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City of Learning Education Unconference

January 9, 2021

Facilitators & Speakers

Full bios available on desktop only.

Jess is a Class of 2020 graduate from Minerva Schools at KGI. Originally from South Africa, Jess has lived in 8 countries across 5 continents exploring the use of digital technology in innovative education. From researching accessible education in Kenya, to policy consulting at the Argentine Ministry of Education, Jess is continuously learning about different education systems and education reform from around the globe. She is currently working on the launch team of Minerva’s innovative new high school program, the Minerva Baccalaureate, as she begins her career in EdTech.
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Jess Zier

Regional Outreach Associate

Minerva
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Mike Yates

Snr. Managing Dir. of Network Strategies

The Reinvention Lab at Teach For America

Prior to his current role, Joey was the co-founder and CAO of Washington Leadership Academy PCS in Washington, D.C. Previously, Joey helped lead the turnaround of a Maureen Joy Public Charter School as a Teacher, Dean of Instruction, and Director of Innovation. In his final year at Joy, the school had 100% of students exceed growth on the state’s growth metric ranking the school 1st among all charter schools in North Carolina.

Joey was a Teach for America Corps Member in the D.C. region. He was a Sue Lehman Award nominee where he led his classroom to 88% and 98% proficiency on Maryland’s State Science assessment. He holds a duel degree in Psychology and Biology from St. Lawrence University and Masters in School Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Joey Webb

Director, Academic Services

Centerpoint Education Solutions
Before her most recent role as Vice Chancellor of Whittle Schools, Rebecca was Head of School at Buckingham Browne and Nichols School for 17 years. She has also held senior leadership posts at the Ellis School and the Harvard-Westlake School. In addition to earning a B.A. from Middlebury College and an M.A. from Columbia University, Rebecca has a background in molecular biology, which led to a research stint at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She currently holds leadership positions in various professional organizations, including the Cum Laude Society, Country Day School Heads Association, and Headmasters Association. She has also traveled the world as a mountaineer and was a member on international expeditions to Greenland and to Himachal Pradesh, India.
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Rebecca Upham

Senior Advisor

k20 Educators & 
The City of Learning
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Mehul Shah

Co-Founder

Upliftk12
Jeremy Redleaf is an Emmy winning Artist and Entrepreneur. He's is the co-founder of Caveday, the world's most focused community. He tells stories and creates experiences that induce connection and challenge people to embrace their weirdness. Recent projects include: the feature film 3rd Street Blackout, the job portal Odd Job Nation, The Talk Shop and The Mystery Dinner.  
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Jeremy Redleaf

Co-Founder

Caveday
A long-standing contributor to the K20 space, Dr. Palumbo brings a history of education innovation and insight from a broad background: as a high school teacher, a University professor, an American Council on Education Fellow; and an academic administrator; he has also led companies that delivered some of the most widely adopted learning technologies in the world. A forward-thinker with global vision, David Palumbo has expertise in K-12 Education, Higher Education, e-learning, blended learning, educational innovation, machine learning, data analytics, organization change, evaluation and assessment, psychometrics, and digital media.
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David Palumbo

Chairman

Degree Analytics  
Dominic Muntanga is an Education Specialist at UNICEF in Zimbabwe. Prior to joining UNICEF, he was the Special Projects Advisor to the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart. He is founder of the Council for Zimbabwe and one of the Co-Directors of Kalai Foundation. He sits on the board of the US Foundation for the UWC Atlantic College. Dominic holds a Master’s degree in Not-for-Profit and Public Organization Management from Washington University in St. Louis, a B.A. in Human Ecology and an International Baccalaureate Diploma from the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, United Kingdom.
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Dominic Muntanga

