General Sessions

Friday, March 17
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Murray Banks
Award-winning educator and triathlon champion

Performance Under Pressure: Leading with Passion and Style

Great leaders exude a precise fusion of style and persona and create a mind-set for exceptional schools. But leading in our schools can be like balancing the spinning plates on sticks, requiring focus, energy, and adaptability. To cultivate school teams that people love to participate in, leaders must balance knowledge, compassion, enthusiasm, and mental toughness because who you are may be as important as what you know. With hilarious visuals and engaging school stories, Banks will present four skills that will enable principals to lead under pressure with passion and style that build strong school teams.

Saturday, March 18
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Freeman A. Hrabowski III
President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Educational Leadership for the 21st Century

Rapid and dramatic demographic and technological changes present our nation’s schools with enormous challenges for educating students in the new century. Among the most crucial questions we face are, What will students need to know in order to succeed academically? and What skills and values must they possess? In addition, what strategies and best practices can education leaders use — working together with teachers, parents, staff members, and community business leaders — to support and ensure the success of all students? Answers to these questions will substantially influence the global competitiveness of the United States workforce and the civic engagement of its citizenry in the first part of the 21st century.

Sunday, March 19
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Mary Matalin
Former assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney, acclaimed political strategist, commentator, author, and a former host of CNN’s Crossfire

James Carville
One of America’s best-known political consultants and strategists, author, actor, political talk-show host, and restaurateur

All’s Fair: Love, War, and Politics

In this enormously popular joint presentation, Washington, D.C.’s best-loved couple — Mary Matalin and James Carville — give audiences an entertaining and enlightening look at today’s most important issues in the Washington scene. Co-authors of the national bestseller All’s Fair: Love, War, and Running for President, Matalin and Carville are renowned for their quick-witted repartee and have been key players on the national political stage for more than two decades. They show us how opposites not only attract but live and work together harmoniously, and how differing ideologies can both challenge and strengthen relationships.