Julie Dermody has been with ASCD since 1992 and is a long-time Associate Member. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and has been a classroom teacher for more than twenty years, working in middle schools, K-8 academically gifted programs, and with elementary students, where she currently loops with fourth- and fifth-grade students. She is passionate about teacher collaboration as a vehicle to improve the art and craft of teaching and, thus, enhance student achievement, foster positive professional work places, and help retain and recruit teachers. She has been awarded more than twenty-five grants, the latest of which enabled her to facilitate a TNT (Teachers Networking Together) Program within North Carolina's Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District, where she currently teaches. Last year, she served as North Carolina's Central Region Teacher of the Year and on the State Superintendent's Advisory Board. She currently serves on the Advisory Board for North Carolina's Coalition for Quality Teaching. Julie lives in Carrboro with her husband and two sons.

Teresa Lane has been a classroom teacher of high school social studies for eight years at Mattoon High School in Mattoon, Illinois. She also taught for one year at Mattoon Junior High School and coached cross country, girls' track, and girls' tennis. She also sponsored a variety of student activities groups, including Student Council as Workshop Director the past three years. She served for two years as Director of Student Activities at Mattoon High School. For the past eight years, Teresa has been on the executive board for the Illinois Association of Student Councils and has served in a variety of administrative roles for the past 13 years, including dean of students, assistant principal, and principal in five different school districts in Illinois. Her educational training includes a bachelor's degree in the Teaching of Social Studies from the University of Illinois, a master's and specialist degrees in Educational Administration from Eastern Illinois University, and a doctorate in education from Northern Illinois University.