Education Specialist

UNICEF
Eleanor Lewis is a seasoned school psychologist in a diverse suburban public school district.  Her nearly 20 years-experience covers cognitive and academic assessment, consultation, social-emotional development, behavior support and management and all aspects of the special education process.  An ardent advocate of whole child support and social and racial justice, Ms. Lewis has expertise in assessment of low incidence disabilities and collaborative problem solving.  Sent from my iPhone
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Eleanor Lewis

School Psychologist

Arlington Public Schools
Anindya studies the concepts of agency and human potential. Similar to "social" psychologists, he is like a "personhood" sociologist. His debut book, The Power of Student Agency, was released in early 2020. Anindya is currently a senior fellow at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. Previously at NYU, he taught, "American Dilemmas: Race, Inequality, and the Promise of Public Education" and "Research on Urban Education." He received a school-wide Outstanding Teaching Award. He also taught high school students storytelling through The Moth for a brief time. His work has appeared in NPR Education, MSNBC and Huffington Post. 
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Anindya Kundu

Senior Fellow at NYC LMIS within The Graduate Center, CUNY

The Graduate Center
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Melanie Kong

Educator & Founder

Floop
Angelica completed her BA degree in Anthropology (Global Culture and Commerce) and Drama at the University of Virginia and went on to complete her MS in Education at the UPenn GSE. After studying social enterprise and microfinancing in Bangladesh, she founded a global education non-profit connecting historically underrepresented student populations to study abroad experiences and passport scholarships; its impact has been recognized in The Huffington Post and Black Enterprise. Her parallel career in the arts has led her to perform on stages throughout the east coast, while also gaining experience working in programming and operations for both the public and private sectors. More recently, Angelica spends her time as a champion for women and birthing parents and family caregivers in the tech startup industry.
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Angelica Jackson

Associate Director

EL Education
Prior to joining Whittle, Valmir was Head of High School Humanities, Educational Technology Coordinator, and Head of the Data Committee at the International School of Ningbo, China. He majored in English and Portuguese language arts at the Brasilia University Center, Brazil. His first international school position was at the American School of Brasilia as a Digital Media/Technology teacher. Concurrently, he worked on his Master’s Degree in Multidisciplinary Educational Studies and his Educational Leadership Certificate by the State University of New York. He then went on to become the Assistant Principal and Dean of Students at School of the Nations for three years where he co-led the creation of an aligned K-12 bilingual curriculum.
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Valmir Gomes

Academic Dean

Whittle School & Studios,
Shenzhen
Carlo's main goal in life is to bridge classrooms with boardrooms - that is, to ensure that the voices of our teachers and learners are represented in spaces where education policies are discussed. He has worked in numerous pockets of the Philippine education sector - teaching from basic, secondary and tertiary levels; working in public and private sectors; working in local and national governments - allowing him to better understand the sector from a very systemic lens. Currently, Carlo works as an Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff to one of the Commissioners at the Philippine Commission on Higher Education. He finished his master's degree in Learning Sciences and Technology from the University of Sydney, and his bachelor's degree in Education from the Philippine Normal University.
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Carlo Fernando

Executive Assistant IV

Philippine Commission on Higher Education
Rina Deshpande, Ed.M., MS.T., ERYT-500 is a yoga and mindfulness teacher, researcher, writer, and preK-12 instructional designer who began her career in 2004 as a bilingual elementary teacher with Teach for America and was part of Relay Graduate School of Education's founding faculty. She has a monthly column and teaches an online course with Yoga Journal Magazine, and is a contributor to various platforms such as Self MagazineLearning & The BrainThe Huffington Post, and more. She designed yoga and mindfulness research curriculum for Harvard Medical School and the U.S. Marines, and teaches online and in-person yoga and mindfulness workshops independently and for various organizations such as NBC Studios, Tiffany & Co., WeWork and WeGrow, Simon & Schuster, universities, schools and education networks, and yoga studios across the globe. 
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Rina Deshpande

