James writes regularly, had his first book published in 2012, and is fanatical about the power of online and mobile tools for learning. James formerly worked as an education consultant for Civica, one of the UK's largest software companies.

Ken spent 28 years in Washington, DC, where he gained a national reputation as a coalition builder on competitiveness. He founded a landmark coalition of US universities and high-tech companies focused on research and development issues, and served as Executive Director of the premier CEO advocacy group in the US computer industry.

Along with Valerie Greenhill, he has authored “The Leader’s Guide to 21st Century Education: 7 Steps for Schools and Districts,” released by Pearson Education in June 2012.

Currently, he serves on the boards of the Buck Institute for Education (www.bie.org) and Edvantia (www.edvantia.org). Ken is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Denver College of Law. He and his wife, Karen, live in Tucson.

Hess’s work has appeared in scholarly and popular outlets such as Teachers College Record, Harvard Education Review, Social Science Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, American Politics Quarterly, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, U.S. News & World Report, National Affairs, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Atlantic and National Review.

He has edited widely cited volumes on education philanthropy, school costs and productivity, the impact of education research, and No Child Left Behind. Hess serves as executive editor of Education Next, as lead faculty member for the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program, and on the review boards for the Broad Prize in Urban Education and the Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools. He also serves on the boards of directors of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, 4.0 SCHOOLS, and the American Board for the Certification of Teaching Excellence. A former high school social studies teacher, he has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University and Harvard University. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government, as well as an M.Ed. in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard University.

Her research focuses on education finance, productivity, sustainability, and cost modeling at all levels of government. Dr. Roza’s work regularly produced analyses, forecasts, and models of spending policies and their trajectory in years forward. Recently she has produced numerous “Rapid Response” briefs intended to make fiscal analysis accessible to ongoing policy decisions. Other research has explored fiscal tradeoffs of compensation, class size policies, cost implications of digital learning, and cost structures for redesigned school models.