PRESENTERS

Ashley Andersen Zantop

COO
Cambium

Ashley began her career as an elementary school teacher and collegiate coach, igniting her passion for social impact. She has spent more than 20 years in publishing, technology, media, and ecommerce for education and home—in public, private, and nonprofit sectors all around the world. Ashley holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in English literature, teaching certifications K–5 and 6–8, and a master of fine arts in creative writing. She is a published author of Now What? The Creative Writer’s Guide to Success After the MFA. Prior to joining Cambium in 2020, Ashley served in executive leadership roles at several companies, such as GreaterGood, Capstone, and Trudy Corporation (later Palm Publishing). She serves on the SIIA’s government affairs council and has served on the board of directors and executive committee for the SIIA’s education division and cochaired the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

Eileen Belastock

Director of Technology and Information
Nauset Public Schools, MA

Eileen, CETL and Director of Technology and Information at Nauset Public Schools, is an educational leader fueled by the belief that learning anytime, anywhere is critical for students and educators. Throughout her career in both corporate and educational settings, Eileen has encouraged and supported both adult and student learners to challenge themselves to find their passions, be lifelong learners, and be contributing citizens in the twenty-first global environment. Due to her work and involvement with state and national edtech organizations, she is a 2020 top 100 edtech influencer. Through her published articles in publications such as Tech & Learning, eSchool News, EdScoop, and EdTech–K12, she supports and highlights educators and administrators on their work to ensure digital equity and student safety.

Monica Cougan

CatchOn Manager of Strategic Relationships and Initiatives

Monica Cougan is the CatchOn Manager of Strategic Relationships and Initiatives, where she leverages more than 35 years of experience in education and technology to help schools make the most of new technology. She has been an evangelist for the adoption of technology as a transformative educational tool and has extensive experience helping K–12 school districts implement programs that foster systemic change.

Throughout Monica’s extensive career, she has sought out the diverse experiences required to know how to implement positive changes in education by serving as a classroom teacher, adjunct professor, and education consultant for national, technology-based curriculum companies. Thanks to her diverse experiences, she has built the collaborative network needed to form new partnerships that help students and educators through promoting project development, professional development, training, and school change.

Martha Dowell

Product Owner
SquidBooks

Martha is the Product Owner at SquidBooks, where she coordinates a team of software designers and engineers to create teacher-friendly software that makes science accessible for all learners. Previously, she worked with the SquidBooks team as a writer and editor. As a certified teacher, Martha has experience in classrooms across the country—from teaching preK students with special needs in Florida and community college students in Oklahoma to first graders in Washington state. She recently spent two years in South Korea, where she taught music and movement classes for kids. She uses her unique insights as a teacher to help create intuitive and user-friendly educational software. Martha holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction.

Marlo Gaddis

Chief Technology Officer
Wake County Public School System, NC

Marlo is the Chief Technology Officer for the Wake County Public School System. She served three other North Carolina Districts of various sizes in the past as Twenty-First Century Learning Coordinator; Lead Teacher for Technology (K–5) and Media (K–12); Lead Teacher for Math, Science, Social Studies, and Technology (K–5); district and school Technology Facilitator; and kindergarten and first grade teacher. Marlo serves on the K12 Education Advisory Boards for the RTM K–12 Congress and Lenovo. She is on the Board of Directors of Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) and serves on its Executive Board as Secretary. She is a founding member and board member of the NC CoSN chapter and a CoSN CETL.

Julie Haber

Founder and Inspiration and Wellness Specialist
Inspired World Wellness

Julie is founder of Inspired World Wellness and inspiration and wellness specialist at Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas. As former director of spiritual wellness at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Julie has worked with CEOs, students, celebrities, and senators. She has been devotedly living a holistic lifestyle for more than 25 years. She is founder of Inspired World Wellness, providing education and support for both individuals and groups who want to give something of beauty and value to the world. As a certified Life Coach, Julie believes our most valuable wisdom comes from the experience of our own life. She has a passion for peacemaking and conflict resolution and is a certified mediator. Having recovered from a long-term life-threatening autoimmune disease, she loves to encourage others to find their own healing through patience, hope, incorporating a healthy lifestyle, and finding meaning in all circumstances. She has always found delight in the saying, “Be yourself; everyone else is taken.”

Barbara Hunter

Executive Director
National School Public Relations Association

Barbara became the Executive Director of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) in November 2020. Prior to joining NSPRA, she spent five years as the president/CEO of Hunter Communications LLC, based in Alexandria, Virginia. She also spent 14 years as the chief communications officer in two school districts in Northern Virginia, including Fairfax County Public Schools, the 10th largest in the nation. She started her career in school communications at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, and as editor of The School Administrator magazine. Barbara also served as the Director of Communications for the National School Boards Association. Barbara has served as a board team leader, project manager, and coauthor of NSPRA’s Rubrics of Practice and Suggested Measures, which now serves as the standard for evaluating school communication programs. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and management and a master’s degree in public relations management. In addition, she holds accreditation in public relations (APR) and has served as the NSPRA Mideast Region vice president and is a past president of the Chesapeake chapter of NSPRA.

