Marsha Blackburn is the senior senator for Tennessee and the first woman to represent the Volunteer State in the United States Senate. She serves on the Deputy Whip Team and is a member of the Finance Committee; the Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee; the Veterans’ Affairs Committee; and the Judiciary Committee. She serves as the Ranking Member on the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security and on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. Before her election to the Senate, Marsha represented Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She dedicates her public service to promoting opportunities for all Tennesseans, including by breaking barriers for women, and making America a more prosperous place to live.

Keith Brooks is the CEO and Founder of The National Fellowship for Black and Latino Male Educators (NFBLME), an organization dedicated to helping educators reach their full potential and expand leadership opportunities nationwide. Prior to launching NFBLME, Keith spent 16 years in education as a teacher, assistant principal, and founding principal of Achievement First Brownsville Middle School, where students consistently outperformed city averages in both ELA and Math while maintaining high staff retention, strong family satisfaction, and exceptional student engagement. Through NFBLME, he has supported over 100 Black and Latino male educators, partnering with communities in Milwaukee and Las Vegas to create locally driven programs; more than two-thirds of alumni have earned promotions, including multiple leaders advancing to C-Suite positions or founding their own schools.

Jamie is a mission-driven CEO with a passion for learning and a commitment to improving the lives of all students. She first joined Edmentum in 2005, serving in senior leadership across multiple departments before rejoining in 2017 as President, CEO, and Board Director to lead its strategic vision and growth. With hands-on insights from every functional area, she ensures Edmentum programs empower teachers to personalize instruction, create equitable opportunities, and drive measurable learning outcomes. Jamie also serves on the boards of Project Success and Bethel University’s Department of Business and Economics. Her leadership has been recognized by honors including Minnesota Business’s (Real) Power 50, EdTech Digest’s Top 100 Influencers in EdTech, and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s Women in Business. She holds an MBA from Bethel University and a B.S. in political science from the University of Wisconsin.

Paul Clement served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States and has argued more than 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court—more than any lawyer in or out of government since 2000—including landmark decisions on administrative law, the First Amendment, and federal jurisdiction. He now leads a high-stakes appellate practice handling constitutional challenges, billion-dollar commercial disputes, and strategic legal counseling, while also devoting significant time to pro bono work in cases such as Bond v. United States, Kennedy v. Bremerton, and Little Sisters of the Poor. A former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, he teaches at Georgetown University Law Center as a Distinguished Lecturer and Senior Fellow of its Supreme Court Institute.

Diana Díaz-Harrison, M.Ed., serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, overseeing policy and support for more than seven million students with disabilities. She is the founder and Executive Director of Arizona Autism Charter Schools (AZACS), the state’s first tuition-free, autism-focused charter network, which won the $1 million Yass Prize in 2022 and expanded via a National Accelerator for Autism Charter Schools. Inspired by her own son’s autism diagnosis, Díaz-Harrison established AZACS in 2014 to provide inclusive, high-quality alternatives and now brings that practitioner experience to the national stage.

Paul Fain, a longtime higher education reporter, is perhaps the nation’s top journalist focused on the nexus of education and work. He writes and runs the must-read newsletter,The Job, and is co-founder of Work Shift, a news site focused on whether education and training are delivering the skilled talent and economic opportunity that society needs. He also hosts The Cusp podcast focused on how artificial intelligence is reshaping education and work. Previously, Paul was the news editor and a senior reporter at Inside Higher Ed, and before that was a senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Mary Jo Fairhead is the Founder of Onward Learning, a K-8 micro school in Martin, South Dakota near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. She has been an educator and mentor of all ages as a coach, teacher, and principal. Mary Jo witnessed firsthand how an educational system can extinguish curiosity and confidence by forcing all children to fit into one box without reverence for each child’s unique talents, interests, and needs. She has observed this as the norm in mainstream education and thus she believes there has never been a more vital time to prioritize our children’s future than now!

Mike Felton is Superintendent of the St. George Municipal School Unit in Maine, where since 2015 he has focused on building community and business partnerships, expanding access to Career & Technical Education, and developing collaborative supports for students and families. He began his career as an Island Institute Fellow on Vinalhaven and later served as School Leader at Vinalhaven School, where he helped establish shared leadership structures and place-based learning opportunities. A graduate of Bowdoin College, the University of Maine (M.Ed.), and the University of Washington School of Law (J.D.), Mike clerked for Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley before returning to lead in Maine education. He has been recognized with a Maine Department of Education Commissioner’s Award and serves on the boards of the Island Institute and the Maine Community Foundation’s Knox County Grantmaking Committee.

Mike Gonzalez is the Executive Director of the Rural Schools Innovation Zone. Prior to starting this role he was principal of Premont Collegiate High School in Premont ISD and led the campus to the recognition of a Met Standards campus in 2017 and received a “B” in 2018 and 2019 school years. He has served as a History Teacher and coach in Odem-Edroy ISD, Athletic Director and then principal of Kingsville Academy High School, and High School Principal in Agua Dulce ISD and San Diego ISD. He holds a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies and a M.S. in Educational Administration.

Randall Lane is Chief Content Officer of Forbes Media and editor of Forbes Magazine, overseeing global editorial content and building enduring franchises such as the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy and Forbes 30 Under 30. He began his career at Forbes in 1991 as reporter, staff writer, and Washington bureau chief before cofounding P.O.V. Magazine and launching Doubledown Media. Lane is the author of The Zeroes: My Misadventures In the Decade Wall Street Went Insane, an Emmy Award winner, and a cofounder of the National Thoroughbred League, where he owns the New York Knights franchise. He also serves on the boards of Global Citizen, Columbia’s School of Professional Studies, and several organizations at the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater.

Joe Liemandt is an American billionaire entrepreneur best known for founding Trilogy Software and ESW Capital—a private equity firm that has acquired over 100 U.S. software companies and streamlined them into high-efficiency operations. He dropped out of Stanford University to launch Trilogy, and by age 27, he had become the youngest self-made member of the Forbes 400 list. Principal at Alpha School, Joe Liemandt is revolutionizing education through technology, creating learning environments that adapt to individual needs and prepare students for the future, emphasizing innovation and personalized learning paths.

Lisa brings over 21 years of experience spanning leadership roles across K-12, higher education, educational technology, product development, workforce education, and strategy consulting. A leading expert in designing and launching competency-based solutions, she has worked across K-12, higher education, non-traditional learning providers, and workforce to meet learner needs and address talent shortages. Prior to joining C-BEN, Lisa was Vice President of Learning Innovation at Guild, Senior Advisor at Entangled Solutions, and Vice President of Partner Strategy and Innovation at Pathstream. She began her CBE journey as Executive Director of Learning Innovation at Laureate Education and Walden University’s founding Dean of Competency-Based Education.

Janine Yass is a nationally recognized advocate, leader, and philanthropist whose passion for expanding educational opportunity has shaped the field. She co-founded Boys’ Latin Charter School in West Philadelphia and served as a founding board member of the Philadelphia School Partnership. With her husband, Jeff, she launched the Yass Prize in 2021 – widely regarded as the “Pulitzer for Education Innovation” – to spotlight, celebrate, and reward the next generation of education changemakers. Powered by the Center for Education Reform, the Yass Prize and STOP Awards Initiative have distributed more than $50 million to over 200+ innovators and is devoted to identifying and elevating the next generation of education changemakers. Janine holds a master’s degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Muhlenberg College.