Glenn A. Cummings
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, US Department of Education
As Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education, Glenn Cummings manages a $1.9 billion annual investment in federal grants and programs that support adult education and literacy, career and technical education, and community colleges. He was part of a team of professionals who composed the policy for the $12 billion American Graduation Initiative, President Obama’s plan to boost America’s graduation rate by 2020. Recently named chair of the Department’s Green Initiative group, Cummings is leading a team within the Department to increase the teaching and learning of sustainability principles in American education.
Cummings is former Speaker of the House in the Maine House of Representatives where he provided leadership for the passage of a bi-partisan state budget; brokered an agreement on the largest economic investment bond package in the state’s history and successfully led an effort to increase higher education appropriations. While in the legislature, Cummings also served as Majority Leader and as the House Chair on the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs.
Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Education, Cummings served as instructor of micro and macroeconomics at University of Southern Maine and as Dean of Institutional Advancement at Southern Maine Community College (SMCC). While at SMCC, he founded one of the first student-centered entrepreneurial centers and small business incubators in Northern New England. Cummings also served as Executive Director of the Portland Partnership where he built strategic alliances between businesses and high school students. A multi-generation Maine native, Cummings began his career as a high school history teacher and department head.
Bonnie Reiss
Secretary of Education, State of California
Bonnie Reiss was sworn in by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Feb. 23, 2010 as the California Secretary of Education. Since 2007 Secretary Reiss has served as operating adviser to Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private equity firm committed to investing in and developing scarce resources, commodities and sustainable companies. Previously, Reiss served as senior advisor to Schwarzenegger from 2003 to 2007, where she advised the governor on all major policy initiatives, including education, the environment and children's issues. Secretary Reiss was appointed to serve on the University of California Board Of Regents in 2007 for a 12-year term.
Paula A. Kerger
President and CEO, PBS
Paula A. Kerger is president and chief executive officer of PBS, the nation's largest non-commercial media organization with 356 member stations throughout the country, a position she has held since March 2006. Since her arrival, Kerger's commitment to high-quality content, education, diversity, and the use of new technology to bring public service media into the lives of all Americans has resulted in a broad range of initiatives. Among her accomplishments are Ken Burns's and Dayton Duncan's recent 12-hour documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea"; the debut of such acclaimed children's programs as "Curious George" (the No. 1 show for children ages 2-5 since 2006), "Word World," "Super Why!," "Martha Speaks," and "Sid the Science Kid"; new primetime science and arts series; and comprehensive online sites for parents and caregivers - PBS Parents - and for educators - PBS Teachers. PBS's critically praised online video portal and innovative digital partnerships with such companies as iTunes, YouTube, Microsoft's Xbox, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Comcast's On Demand service ensure that PBS programming is accessible across multiple platforms and, increasingly, to a global audience.
In addition to leading PBS, Kerger is president of the PBS Foundation, an independent organization that raises private sector funding for PBS, and a director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Prior to joining PBS, Kerger served for more than a decade at Educational Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), the parent company of Thirteen/WNET and WLIW New York, where her ultimate position was executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Lorenzo Lamar Esters
Vice President, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities' Office for Access and the Advancement of Public Black Universities
Lorenzo Lamar Esters is vice president for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities' Office for Access and the Advancement of Public Black Universities. As the chief minority affairs officer for the organization, whose membership includes more than 220 public, research and land-grant universities and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., Esters works with leadership of public historically black colleges and universities, 1890 and 1994 Land-grant institutions, and Hispanic-serving institutions. He also provides support and leadership with the Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence and works to promote and advance access and equity across all APLU institutions and all public higher education.
Esters formerly served as senior adviser to Marvalene Hughes, president of Dillard University in New Orleans. Prior to joining Dillard University, Esters served as Management and Program Analyst in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. He has more than 10 years of experience as a career federal public employee. Esters has served as adjunct professor of English at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., and at Montgomery College in Rockville, Md.
Heather Harding
Vice President for Research and Public Policy, Teach for America
Heather Harding's professional career has spanned classroom teaching for adolescents to adults, implementing school reform initiatives and empirical research. Her areas of expertise include culturally relevant pedagogy, urban school reform, critical race theory, and teacher education. Currently, she serves as the Vice President of Research & Public Affairs for Teach for America where she develops the strategic agenda of external research projects and engages the education reform and academic communities.
