Jerome Murphy, PhD, is the Harold Howe II professor of education at Harvard University, and former dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a specialist in the management and politics of education. His teaching and research focus on administrative practice and organizational leadership, government policy, program implementation and evaluation, and qualitative methodology. He has examined educational policy and practices in England, Australia, Colombia, China, and South Africa, and has participated in international exchange meetings on educational issues in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Israel, and Russia. As dean, he led the development of new initiatives in learning technologies, arts education, neuroscience and education, and school leadership. A former math teacher, he helped develop domestic legislation in the former U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; was associate director of the White House Fellows Program; and founded and directed the Massachusetts Internships in Education.

Janice Jackson, PhD, is a senior associate with the National Equity Project. She is an independent education consultant with a focus on leadership and organizational change in public schools and districts, equity strategies, teaching and learning, teachers’ and principals’ professional identity, and reflective judgment of principals and teachers. Prior to her current role, she was the executive director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. She has served as a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a senior associate on the Wallace-funded Executive Leadership Program for Educators, a faculty member in the Leadership for Change Program in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, and an assistant professor at Boston College in the Lynch School of Education. She has served as the deputy superintendent for Boston public schools, and deputy and acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education for the U.S. Department of Education. She has also worked as a human relations coordinator, a personnel analyst, and an elementary school teacher.

Doug Coatsworth, PhD, is professor of human development and family studies at Colorado State University, and the director of the Colorado State University Prevention Research Center. He earned his AB from Harvard University in psychology and social relations and his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota, and received postdoctoral training in prevention science at Arizona State University. His research has focused on understanding the developmental process of resilience in childhood and adolescence, and on evaluating interventions that promote competence, resilience, and well-being in children, youth, and families. Most of his studies involve intervening with families to promote positive parenting and effective family functioning as a mechanism for creating nurturing home environments and enhancing youth resilience. Recently, he and his collaborators developed a theoretical model of mindfulness in parenting that has guided pilot and large-scale randomized clinical trials of a mindfulness-enhanced, family skills program. Their program infuses brief mindfulness activities into an evidence-based program to study the additive effects of mindfulness on positive parenting, family functioning, parent-youth relationships, and youth behavior.

Zakiyah Ansari is the Advocacy Director of the New York State Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), a leading statewide organization that has fought for educational equity for the last decade. Appointed to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Transition Committee, she has addressed parents, educators, elected officials, and administrators across the United States about the importance of organizing parents and communities in schools. She is a co-initiator of a new, national movement, Journey for Justice, composed of grassroots community-based organizations representing youth, parents, and intergenerational organizations that are impacted by the closing, turnaround, and charter expansion of schools in communities of color. She was interviewed for the February 2013 edition of American Prospect (“Pushing Arne Duncan to Fast Forward”); has appeared on MSNBC’s weekly national program, Melissa Harris-Perry; was a panelist on the City & State and Schoolbook panel on education; and is one of the parent voices in the film Parent Power, produced by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. She resides in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and is the mother of eight children and a grandmother of three.

Patricia St. Onge is founder and partner at Seven Generations Consulting and Coaching. Supporting individuals, organizations, and communities in increasing their capacity for fullness and effectiveness, she believes that much of the wisdom necessary to solve a dilemma rests within those experiencing the challenge. She has worked to support the progressive social justice movements all of her adult life, and has served as executive and interim director of more than a dozen nonprofit organizations. She is a member of Native Americans in Philanthropy and Common Counsel Foundation, a trustee of funders for LGBTQ issues, and core faculty at the Chaplaincy Institute for Interfaith Studies. Her work is deeply rooted in the concept of Seven Generations, where we honor the generations who have come before us, and are mindful of those yet to come and how the impact of our decisions will last for seven generations. Lead author of Embracing Cultural Competency: A Roadmap for Nonprofit Capacity Builders, she holds a bachelor’s degree in human services and a master’s of divinity. Of Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) and Quebecoise descent, she is an activist and member of an indigenous grandmothers’ circle. She and her life partner have 10 grown children and six grandchildren.

Jaimie Cloud is the founder and president of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education in New York City. The Cloud Institute is dedicated to the vital role of education in creating awareness, fostering commitment, and guiding actions toward a healthy, secure, and sustainable future for ourselves and for future generations. We monitor the evolving thinking and skills of the most important champions of sustainability, and transform them into educational materials and a pedagogical system that inspire young people to think about the world, their relationship to it, and their ability to influence it in an entirely new way. A pioneer of Education for Sustainability (EfS) in the United States, she has authored The Cloud Institute’s EfS Framework, and several peer-reviewed journal chapters and articles on sustainability and the significance of education for sustainability. Working extensively with educators, administrators, and school boards across the nation, she designs and facilitates professional development programs and directs the collaborative development of numerous instructional units and courses for K-12 and higher education designed to teach and learn across disciplines through the lens of sustainability. In addition to her commitment to furthering the mission of The Cloud Institute, she serves as an advisor, board member, or committee member to several organizations with related goals and interests.

Pamela Seigle, MS, is the executive director of Courage & Renewal Northeast at Wellesley College, an affiliate of the national Center for Courage & Renewal. She coleads the national Courage in Schools Initiative for the Center for Courage & Renewal, developing programs that bring reflective practice and focus on adult community directly to schools. She is the founder of the Open Circle® Program based at the Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College. Open Circle is a leading provider of evidence-based curriculum and professional development for SEL in kindergarten through grade five. Since its inception in 1987, Open Circle has reached more than two million students and trained more than 13,000 educators. She is currently a trustee of the Conservatory Lab Charter School, a music-infused elementary school in Boston that has implemented El Sistema as a whole-school initiative, and a former trustee of the Boston Public Library. She received her bachelor of science and master of science degrees from Syracuse University.

June Rimmer, EdD, joined CEL in 2011 as an associate director. In this role, she develops and manages district partnerships committed to building leaders’ expertise in instructional leadership and to transforming central office. Prior to joining the CEL team, she served in numerous leadership roles in urban education settings, most recently as chief academic officer in Seattle. Before coming to CEL, she served as a program director with the Stupski Foundation in San Francisco, coaching and providing technical assistance to urban district leaders committed to reform. She was also part of a research team examining powerful student learning experiences that lead to 21st-century skills and competence as well the system-level change needed at both the district and state levels to support 21st-century learning. Her professional interests lie in the design of equity-based instructional systems, and building expertise in educators’ practice to ensure that all students — particularly our most vulnerable children — exit our systems able to thrive in our dynamic, interconnected, global community.

Maria Pacheco, EdD, is the executive director of The Education Alliance at Brown University, a support organization that provides services to states and schools nationwide. She is also the director of the New England Equity Assistance Center, and adjunct assistant professor of ESL and cross-cultural studies at Brown University. As a researcher, teacher, and program director, she has worked extensively in the areas of English language learners, civil rights, equity pedagogy, second language acquisition, and minority parent and community engagement. She has more than 30 years of experience addressing issues of cultural diversity in urban schools and higher education. As a practitioner/scholar, she has authored and coauthored multiple publications, proposals, and reports on bilingualism, second language acquisition, culture and learning, and equitable instructional practices.

Ryan Stagg is a Digital Strategist with the Mind & Life Institute. He has an MA in Contemplative Religious Studies and brings years of experience in digital marketing and business strategy within the nonprofit sector. He currently lives in Lake Arrowhead, CA.