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Adam Jacobi, Executive Director

Adam J. Jacobi (he/him/his) has worked in communication and theatre education since 1997, as well as public relations, government affairs, and politics. As Executive Director of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Speech & Dramatic Arts Association, he coordinates contests, programming, outreach, operations, and governance of one of the country’s oldest state activities associations. He has trained Speech adjudicators and managed WISDAA’s website since 2002.

Jacobi also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA), and served as Section 4 representative to the Speech, Debate, and Theatre Committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), of which WISDAA is an affiliated association. He consults on high school outreach initiatives for the Harvard Debate Council and Emory University’s Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation, and Dialogue.

An author of several books, articles and guides, Mr. Jacobi regularly facilitates professional development sessions, as well as academic presentations on the benefits of speech, debate, and theatre education. In 2022, he was honored with the NFHS National Citation for Speech, Debate, and Theatre Education, and in 2024, he was inducted into the NSDA Hall of Fame.

He previously was Programs & Education Coordinator for the NSDA, where he coordinated development of an international public speaking and debating curriculum that he helped implement in the People’s Republic of China, where he taught for a semester (fall 2013). He also coached speech and debate/forensics and taught Public Speaking at Ripon College. For several years, Jacobi taught theatre and speech and directed the speech and debate program at Rufus King High School in the Milwaukee Public Schools.  He volunteered in leadership roles for several professional organizations.

Mr. Jacobi holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication — Public Campaigns from Carroll University, and certificated for teaching at Marquette University. Additionally, he has taken several graduate-level courses, including on the “Teaching for Understanding” framework with Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero think tank. He is pursuing a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership & Management degree at Metro State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. A regular participant of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Educational Equity Leadership Institutes and alum of Glenn Singleton’s Courageous Conversation workshop, Jacobi strives to foster belonging and accessibility.