In February 2020, Tracie D. Hall became the tenth Executive Director of the American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world with over 50,000 members serving library and educational institutions throughout and beyond the US. The first Black woman to helm ALA in its nearly 150-year history, Hall has served in numerous library and arts leadership positions nationwide. Her former posts include Culture Program Director at The Joyce Foundation where she was recognized for creating numerous programs to advance racial inclusion in arts administration and equitable funding for arts institutions; Deputy Commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events where she oversaw the visual and performing arts, film, and community market programs and received citations for her work to expand arts access and neighborhood outreach; Vice President of Strategy and Organizational Development at Queens Library where during her tenure she founded the NYC Early Learning Network; Community Investment Strategist and Chicago Community Investor for the Boeing Company’s Global Corporate Citizenship division; Assistant Dean of Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science; Community Librarian at Hartford Public Library where she curated the NEH-funded Festival of Caribbean Literature with the Connecticut Center for the Book and where then mayor, Eddie Perez, designated February 13 as "Tracie Hall Day" to acknowledge her service to the city of Hartford; Youth Services Coordinator at Seattle Public Library where she developed the long-running SCRIBES youth creative writing program for the Richard Hugo House; and other library, non-profit, and public sector roles across the country.

Holding dual bachelor’s degrees from University of California Santa Barbara, and master’s degrees from the Yale University School of International and Area Studies and the University of Washington School of Information, Hall’s work in library and arts administration has focused on advancing early and adult literacy, expanding digital access, protecting the right to information access for people who are incarcerated, and increasing socio-economic mobility for those who have had limited educational or employment opportunities. She is a native of south central Los Angeles and lives in Chicago where she makes time to serve on the boards of various arts and community development organizations. In 2022, Hall became only the second librarian to be honored with the National Book Award's Literarian Award for lifetime achievement

Darrick Hamilton is a university professor, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School. Darrick examines social stratification and political economy in order to move policy and practice in fundamentally new directions that promote economic inclusion, social equity, and civic engagement. 

Considered one of the nation’s foremost public intellectuals, Darrick has been profiled in the New York Times, Mother Jones, and the Wall Street Journal. In 2017, he was featured in Politico's50 Ideas Shaping American Politics and the People Behind Them issue. In 2020, Darrick was named a Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and the Group Health Foundation. 

Darrick has been involved in crafting policy proposals that have garnered media attention and inspired legislative proposals at the federal, state, and local levels, including baby bonds, guaranteed income, and a federal job guarantee. In 2020, Darrick served as a member of the economic committee of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force. He has testified before several Senate and House committees, including the Joint Economic Committee and the Senate Banking Committee.  

Darrick was born and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and received a PhD in Economics from the University of North Carolina.

Dr. Renée T. White is the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at The New School in New York City, where she is also a professor of sociology with tenure at The New School for Social Research. With more than 25 years of experience working in higher education, Dr. White previously served as provost and a professor of sociology at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Simmons University. She has also held a variety of faculty appointments, including professor of sociology and Black studies at Fairfield University, and a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the African American Studies Research Center at Purdue University. Dr. White is the editor of four books, including the acclaimed Spoils of War: Women of Color, Cultures, and Revolutions and the recently published Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Gender, Identity, and the Re-Making of Blackness and is the author of Putting Risk in Perspective: Black Teenage Lives in the Era of AIDS. She has served as editor of the Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention in Children and Youth, and is a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education. She serves as a Strategic Leader for VisionForward — a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to advance gender equity through women’s leadership.

KKeesha Gaskins-Nathan is the director for the Democratic Practice–United States program and the Racial Justice Initiative at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan is dedicated to advancing
measures and ideas that improve democratic systems and engage democratic culture in the United
States to support full and fair democratic and economic opportunity for all residents.

Keesha is worked as an organizer, lobbyist, and trial attorney. Prior to joining the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, she was senior counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice, serving as the director of the
Redistricting and Representation program. Her portfolio included redistricting reform, voting rights, and elections, with a focus on voter suppression issues. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan is a frequent lecturer and writer
on issues related to women and politics, movement building, and democratic transformation.

Keesha served as executive director for the League of Women Voters Minnesota and the executive director for the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus. She worked for several years as a civil trial attorney and served as a special assistant appellate public defender for the State of Minnesota.

She is a Commissioner for the New York State Public Finance Board, 2022-2023 Atlantic Racial Equity Fellow, and has served as 2021-2022 Daynard Public Interest Fellow at Northeastern University School of Law, 2019 Aspen Ideas Scholar, and 2008 Feminist Leadership Fellow with the University of Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs – Center on Women and Public Policy. She is
a frequent commentator on voting rights and redistricting reform and regularly appears on numerous news and public affairs programming, including past appearances on Background Briefing, The Great Battlefield, PBS’s NewsHour, MSNBC, and Bill Moyers. Keesha also is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs,