Andre Agassi

After turning pro at the age of 16, Andre Agassi rose to international fame, earning 60 men’s
singles titles including eight Grand Slam titles. A former World No. 1 player, Agassi is the only
American to win all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic Gold medal. His career spanned 20
years, with more than 860 career matches won. On July 9, 2011, he was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Off the court, Agassi established the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, which has raised
more than $185 million dollars for at-risk children in Las Vegas since 1994. The Foundation
focuses on transforming public education so that all children have a shot at success, and in
2001, the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a tuition free public charter school
opened with 1,200 children in grades K-12.

Agassi released his autobiography Open in June 2009, which reached #1 on the New York Times
bestseller list and continues to hit record sales internationally.

In June 2011, as part of an effort to expand his impact on education, Andre partnered with
Turner Impact Fund on an innovative new real estate fund – the Turner-Agassi Charter School
Facilities Fund – to promote the success and growth of best-in-class charter schools in urban
communities across the United States. As of 2018, the fund has opened 96 schools, serving
nearly 48,976 students in some of the most economically challenged neighborhoods in
America.

Most recently, Andre launched Square Panda, an award-winning educational technology
learning system utilizing phonics with multi-sensory play. Designed for kids two and older, the
playset blends physical and digital learning as it keeps kids entertained through age-appropriate
learning games grounded in research-based curriculum. Square Panda’s mission is to give
children the tools to become fluent, confident readers, and empower them to love reading.

Agassi is married to Hall of Fame tennis legend Stefanie Graf. They have two children, Jaden Gil
and Jaz Elle. The couple resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bill Daggett

Learning 2025: Preparing Students for Their Future, NOT Our Past 

Equity, social justice, Social-Emotional Learning, mental health, and a rigorous and relevant instructional program for all students are recent but critical issues that schools today are required to address. Meanwhile, the demands of the past have not gone away. The brick-and-mortar school model of the last century with the bell schedule, boundaries, rules, regulations, certifications, tenures, contracts, and a hyper-focus on meeting proficiency on high-stakes tests continue to demand attention. While the demands continue to compound, a silver lining is emerging through the hardships brought on by COVID. It has created a tipping point for many educators, policy makers, business leaders, and parents around the immediate need to transform our education system. The pandemic has also taught us that change is possible in the ways we had not imagined even one year ago. 

Dr. Bill Daggett will share emerging solutions to these challenges. He is co-chairing a National Commission named “Learning 2025: National Commission on Student-centered, Equity-focused Education” with AASA, in cooperation with several other national organizations including NSBA, CCSSO, NASSP, and NESPA. The National Commission’s charge will be to identify and document the cognitive and non-cognitive skills, knowledge, behaviors, and dispositions that high school graduates will need to master to prepare for the digital age workplace as citizens of a global community. Dr. Daggett will share with participating schools and districts the evidence-based practices that have been found to be most effective at addressing the multiple challenges and demands that they face. He will explain how those practices begin by putting a stake in the ground for the class of 2025 by identifying what graduating seniors will need to know, do, and how to behave to be successful in a world that is being transformed rapidly by advancing technologies such as AI. Education leaders will learn how to develop and, ultimately, be able to implement Boardroom-to-Classroom policies and practices that will transform schools and classrooms to best prepare all students for their future and not our past. 

Charles Duhigg

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and the author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale College, he is a winner of the National Academies of Sciences, National Journalism, and George Polk awards.

He writes for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications, and is the host of the podcast “How To! with Charles Duhigg.” Charles’ science-based insights on human nature and its potential align perfectly with the goals of the DA Leadership Institute — to help you most effectively carry out all your roles: manager, leader, advocate and agent of change.

Jill Siler

Jill served as Superintendent of Gunter ISD for nearly ten years and is now the Deputy Executive Director for Professional Learning for the Texas Association of School Administrators. Her book, Thrive Through The Five: Practical Truths to Powerfully Lead through Challenging Times, was a #1 Bestselling New Release for Education Administration.

