Sarah Miller is a lifelong New Haven resident with over 20 years of non-profit and community leadership experience. She is an elected member of the New Haven Board of Alders representing Ward 14. As Alder, Sarah has championed investment in public education, immigrant support services, and neighborhood infrastructure. She also serves as Executive Director of CitySeed, New Haven’s food justice organization, where she is developing Greater New Haven’s first Multi-Use Food Facility in a former factory. Sarah previously served as Director of Strategy at Clifford Beers Community Care Center, where she expanded access to integrated mental health and family support services throughout New Haven and Hamden schools, and won a United States Department of Education Full-Service Community Schools Grant. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Connecticut. She lives in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood with her husband and two children.
Jack Powers
Jack Powers is the Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the Beacon Center of Tennessee and Beacon Impact. A former teacher and accomplished public servant, Jack has over a decade of experience in policy, advocacy, and legislative affairs. In his role at Beacon, Jack is the chief liaison to members of the governor’s administration and General Assembly and spearheads action on all legislation in which Beacon is involved. He leads research and advocacy work to shape and advance Beacon’s annual policy initiatives.
A native Tennessean, Jack grew up in Memphis and was a member of the 2013 cohort of the Mississippi Teacher Corps, where he taught high school English in the small Delta town of Clarksdale. Jack joined the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) in 2019, where he spent five sessions as a Legislative Liaison for Governor Bill Lee’s Office. In 2023, Jack worked as the Southeast Regional Advocacy Director for ExcelinEd, where he spearheaded passage of Georgia’s first Science of Reading-based early literacy law. Most recently, he served as the Assistant Commissioner of Policy and Legislative Affairs at TDOE, where he was part of an amazing team effort to pass the Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship Act, the state’s first universal school choice program.
Jack holds a bachelor’s degree from Millsaps College, a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Mississippi, and a master’s in Education Policy from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. He lives in Nashville with his wife Pam and enjoys fly fishing and restoring vintage stereo gear in his spare time.
Paul Reville is the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). He is the founding director of HGSE's Education Redesign Lab (EdRedesign) and former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As Governor Patrick's top education adviser, Reville established a new Executive Office of Education and had oversight of higher education, K-12, and early education in the nation's leading student achievement state. He served in the Governor's Cabinet and played a leading education reform role on matters ranging from the Achievement Gap Act of 2010 and Common Core State Standards to the Commonwealth's highly successful Race to the Top proposal. Prior to joining the Patrick Administration, Reville chaired the Massachusetts State Board of Education, founded the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, co-founded the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE), chaired the Massachusetts Reform Review Commission and the Massachusetts Commission on Time and Learning, and served as executive director of the Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform. A member of the HGSE faculty since 1997, Reville has served as director of the Education Policy and Management Program. He is a board member and adviser to a host of organizations, including BellXcel, Purpose Built Communities, Bellwether, City Year Boston, Boston After School and Beyond, and Harvard Medical School's MEDscience. He is the educator commentator on Boston Public Radio, GBH. He edited the book “A Decade of Urban School Reform Persistence and Progress in the Boston Public Schools” and recently co-authored two books, one with Elaine Weiss, entitled “Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty” and the other written with Lynne Sacks, entitled, “Collaborative Action for Equity and Opportunity”. He holds a B.A. from Colorado College, an M.A. from Stanford University and five honorary doctorate degrees.
Paul Reville
Leslie Blatteau
Leslie Blatteau has been working in New Haven Public Schools for over 20 years and has been a high school Social Studies teacher and 933 member since 2007. In addition to teaching, she serves as senior class advisor and SPMT chair at Metropolitan. She is an activist and organizer on issues related to our classrooms and our city. She has marched with labor unions and community groups in the name of economic, social, and racial justice. And she uses her voice to fight privatization, budget cuts, and layoffs in our schools, promote high quality alternatives to high stakes testing, and advocate for equitable policies that benefit all of our school communities. Leslie lives in the Hill neighborhood with her family and her daughter is a first grader in NHPS. She believes in the future of New Haven and she is ready to join with her fellow teachers and fight for what is right.
Dr. Madeline Negrón’s leadership spans every level of public education. She began her career as a bilingual teacher in Windham Public Schools before moving into administration. In New Haven, she previously served as a teacher and principal at Hill Regional Career Magnet High School, later rising to Director of Early Childhood and Director of Instruction. Most recently, she served as a senior executive for Hartford Public Schools, holding roles as Chief of Academics and Acting Deputy Superintendent of Academics and School Leadership.
Beyond K–12 administration, Dr. Negrón has contributed to higher education as a faculty adjunct in the Educational Leadership Department at Southern Connecticut State University. A first-generation college graduate, she holds a B.S. from Central Connecticut State University, as well as an M.A. in Education and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Connecticut.
A prominent voice in Latino education policy, Dr. Negrón is a co-founder and Past-President of the Connecticut Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (CALAS). Her leadership has earned state and national-level acclaim, including the 2025 Maria C. Sánchez Education Award, the 2023 ALAS Assistant Superintendent of the Year Award, and recognition in EdWeek’s 2022 "Leaders to Learn From."
Dr. Negrón and her husband are the proud parents of a daughter soon to graduate from Southern Connecticut State University. Dr. Negrón serves as a daily inspiration and a reminder of the promise of public education—the power to ensure every child has the future they deserve
Dr. Madeline Negrón
Tonya S. McIntyre
Tonya S. McIntyre is the Executive Director of Student Academic Success for Amherst Regional Public Schools and a veteran education leader with over 30 years of experience leading equity-focused instruction, systems improvement, and educator development. A native of Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, she previously held several leadership roles in the Charleston County School District, including Interim Director of Community Outreach, District Instructional Specialist, and Teacher Recruitment and Retention Coordinator for the Acceleration Schools, where she worked to ensure the district’s most vulnerable schools were staffed with high-quality, effective, and diverse educators. Earlier in her career, Tonya spent more than two decades as a high school mathematics teacher, designing learning environments that supported students’ academic, social, and cultural needs.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Savannah State University and a Master of Management Studies from The Broad Center at Yale School of Management. Tonya is currently a doctoral student in Strategic Leadership in Education at Belmont University, where her research examines leadership identity and meaning-making in the superintendency through the lived experiences of African American female superintendents in U.S. public K–12 school districts.
Sarah Hughes is a consultant to public school systems and non-profit organizations. She advises on strategic planning, board management, community engagement and talent planning. Sarah is former Chief of Staff at KIPP LA Schools and former interim Chief People Officer at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools. Ensuring that high quality public educational opportunities are accessible to all families in all neighborhoods is Sarah’s passion. Sarah earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Wesleyan University, a Master’s in Business Administration from Yale School of Management and a M. Ed in Education Leadership from The Broad Center where she is a guest lecturer.
Sarah Hughes
Natalie Tung
Natalie Tung is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of HomeWorks Trenton, a model that combines the boarding school experience with public schools for high school girls in marginalized communities. Growing up in a numbers-driven public school system in Hong Kong, Natalie had an unhealthy relationship with learning. This relationship changed when she had the opportunity to attend a boarding school in New Jersey. More importantly, living with 40 girls at such a young age empowered her to become more empathetic and confident, and these women are still her support system today. While earning her teaching certificate as a sophomore at Princeton University, Natalie partnered with the community to start HomeWorks in Trenton, NJ. Since 2016, she has co-built a diverse team of 10 team members and over 50 volunteers. Together, they have expanded from a summer pilot to a 4-year high school program with 60 participants and raised over $11 million in cash and in-kind donations. Natalie and HomeWorks have been recognized by Forbes 30 under 30, McKinsey & Company, Camelback Ventures, Barclays, Comcast, Hollister, TRESemmé, Vital Voices, Penn Graduate School of Education, Princeton University, The Rachael Ray Show, New Jersey State Legislature and more.
Anna Moyer
Anna Moyer is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at The University of Alabama. Her research focuses on how K-12 educational organizations recruit, retain, and develop effective teachers and school leaders. She uses large-scale longitudinal data, survey data, and interview data to answer policy-relevant questions related to educators' pathways into leadership positions, assistant principals’ roles, and family-friendly workplace supports for teachers.
Dr. Moyer partners with state departments of education as a research affiliate with the Tennessee Education Research Alliance, the Michigan Education Research Institute, the University of Houston Educational Research Center, and the Alabama State Department of Education. She recently served as a Design Team member for the Alabama Principal Leadership Development System (APLDS), where she advised on the implementation of a statewide performance evaluation system for principals and assistant principals.
She holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy and Leadership from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. in Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in Urban Studies from Wellesley College. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a middle school social studies and literacy teacher in rural Louisiana and in Nashville, Tennessee.
