2026 Speakers

“My name is Michael. I can hop. Do you want to see me hop?” That’s how I introduced myself to bemused strangers at the supermarket when I was three. Honestly, not much has changed. Here’s the formal bio, with the best bits at the end.

Michael Bungay Stanier has shaped how organizations around the world make being coach-like an essential leadership competency. His book The Coaching Habit is the best-selling coaching book of this century, with over a million copies sold and more than fifteen thousand five-star reviews on Amazon.

In 2019, he was named the #1 thought leader in coaching, and in 2023, he won the coaching award from Thinkers 50, “the Oscars of management.” Michael was the first Canadian Coach of the Year, has been named a Global Coaching Guru since 2014, and was a Rhodes Scholar. His most recent book, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone , shows how to create psychological safety by building the Best Possible Relationship with the key people at work.

Michael is the host of the Change Signal podcast, which cuts through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works in change management. TheChangeSignal.com

Michael founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that had helped hundreds of organizations transform from advice-driven to curiosity-led. BoxOfCrayons.com

Michael is a compelling speaker and facilitator who combines practicality, humour, and an unprecedented degree of engagement with the audience. He’s spoken on stages and screens around the world in front of crowds of ten to ten thousand, and his TEDx talks have been watched by more than two million people. MBS.works.

En route to today—and these are essential parts of his origin story—Michael knocked himself unconscious as a labourer by hitting himself in the head with a shovel, mastered stagecraft at law school by appearing in a skit called Synchronized Nude Male Modelling , and his first paid piece of writing was a Harlequin Romance-esque story involving a misdelivered letter… and called The Male Delivery . Learn more at MBS.works Updated

Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket is a wife, mother, principal, TEDx speaker, author, and the President of the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals. With decades as a teacher and leader in public education, she has earned the reputation as a strong instructional leader, passionate educational advocate, and dedicated mentor. As the Principal of a National Blue Ribbon school in Maryland, she is a life-long learner who strives for excellence not only for herself, but also for everyone she serves. She also serves as an adjunct professor at McDaniel College helping to support the personal and professional growth of aspiring and current school leaders, and is an ASCD faculty member.

Named as one of the Top 100 Influencers in Education by District Administration magazine, Dr. Edoho-Eket has dedicated her life’s work to supporting all stakeholders in public education. She is a highly sought-after thought leader, keynote speaker, and featured speaker at many prominent educational events including TEDx, TLC, ISTE/ASCD, and The Future of Education Technology Conference.

Dr. Edoho-Eket’s first bestselling book, “The Principal’s Journey: Navigating the Path to School Leadership” provides a helpful and practical blueprint for educators to follow as they transition into new leadership roles. Her second bestselling book, “Relational Intelligence: The Key to Exceptional School Leadership” centers on the importance of trusting and authentic relationships as the driver of school success. Dr. Edoho-Eket holds a B.S. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Temple University, a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from McDaniel College, and a Doctorate in Leadership and Professional Practice from Trevecca Nazarene University.

Jim Knight, Founder and Senior Partner of Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), is also a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He has spent more than two decades studying professional learning and instructional coaching. Jim earned his PhD in Education from the University of Kansas and has won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards. The pioneering work Jim and his colleagues have conducted has led to many innovations that are now central to professional development in schools.

Jim wrote the first major article about instructional coaching for the Journal of Staff Development, and his book Instructional Coaching (2007) offered the first extended description
of instructional coaching. Jim’s book Focus on Teaching (2014) was the first extended description of how video should be used for professional learning. Recently, writing with Ann Hoffman, Michelle Harris, and Sharon Thomas, Jim introduced the idea of instructional playbooks with their book on that topic. Jim has written several books in addition to those described above, including Unmistakable Impact (2011), High-Impact Instruction (2013), Better Conversations (2015), The Impact Cycle (2018), The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching (2021), Data Rules (2024), and The IC Toolkit (2024).

Knight has also authored articles on instructional coaching and professional learning in publications such as Educational Leadership, The Journal of Staff Development, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, and Kappan. Jim is also a columnist for Educational Leadership.

Through ICG, Knight conducts coaching workshops, hosts the “Coaching Conversations” podcast, and provides consulting for coaching programs around the world.

Dr. Christian van Nieuwerburgh is Professor of Coaching and Positive Psychology at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences where he leads the Centre for Positive Health Sciences. He is also Consulting Professor with Growth Coaching International. Considered a thought leader in the areas of coaching in education and the integration of coaching and positive psychology. Christian is passionate about the creation of positive learning environments and works with schools, colleges, and universities all over the world.

