Dr. Lisa Williams is a national expert on topics of equity and access in public education. She has served as Chief Equity Officer for the Fairfax County Schools as well as Executive Director for Equity and Cultural Proficiency in the Baltimore County Schools. In total, she has worked on issues of equity and access in public institutions for over 15 years. She has provided guidance for school boards, public and private schools as well as school systems and non-profits in the areas of racial equity, gender equity in STEM, leading for equity, school transformation, and culturally responsive practices. Dr. Williams has served as a Subject Matter Expert with the United States Department of Education Department of Career, Technical, and Adult Education division related to equitable access in STEM/CTE. She has also served as a board member for Restorative Response Baltimore, an organization that provides guidance and support for Restorative Practices and Community Conferences to decrease violence and create inclusive environments across the Baltimore Metropolitan Area.

Dr. Williams has held the position of teacher, mentor, university professor, and Title I director over her career in education. She has bachelors’ degrees in biology and psychology, an MA in psychology, and a doctorate in Urban Educational Leadership with an emphasis in social policy. She has presented at the local, state, national and international level on topics related to improving outcomes for marginalized student populations. Her dissertation study examined Response to Intervention (RtI) and the performance of students attending Title I schools.

She is co-author of two books, When Treating all the Kids the Same is the Real Problem: Educational Leadership and the 21st Century Dilemma of Difference and Humanity Over Comfort: How You Confront Systemic Racism Head On both published by Corwin Press. Her most recent publication, “We don’t make history, we are made by history: The call for education as an instrument of social justice. This historical and determinative role of schools in advancing race equity” was published in 2023 in the anthology, Zufunft Bildungschancen, in collaboration with University of Cologne.

Stefan Redding Lallinger is a father to three daughters and a former teacher and principal. He's worked in schools and districts in New Orleans and New York City and is currently the executive director of an innovative think tank called Next100. He lives in Mt. Washington in Baltimore and serves on the Baltimore City School Board.

Vanessa López is the twenty-fourth grandchild of Tulia Vasquez López, the only
daughter of Rosa Digna López, big little sister to Ramon Reynoldo Vargas and proud mother of Aszana LilaRosa López-Bell. She was born and bred on the streets of New York City back when White folks didn't ride the A train past 59th Street. Vanessa has papers from Purchase College, State University of New York and the Maryland Institute College of Art. She contemplates and writes about race, urban education, the body and art. Vanessa’s musings can be found in the pages of Moleskin journals, Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy and the Art Education Journal.

She makes things that grow and die.