Prior to joining Schalmont, Kelsey served as president and CEO of the National Gardening Association from 1998 to 2004. Her responsibilities there included promoting the association’s educational initiatives, obtaining grants, publishing books and educational kits, and overseeing licensing contracts. Kelsey served as the assistant superintendent for special education and general management at the Rome City School District from 1995 to 1998. She was the RCSD director of support services from 1980 to 1995. Before coming to Rome, she spent two years as the director of special education for the Madison-Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

Kelsey’s early educational background is in communications and speech pathology, for which she earned a bachelor’s degree from Bloomsburg University and a master’s degree from Syracuse University. She later earned a certificate of advanced study in educational administration from SUNY at Oswego and a doctorate in educational administration from Syracuse University.

Her current professional memberships include the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, North American Association for Environmental Education, School Administrators Association of New York State, and American Speech and Hearing Association.

Kelsey and her husband have two grown children.