Alfre Woodard’s work as an actor has earned her an Oscar nomination, 4 Emmy Awards and 17 Emmy nominations, 3 SAG Awards and a Golden Globe. In addition to her acting career, Woodard is a longtime activist – co-founding Artists for a New South Africa, a nonprofit working to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and further the cause of democracy and human rights in South Africa, and advocating for the arts in education, largely through her work on the “Turnaround Arts” initiative with President Obama’s committee on the Arts and Humanities.
The “Tamron Hall” show premiered across the country on September 9. Tamron co-hosted the third hour of “TODAY” and “TODAY’s Take” for three years and anchored “MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall.” She has hosted several special reports for MSNBC and NBC News, including the Emmy-nominated “Education Nation: Teacher Town Hall,” and she served as a correspondent for the NBC News special “The Inauguration of Barack Obama,” which won an Emmy for Outstanding Live Coverage in October 2010.
A Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for more than thirty years, Steve Wozniak has helped shape the computing industry with his design of Apple’s first line of products the Apple I and II.
Multi-award-winning actor, director, and education advocate LeVar Burton is best known to television audiences around the world for his portrayals of two iconic characters, Kunta Kinte in Roots and Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as his 23 years as producer and host of PBS’s Reading Rainbow.
Ted Dintersmith is one of America’s leaders in innovation, entrepreneurship, and education. Ted’s professional experience includes two decades in venture capital, including being ranked by Business 2.0 as the top-performing U.S. venture capitalist for 1995-1999. He served on the Board of the National Venture Capital Association, chairing its Public Policy Committee. From 1981 to 1987, he ran a business at Analog Devices that helped enable the digital revolution.
Nolan Bushnell is a technology pioneer, entrepreneur and scientist. Often cited as the father of the video game industry, he is best known as the founder of Atari Corporation and Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater. Bushnell was the first and only man to hire the late Steve Jobs and wrote the bestseller, Finding the Next Steve Jobs, published by Simon and Schuster in 2013.
Kimberly created Black Girls Code in 2011, a non-profit organization dedicated to changing the face of technology by introducing girls of color (ages 7-17) to the field of technology and computer science with a concentration on entrepreneurial concepts.
Known to many as “America’s Educator,” Ron Clark is the 2000 Disney American Teacher of the Year, a two-time New York Times Bestselling author, the subject of a television movie and the founder of The Ron Clark Academy. Ron is regularly featured on network and cable television (The Today Show, CNN and Oprah,) and was dubbed by Ms. Winfrey as her first “Phenomenal Man.”
Dr. JeanAnn Gaona, Deputy Superintendent of Choctaw-Nicoma Park Schools in Oklahoma, has 30 years of experience in education. She began as a high school English teacher in a high-poverty, inner-city school and has since led significant changes in curriculum and instruction in her district. She has headed the Academic Affairs department for the past seven years, following 16 years as a middle school principal.
Outside of work, Dr. Gaona enjoys running, hiking, and spending time with her husband of 35 years, their three grown children, and four grandchildren.
Dr. Jesús G. Rodríguez is an accomplished educator with experience driving transformative change and enhancing student achievement. His diverse career spans classroom teaching, school principalship, executive director in higher education, and district superintendent.
Holding degrees from the University of Northern Colorado, University of Colorado Boulder, and University of Denver, Dr. Rodríguez has demonstrated exceptional leadership across urban and rural school systems, making a profound impact toward educational equity.
Dr. Rodríguez played a pivotal role as the deputy chief academic officer for the Dallas Independent School District, shaping academic initiatives and accelerating post-pandemic learning. Most recently, he served as the superintendent of a Colorado mountain community, the Roaring Fork School District, fostering innovation and collaboration resulting in increased student outcomes.
Currently, he serves as the Deputy Superintendent for Aurora Public Schools, overseeing critical functions and providing invaluable instructional and school leadership expertise.
Jeff is the Executive Director of Technology Services at Gresham-Barlow School District. While at GBSD, he has created a student internship program, started donating Chromebooks to graduating seniors, implemented a cyber security program, and developed a long-range educational technology plan for the district.
Kara Thorstenson is the Director of Libraries and Instructional Technology for Chicago Public Schools. Before joining CPS in 2018, she was a school librarian and instructional technology coach for 14 years. She is proud to have worked with every grade PreK-12! She is currently a COSN Certified Educational Technology Leader as well as a Director-at-Large on the board of the Illinois Library Association.
Andy White is the current Director of Technology for New Lenox School District 122, a suburb of Chicago. He has worked in educational technology for 20 years, leading technology teams at school districts for the past 10 years, and through many technology changes and district initiatives. Andy is a member of CoSN and IETL, and holds technical and leadership certifications CISSP, ACTC, and ACSP.
Dr. Thomas Tan is the Executive Director – Technology Services for the Huntington Beach City School District. Dr. Tan is a co-lead of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) School Business Professional Roundtable for the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO). In 2021, Dr. Tan was selected as the state technology administrator of the year for the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). Dr. Tan has served in technology leadership positions for school districts in Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange County in Southern California.
Mike Lawrence is an award-winning teacher, administrator and educational leader. He serves as the Director of Information & Technology at ABC Unified School District in LA County. He was previously CEO of Computer-Using Educators (CUE) from 2005-2017, he expanded the nonprofit’s impact and greatly increased its membership and event attendance. He co-founded the Google Certified Innovator and Trainer programs, served two terms on the board of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and directed the 58-year old California Student Media Festival for a decade. Prior to his current role, he led global learning initiatives at PowerSchool and Jamf supporting 50 million students across 80+ countries.
