Hank Phillippi Ryan

Emcee

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Hank Phillippi Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of 15 psychological thrillers, winning the most prestigious awards in the genre: five Agathas, five Anthonys, and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, with 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors. National book critics call her “a superb and gifted storyteller” and “master of suspense.” She’s the only author to win the Agatha in four categories: Best First, Best Novel, Best Short Story and Best Non-Fiction. Her newest is the page-turning standalone thriller One Wrong Word—a twisty non-stop story of gaslighting, manipulation, and murder. David Baldacci says, “A story with all the goods… Buckle up and read.” B.A. Paris says, “A gripping rollercoaster of a read… This is Hank at her very best!” And James Patterson says, “If you’re looking for riveting suspense that keeps you up late—in One Wrong Word you get your wish.”

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Hank is a founder of MWA University, host of CRIME TIME on A Mighty Blaze, and co-host of First Chapter Fun and The Back Room.

Tamara Lanier

Author

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Tamara K. Lanier is a tireless champion for truth and justice—and a plaintiff in the Lanier v. Harvard reparations lawsuit. She is a descendant of Papa Renty. She is also a twenty-seven-year veteran of the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, where she retired as a Chief Probation Officer. Lanier has a long and distinguished record of public service and social advocacy. She is a board member of Connecticut's Racial Profiling Prohibition Project, the past Vice President of the New London NAACP, and an active member of The Saint John’s Christian Church of Groton, Connecticut. Lanier has several passions, one of which is to eradicate racial and ethnic disparities in Connecticut’s Criminal Justice System and to put an end to the ugly practice of racial profiling. She has been a constant voice for change and has traveled the country promoting the need for a national dialogue relative to slavery and its impact on society. She lives in Norwich, Connecticut.

Nita Prose

Author

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Nita Prose is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, celebrated for her breakout novel The Maid, which has sold over two million copies worldwide and been translated into more than forty languages. The Maid became a Good Morning America Book Club pick and won several prestigious awards, including the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction, the Fingerprint Award for Debut Novel of the Year, the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the Barry Award for Best First Mystery. It was also a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Novel.

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Before becoming a full-time author, Prose had a successful career in publishing, holding senior editorial roles at major publishing houses, including Simon & Schuster Canada, where she worked with internationally bestselling authors like Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware. Her background as an editor has shaped her keen understanding of storytelling, character development, and pacing—skills that shine through in her writing.

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The idea for The Maid came to her unexpectedly during a business trip. While staying in a hotel, she returned to her room and encountered a maid working quietly, almost unseen. That moment sparked the creation of Molly, her now-beloved protagonist—a character whose unique perspective on the world makes her both vulnerable and formidable.

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Prose has continued Molly’s story with The Mystery Guest (2023) and a novella, The Mistletoe Mystery (2024), with The Maid’s Secret set for release in 2025. Her work is praised for its heartwarming yet suspenseful storytelling, exploring themes of human connection, social invisibility, and resilience.

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When she’s not writing, Prose remains engaged in the literary world, balancing her own work with mentoring emerging writers. She lives in Toronto with her partner, Tony, and shares insights into her writing process with readers through social media and her website, nitaprose.com.

Lisa Genova

Author​

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​Acclaimed as the Oliver Sacks of fiction and the Michael Crichton of brain science, Lisa Genova has captured a special place in contemporary fiction, writing stories that are equally inspired by neurological conditions and our shared human condition. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels STILL ALICE, LEFT NEGLECTED, LOVE ANTHONY, and INSIDE THE O'BRIENS. 

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​Her first work of nonfiction, REMEMBER: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting,  was an instant New York Times bestseller.

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Her most recent novel, MORE OR LESS MADDY, was an instant #1 bestseller in Canada.

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​STILL ALICE spent 59 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into 37 languages. It was adapted into a film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Film adaptations for INSIDE THE O'BRIENS, EVERY NOTE PLAYED, LEFT NEGLECTED, and MORE OR LESS MADDY are in development.

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​STILL ALICE was adapted for the stage by Christine Mary Dunford and premiered at the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago in April 2013. It has since toured worldwide.

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​Lisa has appeared on Live with Kelly &Ryan, the TODAY show, CNN, PBS Newshour, Dr. Oz, and NPR and has been featured in the PBS specials Build a Better Memory Through Science and Supercharge Your Brain, as well as the documentary films To Not Fade Away and Have You Heard About Greg. Her TED talks on memory and Alzheimer's have been viewed over eleven million times.  A sought-after speaker/edutainer, she has headlined in speaker series alongside Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Gloria Steinem, Jay Leno, Malala Yousafzai, Bryan Stevenson, and Goldie Hawn.

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She received The Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square, for "distinguished storytelling that has enriched the public dialogue," The Sargent and Eunice Shriver Profiles in Dignity Award, The Global Genes RARE Champions of Hope Award, and The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Media Award for "informing the public about treatment and ongoing research in medical illness." 

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Lisa Genova graduated valedictorian, summa cum laude from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University.

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She has received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bates College, The Alzheimer's Association's Rita Hayworth Award, The Huntington’s Disease Society of America Community Awareness Award, and the Grubby Award for literary excellence.

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​She serves on the Advisory Boards for The Women's Alzheimer's Movement, HFC (Hilarity for Charity), and Compassionate Care ALS.

Claudia Goldin

Economist. Historian. Trailblazer.

Woman of the Year​

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Claudia Goldin is the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University and holds the Lee and Ezpeleta Professorship of Arts & Sciences at Harvard University. She was the director of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Development of the American Economy program from 1989 to 2017 and is a co-director of the NBER's Gender in the Economy group. Goldin was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes.”

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An economic historian and a labor economist, Goldin's research covers a wide range of topics, including the female labor force, the gender gap in earnings, income inequality, technological change, education, and immigration. Most of her research interprets the present through the lens of the past and explores the origins of current issues of concern. Her most recent book is Career & Family: Women's Century-Long Journey toward Equity (Princeton University Press, 2021), which has been translated into 15 languages.

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She is the author and editor of several books, among them Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women (Oxford 1990), and Women Working Longer: Increased Employment at Older Ages (with L. Katz; Chicago 2018). 

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Goldin is best known for her historical work on women in the U.S. economy. Her most influential papers in that area have concerned the history of women’s quest for career and family, coeducation in higher education, the impact of the “Pill” on women’s career and marriage decisions, women’s surnames after marriage as a social indicator, the reasons why women are now the majority of undergraduates, and the new lifecycle of women’s employment. 

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Goldin was the president of the American Economic Association in 2013 and was president of the Economic History Association in 1999/2000. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society and a fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society of Labor Economists (SOLE), the Econometric Society, and the Cliometric Society. She received the IZA Prize in Labor Economics in 2016 and in 2009 SOLE awarded Goldin the Mincer Prize for life-time contributions to the field of labor economics. She received the 2019 BBVA Frontiers in Knowledge award and the 2020 Nemmers award, both in economics. From 1984 to 1988 she was editor of the Journal of Economic History.  She is the recipient of several teaching awards. Goldin received her B.A. from Cornell University and her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.