People
Much of Lexia's work is done by volunteers from the community. The founders of Lexia are John Anton, Jerome Elkind, and Carol Murray. Many other people with an interest in learning disabilities have contributed to its programs. The Board of Directors of Lexia is composed of Jerome Elkind, ScD, chair; John Anton, PhD, president; Linda Elkind; secretary-treasurer; Octo Barnett, MD; and Carolyn Compton, PhD.
John Anton, Ph.D., President 
Dr. Anton received his
Bachelor of Science degree in 1965, Summa Cum Laude, from the University
of Notre Dame and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Applied Mathematics
in 1970 from Brown University. He worked at Systems Control, Inc. where
he became Vice President of Advanced Technology. He was a founder and
President of Reasoning Systems, from 1984 to 1988. In 1990, he co-founded
the Lexia Institute and has served as its president while also developing
computer lesson planning systems. Concurrently, he has consulted and held
executive positions with Kestrel, Xerox and other technology companies.
He has led development of Lexia's LessonPlanner and WordSpring software
designed for literacy teachers.
Jerome Elkind, Sc.D., Chairman
Jerome Elkind is chairman
of The Lexia Institute. He received his S.B. and Sc.D. degrees in electrical
engineering from MIT. He has done research on and development of interactive
computer systems and has held management positions at several companies
in the computer industry, most recently at Xerox where he was Vice President.
In 1990 he co-founded The Lexia Institute where he has worked on computer
reader and speech recognition technology for people with learning disabilities
and on Lexia's WordSpring software for teachers.
Carol Murray, M.Ed., Curriculum Advisor 1990-2010
Carol Murray, M.Ed., devoted 35 years to the education of children, adolescents, and adults with specific language disabilities as a classroom teacher, a school administrator, and instructor of teacher education courses. She wrote numerous educational materials including diagnostic tests for older students and Scope & Sequence for Literacy Instruction. At Lexia, she worked on the development of LessonPlanner and WordSpring, computer software tools to aid teachers plan phonics-based literacy lessons, and on computer readers to accommodate and improve the skills of poor readers. Carol passed away in August 2010. Her last contribution to Lexia was to specify the content of WordSpring 3.0, the new version of Lexia's word list software.
Linda Elkind, B.A., Director
Linda
Elkind received her B.A. degree from Smith College in 1957. She has devoted
years of service to nonprofit community activities, and has been widely
recognized for her work in environmental protection and education for
the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a member of the Planning Commission
of the town of Portola Valley, CA. She served as a legislative advocator
for the Committee for Green Foothills and is now a Director of that organization.
She has also been a Director of Hidden Villa Foundation and the Peninsula
Conservation Center Trust.
G. Octo Barnett, M.D., Director
Dr. Barnett received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1952 from Vanderbilt University and his Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard University in 1956. After his postdoctoral training in internal medicine and cardiology (at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the National Institutes of Health, and bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle), he joined the faculty of the Harvard Medical School to pursue his interests in the application of computers to medicine. In 1964 he founded the Laboratory for Computer Science at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He currently is Director of the Laboratory and Professor of Medicine at Harvard. For forty years Dr. Barnett has been a leader in the application of computer systems and technology to medical education and practice.
Carolyn Compton, Ph.D., Director
Dr. Compton received the B.A. degree in Primary Education at Oberlin (1957), the M.A. in Special Education from San Francisco State College (1964), and the Ph.D. in Psychological Studies in Education from Stanford University (1970). She worked at the Children's Health Council (CHC) in various capacities from 1970 until 1977, serving most recently as Associate Director. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in child Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the Stanford University Medical Center. From 1966 to 1975 she was a Visiting Assistant and Associate Professor of Special Education at San Francisco State College. She is now working with the Morrissey-Compton Education Center where she is continuing her work on assessment and remediation of learning disabilities. Her publications include Learning Disabilities: Ten Year Follow-Up, co-authored with Dr. Harry Hartzell. She has written books reviewing the entire body of psychological and educational testing, and presented work at numerous professional conferences. Dr. Compton holds Life Credentials in General Elementary Teaching, Teaching Orthopedically- Handicapped, General Supervision, and Learning Disabled.