Retired Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett, Mission: Readiness

Jamie Barnett is a Senior Research Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, which is a science and technology policy think tank in Arlington, Virginia. Jamie has served as principal investigator and research fellow for such projects as Human Systems Integration Improvement, legal aspects of biometrics for the Biometrics Task Force, ethical impacts of neurotechnology, policy studies for the Cyber Conflict Research Consortium and studies for DARPA. He is one of the co-founders of the new National Center for Computer Science and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education (NCCSSE) under Potomac Institute.

A retired Rear Admiral in the Navy Reserve, he served on active duty as Director of Navy Education and Training in the Pentagon. In 2001, then Captain Barnett was recalled to active duty in Washington, D.C. to serve as a change manager and project lead in the Navy’s Revolution in Training (Task Force EXCEL), chartered to revolutionize the Navy’s training establishment, inject the science of learning, and create learning centers of excellence. He was subsequently given command of the Center for Personal Development, charged with the responsibility for delivering college education to Navy members worldwide as well as training in ethics, diversity, personal finance, physical fitness, among others. He was awarded one of his four Legion of Merit medals for his work there.

In civilian life, Mr. Barnett advised and represented thousands of governmental officials and entities as an attorney, in the board room and in state and federal court during eighteen years of private practice. He was a board attorney for several school districts, and has served as the President of the Council of School Board Attorneys in Mississippi.  He received the statewide Exceptional Service Award for his work for the Pro Bono Project, serving the poor and elderly. He served as President of the United Way of Northeast Mississippi, rejuvenating its donor base, expanding it into three additional counties and adding additional agencies.  He currently volunteers for the Servicemen’s Legal Defense Network.

Jamie received his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1984, where he was named the Dean Parham Williams Outstanding Student.  Jamie is married to Celia, who teaches 8th-grade English and actually likes 8th graders in Arlington, Virginia. 

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William Bentley, President and CEO, Voices for America’s Children

Bill Bentley has devoted his life to building a world where every child has the opportunity to thrive.  An exceptional and dynamic leader with skills honed in a distinguished career that includes non-profit, government and private sector experience, he leads Voices for America’s Children, one of the country’s premier children’s advocacy organizations. Voices is committed to speaking up for the well-being of children at the local, state and national levels of government. With 60 members nationwide, Voices advocates for effective public policies to improve the lives of all children throughout the United States.

Throughout his career, Bill has been driven by the belief that when we invest in children, we strengthen America. To this end he was one of the leaders in the formation of the Children’s Leadership Council (CLC), a coalition of 36 of the nation’s leading children’s organization. For the first time, these powerful groups are speaking with one voice to build public awareness and create the political will necessary to make greater federal investments in America’s children and youth to prepare them for school, work and life.  

Bill began his career in public service as a Juvenile Probation Officer with the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.  Rising through the ranks he earned a frontline view of the special needs of youth in crisis, the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. 

As the President and CEO of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, Inc., Bill built on what he had observed as a probation officer and led the development and implementation of local innovative demonstration programs addressing maternal and child health, child welfare, juvenile justice and family support programs.

Bill was appointed Executive Director of the Florida Governor’s Commission on Community Service, the state entity responsible for promoting volunteerism and citizen service as a means of solving community problems. Former United States Senator Harris Wofford then tapped him to serve on the senior management team at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Bill’s unique experiences and talents were later recognized by the Points of Light Foundation, where he served as Executive Vice President & COO of the premier national volunteer services organization and its 335 volunteer centers nationwide.  

Bill received his undergraduate degree in education from Florida State University and his master’s degree from Florida State University’s School of Social Work. He and his wife reside in Silver Spring, Md., and have two daughters and two grandchildren.

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Anthony Berkley, Deputy Director for Education and Learning, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Anthony (Tony) Berkley is the deputy director for the Education & Learning, Success by Third Grade, and Michigan teams at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. Tony supports the vice president for programs in providing overall coordination of the teams’ programming efforts in support of the Foundation’s mission. He is responsible for grantmaking management and administration, and provides day-to-day management of the teams’ human, technical, and financial resources. Tony is an anthropologist with 15 years of domestic and international experience in program design, strategic planning, and education research. Previously he was a program director in Youth & Education at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He also directed the learning and evaluation process around the Foundation’s Youth & Education grants. He has been a past grantee of The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, The Spencer Foundation for Research Related to Education, and The Tinker Foundation. He has held faculty positions at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. He is the author of numerous publications and presentations in the fields of knowledge management, education, and anthropology. His roster of clients has included the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (University of Wisconsin), Secretaría de Educación Publíca -Sección General de Educación Indígena (Yucatán, México), Retroliner, Inc., Sociometrics, Inc., WestEd, and the California Department of Education.

