Career-Readiness in a Rapidly Shifting World: Building Unbounded Pathways

About the Presenters

Dr. Chad Gestson is Founder of the Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy and Special Advisor to the President on PK-12 Initiatives at Northern Arizona University. He spent 22 years in education, including eight as Superintendent of Phoenix Union, where he led the district to national recognition for innovation. He has been named Arizona Policymaker of the Year, Superintendent of the Year by Arizona’s Public Relations Association, and Arizona’s 73rd Man of the Year. Dr. Gestson is a Broad Academy alum and serves on several national and local boards, including the Stanford Hoover Education Success Initiative and Accelerate. He is the author of BEFORE Teaching and Learning and has held leadership roles across PK-12, including founding Arizona’s first Montessori high school. He holds degrees from the University of Washington, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University. He lives in Phoenix with his wife, Megan.

Viki Young, Ph.D., is Chief Innovation Research Officer at Digital Promise and co-leads the Center for Learner Pathway Innovations. Across national, state, and local contexts, Dr. Young leads research studies featuring mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, with particular focus on teaching and learning within embedded contexts and the system supports, resources, incentives, and disincentives that shape change and unintended consequences. She has studied the implementation and impact of K-12 policy and improvement initiatives, including high school reform, inclusive STEM high school models, instructional coaching and educator development, and school choice initiatives. Before joining Digital Promise in 2019, she was Director of the Center for Education Policy at SRI International. She holds a Ph.D. in education administration and policy analysis at Stanford University.

Dr. John VanWagoner has worked in education for over 28 years as a high school teacher, school administrator, instructional specialist, high school redesign manager, legislative liaison for the Michigan Department of Education, Associate Superintendent at the county level, Superintendent of Alpena Public Schools, and his current role as the Superintendent of Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS). He holds a B.A. in secondary education from Saginaw Valley State University (MI), an M.S. in kinesiology from Michigan State University, an M.A. in K-12 educational leadership, and a Ph.D. in K-12 education leadership from Western Michigan University. Dr. VanWagoner is a member of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, Michigan Future of Learning Council, Urban Superintendents Association of America, the Education Research and Development Institute, and a past fellow of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Educational Leadership’s Education Policy Fellowship Program.

Kimberly Smith is Chief Innovation Officer at Digital Promise and co-leads the Center for Learner Pathway Innovations. She leads partnerships with school district leaders and their communities to co-research and co-design solutions that help every learner grow and thrive. She has held leadership roles at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, PBS, Discovery Education, and CPB, advancing education technology and learner-centered models. An Aspen-Pahara Fellow and co-founder of the National Charter Collaborative, she holds an MBA from Johns Hopkins and a BS in journalism from the University of Colorado. She serves on the boards of Beacon House, CatalystED, the Learner Centered Collaborative, and the National Charter Collaborative.