Our Leadership

Mercury’s Leadership Team

The Mercury Ed team is comprised of passionate, dedicated individuals who have made it their life’s work to improve the way our youth are educated. Their talents are the result of real life experiences, but they all share one important quality: they believe every child has a right to learn and that as educators, we have a duty to provide the best education experience possible.

Fact: The traditional, public school system is broken and many of our children are simply not receiving the high-quality educational experience that they deserve. This is especially true for those with special needs, whether it’s the child who suffers from dyslexia, the teenager who is challenged with social issues or the student who has a life threatening illness. The Mercury Ed leadership team is dedicated to providing a quality education to all children.

A profile of each of our executive team members:

Dawn Eidelman, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Chief Education Officer –

Dr. Eidelman leads the development of curriculum, teaching methods, leadership and staff training based on her experience as a college professor in teaching world literature, languages and writing, integrating history, sociology, and philosophy. She designed the interdisciplinary concept for the Paragon® Curriculum and has served as the Chief Editor in the program’s development. A multilingual specialist in the humanities, she earned her master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Emory University. Dr. Eidelman received her Bachelor’s degree from Occidental College in 1983.

Jamie Sachs, Director of Online Operations –

Ms. Sachs provides operational support for Mercury Online Education. Ms. Sachs has 10 years of experience in online education at the district, state and national level. Prior to joining Mercury, she was the Associate Director of Educational Technology for the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) where she provided leadership and management for K-12 initiatives that promote and expand online education over a 16 state region. At SREB, Ms. Sachs successfully authored many grants and policy briefs and created the iNACOL/SREB National Online Teacher of the Year Award. Ms. Sachs also served as the manager/principal of Georgia Virtual School, a program of the Georgia Department of Education. During her tenure at Georgia Virtual School, Ms. Sachs was a member of the task force that created the standards for the Georgia certification endorsement in online teaching.

Stephanie Dunbar, Director of eLearning –

Ms. Dunbar has 10 years experience specifically in K-12 online education. A seasoned teacher, course developer and administrator, she has worked with a wide range of students from those “at risk” to those considered “gifted and talented”. As a leader and advocate for quality online programs, Ms. Dunbar was on the developing committee for what are now considered to be the national standards for quality online courses . In addition, she served in advisory roles on the committees that developed the national standards for quality online teaching, as well as on the advisement and developing committee for what is now the GA Professional Standards Commission’s certification endorsement in online teaching.

Julie Floyd, Manager of Online Student Services –

Mrs. Floyd has worked in online education since 2006. She is a certified school counselor. In her role as Manager of Student Services, she is responsible for working with Mercury’s schools and programs to ensure a smooth application, approval, and enrollment process in addition to providing continued school and student support throughout the semester.

Maria Savoldi, Manager of Online Instructional Services —

Ms. Savoldi began working in the field of K-12 online learning in 2006. Ms. Savoldi manages the enrollment process, oversees training and professional development for students and staff, obtains and manages licensing and equipment, directs website development and maintenance, manages collaborative projects and provides direction and input for program development.