Authors & Presenters

Emily Feltner, EdD, has over 30 years of experience at all levels in education. She works with schools and districts in the areas of leadership, literacy, and school improvement.

Robin J. Fogarty, PhD, has trained educators throughout the world in curriculum, instruction, and assessment strategies. She has taught at all levels, served as an administrator, and consulted with state departments and ministries of education.

Victoria Francis, MEd, EdS, spent over 40 years teaching high school across Idaho, New Mexico, and Hawaii. Her work inspired a passion for working with “underdog” students—those who others felt had poor future prospects.

Whitney K. Freije is an elementary school principal at A.F. Palmer Elementary, a Model PLC at Work® school in the Windsor Central School District, located in upstate New York. She specializes in empowering teachers with effective instructional practices to promote high levels of literacy and mathematics.

Nancy Frey, PhD, is a professor of literacy in the Department of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University. She is also a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College in San Diego.

Sam Futrell is a middle school social studies teacher at St. Michael’s Episcopal School in Richmond, Virginia. With over a decade of experience, she advocates for diversity, equity, and professional development in education.

George Georgiou, a University of Alberta professor, focuses on reading and literacy development. He leads the J. P. Das Centre on Developmental and Learning Disabilities and is an award-winning scholar and Royal Society of Canada member.

Katherine Gillies is the lead architect of districtwide literacy improvement at Niles North High School in Illinois. Her work includes building a comprehensive system of intervention and support for struggling readers and developing a research-based curriculum to ensure continued literacy growth for all students. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kathy Tuchman Glass is an accomplished author, presenter, and former classroom teacher with more than twenty-five years of experience in education.

Sarah Gord is a reading specialist and literacy coach at Kildeer Countryside School District 96 in suburban Chicago. Her work focuses on the implementation of standards-aligned teaching and assessment practices.