Amanda Morin
Amanda Morin is a neurodivergent neurodiversity activist, an award-winning author, early childhood specialist, certified teacher, and nationally known speaker, deeply committed to fostering accessible and inclusive environments for neurodivergent individuals. She's an impact-driven, mission-oriented expert within the fields of education and neurodiversity who provides unique expertise, and innovative perspectives to mission-driven education and family-facing organizations and coalitions. She played an integral role in launching Understood.org in 2014.
She works with print and digital media, educational professionals and parents, empowering them to affirm the pivotal roles they play in building knowledge about mental health, neurodiversity, and disability. Her bylines appear in Education Week, The Learning Professional, ASCD’s Educational Leadership, Edutopia, NAESP, Parenting Special Needs Magazine, DotDash (formerly known as About.com), Popsugar Moms, and more. Amanda has also worked with many organizations and companies, including Nickelodeon, New York City Charter School Center for The Collaborative for Inclusive Education, Hill Learning Center, Bright & Quirky, Matan, and Hidden Sparks Without Walls.
Amanda proudly serves as a subject matter expert for the DUCC (Developing & Using Critical Comprehension) project for the Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University, sits on the advisory board of Digital Promise’s Learner Variability Project, the professional advisory board of Matan, and the Technical Expert Panel of the American Academy of Pediatrics Center of Excellence on Social Media & Youth Mental Health. She received special education advocacy training from the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates and holds a certificate in Universal Design for Learning from the UDL Implementation and Research Network.
Christina Cipriano, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center in the Yale School of Medicine and Director of the Education Collaboratory at Yale University.
An award-winning scholar and internationally regarded expert in the science of learning, development, and open science practices, Chris is the PI and Director of numerous major federal and foundation grants supporting the centering of student intersectional identities in research and practice, the development and validation of novel school-based assessments and methodologies, and foundational evidence syntheses. Dr. Cipriano is the Director of the Education Collaboratory at Yale, a translational science lab whose mission is to advance the science of learning and social and emotional development, so all students are seen, served, and safe to learn in school.
Dr. Cipriano received her Ph.D. from Boston College Lynch School of Education, her Certificate in Human Rights and International Justice from Boston College Law School, her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and undergraduate degree from Hofstra University. Honors College. Chris is a Yale Public Voices Fellow, Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, and serves on numerous national advisory boards, workgroups, and committees, including the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Understood, Special Olympics and the Frameworks Institute, among others. Dr. Cipriano has published over 120 papers, commentaries, and reports, spanning top tier journals such as Child Development and the Review of Educational Research, and media outlets including The Washington Post, NPR, The New York Times, PBS, and Education Week.
Dr. Cipriano’s rigorous and practical cross-sector communication of science is evidenced by her work being cited in multiple bipartisan pieces of legislation supporting investments in US students and educators, countless interviews, podcasts, talks, articles, and mentions in educational media over the past decade, and the honors including the Joseph A. Zins Award for Career Contributions to Action Research (2022), National Voice of Chang in Public Education Award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (2023), Research-to-Policy Collaboration Scholar Award from the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (2024), the Distinguished Contributions to Human Development Research from the American Educational Research Association (2025), and the Outstanding Achievement Award in Educational Measurement from the National Council on Measurement in Education (2025).
Dr. Cipriano embodies how to live your love forward and advance equity by bringing her positionality as a first-generation high school graduate and mother of four children to her science and work. Chris speaks candidly about her experiences navigating systems of discrimination and oppression in education, healthcare, and industry, and privileges her positionality as a catalyst to inspire change. Her book, Be Unapologetically Impatient: The Mindset Required to Change the Way We Do Things (2025) was an instant #1 New Release in Applied Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Parenting Books for Children with Disability.
Christina Cipriano
Christopher Bugaj
Christopher R. Bugaj, MA CCC‐SLP is a founding member of the Assistive Technology Team for Loudoun County Public Schools. Chris co-hosts the Talking With Tech podcast featuring interviews and conversations about augmentative and alternative communication and has hosted The A.T.TIPSCAST; a multi‐award winning podcast featuring strategies to design educational experiences. Chris is the author of The New Assistive Tech: Make Learning Awesome For All, published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Chris is the co-author of Inclusive Learning 365: EdTech Strategies for Every Day of the Year and The Practical (and Fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools both of which are also published by ISTE. Chris co-authored two chapters for a book published by Brookes Publishing titled Technology Tools for Students with Autism. Chris co‐produces and co‐authors the popular Night Light Stories podcast which features original stories for children of all ages. Chris has presented over 650 live or digital sessions at local, regional, state, national and international events, including TEDx.
