Thomas C. Murray serves as the Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education, located in Washington, DC. He has testified before the United States Congress and works alongside that body and the US Senate, the White House, the US Department of Education and state departments of education, corporations, and school districts throughout the country to implement student-centered, personalized learning while helping to lead Future Ready and Digital Learning Day. Murray serves as a regular conference keynote, was named one of “20 to Watch” by NSBA, the “Education Policy Person of the Year” by the Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015 and “Education Thought Leader of the Year” in 2017. His ASCD best-selling book, Learning Transformed, was released in 2017, and his latest book, Personal & Authentic, was released in October 2019. Connect with him at thomascmurray.com or @thomascmurray.

George Couros is a leading educator in the area of innovative leadership, teaching, and learning. He has worked with all levels of school, from K-12 as a teacher, technology facilitator and as a school and district administrator. He is a sought after speaker on the topic of innovative student learning and engagement and has worked with schools and organizations around the globe.

Although George is a leader in the area of innovation, his focus is always the development of leadership and people and what is best for learners. His belief that meaningful change happens when you first connect to people's hearts is modeled in his writing and speaking. You can connect with George on his blog, "The Principal of Change" (located at georgecouros.ca) or through Twitter and Instagram (@gcouros).

Deidre Roemer has served as the Director of Leadership and Learning for the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District since 2016. She has been with WAWM since 2005 as a teacher, instructional coach, and the Coordinator of Special Education. Prior to WAWM, Deidre worked in Lakeville, MN, Des Moines, IA, Milwaukee, WI, Kapolei, HI, and Waukegan, IL as a teacher. She received her Bachelor’s degree from UW Madison, her Master’s from Aurora University, and endorsements for the Director of Pupil Services, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and Superintendent from Cardinal Stritch University. She serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee and is also the proud mother of three amazing children and a great dog.

Katie Martin is Chief Impact Officer at Learner-Centered Collaborative. She works with a growing network of districts and schools to support the shift from school-centered to learner-centered models of education that enable all students to reach their potential. She has also served as a middle school English language arts teacher, instructional coach, and led the district's new teacher mentoring program.

Katie has a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in middle school education and her Ph.D. specialized in new teacher induction and ongoing support to impact teacher efficacy and effectiveness. As a leader, teacher, and speaker, Katie’s experience in research and practice continues to guide her belief that if we want to change how students learn, we must change how educators learn. As a mom, she wants her kids to have learning experiences in school that build on their strengths and interests, and as an educator; she is passionate about making sure we do the same for all kids.

Dr. Jody Carrington is a clinical psychologist, speaker, author, and gamechanger. As a child psychologist, she has assessed, treated, educated, and empowered some of the most vulnerable and precious souls on the planet: our kids. After 15 years, she believes to her core that the ones who hold our kids - our educators and parents - are our biggest game changers. Her mission is to shift the way educators think and feel about the hold work they do, and to refocus all of us on supporting them in that work.

Meghan Lawson is a thought leader who studies and implements the conditions and systems needed for transformational change. A lover of learning who believes in the goodness of people, Meghan works to cultivate necessary space that honors the humanity of all people. She promotes storytelling, the exchange of ideas, and risk-taking. She is passionate about disrupting the status quo and creating kinder, forward-thinking communities of action. Meghan is also intensely curious about how to enhance the customer experience in schools. Meghan began her career in the English Language Arts classroom. So, inevitably, her mantra is Words Matter. In her seventeen plus years in the field of education, she has worked in all levels of K-12 education as a teacher, school administrator, district administrator, and educational consultant. You can connect with Meghan on Twitter @meghan_lawson, on Instagram @meghanlawsonblog, or on her blog at meghanlawson.com.

Lainie Rowell is an educator and international consultant who specializes in working with other educators to find innovative and sustainable ways to transform teaching and learning. Her areas of focus include community building, learner-driven design, online/blended learning, and professional learning.

During her 25 years in education, Lainie has taught elementary, secondary, and higher education. She also served in a district-level leadership position supporting 22,000 students and 1,200 teachers at 33 schools.

As a consultant, Lainie's client list ranges from Fortune 100 companies like Apple and Google to school districts and independent schools. Lainie is a TEDx Speaker with more than 15 years of experience presenting at regional, national, and international conferences including Learning Forward, the Digital Learning Annual Conference (DLAC), Building Learning Communities (BLC), and the Leadership 3.0 Symposium.

Her work has been highlighted in many publications, including Edutopia, OC Family Magazine, ASCD K-12 Leadership SmartBrief, Getting Smart, and PBS NewsHour.

Since 2014, Lainie has been a consultant for the Orange County Department of Education's Institute for Leadership Development facilitating professional learning for administrators.

Learn more about Lainie at LainieRowell.com and see highlights of her work at https://linktr.ee/lainierowell. You can also subscribe to her newsletter at https://lainierowell.com/subscribe.

Livia Chan is an author and educator passionate about community, teaching, leading with her heart, and lifelong daily learning. She truly believes in the power of connection and thoroughly enjoys building relationships by reaching out with kindness and gratitude. Livia lives by the belief that it is through every interaction that we have the opportunity to intentionally uplift others with kindness and gratitude; we can make a difference in their lives by brightening their day.

For over 20 years, Livia has continued to experience the joy of teaching in the Greater Vancouver area in BC, Canada and loves her dual role as a Head Teacher and classroom teacher. Previously, she served on the District Staff Development Team in Learning Technologies supporting K-12 educators. Currently, Livia is honored to be the Digital Content Coordinator for the Teach Better Team and loves being a part of this family. Her motto is “Working together to better ourselves, each other, and the world around us.”

