The High Performing Educator Podcast

Sean Ruddy (@SeanRuddy14), is the Principal of Student Success and Specialized Programs at the Near North District School Board. He started his career teaching in the Rainbow District School Board and for the last 17 years has been a Vice Principal, Principal, and System Principal with the Near North District School Board.      Sean has his Masters of Education from Nipissing University where his...

Staci Whittle is currently the Principal at the Niagara Children's Centre School Authority, located in St Catharines, Ontario. She has been in education for the past twenty-three years. Staci has worked as a secondary teacher, vice-principal and principal in elementary and secondary schools within rural and urban settings. Her enthusiasm and advocacy for students with disabilities is truly her pas...

Michelina Battaglini (@BATTAGLINI_dpc), is the Principal at Cardinal Ambrozic C.S.S. in Brampton. She is a recipient of Principal of the Year Award 2015 presented by the Catholic Principal's Council of Ontario. Michelina started her educational career in 1997 at St. Francis Xavier C.S.S. and then moved to Loyola C.S.S. as Department Head of Science before she moved into her role as vice-principal...

Paul DeVuono ( paul_devuono@bgcdsb.org ) is the Vice-Principal at St. Anthony's Separate School in Kincardine, ON.  Paul  continues to be a strong advocate and supporter of publicly funded Catholic education in Ontario.    In addition,  Paul is involved and connected to the Catholic Principals Council of Ontario (CPCO), ensuring our provincial government continues to make necessary investments in...

Rebecca Newcombe is the Principal of Aldershot School in Burlington, Ontario.  She has been part of the Halton District School Board for 20 years.  Rebecca is a firm believer in student voice and innovation.    Rebecca is a Collaborative Problem Solving Trainer for  Think: Kids .  CPS is an evidence-based approach that flips the traditional way we look at students with behavioural challenges and s...

Jacquie Pece (pecej@hdsb.ca) has been in education for 33 years. She began as an Health and Physical Education and English teacher. She also worked in Guidance and as a behavioural specialist in Special Education. She taught AQ courses in Health and Physical Education at OISE for 10 years. She was a vice-principal for 8 years before becoming the principal for the last 6 years at Craig Kielburger S...

Sarah Caldwell-Bennett ( @SarahCalBen ), is the Leader of Experiential Learning for the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board (KPDSB) in Treaty #3, the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe and Métis Peoples.  She has taught nearly every grade from K-12, in just about every subject, but eventually settled into teaching Core, Extended and Immersion French programming before moving into a central r...

Mayor Dave Ryan and his wife Anne have lived in Pickering since 1985, where they raised their two daughters and welcomed three granddaughters. Mayor Ryan was first elected to Pickering City Council in 1994. He retired from a 33- year career in general business and management at IBM when he was elected Mayor of Pickering in 2003.  Already the longest-serving Mayor in Pickering's history, he was re-...

Craig Zimmer (@dropthedott) has been a history teacher for 24 years, 23 of those at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Pickering. He is a TED-Ed Innovated educator, TEDx Organizer and has mentored numerous student and adult speakers in their TED talks. His co-authored book, Canada: A People's History Emerging Loyalties continues to be a resource for classrooms throughout Canada. In 2021 he was...

Jason Pratt (@principal_pratt), is the Principal at St. Martin Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga. He is in his 22 nd  year in education, and working in his fifth school in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. An English and Special Education Teacher for 10 years, he spent 8 amazing and exciting years at two different schools as a vice-principal before being promoted to Principa...

Tina Noel is the Experiential Learning Coordinator at the Renfrew County Catholic DSB. She is responsible for providing the students on her board with learning opportunities and hands-on experiences that will help them develop the skills they need to create the futures they desire. She is also the board lead for the OYAP program - Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program - and spent many years working...

About Maren Abuzukar: Hi, I'm Maren, I'm a high school senior at J.R. Robson Highschool, in rural Vermilion, Alberta. I'm super passionate about helping others, and within the last few years I've been taking initiative within my community through volunteering at long-term, and representing youth in my local FCSS committee. I know being a senior has been really stressful at times and it's been real...

