Anthony Warn has over sixteen years of experience working in culturally and linguistically diverse elementary and middle schools, including five years as a school administrator in the New York City public schools. Fully bilingual in Spanish, Anthony has many years of experience working to support the education of ELLs and brings to his work a passion for including the full range of artistic experiences to the work of curriculum design and instruction.

Ben graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in History and Science. He earned his Master's degree in Education Administration from Baruch City College while teaching at Erasmus Hall, a troubled, inner-city high school. In 2002, Ben received a grant to build a high school that better reflected his vision of a fair public education system. Ben's innovative ideas for public education became reality in the fall of 2003, when he opened the High School for Public Service in Brooklyn. When the school opened, Ben became the youngest public high school principal in the state of New York. Ben was recently chosen from a nationwide pool as the recipient of the prestigious Jefferson Award, “Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Under.”

As the first national technology officer (NTO) and chief technology officer (CTO) of Microsoft Education, Cameron Evans is responsible for shaping and executing Microsoft Corp.’s technology and policy strategy in U.S. Education. Evans chairs Microsoft’s Higher Education Advisory Group and K12 Advisory Group for connecting customer insights into Microsoft’s industry engagement. As Microsoft’s Education CTO, Evans focuses his work principally on large, complex and strategic innovation for public and private schools in K–12 and higher education, museums, libraries, research universities, and academic medical centers across the nation.

Evans is a member of Microsoft’s Education Leadership Team and is the national spokesperson for institutional innovation and transformation. Before he was named NTO and CTO in July 2009, Evans was the group sales manager for Microsoft Higher Education.

Since joining Microsoft in January 2004, Evans has served in a variety of positions, including managing the development and sales execution of account executives, technical sales specialists, industry solutions professionals, and Microsoft Certified Partners. In addition, Evans has served as the Microsoft liaison for the Schools Interoperability Framework Association. Evans continues to keynote industry conferences to connect Microsoft’s broad global and education vision with meaningful, real-world transformation.

Before joining Microsoft, Evans was a K–12 chief information officer and cabinet-level executive. Evans is a U.S. Air Force veteran. He holds a bachelor’s degree in management-computer information systems from Park University. In addition, Evans is currently completing his MBA at the University of Texas at Dallas. He enjoys songwriting and producing music, eating dessert first, and travelling internationally with his wife and daughter.

Evans blogs at higherinnovation.com, and you can also find him on Facebook at higher.innovation and on Twitter at higherinnov8ion.

Debra Bannon is president of Learning Plus Inc., an education consulting firm. Over the last 22 years Deb has worked in education in many roles, including fourth grade teacher, school technology leader, and consultant. She received her Masters degree from Purdue University. Deb has consulted with K-12 schools developing workshops in the areas of technology integration in Standards-based classroom, 6+1 Writing Traits, PBL, and data. She has been a certified consultant with Collaborative Learning since 2005.

Currently Associate Principal of Academics and Student Support Services Seton HS, Cincinnati, Ohio

• since 2007 Created and currently supervises Academic Support Program for students with learning difficulties
• 2002 – 2007 Principal of Villa Madonna Academy Elementary and Junior HS
• 1991 – 2002 – Reading Specialist/Intervention Specialist for Hamilton County Educational Services Center in Cincinnati, Ohio
• From 1975 - 1991 Taught English in area high schools, and as a part-time adjunct at various local colleges

• BA English - University of Dayton
• M.Ed. Literacy - University of Cincinnati
• Principal Licensure Program for Elementary and Secondary Administrative Licensure – University of Dayton
• Native Cincinnatian
• 3 adult children, live with husband, Jim in Wyoming, Ohio

Janet Rummel, Certified Consultant, is a 13-year veteran teacher who brings experience in leading instruction planning, curriculum mapping, and standards-based grading initiatives in her district and in districts nation-wide. A doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at Purdue University, she also coordinates and teaches multicultural education to prospective teachers and supervises student teachers of secondary mathematics.

Kevin Baird began his career as a technology teacher, working with adult and alternative degree students to improve career readiness skills. Later representing Native American governments, he created education policy, presented to state and federal lawmakers, and helped to secure critical funding for education and health programs for rural populations. He is the founder and former Executive Director of several non-profit organizations focused on education, health care and the arts.

A leader in educational publishing, Mr. Baird served as Vice President with Renaissance Learning, publishers of Accelerated Reader, and as Vice President with Achieve3000, publishers of KidBiz3000 and TeenBiz3000, before building a successful media joint venture with the Chinese government. In those capacities, he led hundreds of educational consultants worldwide, has worked with schools on every continent excluding Antarctica, and has participated in some of the largest research studies in education ever conducted in reading, mathematics, and effective school leadership.

