Linda Cliatt-Wayman
Author and Education Leader
Former Assistant Superintendent of High Schools & Former Principal
Linda Cliatt-Wayman is a nationally recognized motivational speaker, education leader, and author with an unwavering belief in the potential of every child. Her transformative leadership as a high school principal in North Philadelphia has been featured on NPR’s “TED Radio Hour,” “ABC World News Tonight,” and “Nightline.”
Raised in poverty in North Philadelphia, Cliatt-Wayman experienced firsthand the systemic injustices faced by students in underresourced schools. She has dedicated her life and career to ending educational inequity and ensuring all students — regardless of zip code — have access to opportunity, excellence, and hope.
She spent 20 years as a special education teacher before becoming principal of FitzSimons High School in 2003. At FitzSimons, Cliatt-Wayman led a dramatic turnaround — transforming a school known for low academic achievement and high levels of violence into a safe, student-centered environment focused on learning.
In 2005, she assumed leadership of The Young Women’s Leadership School at Rhodes High School. When she arrived, only 3% of students were proficient in math, and 9% were proficient in reading. Through high expectations, intensive professional development, a strong leadership team, and an unwavering belief in her students, Cliatt-Wayman guided the school to significant growth, with most students reaching proficiency and 94% of seniors being accepted into college.
She later served as Assistant Superintendent of High Schools for the School District of Philadelphia. When the district merged FitzSimons, Rhodes, and Strawberry Mansion High School, Cliatt-Wayman returned to the principalship to lead the newly merged school — once again demonstrating what is possible for students in low-income communities.
Following 32 years in public education, Cliatt-Wayman began advocating full-time for justice in education. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Currently Trending, a nonprofit that helps students escape poverty through leadership development, direct coaching, and academic support. She also is the CEO of Principal Wayman Consulting, providing coaching and leadership development for educators and organizations across the country, and the author of Lead Fearlessly, Love Hard: Finding Your Purpose and Putting It to Work.
Cliatt-Wayman earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Kutztown University and her Master of Arts degree from Saint Joseph’s University.
Tim Wise
Educator and Author on Perspective, Power, and Institutional Culture
Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1,500 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, to dozens of corporate, government, entertainment, media, law enforcement, military, nonprofit, and medical industry professionals about issues of systemic racism and methods for dismantling racial inequity in their institutions. Wise is the author of nine books, including his latest, Dispatches from the Race War, and his highly acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs and is a regular contributor to discussions about race on CNN and MSNBC.