Tony holds both master’s and doctoral in anthropology from the University of Chicago. In addition, he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science, also from the University of Chicago.

Tony is a member of several professional associations including Grantmakers for Education, American Educational Research Association, and the American Anthropological Association.

Established in 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

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Barbara Bowman, Early Education Expert and Advocate; Chief Officer, Office of Early Childhood Education, Chicago Public Schools; Co-founder, Erikson Institute

Barbara Taylor Bowman, the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development at Erikson Institute, is one of the Institute’s three faculty founders and served as its president from 1994 to 2001. In addition to a faculty appointment, Professor Bowman is Chief Officer of the Office of Early Childhood Education for the Chicago Public Schools where she administers a program for over 30,000 preschool children. She is an authority on early education, a national advocate for improved and expanded training for practitioners who teach and care for young children, and a pioneer in building knowledge and understanding of the issues of access and equity for minority children.

Professor Bowman is Past President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), chaired the committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy of the National Research Council and edited the committee’s report, Eager to Learn (2001), a summary of current research having clear implications for early childhood education.

Honors include honorary doctorates from Bank Street College, Roosevelt University, Dominican University, Governor’s State University and Wheelock College, and the McGraw Hill Prize in Education.

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Valtena Brown, Assistant Superintendent for the Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction, Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Ms. Valtena G. Brown currently serves as Assistant Superintendent for the Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the fourth largest school system in the nation.  In this senior staff leadership position, she is responsible for the development, coordination, and implementation of Early Childhood Programs and the Ready Schools Miami Initiative.  She also provides strategic management to the following District departments:  World Languages, Bilingual programs, Instructional Technology, Instructional Materials and Library/Media programs, Career and Technical Education, Summer Services, and Diversity Compliance.  

Prior to her current appointment, Ms. Brown served as Administrative Director to the Deputy Superintendent of Schools for Curriculum, Instruction, and School Improvement, for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. In this capacity, she was responsible for the coordination of the District’ Pre-K thru grade 12 curriculum.  She also provided crucial commentary regarding quantifiable deliverables for school reform, literacy, and parent involvement.  Ms. Brown is a seasoned and dedicated education professional who has served as both an assistant principal and principal.  She has forged valuable partnerships with education, civic, and business leaders to support transition-related services for children and families, including childcare and elementary enrichment programs. 

Ms. Brown earned her undergraduate and Master’s degree both in psychology, from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.  She has also earned several advanced certificates in education and educational leadership. She is a member of the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe and has lectured and shared vital information regarding the importance of early and effective intervention to improve student achievement, to a plethora of educational, professional and parental engagement communities.

Ms. Brown has dedicated her life’s work to educating children and sincerely believes in the words spoken by Marva Collins, who said:  “There is a brilliant child locked inside every student.”

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Harriet Dichter, Deputy Secretary, Office of Child Development and Early Learning, Pennsylvania Department of Education and Public Welfare

Harriet Dichter is deputy secretary, Office of Child Development and Early Learning, Pennsylvania Departments of Public Welfare and Education. The Office of Child Development and Early Learning was created by Governor Rendell as part of a new initiative to link the Department of Public Welfare and the Department of Education to bolster early education and care for Pennsylvania children. As the head of that office, Ms. Dichter leads state efforts to raise the priority level for early learning, including programs such as Pre-K Counts, the full-day kindergarten initiative, state-based Head Start program, the Keystone Stars early learning program, Nurse Family Partnership, Child Care Work, and Early Intervention (0-5), overseeing planning, program and policy development and implementation for a total investment of $1.3 billion. Previously, Ms. Dichter held appointments in the public, philanthropic, and non-profit sectors. Ms. Dichter received her undergraduate degree at Yale (summa cum laude) and her law degree at the University of Pennsylvania (cum laude).

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Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, U.S. Department of Education

Arne Duncan was nominated to be secretary of education by President-elect Barack Obama and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009.

In his confirmation hearings, Duncan called education "the most pressing issue facing America," adding that "preparing young people for success in life is not just a moral obligation of society" but also an "economic imperative." "Education is also the civil rights issue of our generation," he said, "the only sure path out of poverty and the only way to achieve a more equal and just society." Duncan expressed his commitment to work under the leadership of President Obama and with all those involved in education "to enhance education in America, to lift our children and families out of poverty, to help our students learn to contribute to the civility of our great American democracy, and to strengthen our economy by producing a workforce that can make us as competitive as possible."

