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Dr. Danila Crespin Zidovsky is the Senior Policy and Leadership Specialist at the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative. Prior to joining Zaentz, Dr. Crespin Zidovsky served as Special Assistant to New Mexico's Secretary of Education. She has served as senior staff for multiple political campaigns, both at the national and at the local level. She was an original member of U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich's staff, as well as senior staff during his successful reelection campaign, when only a handful of Democratic representatives won their races across the country. Dr. Crespin Zidovsky has taught both in South Korea and New Mexico, and for numerous nonprofits focused on early education and social justice. She holds a Doctorate in Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Emily Wiklund Hayhurst is the Assistant Director of Learning Design and Communications at the Zaentz Early Education Initiative, where she develops professional learning programs, multimedia resources, and action-oriented tools for early education leaders, practitioners, and policymakers. Emily graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, earning a master's degree in human development and psychology while participating in the Zaentz Fellows Program. Before coming to Harvard, she served as an early childhood educator in Washington, D.C.

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Dr. Alessandra Landini is the Principal of the I.C. A. Manzoni in Reggio Emilia, with a PhD in Human Sciences, thesis in Physics Education from the Department of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and a Master Degree in Organization and Management of Multicultural School Institutions from Alma Mater, Bologna. Her scientific education research project studies a vertical science curriculum based on storytelling and the use of metaphor, between early childhood and secondary school. Her doctoral thesis examined the approach to the study of energy in primary schools and the multi-metaphoric nature of the concept of energy.

Her other areas of interest range from general didactics to innovative teaching. As a General Didactics' expert at UNIMORE, she provides integrative teaching activities at the university. She collaborates with the "Metaphor and Narrative in Science" research center and provides teacher training on inclusive didactics as a national trainer for AID (Italian Dyslexia Association). Other areas of research focus on the use of descriptive evaluation in first and second grade secondary schools and teacher training as a community of practice, with particular attention to the development of creative skills in STEAM, integrating school and museum settings. Since 2020, she has been studying a vertical curriculum of Heritage and Citizenship with her institute, which leads teachers and students to immerse themselves in the city's territory and museum and cultural heritage.

Dr. Robin McWilliam is a professor of special education at The University of Alabama . Dr. McWilliam is also the Founder and Director of the Evidence-based International Early Intervention Office (EIEIO). His research interests are in early intervention (birth to age 6), specifically models of service delivery, working with families, and child engagement. Dr. McWilliam developed the Routines-Based Model of Early Intervention (Birth-6) and am involved in its implementation in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, and the U.S. Dr. McWilliam developed the international community of practice called The RAM Group, to provide research and technical assistance on the Routines-Based Model. Dr. McWilliam teaches doctoral students, lectures, conducts workshops, and writes. He serve as the International Editor of the scholarly journal Infants & Young Children and serves on numerous editorial boards.

Dr. Scott McConnell has been a teacher, program director, researcher and college professor interested in preschool and early elementary education for more than 40 years. Scott is a professor emeritus of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota and Director of Assessment Innovation at Renaissance Learning. Prior to joining Renaissance, Scott was part of a multi-university team that developed Individual Growth and Development Indicators, and he's conducted research on their use in preschool classrooms. His professional interests focus on young children's paths to becoming proficient readers, and the ways that systematic interventions like multi-tiered systems of support can help all children achieve that goal. He earned his bachelor's degree in psychology at Portland State University and his master's degree in school psychology and PhD in educational psychology at the University of Oregon. Scott lives in Minnesota, and he and his wife Laurie Davis are parents of four adult children.

Edward Melhuish is Professor of Human Development at the University of Oxford. He has been the Director of the National Evaluation of Sure Start (2001-2012), the Effective Pre-school Primary & Secondary Education (EPPSE, 1997-2014) and SEED projects. He is currently undertaking longitudinal studies of 4000 children in England and Norway. These studies contributed to social policy in the UK for families, early years services and education, including universal provision of pre-school for all 3 & 4 year-olds and establishing 3500 Children's Centres, Every Child Matters and 10-Year Childcare strategies, and early education for 2-year-olds for the 40% most disadvantaged. He has given evidence to parliamentary committees and is an advisor to research councils in Norway, Finland, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Korea, Canada, USA, Chile, and the European Commission, OECD and WHO.

