Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at the Stanford University School of Education, where she launched the School Redesign Network, the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. Darling-Hammond is author or editor of more than a dozen books and more than 300 articles on education policy and practice. Her work focuses on school restructuring, teacher education, and educational equity. She was education advisor to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Prior to her appointment at Stanford, Darling-Hammond was the William F. Russell Professor in the Foundations of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Darling-Hammond was president of the American Educational Research Association and a member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She has served on the boards of directors for the Spencer Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Alliance for Excellent Education. Darling-Hammond received her B.A. magna cum laude at Yale University in 1973, and an Ed.D., with highest distinction, in urban education at Temple University in 1978.

Dr. Mark Ginsberg is dean of the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. Dr. Ginsberg's career spans a 30-year period as a professor, and as a skilled administrator. Dr. Ginsberg served as the executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) from January 1999 until July 2010. NAEYC is the nation's largest professional association dedicated to improving the quality and accessibility of early care and education programs for children from birth through age eight. Dr. Ginsberg has published extensively in the areas of education, human development, and human services. He has lectured and presented at over 200 conferences, seminars, and other educational meetings and professional development events both within the United States and internationally. He is president-elect of the International Step by Step Association, a nongovernmental organization of 30 education-focused NGOs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Dr. Diane Ravitch is a research professor of education at New York University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Diane was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. She was responsible for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. As Assistant Secretary, she led the federal effort to promote the creation of voluntary state and national academic standards. She is the author of several books, including The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education (2010).

Gail Connelly is Executive Director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) in Alexandria, Virginia, serving 28,000 K-8 principals and 35 million students in the United States of America and other affiliates worldwide. Gail has also served as a strategic planning, management, and fundraising consultant for several national and state education organizations, including the National PTA.

Jay Mathews is an author and education columnist with the Washington Post. Educated at Harvard, Mathews has won the Education Writers Association National Education Reporting Award and the Benjamin Fine Award for Outstanding Education Reporting, as well as the Eugene Meyer Award, The Washington Post's top honor for distinguished service to the newspaper. His rating system for U.S. high schools, the Challenge Index, appears every year in Newsweek and the Post. It has been cited in hundreds of newspapers and magazines since 1998 and is often the most-visited feature on the Newsweek.com Web site. His most successful book is his most recent, "Work Hard. Be Nice - How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America." The story of how KIPP school founders Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg raised the achievement of impoverished students to new heights was a New York Times bestseller in 2009.

Rosemarie T. Truglio, Ph.D. is the vice-president of research and education for Sesame Workshop. During her seven years with Sesame Street, she has helped to ensure that the creative process always embraces the major curriculum points in a safe, sensitive, responsible and age-appropriate manner. Dr. Truglio is a widely published expert on child development, whose articles appear in child and developmental psychology journals. In 2001, she co-edited G is for Growing: 30 Years of Research on Sesame Street & Children with Sholly Fisch. A former assistant professor of Communication and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, Dr. Truglio also serves on the advisory board of the Children's Digital Media Center and the Council on Excellence in Children's Media at Annenberg School.

Daniel Domenech is executive director of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). A native of Cuba who moved to the U.S. at the age of nine, Domenech has more than 36 years of experience in public education. Prior to joining AASA, Domenech served as senior vice president of the Urban Advisory Resource for McGraw-Hill Education and served for six years as superintendent of the Fairfax County, Virginia.

Nancy Carlsson-Paige is a professor of early childhood education at Lesley University where she has taught teachers for more than 30 years, and was a founder of the University's Center for Peaceable Schools. Her most recent book is called Taking Back Childhood: A Proven Roadmap for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids. Nancy is an advocate for policies and practices that promote children's well being and encourage skills and attitudes that further peace and nonviolence. Paige is also the mother of education advocate and actor Matt Damon and honorary co-chair of the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences.