Prior to his appointment as secretary of education, Duncan served as the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, a position to which he was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, from June 2001 through December 2008, becoming the longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country.

As CEO, Duncan's mandate was to raise education standards and performance, improve teacher and principal quality, and increase learning options. In seven and a half years, he united education reformers, teachers, principals and business stakeholders behind an aggressive education reform agenda that included opening over 100 new schools, expanding after-school and summer learning programs, closing down underperforming schools, increasing early childhood and college access, dramatically boosting the caliber of teachers, and building public-private partnerships around a variety of education initiatives.

Among his most significant accomplishments during his tenure as CEO, an all-time high of 66.7 percent of the district's elementary school students met or exceeded state reading standards, and their math scores also reached a record high, with 70.6 percent meeting or exceeding the state's standards. At high schools, Chicago Public School students posted gains on the ACT at three times the rate of national gains and nearly twice that of the state's. Also, the number of CPS high school students taking Advanced Placement courses tripled and the number of students passing AP classes more than doubled. Duncan has increased graduation rates and boosted the total number of college scholarships secured by CPS students to $157 million.

A study released in June 2008 by the Illinois Education Research Council lauded the Chicago Public Schools for its efforts to bring top teaching talent into the city's classrooms, where the number of teachers applying for positions almost tripled since 2003, from about 8,600 to more than 21,000, or about 10 applicants per teaching position. The number of teachers achieving National Board Certification—the highest education credential available to teachers—increased from 11 in 1999 to 1,191 in 2008, making Chicago the fastest-growing urban district in this area of achievement.

Prior to joining the Chicago Public Schools, Duncan ran the non-profit education foundation Ariel Education Initiative (1992-1998), which helped fund a college education for a class of inner-city children under the I Have A Dream program. He was part of a team that later started a new public elementary school built around a financial literacy curriculum, the Ariel Community Academy, which today ranks among the top elementary schools in Chicago.

Duncan formerly served on the boards of the Ariel Education Initiative, Chicago Cares, the Children's Center, the Golden Apple Foundation, the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Jobs for America's Graduates, Junior Achievement, the Dean's Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management, the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Foundation, Renaissance Schools Fund, Scholarship Chicago and the South Side YMCA. He also served on the Board of Overseers for Harvard College and the Visiting Committees for Harvard University's Graduate School of Education and the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration.

Last year, he was honored by the Civic Federation of Chicago and the Anti-Defamation League. In 2007, he received the Niagara Foundation's Education Award, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship Enterprising Educator Award and the University High School Distinguished Alumni Award. He also received honorary degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Lake Forest College and National-Louis University. In 2006, the City Club of Chicago named him Citizen of the Year. He was a member of the Aspen Institute's Henry Crown Fellowship Program, class of 2002, and a fellow in the Leadership Greater Chicago's class of 1995.

From 1987 to 1991, Duncan played professional basketball in Australia, where he also worked with children who were wards of the state.

Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1987, majoring in sociology. He was co-captain of Harvard's basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American. He credits basketball with his team-oriented and highly disciplined work ethic.

His late father was a professor at the University of Chicago and his mother has run a South Side tutoring program for inner-city children since 1961. As a student in Chicago, Duncan spent afternoons in his mother's tutoring program and also worked there during a year off from college. He credits this experience with shaping his understanding of the challenges of urban education.

Duncan is married to Karen Duncan and has two children, daughter Clare, 7, and son Ryan, 4.

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Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-founder, Families and Work Institute

Ellen Galinsky is President and Co-Founder of Families and Work Institute. She is the author of over 35 books and reports, including the groundbreaking book, Ask The Children: The Breakthrough Study That Reveals How to Succeed at Work and Parenting, selected by The Wall Street Journal as one of the best work life books of 1999. She has published more than 100 articles in academic journals, books and magazines.

At the Institute, Ms. Galinsky co-directs National Study of the Changing Workforce , the most comprehensive nationally-representative study of the U.S. workforce—updated every five years and originally conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor in the 1977. She also co-directs When Work Works , a project on workplace flexibility and effectiveness funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that has produced a series of research papers, and has launched the Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility as well as conducted the National Study of Employers , a nationally representative study that has tracked trends in employment benefits, policies and practices since 1998.

Ms. Galinsky is also directing The Supporting Work Project , a Ford Foundation project that is funding communities across the country to connect lower- and mid-wage employees to publicly funded work support through their employers. She is the Program Director of the annual Work Life Conference co-convened by The Conference Board and Families and Work Institute, and she staffs The Conference Board's Work Life Leadership Council, a group of 45 business leaders who have spearheaded work life issues in the business community since 1983.