Eleanor is a secondary Principal within the Durham District School Board. She holds a Master's degree in Educational Leadership and Administration and undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Kinesiology. She is an advocate for youth and the community. Eleanor is one of the founding members of the Durham Black Educators' Network (DBEN) since its inception in 2005. She has held executive positions...

Andrea Taylor is a Secondary Principal with the Halton District School Board and she is presently responsible for the Gary Allan Learning Centres that offer Adult, Alternative and Continuing Education at 5 different locations across the region.  Andrea began her career 32 years ago as an elementary school teacher before moving to the secondary level as a biology teacher and department head.    In...

Nick Varricchio is the current Principal of M.M. Robinson High School of the Halton District School Board located in Burlington Ontario. Nick's career in education has spanned 24 years - 12 of which as a Principal. Nick has taught in 3 different school boards across Ontario both in the Catholic and Public systems, with experience in both the elementary and secondary panels. Nick has earned a Maste...

Ryan Fahey ( @wellnessrf ) is a 3-time author, speaker, and edupreneur who is passionate about personal growth and well-being. He is the Owner of FaheyConsulting which aims to help people and organizations move from good to great. His latest book, " How To Thrive In Remote Working Environments ", which supports the well-being of remote workers globally recently hit #1 on Amazon in Canada and crack...

Prior to joining the  National BPA  staff ,  Patrick Schultz had a very successful teaching career in Career and Technical Education with a focus on Computer Science and Cybersecurity.  Under his current role as Director of Technology Integration, Patrick is responsible for technology infrastructure development, multiple education initiatives, and establishing/growing partnerships around technolog...

Born and Raised in LaSalle Ontario, Ron ( @ron_leclair ) attend the University of Windsor where he obtained a BA in Political Science and a certificate in Public Administration. Ron joined the Windsor Police Service in 1991, where he served for 30.5 years. In 2021, Ron retired as an Inspector and then joined the Solicitor Generals' office as a Police Service Advisor. In 2014, Ron was elected to th...

Peter LeBlanc a retired Ontario and International principal. His most recent work was as principal of the Canadian Section of the SHAPE International School for the Canadian Armed Forces in Casteau, Belgium. This was his fourth and final school as principal and was certainly his most unique. Peter has also served as a system-level principal and spent 11 years teaching at the elementary level. Pete...

Nicola Whitehouse (@MrsNWhitehouse), is Vice-Principal at St. Peter Catholic High School in Orleans. The first nine years of her teaching career were in London, UK and combined with her time spent in Canada she has over ten years experience as a school administrator. Nicola has worked in both private and public education systems here in Canada. She has worked as a vice-principal with the Ottawa Ca...

Glenn Gifford has worked for the Niagara Catholic District School Board for over 28 years. Currently, he is the Principal of Saint Michael Catholic High School in Niagara Falls Ontario. Mr. Gifford began his career as a Long Term occasional teacher before settling in at Lakeshore Catholic High School in Port Colborne. While at Lakeshore Catholic Mr. Gifford taught English, History and World Religi...

Darryl Tinney ( @DTinney17)  is an Indigenous educator and has been in education for 23 years, starting his career as an unqualified supply teacher while working towards his Ba/Bed at Lakehead University.  Darryl's first qualified position was with Pelican Falls First Nations High School in Sioux Lookout, ON.  He did a variety of positions there including classroom teacher, athletic director, vice...

Valerie ( @Val_Dumoulin ) is a proud member of Taykwa Tagamou First Nation and a wife and mother to two amazing children. She is approaching her 30-year mark in education having taught in Attawapiskat, Moosonee and Cochrane. She is currently the proud Principal of Ecole Secondaire Cochrane High School and has been in this role for 4 years. Previous to that, she was the Vice-Principal at Cochrane P...

Annibale Iarossi ( @Princ_Iarossi ), is the Principal at St. Marcellinus Secondary School in Mississauga.  Annibale's passion has always been working with diverse learners and seeking opportunities for them to experience success.  He began his career in 2002 at St. Augustine Secondary School in Brampton as a Special Education Resource Teacher.  In this role, Annibale sought to provide his students...

Rob has been an educator for over 30 years with the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and involved in computer-managed and online course delivery for most of his career. Rob started his career at Loyola teaching through the Pathfinder Learning Systems computer-managed program before initiating the online course program for the Board. He co-founded the Ontario eLearning Consort...