Jerri Kemble

Cohost of the LinkedUp: Breaking Boundaries in Education Podcast

Jerri is a former assistant superintendent in Lawrence Public Schools, Kansas. She has been a passionate educator for more than 40 years. She has played many roles, serving school districts as a teacher, counselor, principal, and superintendent. Jerri has a successful track record of disrupting the educational status quo by working with stakeholders to create positive change. With Jamie Saponaro, she cohosts the popular weekly LinkedUp podcast, where they have interviewed boundary-breaking guests for more than a year.

Jill Lachenmayr

Assistant Superintendent of Academics
Andover Public Schools

Jill is the Assistant Superintendent of Academics for Andover Public Schools in Kansas. She has spent her career engaging in advancing the learning of children and adults. She believes learning is the key to success and happiness. Jill’s passion in life is growing and learning with others to lead successful and fulfilling lives. Her experience as an educational leader focuses on helping individuals and school systems achieve their highest potential.

Laura McBain

Co-director
K12 Lab at the Stanford d.school
Stanford University

Laura McBain (she/her) (@laura_mcbain) is a designer, educator and the co-director of the K12 lab at the Stanford d.school. As a human-centered designer, her work focuses on understanding the ecosystem of education and finding meaningful opportunities to advance racial and social justice. Prior to the d.school, Laura worked for 15 years at High Tech High serving as the Director of External Relations, principal of two school sites and a founding teacher. She has taught middle and high school students in both charter comprehensive schools. Laura has a Bachelors from Miami University-Oxford, Ohio and a Masters from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Angela Maiers

Founder
Choose2Matter

Angela Maiers is the founder of Choose2Matter, a nonprofit with a singular mission to help individuals recognize their value and potential contribution to change both their own lives and the world. As an educator for 30 years, Angela has worked across 100 countries with more than one million children to band together and launch 170 social enterprises and pass 17 laws. Most recently, she was named by Forbes as one of the Top 5 Edupreneurs to Watch, by IBM as one of the Top 20 Global Influencers, among the Top 100 Women in Technology by Onalytics, and among the Top 20 Education Thought Leaders by TrustEd. She is the author of nine education books. Angela holds a bachelor’s degree in education with a minor in neuroscience and two master’s degrees in literacy and educational leadership.

Laura Nord

Vice President of Sales
Allovue

Laura Nord is the Vice President of Sales at Allovue, where she leads the sales, business development, and marketing teams. With more than a decade of experience in education sales, Laura has expertise in developing and achieving strategic sales priorities. She built the sales-marketing team at Allovue, growing the team from 3 to 12 in one year while developing the processes and procedures that allowed Allovue to increase revenue. Laura leverages her past experiences at organizations, ranging from education nonprofits to Blackboard, to lead her team with a passion for identifying solutions that advance school district goals.

Shayla Rexrode

Global Solutions Manager
Lenovo

Shayla has been an avid educator for more than 20 years, beginning her career as a classroom teacher and later as a district administrator in a large urban school district. She has also been an Education Consultant with SMART Technologies and a Partnership Manager with Discovery Education. Just prior to joining Lenovo, she was a Senior Research Scholar at the Friday Institute where she researched, designed, and implemented professional learning for educators and educational leaders.

Jamie Saponaro

Director of Educational Success and cohost of the LinkedUp: Breaking Boundaries in Education Podcast
ClassLink

Jamie is Director of Educational Success at ClassLink. Learning and always growing, Jamie is an educator with a passion for sharing topics in education that are near and dear to her heart. Her background as an instructional strategies consultant, educational coach and mentor, technology administrator, and middle school teacher have all informed her work. With Jerri Kimble she cohosts the popular weekly LinkedUp podcast, where they have interviewed boundary-breaking guests for more than a year.

Priscilla Shumway

Author, Trainer, Experienced Student of Yoga

Priscilla Shumway, MEd, was an award-winning corporate trainer for more than 25 years. Traveling nationally and internationally she conducted programs on Train the Trainer, Presentation Skills, Instructional Design, Facilitation Skills, and several other custom programs. She has been a contributing author in five books on education and training. She was the coeditor with Kathy Hurley on Real Women, Real Leaders published by Wiley Publishing. A yoga student for more than 18 years, she is thrilled to be working collaboratively with these authors to write Embrace Your Wobbles.

Meghan Stanton

Account Advisor
Allovue

Meghan Stanton is an Account Advisor with Allovue, supporting the work of school districts with financial management. Her work takes her all over the country, helping school districts to better steward their hundreds of millions of dollars by modernizing and improving financial systems. Ultimately, her work, and Allovue’s, is about making sure that every dollar works for every student in public education.

Twana Young

Vice President of Curriculum and Instruction
MIND Research Institute

Twana is Vice President of Curriculum and Instruction at MIND, where she leads the overall vision, strategy, and execution for curriculum materials, resources, and professional learning across MIND’s suite of products. She also holds a leadership role in MIND’s codesign group, Math Equity in Design (MEND). MEND is a community of people who have worked with students of color, have been students of color, or are teachers of color. They are coarchitects in designing culturally relevant math curriculum that connects with all students. Twana is a former classroom teacher, district curriculum specialist, and district curriculum director for math, science, and instructional technology with more than 20 years of experience in education. She has been a leader in improving schools at the local, state, and national levels by developing and implementing curriculum, assessments, coaching programs, STEM learning pathways, and professional development training for teachers.

PARTICIPATING SPONSORS