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. 

Bob Hercules is an independent filmmaker and co-owner of Media Process Group. His recent films include Bill T. Jones: A Good Man (American Masters 2011, Full Frame/Silverdocs/IDFA/DOXA, 2011), Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance (American Masters, 2012), Forgiving Dr. Mengele (Slamdance Special Jury Prize, 2006) and Senator Obama Goes to Africa (seen in over 100 countries in 2007-08). He is currently Executive Producer on The Schools Project.

Rachel Dickson is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Chicago. Before working in film, she worked as a print and radio journalist in Latin America. She is currently the Supervising Producer of The School Project, a series of short documentaries and webisodes about public education collaboratively produced by Kartemquin Films, Kindling Group, Media Process Group, Siskel/Jacobs Productions, and Free Spirit Media.

Jon Siskel of Siskel/Jacobs Productions is a veteran filmmaker whose work has been seen widely on Discovery Channel, OWN, A & E and the National Geographic Channel. Their most recent film, Louder Than a Bomb was shown on OWN in 2012 and won the Audience Award at the Chicago, Philadelphia, Palm Springs, Cleveland and Woods Hole film festivals. They also produced the Emmy award-winning 102 Minutes That Changed America for the History Channel in 2009. Prior to SJP, JON SISKEL was executive producer and co-creator of the series "Fake Out", which ran for two seasons on Court TV. He has produced shows for the A&E series Investigative Reports and Biography, and his work has been shown on the Travel Channel, Discovery, and History. Jon serves on the board of directors of Free Spirit Media, a Chicago-based youth media organization. He is a co-director on The Schools Project.

Greg Jacobs of Siskel/Jacobs Productions is a veteran filmmaker whose work has been seen widely on Discovery Channel, OWN, A & E and the National Geographic Channel. Their most recent film, Louder Than a Bomb was shown on OWN in 2012 and won the Audience Award at the Chicago, Philadelphia, Palm Springs, Cleveland and Woods Hole film festivals. They also produced the Emmy award-winning 102 Minutes That Changed America for the History Channel in 2009. Prior to SJP, GREG JACOBS served as VP/Chief Creative Officer at Towers Productions, where he oversaw the content of more than two hundred documentaries on five different networks, including award-winning shows and series for A&E, History, Discovery, The Weather Channel, and CNN. A graduate of Yale University, Greg has a master's degree in history from Ohio State, and is the author of Getting Around Brown: Desegregation, Development, and the Columbus Public Schools.

Jeff McCarter is the Founder & Executive Director of Free Spirit Media, which he created in order to share his experience as a media professional (cameraman, editor, and Emmy Award-winning producer) with youth from under-resourced communities. In mainstream media, Jeff witnessed the lack of diversity in both representation and opportunity. Now, Free Spirit Media cultivates diverse youth voices to transform media and society. Jeff was a founding co-chair of the Chicago Youth Voices Network and serves on Chicago’s Committee for Media Access. He is a thought leader in the fields of youth media education and digital media and learning, and has presented at multiple conferences, including DML (Digital Media and Learning) and ACM (Alliance for Community Media).

Melissa Sterne is an editor whose recent credits include "Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance" which aired on the PBS series American Masters in 2012, was the opening film at the Dance on Camera Film Festival at Lincoln Center, and had a national theatrical release, playing in over 130 theaters. She also edited "Radicle Disciple: The Story of Father Michael Pfleger" which garnered 3 stars from Roger Ebert, won Best Documentary at the Big Muddy Film Festival, aired on PBS, and has shown at film festivals throughout the world. Other credits include "2012: The Beginning" which was broadcast throughout Europe and South America, and "Senator Obama Goes to Africa" which was broadcast in over 100 countries. She is currently editor and post-production supervisor for The Schools Project as well as producing one of the trans-media segments.

Danny Alpert is an award-winning producer, director, and leader in using media for change. As Executive Director of Kindling Group, his documentaries (@home, The Calling, Do No Harm, A Doula Story) have aired on HBO, PBS, and around the world, sparking engagement campaigns with enduring impact. As co-founder of See3 Communications, Alpert’s online media and campaigns for social causes have advanced the work of organizations like UNICEF, World Wildlife Fund, Planned Parenthood, American Cancer Society, and the Kellogg Foundation. The cross-pollination of Danny’s documentary and interactive work fuels innovation and his belief in the power media as a tool for change. He is a co-producer on The School Project.

Rachel produced the award-winning documentary The Trials of Muhammad Ali, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS's Independent Lens in 2014. Prior to that, she served as co-producer on Kartemquin's Mormon Movie, American Arab, and On Beauty, and Associate Producer on A Good Man, broadcast on PBS American Masters in 2011. In 2014, Rachel joined the staff at Siskel/Jacobs Productions as its Director of Production. In that capacity, she produces and directs a number of feature documentaries, web shorts, nonprofit videos, and branded content.

Laura Wilson is a writer, producer, and editor who joined Kindling Group as Associate Director in January 2013. Laura received her M.A. in International Development Studies from George Washington University, where she focused on the role of digital media in promoting social justice and democracy, including fieldwork and production in Cambodia and Ghana. She also earned a graduate certificate from the GWU Institute for Documentary Film. In 2011, Laura moved from D.C. home to Chicago to write video scripts and emails for President Obama's re-election campaign. She is passionate about online organizing and compelling storytelling, and bringing the two together to inspire people to take action in their communities. She is social media producer on The Schools Project.

Keith, co-owner and director of photography for Media Process Group, has shot hundreds of broadcast segments for shows like 60-minutes, Oprah’s Next Chapter, Dateline, and HBO Real Sports, as well as numerous award-winning documentaries for PBS, NBC and CBS. He also shot many corporate marketing and educational projects for clients like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Gates Foundation, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Starbucks.

Ines Sommer is a Chicago-based documentary filmmaker, who frequently collaborates with other filmmakers as a cinematographer. Ines' camera work has been featured in several productions for Chicago's legendary Kartemquin Films, including Maria Finitzo's Peabody Award-winning Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita and Joanna Rudnick's Emmy-nominated In the Family. She shot on two PBS Frontline programs directed by Marian Marzynski and a number of Kindling Group documentaries: A Doula Story: On the Frontlines of Teen Pregnancy, "The Calling" , and the forthcoming @home. Other recent credits include Mary Fishman's A Band of Sisters, Ethan Bensinger's Refuge: Stories of the Selfhelp Home, and Pamela Sherrod Anderson's award-winning The Curators of Dixon School, which Ines shot and co-produced.