Bridget Clark Whitney is the Executive Director of Kids’ Food Basket (KFB), a childhood hunger relief organization providing daily evening meals, or “sack suppers” to food-insecure children in Greater Grand Rapids. During Bridget’s nine year tenure as Executive Director, KFB has undergone significant growth, from serving 125 children in 2002 to 4,400 children each weekday. Under Bridget’s leadership, has become one of the largest and most successful anti-childhood hunger programs in the state of Michigan. Kids’ Food Basket averages 170 volunteers each day and is one of the largest and most successful volunteer programs in Michigan. KFB was honored by Governor Granholm, as Michigan’s in Grand Program of the Year.

Jonathan Williams is the content editor for The Elemental Project, a digital publishing company that showcases positive news and innovative philanthropy. He was born and raised in West Michigan and currently resides in Grand Rapids. He spent his twenties on the West Coast operating an electrical contracting company and is currently the manager of a Commercial Truck department for Ford. He is an ardent lover of literature, film, spontaneous travel, and entrepreneurial ventures. He was educated on the streets and is forever learning from strong relationships and uncommon life experiences.

Curt Tofteland is the founder of Shakespeare Behind Bars, an internationally acclaimed personal transformation program which combines art, theatre, and the works of William Shakespeare to create Restorative Circles of Reconciliation where incarcerated individuals seek to manifest habilitation. SBB has programs in Michigan and Kentucky prisons. Curt has thirty-four years of professional theatre experience as a producer, director, actor, playwright, program developer, teacher, artist-in-residence, and workshop facilitator. He is a published essayist and poet. Curt is the recipient of a variety of awards, including a 2011 Fulbright Fellowship in Australia.

Ann McKnight has been a licensed psychotherapist for over 20 years. Ever curious about what moves us toward wholeness and satisfaction in everyday living, she has been exploring the crafts of Nonviolent Communication and Restorative Circles for the last 10 years. Through experimentation in all areas of her life, she is growing to see conflict as an invitation to deeper understanding, strengthened relationships and dynamic, vital community. Ann is currently working with Grand Haven and Spring Lake Public Schools, Community Policing Officers through the Holland Police Department, Hope College, Western Seminary, Hope Church, Black River Public School, various health care organizations, churches, schools, families, couples and individuals in West Michigan.

Chris Klein is a voice to those that have none and helping hand to those with disabilities, even though he was born with cerebral palsy and uses augmentative communication to help him interact with the rest of the world. Over the past four years, Chris has been working closely with people that use AAC. He has recently been elected president of USSAAC (United States Society of Augmentative Alternative Communication). He has also formed an organization called BeCOME AAC. It stands for Building Connections with Others through Mentoring and Education about AAC. Chris is a graduate of Hope College and has studied at Western Theological Seminary. He currently lives in Grand Rapids with his wife Dawn.

Nancy DeBoer is currently a member of the Holland City Council where she has served since 2005. Nancy is also the Executive Director of the West Michigan Character Council. She received her B.A. from Calvin College and has done graduate work at Western Michigan University. She has also taught English at the middle and high school level. Nancy was a nominee for the West Michigan Athena Award in 2009. She currently serves on various boards and commissions, including the coordination of the Pay-it-Forward-Holland initiative for the City of Holland. Since its launch in January 2011, the Pay-it-Forward-Holland movement has distributed over 10,000 cards and has attracted interest from over 30 countries.

Lori Kerrigan-Gramer owner operator of Blue Moon Connections, Holland, MI, is a 30 year veteran of performance arts production and administration. Lori serves as the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs as Mini Grant Coordinator for Region 14 through the offices of Holland Area Arts Council and is Project Director for the Holland Symphony Orchestra. Blue Moon Connections plans and executes events for corporate and charitable organizations. As well, she involves herself in artist development and management for several West Michigan cabaret, jazz, and pop performers. A wife and mother of five, Lori has offices in, as well as resides in, Holland, Michigan.

