Margaret Byrne received her BFA in film at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2000. Margaret was a Creative Director at Universal Music and directed live concerts and music videos for artists such as Jay-Z and Mary J Blige. She produced and edited the television series that launched MTV across Africa in 2005 and directed a host of music videos for emerging African artists. She was a cinematographer and an editor for American Promise (2013), a thirteen-year feature film following the education of two African American boys from New York City. The film won the 2013 Sundance Special Jury Prize and 2013 Full Frame Documentary Jury Award.

Ian Robertson Kibbe is a freelance filmmaker, writer, producer and musician with over 10 years experience as a producer, director and editor. Ian was the engagement coordinator for the award-winning PBS documentary, The Calling, and its companion campaign, What’s Your Calling (The Kindling Group) and also the engagement coordinator for the Emmy nominated, designer cult hit, Typeface (Kartemquin Films). Ian is currently working on the upcoming Kartemquin documentaries, Raising Bertie and Unbroken Glass. Ian's work has appeared on PBS, CNN, G4, The Health Care Blog, Billboard Magazine and the Huffington Post.

Jon Stuyvesant is originally from Chicago, but currently lives and works in Brooklyn. He has been working in documentary film for over a decade and has also worked on a wide range of television shows for a host of networks. Jon earned a BFA in Film & Photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago where he studied under a very talented faculty including Jennifer Reeder, an award winning filmmaker/video artist, and Jim Morrisette, the current Technical Director at Kartemquin. He was a Director of Photography for American Promise, a thirteen-year feature documentary that follows two middle class African-American families as they navigate the ups and downs of parenting and educating their sons. The film won the 2013 Sundance Special Jury Prize and 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Jury Award.

Since 2008, Justine has led Kartemquin Films as our Executive Director as well as being an Executive Producer on each new film. She is responsible, in concert with the Board of Directors, for creating and implementing the strategic vision for Kartemquin. Justine successfully transitioned to the ED role in a historic founder-led organization, and has made major strides in building a foundation for long-term sustainability.

Artistic Director and founding member of Kartemquin Films, Gordon Quinn has been making documentaries for over 50 years. Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun Times, called his first film Home for Life (1966) "an extraordinarily moving documentary." With Home for Life Gordon established the direction he would take for the next four decades, making cinéma vérité films that investigate and critique society by documenting the unfolding lives of real people. 

Executive Director Betsy Steinberg joined Kartemquin in December 2015 and oversees daily operations, development, and serves as Executive Producer on Kartemquin projects. Prior to Kartemquin she spent eight years as Managing Director of the Illinois Film Office where she she spearheaded Illinois’ transformation into a world class film destination. She was instrumental in the passage of the Illinois film tax credit and implemented an overall business development strategy resulting in over $1 billion in direct economic impact. During her tenure the state broke all local film industry revenues in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013 and the Illinois Film Office was recognized by the Illinois Arts Alliance with an Arts Advocate Award and Cinema Chicago's Golden Hugo. She also served on the Governor's Roundtable on the Creative Arts and the boards of Free Spirit Media, Chicago Media Project and the Midwest Independent Film Festival.

Leslie Simmer is Kartemquin's Director of Editing as well as Senior Editor on staff.

Hillary Bachelder is a former Kartemquin intern turned staff member now working as a freelance editor, producer, and director in Chicago. Hillary first began her Kartemquin staff life as a night shift assistant editor for the Emmy-award winning The Trials of Muhammad Ali. Hillary went on to become Post Production Manager and then Director of Production at Kartemquin, managing teams, collaborating with filmmakers, and ultimately earning credits on over a dozen recent Kartemquin projects.

A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, Ryan first joined the Kartemquin family as an intern of Xan Aranda and assisted in the rollout of her film Andrew Bird: Fever Year. Later, as an intern at Kartemquin, he worked on a range of tasks including contributing to outreach on The Interrupters, assisting in editing of the demo of Living Revolution, and helping with Kartemquin’s first KTQ Labs Spring Showcase.

Eugene is a Post Production Assistant. He works on various aspects in the finishing of a film. His responsibilities include media management, online editing, and creating exports for festivals and distributors. Eugene is a former intern at Kartemquin and worked extensively on the show In the Game. Before joining Kartemquin, Eugene worked in the environmental field. Seeing a need to communicate environmental issues visually, he got hooked on documentaries and filmmaking. Eugene was born in Kyoto, and raised in Manila and New Orleans. He has a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies and a minor in Environmental Studies from the University of Chicago.

