Global Gurus

Dr. Eric Jensen is a former secondary teacher with a specialty in the applied cognitive science of learning. His M.A. is in Organizational Development and Ph.D. is in Human Development.

His path in education began with embracing accelerated learning principles. Jensen cofounded the first and largest brain-compatible residential enrichment program, now with more than 80,000 graduates, held in 14 countries. He has trained educators and trainers worldwide in this field for over 25 years.

Next, he explored the application of neuroscience in education. Jensen is currently a member of the invitation-only Society for Neuroscience, the largest of its kind in the world. He has co-produced 19 international mind-brain conferences which introduced educators to cutting-edge neuroscience. He has written Teaching with the Brain in Mind, Brain-Based Learning, Teaching with Poverty in Mind, and 29 other books on learning and the brain.

Jensen has taught for three universities and worked with over 500 schools. He is deeply committed to making a positive, lasting difference in the way we learn. Jensen is currently exploring the paths to expedite change in both educators and schools.

Diane Ravitch is Research Professor of Education at  a historian of education. She recently retired from New York University. She is also president and co-founder of the Network for Public Education, with 350,000 followers. She blogs at dianeravitch.net, Her blog has had more than 39 million page views since she started it April 26, 2012. From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. She was responsible for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. As Assistant Secretary, she led the federal effort to promote the creation of voluntary state and national academic standards. From 1997 to 2004, she was a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the federal testing program. She was appointed by the Clinton administration’s Secretary of Education Richard Riley in 1997 and reappointed by him in 2001. From 1995 until 2005, she held the Brown Chair in Education Studies at the Brookings Institution and edited Brookings Papers on Education Policy. Before entering government service, she was Adjunct Professor of History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2011, She was honored to receive the Daniel Patrick Moynihan award from the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. Her last two books were national bestsellers. And she received the Grawemeyer Prize in 2014 for “The Death and Life of the Great American School System. She has received 12 honorary degrees.

Dr. Bonita Thompson, Ed.D, MBA is New York Times Bestselling Author of Admired: 21 Ways to Double Your Value. She is the World’s #1 Collaboration Coach in the Thinkers50 Global Mentors & Coaches. She developed the world’s first Collaborative Leadership construct in the Chief Learning Officer doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania in partnership with Harvard University’s Kennedy School. She served as Adjunct Faculty for the Advanced Coaching Workshop at Harvard|McLean Hospital Institute of Coaching and John F. Kennedy University. In 2019, she was recognized as Business Leader of the Year at the Harvard Club NYC (GC4W) Global Connections for Women–awarded for her Leadership Innovation and Workforce Reinvention at Bank of America, Levi Strauss, Genentech, Virgin Unite, Varian, Pacific Telesis and The World Bank. Dr. Thompson has been cited by the U.S. Congress and California Department of Education for her groundbreaking project-based learning programs in mathematics.

At Levi Strauss, Dr. Thompson empowered employees as project manager on five continents with the launch of the world’s first corporate HR INTRANET, and at Bank of America, she energized employees with a global transformation of 100,000 jobs. Dr. Thompson helped launch the Institute for Contemporary Leadership and served on the Board of the Drucker/Hesselbein Leader to Leader Institute with Frances Hesselbein. She holds an MBA in Computer Science from U.C. Berkeley and doctorate in Education from the Chief Learning Officer program at the University of Pennsylvania.

A highly regarded urban public school educator in New Jersey for nearly 30 years, Baruti K. Kafele has distinguished himself both as a classroom teacher and as a school principal.

As an elementary school teacher in East Orange, N.J., Principal Kafele was selected as the East Orange School District and Essex County Public Schools Teacher of the Year. As a middle and high school principal in East Orange, Plainfield and Newark, N.J., he led the transformation of four different schools, including Newark Tech High School, which went from a low-performing school in need of improvement to recognition by U.S.News and World Report as one of America’s best high schools.

Kafele is one of the most sought-after education speakers in North America. He is the author of eight books, including his four ASCD best sellers—Closing the Attitude Gap, Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life, The Principal 50, and The Teacher 50. He is the recipient of more than 100 educational, professional and community awards, which include the prestigious Milken National Educator Award in 2009 and the City of Dickinson, Tex., proclaiming February 8, 1998, as Baruti Kafele Day.