Nelson Davis has been a broadcast media executive for over 30 years. His positions have included, Programming Executive for NBC Television Network; Executive Producer for Name That Tune and the Jeopardy pilot for Merv Griffin. .At NBC for 4 years, he moved from Broadcast Standards on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to Director of Daytime Programming for the network. As president of Nelson Davis Television Productions he received numerous honors including four Emmy Awards. For the past eleven years Davis has served on the board of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. Nelson is a special advisor to the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences on the best practices of managing a national awards program.

Nancy Poliseno is president of the national Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE). Poliseno has been a classroom teacher for more than 25 years and has been recognized as Ohio Middle Level Educator of the Year and as an American Legion State Teacher of the Year. She has also served as president of the Ohio Middle Level Association and as a member of AMLE’s Board of Trustees.

Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students, and he writes the blog Eduwonk. Rotherham previously served as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Clinton administration and is a former member of the Virginia Board of Education. Rotherham is on the board of directors for the Indianapolis Mind Trust, is Vice Chair of the Curry School of Education Foundation at the University of Virginia, and serves on the Visiting Committee for the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also writes the weekly “School of Thought” column for TIME.com as well as the blog Eduwonk.com and is the co-publisher of “Education Insider” a federal policy research tool produced by Whiteboard Advisors.

Betsy Landers is president of the National Parent Teachers Associaton (NPTA) . Her role in National PTA also included chairing the National PTA Advisory Board, the National Council of States, the Strategic Plan Committee, the Resource Development Committee, and the Finance Committee. Landers has been actively involved in negotiating new partnerships and alliances for the association to increase PTA's role in serving diverse families. As Tennessee PTA State President, Landers led that organization in working with the State Board of Education and several legislators to write what would become the Parent Involvement Act. This Tennessee law mandates that all school districts in the state have a written parent involvement policy. In 2004, she was honored with the Shelby County Schools Board of Education Community Service Award and in 2002, was named one of the "50 Women Who Make a Difference" by Memphis Women's Magazine.

Ken Griffith is president of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. After nearly 20 years a Principal at Guernsey-Sunrise, Ken Griffith became President of NASSP on July 1, 2011. Currently serving as Assistant Principal at Guernsey so he can have time to focus on our national association, Ken will be on the road this year touching bases in many states as well as foreign countries. In his 20th year as a member of NASSP, Griffith is honored to serve the more than 25000 members across the country.

Victoria Risko is president of the International Reading Association and Professor of Education Emerita at Vanderbilt Peabody College. Vicki received the Laureate Award for Research Contributions (2008) and the A. B. Herr Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research (2002) from the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (formerly College Reading Association) and the Distinguished Research Award (1992) from the Association of Teacher Education for her investigations of multimedia case methodology. She is past-president of The College Reading Association, an international organization for literacy educators and researchers, and former President of the Board of Directors, International Book Bank.

Caroline Hendrie is the executive director of the Education Writers Association, the national professional organization for members of the news media who specialize in education. She oversees strategy, operations and programming, in support of the nonprofit organization's mission to expand the quantity and quality of education coverage through relevant training, support, resources and recognition. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Ms. Hendrie was herself an education journalist for more than two decades. She ended her career in daily and weekly newspapers in 2010 as managing editor of Education Week, where she had held various writing and editing positions since 1996. As a reporter, she covered national policy areas including urban education, school reform, philanthropy and legal affairs, and won various reporting awards from state and national organizations.

Jim Kohlmoos is executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). Kohlmoos was a vice president at The Implementation Group, a Washington, D.C.-based government relations firm where he built a bipartisan government relations practice in elementary and secondary education. From 1993-2000, he served as both a deputy assistant secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education and as a senior adviser and special assistant at the U.S. Department of Education. He began his education career with the U.S. Teacher Corps in Salinas, CA, and then served as a teacher trainer with the Peace Corps, which took him to Malaysia for three years.

Dr. George A. Giuliani is the executive director of The National Association of Special Education Teachers, Executive Director of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, and President of the National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education. Dr. Giuliani earned is a full-time tenured Associate Professor at Hofstra University's School of Education and Allied Human Services in the Department of Counseling, Research, Special Education, and Rehabilitation. He is the Director of the Special Education Program at Hofstra University's Graduate School.