Nancy first joined the documentary community as an intern of filmmaker Xan Aranda and assisted on her film Andrew Bird: Fever Year. She then worked for several years as Production Coordinator on an educational children's television show, Green Screen Adventures. Her roles there included costume design/styling for which she was nominated for a National Daytime Emmy. Nancy is currently the Production Manager at Kartemquin Films -- a collaborative center for documentary media makers who seek to foster a more engaged and empowered society. She joined the Kartemquin family in 2014 and has since worn a variety of hats there - from development/administrative work to post production/archive management.

For over thirty-five years, Jim Morrissette has had extensive experience as both a professional videographer and teacher, supporting his conviction that sharing and access are instrumental to the vitality of the independent production community. Jim has been the director of photography on numerous productions including: the award winning PBS documentary A Still Small Voice dealing with spiritual thought and mystic understanding, five episodes of Bill Kurtis' New Explorers, two episodes of Discovering Women for WGBH Boston, and Shadow Over Tibet, a documentary featuring the Dalai Lama. He was the principal videographer on the highly acclaimed six hour Frontline documentary The Farmer's Wife, which aired twice nationally on PBS.

Suzanne, the Vice President of Finance & Operations at Kartemquin, is a non-profit finance, operations and accounting expert dedicated to building stronger non-profit organizations through better fiscal management and organizational efficiency. Suzanne has a decade of professional experience focused on strengthening the internal capacity of charitable organizations. She believes that navigating the financial challenges unique to non-profits requires a high level of financial accountability, transparency, and integrity. In her role at Kartemquin, Suzanne is responsible for all aspects of the organization’s financial management, general operations, human resources, compliance, information technology, legal affairs and risk management.

Tim Horsburgh is Kartemquin’s Director of Communications and Distribution. Since 2009, he has driven marketing, audience engagement, public relations, and social media for Kartemquin and all their films. In March 2014 he began overseeing Kartemquin's distribution strategy. He is also responsible for assessing and managing potential new Kartemquin documentary projects.

Beckie is responsible for managing the professional development programs and outreach initiatives of the organization including Diverse Voices in Docs, KTQ Labs, the KTQ Internship program, and classroom, media advocacy, and production outreach initiatives. Additionally, she works to build successful strategies for providing producers with critical advice and support around audience engagement, social impact, and fundraising throughout the production and distribution process. Beckie has led strategy for over 10 social impact and audience engagement campaigns for award-winning documentaries.

Pedro is the Finance Manager at Kartemquin Films. He assists the Director of Finance & Operations in planning and organizing the activities of day-to-day accounting functions. His responsibilities include overseeing accounts payable, accounts receivable, monthly intercompany processes, and payroll. His interest in documentary films stems from watching Spellbound at a young age as he prepared for a citywide spelling bee. Among his favorite documentaries are Man on Wire and Kartemquin’s own, The New Americans. He is enthusiastic about being part of the Kartemquin community and looks forward to continue learning the financial and creative processes of documentary filmmaking.

Emily Strong is committed to sharing and supporting authentic and inspiring stories from diverse perspectives that stimulate conversation, unite people, and express humanity. She is grateful to have the opportunity to do this every day running the Internship, KTQ Labs, and Diverse Voices in Documentary programs at Kartemquin, cultivating and producing over 42 filmmakers each year. She is currently producing an independent documentary, Keep Moving Forward, about a veteran who uses Disney to find peace from his memories of the war.

Justin Williams has worked as a communications and arts management professional to enhance the outreach and impact of theaters, businesses, and individuals. He has been affiliated with Kartemquin beginning in 2014 – first as an intern then as an Associate Producer. He is glad to return to Kartemquin in the role of Diverse Voices in Docs coordinator as the company further commits and invests in documentaries produced by filmmakers of color.

Matt Lauterbach is a documentary filmmaker and editor, an educational media developer, and an advocate for accessible media. He crafts engaging non-fiction content for classrooms, museums, and the big screen.

A recent graduate from the Northwestern University's Documentary Media MFA, Carlos joins Kartemquin seeking to take part in socially relevant and impactful filmmaking. In the summer of 2015, Carlos was an intern at Kartemquin, helping in different tasks for the communications and outreach of films like Raising Bertie, Almost There and In the Game. Before moving to Chicago in 2014, Carlos worked as an Editor and Post Production coordinator in his native Venezuela for 6 years. He assisted Brazilian editor Isabela Monteiro de Castro in the highly awarded Venezuelan film Desde Allá (From Afar), winner of the Golden Lion at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.

Rachel Dickson is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Chicago. Before working in film, she worked as a print and radio journalist in Latin America. She is currently the Supervising Producer of The School Project, a series of short documentaries and webisodes about public education collaboratively produced by Kartemquin Films, Kindling Group, Media Process Group, Siskel/Jacobs Productions, and Free Spirit Media.