Ms. Galinsky is also directing Mind in the Making (MITM) , a project on the science of early learning that includes a television science show, videos for families and Learning Modules for Early Childhood Teachers and is writing a book on learning-related skills, Seven Essential Skills, for HarperStudio, to be published in January 2010.

A leading authority on work family issues, Ms. Galinsky was a presenter at the 2000 White House Conference on Teenagers and the 1997 White House Conference on Child Care. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2004 Distinguished Achievement Award from Vassar College. She was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources in 2005 and a 2006 Purpose Prize Fellow. A popular keynote speaker, she appears regularly at national conferences, on television and in the media, including Today, Good Morning America, The Early Show and Oprah.

Before co-founding FWI, Ms. Galinsky was on the faculty of Bank Street College of Education for 25 years, where she helped establish the field of work and family life.

Ms. Galinsky is also a photographer. The latest one-person shows of her photography were at the New York Hall of Science in September 2006, at UMA Gallery in New York City in January 2007, and at RiverWinds Gallery in Beacon New York, in September 2008.

She holds numerous honorary degrees, a Master of Science degree in Child Development/ Education from Bank Street College of Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Child Study from Vassar College.
Ellen Galinsky has been married for 43 years to artist Norman Galinsky, and they are the parents of two grown children: Philip, an ethnomusicologist and founder-director of Samba New York—an inspiring new performance group—and Lara, Senior Vice President at Echoing Green— whose mission is to spark social change by identifying, investing and supporting the world's most exceptional emerging leaders and the organizations they launch.

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Elizabeth Garza, Superintendent, Edgewood Independent School District

Dr. Elizabeth P. Garza became only the second woman in the District’s history to be named Superintendent by Board Trustees March 13.

There have been 12 Edgewood superintendents since 1930 when Hugh K. Williams served as the first. Ten men and two women have been superintendent. Dr. Dolores Munoz served in the 1990’s.

Dr. Garza replaced Richard M. Bocanegra, who retired March 31, 2008.

“I’m excited and honored to be selected as the leader for the Edgewood School District,” said Dr. Garza, who officially began her duties as superintendent on April 1, 2008.

Dr. Garza has worked in the education field for 35 years. She began working as an administrator for Edgewood in 1994. While at EISD, Dr. Garza worked as a vice principal, director, executive director, deputy superintendent and now a superintendent.

As deputy superintendent, Dr. Garza guided and directed numerous committees and projects that help strengthen the District’s future. Dr. Garza has been an instrumental leader in the District’s long-range facilities plan and high school re-design efforts that propose recommendations for organizing the high school instructional program around career pathways.

“As the Superintendent, I will continue to carry out the goals that the Board established this summer. I will accomplish this by focusing on efficiency and excellence,” Dr. Garza said.

Dr. Garza is a life-long resident of San Antonio. She graduated from Jefferson High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Our Lady of the Lake University. In graduate school, Dr. Garza earned a master’s degree from University of Texas at San Antonio and a doctorate degree, concentration in education, at the University of Texas at Austin.

In 1972, Dr. Garza began her illustrious career in education as a kindergarten teacher in the San Antonio Independent School District. She has also taught college courses for Alamo Community Colleges and Laredo Junior College. She worked 14 years as a senior associate with the Intercultural Development Research Association in San Antonio, a think tank that promotes equal education for all students.

“I always wanted to be a teacher. As a career educator, I’ve had the opportunity to live my dream whether I was a teacher of children or a teacher of parents, other teachers, or administrators. Becoming the Superintendent allows me to continue to teach others,” said Dr. Garza, who is second of eight children whose parents stressed the importance of education.

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Dr. Janice M. Gruendel serves as Senior Policy Advisor on Children and Youth for Connecticut’s Governor M. Jodi Rell. She is Co-Chair of the Connecticut Early Childhood Education Cabinet and a member of the Governor’s Early Childhood Research and Policy Council. She also serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Yale University Child Study Center.

She recently published a chapter on research and policy change in the new book, Child Development and Social Policy: Knowledge for Change.  She has recently been invited to join 11 other policy leaders from across the country as invited members of the Working Group on Early Childhood Science and Policy at Harvard University. This initiative is co-sponsored by the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, National Governors Association and National Conference of State Legislatures. She was also honored in the spring of 2008 as one of Connecticut’s eight “Remarkable Business Women” by the Hartford Business Journal.