Katie Novak
Katie Novak, Ed.D., is an internationally renowned educational consultant, adjunct instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, best-selling author, podcast host, and founder of Novak Educational Consulting. With over 20 years of experience in education, Novak has authored 16 books, including best-sellers UDL Now!, The Shift to Student-Led, and the newly released Elevating Educational Design with AI. With a global reach spanning 33 states and 28 countries, Novak's guidance has significantly shaped educational practices on an international scale.
Carly Priest
Carly Priest is the National Program Director of The Neurodiversity Alliance, a nonprofit organization that supports the largest network of neurodiversity clubs on college and high school campuses in the nation. She has been with The Neurodiversity Alliance for five years, first leading their national near-peer mentoring program for neurodivergent students and now leading the all-neurodiverse team that delivers free programs, scholarships, and internships to neurodiverse students and their allies nationwide. As a former neurodivergent student, teacher, Teach For America Miami-Dade Corps Member, and Mentor with The Neurodiversity Alliance, Carly is passionate about uplifting neurodivergent perspectives and voices to shape the future for ND people. Carly is a cited contributor on many neuro-inclusive educational and workplace initiatives and publications.
Dan Baglini
Daniel Baglini is an MBA candidate at Yale School of Management and a former U.S. Army Intelligence officer who served in Europe and the Middle East. His research focuses on education policy, leadership, and how systems design shapes opportunity. Daniel is particularly interested in how international education models can inform improvements in U.S. public schools, especially in local communities like New Haven. He is an organizer of the Education Leadership Conference and is passionate about bringing together practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to explore bold ideas for strengthening public education
Ashley J. Carey
Ashley Carey, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Sacred Heart University and a former public school teacher. Dr. Carey studies the influence of social and political factors on K-12 schooling and explores how well-intentioned policies can exacerbate educational inequities. Areas of focus include how public perceptions of schooling form and how parents and school personnel enact education policy. Her work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of Education and Equity & Excellence in Education, as well as in popular outlets such as the Hechinger Report and the Washington Post. At Sacred Heart, Dr. Carey teaches and mentors doctoral students in the Department of Educational Literacy & Leadership.
Dave Weinreb
Dave Weinreb (he/him) currently serves as the Magnet Resource Teacher at Elm City Montessori School as well as an executive board member of the New Haven Federation of Teachers. Since moving to New Haven in 2015 he has taught 5th grade Spanish-speaking newcomers, led teams to develop schoolyard habitats, stewarded a neighborhood door-to-door vaccination campaigns and community blood drives, founded the City of New Haven’s LGBTQ Youth Task Force, participated as a Board Member of the Fair Haven Community Management Team, co-founded CodeHaven, helped steward Fair Haven Arts and Ideas festivals, and served as adjunct faculty at Relay Graduate School of Education and Quinnipiac University’s School of Education.
Previously, he worked in a variety of founding roles at The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School in Washington Heights, NYC. He earned his M.Ed. in School Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University., M.A. from Johns Hopkins University, bilingual/TESOL cross endorsement via ARCTELL, and B.A. in History and Urban Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Dave, his wife Marlene, toddlers Dalia and Jude live in and love Fair Haven. Dave is bilingual in Spanish and English, and enjoys sharing about summer working in Panamanian public schools and his year working with an HIV-prevention project for injecting drug users in Mumbai, India.
Jessica Haxhi
Jessica Haxhi has been the Supervisor of World Languages for New Haven Public Schools in Connecticut since 2013,overseeing 85 teachers and expanding to nine languages offered. She was President of American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in 2021 and is a past President of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese. Previously, Jessica taught Japanese for 20 years in a PreK-5 program and has taught world language methods as an adjunct instructor at SCSU and CCSU.
Carolyn Streets
Carolyn Streets has over 30 years of experience in public education. She is an award-winning educator in NHPS, specializing in curriculum design, instructional models that support students from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, and advancing equitable access to academic success. Ms. Streets is a two-time Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Fellow, holding a prestigious residency at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, where she studied education equity. Ms. Streets is recognized nationally and internationally for her work on ethical practices concerning contemporary debates about schooling, policy, and opportunity. Her work bridges classroom practice and theological inquiry, emphasizing education as a moral and communal vocation aimed at expanding justice, inclusion, and educational opportunity for historically marginalized communities. Ms. Streets is currently a social justice scholar at Yale Divinity School and will receive her MDiv this year.
