ASU+GSV Summit

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Brian O. Hemphill, President at Old Dominion University; Pradeep K. Khosla, Chancellor at UC San Diego; Jeremy Singer, President at College Board; Tim Cleary, Chief Strategy Officer at Risepoint; Sian Leah Beilock, President at Dartmouth; and JP Novin, CEO at Plexuss.com.

With graduate unemployment rising and employer skill demands evolving faster than traditional curricula, higher education faced a hard reality: there was no single “golden ticket” to future employment. Institutions instead needed to rethink how education supported adaptability, continuous learning, and long-term relevance in an AI-enabled economy.

This session convened university presidents and leaders from technology and workforce-facing organizations to examine how institutions were redesigning learning at both the classroom and programmatic levels. The discussion explored embedding AI literacy, aligning credentials with changing skill needs, and expanding flexible, short-form, and lifelong learning pathways that supported ongoing reskilling and upskilling. Panelists shared evidence-based strategies to help learners navigate a volatile labor market—while ensuring higher education continued to deliver durable value for students and employers.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Krista Newkirk, President at University of Redlands; Bhushan Heda, CTO/COO at Emeritus; Stephen Green, Chief Partnerships Officer at Noodle; Noe Ortega, Commissioner at Massachusetts Department of Higher Education; and James DeVaney, Associate Vice Provost and Founding Executive Director of CAI at University of Michigan.

Artificial intelligence was compressing decision timelines across higher education, often faster than governance and planning could absorb. This session examined how the challenge was not whether to act, but how to decide wisely: which AI choices demanded enterprise alignment, where local experimentation was essential, and how institutions could learn deliberately rather than react episodically. The speakers explored how governance, investment, and experimentation could work together to enable AI adoption that was responsible and durable—balancing urgency with stewardship, innovation with trust, and speed with long-term institutional integrity.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Harrison Keller, President at University of North Texas; Preston Cooper, Senior Fellow at American Enterprise Institute; Jeanne Allen, Founder and CEO at Center for Education Reform; and Stig Leschly, President at Postsecondary Commission.

As new delivery models, credentials, and learning pathways emerged, long-standing accreditation frameworks were tested in both policy and practice—raising fundamental questions about quality, accountability, and the pace of innovation. This session brought together institutional leaders, accreditation innovators, and higher education policy advocates to examine where current accreditation models were constraining progress and what needed to evolve. Panelists explored the shift toward outcomes-focused accreditation, the role of evidence and transparency in assuring quality, and how oversight practices and policy could better support responsible experimentation without lowering standards. The conversation moved beyond whether accreditation should change to how it could: aligning accountability with real learning outcomes, enabling innovation that expands access and affordability, and ensuring accreditation remained a safeguard for students while adapting to a rapidly changing postsecondary landscape.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Bryan Lively, CEO at Fusion Academy; Denise Gallucci, President at Red Apple Education; Smita Deorah, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at LEAD Group; Ryan Delk, CEO and Founder at Primer; and Nate McClennen, CEO at Getting Smart.

The speakers explored how great schools took vision and craft, but learning ecosystems extended that impact at scale. They examined how, as AI accelerated personalization and choice expanded access, school networks were emerging as powerful systems for aligning culture, governance, capital, and instructional design across diverse learning environments.

This session brought together operators and investors who had built, scaled, and sustained high-performing learning ecosystems to discuss how these networks could shape the future of education. Panelists examined how innovation could be paired with coherence at scale, ensuring that expanded choice and personalization did not lead to fragmentation, but instead strengthened quality, consistency, and student outcomes.

At its core, this conversation focused on what it took to design and sustain scaled learning ecosystems that balanced entrepreneurial innovation with operational excellence. By aligning strategy, infrastructure, and instructional vision across networks, the session highlighted how high-performing ecosystems could become a defining force in the next era of education.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Paul Escala, Superintendent of Schools at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Stephanie Elizalde, Superintendent of Schools at Dallas Independent School District; Michael Felton, Executive Director at St. George Municipal School Unit; Sonn Sam, National Director of Partnerships at Big Picture Learning; Heather Tow-Yick, Superintendent at Issaquah School District 411; and Kevin Huffman, CEO at Accelerate.

The speakers explored how large-scale, legacy education systems continued to serve the vast majority of K–12 students nationwide while operating in a fundamentally different environment shaped by rapid technological change, shifting enrollment patterns, and growing demands for personalization. They examined how system leaders were responding with urgency and creativity as institutional evolution became a catalyst for innovation.

This session focused on how established systems could measure what mattered, use flexible funding tools to accelerate learning, and make the operational shifts required to thrive in increasingly complex educational landscapes. Panelists discussed how district and system leaders were embracing innovation from within by rethinking strategy, infrastructure, and implementation while balancing scale, accountability, and responsiveness.

At its core, this conversation examined what it would take to build vibrant educational systems within a pluralistic ecosystem. By surfacing the strategies already working inside large systems and exploring how to scale them intentionally, the session highlighted how legacy institutions could remain adaptive, innovative, and central to the future of K–12 education.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Jess Wang, Chief Operating Officer at Presence; Amanda Kocon, Chief Strategy and Operating Officer at Edmentum, Inc.; Christine Glandorf, Vice President of Business Development at Outschool; Jinal Jhaveri, Founder and CEO at SchoolMint; Lauren Bender, Chief Commercial Officer at Odyssey; and Dante Iacovella, Co-Head of Education Software at William Blair.

The speakers explored how the go-to-market playbook in education was being fundamentally rewritten as funding increasingly followed students. They examined how the system was shifting from centralized procurement to family-driven demand, unlocking new pathways for growth, impact, and innovation across the education ecosystem.

