Middle School Dean / teacher
Bill, currently celebrating 40 years at SBS, teaches Language and Literature 7 and 8, French 1, and Rock Band. A lifelong gender activist and a passionate advocate for student voice and agency, Bill works hard to integrate democratic teaching and learning into the classroom and has written extensively on equity in middle-level education, presented at conferences, and participated in podcasts. Bill co-chairs the Committee for Equity in Middle Level Education for the Association of Middle Level Education, and serves the New England League of Middle Schools on their Equity Committee and on the Board of Directors as advisor for Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice. Bill is grateful on a daily basis for the power of students.
Director of Public Interest Technology and Stuart Rice Honorary Research Professor, UMass Amherst
Dr. Francine Berman is the Director of Public Interest Technology and Stuart Rice Honorary Research Professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at UMass Amherst. She is a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and was selected as the 2019-2020 Katherine Hampson Bessell Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Gina Cady
Diplomat, USAID, Clean Energy Deployment and Climate Investments, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa
Until recently, she led Power Africa’s Health Electrification and Telecommunications Alliance (HETA), a $150 million public–private partnership to electrify and digitally connect 10,000 health facilities across sub-Saharan Africa. In Peru, she represented the U.S. in the U.S.-Peru Trade Agreement. While stationed in Mexico, she orchestrated the US Embassy's humanitarian emergency response, mobilizing resources for natural disasters and complex crises.
Before USAID, Cady championed new hydropower technology deployment at the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind and Water Office.
She is the recipient of the 2024 Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) International Award for her cumulative efforts.
She earned her MS in Environmental and Energy Policy from Johns Hopkins University and BS in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Student, Mario-Kart enthusiast, Matcha lover
Maeve has been deeply curious since she was young. From having an obsession with dinosaurs and the solar system, to now being interested in modern politics and civic education. She is a junior at Stoneleigh-Burnham, and she has made it her mission to leave the world a little better than she found it. Her talk is centered around how social media can be a tool for togetherness in a time of division. When she isn’t studying or researching whatever random topic she's interested in that week, you can find her playing Mario Kart, watching Formula One, or drinking a nice cup of Matcha.