Joe Sanfelippo

Dr. Joe Sanfelippo is the Superintendent of the Fall Creek School District in Fall Creek, Wisconsin. Joe holds a BA in Elementary and Early Childhood Education, an MS in Educational Psychology, an MS in Educational Leadership, and a Ph.D. in Leadership, Learning, and Service. Joe co-authored multiple books, most recently Hacking Leadership: 10 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Learning That Teachers, Students, and Parents Love. He was selected as 1 of 117 Future Ready Superintendents in 2014 and 1 of 50 Superintendents as a Personalized Learning Leader by the US Department of Education in 2016. Education Dive named Joe 1 of 5 K-12 Administrators to watch in 2018 and their National Superintendent of the Year in 2019.

Kamela Patton

Kamela Patton is in her eleventh year as Superintendent of Collier County Public Schools (CCPS). She joined the district in June of 2011.

During the last ten years, Dr. Patton has enhanced existing programs, instituted new technological tools, improved internal and external communications, and initiated new programs that resulted in a direct increase in student achievement. Under Dr. Patton’s direction, CCPS has improved its district ranking to tie for 5th in the State from 33rd just nine years ago. This success is clearly seen in the number of students that have increased their performance on state tests. The percentage of students exceeding the state average has skyrocketed to 100% in 2021 from 30% in 2011. The district graduation rate has also risen significantly to 92.2% in 2020 from 72.5% in 2011, an increase of 19.7%.

While academic success is the key focus of the school district, under Dr. Patton’s leadership, the district plans to be debt free within 4.5 years, a time period which includes building a new high school.

As part of the new three-year strategic plan created under Dr. Patton’s direction, the school district is focused on preparing students to be College, Career, and Life Ready. This will be accomplished through an emphasis on academics, culture, and leadership while also highlighting the importance of a high-quality staff with a strong succession management plan, fiscal responsibility, and communication.

Over the past ten years, Dr. Patton has received a number of accolades and awards. Most recently, Dr. Patton has received the 2021 Naples Daily News Outstanding Citizen of the Year, 50 Florida Influencers, Naples Top 100 Distinction, Americans United Annual Civic Award, Leadership Collier Distinguished Alumni Award, Naples Illustrated Top 100, Excellence in Civic Leadership Award the Naples Top 100 Distinction, 2018 Lavan Dukes District Data Leader of the Year Award, the 2018 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Distinguished Leader Award, the 2018 Florida Music Education Association (FMEA) Superintendent of the Year Award, and received the prestigious honor of being the 2017 Star Superintendent Award from the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations. Additionally, she was named one of Naples Illustrated 20 Leading Ladies of Naples along with being named a 2017 Gulfshore Life Magazine Men and Women of the Year honoree, as well as being recognized as a Woman of Distinction in History for Diversity and an eSchool Learning National Tech-Savvy Superintendent Award Winner. She is the recipient of the Sunshine State School Public Relations Association (SUNSPRA) Outstanding Superintendent Communicator Award. Dr. Patton was named by Gulfshore Business as one of the 41 People with the Most Clout in Southwest Florida and a Power Woman by Florida Weekly magazine. She is a member of numerous local boards and a graduate of Leadership Florida, Leadership Collier and the FBI Citizens Academy.

Lenny Schad

Lenny Schad is the chief information and innovation officer for District Administration. Schad has been working in the technology field for 28 years where his career has taken him into many business sectors, and he has established a very successful leadership and management track record. His range of business-sector experience includes hospitality, government, oil and gas, investment banking, and education.

Highlights of his career include managing and leading technology departments for the 1991 Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations and the 1992 Republican National Convention, and creating and managing technology departments for joint ventures and global organizations. Schad has worked in K12 education since 2003, and has successfully led implementations of BYOD and 1-to-1 in Katy ISD and Houston ISD, respectively. He is a board member for CoSN and IMS Global, and is a recognized leader whose innovative and process-oriented management styles have led to highly effective information technology departments.

The Changing Role of the CIO

The leaders of technology divisions must begin thinking of their role not in terms of providing “Technology Solutions” rather, they need to think of their role as being part of the “Classroom Experience.” As a technology leader you must face a new reality; because of the many cloud-based and digital service offerings, the organization can build their own solutions without you and your department. In order to avoid this CIO’s need to focus their time and energy on building relationships at every level in the organization. By establishing relationships and partnering with other leaders the technology department becomes the enabler to accomplishing the objectives in this changing landscape.

