Speakers

Elected April 2019, Mark Wasserstrom is currently Board member representing Subdistrict 5, which includes the Southeast High School sector as well as the UMKC/Rockhurst area. He received his Bachelor’s of Recent American History (with distinction) from Harvard and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He set up two Scottish Rite foundations, including the Childhood Language Disorders Clinic. He has done extensive community relations between faith communities. He has worked for equity In the workplace through the Missouri Commission on the Status of Women and the Jackson County Commission on Human Rights. A graduate of the Kansas City Public Schools, his proudest accomplishment has been raising two sons in the public schools, one a government auditor graduated from K State and the other a professional musician graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Dr. Patrick Hammond graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City in 1997. He practiced in Westwood, Kansas until 2003 when he opened Hammond Chiropractic Center in June of 2003.

Jan Sokoloff Harness is the award-winning creative force behind Sokoloff Harness Communications, the firm she launched in 2002. During her years in communications, Jan has written for Doonesbury, promoted Yoko Ono, and guided Desmond Tutu around town. She has interviewed movie stars, killers and kids. She has written everything from annual reports to PSAs, from calendars to brochures, from ad campaigns to bookmarks. She has it covered from A-Z. Jan’s professional background includes lengthy stints as: Creative Director, Blades & Associates; Communications Consultant, Corporate Communications Group; Assistant Director, UMKC Office of University Communications; and News Director, KUDL-FM 98 and WHB-710 AM.

"Look Up: Your Unexpected Guide to Good" is the reminder we need right now: No matter how grim the headlines might be, there is still kindness, beauty, and joy all around us. It’s up to each of us to see the good, share it, and create more of it. How to start? Look Up. Drawing (sometimes literally) on her experiences as a journalist, wife, mother, daughter, and mensch, Jan shares advice she’s gathered from a wealth of wise sources.