Instructional Designer, Yoga & Mindfulness Author, Researcher

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Gustavo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Child and grandchild of immigrants, he has always been fascinated by migration and urban history. He earned a B.A. in History from Columbia University and an M.A. in Teaching American History and Government from Ashland University.  Over the course of his seventeen-year teaching career, he has worked at three independent schools in a variety of capacities including coordinating a middle school history program and diversity and inclusiveness programs, and as chair of the History and Social Sciences Department at Buckingham Browne and Nichols. He has received the NCSS Award Teaching for Global Understanding; the American Historical Association Teaching Prize, and The World History Association Teaching Prize. Currently, Gustavo is the Head of Upper School at Shore Country Day School in Beverly, Massachusetts.
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Gustavo Carrera

Head of Upper School

Shore Country Day School
Maria teaches Art at Yorktown High School in Arlington Public Schools, where she has taught for nine years. Last year, taught Creative Arts & Design at the global startup Whittle School & Studios in Washington, DC. Maria is an active member and presenter at the Virginia Art Education Association (VAEA) and National Art Education Association (NAEA) conferences. She is the recipient of the Artistic Excellence Award at George Mason University in 2009 and the 2011 Robert Rauschenberg Power of Art award from the Lab School of Washington. She has served as Part-time Adjunct Faculty at George Mason University’s MAT in Art Education program.
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Maria c. Burke

Art & Design Educator, Founder

The Emergent Design Lab
A mathematician/data scientist, Aaron is highly focused on the value of data over intuition to address the most challenging problems & opportunities. As a college student at Eastern University, he saw first-hand how students can easily fall through the cracks - more importantly how students can stay on track to graduation. Determined to figure out how every student can succeed, Aaron founded Degree Analytics. A motivated, results-driven leader with a passion for creative-based solutions to challenging problems, Aaron is inspired by new, untapped technologies, which drives innovation at Degree Analytics, which currently serves over 250,000 students globally. Aaron has spoken at numerous conferences & received several awards, including ASU + GSV: Top 100 Innovator in Education.
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Aaron Benz

Founder & CEO

Degree Analytics
Anne is a doctor in zoology with extensive experience in school management. She has a postgraduate degree in educational management and is currently a research member of NEAPEL (Núcleo de Ensino, Assistência e Pesquisa em Leitura e Escrita) at UNIFESP (Universidade Federal de São Paulo), and aims to complete a post-doctorate related to bilingualism, metacognition and self-regulation. Anne worked as Head of Pre-Preparatory at St. Paul's School, São Paulo, Brazil, from 2007 to 2016. Anne has given workshops and courses at national and international events, focused on differentiation, formative assessment and teacher collaboration.
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Anne Baldiserri

Head of Primary Division

Avenues,
Sao Paolo
Lesley has been a progressive educator in independent schools for 15 years. She earned her MSEd from Bank Street College and is currently a middle school English and math teacher at Maret School in Washington. Lesley previously taught at Whittle School and Studios, Sidwell Friends School, The Dalton School, Horizons DC, and The Central Park Conservancy. Career highlights include starting a garden and food justice community engagement program, organizing professional development in Malawi, serving as a Teacher in Residence at the Smithsonian Freer Sackler Museum of Asian Art, and helping found a school.
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Lesley Younge

Humanities Teacher

                   Maret
Rachael leads a global network of more than 160 schools in 40 countries. A graduate of Oxford University, her career spans leadership roles in both the non-profit and commercial sectors. In the past three years with Round Square, Rachael has worked with its membership network and Board to develop and implement a new strategic plan. Prior to joining Round Square in 2013, Rachael was Deputy CEO of Young Enterprise, part of the Junior Achievement Worldwide movement, where she designed and wrote a portfolio of enterprise education programs across the K-12 age range. Throughout her career, Rachael has built extensive experience in research, marketing, fundraising, curriculum and education program development.
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Rachael Westgarth

