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Deborah A. Santiago is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Excelencia in Education, a premier authority on efforts accelerating Latino student success in higher education. As an innovator, thought leader, and educational visionary, she has led research and advanced evidence-based practices and strategies for more than 20 years. She has held leadership positions with education organizations around the country, including the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans and the Los Angeles Alliance for Student Achievement. As CEO, Deborah leads Excelencia’s programming and engagement efforts, including expanding and leveraging community-informed research in improving educational opportunities for students, working directly with education leaders, and informing campus practices as well as state and federal policies. 

Sarah EchoHawk, a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, has been working on behalf of Indigenous people for over 20 years. She has led AISES, an organization dedicated to Advancing Indigenous People in STEM, since 2013, and currently serves as its President. Prior to joining AISES, Ms. EchoHawk was the Executive Vice President at First Nations Development Institute, a national nonprofit organization with a focus on economic development for Indigenous peoples and their communities. She also served as the interim CEO for the organization’s subsidiary, First Nations Oweesta Corporation, a community development financial institution (CDFI), during its management transition in 2010.

Janeen Uzzell is the CEO of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), which has been a driving force in promoting Black excellence in engineering for 50 years. With a background in global STEM leadership, she previously served as the Chief Operating Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation and spent nearly two decades at GE. Uzzell’s community leadership endeavors include serving as a Board Member for Mercy Ships and the dFree Foundation. Some close friends and Uzzell launched the H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Everywhere) Mission as a non-profit dedicated to using our resources to help others. And most recently, has been appointed by President Biden to serve the White House on his Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). 

Sharron Rush is the co-founder and Executive Director of Knowbility, a nonprofit advocacy, consulting, and training organization based in Austin, Texas. The mission of Knowbility is to create an inclusive digital world for people with disabilities.  Since 1998, Sharron has been a leader in raising awareness and skills around the issue of access to technology for people with disabilities. Her work at Knowbility includes policy review, performance analysis, technical consultation, and training development for private and public companies, government agencies, and schools. Her technical expertise, understanding of the barriers faced by people with disabilities, and strong communication and training skills have contributed to her leadership position in the field. Since 2007, she has served as an Invited Expert at the W3C, developing and applying global accessibility standards for their Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). In 2014, she became co-chair of the Education and Outreach Working Group at WAI.