Peter Adams is the News Literacy Project’s senior vice president of education and is based in Chicago. He began his career in education as a classroom teacher in the New York City schools. He has also worked as a trainer with the New York City Teaching Fellows program, a youth media after-school instructor in the Chicago public schools and an adjunct instructor at Roosevelt University and Chicago City Colleges’ Wilbur Wright campus. He is a graduate of Indiana University, where he majored in English and African-American studies and co-founded an independent monthly student newspaper, and has a master’s degree in the humanities from the University of Chicago.

Chris Barr joined Knight Foundation in July 2012. He manages the Prototype Fund, a program dedicated to research and development for early-stage media and information projects. With a background in design and new media, Barr previously served as an assistant professor of graphic design at West Virginia University. He has worked as a designer for a variety of organizations to combine technology development and design thinking. Barr holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in media study from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and a bachelor’s degree in fine art from West Virginia University.

Under Cynthia Berner’s leadership, the Wichita Public Library has expanded its programs, services and technology to the community’s benefit, as evidenced by organizational recognition such as the LibraryAware Community Award and Urban Libraries Council innovation awards for community engagement and customer experience. Berner is a past recipient of the city of Wichita’s Excellence in Public Service Award, two Good Apple Awards from the Wichita Public Schools and the Duane Johnson Library Leadership Award from the Friends of Kansas Libraries. She is also a member of the Wichita Business Journal’s Women in Business Class of 2018. Berner is passionate about adaptive leadership and using the resources and networks of the public library to achieve a vibrant quality of life for all Wichitans.

A leader in the use of human-centered design in public libraries, Georgia Coleman is a champion for library services that enhance community connectedness and quality of life. As chief customer officer at the award-winning Richland Library in Columbia, South Carolina, she is responsible for public services and customer experience throughout the library system. Coleman was named an American Library Association Emerging Leader in 2008 and received Richland Library’s highest honor, the Helen Ann Rawlinson Leadership Award, in 2016.

Sam Gill joined Knight Foundation in June 2015. He oversees the Community and National Initiatives program, which works to attract and nurture talent, promote economic opportunity and foster civic engagement in 26 communities across the United States. He also oversees the Learning and Impact program, which pursues research on the broader context of Knight’s work and the impact of Knight-supported programs. Previously, he was vice president of Freedman Consulting, where he provided leadership for many of the firm’s projects, including strategic planning and evaluation, as well as campaign and initiative management. He has led or participated in projects for elected officials and candidates for office, Fortune 500 companies and many of America’s leading foundations. Gill earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Chicago and a Master of Philosophy degree in politics from the University of Oxford, England, where he was a Rhodes scholar. He serves on the boards of the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami and the Miami-Dade Urban Debate League.

Jo Giudice has been with the Dallas Public Library for almost 16 years, five of which as its director. She worked her way through the ranks as children’s librarian, branch manager, youth services administrator and interim assistant director. As director, she has initiated a homeless engagement initiative, ESL/GED classes, a GED testing center, a small-business entrepreneur center and a family-focused summer reading program. The library’s budget has grown over the past four years, enabling the hiring of over 250 new staff and increasing the library’s hours. Giudice earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida and a master’s in library and information sciences from the University of South Carolina.

Stephen Houser is the director of the Twin Lakes Library System in Georgia and a two-time winner of the Knight Cities Challenge. His focus in the library field is on digital innovation and inclusion, civic engagement and the role of the public library in a democracy. Houser is chair of the Georgia Download Destination (Georgia’s e-book consortium) and serves on the Georgia Regents Public Library Advisory Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Georgia College and an M.L.I.S. from Valdosta State University. 

Alberto Ibargüen is president, CEO and a trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. He is the former publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. During his tenure, The Miami Herald won three Pulitzer Prizes and El Nuevo Herald won Spain’s Ortega y Gasset Prize for excellence in journalism. Ibargüen graduated from Wesleyan University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He practiced law in Hartford, Connecticut, until he joined the Hartford Courant, then Newsday in New York, before moving to Miami. Ibargüen is a former board chair of PBS and of the Newseum in Washington, D.C. He also chaired the board of the World Wide Web Foundation, which promotes a free and universal web. He has served on the boards of other arts, education and journalism organizations, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Wesleyan University and Smith College, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Committee to Protect Journalists and ProPublica and the Secretary of State’s Foreign Policy Advisory Board. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and a member of MIT’s Visiting Committee for the Media Lab. For his work to protect journalists in Latin America, Ibargüen received a Maria Moors Cabot citation from Columbia University.

