Global Voices, Local Action: Lifelong Learning Pillar (Speaker Information)

Tomas Gulbinas, Deputy Mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania
Deputy Mayor Gulbinas is a public policy and government relations professional with a demonstrated history of working in business and in government. As a diplomat and lawyer, Tomas is a skille dleader in management, team leadership, strategy, international relations, EU affairs, diplomacy, negotiation, policy analysis and research. Highly experienced in multicultural environments. He is passionate about technology and innovation.

Dr. Markeda Newell, Interim Dean, School of Education, Loyola University Chicago
Dr. Newell earned her BS in Elementary Education at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Newell went on to obtain her MS and PhD in Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining Loyola’s School of Education, Dr. Newell was an Assistant Professor in School Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Newell is an Associate Professor in School Psychology, and she is committed to advancing consultation and multicultural competence among school psychologists.

Juan Salgado, Chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago 
Chancellor Juan Salgado has focused his career on improving education and economic opportunities for residents in low-income communities. From 2001 to 2017, he served as CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino, where he worked to empower residents of Chicago’s Southwest Side through education, citizenship, and skill-building programs that led to sustainable employment and economic stability. 

As Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago, he oversees Chicago’s community college system, serving more than 50,000 students across seven colleges, 75 percent of whom are Black and Latinx students.  Under his leadership, City Colleges of Chicago has seen an increase in student graduation rates to the highest level on record, an unprecedented systems-level partnership with the Chicago Public Schools, the launch of Fresh Start, a first-ever debt forgiveness program, the completion of two new major state-of-the-art facilities, a re-energizing of fundraising for student supports, and campus specific plans focused on equity in student outcomes, among other efforts.  

Chancellor Salgado is a community college graduate himself, earning an associate degree from Moraine Valley Community College, prior to earning a Bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chancellor Salgado has been nationally recognized for his work, including as a 2015 MacArthur Fellow.  Among his civic commitments, he serves as a board member of the Obama Foundation and a Class C Director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Jon Schmidt, Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Education, Loyola University Chicago
Jon Schmidt is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Loyola University Chicago. He teaches undergraduate and graduate students, conducts research and designs professional development on race equity in schools, civic education practices, and university-school partnerships. He also directs university-school partnerships at Senn High School and McCutcheon Elementary School in partnership with the Community School Initiative of Chicago Public Schools. Jon served as Manager of Civic Education, Service-Learning and Student Leadership Initiatives at Chicago Public Schools from 2002-2014. Jon lives in the Ravenswood neighborhood with his family and has been a resident of Chicago for 31 years.