At its summer meeting, the KCUR Community Advisory Board unanimously elected a slate of three new members: Casey Claps, Patricia Gaston and Candice Millard.
Casey Claps is the Director of External Affairs for Kanbe’s Markets, a food justice organization based in Kansas City that is working to build a more inclusive food system by transforming food loss into food access. Previously, she was the Director of Earned Revenue for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art where she led multiple business units and developed strategies for increasing sales and profit. She sits on the board of KC Lyric Opera, co-organized 2018 TedxKC Women, and mentored at Amethyst place for 10 years. She holds an MBA from UMKC Bloch School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Rutgers University.
Patricia E. (Weems) Gaston joined the University of Kansas in 2018 after a long, stellar career at The Washington Post, where she was an editor who worked on several desks including National, Foreign and Editorial. Gaston, who is a Kansas City native, graduated from the William Allen White School of Journalism and went on to receive a master's degree in sports management from The George Washington University. Before going to the Post in 1997, Gaston worked at the Dallas Morning News, where she was co-editor of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning series on violence against women.
Candice Millard is the author of four books, all New York Times bestsellers. She has won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime and the PEN Center USA award for Research Nonfiction, and was the recipient of the 2017 BIO Award. Millard's work has been named a Barnes & Nobel Discover Great Writers selection, a Book Sense pick, an Indie Next Pick, a finalist for the Quill Awards, a top ten critics pick by the New York Times, and Amazon's number one history (2016). She has written for the New York Times Book Review, National Geographic, and Time Magazine.
"We are absolutely thrilled that these three powerful women are joining the Community Advisory Board this year," says KCUR general manager Sarah Morris. "They are joining the diverse array of Kansas City area leaders to provide insights, advice and guidance to the work of KCUR."
Click here to learn more about the KCUR Community Advisory Board.