Lee Keesler is responsible for strategic vision, direction and leadership of one of America’s leading urban libraries and oversight of its supporting Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation. Keesler joined the library in 2012 after serving as president and CEO of the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Previously, he had a 24-year career with First Union/Wachovia, where he held a series of wholesale banking leadership roles. A Charlotte native, Keesler grew up going to the library, and he treasures his time reading with young library patrons every other week at the University City Regional Library.

David Leonard has led the 170-year-old Boston Public Library since June 2016. As president, he focuses on ensuring that the library develops as a leading 21st-century institution, able to provide dynamic, necessary library experiences to the residents and scholars of Boston, of Massachusetts and beyond. Previously, he was the library’s interim president for one year, during which he focused on the completion of the $78 million renovation of the Central Library in Copley Square, which opened in July 2016. During this time, Leonard led the library though several significant branch improvements and enhancements to its collections management processes, in order to enhance access and the customer experience. His background prior to BPL spans academia, the nonprofit sector and more than a decade of private IT consulting. Leonard is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in library information science at Simmons College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and mathematics and a master’s degree in philosophy from University College Dublin.

Bridget Marquis is the project manager for Reimagining the Civic Commons, a national initiative supported by the JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation which aims to demonstrate how strategic investments in civic assets, parks, libraries, trails and community centers can connect people of all backgrounds, cultivate trust and counter the trends of social and economic fragmentation in cities and neighborhoods. In this role she directs the national Civic Commons Learning Network, which provides coordinated learning, impact assessment and storytelling across five demonstration cities. Previously, Marquis was program director for ArtPlace America, where she developed and executed grantmaking strategies to inform and accelerate the field of creative placemaking. At CEOs for Cities, she developed and directed the expansion of the Talent Dividend research into a full portfolio of work including a 31-city tour, 60-city learning network and $1 million prize.

Jorge (George) Martinez leads Knight Foundation’s information systems department, as well as its universal broadband access and libraries initiatives in its 26 communities. Martinez has 25 years of experience in the IT field. Before joining the foundation in 1996, he worked in the advanced systems department of The Miami Herald Publishing Co. Prior to that, he was a systems engineer for MicroAge, whose clients included Dade-Baxter, Baptist Health Systems, Knight-Ridder and Ryder Systems. Martinez is an alumnus of Leadership Miami. He is a board member and former chairman of the Technology Affinity Group (TAG) of the Council of Foundations. He also serves on the board of the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN). He earned his bachelor of science degree in information technology from Barry University and is a Microsoft certified systems engineer.

As the CIO for the city of Detroit since 2014, Beth Niblock is managing significant upgrades to infrastructure and making city business transparent. Before coming to Detroit, she was the first CIO appointed to a merged Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government in 2003. She was challenged with unifying IT systems and infrastructure, while implementing systems. During her 11 years at the helm, her teams won numerous awards. Niblock was tapped by the Obama administration to serve on a team of technology officials to support the city of Detroit. It was her introduction to Detroit, and the opportunity to come back was too enticing to walk away from.

Eve Pearlman co-founded Spaceship Media after the 2016 presidential election with a mission to reduce polarization, restore trust in journalism and build communities. In the two and a half years since its launch, Spaceship Media has hosted journalism-supported conversations across the country about some of the most contentious issues of our time: guns, immigration, electoral politics, race and education. Spaceship is partnering with libraries to support the information needs of the communities it convenes. Now, with Spaceship Local, it is taking its “dialogue journalism” method into the local news space, working to meet the needs of communities that have lost their local news sources. Spaceship is seeking to develop more journalism, community and library partnerships as it works to scale and refine its efforts.

