Juliana Kitten has over 20 years of experience working in the field of homelessness and housing. She started on the first Housing First Team in Philadelphia. She has worked closely with Dr. Sam Tsemberis since 2009. Together they have worked on the AT HOME/Chez Soi, research demonstration project, trained several VA hospitals on the Housing First Model, and provided training and consulting to organizations, local governments, and not-for-profit agencies across the United States. Currently, Juliana is the Assistant City Manager in Greeley, Co. over the homelessness and housing solutions departments. Juliana has her Master's in Social Work from the University of Chicago. She is a huge fan of her husband Scott Kitten, and all animals. The achievement of creating and launching the James Webb Telescope and the subsequent images provide great hope and inspiration for her.

James Mathy is the Administrator of the Milwaukee County Housing Division. James administers Milwaukee County's various housing programs to include the Milwaukee County Housing Authority, HOME and CDBG, homeless programs and real estate development. James is the author of Milwaukee County's Plan to End Chronic Homelessness and has over 25 years of experience in housing and mental health. James holds a Master's Degree in Public Service from Marquette University.

Heidi is passionate about supporting youth and families to thrive, and uplift the voices of young people. She brings an educational background in Social Work and over 20 years of frontline experience working in the youth homelessness sector to her role at A Way Home Canada. Heidi supports the Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Demonstration Lab, providing hands-on coaching, training and program implementation to community partners across Canada, USA and Europe to build their capacity to provide excellent person-centred care and strenghten natural supports to young people and their families. She is devoted to showing up for and making a difference in the lives of young people and practitioners by sharing her learnings, providing support, and building a community across the youth homelessness sector.

Sam Tsemberis, Ph.D., is a clinical-community psychologist who originated the “Housing First” model, an evidence based program for effectively ending homelessness for individuals diagnosed with mental illness and addiction. Housing First programs are successfully implemented across the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Dr. Tsemberis has decades of experience in program operations, training, consultation, and research. He currently serves as CEO of the Pathways Housing First Institute, is on the faculty at UCLA Department of Psychiatry and serves as Executive Director of the UCLA-VA Center of Excellence for Training and Research on Veterans Homelessness and Recovery. He has published widely on the topics of homelessness, mental illness, and addiction and received recognition for Independent Contribution to Practice from the American Psychological Association and awarded the Meritorious Service Cross from the Government of Canada. The Pathways Housing First Institute and DESC founded and continue to convene the Housing First Partners Conference.

Catharine Vandelinde is the Executive Director of Options Bytown, a non-profit supportive housing organisation in Ottawa that provides deeply affordable housing and supports to help individuals leave homelessness and secure stable and affordable housing. Options Bytown operates 4 supportive housing buildings for 128 tenants; a Housing First program that provides access to apartments and mobile supports to over 175 people who have experienced chronic homelessness; and provides homelessness prevention supports to over 1000 people each month who are living in community housing buildings. Prior to coming to Options Bytown in 2017, Catharine worked at the Mental Health Commission of Canada where she supported the implementation of Housing First across Canada. Catharine worked alongside 18 Canadian communities in designing and implementing a homelessness system of care that is rooted in a Housing First Approach. Catharine is also the Chair of the Ottawa Alliance to End Homelessness, chair of the Supportive Housing Network of Ottawa, and a member of the Ottawa Social Housing Network steering committee.

Elena Tsemberis, BA is a third year medical student at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She graduated from Princeton in 2018 with a degree in African-American studies. Her independent research and senior thesis focused on racial disparities in birthweight and pre-term birth. During medical school, she has continued her racial disparities research, focusing on congenital heart disease and long-term care. Elena also served at the President of the Pediatrics Interest Group and as an Orientation Leader during medical school. She is passionate about caring for underserved populations. She is planning on applying for residency in pediatrics next year.