Avant Assessment

Please join us in welcoming Shellene Swamy to the Avant Language team!

Shellene joins as an Account Manager, bringing more than 25 years of experience in Higher Education and K-12 sales account management. She has worked with administrators and educators across the U.S. and U.K., helping align institutional goals with data-driven solutions and long-term partnership support.

Bilingual in English and Spanish, Shellene brings a thoughtful, relationship-centered approach to her work, along with a strong understanding of how technology and personalized engagement can support meaningful outcomes.

Outside of work, Shellene enjoys exploring new places with her husband and their dogs, Duckie and Snow. She is passionate about wildlife, especially elephants, dogs, the environment, and books.

We’re excited to have you on the team, Shellene!

Please join us in welcoming Mara Cobe to the Avant Language team!

Mara brings more than 33 years of K–12 world language education experience to Avant, with a career spanning classroom teaching, instructional coaching, district-level leadership, and program support.

“I chose to work with Avant because of their dedication to authentic language assessment, especially for less commonly taught languages.”

In her new role, Mara will primarily work with Avant’s expanding network of collaboration partners, supporting educators and learners as they strengthen language instruction, proficiency-based assessment, and meaningful recognition of students’ language abilities.

Her leadership in world language education has earned national and regional recognition, including the 2025 NADSFL Supervisor of the Year Award, the 2020 SCOLT Leadership Award, and the 2014 FLANC Honorary Life Member Award.

We’re excited to welcome Mara and grateful for the expertise, care, and deep commitment she brings to language education.