Michelle L. Malkin, JD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology and the Director of the Gambling Research and Policy Initiative (GRPI) at East Carolina University. Dr. Malkin's research interests include a focus on gambling-related harms, gambling-motivated crime, and the gambling prevalence, behavior, and risk of historically oppressed, marginalized, and under-researched populations. Her research has been recently published in journals such as the Journal of Gambling Studies and the Journal of Gambling Issues. Her dissertation on Problem Gambling, General Strain Theory, and Gender received the 2022 Dr. Durand Jacobs Dissertation Award from the National Council on Problem Gambling. She received the 2024 ECU Early Trendsetter Award for her research on gambling-related issues and has also been awarded ECU's Innovator of the Month Award for her creation and copyright of the Gambling-Motivated Crime Diversion Checklist.

Saul Malek is a 26 year old Dallas based speaker focusing on self-acceptance, resilience, positive decision making, and gambling harm prevention. Saul developed a gambling addiction as a college sophomore, losing money, time, relationships, and nearly his life. Since finding recovery in 2019, he has made it his mission to help others cope with life, find purpose, and keep away from maladaptive behavior such as compulsive gambling. He has spoken to schools (both high school and college), athlete mental health organizations, suicide prevention groups, parent groups, popular news outlets (including New York Times, National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Service, and Dallas Morning News), the 2023 Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling annual conference, and was a keynote speaker at  the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling annual conference. He has been awarded as a vendor of 5 school districts across Texas and serves as a board member of the newly formed Texas Coalition on Problem Gambling

Grace Chan McKibben is Executive Director of Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC), a policy advocacy and community planning organization based in Chicago’s Chinatown. Grace has held senior leadership positions in higher education, government, financial services, social service, and policy advocacy. In these roles, she led numerous programs that brought communities together and amplified the voices and influence of marginalized communities. She has also been a teacher, writer, and researcher on language and culture for three decades.

Grace holds a B.A. in Linguistics and Sociology, as well as an M.A. in Linguistics, from The University of Chicago, an M.B.A. from Keller Graduate School of Management, and is currently a Ph.D. student in Organizational Leadership at Adler University. She serves on numerous board and commissions, including as an Executive Committee Member of the ACLU of Illinois.

Brianne Doura-Schawohl is founder and CEO of Doura-Schawohl Consulting LLC, a boutique global government relations firm that specializes in problem and responsible gambling policy. She most recently served as Vice President of US Policy and Strategic Development for EPIC Risk Management, a global harm prevention consultancy, conducting work in over 24 countries. Prior to her role at EPIC, Brianne served as Legislative Director for the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG). Her experience includes over a decade of leadership in advocacy, public policy, government affairs, and communications.

Doura-Schawohl’s practice spans a wide range of work with executive and legislative branch officials and private sector stakeholders at the international, federal, state, and local levels of government. She has a history of achievements in State and United States Congressional legislative work, including a diverse portfolio of complex problem gambling policy issues. This continues to be invaluable in her ability to make a difference on behalf of people with gambling problems around the world.

Doura-Schawohl works with Congress and numerous state legislatures and regulators to provide expert advice on gambling policy. She continues to work with stakeholders on both sides of the aisle. Additionally, she has been featured in international, national, state, and local media, including ABC News, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, Forbes, ESPN, The Athletic, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, CBC and others. 

Brianne was named one of the top lobbyists in 2023 and 2022 by ‘The Hill’, named one of the top 100 lobbyists in 2022 and 2021 by the National Institute of Lobbying & Ethics (NILE), was featured as one of the 25 People to Watch in 2022 by Global Gaming Business, an honoree of the 2023 class of 40 under 40 Emerging Leaders in Gaming, is an honoree of the 2023-2024 ‘10 Women Rising in Gaming’ by Global Gaming Women and CDC Gaming Reports and named one of the top 10 most influential women in gaming in 2023 by iGB. In 2019 she was appointed as a member of the Digital Gaming Advisory Group for the State of Hawaii and continues to serve on various coalitions. 

