Edward “Ed” Goldman was born March 19, 1951 in Rochester, New York and spent his childhood in Jerusalem, Israel as well as Cincinnati, Ohio. He received his first bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and a second in Jewish Studies from the University of Judaism. Goldman later received a master’s degree in political science from California State University, and then a doctorate in education and higher administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, focusing on educational law.

Mary Dale Deacon was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Her father was a Presbyterian minister. Deacon and her older sister and younger brother all attended grade school and high school in Las Cruces.