Ron Clark

Thursday Keynote Speaker - Ron Clark will be the keynote speaker on Thursday, January 29, 2009. Ron Clark has been called "America's Educator." His work with disadvantaged students in rural North Carolina and in inner-city Harlem garnered worldwide attention, and he was invited to the White House on three separate occasions to be honored by the President and Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Clark's tireless work and dedication to making a difference in the lives of children led him to be named Disney's American Teacher of the Year in 2000. Since receiving that distinction, he has been interviewed by Katie Couric on the Today Show, and he has appeared twice on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Ms. Winfrey even featured him in her magazine and named him her first "Phenomenal Man." In addition, Ron’s experiences as a teacher are the subject of the critically acclaimed movie, “The Ron Clark Story,” that stars Matthew Perry in the lead role. Ron has authored two books that have become extremely popular in the education profession. His first book, The Essential 55, is a New York Times Best Seller and is currently published in over 25 countries and in its 11th printing of over one million copies. Ron Clark is being sponsored by Promethean. Ron's Web site is: http://www.ronclark.info/About_Ron_Clark/

Ian Jukes

Wednesday Keynote Speaker - The luncheon keynote speaker on Wednesday, January 28, 2009. Ian Jukes has been a teacher, an administrator, writer, consultant, university instructor and keynote speaker. He is currently the Director of the InfoSavvy Group, an international consulting group that provides leadership and program development in the areas of assessment and evaluation, strategic alignment, curriculum design and publication, professional development, planning, change management, hardware and software acquisition, information services, customized research, media services, and on-line training as well as conference keynotes and workshop presentations. Ian's Web site is: http://web.mac.com/iajukes/thecommittedsardine/About_Us.html