CEO

Roundsquare
Phillip is a recent CS grad from Carnegie Mellon University and the CEO of Gather where he is building virtual spaces for all sorts of gatherings, starting with conferences, offices, and universities. Previously, he has worked on projects like Subtle Asian Matches, SquareCraft, RoboVote, 3D holographic video chat, awalking stick for blind people at the range of 40 feet, and a full-sized humanoid robot controlled through VR. Phillip spent most of his undergrad on AI research. He worked on the MineRL project, using Minecraft to research imitation learning and sample-efficient RL. He has previously conducted research in meta-learning with Brandon Amos and released the first open-source implementation of SNAIL, a popular meta-learning architecture. 
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Phillip Wang

CEO & Co-Founder

Gather
Page (he/him/his) is the Director of Teaching & Learning and a Middle School and High School math teacher at Whittle School & Studios Washington, DC campus. As a member of the school’s founding team of faculty, he had the opportunity to build a project-based, interdisciplinary, and experiential program for a global school with campuses in both DC and Shenzhen, China. Prior to joining the Whittle team, Page worked as the Upper School Dean of Students at The Wheeler School in Providence, RI, and has taught at a number of other independent schools in the United States. In his spare time Page enjoys tinkering with Buttercup, his 1969 Volkswagen bus, and hiking with his family in the wilds of DC’s Rock Creek Park.
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Page Stites

Director of Studies

Whittle School & Studios,
Washington, DC
Daniel is a FabLearn Fellow, a Maker Teacher, and a Teaching Artist. His classes integrate a combination of constructivist learning, social emotional and social justice pedagogy focusing on projects that foster students' maker identities, build empathy and encourage collaboration. He enjoys collaboration with other teachers and customizing his curriculum to meet individual learning needs. Daniel holds a master's in social work from Columbia University with a focus on social entrepreneurship and program design. He has been a teaching Artist at DreamYard Project, a non-profit serving the Bronx community. He piloted and now teaches maker classes at DreamYard Prep High School and at the DreamYard Art Center.
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Daniel Schermele

Maker Teacher

Ascend Public Charter Schools
In her current role, Romina supports the development of curricula and instruction implementation across several sectors and countries, primarily in Europe. She also spearheads leadership development and coaching within the global curriculum and instruction team. She previously worked for 17 years in various educational leadership roles and learning and development roles, including Director of Content Programs and founding Assistant Professor of Practice at Relay Graduate School of Education and Managing Director of Programs with Teach For America. Romina earned a Masters in Educational Leadership: Administration and Supervision from National Louis University and a dual BA in Marketing and French from the University of Texas in Austin. 
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Romina Piersanti

Regional Dir. Curriculum and Instruction & Coach 

Firefly & Sage
Anand was named a 2018 CIO 100 (US) award recipient for being an inspiring example of how IT leadership, business partnership, and customer engagement can reshape the future. He has received multiple recognitions nationally and internationally. Anand was CTO of Whittle Schools, CIO/SVP for Parsons School of Design/The New School; CIO for HCL Corporation and Shiv Nadar Foundation in Delhi, India; CIO at Everonn Education in Chennai, India; CIO for NYU Stern School of Business; CIO at City University of New York - Hunter College; CIO for Tennessee State University; and an educational technologist at NASA. He has an MBA from NYU Stern, an MS in computer engineering from Louisiana State University, and a BE in electronics and telecom engineering from Madras University.
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Anand Padmanabhan

Chief Information Officer & VP

Fordham University
Caitlin is a former public school teacher who developed and led professional development for other teachers and leaders at the local, state, and national levels on best practice literacy instruction. She holds a BS degree in Integrated Language Arts from Ohio University, a M. Ed. degree in Language and Literacy, and is ABD Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Women’s Studies from the University of South Carolina. As a classroom teacher, she earned the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification (2008). Most recently, alongside the other members of this presentation team, Caitlin reimagined and redesigned EL Education’s professional learning for teachers and leaders for full implementation in a virtual space.
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Caitlin McKenzie

