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Ross Wehner
Founder | World Leadership School Ross Wehner, Founder of World Leadership School, specializes in helping organizations build high-impact leadership development programs. Ross is also Founding Partner of World Action Teams (www.worldactionteams.com), the mission of which is to help corporations develop leaders who create value for business and society. Ross’ approach to leadership development integrates his work as a journalist, teacher, and wilderness educator. As a journalist, Ross covered the end of Chile’s Pinochet regime for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1990. For the next five years, he reported from around Latin America on climate change, human rights, outdoor adventure, and other topics for Mother Jones, Utne Reader, Outside, and Ski magazines. As a teacher, Ross has worked at The Miller School of Albemarle in Crozet, Virginia, The Bush School in Seattle, and the University of Virginia, where he earned his M.A. in Spanish American literature in 1999. As a wilderness instructor, Ross worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and Alpine Ascents, an international climbing agency in Seattle. Ross believes that organizations should connect with their mission and values and take advantage of leadership mentors within their extended community when building a sustainable leadership development program.
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Marti Champion
Head of Middle School | Graland Country Day School Marti Champion is the Head of Middle School at Graland Country Day School, an independent college preparatory co-educational school for students grades pre-school through eighth grade. The school was founded in 1924 with a focus on the whole child and the development of a well-integrated, socially conscious individual who is academically prepared to achieve at high academic levels. With the motto “A great school never sits still,” Graland’s mission is to “Achieve intellectual excellence, build strong character, enrich learning through the arts and athletics, and prepare our students to be engaged citizens and thoughtful leaders.”
Prior to joining Graland, Marti was an eighth grade English teacher and dean of middle school students at Kent Denver School, an independent college preparatory co-educational school for students grades six through twelve. In addition to establishing a safe space for learning and risk taking, Marti collaborated with colleagues in the English department to cultivate a rigorous curriculum that introduced students to a diverse spectrum of literature that challenged them to think critically and make important connections between literature, their lives, other texts and society. As a dean, she advocated for students, families, and colleagues in an effort to smooth out the bumps that often accompany a student’s middle school years. Her main objective was to focus on nurturing the intellectual and personal growth of her students. |
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Markus Essien
Former Head of School & Education Consultant Markus Essien’s practice is rooted in child-centered learning and constructivist curriculum. Over 20 years, he has worked in both public and independent schools, as a Latin teacher, middle school dean at Trinity School (NYC) and Cathedral School for Boys (CA) and head of school at The Logan School (CO). At Logan, Markus co-founded the Logan Learning Lab that helped identify and provide services to underrepresented gifted students. Additionally, Markus has consulted for diverse organizations including Chan Zuckerberg, Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted, Gifted Institute (Denmark), Kind en Beeld (Netherlands), and African Leadership Group (CO). Markus’ formal education includes a Bachelor of Arts in Classics from Howard University and a Masters in Education from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. In other pursuits, he is the founder of The Equity and Social Justice Quartet, a jazz ensemble dedicated to raising awareness of organizations dedicated to positive cultural impacts including Homeless Children’s Network and Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. Additionally, Markus is a documentary filmmaker, whose company Essien Productions is dedicated to the arts, education and underdogs.
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Jessica Catoggio
Director of Professional Learning | World Leadership School Jessica Catoggio has deep experience coaching teachers around project-based learning. She is passionate about building communities and aims to connect with others through differences and similarities. She values inquiry, curiosity, and in-depth questioning and helps teachers create dynamic classroom communities in which all students thrive. Jessica is a veteran teacher with 20 years experience in both public and independent schools, including the last 13 years as a lower school teacher at Collegiate School in Richmond, VA. While at Collegiate, Jessica evolved her project-based approach after taking multiple PBL trainings and receiving her coaching certificate from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education. At Collegiate, she coached her colleagues through the stages of project-based learning and helped lead an effort to establish capstone projects. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and went on to receive a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, traveling, and paddling Richmond’s beautiful James River with her husband and two children. She can’t leave home without her Sheepadoodle puppy, Rally!
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