New Yorker staff writer & Author of seven books most recently The Table Comes First

Adam Gopnik is a widely known writer, essayist, commentator and lecturer. For over 30 years, he has been a prominent staff writer at The New Yorker, to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism. He is also the author of several books, some of which include Paris to the Moon, Through the Children’s Gate, and The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food. In a recent article titled “Why Teach English?”, Mr. Gopnik makes an argument that university English departments and English majors democratize the practice of reading, and ultimately closes, with passionate authority, that “The reason we need the humanities is because we’re human. That’s enough.” @adamgopnik

Scholarship Committee Chair

Candice Braun is originally from Virginia, where she graduated from James Madison University ('92) with a B.S. in Finance. After moving to New York in 1997, she decided to find a career where she could combine her finance background and her life-long passion for raising money for non-profits. Until September 2001, she worked at UJA-Federation, focusing on event-planning and major gifts development. Before moving to New York City, Candice lived and worked in London at Lloyd's of London. Candice has served on the board of directors of JCP: The Jewish Community Project Downtown and as the President of the Rodeph Sholom School Parents Association. Candice is married to Ben Braun and is the mom of Jack, Annie, and Mateo. Her hobbies include reading, walking, traveling, vegan baking/cooking and advocating and fundraising for causes and organizations dear to her heart, including food allergy awareness, suicide prevention, rare cancers, homelessness, Writopia Lab, and For His Children orphanage in Ecuador.

Co-Chair, Executive Committee

Kimberly Hartman is founder of KH Designs, an interior design firm in New York City. Prior to design, Ms. Hartman was Vice President of Human Resources and Facilities for Trust Company of the West. She also serves on the Board for the Bronx Charter School for Excellence, Temple Emanu El 's Mitzvah Board and UJA Manhattan Women's Philanthropy Board. Ms. Hartman earned a BA at Tufts University and an MBA in Finance from the Leonard Stern School of Business at NYU.

New York Times bestselling author of The History of Love and Great House

Nicole Krauss is American author best known for her novels Man Walks Into a Room (2002), The History of Love (2005) and Great House (2010), which have been translated into over 35 languages. Her fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, and Granta's Best American Novelists Under 40, and has been collected in Best American Short Stories 2003 and Best American Short Stories 2008. In 2010, she was selected by The New Yorker for their "20 Under 40" list. Learn more about Nicole Krauss at her website.

New York Times bestselling author of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics

Stephen J. Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality. He is best-known for writing, along with the economist Steven D. Levitt, Freakonomics (2005) and SuperFreakonomics (2009), which have sold more than 5 million copies in 35 languages. Since, they have collaborated on Think Like a Freak (2014) and When to Rob a Bank (2015). Dubner is also the author of Turbulent Souls/Choosing My Religion (1998), Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper (2003), and the children's book The Boy With Two Belly Buttons (2007). His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time, and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Crime Writing, and others. To learn more about Stephen Dubner, please visit his website.

Writer for “Late Night with David Letterman”

Steve Young is a television writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Night with David Letterman." In addition to being a comedy writer, he is a lecturuer, collector, author, photographer, and songwriter. His previous writing credits include the The Harvard Lampoon, The Simpsons season eight episode "Hurricane Neddy," Not Necessarily the News, an Annie Award-winning screenplay adaption of the holiday book Olive, the Other Reindeer, and Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals, co-authored with Sport Murphy, an illustrated history of musicals written for company conventions and sales meetings, told through the rare souvenir record albums. Learn more about Steve by visiting his website.

New York Times bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking

Susan Cain is a writer, lecturer, and author of the 2012 non-fiction book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, which argues that modern Western culture misunderstands and undervalues the traits and capabilities of introverted people. In 2015, Cain co-founded Quiet Revolution, a mission-based company with initiatives in the areas of children (parenting and education), lifestyle, and the workplace. Follow Susan Cain on Twitter.