Dr. Anne L. Bryant is the executive director of the National School Boards Association, a federation of state and territorial organizations dedicated to advancing education through citizen governance of public schools. The federation reaches over 14,700 school districts involving 95,000 school board members. She directs a 130 person staff in Alexandria, Virginia, implementing policies to help state associations and local school boards provide leadership for today's children in order to develop tomorrow's leaders.

John Merrow “Nobody reports on the treasures and traumas of public education better than John Merrow. He is, quite simply, the leading education journalist in America.” ­ Jim Lehrer, former host of PBS NewsHour. John Merrow began his career as an education reporter with National Public Radio in 1974, with the weekly series, “Options in Education.” In 1984, he branched out into public television. He served as host of The Merrow Report, an award-winning documentary series, and currently is the Education Correspondent for PBS NewsHour as well as the founder and President of Learning Matters. Merrow’s work has taken him from community colleges to kindergarten classrooms, from the front lines of teacher protests to policy debates on Capitol Hill. His varied reporting has continually been on the forefront of education journalism. In the process, he’s won countless awards ­ including two Peabody Awards and four CINE Golden Eagles ­ and authored or edited a part of four books.

Stephanie Strow is president of the Washington Association for Middle Level Education (WAMLE). She has taught seventh and eighth grade English/language arts/social studies at Fairhaven Middle School, Bellingham, WA, for the past 12 years. She also serves as a trustee on the National Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) Strow is a regular presenter at state and national conferences.

Gayle C. Manchin is president of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). In addition to her duties as a member of the West Virgina State Board of Education, she served as West Virginia’s first lady; a commissioner on the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service; the chairwoman of the Governor’s Healthy Lifestyles Coalition and the West Virginia Citizen’s Council on Children and Families; and as co-chair on the Governor’s 21st Century Jobs Cabinet and the Intellectual Infrastructure of Vision Shared. She is married to U.S. Senator Joe Manchin former Governor of West Virginia.

Keith R. Krueger (CAE) is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a national nonprofit organization that serves as the voice of K-12 technology leaders, especially school district CTO’s, who use technology strategically to improve teaching and learning. He has extensive background in nonprofit/association management and is particularly interested in using information technologies for education, health and libraries. He received a Masters of Arts in Public Affairs from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. He serves on the Advisory Boards for eSchool News, and Scholastic Administr@tor Magazine, GetNetWise and Generation Y. He is a past Board Member for the Organizations Concerned about Rural Education (OCRE) and served for many years as Board Member and Treasurer of the National Committee on Technology in Education & Training (NCTET). He has been honored as an eSchool News IMPACT 30 key national leader in educational technology.

Cheryl Scott Williams is a nationally recognized leader in education reform and improvement with extensive experience leading nonprofit boards and building successful board/staff relationships. Prior to coming to the Learning First Alliance, she served as a senior consultant at APQC. She was previously Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at Teachscape, a San Francisco based company that designs and delivers online, job-embedded professional development for teachers and principals. In addition, she has served as Vice President, Education at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and she spent 14 years directing the Education Technology Program at the National School Boards Association (NSBA) before joining CPB. Williams is a past president of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), past board chair of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), and current board member of the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET). She began her career in education as an English Language Arts teacher in Montgomery County, MD, and Fairfax County, VA. She holds a BA and MA in English and Secondary Education from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Carla Hannaford Ph.D. is a neurophysiologist and educator with experience as a professor of biology at the University of Hawaii and as a counselor for elementary and intermediate school children with learning difficulties. She presents and trains internationally on the neural basis of learning and educational kinesiology. In her bestselling book, Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head, Dr. Hannaford states that our bodies are very much a part of all our learning, and learning is not an isolated "brain" function. Every nerve and cell is a network contributing to our intelligence and our learning capability. Many educators have found this work quite helpful in improving overall concentration in class.

