Sunday General Session

Annie Ray

Orchestra Director and Performing Arts Department Chair

Annandale High School

Annie Ray is the 2024 Grammy Music Educator Award winner, and the orchestra director and Performing Arts Department chair at Annandale High School (AHS) in the Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) system in Virginia. Ray advocates for providing universal access to high-quality music education, and develops creative opportunities to make music accessible to students of all demographics. The FCPS Parent Orchestra she founded teaches nearly 200 caregivers a year to play their students’ instruments, and provides mentorship to upcoming music teachers. Ray also developed the Crescendo Orchestra program (inspired by Giving Bach and United Sound) to make orchestra curriculum accessible to students with significant developmental or intellectual disabilities.

In January 2022, the program was featured in The Washington Post. Her 2022 TED Talk, “The Sounds of Success,” shares her classroom approach and guides educators in meeting students where they are. She has presented at numerous colleges and national and international conferences, and was named the 2023 FCPS Outstanding Secondary Teacher of the Year for her work on equity in education. Ray is a member of the StringRise professional development team, and earned the 2023 Wolf Trap Educator Grant for her high school’s partnership with Grammy-nominated artist Christylez Bacon. She’s also an active performing harpist. An adventurer at heart, her biggest bucket list item is to one day win “The Amazing Race.”

Hamish Brewer

Award-Winning Principal, Speaker, Author

Hamish Brewer is a former award-winning principal and positive disruptor who transcends the status quo and norms in leadership and education. Brewer built his reputation on results and performance, becoming affectionately known as “the relentless, tattooed, skateboarding principal” with his galvanizing message to "Be Relentless" and his high-octane delivery style.

Brewer consults with businesses and organizations worldwide on leadership, culture, organizational performance change, and improvement. As a beachheads adviser to the New Zealand Trade Enterprise, he also helps grow New Zealand businesses and advises on strategic development in the North American marketplace.

He’s an award-winning elementary and secondary school principal, having been named a National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Nationally Distinguished Principal and Virginia Principal of the Year. Brewer also earned the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals (VAESP) School Bell Award, the ASCD Virginia Impact Award, was named a Northern Virginian of the year by Northern Virginia Magazine, and Principal of the Year by Education Dive. Prince William County Public Schools named Brewer the school division's Principal of the Year, and he was recently recognized by Omega U as the Principal of the Year. An elementary school he led was recognized as a Nationally Distinguished Title 1 School, and Brewer has since gone on to turn around one of the toughest middle schools in the state of Virginia.

Originally from New Zealand, Brewer earned a degree from the University of Auckland. He’s currently a doctoral student at Virginia Tech University. Brewer is also the bestselling author of Relentless – Disrupting The Educational Norm. He previously served at the state level as the federal relations coordinator on the VAESP Board of Directors, and was a lead fellow for NAESP’s Center for Innovative Leadership.

He is a school turnaround and school improvement specialist, working with some of the most at-risk students in the U.S.