reading Center in 2021. She has a bachelor's degree in K-8 Elementary Education from the University of Northwestern - St. Paul. Jenny co-founded a dyslexic youth organization called Dreaming Dyslexic (now part of Decoding Dyslexia MN) and served as director for 2 years. She also homeschools her dyslexic daughter, who was a Reading Center student for many years.
Office Staff
Gade Grinnell
Office Manager/Bookeeper
Gade (Somsiri) joined The Reading Center as a bookkeeper in 2011. Originally from Thailand, Gade earned a BA in Linguistics from Chiangmai University, Thailand, MA in Comparative Cultures from International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan, and an Associate Degree (Dean’s List) in Accounting from Madison Area Technical College.
Anna Johnson
Development and Training Assistant
Anna joined The Reading Center in 2019. She graduated from Luther College with a B.A. in Art and has previous experience working for a non-profit.
Karli Guyer
Office Administrator
Karli joined The Reading Center as the Office Administrator in 2024. She graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a B.A. in History and a Minor in Anthropology.