Beth Caruso
Supervisor, Outreach Services, Perkins School for the Blind
As head of Outreach Services for Perkins since 1990, Beth manages weekend programs for students who attend mainstream public schools; the Elementary, Employment, and Independent Living Skills summer programs; the Summer Institute; Services to Elders (both community-based and campus-based Elder Learning Center); Vision Rehabilitation Services and the satellite programs in Western Massachusetts and on Cape Cod. She also oversees training activities for both professionals and parents. Prior to working at Perkins, Beth was a regional director for the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.

Beth is a certified rehabilitation teacher, a licensed certified social worker, and has educator’s certificates in elementary, middle school and special needs. She holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in education from Boston College. In addition, she earned a graduate certificate in Adapting Curriculum Frameworks from the University of Massachusetts.

Janet Curtis
Consultant
With nearly 20 years of experience in nonprofit development and communications, Janet consults with organizational leaders to facilitate strategic, development, and program planning; develop messages that position organizations effectively; and equip organizations to manage development operations and achieve self-sufficiency. She also writes communication and fundraising materials and trains board members and staff for institutional advancement.

Prior to establishing her consulting business in 2003, Janet served as vice president for development at Island Press/Center for Resource Economics and at the National Building Museum. She also has held senior development positions at the League of Women Voters of the U.S. and at social service organizations in and around Pittsburgh.

Janet is a Certified Fund Raising Executive and a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She serves as vice president of the Board of Directors of the Association Foundation Group and as a member of the Advisory Committee of Shaw EcoVillage. Janet received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her M.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tom Miller
Supervisor, Educational Partnerships Program, Perkins School for the Blind
Mr. Miller manages the Perkins Preschool Program as well as all itinerant teaching services, including early intervention specialists, teachers of the visually impaired, orientation and mobility specialists, and teachers of the deafblind. Tom has supervised the Preschool Program (including outreach services to children in public schools) for the past 18 years and has worked in the field of education of children who are blind, deafblind or with multiple disabilities for 28 years. Tom also trains parents and professionals nationally and internationally in early intervention issues, social skills development and sex education. He is very active in the coordination of early intervention services in Massachusetts.

Prior to working at Perkins, Tom was the educational supervisor of programs for children with deafblindness and multiple disabilities at the New York Institute for the Blind. He began his career in special education at the Institute in 1974 as a teacher of students with visual impairments and deafblindness. Tom holds a master's degree in Special Education from Manhattan College and a bachelor's degree from Cathedral College.

Anita Silvey
Author, 100 Best Books for Children
Ms. Silvey has devoted 35 years to promoting books that will turn children – and families – into readers. She authored 100 Best Books for Children and The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators, both published by Houghton Mifflin, and edited Children’s Books and Their Creators, an overview of 20th Century children’s books.

Previously, she served for six years as publisher of children’s books for Houghton Mifflin Company and for eleven years as Editor-in-Chief of The Horn Book Magazine. While at Houghton Mifflin, the lists she managed received three Caldecott Medals, two Newbury Medals, two Hans Christian Andersen Awards, and two Grammy nominations.

Currently a member of the Editorial Board of Cricket Magazine and the Board of Directors for the Vermont Center for the Book, she teaches at the Simmons College Graduate School of Library Science in Boston and at St. Michael’s College in Burlington, Vermont. Since 2003, she has served as the editor of the Vermont Folklife Center Children’s Book Series.