Lauren Markham is a California based-writer covering issues of migration, justice and the environment. Her work has appeared in outlets such as the Atlantic, Harper's, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine and VQR, where she is a contributing editor. She is the author of "A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging", and the award-winning book about child migrants entitled "The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life". Markham has also spent over fifteen years working at the intersection of education and immigration.

Jim retired in March 2021 as president of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, a position he held for two decades; he is now its president emeritus. He served as Interim Executive Director of the Santa Fe Council on International Relations for seven months ending in March 2022 and is currently a member of the Board and chair of programs. Jim’s interest in travel and global affairs grew from his years spent in Tunisia where he attended a French lycée. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and earned his MA in Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia with a focus on international law and Middle East politics. Jim co-hosts McCuistion/Perspectives, a public affairs program, on KERA-Dallas. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of Morocco.