Anthony Muhammad is an author and international thought leader.  He currently serves as the CEO of New Frontier 21 Consulting, a company dedicated to providing cutting-edge professional development to schools all over the world.  Dr. Muhammad served as a practitioner for nearly twenty years.  He served as a middle school teacher, assistant principal, middle school principal, and high school principal.  His tenure as a practitioner has earned him several awards as both a teacher and a principal, including being named the state of Michigan Principal of the Year in 2005.

Dr. Muhammad is recognized as one of the field’s leading experts in the areas of school culture and Professional Learning Communities at Work (PLC).  Dr. Muhammad has spoken to educators in all 50 U.S. States, 10 Canadian Provinces, The Caribbean, South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Dr. Muhammad is a best-selling author.  He is the author of the books Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work, 2^nd Edition (2021); Beyond Conversations About Race (2021); Time for Change: The Four Essential Skills of a Transformational School Leader (2019); Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division 2^nd Edition (2017) Overcoming the Achievement Gap Trap: Liberating Mindsets to Effect Change (2015); The Will to Lead and the Skill to Teach; Transforming Schools at Every Level (2011).  He has published 26 articles in education journals and publications in seven different countries.

Barbara Blackburn, Ph.D has dedicated her life to raising the level of rigor and motivation for professional educators and students alike. Barbara’s 28 books, including Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word, Rigor and Differentiation in the Classroom, Rigor and Assessment in the Classroom, and Rigor in Your School: A Toolkit for Leaders, provide easy-to-implement concrete examples based on decades of experience as a teacher, professor, and consultant. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Teaching from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 2006, she received the award for Outstanding Junior Professor at Winthrop University. She left her position at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to write and speak full-time. An international speaker, she presents lively, engaging, and practical on-site and technology-based keynotes and workshops for teachers and administrators in elementary, middle, and high schools. Her current emphasis also includes providing “Rigor Checks”, which are evaluations of tasks, assignments, and assessments, as well as training teachers and leaders to implement “Rigor Checks” in their schools.

Rick Jetter, Ph.D. is an educator, author, speaker, trainer and national education consultant. He has worked in the field of education for over 21 years and has held the positions of: alternative education teacher, English teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent of schools before pursuing a career in consulting, speaking, writing and publishing. Known as “Dr. J.,” he is also the co-founder and lead consultant at Pushing Boundaries Consulting, LLC and a 2020-2021 fellow for the NY Education Policy Fellowship Program sponsored by Teachers College, Columbia University and Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES. Dr. J. is currently one (of a very small handful) of scholars and thought leaders across the nation who develops narrative theory research models for transforming school culture and carrying out school reform initiatives.

Salman Khan is a Bangladeshi Indian American educator entrepreneur and former hedge fund analyst. He is founder of Khan Academy which is a free online platform for education worldwide. It is mainly focused on sciences and mathematical field and those subjects are presented through more than 4000 videos which is having more than 1 million subscribers. As the discoverer of this new kind of education world TIME and Forbes recognize him as one of the 100 Most influential People in the World and $1 Trillion Opportunity

Dr. Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT, Boston, a Thousand Talents Program Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and co-founder of the Presencing Institute. He chairs the MIT IDEAS program for cross-sector innovation that helps leaders from business, government, civil society to innovate at the level of the whole system. He is author of Theory U and co-author of Presence and Leading from the Emerging Future. In 2015 he co-founded the MITx u.lab, a massive open online course for leading profound change that has since activated a global platform and eco-system of societal and personal renewal involving more than 100,000 users from 185 countries. With his colleagues he delivered award winning programs for companies including Alibaba, Daimler, Eileen Fisher and Google and co-facilitated innovation labs on reinventing education, health, business, government, and well-being. Otto received the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching at MIT (2015) and the EU Leonardo Corporate Learning Award for the contributions of Theory U to the future of management and learning (2016).

Dr. Joseph S. Renzulli is a leader and pioneer in gifted education and applying the pedagogy of gifted education teaching strategies to all students. The American Psychological Association named him among the 25 most influential psychologists in the world. Dr. Renzulli received the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Award for Innovation in Education, considered by many to be “the Nobel” for educators, and was a consultant to the White House Task Force on Education of the Gifted and Talented.

Joseph S. Renzulli is Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut, where he also serves as director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. His research has focused on the identification and development of creativity and giftedness in young people and on organizational models and curricular strategies for total school improvement. A focus of his work has been on applying the strategies of gifted education to the improvement of learning for all students.

Dr. Renzulli’s work on the Three Ring Conception of Giftedness, the Enrichment Triad Model and curriculum compacting and differentiation were pioneering efforts in the 1970s, and he has contributed hundreds of books, book chapters, articles, and monographs to the professional literature, many of which have been translated to other languages. Dr. Renzulli’s enrichment-based and differentiated teaching model has been utilized by more than 35,000 teachers from around the world since 1978.

Dr. Renzulli’s work also provides the foundation for the Renzulli Creativity Program, as well as the Renzulli Learning System, which is an online personalized learning program that provides profiles of each student’s academic strengths, interests, learning styles, and preferred modes of expression. This unique program also has a search engine that matches multiple coded resources with student profiles. The Renzulli Creativity Program and schools that have embraced the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) or Renzulli Learning System, also utilize Dr. Renzulli’s educational philosophy, which infuses high engagement enrichment activities into any and all standardized curriculum topics.

Dr. Renzulli is also the founder, along with Dr. Sally Reis, of the Joseph S. Renzulli Gifted and Talented Academy in Hartford, Connecticut which has become a model for local and national urban school reform for high potential/low income students.

Although Dr. Renzulli has obtained more than $50 million in research grants, he lists as his proudest accomplishment the professional development he has provided at the annual summer Confratute program for teachers and administrators, which has enrolled more than 35,000 participants over the past four decades.

Tom Hierck has been an educator since 1983 in a career that has spanned all grade levels and many roles in public education. Tom is a compelling presenter, infusing his message of hope with strategies culled from the real world. He understands that communities face unprecedented challenges and knows which strategies will produce the best results.

Tom has presented to schools, districts, community leaders, and business groups across North America with a message of celebration for those seeking to make a difference. His belief that “every student is a success story waiting to be told” has led him to work with teachers and administrators to create positive school cultures and build effective relationships that facilitate learning for all students. He is the author/co-author of 21 books.

Tom and his wife of 40 years, Ingrid, are the proud parents of three children and grandparents of six. In his spare time Tom likes to run and he has completed 49 marathons.

Erik M. Francis, M.Ed., M.S., is an international author, educator, presenter, and professional development provider.  He has over 25 years of experience in education working as a classroom teacher, a site administrator, an education program specialist for a state education agency, and a trainer of teachers and school leaders.

Erik is the author of Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning published by Solution Tree. He is also the author of Now That’s a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning published by ASCD. His areas of expertise include inquiry-based teaching and learning using good questions, Depth of Knowledge (DOK), cognitive rigor, standards-based learning and grading, authentic learning (project-based, problem-based, product-based), differentiating instruction, individualizing and personalizing learning, and talent development.

Erik is s the owner of Maverik Education, providing professional development, consultation, and coaching on how to increase student achievement, teacher effectiveness, stakeholder relations, and overall school performance. He has provided academic guidance, support, and training to educators at K-12 schools, colleges, and universities throughout the United States and internationally in Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and Dubai. His professional development seminars and sessions have been featured at national, state, and regional education conferences hosted by organizations such as ASCD, Learning Forward, the College Board, the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).

Erik has a Master’s in Education Leadership degree from Northern Arizona University and a Master’s of Science degree in Television/Radio/Film Production and Management from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He also has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Communication and Rhetoric from the University at Albany.

Erik lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his family.

Carol Ann Tomlinson is William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Policy and co-director of the Institutes on Academic Diversity at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia. She works throughout the United States and internationally with educators who want to create classrooms that are more responsive to a broad range of learners.

Tomlinson’s experience as an educator includes 21 years as a public school teacher working with preschoolers, middle school students, and high school students. At the secondary level, she taught English, language arts, German, and history. She also administered district-level programs for struggling and advanced learners and was Virginia’s Teacher of the Year in 1974.

At the University of Virginia, Tomlinson teaches undergraduates, master’s students, and doctoral students, predominantly in the areas of curriculum design and differentiated instruction. She was named Outstanding Professor at Curry School of Education in 2004 and received an All-University Teaching Award in 2008.

In 2014’s EducationNext Edu-Scholar Public Presence rankings, she was named one of the two most influential higher education voices in the United States in Psychology and the 16th most influential in all education-related fields.

She has written more than 300 books, book chapters, articles, and other materials for educators, and her books have been translated into 12 languages.

Professor John Hattie is a researcher in education. His research interests include performance indicators, models of measurement and evaluation of teaching and learning. John Hattie became known to a wider public with his two books Visible Learning and Visible Learning for teachers. Visible Learning is a synthesis of more than 800 meta-studies covering more than 80 million students.  According to John Hattie Visible Learning is the result of 15 years of research about what works best for learning in schools. TES once called him “possibly the world’s most influential education academic”.

John Hattie has been Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia, since March 2011. Before, he was Project Director of asTTle and Professor of Education at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada. You can find a full CV of Professor John Hattie (PDF) at the website of the University of Auckland.

Leader. Visionary. Entrepreneur. Disruptor. Change Maker. Angela embodies each of these descriptors with passion, commitment and fierce determination. She has been creating and leading change in education and enterprise for 31 years, teaching every level of school from grade school to graduate school and consulting with companies around the world.

Angela founded Choose2Matter to bring the world hope by helping every individual embrace their value and potential contribution. Initially launched to challenge and inspire students to work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions to social problems, Choose2Matter has evolved into a movement that support parents, educators, and employees around the world. Her work in 60,000 classrooms across 100 countries has rallied more than a million children who have banded together to launch 170 social enterprises and pass 17 laws. And organizations across all industries are finding new ways to ignite the genius of their employees, successfully addressing a $15 trillion employee engagement problem

Angela earned a BS in Education with a minor in Neuroscience and Master Degrees in Literacy and Ed Leadership.

She is the author of eight books, including Liberating Genius,The Habitudes and The Passion Driven Classroom. Angela is widely recognized as one of most influential voices on social media today, consistently ranking in the top 1% and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. @angelamaiers

Mike Kim is one of the most well-known and well-respected teachers in the LSAT industry. Mike has a unique ability to understand the architecture of standardized exams, and more importantly, Mike has a proven ability to help students drastically improve their scores. Previously, Mike co-created and oversaw the development of the Manhattan LSAT books and courses. Inspired by self-driven students who prepare for the LSAT on their own, he set out to create the ultimate self-study guide, and The LSAT Trainer is the result.

Michael Fullan is a Canadian researcher on education and the former Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. He is one of those who reform educational system to achieve moral purposes of all children learning. As an award winning author, he also received several awards through his books including Leading in a Culture of Change, Breakthrough with Peter Hill and Carmel Crevola, Turnaround Leadership in Higher Education with Geoff Scott and Change Wars with Andy Hargreaves. Winner (with Andy Hargreaves) of the Grawemeyer Award in 2015 for the book Professional Capital of Teachers—award for “the power of a single creative idea that can impact on the world”.Latest two books ar the bestsellers : Coherence (with Joanne Quinn), and Deep Learning ; Engage the world Change the world (with Joanne Quinn, and Joanne McEachen).

Bryan Goodwin is the president and CEO of McREL International, a Denver-based nonprofit education research and development organization. Goodwin, a former teacher and journalist, has been at McREL for 15 years, serving previously as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Communications and Marketing.

He has authored or co-authored several books, including Simply Better: Doing What Matters Most to Change the Odds for Student Success, The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day, Balanced Leadership for Powerful Learning: Tools for Achieving Success in Your School and The Future of Schooling: Educating America in 2020. Goodwin writes a monthly research column for Educational Leadership and presents research findings and insights to audiences across the United States and in Canada and Australia.

He’s a best-selling author, STEM educator and business leader branded by TIME Magazine as one of their “most influential people of the year” because of his passion to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. With more than 1,600 television appearances and multiple Emmy awards to his credit, Steve is also a regular guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show where she dubbed him America’s Science Teacher. Steve’s catalog of videos featured on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and now TikTok have more than 1 billion views, and his books and online experiments are widely used by parents and educators to increase student engagement and inspire young scientists to learn more about STEM-based careers.

Robert j Marzano PhD, is cofounder and CEO of Marzano Resources in Colorado. A leading researcher in education, he is a speaker, trainer, and author of more than 30 books and 150 articles on topics such as instruction, assessment, writing and implementing standards, cognition, effective leadership, and school intervention. His books include The Art and Science of Teaching and Effective Supervision. His practical translations of the most current research and theory into classroom strategies are internationally known and widely practiced by both teachers and administrators. Dr. Marzano received a bachelor’s degree from Iona College in New York, a master’s degree from Seattle University, and a doctorate from the University of Washington.

Tina H. Boogren, PhD, is a fierce advocate for educators, particularly for their well-being. She is the author of numerous books centered around her passion areas of quality instruction, coaching, mentoring, and wellness and is codirector of Solution Tree’s Wellness Solutions for Educators with Dr. Timothy D. Kanold. She also hosts the weekly podcast “Self-Care for Educators with Dr. Tina H. Boogren.” She lives in Denver, Colorado.

is an award-winning educator, best-selling author, TEDx speaker, coach, husband, and father. He is the author of, Bold School, Breaking Bold, co-author of The Learning Transformation: A Guide to Blended Learning for Administrators and the creator and host of Teaching Keating; one of the most downloaded podcasts for educators and parents on iTunes. Weston has worked in collaboration with innovative tech and publishing companies (Google, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Apple) to redefine teaching and learning in the digital age. As such, he’s advised educators from every state in the US and more than 30 countries around the world. Districts where Mr. Kieschnick has designed content, implemented initiatives, and trained educational leaders have been recognized by the Learning Counsel as being among the top ten in the nation for their work in blended learning. You can find Weston’s work published in EdWeek, EdTech Magazine, The Spark, and featured on TED, the 10-Minute Teacher, Teaching Tales, Kids Deserve It, and LeadUp Teach.

Dylan Ap Rhys Wiliam is a British educationalist and Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment at the UCL Institute of Education and lives in Bradford County, Florida.

Wiliam was educated at Whitchurch Grammar School in Cardiff and at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in Greater Manchester. He continued his education at the University of Durham (Bachelor of Science, 1976), the Open University (Bachelor of Arts, 1983), the Polytechnic of the South Bank (Master of Science, 1985) and the University of London (PhD, 1993).

His research focus is the professional development of teachers. His 1998 book, Inside the Black Box, which he wrote with Paul Black, was a successful polemic about formative assessment, selling over 100,000 copies. He demonstrated his ideas in a 2010 BBC documentary series, The Classroom Experiment, in which a class at Hertswood School was encouraged to participate more widely in activities such as answering questions. He further expands on these ideas in his 2011 book, Embedded Formative Assessment, which describes five key strategies of effective formative assessment in the classroom.

According to Google Scholar and Scopus his most cited peer reviewed publications are on Assessment for learning (AFL) and formative assessment.

Richard Gerver has been described as one of the most inspirational leaders of his generation. He is an award-winning speaker, bestselling author and world-renowned thinker.

Richard began his career in education, most notably as headmaster of the failing Grange Primary School. In just two years, he famously transformed the school into one of the most acclaimed learning environments in the world. He was celebrated by UNESCO and the UK Government for its incredible turnaround.

​Richard has since transitioned to the global stage where he uses his trademark humour and natural style to deliver passionate, provocative and authentic speeches. He draws upon the first-hand experiences and unique insights garnered from frontline education to explore the links between great leadership, human potential, change and innovation. His ability to connect experiences across many seemingly different environments helps people to expand their thinking and perception of potential. It is this authenticity and uniqueness which has helped Richard win him global acclaim and invitations to speak on the most recognised stages, including TED, the RSA and BBC radio.

Dr. Leyton Schnellert is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus. He teaches courses in the Elementary (ETEP), Middle and Secondary (STEP) undergraduate programs. These courses include The Developing Learner, Middle School Integrated Methods, Language and Literacy in Education, Literacy for Diverse Learners in Middle and Secondary Grades, and Guided Reflective Inquiry Project (GRIP).

Before joining this faculty, Leyton was a Faculty Associate at Simon Fraser University. As a Faculty Associate he developed and taught in graduate diplomas in the areas of special education, diversity, literacy and learning theory. Most recently he coordinated Simon Fraser University’s Master of Education in Educational Practice (MEdEP) Program. Within that program, he taught Qualitative Methods in Educational Research, Foundations of Action Research, and Fieldwork.

Leyton has been a middle school, junior high, and secondary school classroom teacher, and a learning resource teacher for K–12. He has 20 years of experience as a school- and district-based resource teacher and professional development facilitator across British Columbia, the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Dr. Schnellert has presented and published his work in local, provincial, national and international forums. Leyton is the co-author of four books written to support teachers to bridge research and practice. He is also Past President and Conference Co-Chair of BC Teachers of English Language Arts (BCTELA) Professional Specialist Association. He has been a member of several curriculum and assessment committees and writing teams through his involvement with the BC Teachers Federation, BC Ministry of Education, and Northwest Territories’ Education, Culture and Employment.

Steve Bollar, a.k.a. Stand Tall Steve, is driven to help schools, associations, and organizations create a better culture and climate through creative innovations and encouragement. His books, Stand Tall Leadership and  Ideas, Ideas, Ideas! has been a jumping point for hundreds of organizations on how to increase morale, change the culture and improve the climate for their students and staff.

In 2014 Steve was awarded the Burlington County Principals and Supervisors Association Visionary Leadership Award. In 2011 Steve was recognized by South Jersey Magazine as South Jersey’s top 20 Men of the Year. Additionally, Steve was chosen by Suburban Family Magazine Top 20 Citizen of the Year for 2012.  Steve is also a member of the Jostens Renaissance Hall of Fame. Renaissance is a program that focuses on recognizing students and staff while developing a positive school culture.

Steve served on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association.  NJPSA is the premier supporting organization for New Jersey Principals and Supervisors.

Steve has a long history in the education system, from art teacher to principal to Superintendent of Schools. His 25+ year career has shown him firsthand how to face the challenges that any organization can encounter and how to overcome them with creativity and communication.

It’s this insight that he brings to the stage during his keynotes, breakouts, and workshops – training administration, teachers, organizations and staff on how to create a better atmosphere for students and staff alike.

Dr. Brad Johnson is one of the most inspirational and motivational speakers in the fields of education and leadership. He is author of several books, including Dear Teacher, Principal Bootcamp, Putting Teachers First, Learning on Your Feet, & From School Administrator to School Leader (Routledge).

Dr. Johnson has over 25 years experience in education as a teacher, administrator, and university professor. He has interviewed some of the top global leadership experts in the fields of education, business, military, and sports.

Donna M Velliaris holds three Graduate Certificates: (1) Australian Studies; (2) Religious Education; and (3) School Counselling, two Graduate Diplomas: (1) Secondary Education; and (2) Language and Literacy Education, as well as three Master’s degrees: (1) Educational Sociology; (2) Studies of Asia; and (3) Special Education. In 2010, Dr Velliaris graduated with a PhD in Education focused on the social/educational ecological development of school-aged transnational students in Tokyo, Japan.

Her primary research interests include human ecology, schools as cultural systems, study abroad, and Third Culture Kids (TCKs). With publication of over 40 book chapters, titles comprise: Academic reflections: Disciplinary acculturation and the first-year pathway experience in Australia [Garnet]; Conceptualizing four ecological influences on contemporary ‘Third Culture Kids’ [Palgrave Macmillan]; Culturally responsive pathway pedagogues: Respecting the intricacies of student diversity in the classroom [IGI Global]; Metaphors for transnational students: A moving experience [Cambridge Scholars]; and The other side of the student story: Listening to the voice of the parent.