Gruendel has 13 years of prior senior government experience where she served as Connecticut Deputy Commissioner in the Department of Children and Youth Services (now DCF), Department of Mental Retardation, and Department of Public Health. As a member of the Connecticut Senior Executive Service, she also served as Director of Health Services in the Connecticut Department of Corrections.

From 1992-1996, she worked in business as Vice President for Education and Technology at Rabbit Ears Productions, a Connecticut children's multi-media company. In this capacity, she worked with global businesses including Microsoft to develop interactive learning materials for children K-8. With Geballe, she co-edited the book Forgotten Children of the AIDS Epidemic and also was co-executive producer of the Emmy-nominated public broadcast documentary, Mommy, Who'll Take Care of Me?

Before coming to work for Governor Rell in 2004, Gruendel was co-founder and co-president of CT Voices for Children, a statewide think tank and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives and future of the state’s children and their families.

Dr. Gruendel received her Ph.D. from Yale University in Developmental Psychology, studying under Professor Edward Zigler. She also holds a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education.

She has three married sons and five grandchildren. Her husband and partner, F. Herbert Gruendel, is a sitting judge on the Connecticut Appellate Court.

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Linda Jacobson, Former Assistant Editor, Education Week

Linda Jacobson is a freelance education writer. From 1996 to 2009, she worked at Education Week newspaper, where she specialized in covering early-childhood education. She also wrote about state policy, teaching, parent involvement, and after-school programs. A graduate of Georgia State University in Atlanta, she worked at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from 1990-1994, where she covered education in a large suburban school district. In 1994, she moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as assistant director of the Education Writers Association, where she organized seminars for reporters and wrote guides for journalists on covering a variety of education topics. She works from her home in Los Angeles.

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Sharon Lynn Kagan, Associate Dean for Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University; Professor Adjunct, Yale University Child Study Center

Sharon Lynn Kagan is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy, Co-Director of the National Center for Children and Families, and Associate Dean for Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University and Professor Adjunct at Yale University's Child Study Center.  Recognized internationally and nationally for her work related to social policy for young children and their families, Dr. Kagan is Past President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and a Past President of Family Support America.  Currently, she is a member of over forty national boards or panels, and is conducting research on Head Start, child care, early learning standards, She is currently working around the globe with UNICEF to establish early learning standards in Armenia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Ghana, Jordan, Mongolia, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, and Viet Nam.  Dr. Kagan has served as chair of the National Education Goals Panel Technical Planning Group for Goal One, a member of the Clinton Education Transition Team, a Distinguished Fellow for the Education Commission of the States, and numerous National Academy of Sciences, foundation, and administration panels.  Her research centers on public policies affecting the lives of young children and families, including child care and preschool programs, family-school relationships, and leadership in early childhood education.  Dr. Kagan is the only woman in the history of American Education to receive its three most prestigious awards: the 2004 Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the 2005 James Bryant Conant Award for Lifetime Service to Education from the Education Commission of the States (ECS), and the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education.  Her publications include over 200 articles and 13 books.

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David Lawrence, President, Early Childhood Initiative Foundation; Former Newspaper Publisher

David Lawrence Jr. retired in 1999 as publisher of The Miami Herald to work in the area of early childhood development and readiness. He is president of The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation and “University Scholar for Early Childhood Development and Readiness” at the University of Florida. Gov. Charlie Crist named him to the Children’s Cabinet in 2007. In 2002 he led the campaign for The Children’s Trust, a dedicated source of early intervention and prevention funding for children in Miami-Dade – with an 85 percent reaffirmation from the voters in 2008. He is the “founding chair.” Named by Gov. Jeb Bush to the Florida Partnership for School Readiness, he chaired that oversight board twice. He serves on the board of the Foundation for Child Development in New York and the Executive Advisory Board for the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. In 2002-3 he chaired the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Protection. In 2002, he was a key figure in passing a statewide constitutional amendment to provide pre-K for all 4 year olds. He is a board member and former chair of the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade and Monroe. The David Lawrence Jr. K-8 Public School opened in 2006 across from the north campus of Florida International University. A fully endowed chair in early childhood studies is established in his name at the University of Florida College of Education.

Before coming to Miami in 1989, he was publisher and executive editor of the Detroit Free Press. Previously he was editor of the Charlotte Observer, and earlier in reporting and editing positions at four newspapers. (During his tenure as Miami Herald publisher, the paper won five Pulitzer Prizes.)

