Lidget Green Team

Vision

Lidget Green delivers secure, valid, cost-effective assessment services to educators, businesses and governments, world wide. We believe that life-changing decisions based on proficiency assessments must be made from fair, accurate and valid tests. Our job is to ensure this outcome for all our clients.

We work in all subject areas, for all age levels. We specialize in language testing, particularly in English.

Team

Dr. Gary Buck: President

Dr. Buck is the founder and President of Lidget Green, and is an international testing expert, with a vast amount of experience. His particular specialty is testing English as a second language, and in this field his work is internationally known. He is the author of the standard textbook on testing second-language listening comprehension, and has published in numerous academic journals.

Before working for Lidget Green, Gary worked in a number of the leading testing organizations in the US: he was the Director of Testing in the ELI at the University of Michigan, where he developed a new testing system to supplement the established ‘Michigan tests’; he was the Dean of Testing at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, where he led the design and development of many of the US Department of Defense’s high-stakes language tests; he worked in the Research Division at ETS, on the SAT, Advanced Placement, the TOEFL and the TOEIC programs; and he was the Director of Testing for Ballard & Tighe, designing tests to meet the No Child Left Behind legislation.

Gary is responsible for the overall management of the company, and takes the lead in test design, test development and all technical assessment issues.

Pacia Platzek: Vice President for Product Development

Pacia is the Vice President for Product Development. She holds two degrees, one in Early Childhood Education and the other in Engineering Technology. She has a strong background in media development. She is currently taking the lead in the development of Spectrum, Lidget Green’s online English testing system. Pacia is also responsible for orientation, training and user support to new users of Spectrum, as well as the development of all audio and visual media used in our tests.

Pacia also develops our newsletters and training videos, and takes the lead in quality control and usability reviews.

Robin Stevens: Senior Project Manager

Robin has worked in the field of language assessment for 18 years. Prior to joining Lidget Green, Robin was as a test developer at the University of Michigan’s English Language Institute where she worked on international test programs. Previously she served as Assistant Vice President of Assessment at Ballard & Tighe, Publishers and a research specialist at the University of California at Los Angeles’ Center for the Study of Evaluation/CRESST, where she conducted test development and research related to the assessment of academic English at the K-12 level. A former Fulbright scholar to Taiwan, Robin has master’s degrees in TESOL and Asian Studies and a bachelor’s in International Business.

She is currently a Senior Project Manager overseeing consultancy projects for high-stakes assessment programs. In this capacity, she leads a number of team of item writers, developing item writing specifications and guidelines, training materials, and procedures for maintaining quality control during the item development process.

Lynn Gray: Accounting Manager

Lynn Gray is the Accounting Manager for Lidget Green, Inc. She has over 30 years business experience working in a variety of accounting environments including academia, arena, retail, service industries and mortgage lending. She has managed all bookkeeping functions, worked with company accountants, served as human relations and payroll manager. She has managed office staff and computer operations. In addition, she has written policy and office procedures.

Currently, Lynn runs the accounting department for Lidget Green and maintains and manages all business records.

Eric Platzek: IT Manager

Eric Platzek is the Information Technology Manager at Lidget Green. He graduated with B.S. in Computer Science and B.A. in Psychology in 2009 from Binghamton University in New York.

Before working for Lidget Green Eric worked for FUJIFILM Medical Systems as a software testing engineer.

Eric is responsible for various technical aspects at Lidget Green: software testing of the Spectrum online test delivery system, network troubleshooting, database design using Filemaker 11, Filemaker Server 11 management, creation of end user technical documentation, desktop technical support, web site creation and management.

Linda Vuolo: Project Director

Linda oversees all managerial and execution elements related to our government contracts. This includes managing recruitment and training of language experts in over 50 languages, overseeing the independent review process of test items, adherence to contractual and government regulations, and future project development.

Linda holds a BA degree in Business Administration/Marketing and is a successful General Manager with over 20 years experience in project and product management, marketing, sales, policy and procedure improvements, and training and education. She spent most of her career at Sony Electronics where she honed her management, communications and leadership skills and had a track record of award winning accomplishments. As a Director of Product Management, she managed all aspects of Sony’s Handycam® camcorder business in the US with a focus on brand management, sales/profitability, product development and customer experience.

Nina Powell: Human Resources

Nina is responsible for Human Resources and general office management at Lidget Green. She is responsible for managing all elements of Lidget Green’s recruiting and training efforts for many diverse language testing projects.

Nina holds a BA degree in the Humanities, she taught English at Northwest Indian College-Pierce College Collaboration, Tacoma, Washington and also at Thomas Jefferson High School, Los Angeles, California. She coordinated student student services at Evergreen State college and provided recruitment and retention services for Childcare Action Council, Olympia, Washington.