Dr. David Johnson is a physician that specializes in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and integrative medicine. Integrative medicine is a healing-oriented, patient-centered approach that takes into account the whole person, embracing mind, body and spirit, and the innate healing capacity of the human body. His practice focuses on the interactions between individual lifestyle choices and the complex relationship between ecological and human health in the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Joel Schoon Tanis is a celebrated painter who has shown his work around the United States and as far away as Kenya, where he did an art show on behalf of the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife. As an illustrator, Joel has contributed to more than a half a dozen books for children. He won the “Moonbeam Children’s Book Award” for his book Swing!. In addition to his artistic pursuits, he is also the creator and writer of Come On Over!, a children’s television program that has won two National Telly awards and 13 regional Emmy awards, including one for Joel as host of the show. The show has had such special guests as Jars of Clay, Fred Willard (Everyone Loves Raymond, Best in Show), Ruth Buzzi (Laugh In, Sesame Street), Luis Avalos (Electric Company), Vicki Lewis (Newsradio, Finding Nemo), and Jason Hanson,
the kicker for the Detroit Lions.

Shannon Brunink is in his sixteenth year of service and fourth year as the Head of School at Black River Public School. After high school at West Ottawa in Holland, Shannon graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Western Michigan University in 1996 and a Masters degree in Educational Leadership from Grand Valley State University in 2003. As the Head of School, Shannon has worked to strengthen and support the school’s mission of “Preparing students for college and life.” This school wide focus, with its capstone Advanced Placement program, has led to recognitions by Newsweek as a top state and national high school as well as last spring’s Washington Post recognition as the number one high school in Michigan.

Adam Weiler is a designer, printmaker and educator. After studying art & mathematics in college, Adam fell in love with designing educational experiences. In 2008 he started Ambrose, an after school art & design program for high school students. Since then, the program has grown to include a clothing line and collaborative printmaking studio. The primary goal is growing citizens with strong capacities for compassion, creative problem solving, design thinking and entrepreneurship.

Nate Young is currently president of NewNorth Center for Design in Business – a nonprofit, hybrid education and business institution. Prior to NewNorth, Nate was Executive VP and Chief Academic Officer at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. There he worked with many high-profile companies like Disney, Nike, and Docomo. He also founded TWISThink, a product design and development firm that still operates in Michigan today. Previous to this, Nate was Group VP of Advanced Product Development, World Wide Market Planning, and Industrial Design at Johnson Controls. With 30 years experience in design and innovation, Nate Young specializes in design-driven development and is dedicated to the core principle
of “whole-brain” thinking.

Elizabeth Rolinski is responsible for plant operations, new plant launches and manufacturing strategies for Johnson Controls Advanced Power Solutions business, globally. Since joining the company in 1988, Elizabeth has served in various roles including Executive Director of Quality for Automotive NA, Director of Operations for the Interiors Business Unit, and plant manager for various plants within both Automotive and Power Solutions (including the recently launched Lithium Ion battery plant in Holland, MI). Elizabeth also has extensive experience in purchasing and manufacturing engineering from both Prince
Corporation and General Motors.

Graham Peaslee is the Hartgerink Professor of Chemistry and chair of the chemistry department at Hope College. His undergraduate degree in Chemistry is from Princeton University, and his PhD in Chemical Physics is from SUNY-Stony Brook. He was trained as a nuclear chemist and has over 150 scientific publications derived from his work with particle accelerators and their applications to a wide variety of fields, such as nuclear reactions, forensic science and environmental geochemistry. He has been teaching and doing research with undergraduates at Hope College since 1993, and for the past 15 years has developed a research program concerned with the water quality of Lake Macatawa. In the last year this local environmental research project has taken off with a number of new discoveries.

Bill Fluharty is an independent design and innovation strategy consultant focused on helping organizations to create the management structures that successfully leverage design and innovation methods for sustained success. An important current project for Bill is to create project methodologies and facilitate community innovation projects for The Keller Futures Center. This social innovation platform allows citizens of West Michigan to create solutions to issues they care about while teaching them competencies important for the 21st century. Prior to making his experience available to West Michigan organizations, Bill served as an Industrial Design and Innovation Leader in the automotive industry for 24 years.

Jennifer Adams is an ordained Episcopal priest and serves as the Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Holland. She grew up in Royal Oak, Michigan and graduated with a B.A. in Math and Religion from Kalamazoo College and an M.Div. from The Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Jen has served on diocesan and national church level commissions and teams, which have included projects such as ministry development, summer camp chaplaincy, and national church canon revision. She has been involved locally with various ecumenical and social justice efforts and is currently chairperson of Holland is Ready, a community group working for the safety, rights and inclusion of LGBT persons and their families. Jen has called the Holland area home since 1994.