AAIE 59th Annual Global Leadership CONVERSATION

Tricia Friedman (she/her) is a long-time educator who has worked in the US, China, Thailand, Morocco, Ukraine, Indonesia, Switzerland, and Singapore and now lives in Canada. She’s the founder of Allyed.org and Director of Learning and Strategy with Shifting Schools. Tricia is an avid podcaster. You can catch her on Be a Better Ally, Unhinged Collaboration, and Shifting Schools, and if you listen closely, you might occasionally hear her dog weigh in too.

Connect with her on LinkedIn, where you’ll catch her talking about the intersection of #AILiteracy, #InformationLiteracy, and #MediaLiteracy and how #DEIJ is integral to those literacies and leadership.

Hannah's unconventional journey began in a blue pickup truck when her father handed 12-year-old Hannah the phone to close a deal on a piece of real estate. This unexpected introduction to entrepreneurship spurred her to enroll in college at age 14, and by 18, she had graduated with her undergraduate degree in international business.

Now, at 25, Hannah is the founder of d’Skills, a virtual program where in short sprints, students are turbo-charged with AI, then empowered to create their own paid internships. d'Skills has been called by superintendents "the next evolution in deeper learning." She partners with the most innovative school districts in the country, raising up a generation of AI-turbocharged students who will thrive in a future where AI is everywhere, and is on a mission to impact 1M high schoolers.

Hannah has worked with over 3000 companies, providing invaluable insights into Gen Z trends and behaviors. She is also the author of the top-selling book, "A Leader’s Guide to Unlocking Gen Z," which has become a go-to resource for understanding and engaging this dynamic generation. Her TEDx talk has been viewed by over 50,000 people worldwide.

Jason Craige Harris, a member of Pollyanna's speakers' bureau, works in a variety of contexts, with a range of age groups, and across sectors to promote cultures of dignity, belonging, and repair. He brings together insights from diverse fields as a strategist, crisis manager, conflict mediator, dialogue facilitator, leadership coach, and restorative justice practitioner. He is a thought leader on issues related to tribalism, othering, belonging, accountability, and healing. He regularly advises leaders and everyday people on how to create environments where everyone can thrive––and what to do when things go awry.

Emma is the director of Those That Can Ltd. She has 25 years of experience as a teacher and leader in UK secondary schools and currently teaches in Alternative Provision. She is a qualified Performance Coach and speaks regularly on teacher wellbeing, recruitment, and retention, Emma writes for a variety of publications, including TES and BBC Teach. She has completed a doctorate on teacher well-being and parenting at Middlesex University and is the author of How To Survive in Teaching (Bloomsbury, 2018) and A Little Guide For Teachers: Wellbeing and Self-Care and A Little Guide for Teachers: Engaging Parents and Carers. She is currently writing her fourth book, Real Lives of Teachers, due for publication with Sage Education in 2024. She can be found at https://www.those-that-can.com/. Emma is also Mum to two teenagers and a golden retriever.

Engineer in microelectronics and nanotechnologies, professor and researcher in behavioral sciences, and entrepreneur in the Web economy, Delphine Le Serre has been ranked among the Top 20 Women transforming EdTech in Europe by Forbes magazine (2018). Recipient of the Women's Scientific Vocation Award and the Women's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award (2016), she is today the co-founder and president of the EdHu2O5O foundation based in Montreal. Established in 2022, this foundation is a proud and active member of the United Nations Foundation. It brings together major players around a new vision of Education, centered on Human Intelligence and rendered necessary and urgent by the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence.

Mr. Littleford has served as head of school for 18 years, a teacher for 25 years, and a board member and chair of schools and nonprofit agencies. He has written and spoken extensively worldwide on each area of the firm’s consulting expertise. John Littleford is the co-author, with Valerie Lee, of the book, “Faculty Salary Systems in Independent Schools”. His articles on the career ladder concept of faculty compensation are found in Larry Frase’s book, entitled “Teacher Motivation and Compensation”, published in 1992 by the Technomic Press.

Mr. Littleford has his B.A. degree from Dickinson College, Critical Language Degree from Princeton University, M.A. from Harvard University and a Certificate of Advanced Study from Harvard University. As senior partner, Mr. Littleford conducts all workshops, on-site visits and evaluations of contracts for Heads and nonprofit CEO’s.

Kathleen Naglee is an award-winning leader of innovative, inclusive educational, and strategic foresight practices. She is a sought-after keynote and motivational speaker who weaves emotionally charged stories to challenge her audience into thinking differently about the possibilities of learning for Generation AI. She is a former accomplished international School Director and has held previous positions as a Commissioner for NEASC, Chair of the Board of Directors of CEESA, and Vice-President of AmCham Estonia. She collaborates with the Big Questions Institute as an Educational Consultant, Executive Coach, and Diversity & Inclusion adviser. You can find her podcasting with Tricia Friedman at

David Yeager is the author of 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People, a USA Today bestseller. Based on cutting-edge research, it reveals how parents, mentors, and leaders of young people aged 10-25 can harness their desire to be respected, resulting in breakthrough connection, enthusiasm, and cross-generational collaboration. He explains how to adopt what he calls “the mentor mindset”: a leadership style that’s attuned to young people’s neurobiological need for status and respect. The practices he offers, like asking questions instead of giving orders, are proven to improve behavior across a wide variety of areas, from purpose to mental health. Young people in this age group are poised to learn, grow, and accomplish incredible things, he says—if we can just tap into the basic systems that drive their motivation and behavior.

David is an experimental development psychologist in the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the past 10 years, he has been one of the top 0.1% most-cited psychologists in the world. In his academic research, he examines the causes of and solutions to adolescent health problems, such as bullying, depression, academic achievement, cheating, trust, or healthy eating. He often focuses on adolescent transitions—the transition to middle school, the transition to high school, or the transition to college—as a place where there is great opportunity (and risk) for young people’s trajectories. Formerly, David was a middle school English teacher and a K-8 PE coach for a school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he also ran the after-school book club and coached basketball.

David was the subject of a major New York Times Magazine article (“Who Gets to Graduate?”) by education speaker Paul Tough, in which he was named “one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of education.” He has co-authored work on grit and grit-testing with Angela Duckworth, and on growth mindset with Carol Dweck. He chaired and co-hosted a national summit on mindset interventions at the White House Office for Science and Technology Policy, which led to the launch and co-chairing of the “Mindset Scholars Network,” an interdisciplinary research network housed at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), where he was a fellow. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and more.

David holds a PhD and MA from Stanford University, and a BA and MEd from the University of Notre Dame. He is a William T. Grant Foundation scholar, a Faculty Research Associate at the UT Population Research Center, and was formerly a Fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. His research has earned awards from the Spencer Foundation, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the Society for Research on Child Development, the American Educational Research Association, the APA Science Directorate, and the International Society for Research on Aggression. He is a member of the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group and the New Paths to Purpose network at the University of Chicago.