Jeffrey C. Riley, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education for Massachusetts, taught in Baltimore, Md., was and was principal of Tyngsboro Middle School, Boston's Edwards Middle School, and Superintendant of Lawrence Schools where he created the Abbot Lawrence Academy, an honors High School. Commissioner Riley holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Pomona College in California, a master's degree in counseling from Johns Hopkins University and a master's degree in school administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University.

Dr. Crystal Rose, M.DPh.D. is the Co-Director of Harvard Alumni for Education (HAEd) Boston Region, an international Shared Interest Group composed of members from all 13 schools from Harvard. HAEd is a convening group seeking to engage, support, inform, and further educate alumni on the Future of Education through networking, panels, and events.

Hannah Shin, Co-Director of Harvard Alumni for Education (HAEd), Boston Region and has a B.A. in Psychology and Elem Ed from Wellesley College, an M.Ed. in Human Dev and Psychology from Harvard GSE and an Ed.S. in Applied Behavior Analysis from Simmons University. She is Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), is licensed in Elem. Ed. and for Students with Severe Disabilities and consults as a Behavior Specialist in Cambridge Public Schools.

Gilman Whiting, Ph.D. is the Founder and Director of the Scholar Identity Institute and Community Outreach Initiative (SIMCOI) at Vanderbilt University where he is also a professor in the Department of African American and Diaspora Studies at Vanderbilt University. He is a Distinguished Alumni of Purdue University where he received his Ph.D. from the College of Education (2004).

Dr. Deirdre Lovecky is a clinical psychologist with more than 25 years of experience. She is the founder of The Gifted Resource Center of New England and specializes in working with gifted children. Her interests are in helping to identify gifted children and to design meaningful school programs and outside enrichment activities for them to pursue. Dr. Lovecky is also an author and her most recent book on this topic was released in Spring 2023.

Barry Gelston, M.Ed. is the Board President of GHF formerly Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, guiding its mission to empower every gifted family to make strategic, proactive, and intentional educational choices. He also serves as Co-Director of the Office of Institutional Research, Evaluation and Accreditation at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education.

Debbie Steinberg Kuntz, LMFT is a licensed marriage and family therapist and the creator of Bright & Quirky. She honed her specialty in bright and quirky kids and families with over a decade in private practice near Seattle working with families employed by the area’s high-tech firms such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google. She created Bright & Quirky to be the resource she was searching and hoping for on her own family’s bright and quirky journey.

Charlotte Agell, Ed.M, from Harvard is the author/illustrator of 14 books for children and young adults, as well as a longtime public school teacher, with almost two decades of experience in gifted instructional support. She is also a recipient of Maine’s Gifted Teacher of the Year Award.

Molly Kellogg is a teacher, author and consultant with more than 20 years in education, more than half of which have focused on gifted education. She has an MA in Ed. Psych. with a concentration in Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Development. Molly is also a recipient of Maine’s Gifted Teacher of the Year Award.

Martin West is the academic dean and Henry Lee Shattuck professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is also editor-in-chief of Education Next, a journal of research and opinion on education policy, and deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School. West is currently a member of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and of the National Assessment Governing Board.

Heidi Lack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PhD, CSPP), Health Service Provider (HSP), Harvard-trained with a specialization in the field of behavioral medicine (mind body connection). Dr. Lack is also a board certified, registered art therapist (MA, Lesley U, AATA, ATCB), artist, SoulCollage® facilitator, published spiritual educator, trained in misophonia, sensory sensitivities/intensities/ overexcitabilities, giftedness, 2e, multipotentiality, ADHD, women with ADHD, neurodiversity, neuropsychological testing, CBT/DBT/ACT, and gifted/2e parenting.

Julie F. Rosenbaum Skolnick, M.A., J.D., Founder of With Understanding Comes Calm, LLC, passionately guides parents of gifted and distractible children, mentors 2e adults, trains educators and advises professionals on how to bring out the best and raise self-confidence in their 2e students and clients.

Kaitlin Smith, MSW is a writer, and former psychotherapist and is pursuing her PhD at Harvard in History of Science. She is the founder of Our Wild Minds offering live, online courses that help highly creative, gifted, and twice-exceptional BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and women befriend and operationalize their natural gifts.

