Stephen L. Percy directs the Center for Urban Initiatives and Research at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and is also the chancellor's deputy for The Milwaukee Idea. He has been a campus leader in forging community-university partnerships between UWM and Milwaukee communities, including the implementation of a five-year Community Outreach Partnership Center funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development. He is co principal investigator and project director for a $3 million Carnegie Corporation grant for Teachers for a New Era and director of the Knowledge Management Component at the Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management at UM. A member of the UWM faculty since 1988, he currently serves as professor of p political science and professor of urban studies with research interests focused on urban policy, organization of local governance, and policy evaluation. He is also author of numerous books and articles, including Disability, Civil Rights and Public Policy: The Politics of Implementation (University of Alabama Press, 1989), which received the Outstanding Book Award by the Gustavus Meyers Center of Human Rights in the United States. He served on the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission of State and Local Relations for the 21st Century. He is a recipient of the UWM Alumni Association's Distinguished Public Service Award.

Nancy L. Zimpher became the president of the University of Cincinnati in 2003, after serving for five years as chancellor of UWM. Her career also includes the deanship of the College of Education and executive deanship of the Professional colleges at The Ohio State University in Columbus. An author and editor of books on higher education and teacher education, she served as president of the Holmes Partnership from 199602001 and as a member of the Executive Board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. She currently chairs the Commission on Internal Programs for the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grand Colleges (NASULGC) and has served as a member of the American Council on Education's Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness Commission. She serves on the boards of NASULGC and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Dr. Zimpher has participated on numerous state and regional as well as civic and community commissions and boards. She cochairs he Ohio Board of Regents' Articulation and Transfer Advisory Council and is the Inter-university Council representative to the Ohio Board of regents' Funding Commission. She has served on several statewide commissions and councils, including the Ohio Board of Regents/Ohio Board of Education Joint Council, the Wisconsin Governor’s Task Force on Technical Education, and the Wisconsin State Superintendent's Blue Ribbon Commission of the Arts and Education. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education's Chief Executive Leadership Award, the Distinguished Research Award from the Association of Teacher Educators and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction State Superintendent's Friend of Education Award. She is also included in the Ohio Womens' Hall of Fame.

Mary Jane Brukardt serves as associate to the president at Eastern Washington University, in Cheney, Washington, facilitating strategic planning for the university. A writer and consultant to higher education for more than two decades, she also served as senior writer for Chancellor Zimpher at UWM and was director of communications for The Milwaukee Idea. With Nancy Zimpher and Stephenn Percy she coauthored A Time for Boldness: A Story of Institutional Change (Anker, 2002). Other publications for which she has provided editorial support include Crossing Boundaries: the Urban Education Imperative (2004), a joint report from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges; A Call to Leadership: The Presidential Role in Internationalizing the University (2004), a report of the NASULGC Task Force on International Education; and Calling the Question: Is Higher Education Ready to Commit to Community Engagement? (UWM 2004), coauthored with Barbara Holland, Stephen Percy, and Nancy Zimpher. She has also edited a philanthropic journal and a two-volume history of The Johnson Foundation and Wingspread. She has received awards for print publications and web site development from the Public Relations Society of America and from the Council on Foundations.