Event Details

Karen LaMarsh

A staunch advocate for quality continuing and professional education, Dr. Karen LaMarsh is passionate about her role as IACET’s Director of Accreditation. Previously, she served Chair of the IACET Commission and has facilitated national workshops to help applicants establish quality practices. She earned an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and not only a Master’s but also Doctorate in Adult Education from the University of Georgia. She has held several esteemed positions in universities, boards, and committees and consulted with entities to help them offer quality education programs.

J. Kevin Perry

J. Kevin Perry is a continuing education & training consultant specializing in the non-profit environment serving technical industries and higher education. His expertise includes growing a continuing education business through effective strategic planning, management, leadership, budgeting, and acquisitions. He also helps training organizations explore and launch open digital badging programs.

At the end of 2018, Kevin retired as Director of SAE International's Professional Development division, a position he held since 2001.  In this capacity, he led a staff that plans and delivers public training courses, in-company training, and a variety of multimedia/distance learning products for engineers who serve the automotive, aerospace, and commercial vehicle industries.  In 2014, he assumed management of Effective Training, Inc., a firm that SAE acquired, which focuses on geometric dimensioning and tolerancing training products.  Also in 2014, he established Probitas Authentication, a new SAE business that certifies aerospace auditors and training providers.  In 2015, Kevin led an effort to acquire the aerospace auditor and training provider business from the principal competitor to Probitas and in 2018 he led the acquisition of CALISO, an online ISO-standards training company.

Prior to his role as Director, Kevin worked as an Education Program Developer where he invented SAE's Engineering Academy format, which earned the Award of Excellence from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). 

Before joining SAE, Kevin worked in the continuing higher education field for nearly 12 years at both Penn State University and Duquesne University where he held positions as program developer, administrator, and marketing director.  His educational credentials include a B.S. in Education and M.Ed. in Counselor Education from Penn State University, and Ed.D. in Administrative and Policy Studies from University of Pittsburgh.  He also holds an MBA Essentials Certificate from the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business and Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Digital Badges from IACET.

His service work includes Board of Regents member for Baker College's Graduate School and Online College, Governing Board Vice-Chair of the Michigan Alliance for Greater Mobility Advancement (MAGMA), and Education and Training Track Committee member for the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE).  From 2014 to 2018, he served on the IACET Board of Directors during which time he also chaired their Awards Committee and helped develop their Digital Badging Taxonomy.  In 2019, he became an IACET Commissioner.