Linda Gund Anderson is the Co-Founder of Celebrate EDU and the mother of an adult son with autism. After watching Brent struggle to find meaningful employment, Linda helped him pursue entrepreneurship. Today, Brent is the owner of Pets Pizzazz, a speaker, and co-author of the Unintentional Humor® books. Recognizing that many individuals with disabilities face similar barriers, Linda and her daughter co-founded Celebrate EDU. For more than a decade, Linda has developed entrepreneurship curriculum and hands-on learning experiences that help youth and adults with disabilities explore self-employment, build business and workplace skills, and turn their interests and talents into meaningful career opportunities.

Carlos Valdez is a motivational speaker, leader, and advocate for seeing

possibilities beyond limitations. Born with a passion for encouraging others,

Carlos has shared his story with audiences of all ages, inspiring people to

embrace their differences, take risks, and believe in what is possible. His

message, “Why Not Me?”, reflects his belief that our circumstances do not have

to determine our future. Carlos has served in leadership roles through Rotary

Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), FFA, and his community, where he has

discovered the power of perspective and stepping outside of his comfort zone.

Carlos is attending Colorado State University in Fort Collins and is pursueing a

degree in Agricultural Education. Through his speaking, leadership, and personal

experiences, Carlos hopes to challenge others to find the courage to take their

next step and ask themselves, “Why not me?”

Dr. Adair is the Director of Mathematics and the Technology Integration Specialist at Denver

Academy. She received her BA in Mathematics from the University of Colorado, her MA in Education Administration with a Professional Principal License for the state of Colorado, and her Ph.D. from the University of Denver. Dr. Adair has been a maths teacher and administrator for the past thirty+ years.

Dr. Adair has presented at numerous conferences both locally and nationally. Conference presentations include: Courage to Risk, Colorado Department of Education – Webinar Series:

What About Maths?, NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) 2019, University of Denver – Morgridge College of Education – Share Fair, and Math on the Planes – Keynote

Speaker 2023. She was honored to receive the 2023 Educator of the Year award from the Colorado Council for Learning Disabilities. Dr. Adair enjoys working with students to help them believe they can do mathematics and appreciates time spent with colleagues discussing mathematical literacy.

Jocelyn Aldridge is the Director of Special Education at Centennial BOCES, providing leadership and support to special education programs across ten school districts. With more than 25 years of experience in education, including roles as a school psychologist and special education administrator, she brings a practical, systems-level perspective to improving outcomes for students with disabilities. 

Jocelyn's expertise includes special education compliance, instructional practices, program evaluation, data-driven decision making, facilitated IEP meetings, and building effective systems of support for students and educators. She has served on Colorado's State Director Leadership Team and now serves on the Consortium of Colorado Special Education Directors, and contributes to various statewide special education initiatives. She facilitates the Northern Colorado Special Education Directors' Leadership Group and provides professional learning and systems support to school teams across Colorado.

Dr. Jacque Phillips is an attorney with a doctorate in Special Education and a Special Education Director’s license. She served in the Colorado House of Representatives on the Education Committee from 2025-2027. Dr. Phillips was a professor at Adams State and the University of Hawaii in the Special Education Departments. She is the co-author, with Randy Chapman, of the Special Education Litigation Prevention Workbook along with multiple other publications. She worked at international schools in Kenya, Burma and Saudi Arabia as well as teaching in Greeley, Westminster, Cherry Creek and Montbello. She was also the Executive Director of the San Luis Valley BOCES. The Law Office of Dr. Jacque Phillips represents students, teachers, and schools on education cases. Dr. Phillips was a high school drop-out and a teenage mom. Her daughter has  degrees from CU/DU. Unfortunately, her grandkids chose out of state universities.

Speaker McCluskie has served as a State Representative since 2018 and was re-elected in 2022 and 2024 to represent House District 13, which includes Chaffee, Grand, Jackson, Lake, Park, and Summit counties. She is the first woman Speaker elected from the Western Slope.

