Mashea Ashton is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Digital Pioneers Academy (DPA), a computer science focused charter middle and high school which she launched in Washington, DC in 2018. Serving the district’s most vulnerable communities, DPA's mission is to develop the next generation of innovators. Prior to founding DPA, Mashea spent 20 years advancing innovations and scaling best practices in urban education across the country. She served as the CEO of the Newark Charter School Fund where she oversaw a $48 million initiative to support the quality growth of charter schools. She has also previously held senior roles within New Leaders for New Schools, the New York City Department of Education, and the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP). Mashea began her career as a special education teacher. Mashea has a Masters in special education, and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and elementary education from William and Mary. She currently serves on the board of the Virginia State Board of Education, The William and Mary Foundation, Washington Leadership Academy and the Center for Learning Equity. Mashea, her husband, and their twin school-aged children live in Northern Virginia.

Michael Thomas Duffy is the President of the GO Foundation, which has a mission to provide students with access to a quality education through high dosage tutoring. Michael previously served as Director of the Charter School Office for the New York City Department of Education, working under the leadership of Chancellor Joel Klein for three years. There he led efforts to fulfill Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s mandate to expand the number of high quality charter schools operating in NYC, which doubled from 66 to 125 during his tenure. His time at the Department was marked by a focus on fostering the creation of innovative school models and on partnering with faith based organizations to create new charter schools. Michael’s efforts in education grew out of his work in the civil rights movement, having served as the chairman and commissioner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ civil rights enforcement commission, a position he held for six years. He has also held leadership positions in the non-profit sector: he served on the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Campaign, for several years as its co-chair; two terms on the Vestry of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan; and is currently chair of the board of the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. Michael has a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he wrote his thesis on business support for child day care and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity College in Connecticut with a degree in Economics.

Mike Goldstein is the research director at Cuemath, which has 3,000 math tutors working with kids in USA and India. He’s currently running experiments on math curriculum, training, AI, and selection models. Before that, he was founder of Match Charter School and the Match Corps tutoring program, and was Chief Academic Officer at Bridge International Academies, which operates 2,000 elementary schools for low income students in Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, India, and Nigeria. Mike is also a “buyer” - his 14 year old daughter doesn’t want math help from Dad but is willing to accept help from a wonderful tutor named Rashmi.