Daniel Rubenstein
Daniel Rubenstein is currently Head of School at the International School of Beijing (ISB). Prior to joining ISB, Daniel was the co-founder and CEO of Prospect Schools, one of the highest-performing school networks in New York and among 16 “Schools of the Future” named by the World Economic Forum. In addition to his work at Prospect Schools, Daniel has been instrumental in forming the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition, a group of over 40 U.S. organizations dedicated to creating successful, integrated choice schools. Daniel is a 2002 winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching and has held positions in the United States at Sidwell Friends School, SEED Public Charter School, and Collegiate School, as well as in Beijing with School Year Abroad.
Drawing on his experience in public, independent, and international schools, Daniel brings a perspective shaped by both U.S. and Chinese educational contexts, reflecting on how different systems approach assessment, policies, academic culture, and the broader purpose of education.
Milly Arciniegas
Milly Arciniegas is a Hartford-based entrepreneur, community advocate, and the Founder & CEO of Parent School Volunteer Engagement Tracker (PSV E-Tracker), an all-in-one digital platform designed to strengthen connections between families, schools, volunteers, and community organizations. With a deep commitment to educational equity and family empowerment, Milly created PSV E-Tracker to help schools and nonprofits better communicate with families, track engagement, and use data-driven tools that enable them to customize programmatic interventions to improve student outcomes by strengthening parent engagement.
Milly brings extensive experience working alongside parents, educators, nonprofit leaders, and municipal partners to design practical, user-friendly tools that meet real community needs. Her work is driven by the belief that when families are informed, engaged, and supported, students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
As a founder, Milly leads product vision, community outreach, and strategic partnerships, ensuring that PSV E-Tracker remains accessible, inclusive, and impactful for diverse communities. She is especially passionate about elevating parent voice, improving transparency, and using technology to remove barriers to engagement.
Milly is proud to call Hartford home and remains dedicated to advancing innovative solutions that strengthen schools, empower families, and build healthier, more connected communities.
Xiuye (Sue) Chen
Sue Chen teaches AI applications in Yale's Computer Science Department at both the graduate and undergraduate level, and conducts research on connectomics with the Kuan Lab in Neuroscience. Her work sits at the intersection of AI and education, and she's particularly interested in how modern AI tools can transform both how we teach and how we do science.
Before Yale, Sue was a Research Scientist at Amazon Alexa AI, where she developed deep learning models for Alexa Guard deployed across Echo devices and Astro robots, and published US patents on acoustic event detection. She holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard.
Michael B. Horn
Michael B. Horn strives to create a world in which all individuals can build their passions, fulfill their potential, and live a life of purpose. His latest book, the national bestseller "Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career," shines a light on how individuals and companies can both make real progress by better understanding what causes individuals to switch jobs and supporting those journeys. Michael’s work in higher education focuses on helping colleges and universities chart a more sustainable future that supports the different goals of learners and society. And his long-time work in K-12 learning, grounded in his most recent book, "From Reopen to Reinvent," aims to create a learner-centered, positive-sum education model that helps all individuals experience success and build mastery.
Professor K. Sudhir
K. Sudhir is James L. Frank ’32 Professor of Marketing, Private Enterprise and Management and Founder-Director of the Yale China India Insights Program at the Yale School of Management, where he has been a faculty member since 2001. He is Professor of Economics (by courtesy) at the Yale Economics Department. He leads the academic-industry interface for quantitative marketing at the Yale Center for Customer Insights (YCCI). He has been a Visiting Fellow at various universities around the world including MIT, Toronto, HKUST and INSEAD. He served as Visiting Fellow at Microsoft Research for the year 2020. Professor Sudhir served as Editor-in-Chief of Marketing Science, the premier journal in the field of quantitative marketing from 2016-21. During his term, founded the Frontiers Section at Marketing Science. Previously, he had been an Associate Editor at all of the field’s leading quantitative marketing journals.
Sudhir’s substantive interests include customer relationship management, digital marketing and artificial intelligence, marketing organizations and emerging markets. As a pioneer in the use of structural empirical methods in marketing, he developed fundamental models in the areas of customer management, salesforce management and compensation, organizational buying and marketing channels. His papers use a wide range of methods including machine learning, quasi-experiments, field experiments and game theory. Sudhir’s research has been honored with multiple best paper awards from all of the field’s leading quantitative marketing journals.