Adam is the founder and director of SoundOut. An internationally recognized student engagement expert, he works with organizations and communities as they recognize the changing roles of young people throughout society. After working with the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction as their first Student Engagement Specialist, Adam founded SoundOut to provide support for schools, districts, state agencies, and nonprofit education organizations as they focus on student voice.

Today Adam is the President of CommonAction Consulting, a private firm in based in Olympia, Washington. In the past decade he has partnered with more than 300 schools in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. to promote meaningful student involvement. Based on his experience and research, Adam developed the first comprehensive frameworks and research summaries supporting the role of student voice and the engagement of students as partners in school improvement.

Adam received his BA in cultural studies from The Evergreen State College, and pursued graduate work in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Washington. He is the author of the SoundOut Student Voice Curriculum and the Washington Youth Voice Handbook, both published by CommonAction, and is a contributing editor to the Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, an academic journal published by Routledge.