Christian is the author of the best-selling Introduction to Coaching Skills: A Practical Guide, currently in its third edition (2014; 2017; 2020). He has published 10 books on the topics of coaching and positive psychology. He shares practical strategies and ideas from these fields on his website (www.coachonamotorcycle.com) and social media channels (Youtube: @coachonamotorcycle; Instagram: @coachonamotorcycle; X: @christianvn).

Dr. Mary Webb is a consultant at the Instructional Coaching Group. Mary worked for twenty five years in public education in Texas, dedicating twenty of the years to school leadership in the role of Assistant Principal, Principal, and Director of Instruction in suburban and urban school districts.

Mary is a proud Sooner where she attended the University of Oklahoma to earn her B.S. in Elementary Education. She received her Master’s in Education Administration from Texas A&M Commerce and her Doctorate degree in Education Administration from The University of North Texas. Mary’s dissertation focused on how school systems can create structures for the principal and IC to develop a successful relationship in order to impact student learning.

In addition to her work in public schools, Mary serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas. Mary has also facilitated multiple sessions of Courageous Principals at Deloitte University, which focuses on impactful leadership skills for administrators.

Dr. Yong Zhao is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas. He previously served as the Presidential Chair, Associate Dean, and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he was also a Professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership. Prior to Oregon, Yong Zhao was University Distinguished Professor at the College of Education, Michigan State University, where he also served as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology, executive director of the Confucius Institute, as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. Additionally, he worked as a professor of educational leadership in the Faculty of Education at University of Melbourne and senior researcher at the Mitchell Institute of Victoria University in Australia. He was a visiting Global Professor at University of Bath and a visiting scholar at Warwick University in the UK. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the International Academy of Education. Yong Zhao has received numerous awards including the Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association, Outstanding Public Educator from Horace Mann League of USA, Distinguished Achievement Award in Professional Development from the Association of Education Publishers, ACEL Nganakarrawa Award, and AECT 2022 Outstanding Digital Learning Artifact Award and AECT Distinguished Development Award. He has been recognized as one of the most influential education scholars.

His works focus on the implications of globalization and technology on education. He has published over 100 articles and nearly 40 books, including Focused: Understanding, Negotiating, and Maximizing Your Influence as a School Leader (w J. Watterston) (2024), Duck and Cover: Confronting and Correcting Dubious Practices in Education (w R. Ginsberg) (2023), Improbable Probabilities: The Unlikely Journey of Yong Zhao (w G. W. McDiarmid) (2023), Learning for Uncertainty: Teaching Students in a Rapidly Evolving World (w G. W. McDiarmid) (2022), Learners without Borders (2021), Teaching Students to Become Self-Determined Learners (w M. Wehmeyer) (2021), An Education Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste: How Radical Changes Can Spark Student Excitement and Success (2019) What Works May Hurt: Side Effects in Education (2018), Reach for Greatness: Personalizable Education for All Children (2018), Counting What Counts: Reframing Education Outcomes(2016), Never Send a Human to Do a Machine’s Job: Correcting Top 5 Ed Tech Mistakes (2015), Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon: Why China has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World (2014), Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization (2009)and World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students (2012). He has also worked with numerous schools to design new models of education within the existing school.

In about four decades of his professional career, Yong Zhao has led large research projects, directed research and practice centers and institutions, designed schools, curricula, and textbooks, and initiated and led the development of software systems for learning and professional purposes. He has worked with teachers, schools, professional organizations, businesses, and governments in many countries in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, North and South America, and Europe.

Zhao was born in China’s Sichuan Province. He received his B.A. in English Language Education from Sichuan Institute of Foreign Languages in Chongqing, China in 1986. After teaching English in China for six years, he came to Linfield College as a visiting scholar in 1992. He then began his graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993. He received his masters in Education in 1994 and Ph.D. in 1996. He joined the faculty at MSU in 1996 after working as the Language Center Coordinator at Willamette University and a language specialist at Hamilton College.

Amy Curry is the Coordinator of Educational Services for the Western Québec School Board, where coaching is central to her work in supporting educators and leaders. She leads a team of pedagogical consultants, oversees a comprehensive teacher induction program, and contributes to the development of future school principals through a leadership development program. Amy places a high value on building strong professional relationships and is guided by a commitment to kindness, high expectations, and meaningful impact. 

With over twenty-five years of experience in education, Amy has served in a wide range of roles, including classroom teacher, resource teacher, English Language Arts Consultant, Teacher Induction Consultant, and School Principal. She was also seconded by the Province of Québec, where she contributed to the development of evaluation tools for English Language Arts. Amy holds a Master of Education degree with a concentration in Teaching and Learning from the University of Ottawa. 

Dr. Kristin Anderson is an educator, researcher, founder, and CEO of The Brilliance Project. Through her research and consultancy over her 20-plus-year career, Kristin has helped thousands of educators, leaders and aspiring world-changers transform their potential and unleash their personal power through the lens of education.

