Marlon Styles Conference: Leadership Summit, Nov. 14

About: Marlon Styles has 26 years of education experience, 17 of those years in leadership roles, and the last six as superintendent of Middletown City School District in Ohio. Under his leadership Middletown City Schools, the district was awarded the ISTE Distinguished District Award in 2019. He is an experienced thought leader supporting educational organizations across the country.

Focus: Styles focuses on inspiring innovation and fostering a culture of trust and commitment. He utilizes his extensive experience in education to offer practical strategies and solutions, empowering his listeners to drive positive change within their own organizations.

Quote: “In education, it’s a great time to start bragging ... about the wonderful things happening in your school communities, because it’s our time in this profession to start controlling our narrative.”

Conference: Leadership Summit, Nov. 16

About: Tovi Scruggs-Hussein is an award-winning urban educator with almost 30 years of leadership and transformation experience. From keynotes to workshops to in-depth leadership development, Scruggs-Hussein cultivates conscious, connected, and courageous leaders worldwide. In 2021, she was recognized by Mindful Magazine as one of the Powerful Women Leaders who are igniting the world with courage and wisdom.

Focus: Scruggs-Hussein supports leaders in transformational growth with her signature “Do vs. BE” paradigm. She guides them from “leadership DO-ing” to “leadership BE-ing,” knowing that to change our systems, we must heal our leaders.

Quote: “We cannot teach what we do not embody.”

About: Described as a cross between Einstein and Elvis Costello, Adam Steltzner is a leader heralded for making the impossible possible. An aspiring rock star turned rocket scientist, Steltzner is praised as a cutting-edge innovator and a leader who literally brings out the very best in his teams. He serves as chief engineer of the Mars 2020 Mission & Rover Perseverance, which successfully landed on the Martian surface in 2021.

Focus: Steltzner knows firsthand how collaborative cultures foster innovation and how team-minded engagement fuels performance. And he inspires audiences to dare greatly ­­— to embrace the power of curiosity, creativity, and courage to do what others say is impossible.

Quote: “It is our curiosity that we need to engage and our fear that we need to hold at bay, or release, if we’re going to find what we’re looking for.”

Emad Rahim
Conference: Every Child Counts Symposium, Jan. 14

About: Emad Rahim was born in a concentration camp in the Killing Fields of Cambodia. He arrived to the United States with his family as a refugee living in Brooklyn, New York. After struggling with street violence, gangs, drugs, poverty, family abuse and dyslexia as an adolescent, he found his way through higher education to become an award-winning educator, entrepreneur, author, Fulbright recipient and TEDx speaker. His life was turned into the award-winning short documentary “Against the Odds.” He has also authored the book “Resilience: From Killing Fields to Boardroom - The S.A.L.T Effect.”

Focus: Rahim developed the S.AL.T. model of Surviving, Adapting, Loving and Transforming as a means of helping him overcome the struggles of his youth, including prejudice, abuse, childhood violence, and dyslexia.

Quote: “I could have easily been that angry kid that turned into an angry man, that would have been caught in the public system. But instead it was through these experiences that made me stronger, that made me better.”

Marke Freeman Conference: Every Child Counts Symposium, Jan. 15

About: As a speaker, director, coach, and teacher, Marke Freeman works with business entities and individuals around the world, instilling within them not only the mental foundations of success and the motivation to achieve, but also the actionable strategies that will empower them to grow, improve, and thrive. Freeman has served as the Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at Washington University – Saint Louis and is also the president of the Max-OUT Foundation, a nonprofit that teaches youth life skills.

Focus: Freeman empowers executives, entrepreneurs, students and athletes worldwide to welcome challenges as opportunities, becoming the “captains of their ship.” Her story is proof that success is about combating victimization and seeking ownership.

Quote: “You’ve got to commit to that better version of yourself.” (“Chase Your Greatness” motivational video)