Robert Compton has had several careers over the past 30 years – IBM Systems Engineer, Professional Venture Capitalist, Angel Investor, President of NYSE Company, and Entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, angel investor and professional venture capitalist, he has been active in over 40 businesses including software, telecommunication services, healthcare services, education, medical devices and entertainment. As President of NYSE-traded Sofamor Danek (Memphis, TN), he helped lead the largest spinal medical device company in the world. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a BA from Principia College and an Honorary Doctorate from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He has served as a Trustee on over a dozen non-profit organizations, including as a Trustee of the Kauffman Foundation, a $1.8 billion foundation dedicated to accelerating entrepreneurship and The Plough Foundation in Memphis, TN. In 2005 Compton created the documentary Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination to take a deeper look at how the three superpowers of the 21st Century-China, India and the United States are preparing their students for the future. As the American public school system fails to adapt to this century, schools in China and India produce four times the number of high school graduates as the U.S. and educate these students to a much higher level. Two Million Minutes demonstrates that American students are capable of competing globally given the right curriculum, the right teachers, and expectation for success.

Hedda Bluestone Sharapan B.S, M.S. is Director of Early Childhood Initiatives at Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Hedda, who holds a B.S. in psychology from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and an M.S. in child development from the University of Pittsburgh, came to Family Communications in 1966. She is responsible for communicating Fred Rogers' philosophy in multiple ways: she develops workshops for early childhood educators; works on books, articles, and brochures for parents, families, and professionals; and speaks around the country to educators, parents, and religious, business, and community groups. Her two daughters, she says, "in a very real sense grew up in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

John D. Musso is the Executive Director of the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO). Musso has served for over 30 years in education having previously served as teacher, principal, CFO, and deputy superintendent. Musso is also an accomplished author and presenter on a various issues in education. The Association of School Business Officials International is a professional association that provides programs and services to promote the highest standards of school business management practices, professional growth, and the effective use of educational resources.

Bobette Thompson is president of the National Association of Child Care Professionals. In her 25 years in the industry, she has participated in the opening of 25 centers and consulted with numerous others. Bobette holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and CPA certification. She seeks to contribute to the industry through serving on state child care committees, presenting at conferences and active participation with NACCP and its Liaisons.

Rhonda Clements, Ed.D. is a professor in Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy at Manhattanville College. Dr. Clements received her Doctorate of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, from the Department of Movement Sciences and Education. Since that time, she has authored or edited 9 books and more than 20 articles in the area of movement, play, and game activities for children and has presented at more than 100 national and international conferences. Dr. Clements was one of eight experts to contribute to Active Start: A Statement of Physical Activity Guidelines for Children Birth to Five Years,which was sponsored by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. In addition, Dr. Clements is the past president of the American Association for the Child's Right to Play (IPA/USA), and she has also served as a consultant to numerous state education departments, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to train Native American Head Start specialists, NAEYC, Sesame Street, Sesame Place, Nick Jr. Family Magazine, the Disney Channel, Crayola Crayons, and Parental Wisdom. She conducted a national survey for Wisk Laundry Detergent aimed at investigating the extent to which children are playing outdoors today.

Dennis J. Randolph, EFM is the Executive Director of the National School Plant Management Association. The association's mission is: "Excellence in Education through Professional Facility Management." Randolph has involved himself in non-profit educational organizations over the past 25 years serving as past president of the Washington Association of Maintenance and Operations Administrators and the National School Plant Management Association. In his current position with Roseburg Public Schools, he serves as the Physical Plant Manager. Randolph has spent the last 27 years in facility management. His personal and professional belief is that quality facilities promote quality learning for students and the learning community.

Jackee Duvall is the president of the Oregon Parent Teachers Association (PTA). Oregon PTA is the largest network of parents in the state, and they work at the local, state and national levels to support and improve Oregon schools. For over 100 years, Oregon PTA has partnered with educators to be a powerful voice for children, an important resource for parents and a strong advocate for public education. Oregon PTA consists of 9 regions, 4 councils, approximately 240 local PTAs, with a total of more than 23,000 members statewide.

