Ying Jie (Johnathan) Bi

Johnathan Bi is the IT executive of the SD45 student district council.

As a student who has been in different education systems, Johnathan knows the value of opportunity, and has dedicated over 700+ hours of coding to produce two very well-perceived apps: a school agenda app being used daily by hundreds of students and a charity wallpaper app built to raise awareness for autism.

Kristi Blakeway

Every one of us has a story worth hearing. When we empower others to tell their story, we awaken the heart and mind. Kristi Blakeway is a principal from Maple Ridge, BC and founder of Beyond HELLO (www.BeyondHELLO.org), a social project that encourages people to engage in real dialogue. Kristi was recently named Vancouver’s Woman of Distinction by the YWCA for her work with students connecting the community. Over the last six years, her students have helped over 500 homeless people re-connect with family and friends through greeting cards, phone calls and face to face reunions. Kristi is a dynamic speaker who will encourage us all to Go Beyond.

Greg Cormier

I have been teaching for 15 years including 2 years in England and the remainder in West Vancouver and Vancouver. I am also a Red Seal Carpenter and this is one of the experiences that brought me to teaching and especially the variety of shop courses that I am passionate about. My Master of Arts research was focused on dual-credit programs offered to students in high school and now I am teaching using my passion, experience and skill set with a broad range of students who share an interest, motivation and satisfaction in learning through and with our hands.

Igor Gantsevich

Igor Gantsevich’s near decade as an elite athlete and national fencing team member culminated in 2008 when he won a bronze team medal at an International Grand Prix – the first of its kind in Canadian history. He finished his career on a high note with a bronze medal in men’s team épée at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Moving from an athlete role, Igor is becoming a major force in the development of fencing in Canada and the world. He is currently the president of Dynamo Fencing Club – one of Canada’s top clubs, a board member of the Canadian Fencing Federation and is an executive committee member of the Pan American Fencing Club organization. Over the past year Igor has brought fencing to over 10,000 children across the lower mainland of British Columbia, and as a result he now instructs over 500 full time students on a weekly basis.

Starleigh Grass

Starleigh Grass, Tsilhqot'in, is currently the Senior Policy Analyst for the First Nations Education Steering Committee. Her duties include sitting on the Province of BC's Curriculum Advisory Committee, Advisory Group on Provincial Assessment, and Competencies Consulting Group. Prior to this role she was a curriculum consultant on various projects as well as secondary school teacher in the Gold Trail School District. Starleigh recently completed her Master of Arts in Education with an emphasis on Indigenous student success. As the mother of a child currently in public school, she is committed to increasing the education system's capacity to improve outcomes for Aboriginal learners.

Jeff Hemmett

With experience in online, K-12, and higher education, Jeff has observed through many lenses the significance of an inspired educator. In linking this observation with his passion for triple-bottom-line business, Jeff hopes to play a part in redefining success in both education, and entrepreneurship. In his spare time, if Jeff isn’t playing a sport, you can probably find him quoting Ron Burgundy, or reading a leather-bound book.

Duncan Knight

Duncan Knight is an elementary educator currently teaching at Irwin Park in West Vancouver. He is passionate about connecting with students using unconventional methods, humour, as well as technology. He has a Masters in Technology from the University of British Columbia and a beautiful family in Squamish. He is considering taking up mountain biking.

Susan Harris MacKay

Susan Harris MacKay is the Director of Teaching and Learning at Portland Children's Museum where she provides leadership to the Museum Center for Learning and Opal School. She began her work as a public school teacher because she believed that inviting young children to share their ideas had the power to change the world. 20 years later, she is no less passionate, even more convinced, and feels privileged to have the frequent opportunity to work with other educators committed to supporting children to launch their ideas, and also to communicating and making visible the tremendous worth in those ideas, not only to the world but to the children themselves.

Allison McNeill

Allison served as the Canadian National Women's Basketball Team Head Coach for 12 years. She led Canada to 2 World Championship appearances as well as the 2012 London Olympic Games. Advancing to the quarter-finals in London equaled the best performance ever by a Canadian Women’s Basketball team. Allison also coached at the University level for 20 years at Simon Fraser University and the University of Oregon.

The Coaching Association of Canada awarded her the Geoff Gowan Award recognizing her lifetime contribution to coaching development in Canada. CAAWS – (Canadian Association for the Advance of Women in Sport) has three times named Allison as one of the 20 "Most influential Women in Sport in Canada"

Macy Meldrum

Macy is a thirteen-year old student at Ridgeview Elementary, where she spent eight years of her life making the best of every opportunity that was available to her at school.

Outside of school, Macy is a member of the 4th West Vancouver Pathfinders, the Pacific Spirit Children's Choir, West Vancouver Soccer Club, West Vancouver Field Hockey Club, BCO Volleyball Club and the West Vancouver Basketball Club where she is also a Junior Coach.

Lane Merrifield

Lane Merrifield is co-founder and CEO of FreshGrade. He was also co-founder of Club Penguin and former executive vice president of Disney Online Studios.

As co-founder of Club Penguin, Lane played an integral role in its phenomenal growth and continued success as one of the largest digital brands for children. This success led to a partnership with the Walt Disney Company, which acquired Club Penguin for $350M in August 2007.

Lane has since left his role at Disney to return to his entrepreneurial roots. Inspired to focus on the challenges facing teachers in the 21st century classroom, Lane co-founded FreshGrade.

Walter Mustapich & Jim Crescenzo

Walter Mustapich is a Vice Principal in the North Vancouver School District and Jim Crescenzo is Fine Arts Department head at Templeton Secondary School. Both gentlemen grew up in east Vancouver and attended Templeton Secondary School in the late 1970's. Years later they were reunited as Vice Principal and Department Head of Templeton where they collaborated to create the West Coast Boys Club Network whose goal is to reach as many at-risk young men in an effort to mentor them into becoming 'good men'. Just three years ago they were awarded charitable status and now work with more than 250 boys in 7 chapters.

Ari Neufeld

I love performance art. I've gotten a rush from it since I was a very small child. I don't think performance art should be limited to anything conventional. So I create an experience by juggling acoustic and electric guitar, banjo, ukelele and piano while dancing on an amplified wooden box with ethnic percussive beads and bells strapped to my lower body. My keynote instrument is my voice, it is the instrument that I challenge and push the most. And when I'm not singing, I'm attempting to share an insight about life that is equal parts profound and hilarious.

Dave Redekopp

A winner of provincial and national awards in career development, Dave has devoted over 25 years to the development of better career development and workplace concepts and practices. His work has addressed a wide arrange of issues, from helping at-risk teens manage their career paths to working with executives to make their companies more career-friendly. His passion for career development pervades his work, which includes teaching, facilitation, public speaking, product development and research. President of the Life-Role Development Group Ltd., a national career development firm, Dave holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Alberta.

Will Richardson

A parent of two teen-agers, Will Richardson has spent the last dozen years developing an international reputation as a leading thinker and writer about the intersection of social online learning networks and education.

Will has authored four books (with two more on the way), including "Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information are Everywhere" (September, 2012) published by TED books and based on his 2013 TEDx talk in Melbourne, Australia. "Why School?" is now the #1 best-selling TED book ever.

A former public school educator of 22 years, Will is also co-founder of Modern Learner Media and co-publisher of ModernLearners.com which is a site dedicated to helping educational leaders and policy makers develop new contexts for new conversations around education.

Will lives in rural New Jersey with his wife Wendy and his kids Tess and Tucker.