Featured Speakers
Greg Mortenson
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of the nonprofit, Central Asia Institute, and founder of the international service-learning program Pennies for Peace, co-author of New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea, and author of bestseller Stones into Schools.
Born in 1957, Mortenson grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. His father Dempsey, founded Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC). His mother, Jerene, founded the International School Moshi, an IB world school since 1977. Mortenson served in the U.S. Army in Germany (1977-1979), where he received the Army Commendation Medal, and graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1983.
As of 2009, Mortenson has established over 131 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 58,000 children served, including over 44,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before. Mortenson is a living hero to rural communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he has gained the trust of Islamic leaders, military commanders, government officials and tribal chiefs from his tireless effort to champion education, especially for girls.
In March 2009, Mortenson received Pakistan’s highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistan”) for his dedicated and humanitarian effort to promote education and literacy in rural areas for fifteen years. Mortenson has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wade Davis
One of the world’s most celebrated and distinguished anthropologists, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis has become one of the world’s leading crusaders for the protection of the “ethnosphere,” his term for the totality of thoughts, beliefs, myths, and institutions brought into being by the human imagination. His many books and films have provided the intellectual basis for the growing movement to celebrate traditional cultures around the world.
Recently, Davis starred in the 3-D IMAX documentary film, Grand Canyon Adventures, which follows Davis and Robert Kennedy, Jr. as they navigate the Colorado River with their daughters, raising awareness of the environmental threats facing rivers worldwide. He has also contributed to a film called In Search of One River, adapted from his book about his Harvard mentor, Amazonian plant explorer Richard Evans Schultes, who conducted pioneering studies of plant use by the native peoples of the Amazon. And in 2008 Davis wrote, co-produced, and hosted Peyote to LSD, an award-winning, two-hour documentary on the history of psychedelics, from their traditional use by indigenous groups to the drug culture of the 1960s and beyond.
Alma Guillermoprieto
In 2008, Alma was named one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine. She is widely read in both the English- and Spanish-speaking worlds. She's considered an authority on the cultural and political life of Mexico and South America, especially as they relate to the United States. For the last thirty years, she has traced the history of Latin America and given us a glimpse into its future, writing with a journalist's breadth and depth, but also, and always, folding in her personal experiences. She has "set the standard for elegant writing in English on Latin America," writes The New York Times Book Review.
Born in Mexico, and raised in Mexico and in the U.S., Alma Guillermoprieto is a MacArthur Fellow, and a winner of the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting. In the 1990s, for The New Yorker and other magazines, she wrote a remarkable series of stories on Latin America, covering everything from the Colombian Civil War to the "Dirty War" in Argentina. Later collected into two books, Looking for History and The Heart That Bleeds, these stories form a definitive portrait of Latin America during the "Lost Decade." Her other books include Samba, about the year she spent with carnival-makers in Rio, and Dancing with Cuba, about the six months she spent teaching dance in Cuba in the 1970s.
Lorraine Monroe
Dr Lorraine Monroe, Founder and Executive Director of the School Leadership Academy, was the founding principal of the renowned Frederick Douglass Academy in Central Harlem, New York, United States, and is on extended leave from Bank Street College of Education where she taught graduate courses and founded and directed the Center for Minority Achievement.
Dr Monroe translates her extensive experience in New York City public schools--as teacher, dean, assistant principal, principal and deputy Chancellor for Curriculum and Instruction--into the guiding set of Monroe Leadership Principles that define the work of the School Leadership Academy.
Dr Monroe's groundbreaking work has been featured on "60 Minutes" and in "Tony Brown's Journal", "The McCreary Report", "Ebony", "The New York Times", "Reader's Digest", "Parade", and most recently in the nationally acclaimed "Fast Company" magazine.
A national and international consultant, Dr. Monroe works through lecture, video presentations, hands-on activities, and large and small group discussions to share her powerful message about the role of leadership in creating effective schools.
Her book, Nothing's Impossible: Leadership Lessons from Inside and Outside the Classroom, was first published by Random House and has been translated into Swedish and Norwegian and is now available in paperback through Harper Collins.
Jeff Beard
Jeffrey Beard is the Director General of the IB.
Born and educated in the USA, Jeffrey Beard
graduated from the US Naval Academy in
1972 with a bachelor of science in analytical
management, and has two graduate degrees,
including an MBA from the University of Wisconsin.
His business career included roles of
increasing responsibility in several multinational
corporations where he developed his
cross-functional management experience and
understanding of strategic planning, thinking,
and delivery. His decision to move to the
IB represented an opportunity for him to “give
something back”; leave the business world and
apply his management knowledge and experience
to international education, an area to
which he is greatly committed. He served as
president and member of the West Des Moines
school board in Iowa, USA for five years. His
two children graduated with IB diplomas from
the Vienna International School, Austria in the
1990s.
André Robert Lee
André Robert Lee has recently made his directorial debut with The Prep School Negro, a documentary exploring the experiences of African American scholarship students in the United States’ most prestigious college preparatory schools.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, André completed his Bachelors Degree in History at Connecticut College and then attended Tufts University where he earned a Master of Arts in Teaching. André then moved to New York City on a fellowship to teach in the Central Park East Secondary School’s Senior Institute, teaching classes such as “The Life and Works of Toni Morrison”; “The African American Autobiography”; and “Documentary Film Making.” He then went on to work at the Ford Foundation where he discovered the world of independent film making through grant giving.
Jay Mathews
Jay Mathews covers education for the Washington Post and has created Newsweek's annual Best High Schools rankings. He has won the Benjamin Fine Award for Outstanding Education Reporting for both features and column writing and is the author of ten books, including Supertest: How the International Baccalaureate Can Strengthen Our Schools.
Lynn Erickson
Dr Lynn Erickson is a private consultant assisting schools and districts around the country with curriculum design and instruction. During the past thirteen years she has worked extensively with K-12 teachers and administrators nationally and internationally on the design of classroom and district level curricula aligned to academic standards. She is the author of three best-selling books including, Stirring the Head, Heart and Soul: Redefining curriculum, instruction, and concept-based learning. She is also a recognized presenter at national conferences in the areas of concept-based curriculum design, teaching for deep understanding, and standards alignment. Dr Erickson holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Alaska and a master's and doctorate degrees in Curriculum and Instruction and School Administration. She has worked as a teacher, principal, curriculum director, adjunct professor, and educational consultant over a 39 year career.
Paul Tarc
Paul Tarc is Assistant Professor in International Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. He is the author of Global Dreams, Enduring Tensions: International Baccalaureate in a Changing World. He has taught in international and state schools in Ecuador, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Canada.
Bertie Kingore
Dr Bertie Kingore is an international consultant who has worked with students, teachers, and parents for over 30 years. Recognized for her humorous and practical presentations, her energetic sessions leave teachers revitalized and eager to implement her shared ideas and learning experiences in their own classrooms. Dr Kingore is the author of numerous books, instructional aides, and articles. She has received many honors including the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of North Texas, where she earned her Ph.D. She is a past President of the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented and was also recognized as the Texas Gifted Educator of the Year.
