With autumn in the air, eager students everywhere
have headed back to school. Here are six diverse speakers with
expertise in learning and education.
1. Jeff DeGraff
Known industry-wide as the "dean of innovation," Jeff DeGraff
is a professor of management and organizations at the Ross
School of Business at the University of Michigan. With a Ph.D.
in educational technology from the University of Wisconsin, he
has more than 25 years of experience, and speaking expertise in
innovation, creativity, strategy, and leadership management. He
is credited with - among other accomplishments - helping to
grow a small pizza company in the Midwest to become the
multibillion-dollar, multinational chain we know today as
Domino's Pizza. DeGraff is also the author of Innovation You: 4
Steps to Becoming New and Improved, as well as the co-author of
numerous books on creativity and innovation, a columnist for
Psychology Today and The Huffington Post, and a frequent
contributor to major news outlets. www.bigspeak.com
2. Harry and Rosemary Wong
Winners of the Upton Sinclair Award, nominated for the Brock
International Prize in Education, and authors of the
best-selling book The First Days of School: How to Be an
Effective Teacher, Harry and Rosemary Wong, Ed.D.s, are experts
on what makes an effective teacher. Harry Wong, a former high
school science teacher in Menlo Park, CA, has won the Horace
Mann Outstanding Educator Award and the National Teachers
Hall-of-Fame Lifetime Achievement Award. Rosemary Wong is a
former elementary school teacher and recipient of the Silicon
Valley Woman of Achievement Award, as well as a Distinguished
Alumnus at Southeastern Louisiana University. The
husband-and-wife team successfully built a school in Cambodia,
which they still run.
www.aeispeakers.com
3. Rick Wormeli
With 30 years of teaching experience under his belt, Rick
Wormeli is one of the first nationally board-certified teachers
in America. Winner of the 2008 James P. Garvin Award from the
New England League of Middle Schools for Teaching Excellence,
Service, and Leadership, Wormeli is the author of the
award-winning book Meet Me in the Middle, as well as of
numerous best-selling books such as Day One and Beyond and Fair
Isn't Always Equal: Assessment and Grading in the
Differentiated Classroom. He has been a consultant for National
Public Radio, USA Today, Court TV, and the Smithsonian
Institution's Natural Partners Program. Wormeli's classroom
practice is a showcase for the video instruction series, "At
Work in the Differentiated Classroom," from the Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development, a membership
organization that develops programs for educators.
www.aeispeakers.com
4. Rita McGrath
A professor of management at Columbia Business School, Rita
McGrath is an expert on strategic growth and change. She can
speak expertly on topics including innovation, change
management, strategy, entrepreneurship, and growth. Her book,
Discovery Driven Growth, was named one of BusinessWeek's best
design and innovation books of 2009 and, just last year,
McGrath was named to the prestigious Thinkers50 list of top
global business thought leaders. She has co-authored two
previous books - The Entrepreneurial Mindset and MarketBusters:
40 Strategic Moves that Drive Exceptional Business Growth.
MarketBusters has been translated into 10 languages and was
featured by Bill Gates at the 2005 Microsoft CEO Summit.
www.bigspeak.com
5. Geoffrey Canada
As president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone - an
organization that runs a comprehensive program combining social
and medical services for disadvantaged children in New York
City's Harlem neighborhood - Geoffrey Canada is a children's
advocate and educational reform activist. The author of two
books on children and education, Canada can speak expertly on
the topics of leadership, education, foreign policy, and
leveling the playing field. www.apbspeakers.com