Episodes

Brian Martin is a second grade teacher and has taught for 20 years in a rural district in Western New York. He is a former assistant coach for his school’s boys varsity basketball team and veteran of the United States Army having served in Iraq. He is the Host of the Teaching Champions Podcast. It is dedicated to encouraging, supporting, and lifting educators up and has been listened to in 56 countries. Connect with Brian: Twitter @bmartinreal Instagram @teachingchampionspodcast Email/contact...

Dr. Chris Jochum currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Teacher Education at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) where he leads one of the largest teacher preparation programs in the state of Kansas. With an enrollment of approximately 1,000 students, his department offers virtual and on-campus degree programs in all areas related to PK-12 licensure. During his time at FHSU, Dr. Jochum and his team have led efforts to recruit and retain future educators across the country. Dr. Jochum’s...

Dean Packard has been a middle school principal for the last 15 years at Charlton Middle School in Charlton Massachusetts. Dean was an assistant principal at the same school for 5 years before ascending to the principal’s seat. Dean's wife is a teacher and they have three wonderful kids: Brooke (26), Abigail (24) and John (22). His motto: Every Student - Every Day serves as his compass. Connect with Dean: Social Media handles: @CMSPrincipal1 @CMS_Grizzlies @Unlockthemiddle Email/contact info: D...

Dave Schmittou: As an educator for more than two decades, Dave has earned a reputation for being a disruptor of the status quo, an innovator, and a change agent. Having served as a classroom teacher, school-based administrator, central office director, and professor of Educational Leadership, he often uses real-life stories and examples of his own life and career to describe why and how we need to confront “the way we have always done it.” He speaks, consults, and partners with districts around ...

Lainie Rowell is an educator, international consultant, podcaster and TEDx speaker. She is the lead author of Evolving Learner and a contributing author of Because of a Teacher. Her latest book, Evolving with Gratitude, was just released. An experienced teacher and district leader, her expertise includes learner-driven design, community building, online/blended learning, and professional learning. Learn more at linktr.ee/lainierowell. LEADERS: How will you welcome your staff back this fall? Now...

Dr. Randy Russell currently serves as the Freeman, WA School District Superintendent. Dr. Russell is a visionary and results-producing Education Leader with a career-long passion for serving others by focusing on relationships, leadership, and partnerships for educational excellence. His positive, outgoing personality enables him to interact, communicate, build relationships, and work successfully with a diverse range of students, staff, adults and agencies. He is currently on the AASA Governin...

Brett D. Schroetlin is the Sheriff of Grand County, Colorado. He is a 4th generation Colorado native, and started his law enforcement journey as an Explorer Scout in 1992, and has served as a sworn Peace Officer since 1999 as a Police Officer/Deputy, K9 Handler, Investigator, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Assistant Chief. Sheriff Schroetlin was sworn into office in January 2015 and is now in his second term serving the citizens and tourists of Grand County, in addition to his collateral duties withi...

An educator for the last 20 years, Don Epps, has served as a classroom teacher, coach, high school principal and currently a middle school principal in Chanute Kansas. The #ChasingGreatness Principal has been featured in national publications and podcasts for stories of school culture transformation in creating what is now known as 'Frosty Moments'. Epps also is known in the education world for his uplifting videos posted on social media that feature his own unique blend of motivation, comedy an...

Michael P. Nagler, Ed.D., has held many positions in his 34 years in education. Before assuming his current position as Superintendent of the Mineola Public schools, he began his career as a school teacher in NYC while completing his Master’s and earning his professional diploma. Dr. Nagler then went on to earn his doctorate from Columbia University and accepted an administrative position with Mineola in 1999. Believing strongly in the district’s mission to create lifelong learners who contribut...

Deric R. Keller is an entrepreneur, coach, and sales specialist. His compassion, integrity, and work ethic have earned him a reputation as a high-performance, service-driven leader. A Warrior-certified trainer and decorated U.S. combat veteran, Deric is on a lifelong mission to create positive change in people’s personal and professional lives by helping to cultivate shifts in their perception. For more than a decade, he has garnered extensive experience within the domain of sales across a varie...

Dr. Brandon Beck is an educator, speaker, coach, and author of "Unlocking Unlimited Potential: Understanding the Infinite Power Within to Guide Any Student Toward Success." As a keynote speaker, Brandon is best known for his inspirational storytelling that is directly connected to authentic activities which build upon the ultimate goal for all... Unlocking Unlimited Potential. He is also the host of the "Unlocking Unlimited Potential Stories Show," a live show and podcast where he interviews ins...

Josh Tovar is the proud son of Virginia and Jesus Tovar. Josh and Berenice are the proud parents to Matthew, Aaron and Josh II aka Cashew. Josh was born in Cd. Juarez, Mexico and immigrated with his family in the late 70’s to El Paso, Texas. After trouble years in high school, he joined the US Marines Corps as a 0811 artillery man. Proudly joining the Marines, it allowed him to serve his country and attend UTEP. Where he earned his degree in History and Minor in Education. As a public educator, ...