Kristin’s early career was spent working with students from marginalized and disadvantaged backgrounds, often outcast from mainstream school systems. This formative experience exposed the duality of education in both its capacity to fortify and lift the human spirit, as well as isolating the oppositional factors that actively disable it. These insights invoke the redemptive themes of her current-day work, such as building trust, hope, and belief through personal efficacy, and a specialized focus on adult learning that embraces the life cycle of the whole educator along with their wellbeing.

Kristin has worked within instructional and leadership roles across a diverse range of K-12 settings. She has developed professional learning programs for Edison Schools,The Leadership and Learning Center, and Corwin, and is known as the person who brought Visible Learning to North America. In parallel, she has completed advanced degrees from Sterling College, the University of Denver, the University of Colorado, and Vanderbilt University.

In recent years, Kristin has collaborated with global leaders to design, implement, and evaluate professional learning frameworks, and has led large-scale development initiatives for sustainable impact through education. Kristin’s approach is anchored in her understanding of behavioral and decision science, balanced with her practical and humanizing implementation of research in real-world settings. She has delivered keynotes, workshops, and extensive professional learning on various topics in teaching, learning, and leadership across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Africa.

Kristin is the author of Data Teams Success Stories Volume 1, Real Time Decisions, Getting Started with Rigorous Curriculum Design, and a soon to be published book on Educator Wellbeing.

‍

Steve Barkley began his teaching career in a rich, teaming and coaching environment long before the terms instructional coaching and professional learning communities were in the educational literature. During the past three plus decades, Steve has worked with educators internationally to build programs that focus on educator growth for student growth.

Steve is the author of Quality Teaching in a Culture of Coaching and Instructional Coaching With the End in Mind. His weekly blogs and podcasts add to a continuous exploration of his learning being shared with others.

Kate Bieschke, M.S. Ed., is an Instructional Coach at Harvard CUSD 50 in Harvard, Illinois, and serves as the district’s Coaching and Mentoring Lead. With over 26 years of experience in education, including roles as an ELA teacher, Dean of Culture, MTSS Lead, and SEL Instructional Coach, Kate brings a rich, practical lens to instructional coaching. A Jim Knight trained coach, Kate actively uses Current Reality Capture (video self-reflection) to deepen her own practice and empower her partners. She believes that vulnerability is a strength and that authentic growth begins when coaches are willing to see their current reality with eyes wide open.

Kate holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Illinois State University and a Master’s in Reading from Concordia University. She is an ISBE Nominee for Illinois Teacher of the Year (2012) and a recipient of the Those Who Excel Award of Recognition. Her mission is to be selfless, accepting, vulnerable and genuine while providing purposeful, authentic support that empowers all.

Shannon Buerk has emerged as an industry thought leader of organizational culture, helping educators to utilize the tools of performance-based professional coaching and intentional design to elevate the performance of public school districts nationwide. Passionate about equity of the learner experience, Shannon believes that neighborhood schools are the heart of a free, thriving society, and she is committed to ensuring that they are the first choice for all families. With 28 years of K-12 experience, Shannon has led a thriving organization since 2011 that has partnered with 225 school districts–impacting 2.3 million public education students to date. In 2022, Shannon also wrote and published her first book, Connect the Dots: Utilize Education Intelligence to Accelerate Growth, Retain Talent, and Optimize Outcomes.

Margarita Espino Calderón, Ph.D., is a Professor Emerita/Senior Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University. The Carnegie Corporation of New York funded her five-year study Expediting Comprehension for English Language Learners (ExC-ELL) to train 6th – 12th math, science, social studies, language arts, and ESL teachers on integrating language, reading, and content. She has conducted several five-year studies with grants from U.S.D.O.E (IES, OELA), and U.S.D.O.L. With a Title III NPD grant, she developed A Whole-School Approach to Professional Development with ExC-ELL. She has over 100 publications on language and literacy. She works with national and international schools, districts, and education departments. She was recently inducted into the Multilingual Education Hall of Fame.

Dr. Ayanna Cooper is a consultant, writer, U.S. Department of State English Language Specialist alumna, “edu-story” teller and recently served a three-year term on the Board of Directors for TESOL International Association.

She is the author of several publications including And Justice for ELs: A Leader’s Guide to Creating and Sustaining Equitable Schools and Black Immigrants in the United States (co-edited).

As the editor of Language Magazine’s “Pass the Mic” series she highlights the intersectionality of race, English language teaching and learning, and centers on multilingual student experience.