Previously, she served in numerous roles in education reform organizations in Boston focusing on teacher professional development, after-school programs and school leadership. Her 2006 doctoral dissertation considered the intersection of race and classroom practice for four successful White urban middle school teachers.
She also served as a secondary teacher in rural, eastern North Carolina in a hard-to-staff school with the Teach for America program. Heather taught for two years and then transitioned to lead the Teach For America regional staff as executive director, leading the region in record fundraising efforts and the establishment of a strong partnership with East Carolina University.
Freeman A. Hrabowski, III
President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, has served as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County since May, 1992. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. He currently chairs the National Academies' Committee on Underrepresented Groups and the Science & Engineering Workforce Pipeline.
In 2008, he was named one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News & World Report, which in 2009 ranked UMBC the No. 1 "Up and Coming" national university and No. 4 (tied with Stanford) among national universities in its commitment to undergraduate teaching.
He serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and universities and school systems nationally; sits on several corporate and foundation boards, e.g., Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation (Chair), and The Urban Institute; and holds numerous honorary degrees, most recently from Princeton, Duke, Haverford College, the University of Michigan and Georgetown University.
Other recent honors include election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Philosophical Society; receiving the McGraw Prize in Education and the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring; being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Marylander of the Year by the editors of the Baltimore Sun; and being listed among Fast Company magazine's first "Fast 50 Champions of Innovation" in business and technology.
Mari Koerner
Dean, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University
Mari Koerner was appointed as professor in and dean of the College of Teacher Education and Leadership at Arizona State University in July, 2006. The college, now the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, now has students on all four of ASU's campuses, in partner school districts statewide and online with a total student population of 5,000+ undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. The college is among the largest in the nation and prepares more than half of Arizona's teachers.
Koerner began her career in education as a primary grade teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. Joining the faculty at Roosevelt University in Chicago as an assistant professor of early childhood education, she went on to become associate dean of the College of Education. In 1999, Koerner went to the University of Massachusetts Boston as director of teacher education and then Department Chair of Curriculum and Instruction. Always focusing on teacher education, she has reached out to the national community of teacher educators by publishing in professional education journals as well as presenting at major education conferences.
Currently, Koerner is a Member of the Board of Examiners for National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). She serves as Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, for the Arizona K-12 Center for Professional Development, and is on the Board of Trustees for the Desert Botanical Gardens, Arizona Teach for America and the Phoenix Children's Museum. In addition, she serves on the Rodel Foundation Board of Advisors. She also is the principal investigator for a grant from the Arizona Community Foundation for a Tri-University Teacher Preparation and Retention Data Collaboration.
Dewayne Matthews
Vice President for Policy and Strategy, Lumina Foundation for Education
Dewayne Matthews is Vice President for Policy and Strategy for Lumina Foundation
for Education. Matthews has served in a variety of higher education leadership
roles, including senior adviser to the president and vice president of the Education
Commission of the States (ECS), director of programs and services for the Western
Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), and executive director of the
New Mexico Commission on Higher Education.
Matthews has been a legislative staff member, faculty member and university trustee, and has worked with higher education institutions in Mexico, Canada and Japan. He began his career as a first-grade teacher in Taos, N.M.
Michael M. Crow
President, Arizona State University
Michael M. Crow became the 16th president of Arizona State University on July 1, 2002. He is guiding the transformation of ASU into one of the nation's leading public metropolitan research universities, one that is directly engaged in the economic, social and cultural vitality of its region.
Under his direction the university pursues teaching, research and creative excellence focused on the major challenges and questions of our time, as well as those central to the building of a sustainable environment and economy for Arizona. He has committed the university to global engagement and to setting a new standard for public service.
Since he took office, ASU has marked a number of important milestones, including the establishment of major interdisciplinary research initiatives such as the Biodesign Institute; the Global Institute for Sustainability; and MacroTechnology Works, a program integrating science and technology for large-scale applications, including the Flexible Display Center, a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Army.
Before joining ASU, he was executive vice provost of Columbia University, where he also was professor of science and technology policy in the School of International and Public Affairs. As chief strategist of Columbia's research enterprise, he led technology and innovation transfer operations, establishing Columbia Innovation Enterprises (now Science and Technology Ventures), the Strategic Initiative Program, and the Columbia Digital Media Initiative, as well as advancing interdisciplinary program development.
A fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, he is the author of books and articles relating to the analysis of research organizations, technology transfer, science and technology policy, and the practice and theory of public policy.