Steven Klein and Mary Ellen Schaffer are life-long educators who bring a total of 75 years service in the field of public education. They are married and make their home in St. Charles, Illinois and spend much of their time in their Chicago city loft. Steve and Mary Ellen, when not conducting educational workshops, travel the world.

Mary Ellen is the former Director of Student Services in Lemont, Illinois, which is located approximately thirty-five miles southwest of Chicago. Mary Ellen, in retirement, is currently serving as Special Education Coordinator at School District # 89 in Lockport. Illinois. She has been an elementary principal, an assistant principal and a special education teacher.

Mary Ellen began as an original trainer with the Indiana Project PEACE (Peaceful Endings through Attorneys, Children and Educators) when it started in 1994 and also worked with the Pennsylvania Project PEACE. She has done national training with teachers in the area of peer mediation, conflict resolution education, classroom climate and positive behavioral supports and interventions. Mary Ellen is an adjunct faculty member at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois and teaches a graduate course in brain-based learning and how it applies to learners with unique needs. Mary Ellen holds advanced degrees from Roosevelt University and the University of Chicago.