He is a graduate of the University of Florida and named "Outstanding Journalism Graduate" and subsequently from the Advanced Management program at the Harvard Business School. In 1988, he was honored with Knight-Ridder's top award, the John S. Knight Gold Medal. His 12 honorary doctorates include one from his alma mater, the University of Florida. His national honors include the Ida B. Wells Award "for exemplary leadership in providing minorities employment opportunities” and the National Association of Minority Media Executives award for "lifetime achievement in diversity." His writing awards include the First Amendment Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Inter American Press Association Commentary Award. He chaired the national Task Force on Minorities in the Newspaper Business, was the 1991-92 president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the 1995-96 president of the Inter American Press Association.

His board activity: The Miami Art Museum, United Way and the New World School of the Arts (each formerly as chair), and the University of Florida Foundation. As a member of the Governor's Commission on Education, he chaired the Readiness Committee. He was the local convening co-chair of the 1994 Summit of the Americas. And he co-founded a non-profit vocational-technical school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He chairs the University of Florida Regional Council.

He and Roberta, a master’s graduate in social work from Barry, live in Coral Gables and have 3 daughters, 2 sons and 4 grandchildren. His honors include: “Family of the Year” from Family Counseling Services, “Father of the Year” by the South Florida Father’s Day Council, the Lawton and Rhea Chiles Advocacy Award and the Public Policy Award of the Early Childhood Association of Florida. Last year he was honored by the Children’s Home Society, Shake-A-Leg and Switchboard of Miami, and with United Way’s Dorothy Shula Award for Outstanding Volunteerism. Nationally, he has been honored with the American Public Health Association Award of Excellence, the Lewis Hine Award for Children and Youth and the “Children’s Champion” award from the National Black Child Development Institute.

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Alicia Leatherman, Director of Early Care and Education for Turnaround Ohio, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services

In March 2007, Alicia was appointed by Governor Strickland to serve as the Director of the Early Childhood Cabinet.  The Early Childhood Cabinet, comprised of the directors of the following agencies; Education, ODADAS , Health, Job and Family Services, Mental Health and MR/DD has as its mission to unite key state agencies around the common goal of promoting early childhood development by setting and coordinating state policy and programs which serve Ohio’s children, prenatal to six years of age.

Prior to her appointment, Alicia served as the Executive Director of the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association for nearly five years.  Alicia assisted OCCRRA and it’s members and partners with implementing the First Steps Initiative (including the IT Guidelines), Step Up to Quality, the Ohio Afterschool Network, Healthy Child Care Ohio, the Professional Development Registry and T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Ohio.

Alicia is a graduate of Cincinnati Public Schools and the University of Dayton.  She is married and is a current consumer of child care as the mother of two young children, Caroline and Jake.

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Chet Lenartowicz, Principal, Youtz Elementary, Canton City Schools

Chet Lenartowicz has a distinguished career in education. He began as a full-time faculty member at St. Thomas Aquinas High School for Biology and Chemistry, where he later taught as a full-time tenured faculty member. He served as tenured faculty at several schools teaching mathematics, including Dalton and McKinley High Schools. In 2000, Mr. Lenartowicz served as a K-12 Curriculum Specialist at the Wells Administrative Center at the Canton City Schools. In 2006, he became principal of the Madge Youtz Elementary School PK-6 in Canton City Schools in Canton, Ohio, where he continues to work today. He also remains an adjunct professor at Ashland University.

Mr. Lenartowicz is associated with the Ohio Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (OASCD), the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators (OAESA) and the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). He served as a data collection agent for a work study by the American Institute for Research and an All School Survey with the Knowledge Works Foundation. In 2006, Mr. Lenartowicz participated in the Growing Outstanding Leaders Daily (GOLD) program at Canton city schools and, in 2007, participated in the Harvard Executive Leadership Program for Educators.

Mr. Lenartowicz graduated from the University of Akron with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and Chemistry, and later earned a secondary certification in mathematics. In 1991 he acquired a Masters of Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction: Mathematics and Statistics at Ashland University. In 1994, Mr. Lenartowicz acquired a secondary certification in comprehensive science from Kent State University, University of Akron. He earned his Administrative License at Ashland University in 2005 and, most recently, earned his Superintendent’s License at Ashland University in 2009.

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Joan Lombardi, Director, The Children's Project

Joan Lombardi is one of the leading experts in early childhood development and child and family policy. As director of The Children’s Project, she serves as an advisor to the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and a number of other foundations and international organizations. She is the founding chair of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance, a coalition of more than a dozen national organizations, state groups and foundations, working to help shirt the odds for at risk children. She chaired the alliance from 2005-2008. In addition, she is a Research Professor at the Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University.

