Jesse Lewis, a Courier-Journal veteran, was the San Francisco Chronicle’s director of culture and operations, overseeing the Transformation and the Race and Equity teams, as well as contributing to recruitment efforts and newsroom operations. Before joining The Chronicle, he led the Washington Post’s print and digital copy-editing team. His first job was as a reporter and editor with the Ocala Star Banner in central Florida. He moved on to Fort Lauderdale and worked for the Sun Sentinel as a feature writer. After Fort Lauderdale, he landed a job as an assistant press secretary to Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh. He was a copy editor and assistant news editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal, then moved to the Wall Street Journal, where he began as a copy editor and became National and Global copy chief. His next move led to seven years with the Wall Street Journal Europe, finishing up in 2010 as managing editor of that edition based in Brussels and London. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a master’s degree from Columbia University. Jesse is a former Jeopardy! champion, and his Louisville home was featured in Ethan Hawke’s 2023 biopic “Wildcat,” starring Maya Hawke as the award-winning short-story writer Flannery O’Connor.

Amy Singz is a nationally recognized social enterprise entrepreneur and economic inclusion consultant.  She is currently supporting initiatives that tackle food insecurity in Louisville’s West End.  She recently completed a contract assisting the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society “HIAS,” the world’s oldest refugee resettlement agency, with economic inclusion work nationwide.  Previously, Singz launched two successful wealth-building projects in Louisville – Working Your Way Home and Working Your Way to Wheels, in collaboration with several community partners including FMS, The Louisville Urban League, LHOME, HPI and Metro Louisville’s Financial Empowerment Center.  These initiatives assisted low-income janitors to purchase homes and vehicles.  In 2017, She launched LHOME — Louisville’s first locally headquartered nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).  She led the process for certification by the CDFI Fund at U.S. Treasury and secured and deployed several million dollars, primarily to low-income Black and Brown small business owners and homeowners.  Amy has spent her career promoting wealth building for low income individuals and families in all fifty states, Puerto Rico and in many Indigenous communities. 

She has served on multiple boards and on the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank Community Development Advisory Committee.  She holds an MPA from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School and a BA from Wesleyan University. She is also a certified Master Naturalist and enjoys connecting people with nature at a variety of local natural places like Bernheim Forest and the Louisville Nature Center.