JACOB MNOOKIN began his career as a professional educator at Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey. During his time at Arts, he taught 9th and 10th grade English, served as the senior class adviser and as the faculty adviser to the National Honor Society, and coached varsity baseball.

Jacob left teaching to pursue a graduate degree in public affairs at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. Upon graduating from Princeton, Jacob received a fellowship from Building Excellent Schools, a full-time, comprehensive training program in charter school leadership that trains individuals to design, found, and operate high-performing urban charter schools.

Jacob founded Coney Island Prep, a public charter school in Brooklyn, NY that he ran for over ten years. The school, which opened with 90 fifth grade students and 12 staff members, currently serves over 1,000 students in grades K - 12. 100% of seniors from every graduating class have been accepted to college.

Jacob lives with his wife, Isabel, in Brooklyn, NY. Jacob currently serves as the Director of Schools for SchoolHouse. Check out Jacob's blog posts here>>

PAUL AXTELL provides consulting and personal effectiveness training to a wide variety of clients, from Fortune 500 companies and universities to nonprofit organizations and government agencies. A large focus of his work is how to run effective and productive meetings - to turn them from the calendar items ­people dread into useful, productive sessions with measurable results. His newest book, Make Meetings Matter, revolutionizes the meeting - moving it from that dreaded obligation to a powerful way to get things done in business and in life. Find ideas for redsigning meetings in Paul's blog posts>>