2025
SENG Board of Directors

Denise Michele Hicks

President

Arizona

Champion Area: Global Awareness

& Access for All

Denise Michele Hicks is originally from a Blue Star Military Family of Chicago, Illinois. She is the former President of the Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented. While in Chicago Public Schools, she participated in gifted programming and STEM enrichment services. She is an alumna from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Northwestern University working to continue her family legacy of service in public science, public education, and public health. As President of SENG's Board of Directors and member of The Arizona Gifted Collaborative, she will continue to work with our SENG Scholars and NAGC's Special Programs which will include STEM, Javits-Frasier Scholars and the Dr. Martin Jenkins Scholars. She has completed her advanced certifications in Gifted and Talented Education at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. Currently, while working on her doctoral studies in STEM Ed Leadership, she serves at Arizona State University in the Center for Bio-mediated, Bio-inspired Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory, ASU ACCESS Educational Program Initiatives and US Military Academies Advising Team for Arizona’s Congressional 3rd District.

Dr. Lin Lim

Past President

Southern California

Champion Area: PG2e, EDI, & Workplace

Focus Area - APA

Lin holds a doctorate in human development psychology (Boston University), an Academic Graduate Certificate in Mind, Brain, and Teaching (Johns Hopkins University), and Twice-exceptional Education (Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education). Her parenting journey with her complex outlier children has led to her current interdisciplinary academic interest and focus on synthesizing cultural, attitudes, and conceptual thinking around extreme complex outliers into practical applications. She is an international presenter and keynote speaker on topics including education, diversity, twice-exceptionality, giftedness, interdisciplinary social science, human development, and psychology. She is active in gifted-related diversity equity awareness and advocacy. She is a Dean at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education, founder of a non-profit Quark Collaboration Institute, served as President at SENG 2021-2023, and currently serves as the immediate past president at SENG.

Shaunne McKinley

Secretary

Arizona

Champion Area: Diversity & Educators

Focus Area - PD

Shaunne McKinley a graduate of Arizona State University, has been in education for over 20 years, and is currently a Gifted Specialist in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a National Elementary Honor Society advisor, in addition to being a leader and mentor in the school district. Shaunne is a member of Arizona Association of Gifted & Talented and active within her church community. She is dedicated to meeting the needs of all gifted learners academically and emotionally, including promoting awareness to gifted families. She is married to a Marine Corps veteran and has two adult sons. Her youngest son was identified as a gifted learner in second grade, which began her journey to learning more about giftedness.

Dr. Ciminy St. Clair

Director

Pennsylvania

Champion Area: Educators

Focus Area - Systems

Dr. St. Clair earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Penn State University. She taught first grade before moving to Norwin School District where she has been in the gifted department for over 18 years. She has coordinated the gifted programs for grades K-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-12. She holds her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, her Gifted Endorsement, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership through Liberty University focusing on underachievement in the gifted population. Most recently, she served on the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE) board for six years and is the current past president of the organization. She is a true advocate for gifted individuals and is an active member of PAGE, NAGC, and SENG. She is an international presenter on topics including gifted education and advocacy, twice-exceptionality, and LGBTQIA+.

Rianne van de Ven

Director

Netherlands

Champion Area: Gifted Adults

Focus Area - International

Rianne van de Ven (1971, the Netherlands) is a social entrepreneur specialized in gifted adults. After a career in Telecom, ICT, and banking she started her own company as a professional coach in 2007. First part time, next to her job at a large Dutch bank, but since 2016 she is fully self-employed and works as an author, speaker, trainer, supervisor, and teacher on the subject of gifted adults. She started a second company where she provides professional services for gifted adults in the workplace together with 40 colleagues, both employed and freelance. She is the author of the book “Giftedness in practice. Strengthening personal leadership in gifted adults.

Nisia Patalan

Director

Colorado

Champion Area: Educators & Parents

Focus Area - Editorial

Nisia Patalan has been an educator for 26 years and a gifted person for far longer! Her specific professional focus is the identification and service of gifted students from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse populations. Nisia loves sharing knowledge and busting myths about what it means to be gifted. She is a Gifted Education Regional Consultant in Colorado, the Director of Gifted Education for the San Juan BOCES, and owner of Spark Education LLC. Outside of work and her work on the SENG board, you’ll find her running around in the mountains, making jewelry, and spending time with friends and family.

Dr. Gayle Bentley

Director

Southern California

Champion Area: 2e & Parents

Focus Area - SCG

Gayle Bentley holds a doctoral degree from Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education. She has taught in the public schools since 1999 and currently serves as the Innovative Learning Coordinator at Community Roots Academy in Laguna Niguel, California. She is the founder of The Bentley Center, a place of resources and support for parents of gifted and twice-exceptional children. She is also the mother of three PG/2e sons. She serves on the boards of Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) and the California Association of the Gifted (CAG) and regularly presents at gifted and 2e conferences. Her first book (written with Dr. Lin Lim), is Using Picture Books to Help Little Ones Learn About Themselves.