THE EMPOWERED SUPERINTENDENTS EDLEADER PANEL SERIES: Driving K-12 Innovation: Current Hurdles and Accelerators (Part 1)

About the Presenters

Karen Cheser, Ed.D., the 2025 CoSN/AASA EmpowerED Superintendent of the Year, is the proud Superintendent of the Durango, Colorado, School District and was previously a superintendent in Kentucky. Dr. Cheser has been instrumental in bringing innovation, student agency, and a focus on future workforce to Southwest Colorado and Northern Kentucky. She served as national Vice-Chair of EdLeader21 and is a member of the CoSN/AASA EmpowerED Superintendent Advisory Panel and SEEC (Superintendents’ Environmental Education Collaborative). She is Board Chair of the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative and President of the Durango Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Cheser has been honored with additional awards such as the Toyota Business Collaboration Award, KY Administrator of the Year, and AASA Female Administrator of the Year runner-up. Dr. Cheser is mom to two college-age sons and wife to an entrepreneur/woodworker, loves to travel, and coaches robotics in her spare time.

Kelly May-Vollmar, Ed.D., is the proud Superintendent for Desert Sands Unified School District, serving approximately 27,000 students. Throughout her over 20 years in education, she has served in numerous capacities. Dr. May-Vollmar has served on the CoSN Digital Equity Educator Advisory Panel and is the Co-chair of the Chief Technology Officer Council and the CoSN/AASA EmpowerED Superintendent’s Advisory Panel. She is currently a CoSN Board Member. In 2024, Dr. May-Vollmar was honored to receive the DALI Women of Distinction Award. In 2019, she was awarded the ACSA State Technology Administrator of the Year. She is passionate about bridging the divide that often exists between curriculum and technology departments as well as bridging the digital divide for all students. To this end, she is thrilled to have led her district to launch their own LTE network and be awarded the CoSN Digital Equity Award in 2021.

Glenn Robbins is the proud Superintendent of the Brigantine Public School District in New Jersey and has served as a public school superintendent since 2016. His prior roles include middle school principal, high school assistant principal, social studies teacher, and varsity coach. Glenn is a two-time best-selling author of Calm in the Chaos and I Won’t Back Down, and a nationally sought-after speaker. His leadership has earned him numerous awards, including EdTech Digest International District Leadership Finalist, National Exemplar of Education Award, Top 100 Educational Influencers in the U.S., NJ Visionary Superintendent, and NASSP Digital Principal of the Year. He is a member of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools and was named NASS Technology (AI) Superintendent of the Year. Glenn has been invited to the White House and U.S. Department of Education under three administrations. He holds a National Superintendent Certification and serves as an AASA mentor and board member.

Laura Geringer is Project Director for CoSN’s Driving K-12 Innovation initiative and EdTech Innovation Committee. As Founder of PumpkinBerry Consulting, she helps education leaders make ideas visible and collaboration engaging. Laura combines visual thinking, experiential learning, and community engagement to create unique experiences that changemakers want to be part of. She’s known for her combination of ingenuity and organization, designing highly creative solutions and the processes to make them reality. With a master’s in international higher education from Loyola University and a B.A. in film production from Northwestern University, Laura has dedicated 15+ years to combining experience design and visual media in education. At PumpkinBerry Consulting, she partners with learning-centric organizations to engage communities, facilitate innovation, and produce strategic resources that move the needle. At the heart of her work is the belief that we can create better, more human futures through collaboration, learning, and value-centric leadership.

About the Moderator

Ann McMullan is Project Director for CoSN’s EmpowerED Superintendents Initiative, created in partnership with AASA, The School Superintendents Association. Ann served as Executive Director for Educational Technology in Klein ISD, near Houston, Texas, until September 2013, when she and her family moved to Los Angeles, California. For 16 years, Ann led the district team that provided professional development on technology and 21st century instructional strategies to 4,000 educators serving 50,000 students. She was Co-chair of the Texas Education Technology Advisory Committee, which developed the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. Today, Ann works as a public speaker, writer, and consultant focused on leadership to meet the needs of today’s students. Ann serves on the edWeb.net Advisory Board and is a founding member of ERDI’s Ed Leadership Council. Ann is co-author of Life Lessons in Leadership.