Speakers

Kayce Ataiyero is the Chief External Affairs Officer at the Joyce Foundation, where she oversees the Foundation’s strategic communications, the Journalism Program and the Lend A Hand community grants fund. She is also a member of the Foundation’s leadership team.

Ataiyero has extensive experience in communications, journalism and politics. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2018, she served as director of external affairs for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where she led communications and community engagement. She has also led communications for U.S. Congresswoman Robin Kelly, the Illinois Governor’s Office and the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office.

As an award-winning journalist, Ataiyero previously worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune, The Raleigh News and Observer, Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post.

Kayce has a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. She is board chair of Media Impact Funders, a national organization that advances the work of a broad range of funders committed to supporting media in the public interest. She also serves on the board of Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, an organization committed to the unfinished business of our nation’s civil rights movement. She is a Leadership Greater Chicago Daniel Burnham Fellow, was named one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Illinois by Women We Admire, a Notable Black Leader and Executive by Crain’s Chicago Business and one of Chicago’s most influential Black leaders by The Chicago Tribune. She also at one time was general manager of the Chicago Steam, a minor-league basketball team.

Christina Snider-Ashtari serves as the first Tribal Affairs Secretary to California Governor Gavin Newsom and leads the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs. As a member of the Cabinet, Secretary Snider-Ashtari oversees effective government-to-government consultation between the Governor’s Administration and California tribes; informs, develops and implements policy directives related to tribal governments and Native American communities; oversees the California Indian Heritage Center Task Force and the Tribal Nation Grant Fund Program; and leads the California Truth & Healing Council, an effort aimed at shifting the California narrative and providing historical restorative justice for the first people of California. Secretary Snider-Ashtari is an enrolled member of the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians in Sonoma County, California.

Ed is the CEO and Board Chair of the global technology non-profit Meedan. Since founding Meedan in 2006 he has devoted his professional energies to improving equity, accessibility, and credibility in online environments. Ed has led strategy and project definition on open source software development focused on human-in-the-loop approaches to translating, verifying, investigating and fact-checking digital content.

Ed was a recipient of the 2024 Skoll Award for Social Innovation. He is a member of the PAI (Partnership on AI) AI and Media Steering Committee.

Meedan’s work has received numerous awards including two Knight News Challenge Awards, two Online News Association Awards and two International Fact-Checking Networks’ Collaborative Impact awards. Meedan’s technical work on a platform that enables journalists to leverage AI to better respond to questions on closed messaging platforms received a National Science Foundation Convergence grant (2022-24).

Khiara M. Bridges is a professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. She has written many articles concerning race, class, reproductive rights, and the intersection of the three. Her scholarship has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, the California Law Review, the NYU Law Review, and the Virginia Law Review, among others. She is also the author of three books: Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization (2011), The Poverty of Privacy Rights (2017), and Critical Race Theory: A Primer (2019). She is a coeditor of a reproductive justice book series that is published under the imprint of the University of California Press.

She graduated as valedictorian from Spelman College, receiving her degree in three years. She received her J.D. from Columbia Law School and her Ph.D., with distinction, from Columbia University’s Department of Anthropology. While in law school, she was a teaching assistant for the former dean, David Leebron (Torts), as well as for the late E. Allan Farnsworth (Contracts). She was a member of the Columbia Law Review and a Kent Scholar. She speaks fluent Spanish and basic Arabic, and she is a classically trained ballet dancer.

Eric Dhan is the Community Manager of the PRX Podcast Garage at KQED, where he runs events and workshops that foster connection and learning between podcast creators, multimedia storytellers, and public media stations. Previously, Eric was a project manager on PRX’s training team, where he facilitated workshops that brought together audio creators in the United States and abroad, through cohort-based accelerator programs such as the Google Podcasts creator program and the Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator from CPB and PBS. Eric also managed PRX’s Gateway Cities Audio Project, a community outreach and asset mapping initiative focused on building community and support for local podcasters and storytellers in communities around Massachusetts. Eric enjoys signing up for sprint triathlons and lake swims as ways to travel the world and face his fear of deep, dark open waters.