This session focused on how this transformation was powering digital marketplaces, ESA platforms, and direct-to-parent engagement while reshaping how educational products were discovered, trusted, and used. Panelists discussed how leading companies were designing for a B2B2C future, where success depended not only on institutional adoption, but also on effectively reaching and serving families as empowered decision-makers.

The conversation examined how forward-looking teams were turning choice into a growth engine by adapting to rapidly evolving marketplace dynamics. At its core, this session explored the significant opportunity emerging as education became more consumer-driven—highlighting how leaders who understood where the marketplace was headed could help define what excellence looked like in a world of real choice.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured James Rhyu, CEO at Stride; Aylon Samouha, CEO at Transcend; Christopher Neilson, CEO at Tether Education; Garrett Smiley, CEO at Sora Schools; Cady Ching, Chief Executive Officer at Summit Public Schools; and Robin Lake, Director at CRPE.

The speakers explored how, within a Multiple Choice ecosystem, AI held real promise to personalize learning, streamline operations, support family navigation, and increase the effectiveness of flexible funding. They examined how AI had not only enhanced existing systems, but had also enabled entirely new school models to emerge and thrive.

This session focused on how AI could help students find the right learning environments, connect families to services, and deepen engagement across diverse educational models. Panelists discussed how AI was being implemented across emerging providers and multiple-choice systems to expand opportunity, strengthen responsiveness, and improve educational fit for students and families.

At the same time, the conversation emphasized that how these tools were designed, governed, and deployed mattered deeply. Speakers examined the importance of building trust, transparency, and equity into AI systems from the start, ensuring that innovation remained human-centered and responsibly implemented.

At its core, this session explored the fusion moment between technological capability and thoughtful leadership—highlighting how responsible AI adoption could strengthen learning, expand opportunity, and support more dynamic, equitable K–12 ecosystems.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Steven Wilson, Senior Fellow at Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research; Margaret “Macke” Raymond, Program Director at Stanford University; Oliver Sicat, CEO at Ednovate; Amy McGrath, Managing Director at ASU Preparatory Academy; Dana Peterson, CEO at New Schools for New Orleans; and Kirianne Suriano, Senior Director of Strategic Operations at CSUSA.

The speakers explored how, three decades into the charter movement, charter schools were facing a defining moment. They examined how the next era demanded innovation through specialization, personalization, and measurable impact, while also confronting critical questions about performance, equity, and long-term opportunity.

This session examined performance data alongside lived operator experience to assess where public charters had delivered transformative outcomes and where they needed to evolve to remain engines of opportunity within a pluralistic education system. Panelists discussed where charter schools had successfully innovated and outperformed, where progress had been uneven, and what lessons could shape the next generation of charter design.

The conversation focused on what charter innovation should prioritize moving forward if charters were to continue driving access and excellence. At its core, this session examined how the next chapter of the charter movement must be written with greater clarity, rigor, and ambition—ensuring that innovation translated into durable outcomes for students and stronger educational systems.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Barry Malkin, CEO at Carnegie Learning; Jon Laven, Co-Founder and COO at Snorkl; Melina Uncapher, CEO and Founder at SETA-ED; Kip Glazer, Principal at Mountain View High School; and Kristin Vincent, Vice President of Product at Learning Commons.

The speakers explored how, in a world where AI could help students at every step, one of the hardest questions had become when not to help. They examined the critical tension emerging as AI became embedded in classrooms: whether these tools were accelerating learning or quietly removing the productive struggle that made learning stick.

This session focused on how productive struggle showed up in AI-assisted learning environments and where the line lay between meaningful support and cognitive shortcutting. Panelists discussed what rigor truly meant when students had access to instant feedback, hints, and solutions, and how learners could still build conceptual understanding, perseverance, and metacognition when scaffolds were always within reach.

Bringing together perspectives from learning science, instructional design, classroom practice, and education technology, the conversation examined how educators and system leaders could design instruction that preserved challenge while leveraging AI to personalize learning and expand access. At its core, this session offered a grounded look at how AI could be used intentionally—not to replace thinking, but to deepen it—through principled design, smart implementation, and a clearer understanding of when to step in, when to step back, and how to ensure AI strengthened rather than softened the learning experience.

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Adora Mora, Chief of Staff at Curriculum Associates; Steven Dorsey, Superintendent Area E at San Diego Unified School District; Devon Gadow, Vice President of National Consulting at TNTP; Brittany Miller, Chief Innovation Officer at The Center for Outcomes Based Contracting; Karl Rectanus, CEO at Really Great Reading; and Nancy Gutiérrez, President and CEO at The Leadership Academy.

The speakers explored how the most meaningful progress in education did not come from isolated efforts, but from fusion—when partners across sectors combined strengths in ways that fundamentally changed what was possible. They examined how true partnership was not simply additive, but transformative: not 1 + 1 = 2, but 1 + 1 = 11.

This session featured two fireside conversations between cross-sector partners, including district and state leaders, EdTech founders, and nonprofit innovators. Each pairing offered a candid look at how partnerships were formed, how roles and responsibilities were shared, and how fusion became a force multiplier for impact. Panelists discussed what changed when incentives aligned, trust was built, and execution was shared.

The conversation focused on how partnership-driven fusion strengthened implementation, accelerated learning, and enabled innovation at scale. By bringing together diverse expertise through intentional collaboration, this session highlighted how thoughtfully designed partnerships could change the equation itself—delivering more durable results for students, educators, and systems.