Dr. Tina Curry is an instructional coach, educational leader, and facilitator of professional learning who has spent more than two decades helping educators strengthen teaching and learning in K–12 schools. She currently serves as an IB PYP Coordinator and instructional coach in Chicago Public Schools and teaches graduate courses in literacy and coaching at National Louis University. Dr. Curry is the founder of Currents of Change Consulting and Chair of the Achievement Awards in Writing Advisory Committee for the National Council of Teachers of English. Drawing on 20 years of coaching practice, she developed the CARE Coaching Framework, which highlights the inner conditions that shape how effective coaches support teachers and keep kids first. 

Renowned speaker, author, and equity consultant Dr. Nancy A. Dome co-founded Epoch Education in 2014 to provide leaders in education and business with accessible professional development to support equity efforts in pursuit of greater diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

Starting her career as a Child Care Worker, she has always had a strong desire to support those students most at risk. Realizing the education track would allow her greater flexibility and reach than the social services track, she re-educated to become a teacher and spent 10 years working in multiple capacities, ranging from classroom teacher, Mentor Teacher, and Teacher on Special Assignment, in the Juvenile Court and Community Schools in San Diego. Roles, which allowed her to train and support teachers in becoming more culturally competent educators for the diverse population they served.

Dr. Dome’s passion for education prompted her to obtain her doctorate in 2004, which allowed her to secure a tenure track faculty position at CSUSM in the College of Education. There she spent 7 years working with future teachers to build their capacity in the classroom with a social justice focus, building their awareness around the necessity of being culturally competent. During that time, Dr. Dome coordinated a College of Education program that sought to identify racially under-represented undergraduates and support them in becoming teachers to help diversify the workforce.

In 2008, Dr. Dome accepted a position with Pacific Educational Group as the Director of Online Programming where she developed online professional development opportunities for individual teachers and school districts. Realizing that online would provide a greater reach, she provided hundreds of educators with an interactive and transformative curriculum that challenged and inspired them to work as advocates for their underrepresented student populations.

Today Dr. Dome continues her important work as Founder/CEO of Epoch Education whose primary charge is to provide current, accessible and transforming Professional Development that helps school districts and educational agencies throughout the country navigate complex topics, build bridges, and work together for inclusive, impactful change. Dr Dome also works with businesses providing inspirational keynotes, individual and small group coaching sessions, and trainings on effective communication through Compassionate Dialogue throughout the US and in the UK.

Dr. Dome is the author of the bestselling book Let’s Talk About Race and Other Hard Things: A Framework for Having Conversations That Build Bridges, Strengthen Relationships, and Set Clear Boundaries that laid the foundation of Compassionate Dialogue as a mainstream strategy to support the development of strong workplace climates and cultures. In 2024, she published The Compassionate Dialogue Journey: A Workbook for Growth and Self-Discovery that provides a pathway for internal exploration by guiding readers through prompts and exercises designed to deepen their Compassionate Dialogue practice as a form of self-care.

When Nancy is not working, she spends much of her time in service to her community, gardening, and making memories with her loved ones.

Dr. Chris Everett is Chief Strategy Officer at engage2learn, where he leads market strategy, competitive positioning, and growth planning across the company's portfolio of instructional coaching and professional learning solutions. He brings 27 years in public education to this work, having served as a teacher & high school football coach, principal, and assistant superintendent before spending the last decade at engage2learn. That trajectory — from the classroom and the sideline to the district cabinet to the strategy table — grounds his approach in a rigorous, evidence-based understanding of what schools actually need, not just what the market assumes they need. Dr. Everett is a frequent thought partner to instructional leaders and district decision-makers on building coaching cultures that produce measurable change in practice.

Meg Groseclose is an experienced Early Literacy Facilitator and Coach dedicated to enhancing K-5 literacy instruction with 15 years experience, 8 years in coaching. She holds a Master of Arts in Education (MAEd) in Reading and Literacy K-12 (Reading Specialist) and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Elementary Education, providing her with a strong foundation in literacy development and effective teaching practices.
 

With National Board Certification in Reading-Language Arts (Early and Middle Childhood), Meg has extensive experience working with diverse and multicultural student populations, specializing in intensive, individualized reading interventions for K-5 learners. She has also played a key role in modeling and coaching teachers in literacy instruction, supporting educators in implementing research-based strategies.
 

In addition to her school-based coaching, Meg has consulted in Chicago schools, helping 4th and 5th-grade teachers refine their literacy instruction. She completed Jim Knight’s 16-week Coaching Institute and collaborates with Jim Knight and the Instructional Coaching Group (ICG) as a Learning Partner, engaging in coaching cycles to refine instructional practices. Most recently, Meg collaborated with Jim Knight with his 1-on-1 coaching sessions.
 