Dan Wolfe has served in Pasco County, Florida for more than 20 years. During this time, he has held roles as a teacher, instructional coach and administrator. He is currently an Assistant Principal at Sunray Elementary. He was selected as Pasco County’s District Teacher of the Year in 2011-2012 school year. He is a part of the district’s Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Committee that recently established Pre-K through Grade 12 SEL standards. For the past two years Dan has written a blog cal...

Chuck Moss has 25 years of experience in education. Forming meaningful relationships and bringing out the best in others have been the driving forces in his career. He has been a teacher, a coach, an assistant principal, a principal, and now serves as Director of Innovation and Development for Dinwiddie County Public Schools. His most important roles are those of husband and father. LEADERS: How will you welcome your staff back in the fall? Now is the time to lock Darrin Peppard in for your op...

Nick Edwards graduated from Saint Peter’s College (now University) in Jersey City, NJ with an Elementary Education major and minor in American Studies. He also played baseball for the Peacocks and was the Team Captain his senior year. Nick has been an educator for the last 15 years, having started teaching Kindergarten at a Catholic school in Newark, NJ. He then taught in Kearny, NJ for 11 years, teaching 4th grade. Nick was a head football coach, head baseball coach and coached for 11 years at ...

Barb Schwamman has been Superintendent of Schools of the Osage Community School District since July 1, 2015 (7 years) and is completing her 5th year as a shared superintendent of both Osage Community Schools and Riceville Community Schools in northeast Iowa. Before taking over in Osage, Barb served as PK-8 Principal at South Winneshiek from 2007-2015. Previously she taught/coached at Howard-Winneshiek (2000-2007) Hampton-Dumont (1996-2000) and Newman Catholic (1995-1996). At Osage, Barb has bee...

Bobby Pollicino is the Head of Upper School at Bullis School in Potomac, MD. He has served as a school administrator for over 15 years, also in dean of students and assistant principal roles. He has taught high school courses in science, leadership, and public speaking while also serving as a varsity assistant soccer coach and varsity head coach of the lacrosse program at Bullis School. Bobby’s academic leadership career is grounded in a healthy interest in leadership which has led to conferenc...

Teacher Appreciation Week 2022 - this is the time of year when we say thank you to our teachers. While we should do this every week, this is a special episode with my heartfelt thank you for teachers!! You make a difference every day!! My apologies to you all - I'm sure you'll notice I said this is episode 16.5 in the podcast, well unfortunately Captivate won't let me have a .5 episode so this became (after the fact) episode 17. Live and learn, right?!? News from Road to Awesome Now is the ti...

Dr. Lori Koerner has been in the field of education for three decades. She spent the first 26 years of her career as an elementary school teacher, having taught every grade. She is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, and served as an adjunct professor of special education at several universities in New York. Dr. Koerner is currently the Assistant Superintendent in a large public school district on Long Island in New York. Her research has been centered on educating the whole child; that is, developi...

Bethany Hill: Bethany has been an educator in Arkansas for 23 years. Her experience includes teaching grades kindergarten, one, two, and three, instructional coaching, literacy trainer for her district, assistant principal, and principal. She is currently the Teacher Retention and Recruitment Specialist at Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative, and an adjunct professor at The University of Central Arkansas. She is the founder of #JoyfuLeaders, a hashtag that promotes the positive in education ...

This week on the podcast, my guest is Dr. Jared Smith. Jared is the Superintendent for the South Tama County School District. Jared holds a BA in Elementary and Middle Level Education from the University of Northern Iowa, an MS in Educational Leadership from National Louis University, and a PhD in Educational Leadership from Iowa State University. Jared has taught and coached at both the middle school and high school levels. Prior to taking his current role of superintendent, Jared worked as an...

Yes, that is right. It is Masters week at Augusta National and right here on the Leaning into Leadership podcast. We have all worked around those master leaders, the ones who seem to do amazing things with very little effort (or so it seems). In this episode I will pay tribute to three master leaders I've worked with over the course of my career and share how I tried to add those traits into my leadership bag. Just like the true master golfers, veteran leaders have a knack for knowing when to ...

An educator for 34 years, is the founder of the G.O.A.L. TEAM (Getting Others to Achieve Higher Levels). The G.O.A.L. TEAM, was created for helping high school students and young adults to maximize their personal leadership potential. Jeff, a former Texas High School Head Football Coach and eleven-year veteran of the classroom, is also formerly the Principal at Magnolia High School (2002-2016). In 2013 Jeff was selected as the State of Texas TASSP State Principal of the year. Besides founding S...

Leadership can be a lonely business. They say you should be one with, not one OF the team. Leaders have so much pressure on them and it can be so difficult to navigate the journey on your own, especially as a new leader. I know, I have the battle scars to prove it. I spent the better part of my first two years as a building principal breathing through a snorkel (or actually drowning). In this week's episode, I dive into the lonely life of the new leader. More importantly, I hit the two most imp...