With a passion for education that has spanned over three decades, Dr. Katie McKnight is a dynamic force for engaging learners everywhere. From her early days as a teacher in Chicago Public Schools to her distinguished university career, she has always championed student success. As an award-winning author of 22 books, including the best-selling The Teacher’s Big Book of Graphic Organizers, she provides practical strategies for educators. Dr. McKnight is the founder of Engaging Learners, an educational company that has transformed struggling schools, and the co-creator of the popular "Coffee with Katie and Richard" webinars. Whether she's presenting to a packed conference hall or consulting in a classroom, her energy and dedication to making learning joyful are unmistakable. Her new co-authored book, The Science of Reading for Grades 4-12: Every Subject, Every Day, will be available this Spring, 2026.

Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., is the President and Director of the Research Institute for Learning and Development (ResearchILD) in Lexington, MA. She is a Fellow and Past-President of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. She is the Founder and Program Chair of the Annual Executive Function and Learning Differences Conference which she has chaired for the past 40 years. She was an Associate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Child Development at Tufts University for 30 years. Her four decades of clinical work, research, publications, and presentations have focused on understanding the complexity of learning and attention differences.

Throughout her career in education, Nicki Winter, MEd, LDT, CALT, has had a passion to help struggling readers learn to read. After teaching at the elementary level, she became a dyslexia therapist and educational diagnostician. Witnessing students with low self-esteem and high anxiety walk through her door inspired Winter to research tools and practices that support the social and emotional needs of her students. This research led to the creation of Brilliant Strengths: A Strengths-Based Program Designed to Raise Self-Esteem and Lower Anxiety in Students with Dyslexia. As a dyslexia therapist, Winter aims to not only improve students’ reading skills but also increase their self-esteem by identifying and focusing on their strengths.

It is her hope that every person who uses Brilliant Strengths will embark on a journey that changes their perspective from one of seeing themselves through the lens of their weaknesses, to one of seeing themselves through the lens of their strengths. To build on students’ reading foundations, she is also the author of Brilliant Readers Book One: Open and Closed Syllables. Along with spending time with family and friends, Winter loves to eat cake, drink tea, and add to her collection of children’s books. She lives in Grapevine, Texas, with her husband, two children, two dogs, and hopefully one day a mini pocket pig!

Dr. James Whitfield is an award-winning education advocate centered on creating safe, nurturing, and equitable learning environments which, in turn, help transform communities. Over the course of nearly two decades in education, he’s served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and principal at the middle and high school levels.

His passions include sharing insightful stories of the power of education, leading with love, integrity, and dignity, overcoming adversity, and fighting with purpose and conviction for truth and justice.

Dr. Whitfield is known for disrupting systemic barriers, building positive culture, creating sustainable change, innovation, and dynamic coaching to build excellent and equitable learning environments for all students. Education changed the course of his life and he’s driven by a deep sense of purpose to ensure every student feels seen, heard, valued, and has access to an excellent and equitable educational experience.