A dedicated mentor and trainer, Meg supports Beginning Teachers (BTs) and serves as a Master Teacher Trainer for mClass Reading3D. Her commitment to excellence in education has earned her recognition, including being named Teacher of the Year (Malpass Corner Elementary, 2015-2016). She has also served as a Student Ambassador for ECU’s MAEd in Literacy and Reading, a Graduate Assistant in the Reading and Literacy Department at ECU, and was nominated for ECU’s Student Employee of the Year.
 

With a passion for empowering educators and fostering literacy growth, Meg continues to make a lasting impact on students and teachers alike. 

Jennifer Hlavka serves as the Coordinator for National Board Certification & Teacher Career Pathways in Howard County, Maryland. Jennifer started her teaching career with Baltimore City Public Schools, teaching elementary grades before being named a Response to Intervention Coordinator for grades K–8 in reading and math. During this time, she was identified as a City Schools Model Teacher. Later, she was promoted to the BCPSS District Office as a Teacher Development Specialist before transitioning to a similar role in Howard County. In HCPSS, she has partnered with teacher leaders to develop and scale a nationally recognized, award-winning support program for National Board Certification candidates, ranking among the top five in Maryland and the United States. Jennifer also leads system-wide initiatives such as instructional mentoring, Title II-A and major grant funding, teacher leadership initiatives, and implementation of high-impact professional learning.

Jennifer received her Master of Arts in Teaching and her Administration & Supervision certificate from Johns Hopkins University, her Literacy Coach certificate from the University of Maryland, and her Master of Business Administration from Loyola University Maryland. She has taught at the graduate level for Johns Hopkins University and regularly teaches courses for teacher and administrator certification renewal. In recognition of her excellence in instruction, she received the Diane Tobin Award for Excellence in Education from Johns Hopkins University School of Education.

Jennifer also has the pleasure of working with ICG as a training consultant and has facilitated sessions at the local, state, and national levels in conferences and other professional development settings. She has published articles on the topic of instructional coaching and regularly coaches new and experienced teachers and leaders. Jennifer is a GCI Coaching Accreditation Program Trained Coach.

Jennifer’s career is grounded in a joy for learning with a focus on providing professional learning that sparks curiosity and engagement. In each learning experience, Jennifer aims to strengthen the capacity, motivation, and efficacy for those who serve public education to create learning environments where every student and staff member looks forward to their work together each day.

Contact information:

Email– jhlavka@instructionalcoaching.com
Threads– @jenniferhlavka
Linkedin– https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-hlavk

See Jennifer’s Coaching Conversation Podcast Episode with Jim Knight

Read Jennifer’s Work: Curiosity: the Key Ingredient to a Well-Balanced Data Diet

Dr. Trista Hollweck is a pracademic who integrates the worlds of research, policy, and practice and leads educational networks at local, provincial, national, and international levels. Trista is passionate about collaborative-based professional learning and development, especially mentoring and coaching in education. Her doctoral dissertation was a case study on the Western Quebec School Board’s Teacher Induction Program (TIP), an initiative she designed, implemented and led from 2008-2016. As an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada), Trista designed and teaches the graduate-level course “Mentoring and Coaching in Professional Contexts.”  

A former teacher, vice-principal, and school district consultant, Trista researches and writes about teacher induction, mentoring and coaching programs, educational networks, women’s educational leadership, learning through play, scaling educational innovations, and systemic change. Her recent co-authored book “Coaching with Purpose: Learning Encounters for Educational Change” with Hachette Publishing explores the profound impact of coaching in the world of education. Trista is a proud mom of three and is committed to supporting schools and systems to improve education for all students within and across educational systems globally. 

Andrea Honigsfeld, EdD, is professor in the School of Education and Human Services at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York, where she teaches graduate courses related to cultural and linguistic diversity and TESOL methodology. Before entering the field of teacher education, she was an English-as-a-foreign-language teacher in Hungary (secondary and adult) and an English-as-a-second-language teacher in New York City (elementary and adult). She also taught Hungarian at New York University. She was the recipient of a doctoral fellowship at St. John’s University, New York, where she conducted research on individualized instruction. She has published extensively on working with multilingual learners and collaborative instructional practices. She received a Fulbright Award to lecture in Iceland in the fall of 2002. Over the past 20 years, she has been presenting at conferences across the United States, Great Britain, China, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Sweden, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. She frequently offers professional learning opportunities, primarily focusing on effective content and language integration strategies and collaborative practices for ELD and bilingual/dual language specialists and general education teachers. She coauthored over 60 articles and chapters and coauthored or coedited over 30 books, 11 of which are national bestsellers.

Jim Knight, Founder and Senior Partner of Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), is also a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He has spent more than two decades studying professional learning and instructional coaching. Jim earned his PhD in Education from the University of Kansas and has won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards. The pioneering work Jim and his colleagues have conducted has led to many innovations that are now central to professional development in schools.

