Aaron Philip Dworkin joined the National Summer Learning Association as Chief Executive Officer in 2019 having most recently served as President of the After-School All-Stars National Network – a non-profit organization providing free afterschool and summer programs to 90,000 low-income students in more than 450 Title I schools in 20 major cities across the United States. Prior to After-School All-Stars, Aaron founded and directed Hoops & Leaders, an acclaimed summer youth leadership and mentoring program in New York City. He also helped support the creation of Up2Us Sports, a national coalition of sports-based youth development programs. Aaron is a frequent presenter at national education conferences, a graduate of Tufts University, a former Coro Fellow in Public Affairs and holds master’s degrees from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He is a member of the 2019 Class of Leadership Greater Washington and serves on the National Board of Directors of the American Camp Association.
Liz McChesney has spent over 30 years as a children’s librarian and served as the Director of Children’s Services for the Chicago Public Library where she and her team transformed summer reading into a broader program called the Summer Learning Challenge which served over 100,000 children annually and earned her numerous national awards. Her work started the national movement to summer learning in public libraries. Today Liz serves NSLA as a Field Consultant and is also the Community Partnerships and Early Childhood Consultant to the Laundry Literacy Coalition and a Senior Advisor at the Urban Libraries Council. Liz is the author of three books and is the 2021 American Library Association Distinguished Service to Children Award winner.
