Monday, May 5, 2025
Open today 4 PM - 11 PM
Monday, May 5, 2025
Open today 4 PM - 11 PM
Board of Trustees
Anne Dema, PhD, joined the William Jewell College faculty in 1993 and served as assistant professor, associate professor and professor of chemistry. In 2007, she was appointed Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and President’s Chief of Staff before being named to the Provost’s position in 2010. Anne was appointed to the Linda Hall Library Board of Trustees in 2019 and appointed Vice Chair in 2022. She assumed the role of Board of Trustees Chair in 2024.
Marilyn Bartlett Hebenstreit, Chief Executive Officer of Alaris Capital, LLC, was born and raised in Kansas City. She graduated from Yale University and went on to obtain her master’s degree in Development Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hebenstreit joined the Linda Hall Library Board of Trustees in 2000 and became the Chair in 2003. Her grandfather, Paul D. Bartlett, Sr., was the first Chairman of the Linda Hall Library, and her father and other family members served on the board.
Alison (Ali) Hebenstreit Armistead is a founder and Vice Chairman of Alaris Capital, LLC. Previously, Mrs. Armistead was Vice President of Bartlett and Company with insurance and human resources responsibilities as well as investment oversight of the company’s pooled retirement accounts. Prior to Bartlett, Mrs. Armistead was a Research Associate at Chilton Investment Company, a $3 billion long/short equity fund in New York, NY. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Virginia and a Master of Science in Marketing and Management (Beta Gamma Sigma) from the McIntire School at the University of Virginia.
Michael J. Brown is the co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board for Euronet Worldwide. Mr. Brown is an accomplished entrepreneur with 30 years of combined experience in the computer software and electronics payments business. In 1979 he founded and was CEO of Innovative Software, which developed integrated business software, primarily for personal computers. Innovative Software merged with Informix in 1988. Mr. Brown received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1979, and a Master of Science in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1997.
Mac Everist, MD, MBA is an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Kansas Health System, where he also serves as Vice-Chairman of business and finance and Chief of musculoskeletal imaging in the radiology department. Mac grew up in Kansas City and has been at KU since he completed residency at Mayo Clinic and fellowship at UCSF. His research and clinical work center around sports medicine, cancer imaging, and artificial intelligence. He is a consulting radiologist for the Kansas City Chiefs, KC Royals, KC Current, and KU Jayhawks. Mac graduated from Washington and Lee University (B.S. Chemistry 2002), KU School of Medicine (M.D. 2008) and University of Chicago Booth School of Business (M.B.A. 2018). Mac and his wife, Brynn, have three children and live in Kansas City.
Niles Jager serves as President of his family’s investment office, Lighthouse Capital, in Mission Woods, KS. Niles grew up in the Kansas City area, where he graduated from The Pembroke Hill School before attending DePauw University in Greencastle, IN where he continued his education in economics and political science. Prior to moving back to Kansas City in 2008, Niles spent five years working in politics in Washington, DC, and two years in finance in Chicago, IL. Upon moving back to the area, he went to work for Bartlett & Company where he spent two years working in local grain elevators before transitioning to originating hard red winter wheat at the company’s headquarters. In 2012 joined his father, Eric, to help manage Lighthouse Capital. Today, Niles resides in the Kansas City area with his wife, Lindsay, and their two children. In addition to serving on the Linda Hall Library Board of Trustees, Niles also serves on the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Board of Trustees as well as The Pembroke Hill School Alumni Board.
Carole Kamin is an emeritus member of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History advisory board and a longtime member of Carnegie Museum of Art's Women's Committee. She worked as a buyer and manager for the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History gift shops.
John MacDonald is Chief Investment Officer of Chinquapin Trust Company, and he has been associated with the company and its predecessor entities for more than 40 years. Mr. MacDonald serves in a variety of not-for-profit board and advisory capacities, including the St. Luke’s Health System Board of Directors and the Truman Library Institute. He graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and received his Master of Business Administration degree in 1972 from The Ohio State University.
Louis Muglia, MD, PhD is President and CEO of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, an independent nonprofit research foundation in Research Triangle Park, NC, accelerating discovery in the biomedical sciences. Previously, he served as Vice Chair for Research, Director of the Division of Human Genetics, Co-Director of the Perinatal Institute, and Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The goal of the Muglia laboratory has been to understand the molecular machinery comprising the biological clock that determines the timing for birth, and how this is shaped by the environment, to prevent or better treat human preterm delivery utilizing genetic and comparative genomic approaches. Among Dr. Muglia’s achievements are more than 300 publications and election to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.
Nick Powell is owner and President of Colt Energy, Inc., which is engaged in oil and gas exploration, development, and production in Kansas. Mr. Powell is a past president of both the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association and the Eastern Kansas Oil and Gas Association and currently serves on both organizations' board of directors. Mr. Powell also serves on the boards of the Kansas Policy Institute, Country Club Bank, and Powell Gardens. He received his B.A. in Economics from Tulane University and currently resides in Mission Hills, Kansas, with his wife Mary Ann. He has three grown children and two grandchildren.
