Steve James' affiliation with Kartemquin began in 1987 with the start of production of Hoop Dreams, for which he served as director, producer, and co-editor. He has since then become one of the most acclaimed documentary makers of his generation, with noted works being Stevie, The New Americans, The War Tapes, At the Death House Door, The Interrupters, Life Itself, and most recently the 2018 Academy Award®-nominated Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.

Zak is an Emmy and PGA award-winning documentary filmmaker who has made films for over 15 years.

Currently, Zak is producing several feature films: City So Real with producer/director Steve James; Until the Lion Speaks (working title), for Concordia Studio, with co-directors Bing Liu and Joshua Altman; and The Ants and the Grasshopper (working title), a film he is also co-directing/producing with Raj Patel and producer Rachel Wexler.

From 2008-2015, Justine led Kartemquin Films as Executive Director as well as being an Executive Producer on each new film. She was responsible, in concert with the Board of Directors, for creating and implementing the strategic vision for Kartemquin. Justine successfully transitioned to the ED role in a historic founder-led organization, and made major strides in building a foundation for long-term sustainability.

Artistic Director and founding member of Kartemquin Films, Gordon Quinn has been making documentaries for over 50 years. Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun Times, called his first film Home for Life (1966) "an extraordinarily moving documentary." With Home for Life Gordon established the direction he would take for the next four decades, making cinéma vérité films that investigate and critique society by documenting the unfolding lives of real people. 

Mark Mitten is an award-winning producer who has created a variety of media and entertainment projects. Most recently he originated and produced the internationally acclaimed documentary Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, directed by Steve James (Hoop Dreams), which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Abacus was nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary and was named best Political Documentary by the Critic’s Choice Awards.

David E. Simpson is a documentary filmmaker with over three decades of experience. Films he has produced, directed or edited have garnered three national Emmys, a pair of Peabody awards, two DuPont-Columbia batons, an Oscar nomination, a Sundance jury award and best in category at countless festivals. He has worked in close association with Kartemquin Films since 1997.

An experienced director/producer, David deems editing the heart of documentary-practice and spends the bulk of his time in the cutting room crafting impactful works with talented collaborators. 

Emily Hart is a director, producer and cinematographer with over two decades experience creating award-winning documentary films and television.  With Kartemquin Films, she produced Steve James’ No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, which screened at festivals including SXSW, Full Frame, and iDOCS International Documentary Forum in Beijing; was broadcast as part of ESPN Films’ “30 for 30,” winner of the 2010 International Documentary Association Award for Best

​Ryan Gleeson is a documentary filmmaker based in Chicago, Illinois. After cutting his teeth on his parents' VHSC camcorder and spending a summer editing Hyphenated Humor with the late Jerry Blumenthal, Ryan spent half a decade at Kartemquin Films involving himself in a variety of ways, including but not limited to film production, workflow planning, tape archiving, event planning, and gallery curation. He rose to be Kartemquin's Post-Production Manager.

Suzanne, the Vice President of Finance & Operations at Kartemquin, is a non-profit finance, operations and accounting expert dedicated to building stronger non-profit organizations through better fiscal management and organizational efficiency. Suzanne has a decade of professional experience focused on strengthening the internal capacity of charitable organizations. She believes that navigating the financial challenges unique to non-profits requires a high level of financial accountability, transparency, and integrity. In her role at Kartemquin, Suzanne is responsible for all aspects of the organization’s financial management, general operations, human resources, compliance, information technology, legal affairs and risk management.

Tim Horsburgh is an independent producer and consultant dedicated to the development, production, marketing, distributing, and impact of award-winning, impactful documentary films.

Serving on Kartemquin staff from 2009-2021, he was most recently Kartemquin’s Director of Film Strategy, leading the organization's original documentaries through their collaborative production model; industry outreach, strategic initiatives, and brand-building; and serving as the point of contact for Kartemquin Producers and Associates.

For over thirty-five years, Jim Morrissette has had extensive experience as both a professional videographer and teacher, supporting his conviction that sharing and access are instrumental to the vitality of the independent production community.

Hillary Bachelder is a documentary director, cinematographer, and editor. She is the former Director of Production at Kartemquin Films and earned both editing and production credits on over a dozen of the company’s critically acclaimed films and series, including the Emmy-award-winning Trials of Muhammad Ali, POV’s Raising Bertie, and Oscar nominated Minding the Gap. In 2015, she was selected to participate in the prestigious Sundance Documentary Edit and Storytelling lab as an up-and-coming editor of promise.

Ian Robertson Kibbe is a freelance filmmaker, writer, producer and musician with over 10 years experience as a producer, director and editor. Ian was the engagement coordinator for the award-winning PBS documentary, The Calling, and its companion campaign, What’s Your Calling (The Kindling Group) and also the engagement coordinator for the Emmy nominated, designer cult hit, Typeface (Kartemquin Films). Ian is currently working on the upcoming Kartemquin documentaries, Raising Bertie and Unbroken Glass. Ian's work has appeared on PBS, CNN, G4, The Health Care Blog, Billboard Magazine and the Huffington Post.

Matt Lauterbach is a documentary filmmaker and editor, an educational media developer, and an advocate for accessible media. He crafts engaging non-fiction content for classrooms, museums, and the big screen.

Leslie Simmer is Kartemquin's Director of Editing as well as Senior Editor on staff.

Rachel Dickson is an independent filmmaker based in Chicago with a background in journalism and Spanish translation. She produced ‘63 Boycott with Kartemquin Films, which was named on the Academy Awards shortlist for Best Documentary Short Subject, won the Jury Award for Best Short Documentary at the Nashville Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, and was an official selection of the Museum of Modern Art Doc Fortnight and the DOC NYC Short List.

Adam D. Singer began working with Kartemquin Films in 1989, spending 5 years on the critically acclaimed documentary Hoop Dreams, and has continued his association with them ever since. He has worked on various productions, both nationally and internationally, as a producer, cameraman and sound recordist.