Authors & Presenters

Linda Beggs has more than 30 years of organizational development experience, specializing in culture, change, and team effectiveness. She collaborates with schools to create a high-trust culture essential to implementing wraparound resource centers.

Leigh Colburn is a career educator and community leader with ten years of service as the principal of Marietta High School in Georgia. She specializes in promoting school equity through wraparound service opportunities.

Theodore Goergen, EdD, is the director of student activities at the award-winning Adlai E. Stevenson High School. A practitioner for nearly 20 years, he has served as a middle school and high school science teacher as well as a curriculum team leader.

Carlos Johnson is a professional speaker, trainer, author, and school administrator. For over 15 years, he has consulted, trained, and held seats on public, charter, and private school boards.

Ricardo LeBlanc-Esparza has 29 years of experience in high-poverty schools. He is principal of W. Verne McKinney Elementary in Oregon, a school with 72 percent of the students in poverty.

David A. Levine is a teacher, trainer, facilitator, author, and musician who has made an indelible impact on students, teachers, and parents throughout the United States and abroad since 1984.

LeAnn Nickelsen, an author and a former teacher, is an expert on brain research strategies, best practices in literacy, and other high-impact tools that close and prevent gaps in high-poverty schools.

Deborah Ricker is principal of Glenwood Ridge Elementary School in Basehor, Kansas. Prior to going into administration, she spent 19 years as a school psychologist in the Kansas City area.