Associate Director

EL Education
Krista Leh, the founder of Resonance Educational Consulting, began her career over 20 years ago as a high school social studies teacher and curriculum coach. She developed a student leadership organization inspiring her to focus on social emotional learning (SEL). In 2012, Krista was one of 26 educators in the country selected as an ASCD Emerging Leader. Over the past 10 years, Krista has worked with educators in more than 25 states on creating sustainable, scalable SEL systems and learning communities. Krista
holds a B.S. in education from The Pennsylvania State University and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from Kutztown University. In 2021, she will earn her Ed.D. in educational leadership from Lehigh University. 
 
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Krista Leh

SEL Educational Consultant

Resonance Education Consulting
Before Whittle, Rich was superintendent of schools in Wyckoff, New Jersey, since 2010. In Wyckoff, he led and managed around 300 members of staff and over 2,000 pupils at public schools, some of which are recognized as schools of excellence. Previously, Rich was principal of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in New Jersey. Earlier in his career, he taught in both elementary and middle schools. Rich is a graduate of Columbia, where he received a B.A. in political science and an M.A. in education administration. He also gained a doctorate in educational and organizational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. 
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Richard Kuder

Founding Division Head

Whittle School & Studios
Mike has been a high school English and Theatre teacher for more than 20 years. Outside of the classroom, he is the CEO of DegreeCast, Co-Organizer of the NYEdtech MeetUp, Co-founder of Leaders Don't Lead, and on the advisory board of SXSW Edu. Interested in pushing boundaries, he's run the NYC Marathon, gone hang-gliding in Brazil, bungee jumping in New Zealand, and has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. He's the author of Otherful: How to Change the World (and Your School) Through Others (2020).
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Michael Kleba

Educator, CEO

North Shore High School, DegreeCast
Before GOA, Eric spent his career in the classroom, teaching English and Spanish to middle school, high school, and college students. He has taught at Kingswood Oxford School and the University of California, Berkeley, and most recently taught English at Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, MA. At GOA, Eric is focused on turning research-based, learner-centered ideas and strategies into high-quality learning experiences. He leads the development of new programs and products and facilitates professional learning partnerships on assessment, competency-based learning, and instructional design. In 2015, he created and was the first teacher of the GOA student course Advocacy.
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Eric Hudson

Director of Learning & Design

Global Online Academy
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Stephanie Fitzgerald

Head of School

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Joe D'Annibale is an elementary and middle grades educator at Avenues: The World School. After joining the school at its New York campus in 2014 as a second-grade Spanish immersion teacher, he served as Associate Head of the Lower Division for three years before helping to launch Avenues' first Studio campus in East Hampton, New York. After earning a bachelor's degree from The College of New Jersey, Joe went on to pursue his master's from Cedar Crest College. Joe began his career teaching middle and high school Spanish in New Jersey, and later worked with elementary school students in New Jersey and Madrid, Spain. Outside education, Joe is a writer, reader and avid theatre-goer. 
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Joseph D'Annibale

Associate Head for Lower Division

Avenues,
Studio Hamptons
Michelle was a founding member of Teach For America’s national Teacher Support and Development team and co-led the team charged with ensuring a shared vision and national program strategy for aggressive growth, increased effectiveness and increased diversity. Michelle started her career as a Teach For America Los Angeles corps member teaching fifth-grade teacher in Compton, CA. She graduated from Tulane University in 1999 and holds an M.A. in Elementary Education from Loyola Marymount University. She is an Aspen Institute Pahara Fellow. 
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Michelle Culver

