Mimi Stewart

A former teacher, Mimi Stewart represents New Mexico’s 17th district in the state Senate. She’s spent the last eight years in the state Senate. Previously, she served 20 years in New Mexico’s House of Representatives. From 1995 to 2010, Stewart served in the House while also holding her job as a teacher. By trade, Sen. Stewart is a public school elementary special education teacher, with an expertise in teaching reading. She also taught other teachers how to teach reading using science for five years. In New Mexico’s Senate, Sen. Stewart sponsored New Mexico Senate Bill 398, which requires all first graders to have a simple dyslexia screener.

Naomi Peña

Naomi Peña is a community and education activist. She is currently president of New York City District 1, Community Education Council.

Akeela Azcuy

Akeela Azcuy has her doctorate in clinical psychology. She is also a board member for Dyslexia Alliance for Black Children and a trustee of the Winward School and Institute.

Donna Hejtmanek

Donna Hejtmanek spent 41 years serving as a reading specialist-interventionist and president of the Literacy Task Force of Northern Wisconsin. In 2014, Governor Walker appointed her to Wisconsin’s Read to Lead Literacy Council. She has also served as legislative chair of the International Dyslexia Association and on the Legislative Council Study Committee which produced and passed Wisconsin’s first dyslexia bill, signed in 2016. Now, she creates Science of Reading professional development for teachers on her Facebook group, Science of Reading—What I Should Have Learned in College.

Hilderbrand Pelzer III

In his over three decades of experience, Hilderbrand Pelzer III has earned a stellar reputation as an award-winning educator and inspirational speaker. His leadership in the education field began when he became Philadelphia’s youngest high school principal in the early 2000s. His greatest accomplishment—in a career that has included leading five different schools—was in one of the largest prison systems in the United States in Philadelphia. There, Pelzer led a pivotal shift toward higher expectations for all incarcerated youth by demonstrating how much these students are capable of learning. Leveraging these unique lessons, Pelzer teaches his audiences how to raise expectations for all students.

Peter C. Brown, Bethany Lockhart Johnson, Dan Meyer, and Eric Cross

Peter C. Brown is a bestselling writer and novelist, retired from a career as a management consultant. He is the lead author of Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (Harvard University Press, 2014). Make it Stick has been translated into 17 foreign languages and received international acclaim for changing the way we understand learning. 

Bethany Lockhart Johnson is co-host of the podcast Math Teacher Lounge, as well as a curriculum design consultant, elementary school educator, and author. Prior to serving as a multiple-subject teacher, she taught theater and dance, and now loves incorporating movement and creative play into her classroom. Bethany is committed to helping students find joy in discovering their identities as mathematicians. In addition to her role as a full-time classroom teacher, Bethany is a Student Achievement Partners California Core Advocate and is active in national and local mathematics organizations. Bethany is a member of the Illustrative Mathematics Elementary Curriculum Steering Committee and serves as a consultant, creating materials to support families during distance learning.

Dan Meyer, director of research for Desmos Classroom, is co-host of the podcast Math Teacher Lounge. Dan Meyer taught high school math to students who didn’t like high school math. He has advocated for better math instruction on CNN, “Good Morning America,” “Everyday With Rachael Ray,” and TED.com. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in math education and is currently the Dean of Research at Desmos, where he explores the future of math, technology, and learning. Dan has worked with teachers in all 50 states and internationally, and was named one of Tech & Learning’s 30 Leaders of the Future.

Eric Cross, the host of the podcast Science Connections, is a grade 7 science/technology teacher, grade-level lead, and digital learning innovator for Albert Einstein Academies, an International Baccalaureate school. He is also an adjunct professor of learning and technology at the University of San Diego.

Kareem Weaver

Kareem Weaver is a co-founder and executive director of FULCRUM, which partners with stakeholders to improve reading results for students. He is the Oakland NAACP’s 2nd vice president and chair of its education committee; his advocacy is featured in the film “The Right to Read.” Mr. Weaver previously served as New Leaders’ executive director of the Western Region and was an award-winning teacher and administrator. He has undergraduate degrees from Morehouse College and a master’s in clinical-community psychology from the University of South Carolina. Mr. Weaver believes in the potential of all students, the brotherhood of man, and the importance of service above self. His educational heroine, for literacy instruction, is the late Marva Collins.

Zaretta Hammond

Zaretta Hammond, M.A., is a national consultant and author of Culturally Responsive and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (Corwin, 2015).

A former high school and community college expository writing instructor, Hammond has spent the past 20 years supporting schools and other institutions in deepening their understanding and application of culturally responsive practices. She currently runs the Culturally Responsive Education by Design Online PLC, a six-month intensive, inquiry-based professional learning experience to build instructional capacity to use culturally responsive tools and practices effectively.

Hammond is also a strong literacy advocate who sits on the board of trustees for the Center for the Collaborative Classroom, and on the advisory board for the Consortium for Reading Education (CORE).

Dr. Jasmine Rogers

Jasmine Rogers, Ed.D., is a manager and coach with the InSchools program at the DC Reading Clinic, serving the District of Columbia Public Schools. In this role, she manages professional development on structured literacy best practices. For nine years, she was an elementary teacher serving in kindergarten and special education as well as a reading specialist. She also mentored at the DC Reading Clinic in its 2019 inaugural cohort. She holds masters degrees in sports administration, elementary education, and special education. She is currently an adjunct professor and early literacy intervention lead at American University, where she recently completed her doctorate in education policy and leadership.