Kirsten Baesler is in her fourth term as the elected state superintendent of the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. She has led significant improvements in graduation rates and academic success for North Dakota’s students. She served as president of the board of directors of the Council of Chief State School Officers, representing state education agencies nationwide. She served for 24 years in Bismarck Public Schools as a district office technology integration specialist, school vice principal, library media specialist, and classroom teacher.

Jillian Balow is the Chief Strategy Officer at MetaMetrics. She oversees organizational goal-setting and leads strategic initiatives, partnerships, and government relations. Jillian served as Virginia’s Governor-appointed State Superintendent (2022-2023) and Wyoming’s elected State Superintendent (2014-2022). She also has been president of the board of directors of the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Dr. Johannes Bos is a senior vice president and Institute Fellow at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). He is a nationally recognized expert in the conduct of randomized control trials in education and other areas of social policy research. Since 1992 he has conducted numerous evaluations and policy studies in education, child development, welfare reform, and labor policy.

Dr. Beth Boulay has over 15 years of experience using robust evaluation tools and methods to generate evidence practitioners need to make critical decisions. Her work includes designing and conducting research aimed at identifying effective education interventions that promise to improve student achievement and education outcomes. She also provides evaluation technical assistance to help increase local evaluators’ capacity to produce rigorous evidence of program effectiveness and implementation fidelity.

Dr. Jeffrey Cole has been at the forefront of media and communication technology issues both in the United States and internationally for the past three decades. An expert in the field of technology and emerging media, he serves as an adviser to governments and leading companies around the world as they craft digital strategies.

Governor Chet Culver has spent his entire adult life teaching, coaching and serving Iowa. Elected in 2006, he increased teacher salaries and expanded health care for uninsured children. He created the Iowa Student Political Awareness Club, a nonpartisan statewide organization dedicated to increasing civic participation among young people. He is currently Founder of the Chet Culver Group, a renewable energy and infrastructure consultancy.

The Dignity Index is an initiative of Project UNITE, a nonprofit that promotes national unity and solidarity across differences. EdTalks will demonstrate how the Dignity Index, an eight point scale grounded in research from the fields of behavioral science, communication, and politics, can be used to inform how we engage one another with dignity.

Governor Jim Douglas of Vermont was elected in 2002 and re-elected three times. Prior to that, he served Vermont in its House of Representatives and as Secretary of State and State Treasurer. He focused on strengthening the state’s economy and advancing groundbreaking health reforms. He now teaches political science at Middlebury College, his alma mater.

PJ Fleck, Head Coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers, has established himself as one of the most successful coaches ever to lead this Big Ten football program. His inspiring story began as an elementary teacher, and he is a best-selling author of “Row the Boat.” Back by popular demand due to his dynamic keynote at our 2023 conference.

Beth Heimer is the Senior Director of Coaching and Schools at the BARR Center. With over 25 years of experience in the classroom and administration, she has served as a mentor, teacher, and curriculum review director. Beth is honored to support BARR coaches K-12 and oversee the implementation of the BARR model in schools across the nation. She also collaborates on material development and leads Professional Learning Communities for educators nationwide.

Angela Jerabek is the founder and executive director of BARR Center. Jerabek developed the BARR model and has expanded BARR from one school in the Midwest to more than 430 schools throughout the United States. Jerabek has published five books and several op-eds and articles in various publications. In 2024, she was awarded the James Conant Bryant Award from the Education Commission of the States (ECS), given to one person each year who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of education.

Maine’s Commissioner of Education, Pender Makin, has devoted herself to the mission of public education for nearly 30 years. She served as a middle school teacher and principal, becoming Maine’s Principal of the Year and recipient of the Milken Educator Award. She worked as a mate and deckhand on her father’s deep-sea fishing charter boat every summer beginning at age eight.

Governor Susana Martinez became New Mexico’s first female governor in 2010 and the first Hispanic female governor in the US. An education reformer, she worked with Republicans and Democrats alike to ensure that all students received a high-quality education, raising academic standards and graduation rates. She has been named to Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People in the World.

José Muñoz is president of the Education Commission of the States, a nonpartisan organization that supports state leaders to create effective education policy. He brings 30 years of cross-sector experience leading initiatives that elevate policy adoption to create meaningful change in communities across the United States.

Annie Ray, 2024 Grammy Educator Award recipient, is the Orchestra Director at Annandale High School, VA. She advocates for universal access to music education and develops creative opportunities to make music accessible to all students. TEDx invited her to give a talk on The Sounds of Success, based on her approach of meeting all students where they are at.

Dr. Melody Schopp currently serves as the Director of Education Industry Consulting at the SAS Institute. She supports Education Practice to support education leaders and states in solutions based analytics to improve student outcomes. She was appointed as Secretary of Education in 2011 and in that role, she supported the passage of legislation to boost teacher salaries.

Dr. Irvin Scott is a faculty member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he concentrates on educational leadership. Author of “Leading with Heart and Soul: 30 Inspiring Lessons of Faith, Learning, and Leadership for Educators,” he spent over 20 years working as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and chief academic officer.

As BARR’s original evaluator, Dr. Anu Sharma has over 30 years of experience conducting evaluations and has been integral to testing BARR’s effectiveness since its inception. She is currently a strategic advisor to BARR leadership and works to ensure the integrity of the BARR model through research and evaluation.

Dick Ungar is the Director of Engagement at the BARR Center. With more than 30 years of experience in public education, having most recently served as a high school principal, he is dedicated to helping teachers build meaningful relationships with their students.

Treopia Green Washington and her family have been at the forefront of Civil Rights in our nation’s history. In 1957, her brother, Ernest was one of the Little Rock Nine, desegregating his Arkansas High School. Martin Luther King, Jr. attended his graduation, and Thurgood Marshall stayed at her house as a young attorney. Starting her career as a kindergarten teacher, she was appointed by President Clinton to the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She currently serves as the Director of Special Initiatives for the College of Education at Bowie State University in Maryland.

Governor Bob Wise of West Virginia advocates for improving literacy and serving children with dyslexia and other learning challenges. He was president of the National Alliance for Excellent Education, chaired the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, is a cofounder of the Global Science of Learning Education Network and received the Council of Chief State School Officer’s highest honor for innovative means to improve education.