Jason Talbot is a Co-Founder and the Managing Director of Program at Artists For Humanity. Jason creates opportunities to engage and mentor teen artists and their artistic mentors advancing AFH’s programmatic goals while building long-term creative connections.

Dr. Katharina Elbert holds a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences and is the vice-chair of the Massachusetts State Gifted & Talented Advisory Council of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She also serves as a MAGE Board Member and is the Co-Chair of the MAGE Advocacy Committee since it's inception in 2016.

Gerry Mroz is a member of the Board of Directors of MAGE and the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee. He is a tireless advocate for exceptional students across the state, serving thousands of families over the years.

Dr. MaryGrace Stewart, President Emerita of MAGE is the Chief Academic Officer, Founder, and President of Ideal4Gifted, a community of learning and belonging for gifted and twice-exceptional children ages 5 to 14. Her focus has been on traditionally underserved populations such as the BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities. She has taught Pre-K - grade 12 and performed PD world wide.
She holds degrees in Art Education, Theater, Physiology of art production, and a Ph.D, in Organizational Change and Leadership from U.S.C. (dissertation on gifted education in MA).

Michelle Barmazel is the Co-President and Organizational Liaison for MAGE and she also sits on the Harvard Alumni for Education (HAEd) Boston Regional board as the HKS Engagement Coordinator. An educational consultant with an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School focused on gifted education policy, Michelle also has an MBA from Stanford Business School and is a former McKinsey consultant. Michelle recorded her TEDxHGSE talk, “Why Gifted May Not Be What You Think”, here at HGSE in 2014.

Karen Blumstein is the Co-President and Parent Liaison of MAGE. An elementary, special needs, and gifted educator with classroom experience focusing on 2E dyslexic students, Karen will be co-hosting and moderating the conference events.

Julia (Julie) Baker has been an English teacher in Massachusetts at the high school level for 17 years and has taught every skill level and grade covered in a traditional four-year institution. She also develops curriculum and mentors new teachers and former students in the field of education.
Julie has her undergraduate degree in English from Bryn Mawr College, a Master of Science in Journalism from Boston University, a Master of Education from UMASS Boston and recently completed a C.A.G.S In School Leadership from American International College. Julie is secretary of the MAGE Board.

Janis has over 40 years of experience teaching, developing and administering children’s programs, training faculty and administrators with K-12 staff.
Janis is the Founder and Director of the KITE summer program for high ability students in Grades K-8. A longtime advocate for gifted education, beginning with Director of Andover’s GT Program in the 1970s, Janis is the author of “Fulfilling the Promise: Enrichment Strategies for the Regular Classroom” for the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Office for Gifted and Talented, 1981. A former member of the Advisory Council on Gifted and Talented Education, Massachusetts DESE, Janis sits on MAGE Board.

Rebecca Lamkin is a Research Health Scientist at the VA Boston Healthcare System where she has worked on projects ranging from clinical drug trials to expansion of teledermatology for rural patients to inappropriate antibiotic utilization. Rebecca formerly worked at the CDC and the JHU School of Public health.
Rebecca received her BA in Chemistry & Sociology from Emory University, and her MA in Sociology from JHU. She has been on the board of PIN, Inc for over a decade (The Parents’ Independent School Network facilitates communication, promotes parental networking and awareness, and provides programs to our New England area member school communities). Rebecca sits on the MAGE Board.

Deb Lee’s work in gifted education spans two decades, both in public and private sectors, and ranges from teaching to program administration. Prior to relocating to Massachusetts, she served as a Curriculum Director in a mid-sized public school district and was an active member of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC). An alumna of Northwestern University, her professional interests lie in STEAM, diversity, and equity. Deb continues to serve on the Board of the Midwest Academy for Gifted Education in Chicago alongside MAGE.

Magalie Pinney was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts to second generation, struggling Haitian immigrants. She earned her Communications baccalaureate, cum laude, with a minor in Sociology from Regis College.
Magalie is currently a Senior Operations Associate at State Street Corporation. Maggie is the Director of Communications for the MAGE Board and received the MAGE public service award in 2019.

Elizabeth Letsch, M.S., Ph.D., ABPP(RP) is a forensic neuropsychologist with extensive
experience in the field of evaluating gifted children. She is board certified in Rehabilitation Psychology, and worked with veterans with spinal cord injuries until moving into the realm of gifted individuals.