Trace Pickering works in the Office of Planning & Development and, with colleague D.J. Corson, operates The Midwest Center for Innovation and Systems Design at Grant Wood Area Education Agency in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He holds degrees in English from Simpson College and Curriculum & Supervision from Iowa. He is currently pursuing his education doctorate at Drake University. Trace was a classroom teacher at the high school and middle school level at Allison-Bristow, Center Point-Urbana, Council Bluffs, and College Community Schools in Iowa. He then spent five years as an Associate Principal at Prairie Middle School in the College Community School District before entering private business. While in private business Trace consulted, coached and trained teachers and administrators in the effective use of assessment tools and in designing effective assessment systems. After several successful years in this endeavor, he desired a return to the classroom to test his work and further hone his understanding. He taught two years at Kirkwood Community College before accepting a position in newly created Office of Planning & Development at Grant Wood.

Along with his colleague, D.J. Corson, Trace has helped to build and define the Office of Planning & Development. Currently, the office assists internal AEA leaders to implement, monitor, and adjust the initiatives and actions they are undertaking. Additionally, they helped to create two professional development consortiums for six school districts. Together with district leaders, they work to implement appropriate professional development and student learning.

Trace's passion lies in the study and implementation of socio-cultural systems theory. A significant amount of his work today focuses upon helping leaders understand and implement methodologies for adjusting all aspects of an organization, of which data collection and decision making is but a part. Trace's experiences from classroom teacher in both small and large schools, to building administrator, to business owner, to college instructor, to planning and development specialist provides him a vast array of perspectives from which to work with leaders. He and D.J. work closely with Dr. Susan Leddick of Profound Knowledge Resources and a recognized national leader in school system reform and Jamshid Gharajedaghi, author of Systems Thinking and one of the world's leading system scientists.