2021 Leadership Summit

Todd Whitaker has been fortunate to be able to blend his passion with his career. He is a leading presenter in the field of education and a professor of educational leadership at the University of Missouri and professor emeritus at Indiana State University.

His first book with ASCD was School Culture Rewired: How to Define, Assess, and Transform It, co-authored with Steve Gruenert. He has previously served as both a teacher and a principal and is the author of over 40 books, including What Great Teachers Do Differently, Your First Year, and Shifting the Monkey.

Pedro Noguera, PhD, is the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
of the Rossier School of Education and a Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. Prior to joining USC, Noguera served as a Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Before joining the faculty at UCLA, he served as a tenured professor and holder of endowed chairs at New York University, Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of 15 books. His most recent books are A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education (Teachers College Press) with Rick Hess and City Schools and the American Dream: Still Pursuing the Dream (Teachers College Press) with Esa Syeed.

Allison Rodman is the founder of The Learning Loop, an education consulting organization that provides professional learning design, facilitation, and leadership coaching services to districts, schools, and educational nonprofit organizations internationally. Allison is an ASCD faculty member and author of Personalized Professional Learning: A Job-Embedded Pathway for Elevating Teacher Voice (ASCD, 2019). Her work focuses on adult learners, and she has written for Educational Leadership^® magazine on professional learning, effective teams, and educator social-emotional wellness (December 2020) as well as EdWeek Teacher and Edutopia. You can follow her on Twitter @thelearningloop.

Gerry Brooks has been an educator for 25 years, beginning as a 3rd grade teacher in Palm Bay, Florida. He earned his master's degree in administration and has been an elementary principal for 15 years. After initially using humorous videos to encourage the staff at his school in Lexington, Kentucky, Brooks has become a national encourager for teachers through social media and speaking events. He is a voice for teachers, but his passion is leading others to be responsible for their own personal climate and culture in the workplace. His book, Go See the Principal, outlines strategies for taking on this responsibility.

Brooke Stafford-Brizard is vice president, research to practice at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), where she leads work to support bringing inclusive and evidence-based whole child practice to learning environments. This grant portfolio supports researchers, educators, and policymakers in their efforts to bring a more holistic approach grounded in the science of learning and development to classrooms. Brooke Stafford-Brizard has also led the development of a community of hundreds of these partners fostering unique partnerships and collaborations leading to breakthroughs and innovations in whole child practice. She regularly authors opinion pieces for outlets, most recently at The 74, NBC's Parent Toolkit, and EdSurge. She also speaks regularly at education conferences and has been a keynote speaker at events like SXSW EDU, Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL), and Fusion.

Robyn R. Jackson, PhD, has been an educator for more than a decade. As a National Board-certified English teacher, she increased the enrollment of minority and nontraditional students in her AP Language and Composition classes and tripled her overall course enrollment within one year without a decrease in her students' test scores.

As a middle school administrator in Montgomery County, Md., she has worked to revise the district's gifted and talented policy to be more inclusive of all students and helped craft the district's critical Middle School Reform Plan.  She also helped lead the largest middle school in the district to state and national Blue Ribbon status.

As an educator, she has served as an adjunct professor and has presented her own research at several national conferences.

Horacio Sanchez is the President and CEO of Resiliency Inc., an agency leader in helping schools improve school climate, instruction, and discipline. Horacio is recognized as one of the nation's prominent experts on promoting student resiliency and applying brain science to improve school outcomes. The Maladaptive Council (Academy of Science) recognizes him as a leading authority on emotional disorders and resiliency. He is a highly sought-after speaker and has keynoted many national conferences.

Born without limbs for no medical reason, Nick Vujicic knew from an early age that he was different. But it wasn't until much later, after overcoming ignorance and discrimination to build what he calls a "ridiculously good" life, that he realized his mission: to use his "disability" to start conversations that change lives. Vujicic has since spoken more than 3,000 times in some 57 countries on topics as varied as bullying, inspiring positive change, persistence and determination, and his own life story. No matter where he goes, he communicates one core message—that no matter your circumstance, you can overcome! Vujicic is the author of several books, including Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life, Unstoppable: The Incredible Power of Faith in Action, Love Without Limits: A Remarkable Story of True Love Conquering All, and Stand Strong: You Can Overcome Bullying (and Other Stuff That Keeps You Down).