Ali Velshi is an award-winning journalist, host of “Velshi” and Chief Correspondent for MSNBC, and a weekly economics contributor to NPR’s “Here And Now.” He has covered multiple U.S. Midterm and Presidential elections and significant news stories around the globe, including extensive reporting from Israel during the war with Israel and Hamas, Ukraine and across Central and Eastern Europe during the Russian invasion, the Syrian refugee crisis from Turkey and Jordan, and the Iran Nuclear Deal in Tehran. He hosts the “Velshi Banned Book Club” on MSNBC, and the “Velshi Banned Book Club” podcast. Velshi is known for his immersive on-the-ground reporting and his interactive discussions with small groups, which form part of his ongoing series, Velshi Across America. He previously worked as an anchor and correspondent for Al Jazeera America and CNN. He has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards, and is the recipient of two National Headliner Awards and a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award.

Diane Burko is a Professor Emerita of the Community College of Philadelphia, with additional teaching experience at Princeton University. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art and multiple grants from the NEA, the Pennsylvania Arts Council, the Leeway Foundation and the Independence Foundation.

Her work in painting, photography and time-based media considers the marks that human conversations make on the landscape. After focusing for several decades on monumental geological formations and waterways through landscape painting, she has shifted in the past 20 years to analyze the impact of industrial and colonial activity on those same landscapes.

She has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally, including shows at London’s Royal Academy of Art, Minneapolis Art Institute, National Academy of Sciences, Phillips Collection, RISD Museum, Tang Museum, Wesleyan University Center for the Arts. She has been awarded residencies in Giverny, Bellagio, the Arctic Circle, and the Amazon Rainforest. In 2021, her solo exhibition Seeing Climate Change at the American University Museum was cited in the New York Times as one of the best shows of 2021.

Deborah Gross is CEO of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. She has over 35 years of private legal practice in federal and state courts all over the country concentrating on complex commercial litigation.

She was Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 2017, and focused her efforts during her Chancellor year on Philadelphia’s extraordinary legal nonprofit community and the invaluable assistance they offer to Philadelphians. She spoke out on behalf of the Philadelphia Bar Association on the importance of judicial independence as the cornerstone of democracy. She and the Philadelphia Bar Association received a commendation proclamation from the Mayor as a result of the work they did to establish clinics to train lawyers to assist lawful permanent residents in becoming naturalized citizens and which resulted in over 300 individuals attending the clinics.

She also served as President of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation in 2013 and 2014, and as a Trustee of the Foundation from 2004-2020. She served on the Bar Foundation’s Fundraising Committee, Grants Committee, Finance Committee and developed the Cy Pres Committee.

She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and her B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

John B. Kelly III  (known as JB) serves as the President of the US Chapter of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, an environmental organization focused on climate change, polar and ocean issues, biodiversity, and clean drinking water.

The Prince Albert Foundation was founded to combat the degradation of our environment by supporting research to find better ways of doing things that can maintain and improve our standard of living in an environmentally sustainable way.

JB also serves on the Board of Directors of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, the community organization that raises funds and manages public-private improvements to the parks in Philadelphia.
He received his BA in Economics from Harvard.

Sharon Eisenhour is a broadcaster, teacher, voice-over artist, voice coach, podcast producer and oral history producer. In her voice-over work, she enjoys focusing on difficult copy, such as topics in scientific, pharma, nature, and medical sectors. She has also recorded more than a dozen books-on-tape. She most recently served as the producer or host for two Einstein Health podcasts, and hosted a Facebook Live monthly seminar with an Einstein heart surgeon. She was a long-time adjunct professor in communications at Temple University. She is currently the voice for on-air imaging on WRTI-FM in Philadelphia. In April 2021, she began recording an oral history project with famed jazz drummer Roy McCurdy about his long life and career playing with greats from Sonny Rollins and Cannonball Adderley to Nancy Wilson and many more and is now completing a book on McCurdy’s life.

Sunil Kalia is a seasoned professional with 30 years of experience in producing and directing TV commercials, documentaries, and music videos. He began his career in 1995 in New Delhi, India, where he directed TV shows, and later moved to Toronto in 2002 to study film production at Sheridan College.

He has created impactful documentaries like Mosoom – The Innocent, exploring the thoughts of young South Asians facing immigration stories. He also directed Living With It, a short documentary highlighting the experiences of South Asians living with HIV, showcased at the Toronto AIDS Conference.

He was a 2024 Free Speech Film Festival Official Selection for his documentary Offenders, which fearlessly challenged the constraints on free expression in India. In the advertising industry, he has produced compelling TV commercials for renowned Canadian brands. Currently, he’s working on his ambitious trilogy, with the first part titled Offenders already completed.

Susanne Engheta is a mother of two adult children. She worked hard raising them to become responsible, functional and loving adults in any community they are part of. She is very proud of her efforts and who her children have become. She is also passionate about investing in the stock market, which has been a hobby and her daily business for a few decades. She was born and raised in Iran, then moved to the US in her early twenties. Her immigration and life in the US have given her the distinct advantage of benefiting from two strong cultures and sifting through two different religions.

The wisdom that one gains through comparison leaves one feeling less self-centered and more society focused. She has found that what makes life fulfilling and functional for her at a small scale, parallels what works best for a healthy society. She believes in the power of storytelling to inspire thought and change, and she is excited to be part of this celebration of free expression.

Bob Craig is radio studio engineer, producer, announcer and host of Big Band Jazz with Bob Craig on WRTI-FM in Philadelphia.

His well-rounded radio career began in 1963 as a studio engineer at WBZ in Boston. Throughout the 1970s, he was an announcer and programmer at Hartford’s WDRC and Boston’s WHDH. He joined WRTI’s on-air staff in 2005.

He made radio headlines in 1976 when he helped format one of the first soft rock stations in the U.S., at WWYZ in Hartford. A huge success, he was then recruited to Philadelphia to revamp WMGK into an adult contemporary format, which also turned out to be a winning decision. Additionally, he introduced the market to “Smooth Jazz,” hosting a popular Sunday morning show on WMGK. In the 1990s, he put his headphones back on to host the popular Solid Hour of Sinatra on Philadelphia’s WPEN and also served as music director for the adult standards station.

He has recorded numerous audio books for the nationally renowned Hachette Publishing Group in New York, and also teaches at Connecticut School of Broadcasting in Cherry Hill, NJ.

Davoud Abdolmaleki is a cinema teacher, screenwriter, producer and director of independent cinema, and documentary filmmaker. A graduate of Tehran University with a Master of Cinema degree, he is a member of the Iranian Youth Cinema Association and the Iranian Cinema Documentary Association.

In 2023, he directed and produced the feature documentary film The Passion of Mahmoud, which was shortlisted for the 13th China Documentary Academy Awards and nominated for the Best Documentary Award at the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival 2023. He was a 2024 Free Speech Film Festival Official Selection for his feature documentary film From The Cradle to The Grave.