Joan served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton Administration and as the first Director of the Child Care Bureau. She is the author of numerous publications including : Time to Care: Redesigning Child Care to Promote Education, Support Families and Build Communities (Temple University Press, 2003) and co-editor of A Beacon of Hope: The Promise of Early Head Start for America’s Youngest Children (Zero To Three Press, 2004).

In 2004, Joan launched the Global Leaders for Young Children program in partnership with The World Forum Foundation which has provided leadership support to early education leaders in more than 30 countries around the world. In addition, in 2004 she served as a Senior Fellow with The Global Fund for Children in Washington D.C. Joan serves on the board of Voices for America’s Children, Global Action for Children, The Firelight Foundation, and on the Education Leadership Council of Save the Children.

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Albert Nahalea, Director of Ka Umeke Kaeo, a cultural immersion elementary school

Albert Nahale-a, known as Alapaki to his friends, family and community, has been the director of Ka Umeke Kaeo Hawaiian Immersion Public Charter School, located in Keaukaha, Hawaii, for the last seven years. Under his leadership, the school has doubled in enrollment while performing exceptionally well on Hawaii’s mandatory state assessments. This has been achieved despite having a very high risk population.

Prior to his position at the immersion school, Alapaki held a series of community development positions with Hawaii Community College, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and Rural Community Assistance Corporation. He also has five years of experience working for the County of Hawaii as a legislative auditor assistant and fiscal/program review auditor.

Alapaki has always had a passion for community work and has been engaged in various volunteer roles over the last twenty five years including basketball and soccer coach, reading and math tutor, community board member, Kiwanis and Jaycees member, political campaign manager, and Boy Scout troop leader to name a few. Currently, his community service efforts are focused on his roles as president of the Hawaii Charter School Network, east Hawaii representative to the Hawaiian Homes Commission, and board member of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation.

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Karabelle Pizzigati, Chair of the Board of Directors, Parents as Teachers National Center; Member, Maryland State Board of Education

Karabelle Pizzigati, an independent child and family policy adviser, currently serves as a member of the Maryland State Board of Education and the Immediate Past President of the National Association of State Boards of Education. She has directed public policy for the Child Welfare League of America and earlier worked on Capitol Hill, as the staff director of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families. Dr. Pizzigati has held various university teaching assignments and served, as well, on the Technical Work Group for the National Longitudinal Study of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Dr. Pizzigati recently assumed the chair of the Board of Directors of the Parents as Teachers National Center. She received her undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Cornell University.

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William Raspberry, Founder, Baby Steps; Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist

William Raspberry, long-time columnist for The Washington Post, forged a career from keen observation of human relations.  Read by millions of Americans from coast to coast and beyond, he, over the years became a champion of truth, reporting on matters of critical importance to the country.  Yet “reading Raspberry’s column was like having a conversation with an intelligent friend,” according to one newspaper editor.  Mr. Raspberry is known for his independence of mind and his insistence on speaking the truth as he sees it.  His opinions have served as the springboard for debates in newsrooms and classrooms, in the White House and in Congress.  For his enlightened commentary on social and political issues, Mr. Raspberry has received honorary degrees from more than 25 educational institutions and in 1994 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. 

The son of Mississippi school teachers, William Raspberry grew up in the small town Okolona.  He graduated from Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) with a B.S. in History and began his journalistic career with The Indianapolis Recorder, where he spent four years before joining the US Army. 

Following an honorable discharge Mr. Raspberry went to work for The Washington Post in 1962 as a teletype operator.  He soon was promoted to reporter, and in 1966 began his own column, which at its peak of syndication appeared in 225 newspapers.  The column often addressed the latest ideas and proposed answers to social dilemmas: “I don’t enjoy celebrating problems,” he says.  “I talk about problems with a view to inching toward solutions.”

Mr. Raspberry recently retired from Duke University, where he held the Knight Chair in Communications and Journalism.

One of the reasons he gave for his retirement from journalism was so he could devote more time to Baby Steps, a parent training and empowerment program he created in his home town of Okolona, MS.  He described Baby Steps as “my attempt to help give another generation of young people the thing that worked so well for me—a belief in the magic of education.”

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Roger Sampson, President, Education Commission of the States

Roger Sampson has had a distinguished career for more than 20 years in Alaska while earning a reputation for quality, innovation and increased student achievement. The State Board of Education & Early Development appointed Sampson as Alaska Commissioner of Education & Early Development in 2003. He resigned effective August 17, 2007 to take the position of president of the Education Commission of the States. During Sampson's tenure as Commissioner, the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development established a statewide full-release mentoring program for beginning teachers and administrators in partnership with the University of Alaska. The department also established, with the approval of the Legislature, an innovative public school performance incentive program. Sampson has served in a variety of roles and positions in public schools, including school administrator in both rural and urban Alaska.