Jim wrote the first major article about instructional coaching for the Journal of Staff Development, and his book Instructional Coaching (2007) offered the first extended description
of instructional coaching. Jim’s book Focus on Teaching (2014) was the first extended description of how video should be used for professional learning. Recently, writing with Ann Hoffman, Michelle Harris, and Sharon Thomas, Jim introduced the idea of instructional playbooks with their book on that topic. Jim has written several books in addition to those described above, including Unmistakable Impact (2011), High-Impact Instruction (2013), Better Conversations (2015), The Impact Cycle (2018), The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching (2021), Data Rules (2024), and The IC Toolkit (2024).

Knight has also authored articles on instructional coaching and professional learning in publications such as Educational Leadership, The Journal of Staff Development, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, and Kappan. Jim is also a columnist for Educational Leadership.

Through ICG, Knight conducts coaching workshops, hosts the “Coaching Conversations” podcast, and provides consulting for coaching programs around the world.

John Krownapple is an educator, author, and speaker who specializes in professional learning and organizational development.

Focused on inclusive work and learning environments, he centers belonging and dignity as the primary concepts that help people thrive in school, work, and life in general.

John has been an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University since 2007, and for fifteen years he served as the coordinator of diversity, equity, and inclusion in a Maryland school district of over 50,000 students.

Additionally, he has served as a classroom teacher, curriculum specialist, and professional development facilitator. John has authored articles and books, and he is the co-author of Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity: The Keys to Successful Equity Implementation.

Kat Laag started in education in 2000 teaching first grade and later began working from home in 2007 teaching kindergarten through eighth grade at California Virtual Academies before moving into school leadership in 2009. After spending two years incorporating instructional coaching into the school leadership role, Kat started instructional coaching full time in 2018 and began supporting a school wide team of instructional coaches in 2019. Kat also provides professional development, culture coaching for leadership teams and individual leadership coaching. She lives in California with her husband of 22 years and is a proud mom to 3 kids ages 19, 16, and 14. 

‍Dr. Lisa Lande has dedicated her professional endeavors to advocating for teachers and students around the globe. It is her aspiration that every classroom in every school is one that she would want her own three children to learn in.

Dr. Lande is a former teacher, college professor, and director of several large-scale school reform projects. She currently serves as the Director of International Programs for the Quaglia Institute for School Voice and Aspirations.

Dr. Lande is a co-author of Teacher Voice: Amplifying Success, Engagement by Design: Creating Learning Environments Where Students Thrive, and The Power of Voice in Schools: Listening, Learning, & Leading Together.

Amy Musante is a dedicated educator and instructional coach whose work is grounded in a deep belief in collaborative learning, authentic relationships, and supporting diverse school communities in taking meaningful, context-specific action. With 19 years of experience in Oregon, she has served as a district leader, high school language arts teacher, instructional coach, and secondary intervention specialist, developing a comprehensive understanding of teaching, learning, and system-level change.

She holds a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she specialized in secondary literacy, further strengthening her expertise in adolescent learning and instructional practice. In her current role with the Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), Amy partners with schools, districts and leaders across the United States and internationally, focusing on sustained, long-term collaboration that leads to improved outcomes for all students in every classroom.

Amy also contributes to broader educational advancement through her service on a board affiliated with the State University of New York system, where she works to enhance the student experience across both secondary and postsecondary settings. Known for her thoughtful leadership and commitment to partnership, Amy brings both vision and practical expertise to the systems she supports.

Outside of her professional work, she enjoys reading, traveling, connecting with friends and family, and enthusiastically supporting Buffalo sports teams.

Sarah Ogborn is an Instructional Coach and English teacher at Antioch Community High School in Antioch, IL. A National Board Certified educator, Sarah led a team in creating and implementing a focused and cohesive Instructional Coaching program at ACHS. Sarah collaborates with educators on a daily basis while planning school-wide professional development for faculty.

In her 20 years as an educator, Sarah has consistently focused on creating an engaging and supportive classroom environment. Sarah also serves as president of her building’s association. As building president and an instructional coach, she is able to advocate for and support her peers.

Outside of school, Sarah is a Boilermaker, a mom, a wife, and a CrossFit addict. Sarah enjoys reading and playing with her pup.

Coming from a family of educators, Christina Ortega has devoted her career to public education for over 20 years in various capacities. She started her career as a Special Education Teacher teaching full-time learning support students. Christina then transitioned to the regular education classroom where she gained teaching experience at the elementary and middle school levels.

