Yvette Jackson, EdD, is internationally recognized for her work in assessing and capitalizing on the learning potential of disenfranchised students. As a student of the renowned cognitive psychologist Reuven Feuerstein, she studies cognitive development and the impact of neurobiology, culture, and mediation on intellectual development, learning, and achievement. Her research is reflected in her books Pedagogy of Confidence, Inspiring High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools, and Aim High, Achieve More: How to Transform Urban Schools through Fearless Leadership, coauthored by Veronica McDermott. Formerly the director of gifted programs and executive director for instruction and curriculum development for New York City public schools, she currently serves as the chief executive officer of the National Urban Alliance, and adjunct professor at Teachers College at Columbia University. She has been a visiting presenter for Harvard and Stanford Universities, the Feuerstein Institute in Israel, the Conference of Associação Nacional para o Estudo e Intervenção na Sobredotação (ANEIS) in Portugal, and Thinking Schools International in the United Kingdom.

Kristen Zimmerman is a senior fellow at the Movement Strategy Center. She was drawn to the Center for its spirit of innovation and the opportunity to bring bold, audacious ideas to life. She has stayed because of a shared commitment to risk taking and embodying new ways of being. As a senior fellow, she leads the development of the Center’s transformative movement building methodology. Her primary focus is the integration of mind-body practices with movement building and social change strategy. Her writing, which includes Out of the Spiritual Closet: Organizers Transforming the Practice of Social Justice, has helped to catalyze and shift innovative work in multiple sectors. She currently serves on the design team and faculty for the NoVo Foundation’s Move to End Violence — a 10-year movement building initiative to end gender-based violence. She trains in Zen, is an activist-organizer in special education, and is the proud and inlove parent of Jonah, her nine-year-old son with Down syndrome.