As the co-founder and CEO of the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, Nicole Hockley works every day to protect children from gun and school violence. Nicole chose to transform unspeakable grief and anguish into action after her youngest son, Dylan, was murdered in his first-grade classroom during the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Sandy Hook Promise Foundation is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and empowering youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities. Under Nicole’s leadership, the research-driven Know The Signs violence prevention programs were created and are now available to schools at no cost. More than 18.5 million have participated in these life-saving programs in 23,000+ schools and youth organizations nationwide. As a result, countless acts of violence have been averted – including at least 14 planned school attacks – saving precious lives and helping youth get much-needed mental health support. Nicole is a leading voice on school safety and gun violence prevention, rising above the political divide over gun control, focusing instead on helping young people get the help they need. She is a sought-after keynote speaker and commenter, sharing expertise on recognizing the warning signs of someone who may be in crisis or at risk of harming themselves or others, and how to safely intervene. She has presented several TEDx Talks, her opinion editorials have been published by Newsweek, CNN, USA Today, and InStyle, and her commentary has been featured in CNN, MSNBC, Newsy, ABC, CBS, and NBC news coverage, among countless other media outlets. Nicole received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Fairfield University in 2022 and was recognized in 2016 by People magazine as one of 25 Women Changing the World. But her favorite recognition is for being the best Mom she can to her surviving son, Jake.

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Pardeep Kaleka is a hate and violence prevention advisor and Co-Executive Director of Not In Our Town. He is a de-radicalization and trauma psychotherapist, assisting individuals offramp from violent ideologies. Pardeep is a faculty member in the Peace Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the author of The Gifts of Our Wounds, and an award-winning columnist with the Milwaukee Independent. In 2012, following the murder of his father in the hate crime killings at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, he co-founded Serve2Unite, an organization nationally recognized for bridging school and community groups. As a first-generation immigrant from India, Mr. Kaleka has spent more than 25 years in the public arenas of law enforcement, education, social services, counseling, and assisting hate crime survivors and perpetrators across the United States with recovery. Pardeep is the former executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee and has worked on numerous coalition-building efforts across ethnic, racial, and religious differences. With a specialization in understanding the impacts of communal trauma, he has developed policies and practices to help mental health workers, social service practitioners, law enforcement agents, and educators build healthier, safer, more inclusive communities across the U.S. Pardeep understands that genuine healing must happen both internally and externally and that we all must empower one another to communicate, connect, and create a world that is less hateful and divided.