Jim Shelton was appointed Assistant Deputy Secretary to run the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the US Department of Education in April of 2009. Immediately prior to joining ED, Jim was a Program Director for Education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where, over 5.5 years, he oversaw education programs including Next Generation Models, School Replication, College Access and Scholarships, and numerous State and District partnerships. Jim began his career developing computer systems; and later became a senior consultant to CEOs and other for-profit and non-profit leaders while working for McKinsey & Company. He transitioned into education full-time as a private equity investor, which led him to co-found and lead a company with the mission of opening and running high quality schools in high need communities. After selling the company, Jim worked with Joel Klein, Chancellor of New York City Schools, leading the planning for his reform strategy - Children First – followed by launching the east coast office of NewSchools Venture Fund, a non-profit venture fund focused on education. Throughout his life and career, Jim has been an active volunteer as a tutor, counselor, service center manager, and board member. He has a B.A. in Computer Science from Morehouse College and a Masters in Education and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, NAHQ Samsung Electronics America Ralph Santana is the senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Samsung’s North American Headquarters (NAHQ). In his current role, Mr. Santana is responsible for Samsung’s North America Marketing team, including the Brand Marketing, Digital Marketing, Market Intelligence, and Product Innovation teams. These teams manage Samsung North American cause and sports marketing efforts, consumer and competitive research projects, as well as the social media and Samsung.com online activities. Mr. Santana, an industry veteran, joined the Samsung team in June 2010. His prior experience includes multiple international and domestic leadership roles in marketing during a 16 year career at PepsiCo. In his last assignment at Pepsico, Ralph served as Vice President of Colas, where he spearheaded a massive creative overhaul and re-launch of Pepsi-Cola which was recognized with various Webby, Effie and Event Marketer awards. He was also the driving force behind the groundbreaking Pepsi Refresh Project; a social media initiative that leveraged new forms of consumer engagement. At different points in his tenure with PepsiCo, Mr. Santana served as vice president of sports, media, branded entertainment and interactive marketing, vice president of consumer promotions and customer marketing, and he led marketing for the Caribbean region. He also held positions with Frito-Lay’s International and North America operations. Prior to PepsiCo, Mr. Santana worked for Beverage Marketing Corporation of New York City. There he was a beverage industry consultant working on market research reports and market entry/expansion strategies. Mr. Santana was honored with Street & Smith’s prestigious 40 Under 40 Award in 2007. He was also included in Business Week’s Power 100 list of the most influential people in sports. Mr. Santana earned his undergraduate degree in English Literature from Dartmouth College and his MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Stacey Childress serves as Deputy Director of Education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She leads the Next Generation Models team, which supports the creation and proliferation of technology-enabled content, tools, and learning models that support personalized paths to success for middle and high school students in the United States. Prior to joining the foundation, Stacey was on the faculty of the Harvard Business School where she wrote and taught about entrepreneurial activity in public education in the United States. Her work encompassed the behavior and strategies of leadership teams in urban public school districts, charter schools, and nonprofit and for-profit enterprises with missions to improve the public system. During her time at Harvard she wrote three books and more than thirty cases and articles about education entrepreneurship. She also won teaching awards from her students and the HBS dean for her elective course on education entrepreneurship, which was taken by more than 1000 students between 2004 and 2010. Before working in academia, Stacey was a co-founder of an enterprise software company and spent ten years in a Fortune 500 company in sales and general management. Early in her career, she taught in a Texas public high school. She is a graduate of Baylor University and Harvard Business School, where she was the first woman in school history to be elected by her classmates to deliver the class day graduation address.