Linda Geigle is the Executive Director of the National Association for Family Child Care. Previously, she was the Executive Director of Children First, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah as well as a family child care provider. Linda is also a past president, treasurer, and secretary of the National Association for Family Child Care. She also held the positions of president and secretary of the Professional Family Child Care Association of Utah.

Jane E. Clark Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland. Her work focuses on understanding the development of movement control and coordination in motor skills. Using a dynamic systems approach, Dr. Clark and her colleagues have demonstrated that the newly walking infants' limbs, like those of the adult walker, act like coupled nonlinear limit cycle oscillators at both the intralimb and interlimb levels of coordination. Her current work examines the role of sensory information in the development of upright posture and locomotion in infants. She also has an ongoing project to study perception-action relationships with children who have motor coordination problems.

Deborah Adamczyk Dixon, MA,CCC-SLP. The school setting has been the focus of Deborah's career, as she has worked as a practitioner, administrator, state consultant, and state compliance monitor in Pennsylvania. She also served as a member of ASHA's Legislative Council, the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) and on various ASHA committees before joining the ASHA staff as the Director of School Services.

Yasmina Vinci is the Executive Director of the National Head Start Association that represents more than one million children, 200,000 staff and 2,600 Head Start programs in the United States. She was a center director, policy maker in state government, funder and received her masters at Harvard with a focus on leading large scale change.

Dr. Paul G. Young serves as the President and CEO of the National AfterSchool Association, the nation's professional association for afterschool providers. Young has worked as a teacher and administrator in schools in Ohio for more than 35 years. Originally a high school band director, Young also taught 4th and 5th grades and served as an elementary school principal for nearly 20 years before retiring from work in the public schools.

Glenda Bean is executive director of the Southern Early Childhood Association(SECA). Since 1948 the Southern Early Childhood Association has brought together preschool, kindergarten, and primary teachers and administrators, care givers, program directors, and individuals working with and for families, to promote quality care and education for young children. Over 20,000 individuals working in every aspect of child care and early childhood belong to SECA. They share ideas in local, state, and regional meetings, in professional development institutes, and through the association's resources.

Paula A. Cordeiro is the Dean of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES) at the University of San Diego. Previously Dr. Cordeiro was the Coordinator of the masters and doctoral programs in Educational Leadership at The University of Connecticut. Cordeiro is a former teacher, principal and school head in international schools in Venezuela and Spain. In 2007 Paula was appointed to the board of The James Irvine Foundation in San Francisco and also serves on the Education Advisory Board of the Stuart Foundation. In 2009 she was elected to the board of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE). Dr. Cordeiro is a past president of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), and in 1998 was awarded a fellowship by the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (FCCEAM). She is a former member of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, past President of the San Diego Council on Literacy, a founding member of the Academy of International School Heads, and a board member of the International Council for the Education of Teachers (ICET), and San Diego Grantmakers. In addition to numerous articles, Paula has published three books and is currently working on the fifth edition of her co-authored text (with William G. Cunningham): An Introduction to Educational Leadership: A Bridge to Improved Practice. Paula's research and teaching are in the areas of school leadership and global education.

Julie Underwood, a nationally recognized authority on school law, became the eighth dean of the UW-Madison School of Education in August 2005. Underwood taught at UW-Madison from 1986 to 1995 on the faculty of the Department of Educational Administration (now Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis). She has returned to Madison after serving from 1995 to 1998 as dean of Miami University’s School of Education and Allied Professions and from 1998 to 2005 as associate executive director and general counsel for the National School Boards Association in Washington, D.C. At the NSBA, she led a legal advocacy program on behalf of the nation’s public school boards, including producing friend-of-the-court briefs and legal strategies before the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts. She also was responsible for the 3,000-member Council of School Attorneys. At UW-Madison, Underwood has served as chair of the Department of Educational Administration (1993-94), associate dean of the School of Education (1994-95), and co-director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Policy at the Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs (1990-93).

