Jonathan Schmalzbach
Senior Educational Producer

Jonathan Schmalzbach is one of the foremost creators of crossword puzzles in the United States, frequently published in The New York Times, USA Today, Games Magazine and various puzzle periodicals. But he is not puzzled over the potential for New Forum Publishers. As the company's Educational Producer and co-founder, Jonathan is responsible for the voice and direction of the original content in the Beyond Books programs. This means working with the numerous Beyond Books educators and writers to develop curriculum that brings life to their expertise, that speaks a new language, comfortable and enticing to today's student.

Mr. Schmalzbach oversees the Internet Research team that rates and summarizes the Web sites Beyond Books links to. He also leads the effort to extend the utility of all Beyond Books resources and offerings, including assessments, lesson plans, and teacher user guides.

Prior to co-founding New Forum in 1998, Jonathan was the lead writer at Silversun Inc., a maker of computer CD-ROMs and for America Online's and Barnes and Noble's web sites. Jonathan holds a B.A. in literature and history from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

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Rebecca Saunders
Beyond Books Content Manager

Rebecca Saunders coordinates the technical, content, and curriculum teams in the day-to-day operations of the Production Department.

Rebecca came to Beyond Books in 1999 as an Internet Researcher in Social Studies. She went on to lead the development of the Internet Resources Department, which provides the thousands of links to websites on Beyond Books. Her work helped streamline and invigorate that aspect of content production that has become a teacher- and student-favorite and is a keystone of Beyond Books' unparalleled, web-based content and curriculum.

Rebecca attended Brown University and went on to graduate from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, as a Lemelson Fellow in Invention, Innovation, and Creativity. She earned a B.A. in Social Science with a focus on the Philosophy of Education. She lives in Philadelphia.