Elena Nikitina, Vice President of Marketing & Operations

Elena Nikitina is Vice President of Marketing and Operations at Corwin. She came to Corwin with 20 years of experience in the fields of marketing, publishing, and education. Previous to Corwin, Elena was Executive Director of Marketing at SAGE, Corwin's parent company focused on higher education books, journals, and reference works. During her 14 years at SAGE, she had overseen SAGE Journals and Textbooks Marketing programs as well as the Journals Circulation and Customer Service departments.

Elena started her career in education as a teacher of English at a middle school and later became a professor of English. She was also the founding director of an English language school in Russia. Elena holds a graduate degree in education and MA in communications and TESL/TEFL certification from Wheaton College.

Monica Eckman, Vice President of Content & Product Strategy

Monica is the Vice President of Content & Product Strategy for Corwin Press/SAGE Publishing. She manages the Acquisitions and Content Development Editors while spearheading the strategic vision, research, mission and growth for print and innovative digital products.  Prior to joining Corwin, Monica was the Editorial Director for SAGE College, managing Acquisitions teams for Congressional Quarterly Press, Communication Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, Gender Studies as well as Product Managers who built digital products across SAGE College.   Prior to Corwin and SAGE, Monica spent 10 years at Cengage and 15 years at McGraw Hill in a variety of leadership, editorial and product management roles. While she saw incredible success at both companies, it was during her time at Cengage where she was asked to help transform their company with new business models and to manage a team to focus on their digital future. Her expertise and passion for editorial coupled with her deep understanding of digital tools for learning will help keep Corwin editorial relevant and impactful for the long term.

Teaching is in Monica’s blood, her mother was a K12 teacher and her father was a medical doctor/professor at the University of Toronto. Monica grew up on the downtown University of Toronto campus, she holds a Bachelor’s  degree in Psychology from McGill University, Montreal and a Master’s Degree in Mass Communication/Journalism from Emerson College, Boston.  Monica is married and lives in Andover, Massachusetts.  She has two sons: one a student at University of Toronto and the other a high-schooler at Brooks School.

Chris Devling, Vice President of Sales & Learning

Chris is Vice President, Sales & Learning. After beginning his career in Media and Advertising Chris has spent the last decade leading organizations in tertiary and K-12 Education. From a family of educators, Chris has found great passion in applying his professional skills in an organization, and industry, that is truly making a difference to those they serve.

Chris completed his MBA in 2015 and brings experience in Leadership, Sales, Publishing, Professional Services, Media and eCommerce, Online Platform Development and Digital Transformation. Chris is driven by the value of empowering others and seeks to build collaborative teams who create sustainable solutions and drive organizational success.

Chris joined the Corwin Executive Team in 2017 as the Managing Director, Corwin Australia before taking on the Global Sales Team in 2021. As the Vice President, Global Sales & Strategic Development his charter is to scale the impact of Corwin’s existing offerings and to develop the products and services that will meet the future needs of our clients.

Sonja Hollins-Alexander, Ed. D, Associate Vice President of Professional Learning Design

Dr. Sonja Hollins-Alexander is the Associate Vice President of Global Professional Learning for Corwin Publishing. She has been in the field of education for 24 years with 18 of those being in educational leadership at the school, district and higher education levels. During this time, she has served as a school social worker, teacher, assistant principal, principal, coordinator, director of professional learning, and chief of staff in two Metro Atlanta, GA school districts. She continued her profession beyond K-12 as a Sr. Consultant for professional development firms and independently. She has also served on numerous United Way non-profit boards and most recently served as the board president for Learning Forward, GA. She currently serves on the National Affiliate Leadership Council for Learning Forward.

Through her professional journey she has had experiences in Strategic Planning, Policy Development, Stakeholder Communication and Engagement, Instructional and Curriculum Design, Facilitation of Adult Learning, Executive Coaching, Conference Facilitation and Design, and served on numerous Quality Assurance Teams with AdvancED. She is fully engaged in the development and use of Online Collaborative/Instructional Software. She is the author of Online Professional Development through Virtual Learning Communities, Corwin Press. Sonja has advanced degrees from the University of Georgia, Georgia State University and Argosy University, Atlanta.

As the Director of Professional Learning for Corwin, Sonja is committed to partner engagement and the design and implementation of sustained professional learning services that positively impact teaching and learning.