Fayneese Miller is dean of the College of Education and Social Services and professor of Human Development, Educational Leadership and Social Policy at the University of Vermont. Dr. Miller is a social psychologist who specializes in the psychosocial development of youth, with special emphasis on alienation, social identity, and cross-racial friendships. Dr. Miller serves on the U.S. Department of Justice's National Truancy Prevention Association (NTPA) Board. Her work includes a study on perceptions of racial/ethnic bias for the Rhode Island Supreme Court and a project on school-based truancy courts for the Rhode Island Family Court. She was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science Task Force on diversity in higher education and the Annie Casey Foundation and Joint Center for Political Studies focus group on reproductive health. Dr. Miller is a member of the Vermont State Board of Education.

Dr. Deneese L. Jones began her service as Professor and Dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Longwood University on June 25, 2005. She succeeded Dr. Judy Johnson who had served as interim dean of the college for the previous year. Dr. Jones earned her Ph. D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on literacy instruction and her Master of Education degree in the same discipline from Texas A&M University. Her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education is from Texas Woman's University. A native of Dallas, Texas, Dr. Jones moved to Farmville from the University of Kentucky at Lexington, KY where she devoted fourteen years of her educational expertise at the state, national, and international level.

Dr. Hilda Rosselli After accepting a faculty position at USF, I was offered the chance to develop a Professional Development School for the College of Education. This gave me the chance to spend hundreds of hours at a local middle school where I supervised student teachers, taught both preservice and inservice courses at the school and worked with the school staff to implement various school improvement projects and studies. While at USF I also coordinated a master's degree program, served as the Director of the College of Education Honor's program and eventually was appointed Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs and then Associate Dean for Teacher Education. In 2002, I accepted my current position as Dean of the College of Education at Western Oregon University and drove across the United States with three cats, following the Oregon Trail, and listening to the adventures of Lewis and Clark on tape. I am delighted to have become an Oregonian and have developed new hobbies that include hiking, snowshoeing, and photographing sneaker waves on the Coast.

Dr. Angela Sewall who has been the dean of education at UALR since 1997, is also active in educational policy in other venues including her roles as a member and deans’ representative on the board of the Reading Recovery Council of North America, vice chair of the Unit Accreditation Board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and a member of the NCATE Executive Board. She is a lead partner in the Arkansas Partnership for Teacher Quality (ArTQP), a national initiative for teacher quality, student learning and data quality supported by grants from AACTE and the National Education Association. Sewall has been a professor at UALR since 1992. Prior to that time, she worked for educational change and student learning in the Little Rock School District for 22 years, as a teacher, principal, and associate superintendent.

David Ritchey Ph.D., has been Executive Director of the Association of Teacher Educators since 2003. He has more than 20 years experience with trade and professional associations, most recently with the Association of School Business Officials International before coming to ATE. While with ASBO he was Director of Communications and Marketing, Director of Government and Public Affairs, and Interim Executive Director. As ASBO's Interim Executive Director he fulfilled all functions of the CEO for this 20-staff, $3.4 million budget association for nearly a year. He had previously been Number Two Staff Executive with the Architectural Woodwork Institute, and had worked with the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industries International and the Institute of Industrial Launderers. Dr. Ritchey has completed graduate work at George Mason University and the University of Virginia, and he holds two Masters degrees (in sociology and public administration) and a Ph.D. in public administration.

Brenda Lilienthal Welburn served as the Executive Director of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) from 1994 until 2012 and is known as an association manager and legislative professional with more than 35 years of experience in policy development and analysis in education and human service issues. Ms. Welburn began her career in social work, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, specializing in casework services to foster children and their natural and foster families. She later became a Research Analyst with the U.S. House of Representatives' Select Committee on Assassinations. She went on to become a Legislative Assistant to the late Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts covering a broad range of legislative issues including education, health and human services, child welfare services, and civil rights. A graduate of Howard University with graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Welburn is one of the nation's foremost experts on state education policy. She possesses not only professional expertise, but a unique historical perspective on the evolution of education governance and policy development at the state and federal levels. She has given workshops and presentations on state education policy in the United States around the nation and in several foreign countries. She has provided leadership training and board development in more than forty states.

