The 2025 Plenary sessions will feature in-depth presentations that focus on this year’s theme: Engaging Community, Sharing Leadership.
Wednesday, November 12
Bridging Evaluation and Foresight for Transformative Practice
2:30 - 4:00 p.m.
In an era defined by complexity and uncertainty—often described as a polycrisis—evaluators are increasingly called upon not only to assess what has happened, but to anticipate what might come next. This keynote explores how integrating futures thinking and foresight into evaluation practice can expand our capacity to navigate change, inform long-term strategy, and strengthen resilience.
Through compelling cases and examples, participants will see how evaluators and futurists are bridging their disciplines to co-create new methods, perspectives, and tools that move beyond traditional evaluation frameworks. The session will also highlight emerging efforts to build foresight capacity within the evaluation field, offering practical insights into how evaluators can begin applying futures approaches in their own work.
Together, we will explore what it means to bridge foresight and evaluation—and why doing so is not just valuable, but necessary, in today’s rapidly evolving global context.
Moderator: Tom Kelly, Principal, KEL Advising
Panelists:
- Thomas Achibald, Ph.D., Executive Director; Center for International Research, Education, and Development; Virginia Tech
- Genowefa Blunda, Researcher in Impact Evaluation; CIRAD - Alliance Bioversity CIAT
- Jess Dart, Ph.D., CEO; Clear Horizon
- Rick Davies, Ph.D., Evaluation Consultant
- Annette Gardner, Ph.D., Principal, ALGardner Consulting
- Sarah Mason, Ph.D., Director, Center for Research Evaluation; The University of Mississippi
- Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead, Ph.D, Director of Online Programs, Research Methods, Measurement, and Evaluation; University of Connecticut
- Rose Thompson Coon, Senior Lead, Impact & Evaluation, Finnish Innovation Fund; Sitra
- Liz Ruedy, Democracy Fund
Thursday, November 13
The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery
8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Where do new ideas spring from? What really drives iconic, transformational change on both a personal and an organizational level? From Nobel Prize-winning discoveries to works of art, many of our creative triumphs are not achievements but conversions, argues Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, author of The Rise. And when we fail, that’s when we know we’re on the road to success.
Sarah draws on figures such as abolitionist Frederick Douglass and grit pioneer Angela Duckworth, revealing the importance of play, grit, surrender, often ignored ideas, and the necessary experiments and follow-up attempts that lead to true breakthroughs. Uplifting and counterintuitive, this keynote will equip you to harness failure, tap into your creative potential, and seek radical innovation in your personal and professional life. The path to success, Sarah notes, is often more surprising than we expect.
Panelist:
Friday, November 14
Cultivating Curiosity: Collective Reflection and Leading the Future of Evaluation
3:15 - 4:45 p.m.
As Evaluation 2025 draws to a close, we gather to reflect on what we've learned, where we've grown, and how we will carry the theme of Engaging Communities, Sharing Leadership forward. This is not just a panel—it is a pause, a practice, an honoring, and a provocation.
Drawing on traditions of metaevaluation, liberatory praxis, and oral history, four powerful voices in our field—Libby Smith, Tiffany Tovey, Angelicque Tucker Blackmon, and Ayesha Boyce—will explore how evaluators can co-create meaning with communities, interrogate systems of oppression, and reflect on our own assumptions and practices.
Together, we will turn the mirror inward, exploring critical questions: How do we honor legacy and accountability while moving toward transformative, community-anchored practice? What does it mean to "evaluate ourselves" as a field? Panelists will reflect on their conference experiences and offer insights into how we—as individuals and as a field—might walk differently into the future.
You are invited to show up not just as a practitioner, but as a learner, a listener, a co-creator of what comes next.
Panelists:
- Angelique Tucker Blackmon, Ph.D., CEO; Innovative Learning Center, LLC
- Ayesha Boyce, Ph.D., Associate Director and Associate Professor; Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation; Arizona State University
- Libby Smith, Circle Keeper, Coach, Educator, & Facilitator; Culture of Gathering LLC
- Tiffany Lee Smith Tovey, Ph.D., Director, Office of Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Services; UNC Greensboro