Today, Mr. Baird serves in a variety of education related posts through EdLead, his education fund and support organization. Kevin holds degrees in Sociology and Anthropology, holds an MBA in Global Management, is a Beinecke National Scholar, a Wingspread Scholar, and a member of the Secretary’s Circle of Phi Beta Kappa. He is a founder of the Curriculum Improvement Institute and a regular speaker and consultant working with schools and districts to create effective school management systems and processes. Mr. Baird lives with his spouse and three children outside of Chicago.

Larry Hahn has been an educator since 1982. One of his earlier accomplishments included becoming the youngest principal in Texas at the age of 24. Larry lead the way in helping to raise student achievement throughout the 13 years as a school administrator. This included a remarkable increase of test scores of 32% in reading in just two years time.

Over the past twelve years Larry has trained and helped motivate thousands of educators in ways to improve teaching and learning including using the power of data to impact student results.

Using his educational experiences, he speaks to audiences about how to make a difference in the lives of children, learning, and helping educators focus “what works.”

He is the President of Leadership Infusion, Inc., a consulting company, dedicated to training and motivating school leaders to “Step Up and Lead” in their organizations.

Dr. Marie Alcock Marie Alcock PhD has been an educator and administrator in both public and private schools for the past twelve years. She met Heidi Hayes Jacobs in 1999 when she was the curriculum coordinator of a school exploring the idea of curriculum mapping. Marie led her school through the mapping process including the introduction of Web-based technology and the exploration of the advanced mapping techniques. Marie currently teaches the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Master's program for Walden University. She is working with schools nationally as an educational consultant helping private, parochial, independent, and public schools through the mapping process. Most recently she has been invited as an education research ambassador to China.

Michael Rush has served schools for more than 30 years as both a teacher and consultant. He has worked closely with expert educators, including Heidi Hayes Jacobs. He has traveled extensively helping school leaders better understand the operational curricula within their schools. Mr. Rush is experienced in Understanding by Design, Differentiated Instruction, and Project-Based Learning.

Bob Mischel's background as a certified public accountant in the United States for 22 years afforded him the opportunity to work with some of the finest entrepreneurs in the world, including Gary Gannaway. In July 1997, Bob joined Gannaway and The Gannaway Group as its President. Presently, as CFO, COO and Vice Chairman of the Board, Bob is responsible for managing the day-to-day and finance operations of WorldNow, a Gannaway Group Company. In addition to overseeing all department heads, Bob specializes in shaping the company's strategic direction and managing the financial outlook to ensure WorldNow is profitable.

Prior to joining WorldNow, Bob was the founding and managing partner of Mischel, Martini, Iosue & Akpovi, Certified Public Accountants, located in Los Angeles, California. Bob specialized in working with high growth companies, both in and outside of the media industry. With his strategic guidance, many of these companies began as start-ups and grew into highly profitable entities and either continued to expand or successfully executed on very profitable exit strategies.

Bob earned his bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from the California State University at Northridge.

Dr. Valarie Williams, native of Wilson, North Carolina, is the principal at Fred A. Cochrane Middle School. She is married and has two handsome sons. She believes in "family" and "relationships," her family oriented nature pervades the culture at Cochrane causing the school's environment to be warm and inviting. When thinking of the nature of Cochrane, Dr. Williams always keeps this one thought in mind: "Would I want my child to attend this school?" This is the driving force for the strategies and techniques she implements at Cochrane to assist in quality instruction. As Cochrane's leader, Dr. Williams' background encompasses an array of knowledge and experience that is shared and used to improved the achievement levels of students. She graduated from St. Augustine's College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Math and a minor in Math Education; Dr. Williams began her career as a 7th and 8th grade math teacher for six years. While teaching, she pursued her MBA and EdS in Curriculum and Teaching at East Carolina University before becoming an administrator in Guilford County. Aiming higher educationally, she received her Doctorate of Education at UNC-Greensboro, becoming highly qualified to effectively lead schools to success. Arriving at Cochrane Middle School during the 2007-2008 academic school year, she coined the schools motto, "A 5 Star School Providing 5 Star Service." Dr. Williams upholds this principle by walking in excellence in all that she does and expecting the very best from staff and students. Her vision for Cochrane is welcomed by the staff and serves as an impetus for creating an atmosphere conducive for critical thinking, not only for students but for teachers as well. Dr. Williams brings a strong research based instructional mindset to Cochrane, which restructures the quality of instruction in the classroom. She believes in the instructional paradigm of Interactive Learning, which enables students to learn through exploration and projects, thus causing them to be more active and responsible for their own learning. Ultimately, Dr. Williams has the students' best interest at heart and by the staff members maintaining her vision for the school, the needs of Cochrane students are being met.