Amber Teamann is the proud principal of Whitt Elementary in Wylie ISD in Wylie, Texas. During her educational career, Amber’s comprehensive understanding of student learning has resulted in a successful blend of technology and teaching. From a 4th grade teacher at a public school technology center, to her role as a Title I Technology Facilitator responsible for 17 campuses, Amber has helped students and staff navigate their digital abilities and responsibilities. She transformed the way information is shared in one of the largest school districts in Texas by piloting a communication initiative that launched Twitter, and led to 100-percent campus participation. Through her campus level leadership, she has helped initiate classroom change district wide, empowering teachers at all levels through digital initiatives.

Amber has received numerous awards, including Regional Assistant Principal of the Year and a “Principal of the Year” engagement award. She recently was recognized as the Dallas Down Syndrome Educator of the Year for her work with inclusivity on her campus. TCEA honored her as a state finalist for “Administrator of the Year”. She also partnered with George Couros to develop and curate leadership with the “School Admin Virtual Mentoring Project”, which connected over 400 educators worldwide in a digital space that nurtured and cultivated leadership. She was a contributing author for “Education Write Now“, on changing the way you think about leadership. Through her state organization, TEPSA, she has shared in numerous webinars, articles, and conferences with administrators at all levels.

Amber has also co-created a space on Facebook, for principals, by principals that shares staff appreciation and motivation ideas, tips and tricks to ensure the well being of a campus staff. With over 5000 members, it has become a collaborative space where administrators are able to connect, be renewed and feel as if taking care of their people is a FUN and easy thing to do. A second group focuses on Principal Productivity.

Having keynoted several events, she is passionate about inspiring innovation through her experiences and impetus for student success in a digitally full world. Amber speaks nationally at educational conferences, including Digital Learning Day in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education in Washington DC. She also developed and led the inaugural Region X Digital Fluency Academy for Administrators, supporting her favorite quote, “The smartest person in the room IS the room.” Amber knows we can all be better together and strives to make every day the very best it can be for each member of her staff and students.

In addition to blogging for Connected Principals, she is a firm believer in modeling a digital footprint. Her educational philosophy and digital portfolio can be found at “TECHnically yours, Teamann” or on twitter, @8amber8. She also showcases #allthethings on Instagram.

Lauren Kaufman is an assistant principal in Long Island, New York. With over 15 years in education, she has served as an elementary Instructional Coach, an elementary and middle school reading specialist, new teacher Mentor Coordinator K-12, creativity camp enrichment program supervisor for the Long Beach Public Schools, and a 2nd and 5th-grade classroom teacher for the New York City Department of Education.

Lauren is a lifelong learner whose professional passion is to empower teachers to lead so they can share their gifts with others and develop lifelong literacy practices in all learners. She has led teams developing 73 Units of Study in Reading and Writing K-5, has provided educators with job-embedded professional learning that supported a balanced literacy approach, and guided new teachers with acclimating to the culture and climate of a school system. She has organized Long Beach Literacy Day and has presented at #LBLit, LIASCD, #EDCampLI, Long Island Technology Summit, Long Island Language Arts Council, #NerdcampLI, and DEI Conferences.

Lauren enjoys sharing her learning through blogging on her own platform, is a contributing author in George Couros’ book Because of a Teacher, is an author for Edutopia, and a guest blogger for the Teach Better Team and Future Ready Schools! Lauren appreciates sharing best literacy practices with colleagues, and wholeheartedly believes in developing powerful professional learning communities and networks that cultivate meaningful, relevant learning and growth.

Stephanie Rothstein is an Educational Leader focused on making education more collaborative and less competitive. She advocates for modeling the risks we expect of our students and shared about this in her TedX Talk “My Year of Yes to Me” published on Ted.com. She currently serves at the EdTech TOSA for the Santa Clara Unified School District (K-12).

Her continuous love of learning led her to become a Google Innovator, Trainer, and Coach. She is the co-founder of GlobalGEG, creator of CanWeTalkEDU, and author of numerous articles published on Edutopia and her own blog. She speaks at educational conferences around the world and was named CUE’s Teacher of the Year for 2021.

Please connect on Twitter and Instagram @StephRothEDU, or her website www.stephrothedu.com.

Dwight Carter is a nationally recognized school leader from Central OH and has been an educator for 27 years. Because of his collaborative and innovative leadership, in 2010, he was inducted into the Jostens Renaissance Educator Hall of Fame. He was also named a 2013 National Association of Secondary School Principals Digital Principal of the Year, the 2014 Academy of Arts and Science Education High School Principal of the Year, the 2015 Ohio Alliance of Black School Educators Principal of the Year, and a 2021 Columbus Afrocentric Early College Sankofa Emerging Leader Award winner. He is currently the Director of Student Support Systems for the Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools District.

He is the co-author of three books: What’s In Your Space? Five Steps to Better School and Classroom Design (Corwin, 2015), Leading Schools in Disruptive Times: How to Survive Hyper-change (Corwin 2017), and the second edition of Leading Schools in Disruptive Times (Corwin, 2021. Additionally, he has contributed to several educational books and articles.

Mary Hemphill, Ph.D. is a leadership expert and coach, K-12 educator and administrator, and inspirational speaker. She is the Director of Academic Standards at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Dr. Hemphill holds a Ph.D. in leadership studies from North Carolina A&T State University and a master’s degree in school administration from Western Carolina University. She is the CEO of The Limitless Lady, LLC and founder of The Limitless Leader, a company that helps individuals ignite the leader within so they can better serve their community, company, and personal career.