President, Directors & Employees
President of XAMonline since 1996, Ms. Wynne transitioned from teaching to publishing following an intensive entrepreneurship program sponsored by the Center for Technology, Enterprise and Development, Inc., a not-for-profit economic development agency. After completing rigorous training with Harvard lawyers and Kellogg business leaders, Ms. Wynne, who had to be re-certified when she moved from Connecticut to Florida, drew on her personal certification study experience, utilized every available resource, and poured all of her energy to provide a solution for teachers seeking certification. Her hard work paid off when she was named the Center’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1996 for Palm Beach County, where she also was a teacher in general science.
From Ms. Wynne’s humble publishing beginnings, photocopying and binding study guides at the local print shop, her determination has grown XAMonline to include 300 titles. In 2008, over 1,500 writers, all certified teachers, were on board to assist with writing, copyediting, and designing XAMonline’s PRAXIS and state-specific guides. What began as a cumbersome study process on her certification test—collecting dozens of text books and compiling copious notes—turned into a flourishing business that meets an essential need, comprehensive preparation materials for teachers obtaining their certification. Ms. Wynne’s mantra is “if you put in the time and take advantage of every opportunity presented, you will succeed.”
She received both her M.S. and B.S. from Southern Connecticut State University.
William J. Grace, Publishing Consultant
With over 40 years of educational publishing experience, Mr. Grace provides his industry expertise in all areas and functions of XAMonline’s publishing. He has worked with some of the most prestigious publishers and organizations such as the Association of American Publishers, Vista Higher Learning, Harcourt, McDougal Littell, and Prentice Hall. Mr. Grace served as Corporate Vice President of Houghton Mifflin Company’s School Division where he managed editorial, art, production, and manufacturing operations. During his long tenure at Simon and Schuster, he served as Vice President, Director of Sales and Marketing Administration for the Silver Burdett Ginn School Division.
He completed his MBA at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and his M.A. and B.A. in English and Communications from New York University. Mr. Grace taught English to New York City ninth and eleventh grades for three years and has volunteered as an English as a Second Language teacher in the Cape Cod area.
Thomas J. Flaherty, Director of Sales
Mr. Flaherty began his career in publishing with Rand McNally College Division. He brings over 40 years experience in sales management, marketing, product development and distribution in the higher education publishing industry. Shortly after joining DC Heath Publishing Company, he transitioned from National Sales Manager, College Division to Editorial Director for Math, Science, Computer Science, and Business. In his new role, Mr. Flaherty developed innovative programs within those disciplines that are still some of the best revenue producers in the Houghton Mifflin College Division.
Moving into the position of Senior Vice President and Director of Sales and Marketing, he built DC Heath’s first marketing department and increased sales by 12 percent annually. Following Houghton Mifflin’s purchase of DC Heath in 1995, Mr. Flaherty was recruited to start a College Division marketing department. In that role, he developed plans to merge the DC Heath and Houghton Mifflin sales and marketing teams, and determined strategies to hire personnel for the new marketing group.
Even during his first retirement, he continued to consultant, helping Houghton Mifflin navigate the newly burgeoning dot com industry. Mr. Flaherty served as bridge between the dot coms and higher educational publishers to develop synergies and ecommerce plans that balanced the traditional publishing model with the new model presented by the internet. Emerging from retirement and his consulting role, in 1999 he became Director of National Accounts, becoming more and more involved with all segments of distribution – bookstores, major distributors and chains such as MBS and Barnes & Noble, and evolving non-traditional channels such as ecommerce, digital delivery and eBooks.
Mr. Flagherty obtained his B.A. from Catholic University in Washington, DC. Throughout his career he has been active with the Association of American Publishers, serving on several committees including Higher Education, Faculty Relations and Marketing Services.
Harte Weiner, Ph.D., Editing Consultant
Dr. Weiner joined XAMonline in October of 2007 as managing editor and editing consultant. During her time with XAMonline, she has overseen the re-edit of 72 best selling guides. In addition to contributing certain written pieces, she was responsible for the final stylistic, factual and grammatical edits. She selected, assigned and communicated with editors, designed guidelines for Copy Editors and Senior Editors, supervised in-house staff and oversaw budgeting operations.
She received her Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Stanford University, and her M.F.A in Poetry from Columbia University, where she also completed a two year writing fellowship. A Harvard University Exchange Scholar, Dr. Weiner attended Harvard’s Graduate School for English and American Literature and Language, where she also received her B.A.
She has been an Assistant Professor at Brown University, teaching advanced classes on Modernism and American Expatriates; Adjunct Lecturer for the English Department at Harvard University; and at Tufts University she served as Lecturer for the English Department and taught English Composition One and Two, with an emphasis on finding a voice and subsequently reviewing and perfecting forms of college prose writing. While at Tufts, she also conducted an Interactive workshop using a thematic rubric of “Differences as Explored through Literature.” Dr. Weiner was also a four year Ph.D. Teaching Fellow at Stanford.
In addition to her higher education experience, she has completed secondary and enrichment instruction for programs such as CambridgeEditors Advanced Poetry Summer Workshop and Cambridge Center of Adult Education, and has served as Academic Non-Resident Tutor at Harvard University, Feature Editor and Faculty Associate of Newton South High’s award-winning school newspaper, Denebola, and Co-director of the Writing Center at Stanford University. Currently, Dr. Weiner is Lead Editor of CambridgeEditors, a small business experience that involves editing dissertations, manuscripts, creative work, and non-fiction and Contributing Editor of American Journal Experts.
John Wynne, Vice President of Sales
Justin Dooley, Esq., General Counsel
Anna Wong, Publishing Assistant
Chris Muzilla, Director of Technology