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado is the Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer at the Stowers Institute in Kansas City. Prior to Stowers, he spent time at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is presently Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a faculty member at the Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. A native of Venezuela, Sánchez Alvarado moved to the United States to study molecular biology and chemistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee before earning his PhD in pharmacology and cell biophysics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
International Advisory Committee
The International Advisory Committee (or IAC) offers insights that inform our public programs and research opportunities that expand our intellectual reach with national and international organizations.
Katie Atkinson received her B.S. and PhD both in Computer Information Systems from the University of Liverpool. Her research is on computational models of argument, a topic within the general field of artificial intelligence and law, specifically computational argumentation for modeling legal reasoning. Atkinson has published over 150 research papers and has served as President of the International Association for AI and Law.
Lori Baker holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Baylor University and a PhD from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She specializes in molecular and forensic analysis of skeletal remains and is the founder and executive director of Reuniting Families, a program that aids in the identification and repatriation of undocumented immigrants who perish during migration to the United States.
Debjani Bhattacharyya holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Jadavpur University, India, and a doctorate from Emory University. From 2014 until 2021 she was on the faculty of Drexel University. Bhattacharyya has held numerous prestigious fellowships in the United States, Europe, and Asia; and has edited numerous scholarly journals. Her current project is a concept-history of cyclones as objects of scientific knowledge production, actuarial practices, and the administration of law.
Photo: Anita Affentranger
For more than 25 years David Gallo has been at the forefront of ocean exploration, participating in the development of innovative technologies and scientific discoveries that shape our view of planet earth. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from SUNY-Albany, and a PhD in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island.
Professor Kurahashi Neilson’s research centers on high-energy neutrinos, high-energy particle astrophysics, and particle physics. Her efforts are involved in the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory. Kurahashi Neilson earned her PhD from Stanford University by listening acoustically to extremely high-energy neutrinos in the Bahamian ocean. Her research group at Drexel works to resolve high-energy neutrino sources in the sky.
Robert Peters works as Senior Legal Officer (head of division) for the German Federal Minister of State for Culture and the Media in Berlin since 2009. In 2018-2022 he worked at the German Federal Foreign Office in the division of Multilateral Cultural Policy and was part of the team negotiating the return of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. In 2008, he worked as Assistant Legal Officer in the Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. He has studied International and European Law in Berlin, Bologna, Hamburg, and Florence and obtained his Ph.D. at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, in the field of International Cultural Heritage Law. In 2017-2023 he was a member of the ICOM Ethics Committee (ETHCOM) and since 2023 he is a member of the ICOM Legal Affairs Committee (LEAC).
Kevin Truman holds B.A. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from Washington University, a B.A. in mathematics and physics from Monmouth College, and a PhD in civil engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology. His research concerns optimal seismic designs of structural systems, creating tools for analyzing construction of massive concrete structures, structural optimization to detect real-time damage, and innovations in STEM education, recruitment, and retention.
Ex Officio Members
Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado is the Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer at the Stowers Institute in Kansas City. Prior to Stowers, he spent time at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is presently Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a faculty member at the Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. A native of Venezuela, Sánchez Alvarado moved to the United States to study molecular biology and chemistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee before earning his PhD in pharmacology and cell biophysics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Dr. Eric Dorfman is President and CEO of Linda Hall Library. Prior to his current role, Eric was a Research Professor at North Carolina State University and the CEO of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Before this, he was Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History and an adjunct professor at University of Pittsburgh. In both Pittsburgh and Raleigh, he sat on the executive boards of the cities’ respective tourism agencies. Eric lived for many years in New Zealand, where he was Director of Whanganui Regional Museum and lectured in Museums Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington.
He earned his doctorate from The University of Sydney on scale-dependent habitat use of waterbirds in eastern and central Australia. Prior to this, he completed a master’s degree at Moss Landing Marine Laboratory through California State University, San José, studying the behavioral ecology harbor porpoises in Monterey Bay. He earned a degree in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution from the University of California, San Diego.
Eric is author of five popular books on New Zealand natural history, climate change, and museology, as well as scholarly papers on museum education, public programming, Egyptology and the ecology of wetland birds. His most recent book is The Future of Natural History Museums (Routledge 2018). He is also on the editorial board of Museum Worlds: Advances in Research.
Eric is a frequent public speaker and presenter. His most recent podcast, Love Nature, was ranked by listenership in the top 10% of podcasts worldwide. He is due to be co-presenting a new podcast through the Linda Hall, to launch later this year.
Anne Dema, PhD, joined the William Jewell College faculty in 1993 and served as assistant professor, associate professor and professor of chemistry. In 2007, she was appointed Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and President’s Chief of Staff before being named to the Provost’s position in 2010. Anne was appointed to the Linda Hall Library Board of Trustees in 2019 and appointed Vice Chair in 2022. She assumed the role of Board of Trustees Chair in 2024.
Marilyn Bartlett Hebenstreit, Chief Executive Officer of Alaris Capital, LLC, was born and raised in Kansas City. She graduated from Yale University and went on to obtain her master’s degree in Development Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hebenstreit joined the Linda Hall Library Board of Trustees in 2000 and became the Chair in 2003. Her grandfather, Paul D. Bartlett, Sr., was the first Chairman of the Linda Hall Library, and her father and other family members served on the board.