Sterling Speirn, President and CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Since he assumed his role in 2006, Sterling Speirn has led the organization through a comprehensive review of its mission, vision and program priorities. The result is a new strategic framework that refocuses the Kellogg Foundation on its original purpose: to improve the lives of children and families who face poverty, illness, poor nutrition, illiteracy and other social barriers. Additionally, the Foundation has committed to promoting racial equality as a means to help all people reach their full potential.

Summing up this new direction in the Foundation’s 2007 annual report, Speirn wrote: “We live in a time when national needs are being strongly felt, and the future of our children is very often at the center of these concerns. The spirit of our times calls directly to foundations such as ours to confront the challenges we face with renewed hope and vision.”

Before joining the Kellogg Foundation, Speirn was president of Peninsula Community Foundation, which serves donors and charitable organizations on the San Francisco Peninsula, and in Silicon Valley. He was also founder and chairman of the Center for Venture Philanthropy, which has launched three social venture funds engaging with the issues of poverty, literacy and the environment.

Previously, Speirn taught a seminar on philanthropy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Harvard Business School, University of Santa Clara, University of San Francisco, and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Earlier, he managed the national computer grants program for nonprofit organizations at Apple Computer. He also has worked for the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C.; practiced law in North Carolina; taught English and literature to 7th and 8th graders in Cleveland, Ohio; and managed a large community health center in Arcata, California.

Speirn, a Michigan native, earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford University in California. He holds a law degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Speirn is married to Diana Aviv, president and CEO of the national nonprofit, Independent Sector. He has two sons, Paolo, who is 20, and Danny, who is 16.

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Gregory Taylor, Vice President for Programs, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Gregory Taylor is vice president for programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role he serves on the executive team that provides overall direction and leadership for the Foundation and provides leadership for Education and Learning programming as well as place-based programming in Mississippi. Greg is responsible for leadership, capacity building and fostering collaboration and teamwork in the development and implementation of programming, organizational policy and philosophies, human and financial resource allocation management and internal and external communications.

Greg joined the Foundation in September 2003 as a program director. In this role, he was responsible for the design, planning, and management of programs related to the Foundation’s efforts to align community systems to increase learning outcomes for vulnerable young people. Prior to coming to the Foundation, he was senior director and chief program officer for Washington, D.C. initiatives with the Fannie Mae Foundation. There he developed and implemented strategic direction and worked in areas of youth development, education, housing, and community and economic development.

Previously he served as executive director and program manager at Community IMPACT! in Washington, D.C., where he managed a staff of 33 and directed organizational growth through partnerships with the public schools, federal government, and business. He has additional experience at the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research in Washington and the Manhattan Valley Youth Program in New York. He is an avid basketball fan and boy’s basketball coach.

Greg earned a J.D. from the Bloomington School of Law at Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and urban affairs from Hunter College, City University of New York.

Established in 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

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Marc Tucker, President, National Center on Education and the Economy

Marc S. Tucker is President of the National Center on Education and the Economy, a leader in the movement for standards-based school reform in the United States.  Mr. Tucker authored the 1986 Carnegie Report, A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century, which called for a restructuring of America’s schools based on standards; created the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; created the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce and co-authored its report, America’s Choice:  high skills or low wages!, which helped to launch the standards movement in the United States; was instrumental in creating the National Skill Standards Board and served as the chairman of its committee on standards and assessment policy; and created and co-chaired the New Standards consortium, which  pioneered the development of performance standards in the United States and created a set of examinations matched to the standards. Mr. Tucker serves as Vice-Chairman of the Board of America’s Choice, which is a leading provider of services to states aimed at raising the performance of low performing schools and school districts.  He is Board Chairman of the National Institute for School Leadership, a national organization that provides advanced leadership training to school district leaders and managers, from the superintendent to the principal.  Mr. Tucker created the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, authored its 2006 report, Tough Choices or Tough Times, and serves as co-chair of the program to implement the recommendations made in the report. With Ray Marshall, Mr. Tucker co-authored Thinking for a Living:  Education and the Wealth of Nations, selected by Business Week as one of the 10 best business books of 1992; with Judy Codding, co-authored Standards for Our Schools:  How to Set Them, Measure Them, and Reach Them, published in 1998; and with Judy Codding, co-edited The Principal Challenge, published in 2002

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