Systems Learning Lab Co-Founder

The Reinvention Lab at Teach for America
Having lived on four continents for a total of 26 years overseas, Tim has been fortunate to lead some of the world’s most iconic international schools, including the Jakarta Intercultural School in Indonesia, the American School in Japan, the Country Day School in Costa Rica and Graded - The American School of São Paulo, Brazil. During his time in Indonesia, Tim was named the 2015-16 International Superintendent of the Year by the Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE). At Avenues, Tim has worked closely with the research and development team on programs seeking to reimagine the future of education, including the Avenues Mastery Academy and Avenues Studio Hamptons, and served as co-head of Avenues Online in 2018.
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Tim Carr

Head of Upper Division

Avenues,
Online
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Peter Brown

Global Architecture & Design Principal

Peter Brown Agency for Design
Karina is the Dir. of Global Education and a member of the D.E.I. and Global Education Office at Buckingham Browne & Nichols. She has an M.A. in Molecular Genetics & Biotech from the Uni. of Buenos Aires, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from Brandeis Uni. She received the Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence among other awards. Karina was an Education Fellow and a Scholar with the National Academies of Science. She has been a fellow and faculty of the Think Tank on Global Education at Harvard GSE since 2017. She serves on the Board of Dir. of the Global Education Benchmark Group.
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Karina Baum

Director of Global Education

Buckingham Browne & Nichols
Katija Aladin is the Head of Community at HundrED, a not-for-profit organization working to seek and share inspiring innovations in global education. She has experience working as an educator in Canada, France, and Finland. 
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Katija Aladin

Education Specialist & Researcher

HundrED
Glenn’s 35 years of educational experience as a District Curriculum Coordinator, Department Head, Athletic Director, Teacher, and Coach in the largest school district in British Columbia, as well as a sessional lecturer at all 3 major post-secondary institutions in the Metro Vancouver Region has led to sharing his expertise as a curriculum specialist consulting with schools in New York; Washington DC, Shenzhen, South Los Angeles, Denver, Montana, Beaverton, and North Vancouver. He has developed resources and tools for Surrey School District, North Vancouver School District, BOKS Canada, Chicago Run, Laureus Foundation USA, PHE Canada, viaSport, and the British Columbia Ministry of Education.
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Glenn Young

Educational Change & Healthy Living Consultant

Consultant
Ricia, PhD, NCSP, LPC is a school psychologist, mother, and group fitness instructor. She is passionate about supporting students during their dynamic and exciting educational and developmental journeys. Ricia brings a depth of experience and expertise cultivated during her own educational, professional, and parenting journey. She also draws on her own experiences growing up as a multiracial person in the Southwest. Ricia holds a BSE in secondary education from the University of Arizona and a PhD in school psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her school psychology acumen has been sharpened over time by serving students and families professionally since 1997 in urban and suburban public and independent school settings. 
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Ricia Weiner

School Psychologist

Arlington Public Schools
A globally recognized expert in education, Tony is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute. Prior to this appointment, Tony held a variety of positions at Harvard University for more than twenty years, including four years as an Expert in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab and the founder and co-director, for more than a decade, of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His previous work experience includes twelve years as a high school teacher, K-8 principal, university professor in teacher education, and founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility. Tony is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a widely published author. 
Read more about Tony here...
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Tony Wagner

Author & Researcher

The Learning Policy Institute
Before founding CenterPoint, Laura served as the CEO of Parcc Inc., which designed innovative, technology-based assessments for the multi-state Partnership for Readiness for College and Careers, advancing the field of assessment nationwide. Prior to that she spent fifteen years at Achieve -nmost recently as Senior Vice President. A native Washingtonian, Laura earned a bachelor’s degree in English and American literature from Harvard University; a master’s degree in Education – Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado at Boulder; and a master’s degree in Education Policy from Georgetown University. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the College of the Atlantic and the advisory board for NOLS. 
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Laura Slover