Dr. Diane Levin Diane Levin is Professor of Education at Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts, where she teaches a service learning course on the reconciliation process underway in schools in Northern Ireland and a summer institute on “Media Madness and Children.” She has written eight books including: So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and How Parents Can Protect Their Kids (with Jean Kilbourne), The War Play Dilemma, Teaching Young Children in Violent Times, and Remote Control Childhood?. She speaks around the world on the impact of violence, media and other societal issues on children, families and schools. Diane is also a founding member of the CCFC (Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood) and TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment).

Michael Rich, MD, MPH is Founder and Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston, committed to pursuing research, developing interventions on negative health effects of media, and creating health-positive media. He is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Assistant Professor in Society, Human Development, and Health at Harvard School of Public Health, and practices adolescent medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston. Dr. Rich is a former filmmaker and writer who worked in the film industry for 12 years, including two years in Japan as assistant director to Akira Kurosawa on Kagemusha, before attending medical school at Harvard.

Donna Mazyck is Executive Director of the National Association of School Nurses(NASN). Donna has spent half her nursing career in school health. She worked as a high school nurse and a state school nurse consultant. She provides leadership and consultation on student and school health issues for leaders of school health services programs, school nurses, families, school administrators, policy makers and organizations.

Eric Jensen is a former teacher with a real love of learning. While most of his experience is with secondary students, he has taught at every level, including at three universities. His academic background is in both the liberal and the science arts. He's currently a member of the Society for Neuroscience, NY Academy of Science, and is completing his PhD in psychology. Eric blends the science of teaching with the reality of today's instruction. Jensen has appeared on over 240 television and radio stations, including CNN. Articles on his work have appeared in USA Today, CNN, Wall Street Journal and major educational journals. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Learning with the Body in Mind, Teaching with the Brain in Mind, and Enriching the Brain.

Craig Buschner, Ed.D. is a professor with the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Chico. Dr. Buschner's teaching responsibilities include Foundations of Childhood Physical Education and Motor Development in Children. He is a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Teaching Physical Education, Physical Educator, and the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, and is the author of Teaching Children Movement Concepts and Skills: Becoming a Master Teacher, as well as numerous articles and book chapters. Dr. Buschner is currently serving as President of the National Association for Sport & Physical Education.

Jean Hovey is president of the Florida Parent Teacher Association (FPTA). PTA is the oldest and largest child advocacy association in the State of Florida. It received its charter in 1923 and have been advocating for children for eighty-eight years. Florida's PTA Board of Directors consists of 54 members from across the state. They represent children in Tallahassee and Washington D.C. and they serve on numerous committees at Department of Education, Department of Health, Race to The Top -to name a few. Several board members serve on National PTA Committees as well.

Dr. Lillian Katz is a graduate of Stanford University and an international leader in early childhood education. She taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for more than three decades, as well as directing the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE) for more than 30 years.

Dr. Rebecca Isbell is Director of the Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Learning and Development and a professor of early childhood education at East Tennessee State University. She received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching in 1994. Dr. Isbell has a wide variety of teaching experiences that have influenced her thinking about young children and their families. These include teaching music in grades K-5, teaching three-year-olds, teaching graduate students, and supervising early childhood student teachers. Her many publications have inspired early childhood professionals to create environments that work, are aesthetically pleasing and include centers that match the unique interests of the children in the classroom. Instructors in college classes throughout the United States and Canada have used her two textbooks, enriching their understanding of children's literature and creativity and the arts. The Complete Learning Center Book is a classic in the field and continues to be a major source for center design. Her newest book, The Learning Spaces for Infants and Toddlers, provides this same usable framework to spaces for infants and toddlers.

Joan Almon is the Chair of the U.S. Alliance for Childhood (www.allianceforchildhood.org), a broad-based group advocating social change for children to improve their overall health and well-being. The Alliance currently places a special focus on the restoration of creative play in the lives of children. Joan was a Waldorf kindergarten teacher in Maryland for nearly 20 years and then spent a decade consulting with Waldorf early childhood centers in North America, Africa, Asia and other parts of the world.