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Casandra Hockenberry is a Program Manager with The Council of State Governments Center of Innovation, where she works across a broad number of initiatives at the crossroads of data, technology and improved outcomes for citizens. She manages the Apprenticeship Data Alignment and Performance Technical Assistance Center, which is dedicated to assisting states to improve their data collection on apprentices in order to support successful programs throughout the country, the Overseas Voting Initiative, which researches ways to improve the voting process for military and overseas citizens.

Melissa Coulston is Partnership Coordinator at Kentucky Refugee Ministries Lexington, where she has worked since 2022. Her role at KRM involves wearing many different hats depending on the day, but she primarily works to engage central Kentucky communities to support KRM's work to welcome forcibly displaced newcomers. Prior to her work in refugee resettlement and newcomer welcome, Melissa served in various positions in academic, public, and government libraries in Kentucky and South Carolina.

Shawntaye Hopkins is the Marketing and Communications Director at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law. Before landing at the University of Kentucky, Shawntaye worked as a newspaper reporter, a public relations specialist at another university, and as a communications associate for a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization serving state governments. Shawntaye has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Western Kentucky University. Her hobbies include reading and writing about books, mostly fiction.