Prof Emer Ring is Dean of Early Childhood and Teacher Education at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Prof Ring leads and manages one of the largest education faculties in Ireland, which provides a wide range of programmes from early childhood to post-primary level at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. She is a Lecturer in the area of Early Years Education, Inclusion and Education Policy on the Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Care and Education (BA ECCE) and the Bachelor of Education (BEd) programmes. Prof Ring's previous experience includes Head of Department of Reflective Pedagogy and Early Childhood Studies (2011-2019). She engages in, and has led a wide range of national and international research in education related to early childhood, primary, post-primary, and special school contexts, including presenting at conferences and seminars and publishing widely. Prof Ring has also been District and Senior Department of Education Inspector with responsibility for inspection of education provision for children in early years,' primary, post primary and special school settings (2001-2011), with a particular focus on special education. Her teaching experience spans the role of early years education and shared teacher of children with special educational needs (1981 – 2001). Prof Ring engages in supervision of students on practicum experiences and supervises a wide range of undergraduate and post-graduate research at Masters' and PhD levels. Prof Ring led the design, development and evaluation of the multiple-award winning Leadership for INClusion in the Early Years (LINC) Programme focused on supporting inclusion in early childhood settings. She has extensive experience in the development of inclusion across the education system and has recently completed a publication for the National Council for Special Education focused on charting the development of special education in Ireland 1922-2022. Other publications include Leading Inclusion from the Inside Out: A Handbook for Parents and Early Childhood Teachers in Early Learning and Care, Primary and Special School Settings; Autism from the Inside Out: A Handbook for Parents, Early Childhood, Primary, Post-primary and Special School Settings and The Contemporary Relevance of John Dewey's Theories on Teaching and Learning: Deweyan Perspectives on Standardization, Accountability, and Assessment in Education. Together with Dr Lisha O'Sullivan, Prof Ring is co-authoring a further publication for Peter Lang: Play from the Inside Out: A Handbook for Students, Teachers and Parents, which is due for publication in 2024.

Michelle Kang serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), a global association advocating for high quality early learning for all children.

Prior to becoming CEO, Michelle served as NAEYC's inaugural Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, in which she oversaw the strategy and daily operations for Membership, Early Learning Program Accreditation, Publications, Conference, Market Solutions and Global Engagement. During her tenure, the organization dramatically pivoted to serve the field through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, including successfully conducting virtual conferences serving thousands of educators, the first-ever Symposium on Developmentally Appropriate Practice and a virtual Professional Learning Institute that delivered more than 235,000 certificates of professional development. She has guided the substantial system adjustments necessary to support child care and preschools attaining and maintaining accreditation through the pandemic and shepherded the development and launch of the fourth edition of NAEYC's Developmentally Appropriate Practice book, a critical text used widely as the basis for quality early learning.

Prior to joining NAEYC, she served in leadership roles at Bright Horizons, an international provider of early education, most recently as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Operational Strategy. Her 16-year tenure at Bright Horizons included building partnerships with leading global employers to develop and implement dependent care supports–child care, back-up care, and educational advising services. In building these partnerships, she gained a deep appreciation for the life-changing work that early educators do every day.

Drawing on her experiences as the daughter of Korean immigrants, Michelle is committed to creating belonging within organizations and developing inclusive leadership and mentoring opportunities. Also an ardent supporter of higher education student development, Michelle has served as a Resident Tutor and Scholar at Harvard University and as a member of the Student Engagement and Leadership Advisory Board for The College of William & Mary.

Michelle holds a Bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary, a Masters of Education in Leadership and Policy from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Science in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management from Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford (UK). She and her husband live in Maryland with their three children.

Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., is a Research Professor in the Department of Public Policy, a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), and the Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at FPG at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Iruka is leading projects and initiatives focused on ensuring that minoritized children and children from low-income households, especially Black children, are thriving through the intersection of anti-bias, anti-racist, culturally grounded research, program, and policy. Some focus areas include family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education system and programs. Dr. Iruka serves on numerous national and local boards and committees, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the American Psychological Association's Board of Educational Affairs, Brady Education Foundation, and Trust for Learning. In addition to being on the National Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau, Dr. Iruka is a Census Advisor for the National Urban League.

Dr. Iruka is the recipient of the 2022 American Psychological Association Mid-Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families.

She has a B.A. in Psychology from Temple University, an M.A. in Psychology from Boston University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, FL.

Al Spain has over 50 years of operations leadership. His background reflects a career spanning general aviation, military, airline, and corporate aviation operations. Most recently, Captain Spain served as a founder and Senior Vice President Operations of JetBlue Airways Corporation in New York. He retired from JetBlue in 2006 and prior to JetBlue, he was Vice President Flight Operations for Continental Micronesia Airlines, a subsidiary of Continental Airlines. Captain Spain retired from Continental Airlines in 1998 after serving in Flight Standards and Training Division as well as a Captain in line flight operations. He was the FAA designated Director of Operations for both Continental Micronesia and JetBlue. He was domicile Chief Pilot for Oceanic Contractors, a privately owned airline operating in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Most recently, Captain Spain served on the Board of Directors of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc.

He has recently served the US Federal Government's Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) as an Independent Assessment Team member. He also was a member of the National Academies of Science, National Research Committee on Research and Development for Wake Turbulence and NAOMS review committee. He recently served on the FAA Safety Team (FAAST) as a Safety Representative. He is currently involved with Civil Air Patrol at the Wing and National levels, is working with Unmanned Aircraft System development, and is also a member of the Association of Unmanned Vehicles International.

Mr. Spain holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana Tech University and a Master of Business Administration from Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). He is a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, has served as a member of the Industry Advisory Board of MIT's Global Aviation Industry Program, and was a member of the Aviation Department Advisory Committee of the State University of New York at Farmingdale. Captain Spain served on the board of The Low Country Economic Development Alliance and the Beaufort County Airports Board. He previously served on the Aviation Management Advisory Board of Auburn University and is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Captain Spain flew as a combat pilot in Vietnam (Forward Air Controller) and among his awards are the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Air Medal for Valor. His last military assignment was as Chief, Flight Evaluation Branch, USAAVNS.

Dr. Timothy Almon Askew holds a B.A. degree from Morehouse College, Summa Cum Laude with Phi Beta Kappa distinction as a junior-year inductee. He received the master's degree at Yale University. Dr. Askew was an NCEA Doctoral Fellow in the English Department at the University of South Florida. Pursuing an interdisciplinary degree in American Studies and focusing on American Literature and American Music, he received the Ph.D. degree at Emory University and had the distinction of being the first Ph.D. Marshal at the University. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a 4-year Academic Scholarship, Morehouse College; Readers Digest Foundation Scholar, Morehouse College; University Fellowships, Yale University; National Consortium for Educational Access Doctoral Fellowship, The University of South Florida; University Fellowships, Emory University; The United Negro College Fund Dissertation Fellowship; Teacher of the Year, Clark Atlanta University; The N.A.A.C.P. Image Award for Excellence in Teaching English, Clark Atlanta University; National Endowment for the Humanities Scholar. Dr. Askew was the Atlanta Public Library "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Centennial Celebration Speaker at Georgia State University and has been featured in the Atlanta Constitution and the Houston, Texas newspaper African American News for his research on the song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Dr. Askew is a tenured Full Professor of English and Humanities at Clark Atlanta University. He is the Founding President of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society at Clark Atlanta University and a Sustaining Member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is the author of the following books: Cultural Hegemony and African American Patriotism: An Analysis of the Song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and Refreshing The American Literary Canon, both by Linus Publications, New York. Dr. Askew is the 2017 C. Eric Lincoln Scholar at Clark Atlanta University, one of the highest honors bestowed on a professor at the university. On May 22, 2019, Dr. Askew received the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member at Clark Atlanta University, the Aldridge/McMillan Award for overall excellence in teaching, research, and service. Dr. Askew was named a Mellon Scholar, February 2020.