CEO & Founder

CenterPoint Education Solutions
Vriti is an educator and founder of k20 Educators as well as the City of Learning Unconference. She spent the last three years building global schools and professional development infrastructure as Global Director of Professional Learning at Whittle Schools & Studios. Before that, she was supporting Deans as Network Director of Professional Development at Ascend Public Charter Schools, a network of 15 Charter Schools in New York. Vriti has been an adjunct professor for Relay Graduate School, a Dean, and a Kindergarten teacher. Vriti has spent most of her time in education reimagining learning, following innovative and cutting-edge ideas and technology, coaching school leaders and teachers, and working to bring global educators together. 
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Vriti Saraf

Founder & CEO

k20 Educators &
The City of Learning
Liz is Peruvian, Afroandean and a feminist. She taught Spanish in secondary during her Enseña Perú fellowship. After this program, she worked at the Ministry of Education of Peru as a specialist on teacher’s standards, evaluations, and training in service. She currently works as Scholarship Program Coordinator at The American School of Lima. She is an educational psychologist and is currently studying a Masters in Gender & Social Development. Liz has been part of the Teach For All's Global Community of Practice in Public Policies in Education since 2017. 
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Liz Pasco Carmona

Experiential Ed. Consultant

The American School of Lima
Ben Nelson is founder, chairman, and CEO of Minerva which he founded in 2011 with the goal of nurturing critical wisdom for the sake of the world. Nelson has, since, built Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute into the most selective in the United States, and has developed a business to share Minerva's unique approach with other like-minded institutions. Prior to Minerva, Nelson served as CEO of Snapfish from 2005 to 2010. Nelson holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
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Ben Nelson

Founder, Chairman, CEO

Minerva
Chris oversees the development and implementation of educational products and services for the Global STEM Alliance, the Academy’s initiative to advance STEM education worldwide. Prior to the Academy, he was the Founding Director of Curriculum and Instruction at a HS in Brooklyn. Chris also served as the Science and Technology Staff Development Specialist for the Redwood City School District in California. Chris also brings 8 years of experience teaching in middle and high school classrooms. Chris is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis for Teaching and Learning Practices with an Emphasis in Curriculum. Chris received his Master of Science in Biology, and an Advanced Certificate in Science Education, both from Washington University in St. Louis. 
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Chris Link

Director of Education

New York Academy of Sciences
Bonnie leads GOA’s strategy for professional learning, and designs professional learning solutions for organizations and schools. Prior  GOA, Bonnie served as a teacher and counselor at a project-based school near Seattle. At Big Picture Learning, an international network of student-centered schools, Bonnie was an instructional coach. She co-wrote a guidebook for educators called The Role of Noncognitive Skills in Student Success and a book for parents on educational trends. She is the author of numerous publications and her work has been published on websites such as The Huffington Post, ParentMap, and Education Week. She serves on the board of Why Not You Academy and lives with her husband and two children in Seattle.
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Bonnie Lathram

Director of Professional Learning

Global Online Academy
Ann Kozma is the Educator Innovation Lead at Flipgrid and presents regularly at education conferences across the country including CUE, ISTE, and many others. She has over 15 years of experience in education with a B.A. from Simpson University and M.A. in Teaching from National University, San Diego. Among many other professional accolades, Ann is also a Level 1 and Level 2 Google certified Educator and was recognized as an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2016 for integrating technology to transform education and learning. 
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Ann Kozma

Educator Innovation Lead

Flipgrid
Ash advises and makes connections for organizations solving problems in education and workforce. He has advised, launched and operated multiple edtech accelerators, including for Techstars. To date, these accelerators have enabled more than 2000+ companies in partnership with organizations such as Kaplan, Intel, NYU and the University of Pennsylvania. He continues to provide support for founders solving problems for educators, administrators and learners in Pre-K, K-12, HigherEd, Workforce and Adult Learning as Cofounder at StartEd and Producer of EDTECH WEEK.
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Ash Kaluarachchi

