David (Dave) W. Saba

Chief Executive Officer

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David W. Saba serves as Chief Executive Officer of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE), and brings more than 25 years of management experience to the position.

Mr. Saba is directly responsible for dramatically increasing the teacher recruitment efforts at ABCTE, having grown enrollments by over 300% and has seen the organization recruit over 9,500 potential teachers into its rigorous, self-paced online teaching certification program, while issuing more than 1,900 certifications to-date. The ABCTE program is now accepted in nine states, due to the outreach efforts of Mr. Saba and his team, and their work with legislators and state education administrators throughout the country.

Mr. Saba continues to motivate the ABCTE team to create new opportunities for ABCTE to assist school districts in recruiting, certifying, and supporting excellent teachers essential for student success. Mr. Saba has also led the organization to its current financial position where ongoing operations continue without the need to request an extension of the initial government funds used to create the organization, a feat that is quite rare in the world of non-profits and almost unheard of in education.

Prior to serving as CEO, Mr. Saba served as ABCTE’s Vice President of Development and Evaluation and was responsible for candidate recruitment, all test development, program evaluation, new program development and candidate resource development.

Before joining ABCTE, Mr. Saba served as the Mid Atlantic Regional Director for Kaplan Test Prep. He was able to dramatically improve the performance of the region through aggressive teacher recruitment and training, site expansion, strategic planning and marketing. Under his leadership, the region created partnerships with multiple school systems to deliver SAT Preparation and SES services. He implemented the first staff training program for the region and created the first large scale marketing plans. He was directly responsible for opening four new centers in his region, setting up a significant competitive advantage for Kaplan.

In previous management roles, Mr. Saba oversaw the expansion of a health care company in Western Maryland to more than double its revenues in three years. He also worked to increase quality and team-building for two manufacturing companies.

He has served on the Garrett County Memorial Hospital Board of Governors and on a government committee responsible for purchasing and restoring historic buildings. Mr. Saba has also been successful in two start-up ventures, overseeing all aspects of the ventures from initial business planning and financing through profitable operations.

Mr. Saba is a Naval Academy graduate who served as a helicopter pilot in the Navy for 8 years and was awarded both the Battle E and Navy Achievement Medals. He completed his master’s degree in Engineering Management from the University of South Florida. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two college aged daughters. He has served as a Board Chairman for charter schools and as an advisor to Scholarity, a next generation software that creates a tutor-like experience for students.