FIONA GIVENS
Fiona was born in Nairobi, educated in British convent schools, and converted to the LDS church in Frankfurt. She graduated summa cum laude/phi beta kappa from the University of Richmond with degrees in French and German, then earned an M.A. in European History while co-raising the last of her six children. Fiona was director of the French Language program at Patrick Henry High School, in Ashland, Virginia. Besides education, she has worked in translation services, as a lobbyist, and as communications director of a non-profit. She has published in Exponent II, Sunstone, LDS Living, Journal of Mormon History and Dialogue. Fiona is also a frequent speaker on podcasts and at conferences from Time out for Women to Sunstone. A longtime collaborator in the books of her husband, Terryl Givens, she is the co-author of The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life and Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest for Faith.
NEYLAN MCBAINE
Neylan is the Founder and CEO of the Seneca Council which provides independent assessments of companies' gender culture and awards the GO (Gender Optimized) Certification to qualifying companies. Before Seneca, she was most recently the Chief Marketing Officer for an educational technology company called Brain Chase.
Neylan is also the founder of the Mormon Women Project, a non-profit dedicated to mobilizing Mormon women by telling their stories and exploring opportunities for increasing their voice within the church institution. Most recently, Neylan's book Women at Church, which explores possibilities for increased female participation in LDS administration, has been called "a monumental piece of work," "pivotal," and "a remarkable resource that belongs in every Latter-day Saint home." Her work has been anthologized in The Essential Writings of Mormon Feminism, and she is a contributor to the recently published A Book of Mormons, A Reason for Faith and several other compilations. Neylan is a graduate of Yale University in English Literature. She is the mother of three daughters and lives in Salt Lake City.
JANA RIESS
Jana Riess is the author of many books, including Flunking Sainthood: Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor and The Twible: All the Chapters of the Bible in 140 Characters or Less . . . Now with 68% More Humor! She has recently conducted a national survey of four generations of current and former Latter-day Saints, which will be discussed in depth in the forthcoming book The Next Mormons: The Rising Generation of Latter-day Saints in America. She has a PhD in American religious history from Columbia University and lives in Cincinnati, OH, where she serves as a counselor in the Relief Society presidency.
MARGARET BLAIR YOUNG
Margaret has written six novels and two short story collections and teaches creative writing at BYU. With her co-author, Darius Gray, she has been researching and writing about race issues in the LDS Church and about black Mormon pioneers since 1998. She also writes academically about African American history in the western United States. She has scripted and co-produced three documentaries and is now working on her first feature film, titled "Companions." The film is set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Margaret is involved in a number of projects, primarily focused on education and peace building. Her journey as a writer and filmmaker has been much easier than her journey as a mother, though she treasures the many ways parenthood has stretched her, and is in some awe of her children. She and Bruce Young have two sons and two daughters, and four grandchildren.