Kate Montgomery is an international literacy educator and strategist whose career spans curriculum development, teacher training, fieldwork, and advisory work across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. She has led government-scale literacy initiatives in partnership with Columbia University Teachers College, NewGlobe, and ministries of education across Nigeria, India, The Gambia, Benin, the Central African Republic, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Thailand, with particular expertise in under-resourced communities and emergency education contexts, including Lebanon and the Balkan migration route. For more than a decade she served as Publisher and Executive Editor at Heinemann Educational Publishing, shaping hundreds of K–12 reading and writing projects. Her writing on literacy, child welfare, and social-emotional learning in the field has appeared in Global Visions of Adolescence (Springer, 2021). Kate holds an MA in Education from Columbia University Teachers College and a BA in Literature from Yale University. A former Peace Corps English teacher in Kwale, Kenya, she is co-author of Dear Exile (Vintage Random House) and the Learn to Write series (Wonder House Books, India, 2025).

Natalie Chapman is Vice President of Public Affairs at Forbright Bank, where she leads community-impact strategy. A former teacher, instructional coach, editorial director, and adjunct professor, she brings over a decade of hands-on educational experience and a proven track record of catalyzing measurable literacy outcomes. Always an educator at heart, she believes that meaningful learning can create a brighter future for individuals, communities, and the world. Natalie began her career in education as a fifth-grade bilingual literacy teacher through Teach for America. Natalie holds a B.A. from Southern Methodist University, an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Dr. Jodene Morrell, Ph.D. is a Teaching Professor and Associate Director of the Notre Dame Center for Literacy Education. She is also a faculty member in the Education, Schooling and Society program and a Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Educational Initiatives. She taught 3rd and 4th grade in linguistically, culturally, and ethnically diverse public schools in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose, CA and was a literacy specialist in a middle school in Lansing, Michigan before earning a doctorate in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy with an emphasis in Literacy at Michigan State University. Prior to joining the University of Notre Dame, Jodene was a senior researcher and senior lecturer at Teachers College, Columbia University where she taught courses and advised students in the Literacy Specialist Masters program and the Elementary Inclusive Education program. Her research focuses on literacy pedagogy in K-8 classrooms, the role of multicultural and diverse children’s literature for making literacy engaging and accessible for all students, and teachers as scholars and researchers. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters about teacher education, literacy pedagogy, and cultural practices of literacy and co-author of Freire and Children’s Literature (Bloomsbury, 2023).