Richard Florida, author of the best-selling books The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class, is the Hirst Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, a Senior Scientist with the Gallup Organization and a Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution. He has taught regional economic development at Carnegie Mellon University and has been a visiting professor at MIT and at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

An entrepreneur and the founder of two successful companies, Florida earned his bachelor's degree from Rutgers College and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He lives in Washington, DC..

Dr. Jim Goodnight is CEO of SAS, the world's leading business intelligence software vendor. At the helm since the company's incorporation in 1976, Goodnight is outspoken on education reform. He and his wife, Ann, co-founded Cary Academy in 1996, an independent college preparatory day school for students in grades six through 12, with the goal of creating a model school for integrating technology into all facets of education. Goodnight also launched SAS inSchool, which develops award-winning educational software that helps schools meet the challenges of the new millennium. The software contains the framework for a new generation of teaching courseware that will further extend the use of technology as a learning tool.

Dr. June St. Clair Atkinson is the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in North Carolina.

An important role of public schools is to foster creativity, problem-solving and decision making, and Atkinson believes that schools must change to fulfill this important role and to ensure that students are prepared to participate effectively in today's global economy.