Catherine Penkert oversees a library system that includes 13 locations plus a bookmobile, as well as St. Paul’s Sprockets out-of-school time programs. Since assuming the director’s role in January 2018, she has led the library to eliminate late fines on materials and spearheaded the expansion of the Read Brave intergenerational reading program, which aims to spark citywide conversations about community issues. Previously, Penkert was an internal consultant on the city’s Innovation Team and a youth development program manager in the Department of Parks and Recreation, where she launched the Right Track youth employment program. She has master’s degrees in public policy and social work from the University of Minnesota, and bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of Notre Dame.

Through Siobhan Reardon’s leadership, the Free Library of the future is reimagined in its “Building Inspiration” campaign. Notable programmatic enhancements include the establishment of the Culinary Literacy Center, where customers strengthen literacy skills through cooking; the Center for Public Life, which focuses on enhanced programming and civic dialogue throughout the library system; and the Business Resource and Innovation Center, which supports the development and advancement of small businesses and entrepreneurs. Previously, Reardon was executive director of the Westchester Library System in New York, deputy executive director of the Brooklyn Public Library and budget director for the New York Public Library. She holds a B.A. from Purchase College, State University of New York; an M.A. from Fordham University; and an M.L.S. from the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at Long Island University. She was named Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year in 2015.

Through Pam Sandlian Smith’s leadership of Anythink Libraries in Adams County, Colorado, just north of Denver, the public library system went from being the worst-funded system in the state to one of the most recognized library brands nationwide by creating an entirely new service model. Along with a $60 million capital improvement project, which included the building of four new libraries and three renovations, Anythink reinvented itself as a library focused on participatory learning, community engagement and shifting perceptions of the role of libraries. Previously, Sandlian Smith was the director of the West Palm Beach Public Library and held a variety of leadership roles at the Denver Public Library. She serves on the board of directors of the Public Library Association.

Philipp Schmidt is principal investigator and director of the ML Learning Initiative, which studies and promotes the culture of creative learning at the MIT Media Lab. He is a co-founder and board member of Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU), a nonprofit that provides access to online higher education through public libraries. Schmidt serves on the board of College Unbound, was a founding board member of the OpenCourseWare Consortium and co-authored the Cape Town Open Education Declaration. He has received Shuttleworth and Ashoka fellowships, and came to the Media Lab as a Director’s Fellow.

Charles Thomas joined Knight Foundation in February 2016. Raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, Thomas was the founding executive director of Queen City Forward, a hub for entrepreneurs who have business ideas that address social needs. Prior to that, Thomas, a professional photographer, was director of education of The Light Factory Contemporary Museum of Photography and Film. He serves on the board of trustees of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and the board of the East Mecklenburg High School Foundation. He is an active member of the New Generation of African American Philanthropists giving circle and served on the founding steering committee of TEDxCharlotte. Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University and is a graduate of several leadership programs, such as Leadership Charlotte, the Leadership Development Initiative and the Innovation Institute at the McColl Center for the Visual Arts.

Felton Thomas Jr., a past president of the Public Library Association, was appointed director of the Cleveland Public Library (CPL) in January 2009. Previously, Thomas was director of regional branch services for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District in Nevada and president of the Nevada Library Association. He has served on the PLA board of directors for six years and was named to the Aspen Institute’s Task Force on Learning and the Internet in 2014. His awards and accomplishments include being named a “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal and being selected as a White House Champion of Change for Making in 2016.

Lilly Weinberg joined Knight Foundation in August 2012. She is the program director with the Community and National Initiatives, managing Knight’s $140 million investment in 18 small to midsize Knight communities. Weinberg earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and environmental studies from Emory University and master’s degrees in public administration and business administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and the MIT Sloan School of Management, respectively. While attending graduate school, she worked with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the New York City Economic Development Corp., in both cases creating strategies to promote economic development, entrepreneurship and business growth. Weinberg is a graduate of the Leadership Miami program and was a fellow of New Leaders Council. She then served as the executive director and on the advisory committee for the New Leaders Council Miami Chapter until 2016. In 2018, she was chosen to participate in the Leadership Florida Connect Program and Miami’s Young American Leaders Program at Harvard Business School. She serves on the boards of the International Downtown Association and of Friends of The Underline, a proposed 10-mile linear park and urban trail under the Miami-Dade Metrorail.