Cindy Beams — Publisher and BTB co-founder
John Conner — BTB Co-founder, principal author, and Series Editor
Catherine Coursaget — Co-author, Breaking the French Barrier
Cathy Folts — Co-author, Breaking the Spanish Barrier
Micheline Myers — Co-author, Breaking the French Barrier
Barbara Peterson — Contributing Editor
Miguel Romá - Contributing Editor
Cindy Beams
Publisher and Co-Founder of Breaking the Barrier, Inc.
E-mail: cbeams@groton.org
 Cindy Beams is an entrepreneur with a penchant for start-ups. A former teacher, she has collaborated with author John Conner for the past eleven years on the development of the Breaking the Barrier series, in part because her two daughters were lucky enough to be students in his upper-level Spanish classes at Groton School. Cindy's professional activities include start-up and marketing communications projects for assorted ventures in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Cindy holds an undergraduate degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Colorado and a masters degree in psychology from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
John Conner
Co-Founder of Breaking the Barrier, Inc.
E-mail: john@tobreak.com
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John is principal author and Series Editor of the Breaking the Barrier Series. In addition, John heads the Modern Language Department at Groton School, Groton, MA, where he has taught since 1981. A graduate of Evanston Township High School and Amherst College, he earned his M.A. in Spanish Literature and Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin. John has worked as a consultant to the College Board for the Advanced Placement program and served on the Test Development Committee for the Spanish AP Language and Literature Examinations. He has worked on a pilot educational program for People in Español magazine and as a consultant to Early Advantage, distributors of Muzzy, the award-winning BBC language course for children. Currently he writes a monthly column, Hablando de Gramática, for the popular magazine Think Spanish. A devoted classroom teacher, an enthusiastic advocate for his professional colleagues, and a lively public speaker, John presents his popular workshop, “The Ideal Lesson Plan – Grammar-Based and Dynamic!” to teachers from coast to coast.
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Catherine Coursaget
Co-Author of Breaking the French Barrier
 Catherine is a native of Paris where she studied linguistics at
the Sorbonne. Catherine taught French in Rome and at Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, where
she chaired the French Department. The author of A Mon Avis, Catherine has been
teaching at Groton School, Groton, MA, since 1987.
Cathy Folts
Co-Author of Breaking the Spanish Barrier - Advanced Level
 Cathy learned Spanish while living in Spain, where she studied at the University of Barcelona and worked as a translator for the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE). A graduate of Wellesley College, Cathy has taught at both Concord Academy and Groton School, where she is currently on the faculty.
Micheline Myers
Co-Author of Breaking the French Barrier
 A Belgian citizen and native of the Congo, Micheline studied history and philosophy at the University of Louvain. Before coming to Groton School in 1971, where she chaired the Modern Language Department for fourteen years, Micheline taught in Belgium and Italy. Micheline currently divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Aix-en-Provence, France, when she is not engaged in her love of world travel. To the delight of her former colleagues, Micheline will return to Groton School to teach French during the spring of 2008.
Barbara Peterson
Contributing Editor
 A life-long teacher, Barbara’s Spanish classroom has a broad reach. As an avid traveler and perennial student herself, Barbara has lived, worked and studied in the US, Spain, Mexico and in Central and South America. For 22 years Barbara taught Spanish at Ames H.S in Iowa, where she held many elected and appointed positions, among them Coordinator of the Foreign Language Department. She was active for many years in the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Language and the Iowa Foreign Language Association, where she was named Outstanding Educator. A graduate of Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, Barbara earned an M.S.E, from Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, which has honored her with two Outstanding Alumni Awards. She is also the recipient of a King Juan Carlos Fellowship.
Barbara currently combines her work with Breaking the Barrier – serving as a seasoned editor and presenting at foreign language and homeschooling conferences around the country – with supervising student teachers at Iowa State University and tutoring adults.
Miguel Romá
Contributing Editor
 Miguel was born in Spain, where he lived until he completed his studies in German and English philology at the Universidad de Valencia. Subsequently, he moved to Munich, Germany, where he spent the next 5 years deepening his knowledge of the German language and culture while teaching Spanish at the Berlitz School. Since his arrival in the United States in the summer of 1978, Miguel has been teaching Spanish in the Boston Public Schools. Currently he is a senior faculty member at Boston Latin Academy. He is also the managing editor of Think Spanish! Magazine.
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