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With over 25 years in public education, Aaron Blackwelder has taught middle and high school English, served as a Digital Learning Coach, and coached both boys’ and girls’ high school golf. He co-founded Teachers Going Gradeless, hosts the podcast Beyond the Curriculum, and contributes to Spectrum Life Magazine.

Jason Cowley is a National Board Certified ELA teacher and a former instructional coach with more than 18 years of experience in the classroom. He also worked as a National Board facilitator for eight years. In addition to his work on AI in the classroom, Jason has extensively studied how assessment practices impact student learning.

Susan Bowman has an Ed.S. in Counselor Education from the University of South Carolina. She worked as a secondary school counselor, a licensed professional counselor, and social worker specializing in helping troubled teens and their families. She also worked as a Title I counselor for the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and started a non-profit organization to help incarcerated youth. She has conducted seminars throughout the U.S.

Kirsten Perry currently serves as a middle school counselor at Singapore American School. Prior to this, she served as a district leader in Chicago Public Schools. She served as both a social-emotional learning specialist coaching 27 schools and as a school counseling specialist coaching over 700 school counselors.

Gregory Donoghue Ph.D has over 30 years of experience working with vulnerable children - as a former child abuse detective with Victoria Police and statutory child protection investigator, and currently as a researcher and lecturer in the science of human learning and student wellbeing.  Greg completed his PhD in educational neuroscience and combines his other qualifications in psychology, criminology, education and neuroscience to develop and deliver

Tim O'Leary, PhD is Founding Director of Educational Data Talks and an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne. Tim has worked in education for 20+ years, with experience in Government, Independent and faith-based schools. Within schools, Tim's roles have ranged from classroom teacher to school leadership; his most recent role was as Director of Learning in an inner-city F-12 school.

Tyler Wayne Gilbert is an Instructional Coach for a large Central Valley of California district, an education consultant, and a San Diego State University doctoral student pursuing an Ed.D in Educational Leadership. He is dedicated to helping all learners feel seen, heard, valued, and, most importantly, noticed through research-backed practices and intentional instructional design. Tyler was a former elementary educator.

Steven Leinwand is a principal research analyst at AIR, the American Institutes for Research in Arlington, Virginia, and has more than 40 years of leadership positions in mathematics education.

Caroline Welty is a senior at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, NC. She has tutored 4th-8th grade students in both math and English since 2020. Caroline attended the North Carolina Governor’s School in Choral Music in 2024, and she is President of her school’s A Cappella Club. She also is a member of her church’s Worship Team, the chair of her middle school’s Young Alumni Council, and the President of her school’s Public Forum Debate Team.

Seymour B. Sarason is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Yale University. During his distinguished 48-year career, he has been one of the most astute observers and incisive critics of efforts to reform our schools. Among his more than 30 published books are The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform (1990), Schooling in America: Scapegoat or Salvation (1983), and The Culture of School and the Problem of Change (2nd ed., 1982).

William A. Sommers, Ph.D. of Austin, Texas, continues to be a learner, teacher, principal, author, leadership coach, and consultant. Bill has come out of retirement five times to put theory into practice. He was on the Board of Trustees for five years and President for the National Staff Development Council now called Learning Forward.

Geoff Colvin draws on his experience as a classroom teacher, administrator, researcher and instructor at the University of Oregon, and national public school consultant. Widely recognized as an expert on the subjects of school safety and violence prevention, Colvin has provided inservice training for teachers and administrators in more than 100 school districts and agencies nationally and internationally.