Blueprint Sprint | BIRMINGHAM | Feb. 2-3
Indian Springs School, 190 Woodward Dr, Indian Springs, AL 35124-3272BUILDING: Kayser-Samford Community Commons ROOM: Private Dining Room, 1st Floor
– Follow the main campus road from the guardhouse (the first building you see when entering campus). – Continue straight on the main road towards the academic core of campus. – As you approach the cluster of academic buildings, look for signs for the Kayser-Samford Community Commons. – The parking lot is located directly across from the Science Building (SB) and Goodrich Hall. – Kayser-Samford Community Commons is perpendicular to the Science Building and in front of the Art Building/Makerspace. Click here to view campus map.
Note: Each team will have dedicated space to focus on its own strategic work, with no cross-school collaboration, ensuring your time is well spent and your project remains distinct and independent.DAY 18:30-9:00 AM – Registration + Coffee & Pastries9:00 AM-12:00 PM – Session– Frame the Challenge– Address the Challenge– Design for Impact12:00-1:00 PM – Lunch1:00-4:00 PM – Session: Lead the Transition (Endings & Crossroads)DAY 28:30-9:00 AM – Coffee & Pastries9:00 AM-12:00 PM – Session– Lead the Transition (New Beginnings & 90-Day Blueprint)– Reflect12:00 PM – Adjourn
Meet the minds behind the Blueprint Sprint – Dr. Brett Jacobsen and Ann Marsh Rutledge.DR. BRETT JACOBSEN, President, SAISBrett joined the SAIS team in July 2024, having most recently served as the chief executive officer at The Mount Vernon School in Atlanta. During his tenure, the school experienced exponential growth in enrollment and gained a national reputation for innovation in education. Illustrating this, Mount Vernon’s upper school launched a school-within-a-school model, Innovation Diploma, whose students have served as consultants for Delta, Mercedes, AT&T, Porsche, and the National Center for Civil Human Rights. In 2012, Brett started an R&D lab known as Mount Vernon Ventures, serving educational communities throughout the world. Over the past decade, Ventures has welcomed over 1,000 teachers and administrators to education visitation days, workshops, and summer conferences. Recently, he founded Mount Vernon Online, an online high school, enrolling its first cohort of students in August 2022. The transformational story at Mount Vernon was recognized in 2021 by NBOA when Brett received the inaugural Jeffrey Shields Innovation in Operations Award. Additionally, he was highlighted by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the 2017 Most Admired CEOs in the education category. Prior to coming to Mount Vernon, he served as head of school at Second Baptist School in Houston, Texas, where he began his teaching career and deepened his expertise as division head, dean, and development director.ANN MARSH RUTLEDGE, Director of Strategic Design & Innovation, SAISAnn Marsh joined the SAIS staff in 2025. She previously served as the Executive Director of Mount Vernon Ventures, where she led Educational Consulting and Research & Development. Over the course of her 15 plus years in education, she has taught and tutored students in grades PK through Grade 6, served as a Learning Specialist, Instructional Coach, and Curriculum Designer, and Head of Learning and Innovation for Mount Vernon Ventures. Ann Marsh has expertise in topics ranging from the future of education, emerging innovation, and organizational strategy to instructional design including Inquiry-based Learning, Competency-based Assessment, and Design Thinking. She holds her BA in Art History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Master of Education in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Richmond. Ann Marsh lives with her husband and two children in Denver, Colorado.
To set the stage for a productive Blueprint Sprint, please plan a brief pre-meeting with your team to complete the Blueprint Sprint pre-work survey together. Your team will identify a pressing strategic priority from your school—an initiative, project, or challenge with the potential for significant impact.
Tuesday is School Spirit Day! Show your school pride by wearing your school’s colors, logo shirts, or any spirited apparel on the last day of the conference. Otherwise, business casual is always in style at SAIS.Also be sure to bring a jacket or sweater in case you find the meeting room chilly. We skew cooler than warmer for meeting room temps.
Cancellations received before January 12 will receive an 80% refund. After that date, no refunds are available. Extenuating circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis following the conclusion of the event.
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Participation in SAIS events signifies an attendee’s acknowledgment of infectious and other diseases and voluntary assumption of the risk of exposure or infection by attending the event. Attendees agree to comply with all guidelines and procedures, including distancing and/or masking, that may be implemented by SAIS, in accordance with recommendations from the CDC and other public health authorities.
Participants expressly acknowledge the intellectual property of the presenters of this conference and these other terms that are conditions of attendance. This acknowledgment includes the understanding that creating any form of recording, including but not limited to video or audio is a violation of the intellectual property of the speakers as well as a violation of the terms of participation in this event. Participants expressly agree not to independently record, or knowingly let anyone else record, any of the conference sessions in which they participate. Participants will also not share their unique link to the conference platform or the content therein with anyone else. The unique link to the conference platform will be used solely by the participant.
Please contact learn@sais.org if you have any additional questions.
