ACT Names Vice President of Professional Development Services

August 22, 2006

IOWA CITY, Iowa—ACT has named Susan Valentine as the vice president of Professional Development Services (PDS). ACT's Professional Development Services produces and delivers more than 600,000 professional certification and licensure exams each year for more than 30 programs—including the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, Association of Social Work Boards, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. In addition, PDS is responsible for WorkKeys development, a job skills assessment system that measures real-world skills employers consider central to success. The PDS area also oversees the ACT Center network, which operates more than 225 Centers nationwide, providing flexible computer-delivered testing and training options for an individual or an entire company.

Valentine previously served as a senior vice president at Isles Inc., a nonprofit organization that focuses on developing more self-reliant families in healthy, sustainable communities through programs including education, life skills and job training for at-risk youth, parent education, financial literacy training, community leadership development, and environmental health and education. She also worked for 25 years at Educational Testing Service where her positions included executive director, Assessment Division; executive director, Teaching and Learning Division; deputy director and general manager, Center for Professional Assessment (COPA); deputy director for administration and division director, School and Higher Education Programs; and director, Test Production Services. Valentine has a bachelor's degree in literature from Kirkland College.

"Susan's experience and talents are an excellent fit to the challenges and opportunities that await her at ACT," said Richard Ferguson, ACT's CEO.

Valentine recently moved to Iowa City from New Jersey where she had lived for more than 45 years. She is a trustee of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. and looks forward to becoming involved in the Iowa City community as she was in Princeton, N.J., where she served on the boards of the United Way and the public library.