In 2020 and 2021 she was a guest faculty member for Seton Hall Law School at their Gaming Law, Compliance, and Integrity Program and continues to be a guest lecturer for the University of Minnesota, Global Institute for Responsible Sport Organizations, and at Bradley University. Doura-Schawohl presents at conferences and other public events on gaming policy across the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia. 

Doura-Schawohl serves on the Board of Directors for Kindbridge Behavioral Health and is a member of the leadership team of the NILE Next Gen Executives committee, a group committed to advancing educational & networking opportunities for the next generation of leaders within the government relations profession. She is a member of the National Council on Problem Gambling military affairs committee.

Mrs. Doura-Schawohl holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Mary Washington. She is a proud military spouse and resides in Fairfax, Virginia with her family.

Dave Yeager is an eleven-year veteran of the United States Army and in recovery for a gambling addiction. Dave is the host of Fall In: The Problem Gambling Podcast for Military Service Members and Veterans and the author of Fall In: A Veteran with a Gambling Addiction.

Dave is a member of the military committee for the National Council on Problem Gambling. Dave speaks often and uses his story to help raise awareness about gambling addiction and its impact on military service members and veterans.

Dave has a BS in Human Services and has completed 30 hours toward a Masters in Social Work. Dave has been a lived experience and veteran advisor for Kindbridge Research Institute since 2020 and began as a trainer and training developer in July of 2023. Dave is also a recovery coach with Kindbridge Behavioral Health.

Sandra Adell is a literature professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of Confessions of a Slot Machine Queen: A Memoir. She currently is working on a book titled Black Women Speak Out About Gambling, Addiction, Recovery.

Dr. Potenza is a board-certified psychiatrist with sub-specialty training in addiction psychiatry.  He completed his post-high-school training at Yale: BS/MS (Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics), MD, PhD (Cell Biology), internship, psychiatric residency and addiction psychiatry fellowship.  Currently, he is an Albert E. Kent Professor of Psychiatry, Child Study and Neuroscience at the Yale School of Medicine where directs the Division on Addictions Research, Center of Excellence in Gambling Research, Women and Addictive Disorders Core of Women's Health Research at Yale and Yale Research Program on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders.  

Dr. Potenza is on editorial boards of 15 journals (including editor-in-chief of Current Addiction Reports) and on the Boards of multiple national/international organizations including the International Society of Addiction Medicine for which he is the incoming President-elect. He has received multiple national and international awards for excellence in research and clinical care.  He has published extensively (over 800 publications) and is ranked first globally by the independent firm Expertscape in multiple clinical research categories including addictive, impulsive and compulsive behaviors. He has consulted to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Registry of Effective Programs, National Institutes of Health, American Psychiatric Association and World Health Organization on matters of addiction. 

Dr. Potenza's research has focused on the neurobiology and treatment of addictions and other disorders characterized by impaired impulse control and reward-related motivations.  Most of this work has focused on understanding clinical and neurobiological underpinnings of these disorders, and their co-occurrences with other psychiatric disorders, in order to advance prevention and treatment strategies.  Dr. Potenza's research has applied neuroimaging, genetic, epidemiological and clinical trials methodologies to gain knowledge and improve prevention and treatment strategies for addictive behaviors/disorders.  This work has involved identifying potential intermediary phenotypes, like facets of impulsivity, that may in part explain the frequent co-occurrence of psychiatric conditions and represent novel targets for prevention and treatment strategies. 

Dr. Potenza has mentored over 200 Scholars in clinical research and neuroscience. He also co-directs training programs focusing on addiction treatment development research at Yale and alcohol use, stress and psychopathology in Thailand (Yale-Chulalongkorn collaboration). 

Dr. Kirk Moberg is a Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.  During his clinical career he served as the medical director of three addiction treatment centers in Peoria, Champaign and Urbana.  He received his MD and PhD at the U of I Urbana campus and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine.