John B. King, Jr. is the 15^th Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), the largest comprehensive system of public higher education in the United States.

Prior to his appointment as Chancellor, King served as president of The Education Trust. This national civil rights non-profit seeks to identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps for students from preschool through college.

Chancellor King served in President Obama’s cabinet as the 10^th US Secretary of Education. Upon tapping him to lead the US Department of Education, President Obama called King “an exceptionally talented educator,” citing his commitment to “preparing every child for success,” and his lifelong dedication to public education as a teacher, principal, and leader of schools and school systems.

Before his appointment as secretary of education, Chancellor King fulfilled the duties of deputy secretary of education, overseeing all policies and programs related to P-12 education, English learners, special education, and innovation.

His service in Washington, DC, followed King’s tenure as New York State’s first African American and first Puerto Rican education commissioner. In this role, Chancellor King oversaw all elementary and secondary schools, as well as public, independent, and proprietary colleges and universities, professional licensure, libraries, museums, and numerous other educational institutions.

Chancellor King holds a bachelor of arts in government from Harvard University; a JD from Yale Law School; a master of arts in teaching of social studies, and a doctorate in education from Teachers College at Columbia University.

You can follow Chancellor King on Twitter at @JohnBKing.

Jason Borges is a literacy leader and specialist. His journey began in teaching over 20 years ago in alternative schools in Massachusetts for students with disabilities. He has served in the Special Education Office in the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) as senior director of intensive interventions and director of academic intervention services in the Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Learning. Borges sees literacy as a foundation for educational justice. He is committed to continue serving NYC DOE schools as executive director of NYC Public Schools Literacy Collaborative in developing literacy environments where all students learn skills that will help them engage with and adapt to changing media and contexts, and to use knowledge toward a more just world.

Shala Mills is the associate provost for academic planning & learning innovation and dean of graduate, professional & interdisciplinary studies, and continuing & online education at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Prior to her administrative position at New Paltz, she was chair and professor of political science at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) in Kansas, where she was FHSU’s recipient of both the Pilot Award for professional excellence as a faculty member and the Navigator Award for outstanding academic advising. Mills served as one of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ (AASCU) global engagement scholars. She provided leadership as the national coordinator for the AASCU Global Challenges Project and as the national manager for AASCU’s Blended Course Consortium. In 2017, she received the AASCU American Democracy Project Barbara Burch Award for Faculty Leadership in Civic Engagement. She is the co-author of Global Challenges: Promise & Peril in the 21st Century, an all-in-one Smart Course (digital textbook/course) published in Inspark Science Network’s adaptive learning platform. Her expertise in working with new models for educating students has informed her work as an administrator at New Paltz, where she has been involved since inception in building the Science of Reading Fundamentals microcredential to reach teachers/educators at scale.

Benjamin Powers, DBA, is a practitioner, researcher, and advocate who works with students with dyslexia and ADHD. After completing a BA in Russian, Powers studied language education at Indiana University Bloomington, earned an executive MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology, and fused his interests in dyslexia and entrepreneurship by completing a doctorate in business administration at Grenoble Ecole de Management.

His research focuses on the self-esteem and self-efficacy perceptions of adolescents with dyslexia and ADHD to understand the impact personal-level variables have on social-emotional well-being and career intentions. Additional interests include developing collaborative, community-based, and scalable implementation models for executive function, structured literacy, and assistive technology programs, especially across LD/ADHD, bilingual, bidialectal, and underserved communities.

Powers serves as executive director of The Southport School and CoLAB, a thought leader in the education of students with language-based learning differences, like dyslexia and ADHD. In addition, he is president of The Dyslexia Foundation, an affiliated research scientist at Haskins Laboratories, and director of the Haskins Global Literacy Hub. He serves on various not-for-profit boards to support and empower the needs of all learners.

John J. Russell, PhD, is the special projects advisor to and former executive director of The Windward Institute, whose mission is to increase childhood literacy by disrupting the status quo in education. The Windward Institute spearheads research/education partnerships, leads various external-facing programs and outreach, including high-profile lectures, courses, and seminars, and advocates for the rights of students with language-based learning disabilities.

Russell is also an associate director of the Haskins Global Literacy Hub, which is an international and interdisciplinary collaborative. The Hub’s mission is to improve language and literacy outcomes for at-risk children across languages and cultures. This unique collaborative of experts has been disrupting the current stagnant ecosystem—perpetuating unacceptable social outcomes—with new and scientifically rigorous approaches.

Before becoming executive director of The Windward Institute, Russell served thirteen years as head of The Windward School, an independent co-educational day school for children with language-based learning disabilities. During Russell’s tenure as head of the school, The Windward School nearly doubled its impact by opening a campus in Manhattan. Over the past four decades, Russell held leadership and teaching positions in Westchester County, New York, and Fairfield County, Connecticut. Before Windward, he served 11 years as superintendent of schools in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Russell earned his doctoral degree in educational administration at Fordham University and an MBA from the University of Connecticut. He also has a master’s degree in oceanography from New York University and a certificate of advanced study in administration from Fairfield University. His research interests include language-based learning disabilities, research-based instructional practices, and organizational theory. Russell presents on these topics at national and international conferences.

Jeff Smink is the deputy director at The Education Trust–New York. He works closely with the executive director to develop and implement the organization’s strategic goals and key initiatives while leading policy and advocacy strategies at the state and local levels.

Smink brings over 20 years of experience in national, state, and local education policy, working on issues affecting students from cradle to career. Most recently, he led his own consulting practice, collaborating with various organizations, including the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and Learning Ovations, focusing on the issue of early literacy.

Prior to consulting, Smink served as co-founder and vice president of policy at the National Summer Learning Association and New York State director at the National Center on Time and Learning. Smink additionally served as a political appointee of Governor Edward Rendell at the Pennsylvania Department of Education and as a legislative associate for the Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington, DC.

Smink lives in his hometown of Rochester with his wife, two children, and two dogs. He is active in the community and has been a member of the Democrat and Chronicle Board of Contributors, the Mayor’s Early Learning Council, the Greater Rochester Summer Learning Association, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Rochester. Jeff earned an EdM from Harvard University and a BA with teaching certification from Allegheny College.