Over her seven years as a State Representative, McCluskie has served on the Rural Affairs and

Agriculture, Education, Appropriations, Wildfire Matters, Early Childhood and School Readiness Commission, and Water Resources and Agricultural Review committees, and as Chair of the Legislative Interim Committee on School Finance. Most notably, she was honored to receive an appointment to the prestigious six-person Joint Budget Committee (JBC) in January,

2020 and was appointed Chair of the JBC in November, 2021. Over Speaker McCluskie’s time as Chair of the JBC, she carried the state’s budget, making record investments in public schools, higher education, and health care. Currently, McCluskie serves as Speaker of the House of

Representatives, providing leadership and guiding legislative priorities for the Democratic Caucus.

During her time in office, McCluskie has been an advocate for addressing the rising cost of

living, including affordable housing, health care, and child care. Over the past few years, she was

instrumental in securing hundreds of millions of dollars for public schools, affordable housing projects, wildfire prevention and mitigation, and establishing policy solutions to protect

Colorado’s Water future. Additionally, she invested over $90 million in promoting student

success and workforce revitalization through regional talent collaboration between businesses,

labor, and higher education organizations.

Speaker McCluskie is one of the strongest champions for education in the legislature. During the 2024 legislative session, she passed the first significant rewrite of the Colorado School Finance Act in 30 years, making it more equitable, increasing funding for every student in the state, and ensuring every student has the resources they need to succeed. Despite a $1.2B shortfall in the

state’s budget, McCluskie successfully implemented year one of the new school finance formula in 2025, and increased funding for public schools by $256 million. Furthermore, she ensured the continued implementation of the formula in 2026. With Speaker McCluskie’s leadership, since

the Democrats were elected into the majority of the General Assembly in 2019, total funding for

schools has increased by over $3 billion.

Born and raised in Colorado and a graduate of Colorado State University, Speaker McCluskie and her husband Jamie have spent most of their married years in the Rocky Mountains. They are proud parents of two children, Ian and Cait, and enjoy spending family time in Colorado’s great

outdoors.

Barbara Coloroso is an international bestselling author and for the past 49 years an internationally recognized speaker and consultant on parenting, teaching, school discipline, positive school climate, bullying, grieving, nonviolent conflict resolution and restorative justice.

She has appeared on CBC, BBC, Oprah, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and NPR and has been featured in the New York Times, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, and other national and international publications. 

Her uniquely effective parenting and teaching strategies were developed through her years of training in sociology, special education, and philosophy, as well as field-tested through her experiences as a classroom teacher, laboratory school instructor, university instructor, seminar

leader, volunteer in Rwanda, and mother of three grown children. She is the author of four international bestsellers: Kids Are Worth It! Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline; Parenting Through Crisis—Helping Kids in Times of Loss, Grief and Change; The Bully,

the Bullied, and the Not-So-Innocent Bystander—From Pre-school Through High School and Beyond, Breaking the Cycle of Violence and Creating More Deeply Caring Communities; and Just Because It’s Not Wrong Doesn’t Make It Right—From Toddlers to Teens, Teaching Kids

to Think and Act Ethically. Barbara’s latest book is Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide...and Why it Matters.

As a child and father of educators, a veteran elementary teacher of over thirty years, and a mentor to future teachers, my life centers on learning and teaching. In that order.

Education is the most challenging, important, and rewarding calling driven by a quest to

make learning accessible to everyone.

Essential to this mission are tools helping students unlock thei “wizard brains”; I discovered the impact of The Imagine Project in my classroom, spending the past five years supporting educators as they foster vulnerable, empathetic classroom communities

where diverse life experiences are heard and all students are seen, creating brave spaces

to share and reimagine stories so no one feels alone and hope thrives.

I am proud to be joined by my wife, Wendy, a special education secondary teacher and mentor for over thirty years. Together, we are excited to share the power of The Imagine

Project with you.