Co-Founder & Managing Director

StartED
Edtech Week
Kari started her career as a public school teacher in Niagara Falls, NY and worked at international schools in Switzerland and Mexico during her time in the classroom. As a professional development specialist for the New York State Race to the Top Initiative, she worked across rural school systems in New York, training teachers and leaders. She has been speaking publicly for the past ten years, first as a liaison between the New York State Department of Education and 18 local school districts in northern New York and then at EL Education as a professional developer facilitating adult learning for thousands of teachers, school leaders, instructional coaches, district leaders, school boards, and parent and community groups. She earned a MS degree from the University of Albany in Curriculum Design and Instructional Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from SUNY Fredonia.
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Kari Horn Lehman

Director

EL Education
Sarina is in her 27th year as an elementary school educator. She has worked as a leader in independent schools in New York and California, as well as in the NYC public schools. After 17 years as head of the lower school at Curtis School in Los Angeles, Sarina joined Avenues: The World School, where she is helping launch and lead AON, the T-5 online program for Avenues. In 2022, Sarina will participate in the launch of the Silicon Valley campus for Avenues, serving as its founding Head of the Lower Division.
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Sarina Fierro

Head of Lower Division

Avenues,
Silicon Valley
Dr. Randi Doyle is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Minerva Schools at KGI. Dr. Doyle has conducted critical research on the impact of stereotype threat on gender differences in math, spatial abilities, and emotional intelligence. Her work aims to explain why men tend to outperform women on tests of spatial ability, and why women tend to outperform men on tests of emotional intelligence. Dr. Doyle earned her Ph.D. in Experimental and Applied Psychology, as well as B.A. in Psychology from the University of New Brunswick. 
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Randi Doyle

Assistant Professor

Minerva,
School of Social Sciences
From 2017 to 2019, Sunanna served as the Director of Remake Learning and convened the Remake Learning Council. Prior that, Sunanna was the Community Outreach Coordinator for Mayor Melvin “Kip” Holden of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She led a multi-sector public health network, the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative (Healthy BR), that worked to better health outcomes for low-income Baton Rouge residents. Sunanna also taught 1st and 2nd grade in Baton Rouge, during which time she saw first hand how technology could engage her students, especially those who did not respond to traditional teaching practices.Sunanna graduated from Vanderbilt University with an M.Ed in International Education Policy & Management. She also has a BA in English and Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Sunanna Chand

VP of Systems Reinvention

The Reinvention Lab at Teach for America
Skyler Carr is a research partner with the National Science Foundation, and experiential design lead with Infini-D Learning. He has over 10 years in experiential education and interactive game design and is excited to share how spaceships can promote greater equity in Math and Science.
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Skyler Carr

CEO & Co-Founder

Infini-D
Steve’s life experiences personify the “Crossover Effect”. As a former Division I athlete, Steve has taught and coached throughout the United States. His diverse background in teaching, working with children with cancer, athletic coaching, college advising, counseling and international consulting makes him one of the most well-rounded consultants in the industry. Steve is also the Founder/Director of 2-4-1 Sports, whose flagship program is held at the Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford, Conn. but now has locations throughout the United States and Canada. He has formed and serves as Advisory Board chair for National Association of Physical Literacy Steve is also a founding member of the Quality Coaching Collective. 
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Steve Boyle

Coach, Counselor, & Consultant

Crossover Consulting
Morty Ballen coaches and supports CEOs and senior leaders in the United States and around the world. Morty began his career as a teacher. While teaching in Louisiana, South
Africa and NYC, he witnessed, firsthand, that his students weren’t provided with access to the outstanding education they deserved. To be part of the solution to this challenge, he started Explore Charter School – a K-8 school in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Under his leadership, Explore Charter School grew from one school serving 450 students to a network of 8 schools serving 2,000 students. Since its inception in 2002, over 1,000 Explore graduates have matriculated into college-prep high schools. He now works at Global Schools Forum, where he has the privilege of working with and learning from senior education leaders who collectively run or
support 18,000 schools in the Global South.
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Morty Ballen

Program Director

Global Schools Forum
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