Mikel Ellcessor is a career media executive, coach, and not-for-profit leader. His expertise centers on multi-disciplinary approaches to the integration of growth, mission fulfillment, and revenue.  While at WNYC, New York he was the head of local programming through the 9/11 years, launched WNYC’s podcast strategy, pioneered individual giving for podcasts, raising over $6.5M along the way, and was the co-creator with Jad Abumrad of Radiolab.

In over 30 years of breaking new ground with original content, marketing, engagement, distribution and individual giving, Mikel’s has the privilege to lead teams that have impacted the lives of hundreds of millions of individuals and raised tens of millions of dollars to support mission-driven work.

As the Chief Executive Officer of PRX, a globally recognized public media company and leading podcast publisher, Kerri Hoffman has been pivotal in shaping the organization’s growth and success. Under her leadership, PRX launched groundbreaking programs such as Radiotopia, The Moth Radio Hour, and Reveal. The organization also distributes widely acclaimed shows like This American Life, Snap Judgment, and Latino USA.

PRX stands as a leader in public media innovation, driving progress through the use of cutting-edge technology, offering training opportunities, and forging strategic partnerships to create original productions.

Beth Kanter is an internationally recognized thought leader and trainer in digital transformation and well-being in the nonprofit workplace. She is the co-author of the award-winning “Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Impact without Burnout” and co-author with Allison Fine of “The Smart Nonprofit.”  Named one of the most influential women in technology by Fast Company and recipient of the NTEN Lifetime Achievement Award, she has over three decades of experience in designing and delivering training programs for nonprofits and foundations. As a sought-after keynote speaker and workshop leader, she has presented at nonprofit conferences around the world to thousands of nonprofits. Learn more about Beth at www.bethkanter.org.

Nico Leone is the President and CEO of KERA — a nonprofit public media organization in North Texas reaching more than 4.5 million people each month. KERA’s mission is to inform and inspire the North Texas community through essential services — including a public television station, three radio stations and a newspaper.

Nico began his tenure at KERA in February 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic began to surge. Under his leadership, the organization was able to not only sustain, but grow its essential services to audiences during a challenging time. Since then, Nico has continuously positioned the organization for exceptional growth and innovation.

Key to Nico’s leadership style is collaboration. Under his tenure, KERA has launched several journalism partnerships — including with the Fort Worth Report and the Dallas Morning News — in order to expand accessible and essential reporting to the people of North Texas. Nico also oversaw the successful merger of two organizations into KERA’s services — the classical music station WRR 101.1, and the Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton County’s primary source of local news. And, as CEO, Nico leads The Texas Newsroom, a first-of-its-kind journalism collaboration between NPR and the four largest public media newsrooms in Texas. Each of these innovative collaborations serves as a model for newsrooms and public media organizations across the country, while also positioning KERA to be more embedded in the communities it serves.

Nico serves on the board of AT&T Performing Arts Center, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Station Resource Group and Greater Public. He has also previously served on the board of directors for NPR. Prior to KERA, Nico served as General Manager of KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri, where he led the organization to be one of the most collaborative public radio stations in the country.

Nico grew up in small towns in Kansas. He has two degrees in Communications from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he met his wife, Nicole. They live in Dallas.

Tim oversees KQED’s digital partnerships. He works with distributors, technology companies, social media and other local and national partners to expand the reach of KQED content, deepen audience engagement, and meet KQED’s mission and business objectives. Tim manages KQED’s community partner tenants including NPR, KEXP, The Kitchen Sisters, BAVC Media and Ear Hustle and coordinates the work of PRX Podcast Garage at KQED. Tim also manages mission-aligned third party rentals of KQED’s event spaces.

Tim has more than 20 years of experience in directing digital strategies and product development for media companies, and working across the full range of publisher, editorial, technical and business functions. He has a history of leading innovation and transformational change in journalism, media, and education, and is active in Bay Area entrepreneurship, design thinking and startups.

Before creating the “Snap Judgment” radio show, Glynn worked as an educator, diplomat, community activist, actor, political strategist, fist-shaker, mountain-hollerer, and foot stomper.

Glynn composed music for the Kunst Stoff dance performances in San Francisco, rocked live spoken word poetry in Detroit, joined a band in Indonesia, wrote several screenplays, painted a daring series of self portraits, released a blues album, and thinks his stories are best served with cocktails.

In 2022, Glynn was inducted into the Podcasting Hall of Fame.