During her time as a classroom teacher and tenure as a technology facilitator, she found her passion for coaching and high impact instruction. In this role, she learned, implemented, and promoted blended learning with high impact instructional strategies in her building and district by way of professional development sessions and facilitative coaching capacities.

Christina transitioned into a full time Instructional Coaching role serving teachers at K-12 levels. It was in this role that she deepened her understanding of the Instructional Coaching Group and their resources as she transformed the district’s coaching program.

Today, Christina is a district level administrator as the Elementary Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator where she continues to expand her impact of empowering and equipping teachers, instructional coaches, and leadership teams with high effect instructional strategies for all students.

Christina lives in Hershey, PA with her husband, daughter, and their chocolate lab, Beauty.

Christina’s favorite quote: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Dr. Maya Angelou

Sonja is an experienced educator, school leader, and coach who has supported students and teachers across Canada, Ethiopia, and Australia for over 14 years. Based in Toronto, she is a Consultant at Instructional Coaching Group (ICG). Sonja is dedicated to advancing coaching and effective professional learning in education so that students, teachers, and school leaders everywhere have the support they need to flourish.

A certified coach with Growth Coaching International, Sonja holds the European Mentoring and Coaching Council’s Global Accreditation at the Practitioner level. She is a Senior Mentor Coach and facilitator with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Mentorship Program at the University of Toronto.

Guided by values of respect, kindness, and empathy, Sonja sees the best in others and believes in the limitless potential of every individual she serves. Outside of work, she loves fitness, time with family and friends, cheering on local sports teams, and is on a mission to keep her plants alive!

With her infectious energy and deep expertise, Dr. Kim Richardson is a powerhouse in educational leadership and coaching. She holds a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation from the International Coaching Federation and serves as president-elect for the Virginia Learning Forward Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Virginia ASCD Annual Conference Planning Committee. In addition, she created the Radical Learner’s course: Coaching for Connection, Certainty, and Autonomy for the Instructional Coaching Group. 

Dr. Kim leads professional learning for school and district teams, digging deeply into instruction, coaching, and leadership development. Her work is inspired by her dissertation research, where she found that great leaders—especially coaches—are intentionally enlisted and developed. 

Among her many roles, Dr. Kim’s all-time favorite was serving as the Hampton City Schools Instructional Coaching Coordinator, where she built and led the district’s coaching program from the ground up. She and the district’s coaching program were even spotlighted in Focus on Teachers by Jim Knight. The initiative became a cornerstone of the district’s success, providing ongoing training and leadership development for coaches and specialists. Her background also includes experience as a district professional development director, federal programs coordinator, elementary school principal, technology specialist, instructional coach, and classroom teacher. 

Outside the office, Dr. Kim is all about family time with her husband, three sons, daughter-in-law, and her two-year-old granddaughter. She also leaves everything on the floor every Saturday, dancing her way to joy and energy with her Zumba fitness. 

Stephany Sipes serves as Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction at Prosper ISD. With over 13 years in educational leadership, including roles of curriculum coordinator and campus administrator, Stephany guides a team of program directors, curriculum coordinators, and instructional coaches that foster an environment where educators can learn and grow together.

Summer Snyder is dedicated to fostering inclusive and equitable classrooms and schools. With over twenty years of specialized experience in supporting differentiated instruction, she has served as a classroom teacher, instructional coach and the Differentiation Coordinator for a district that serves over 55,000 students across eight municipalities in Denver, Colorado. Summer currently works with Dignity Consulting. In this role, Summer leads a range of professional learning and development initiatives focused on helping schools build the capacity to meet diverse needs while fostering inclusive environments where all students and staff feel a sense of belonging and their dignity is honored.

Summer’s work has earned her multiple accolades, including the Golden Heart Award, the Excellence Award for Organizations, the Superintendent Making a Difference Award, and the 2023 Teacher of the Year for Cherry Creek Schools. She holds degrees in Elementary Education, Special Education, and a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction.

William A. Sommers, PhD, of Austin, Texas, continues to be a learner, former teacher and principal, author, leadership coach, and consultant. Bill has come out of retirement multiple times to put theory into practice as a principal. He is the Director of SCC for Educators and is the co-founder of www.learningomnivores.com.

Bill has authored and coauthored over ten books, including:

• Developing Courage, Humility, and Discipline: Stakeholder Centered Coaching (in press)(2024)
• Setting the Stage for Learning (in press) (2024)
• Compliance Cop to Culture Coach (2023)
• Creating Talent Density: Accelerating Adult Learning (2021)
• Responding to Resistance: 30 Ways to Manage Conflict in Schools (2019)
• 9 Professional Conversations to Change Schools: A Dashboard of Options (2018)
• Living on a Tightrope: A Survival Handbook for Principals
• Being a Successful Principal: How to Ride the Wave of Change Without Drowning;
• Reflective Practice to Improve Schools (now in the third edition as Reflective Practice for Renewing Schools)
• A Trainer’s Companion: Stories to cause inspiration & reflection
• Energizing Staff Development Using Video Clips
• Leading Professional Learning Communities
• Guiding Professional Learning Communities
• Principal’s Field Manual
• Habits of Mind Teacher’s Companion (in the second edition).

