Giselle “Gigi” Antoni is president and CEO of Big Thought, one of the nation’s leading nonprofits devoted to closing the opportunity gap in education through creative learning. Gigi leads the organization in developing groundbreaking partnerships, including Thriving Minds, a system of programs that joins the City of Dallas, Dallas Independent School District, and more than 100 other organizations, with Big Thought as managing partner. She was also instrumental in forming a partnership with the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee to implement SLANT 45, one of the largest communitywide service-learning programs for children in U.S. and NFL history.

Gigi has worked for more than 20 years in the arts education field as an administrator, educator, community developer, and performing artist. She joined Big Thought in 1990 and was named president and CEO in 1995. Sought out by cities and school districts throughout the United States, Gigi has lectured nationally about the success of organizing and convening communities, designing and building programs, and developing systemic arts-integration initiatives. She has also served on numerous local, state, and national committees, boards, and juries. Nationally, she has worked with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities Coming Up Taller Awards; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Partnership for Arts, Culture, and Education; the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration; and the National Working Group of the Arts for Learning organization. On the state level, Gigi has worked with the Texas Commission on the Arts' Arts-in-Education Working Group, and the Texas Coalition of Quality Arts Education. She was recently named to the newest class of the Dallas Assembly.

In 2010, Gigi was honored with the National Arts Leadership Award from the National Guild for Community Arts Education. In 2005, she was selected for the prestigious Local Hero award, given by Bank of America. She is a Fellow of the British-American Project, which creates sharing and exchange between top young leaders from each country. Her alma maters are Stephen F. Austin State University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the Drama Studio London at Berkeley where she graduated with distinction. Gigi resides in Dallas with her husband Dana Mullen and daughter Analise.

Troy Anderson was appointed executive director of the Suzuki-Orff School of Music in September of 2011. The Suzuki-Orff School of Music serves approximately 2500 students annually through its programs for families and programs for schools in Chicago. Established in 1981, the school integrates the Suzuki method and Orff approach in an effort to help children understand and experience the use of the musical language before learning to read music. Suzuki-Orff’s programs for families offer a sequential curriculum from age 6 months to adult. The school also provides programs for pre-school through 5th grades in over 20 Chicago public and private schools. Through its music and literacy based program, Clap, Sing and Read and its general music program, Project IMAGE, Suzuki-Orff partners with schools to provide students with musical skills and knowledge, and accelerate academic learning. 

Troy’s career in community arts education began in 2001 as the program director at the David Adler Music and Arts Center in Libertyville, IL.  During his employment at the Adler Center, Troy increased enrollment by an average of 15% per year and developed a multi-disciplinary arts summer program which increased enrollment in Center’s summer camp by 35% in its first year.  Troy was also responsible for implementing curriculum and evaluation initiatives and establishing a faculty and student performance series.

In June of 2007, Troy joined the staff of the Merit School of Music in Chicago, IL as director of the Preparatory Program and moved into the role of dean of programs in December of 2007.  While serving as dean of programs, Troy oversaw the installation of a curriculum and development of assessment tools to measure student achievement and overall program effectiveness.  During his tenure he executed several initiatives to increase teacher involvement and influence in schools development including the establishment of a Faculty Advisory Council and department chair positions.  Under Troy’s leadership, the program department underwent several operational improvements to improve quality and efficiency.

Troy also serves as vice-chair of the Western Great Lakes Chapter of the National Guild for Community Arts Education and on the Members Council of the Guild. He is a 2012 graduate of the Guild's Community Arts Education Leadership Institute. Less than a year after completing the program, Troy was presented with the opportunity to serve as executive directo of the Suzuki-Orff School of Music.

Troy earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music from DePaul University.  He resides in Lombard, IL with his wife Amy and three children Ava, Nile and Finn. 

Kwayera Archer-Cunningham is the Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the creative, educational, and vocational development of youth of African descent in central Brooklyn. Kwayera is a former professional dancer and choreographer, an experienced arts educator, and a seasoned administrator who has developed innovative programs and techniques that combine performing and visual arts with core principles and traditions of African culture. She strategically combined arts and African culture to create programs that enable youth and families to gain heightened self-awareness and confidence, improved health and wellness, increased financial knowledge, and academic success to the benefit of themselves and the communities in which they reside. Under Kwayera’s leadership since 1989, Ifetayo has grown from providing 10 students with free dance classes to serving more than 2,000 students annually through six integrated arts and culture programs. She was also able to build her organization’s capacity from one teacher with a minute budget to 10 full-time staff members and 33 part-time faculty members with an operating budget of $1.6 million and a steadily growing cash reserve.

Kwayera holds a master of science in community economic development with a focus in community organizing and a master of arts in nonprofit management from Southern New Hampshire University. She is also a graduate of Columbia Business School's Executive-Level Training program with the Institute for Nonprofit Management. Kwayera has been extensively recognized for her service to the community through local, national, and international awards for arts, culture, civic engagement, and entrepreneurship. In 2001, Ifetayo received the prestigious Union Square Award for “visionary organizations responding to society’s most pressing social, political, and economic issues.” In 2008, Kwayera’s devotion to integrating traditional African concepts in to every aspect of the organization, including its management structure, resulted in Ifetayo’s receipt of the coveted New York Times Company Nonprofit Excellence Award for Excellent Culturally Based Management Strategies. She has also served on several boards to provide organizations with in-kind technical assistance for strategic planning and board development. She was also a panelist for New York State Council on the Arts and a trustee of the National Guild for Community Arts Education.

