Celebrating Education Innovation

Keynote Speaker: Jalen Rose

Jalen Rose created the blueprint for how athletes catapult professional sports careers into successful corporate and  philanthropic empires. Rose burst onto the scene as a member of the “Fab Five” for the University of Michigan, where he  was recognized as the leader of a group of freshmen that increased the global popularity and indelibly shifted the  cultural impact of basketball and hip-hop. After a successful 13-year NBA career, Jalen is now a CEO, Philanthropist,  Multi-media Personality, Executive Producer, Actor, NY Times Best-Selling Author, and Brand Ambassador, establishing  himself as a modern-day Renaissance Man.  

As the Co-Founder and CEO of the recently launched Same Page Entertainment, Rose is a driving force for the cultural  resurgence of his native Detroit. The Detroit-based multi-media production company develops, produces, finances, and  distributes scripted and unscripted film, television and podcasts. Founded alongside Tom Gores, Chairman and Founder  of Platinum Equity and owner of the Detroit Pistons, Same Page Entertainment is rooted in building stories that celebrate  culture, champion new voices and spark meaningful conversations that bring communities closer together. No stranger  to the TV & Film industry, Rose produced the critically acclaimed documentary The Fab Five for ESPN’s 30 for 30  franchise, and the viral “81 Olives” video. As an actor, Jalen has appeared in several projects, including South West High,  Running Point, The Cookout 2, BMF, Fresh off the Boat, Just Wright, The Game, and Barbershop.  

Long before it became common for active athletes to work in media, Rose broke ground as the first active NBA player to  serve as a basketball analyst for his work with The Best Damn Sports Show Period for FOX Sports, and covering the NBA  Playoffs for TNT. He later helped launch ESPN’s Get Up as an original host, while contributing as an analyst across  SportsCenter and NBA Countdown. Currently a college basketball analyst for TNT Sports and making guest appearances  on Inside the NBA, he spent 18 years as a lead analyst for ABC/ESPN – most notably as co-host of the award-winning  Jalen & Jacoby podcast, which brought ESPN’s Grantland to the forefront and cemented his status as a top multimedia  personality. Rose also expanded into print and audio through a partnership with the New York Post on “Renaissance  Man,” a weekly column and podcast series. In addition, he served as a studio analyst with NBC Sports and Peacock during  the 2024-25 season as part of Big Ten College Countdown, amid the network’s expanded college basketball coverage. In  2015, Rose released his New York Times bestseller, Got to Give the People What They Want: True Stories and Flagrant  Opinions from Center Court, with Crown Archetype.  

Selected in the first round of the 1994 NBA Draft, Rose played 13 seasons in the NBA where he was named the NBA’s  Most Improved Player in 2000 and was an instrumental player for the Indiana Pacers reaching the NBA Finals. Despite all  of his basketball accolades and cultural impact, Rose has made his biggest contributions off the court founding the Jalen  Rose Leadership Academy in 2011. The open-enrollment, tuition-free public charter high school located in the Detroit  neighborhood where he grew up now serves more than 400 students annually and over 1,000 alumni, with a 95%  graduation rate and 100% college and postsecondary acceptance. Rose has consistently centered his work around the  city that shaped him, guided by a belief that access, representation and opportunity are inseparable from lasting impact.  

Currently a Board Member of the National Basketball Players Association Foundation, Rose’s contributions to society  through sports, philanthropy and business have earned him numerous honors, including the NBA’s Bob Lanier  Community Impact Award, the National Civil Rights Museum’s Sports Legacy Award, the Inaugural Charter School  Trailblazer Award from the National Alliance of Charter Schools, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Mannie Jackson  Basketball Human Spirit Award, the University of Michigan’s President’s Medal of Excellence, induction into the Detroit  High School Hall of Fame and Michigan Basketball Hall of Fame, Team ESPN Commentator of the Year, and the 2025  Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Ice Cube Impact Award. 

Despite leaving the University of Michigan early for the NBA, Rose is a proud college graduate who earned his Bachelor  of Science from the University of Maryland. He currently resides in Detroit.