Michael Moore

Michael Moore spent 30 years as a teacher, principal and superintendent. Since 2006 he has specialized in leadership development, serving as CAO for the nation’s largest principal preparation program, launching new principal-supervision models and building principal pipelines in several large districts, and creating coaching models for non-profits and charter management organizations. As an executive coach, Michael works with CEOs and their leadership teams in a variety of districts, charter organizations and companies.

Successful Change from the Ground Up

District leaders are judged by their ability to manage large-scale change, yet they have only indirect influence with teachers and principals. Having a clear vision and solid plan is just the beginning to changing skills and beliefs at the school level. In this session, you and your colleagues will practice improving your influence with teachers and principals and building momentum for successful implementation of the new changes. You’ll leave with a planning guide and hands-on tools.

Peter Gorman

Dr. Peter Gorman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peter Gorman Leadership Associates LLC, has been recognized nationally as an education leader and for developing outstanding leadership teams with more than 25 years of experience in education and business. He is the author of the book “Leading a School District Requires Clarity, Context, and Candor: An Aligned System to Increase Student Achievement at Scale” and contributing editor of “Board & Administrator” writing the lead column monthly. Along with his responsibilities at Peter Gorman Leadership Associates, Dr. Gorman is Superintendent in residence with the District Administration Leadership Institute where he serves as the Managing Director of the National Superintendents Academy delivering intensive instruction on the academic, political, legal and logistical complexities, and the demanding realities, confronting school leaders today. He is also Chief in residence with Chiefs For Change guiding the Future Chiefs program working to build a pipeline of “Future Chiefs” for states and districts.

Dr. Gorman’s career began as a second-grade teacher in Orlando, Florida. He worked as a teacher, principal, and district-level administrator in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties in Florida before becoming superintendent of schools in Tustin, California. In 2006, Dr. Gorman became superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina. Under his leadership, the district won the 2011 Broad Prize in Urban Education, which recognizes increases in student achievement and closing of achievement gaps. Twenty members of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Leadership Team during his tenure have been appointed as superintendents nationally. The book “Within Reach, Leadership Lessons in School Reform” chronicles his time with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and four other books reviewed aspects of his tenure along with numerous articles, research studies, and case studies. He then transitioned to the corporate world working as Executive Vice President of Education Services for Amplify, a division of News Corp, leading nearly 100 team members in the Government Relations, Marketing and Sales areas.

Scott Bailey

In the Spring of 2017, Scott Bailey began his superintendency with a four-step process to LOOK, LISTEN, LEARN, and LEAD. The first three steps included 35 site visits, 800 classroom visits, various division and department tours, and numerous community interactions. Additionally, the results of the Thoughtexchange survey, which included the voice of parents/guardians, certificated and classified staff, students, management and confidential staff, as well as community members, helped to form an action plan. The Superintendent Action Plan, which encompasses 45 objectives represents the final step, LEAD.

Wes Moore

We are thrilled to announce that Wes Moore will be our key-note speaker. He is a New York Times best-selling author, army veteran, youth advocate and CEO of Robin Hood. Based in New York, Robin Hood is one of the largest anti-poverty organizations in our nation helping to dismantle systematic poverty. Wes passionately believes that the ‘expectation gap’ is our society’s largest hinderance in helping youth succeed. He continues to empower leaders to create mobility and opportunity for ALL students in their communities.  

Wes Moore is the CEO of Robin Hood, one of the largest antipoverty nonprofits in the country. He is a bestselling author, a combat veteran, and a social entrepreneur. His first book, The Other Wes Moore, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller; his second book, The Work, was also a bestseller and featured in Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday. He lives in his hometown of Baltimore with his wife and two children.

Make the Most of Your Time With Principals

When school leaders dig into student achievement results, they begin with basic questions: Do the lesson plans address the academic standards? Are the instructional practices effective?  How is progress being tracked? Teachers are expected to plan well, differentiate instruction and track student progress. What if we took the same approach to developing principals and focused on better planning of their time together? 

William Robinson

William Robinson is the executive director of the Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education (PLE). Robinson has been with the PLE since 2010, initially overseeing efforts to transform how the PLE supports district partners and builds executive education programs focused on systemic change. He is responsible for the organization’s impact, strategic direction, partner development, thought leadership, and engagement of stakeholders from the schools and the field, deepening the organization’s focus on team-based organizational development and sustainability of transformation efforts.