Ronnie Brooks is the director of the Amherst Wilder Foundation Center for Communities, where she oversees the leadership development and community engagement programs. She is also the founding director of the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute, a program that provides a yearlong renewal experience for foundation and nonprofit organization leaders. Ronnie has extensive experience in the public and private sectors in Minnesota. She served as special assistant to the governor of Minnesota and as director of majority research for the Minnesota State Senate and has managed development projects for the mayors of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Ronnie was also vice president of the Keystone Center, a Colorado-based public policy organization; executive director of the Saint Paul Downtown Council; and manager of community development and policy planning for the Dayton-Hudson (now Target) Corporation.

Ronnie has played a leadership role in several Minnesota civic and professional organizations. She was president of both Citizens League and the Mediation Center and a board member of the Voyager Outward Bound School, the David Preus Leadership Council, the Civic Leadership Foundation, Graywolf Press, and MAP for Nonprofits. She was a McKnight Fellow and an International Business Fellow. In addition, Ronnie is a recipient of the Lloyd Short Award for Distinguished Public Service and of the YWCA Outstanding Leadership Award. She currently serves on the boards of Graywolf Press and the David Preus Leadership Council and is a member of the Mayor’s Task Force on the Ford Motor Company plant.

Ronnie did her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan and received her master of arts degree in political science from Michigan State University. She has been on the faculty of the National Conference of State Legislature’s Legislative Staff Management Institute, the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, the League of American Orchestra’s Executive Leadership Academy, and University of St. Thomas Center for Nonprofit Leadership, where she focused on leadership and management in the nonprofit sector. 

Judy Brown is an educator, speaker, facilitator, poet, and writer whose work in organizations revolves around themes of leadership, change, renewal, learning, reflection, dialogue, and creativity. She holds a PhD in comparative literature from Michigan State University,\ and has been a White House Fellow; special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Labor; chief financial officer, assistant dean and director of executive programs of the College of Business and Management at the University of Maryland; and vice president for seminars and cooperative programs of the Aspen Institute. Judy teaches leadership for the graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and has been a senior fellow of the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership. She has been affiliated with the university’s National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and its Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise. Judy was as a founding faculty member for the League of American Orchestras' leadership institute, the Urban Library Council’s Executive Leadership Institute, leadership programs in the field of smart growth, the intelligence community, and the field of housing and services for the aging. She was a founding facilitators in the Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead program supported by the Fetzer Institute.

Best known for her ability to help individuals and teams think about problems and dilemmas in ways that free their energies so they can move forward in their work, Judy helps organizations discover common ground even in the midst of dissension, turbulence, and complexity. In a sense, all of her work is about helping people recall deeper principles and their own essence in order to connect with the authentic in themselves and in others, and to uncover common ground within their work. Her mentor John Gardner, in encouraging her to publish her collection of poetry The Sea Accepts All Rivers (Miles River Press, 2000), said her poems were not only about courage but about "finding ourselves and finding each other." Much of her work takes the form of dialogue that enables people to create thinking-based learning structures (often within the work environment) that move them comfortably and naturally into the space of culture, feeling, and spirit. For many years, she has been linking leadership, learning, and creativity as a framework for sustainable change--the kind of change that allows for and nurtures engagement, even in times of turbulence. She was a contributor to Learning Organizations (Renesch and Chawla), and her piece on natural steps for living a balanced and reflective life in the face of turbulence and change appeared in The Inner Edge. Her newest book is A Leader’s Guide to Reflective Practice (Trafford Publishing, 2007).

With pianist, composer and educator Michael Jones, Judy continues to explore the leadership lessons at the heart of the creative processes. As a Quaker, she is interested in organizational processes that incorporate reflection and inquiry. As a writer and poet, she is intrigued by the power of language and metaphor to shift our thinking and open us to new perspectives. As an executive, she is interested in how leaders sustain energy and a sense of purpose and direction. And as a scientist she is interested in understanding more fully how it is that we experience openings into greater awareness and how those experiences allow us to gather our energies in powerful ways on behalf of transcendent, as well as social and organizational purposes. 

Philip McArthur is a partner and cofounder of Action Design. For more than 20 years, Phil has helped leaders get results by building effective teams, collaborating productively across organizational boundaries, transforming difficult relationships, and promoting innovation and change. In addition to executive coaching, facilitating executive retreats, and consulting on organizational change, he conducts professional development workshops on creating productive conversations and building effective relationships in organizations. He has taught executive education programs for Boston College, Columbia University, Harvard University, and Stanford University. His clients have included non-\profit organizations in microfinance, the environment, and performing arts, as well as companies in a broad range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, financial services, information technology, manufacturing, and consulting. Phil is a contributor to the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook and The Dance of Change, bothby Peter Senge et al. He also helped design Activating the Fifth Discipline, volume 1, a multimedia CD-ROM on improving organizational decision making through dialogue and systems thinking. He is a founding member of the Society for Organizational Learning. Phil earned his master's and doctoral degrees in counseling and consulting psychology from Harvard University, and he was trained as a family therapist at the Family Institute of Cambridge.