Bill is a consultant for Stakeholder Centered Coaching, Polarity Management, Why Institute. Cognitive Coaching, Adaptive Schools, and Conflict Management.

Dr. Sommers continues to coach school and district leaders, as he has done for over 35 years. In addition to serving on graduate faculties at several universities, Dr. Sommers he has been a program director for an adolescent chemical dependency treatment center and on the advisory board of a halfway house for 20 years. Currently Bill is on the boards of Stevie Ray’s Improv Group and Lian Dante Foundation for Social Justice.

Rachel currently lives in Wyoming with her husband of 22 years, two daughters (16 and 18), two dogs, a cat, and several chickens. Rachel earned her BA at the University of Northern Colorado in 2000 in Sociology/Criminal Justice, her Multiple Subject teaching credential from CSU, Bakersfield in 2003, her clear teaching credential in 2008 from UCLA, and her MA in Education with a focus in Online Instruction in 2023 from SNHU. Rachel began teaching 4th and 5th graders in a classroom at a private school, then taught 7th-12th graders at a public independent charter school. She joined the California Virtual Academies staff in August of 2006 and worked as a K-8 teacher and Community Day teacher before going into leadership as a Regional Lead in 2010. In 2016, Rachel began her journey into Instructional Coaching while still holding the Regional Lead position. She and Kat Laag started their partnership and helped to train leadership on the basics of instructional coaching until 2017, then became full-time instructional coaches for over 60 teachers each in the Elementary Department. In 2019, Rachel and Kat were given an opportunity to lead their own department of instructional coaches. As of 2026, California Virtual Academies has 34 instructional coaches who support over 900 teachers and 22,000 students in grades TK-12 and two Coordinators of Leader Development and Instructional Coaching (Rachel and Kat). In this current role, Rachel and Kat provide professional development to all leaders at California Virtual Academies, offer individual leadership coaching, and continue to grow the instructional coaching program. 

Whitney Walsh is a Social Studies teacher at Antioch Community High School in Antioch, IL. She is an experienced educator with a demonstrated commitment to building strong classroom culture, supporting student executive function, and designing learner-centered instruction. Whitney has contributed to district initiatives through the LEADS leadership cohort, focusing on professional development structures, instructional collaboration, and curriculum-integrated learning.

In her role, Whitney strives to create academically rigorous, supportive learning environments where students are engaged, responsible, and reflective. She has led work related to curriculum design, school culture mapping, and instructional planning, and is dedicated to advancing effective teaching practices across her community.

Dr. Mary Webb is a consultant at the Instructional Coaching Group. Mary worked for twenty five years in public education in Texas, dedicating twenty of the years to school leadership in the role of Assistant Principal, Principal, and Director of Instruction in suburban and urban school districts.

Mary is a proud Sooner where she attended the University of Oklahoma to earn her B.S. in Elementary Education. She received her Master’s in Education Administration from Texas A&M Commerce and her Doctorate degree in Education Administration from The University of North Texas. Mary’s dissertation focused on how school systems can create structures for the principal and IC to develop a successful relationship in order to impact student learning.

In addition to her work in public schools, Mary serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas. Mary has also facilitated multiple sessions of Courageous Principals at Deloitte University, which focuses on impactful leadership skills for administrators.

Dr. Jessica Wise began her educational career in Gwinnett County, Georgia, as an elementary school teacher. After seven years of teaching fourth grade, she transitioned into the role of an intervention teacher and instructional coach, where she found her true passion in education.

Becoming a school-based instructional coach opened new possibilities for how to support education. After serving her school for two years as a coach, she joined the Curriculum & Instruction department where she served as a Literacy Instructional Specialist, and then a Leadership & Staff Development Instructional Coach. Jessica’s true passion exists in the learning spaces where adults can explore instructional coaching and facilitation that prioritizes people and energizes educators.

Jessica received her doctoral degree in School Improvement from the University of West Georgia where her focus was facilitation of adult learning.

When not working, Jessica enjoys hiking, movie night with her family, and working on DIY projects around the house.

Wendi Young serves as the Executive Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction at Prosper ISD. With over 20 years of experience in education, her background encompasses classroom teaching, instructional coaching, and leadership roles at the central administration level. Currently, Wendi provides guidance to program directors, curriculum coordinators, and instructional coaches, fostering a positive learning environment.