Mark Atkinson is Chief Executive Officer of Mursion, Inc., the nation’s leading virtual reality, simulation platform, where professionals develop the human skills required to be effective in high stakes careers. Mursion has deployed its simulation platform to hundreds of Fortune 1,000 corporations, non-profits and schools of nursing, business and education.  Mr. Atkinson is the Founder of TeachForward, LLC, a virtual coaching platform for K-12 educators that offers programs for alternative certification and professional licensure.  Mr. Atkinson serves on the Board of Directors of the Achievement Network and the Oracle Education Foundation.  Mr. Atkinson founded and served as CEO of Teachscape Inc. Prior to launching a career in educational technology and workforce development, Mr. Atkinson served as Senior Producer and Manager of New Markets for CBS News Productions He is a recipient of the Alfred I. DuPont Columbia University “Gold Baton” for his work in Bosnia. 

Jennifer Cheatham is a Senior Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Co-Chair of the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP) where she focuses on leading for equity and transformational change in urban school districts. Before joining the faculty at HGSE, she served for six years as the superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wisconsin. Previously, she served as Chief of Instruction for Chicago Public Schools, a Chief Area Officer for Chicago Public Schools and the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction for San Diego City Schools. She began her career as an 8th grade English teacher.

Charlotte began her career in education over 50 years ago as a teacher in a multi-age (1st and 2nd grade) classroom in Washington, D.C. From her first year in the classroom, she recognized the importance of encouraging students’ natural intellectual curiosity and creating the conditions that allow them to engage with important concepts and content. Twenty-five years later (and almost 25 years ago), after working as a teacher, curriculum director, staff development director, and assessment designer, she put pen to paper and wrote Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. 

The Danielson Framework, as it has come to be called, has become the most widely used instructional framework in the United States. She and her team have worked with educators using the framework in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, The U.S. Virgin Islands, and 12 other nations, including Canada, Colombia, Lebanon, Spain, Chile, and Thailand.

Charlotte is an internationally-recognized expert in the area of teacher effectiveness. She advises State Education Departments and National Ministries and Departments of Education. She is in demand as a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, and as a policy consultant to legislative and administrative bodies. She has published widely on the use of her framework and related aspects of the teaching professional and instructional practice. Among other things, she’s written about organizing schools for student success (Enhancing Student Achievement: a Framework for School Improvement, 2002), teacher leadership (Teacher Leadership that Strengthens the Profession, 2006), professional conversations (Talk about Teaching! Conducting Professional Conversations, 2009), and numerous practical instruments and training programs, both onsite and online, to assist practitioners in implementing important ideas about teaching.

She is a graduate of Cornell University (history), Oxford University (philosophy, politics, and economics) and Rutgers University (educational administration and supervision.) She has taught at all levels, kindergarten through university, has worked as a curriculum director and staff development director, and is the founder and board chair of The Danielson Group. 

Kate Dickson is the founder and President of Leadership Matters, Inc.  Leadership Matters’ mission is to empower educators to lead innovative policy and programs that increase equity, learning, and success for ALL students.  As an educational leader and advocate, Kate has been a senior consultant with the Danielson Group and Vice President of the Oregon Chalkboard Project, whose purpose is to advance state legislative and district policy supporting professional development and innovative career pathways for educators. Kate has a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and has previously served as Oregon’s Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, Director of Oregon’s Leadership Academy for school leaders, assistant superintendent, school principal, and teacher K through Higher Education.

Christina Linder is currently the Director of Teacher Certification at the College of Southern Idaho.  Previously she served as the Director of Certification and Professional Standards for the State of Idaho, the Associate Dean at Idaho State University, and developed K-20 policy in her role as Educator Effectiveness Program Manager for the Idaho State Board of Education. Christina led Idaho’s early work in adopting the Framework for Teaching as the foundation for consistent preparation and evaluation of teachers statewide, and continues to implement and innovate in high quality preparation for non-traditional teacher pathways.

Ana Martinez has dedicated her career to closing the achievement gap of our country.  Ana serves as the Executive Director for Tarrant County and is responsible for overseeing the growth of 20 high performing public charter schools in Fort Worth/Arlington. Prior to this role, Ana was the Midwest Executive Director of Program for New Leaders where she served as the senior instructional leader overseeing program implementation and driving student achievement in the region.   Ana was the Founding Principal of Rowe Elementary School, a Tier 1+ public charter school in Chicago aimed at ensuring that all scholars are set up for colleges, careers, and citizenship.  She served Teach for America in California and Florida in Executive positions. Her deep passion stems from her earlier years in Los Angeles Unified School District where she went to school and ultimately served as a second and third grade teacher.

Monica Santana Rosen is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alma Advisory Group, an education consulting firm supporting school systems across the country with a focus on helping organizations attract, engage and inspire their workforce, and create the conditions where staff can do their best work on behalf of their students. Prior to consulting, Monica spent nearly 8 years at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) working in HR and Talent Management, supporting a redesign of HR operations, and then moving into leadership support and development. Prior to working at CPS, Monica was the Executive Director of nonprofit Management Leadership for Tomorrow, working to diversify top leadership in the public and private sectors.

Dr. Keisha Scarlett is Chief Academic Officer for Seattle Public Schools and formerly served as Chief of Equity, Partnerships and Engagement. Keisha’s vast educational leadership experiences range from her early career in the STEM field at The Boeing Company to middle school teacher, principal, and numerous central office leadership positions in Seattle Public Schools. Dr. Scarlett has dedicated her career to advocate for both academic opportunities and environments which tap into the inherent brilliance of students, particularly students furthest from educational justice. In 2014, Keisha Scarlett was named Washington State Middle Level Principal of the Year. She was recipient of University Council for Educational Administrator (UCEA) Excellence in Educational Leadership Award in 2013. 

Audrey Soglin is the Executive Director of the Illinois Education Association (IEA). As Executive Director, she is responsible for the daily operations and strategic direction of the association that includes 135,000 members. Before being the ED, she taught in Evanston, Illinois for 25 years. As a classroom teacher, Audrey taught kindergarten through fifth grade. She is also president of the newly formed Partnership for Resilience.  The Partnership for Resilience works to transform and integrate education, health care and community organizations to create a trauma-informed, family-focused system that measurably improves academic, health, and social outcomes for children. She serves as the secretary for the Danielson Group Board of Directors. 

Jenn Vranek is the Founding Partner and Managing Partner of Education First. She founded Education First in 2006 to build an organization of the most trusted and effective education policy consultants in the nation. Jenn has worked with K12 and postsecondary educators, policymakers and philanthropists in more than 30 states. She is an expert in college and career readiness, teacher and leader effectiveness and state education advocacy, policy and politics. Honored as one of Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 in 2010, she also volunteers as an advisory board member for Washington’s Stand for Children, the Hoover Education Success Initiative Practitioner Council and Education Resource Strategies’ System 20/20. Jenn serves as vice chair of the Danielson Group Board of Directors. 

Ross Wiener is a Vice President at the Aspen Institute and Executive Director of the Education & Society Program. In this role, Ross designs and facilitates professional learning and leadership development for policymakers, system leaders, and key partners and funders to improve outcomes in public education. Ross advises and presents on a wide range of educational issues and regularly authors original thought leadership. From 2002 to 2009, Ross was policy director and then vice president for program and policy at The Education Trust. Ross also served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section and as a judicial law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.