Dr. Celeste Malone is an associate professor of school psychology at Howard University and immediate past president of the National Association of School Psychologists. Her upbringing in Harlem, NY, has made her passionate about addressing issues of educational equity and creating schools where marginalized youth feel affirmed and can thrive. A national expert in multicultural school psychology, Dr. Malone’s research focuses on culturally responsive practices in school mental health and diversifying the school psychology workforce. She has received several awards for her ongoing leadership and commitment to social justice, including from the American Psychological Association, the Black School Psychologists’ Network, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the Maryland School Psychologists’ Association. Dr. Malone received her master’s degree in school counseling from Johns Hopkins University and her doctorate in school psychology from Temple University, and she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in child clinical and pediatric psychology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Outside of her professional role, Dr. Malone is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and a regional co-chair of one of the sorority’s leadership development programs.

Mark D. Weist received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Virginia Tech in 1991 after completing his internship at Duke University Medical Center, and is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina (USC). In 1995, with colleagues from the University of Maryland, he established the National Center for School Mental Health, now in its 29^th year of supporting this field (see www.schoolmentalhealth.org). He is also a partner on the National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (see www.pbis.org). He has edited or developed 17 books and has published and presented widely in areas of mental health-education system partnerships, school behavioral health (SBH), trauma, violence and youth, evidence-based practice, cognitive behavioral therapy, supporting military families, and advancing policies that support children and youth at local, state, regional, national, and international levels of scale. With colleagues, he currently leads the Southeastern School Behavioral Health Community (see www.schoolbehavioralhealth.org), and is leading or co-leading a number of federally funded studies on strategies to improve SBH effectiveness, impact and scaling up. Since 2013, Mark has co-chaired the School Mental Health International Leadership Exchange (see www.smhile.org), and has helped to lead international meetings in London, UK (2014), Columbia, SC (2015), Sweden (2018), Baltimore/Washington (2019), New Zealand (2022, virtual), and the Netherlands (2024).