Gwenn Weaver, an independent consultant, retired from the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) where she was a broadband program specialist and a federal program officer for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). She has served as a consultant to the Digital US Coalition and performed as a Truth Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) healing circle co-facilitator/practitioner for the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) and others. She serves on the boards of the National Coalition for Literacy and the Durham Literacy Center, acts as an advisor to the North Carolina Digital Equity and Inclusion Collaborative and is participating in two local (North Carolina) projects devoted to digital equity, digital skill building and literacy. She continues to work with the Committee on Literacy of ALA, and is a member of the steering committee of the Open Door Collective (ODC). Earlier in her professional life, she was a vice president at a higher education consulting practice, worked for two other federal government agencies, two large research universities, several consulting firms and a major bank. She began her career in libraries, having been a public, school, academic and special librarian. She holds a Master of Business Administration focused on information systems; Master of Science in Library Science; Bachelor of Arts in sociology and an Associate of Arts degree.

As Executive Director of Literacy Minnesota, Eric Nesheim manages day-to-day and overall operations of the $4 million nonprofit agency. He oversees finance, fundraising and communications, technology, administrative and programmatic activities. Eric serves as primary contact with the Board of Directors and is a member of the Board Executive Committee. 

Eric has served in various program and management roles at Literacy Minnesota since 1990, prior to being named executive director in 2000. In addition, he is currently on the Governor's Workforce Development Council. He was a founding member and past president of the St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium, and serves on its executive committee. He has also served on the Adult Basic Education (ABE) Policy Task Force, on the ABE Teacher Licensure Task Force and as a member of the Governor’s Taskforce on Reading Excellence. Eric is a registered lobbyist and former president of Literacy Minnesota, an advocacy group for adult literacy.

Eric began his human services career by serving in the Peace Corps in Haiti and Paraguay. He earned his B.A. from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, and a Master’s of International Management from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul.

Theresa Sladek, MA, is the National Partnerships and Northstar New Business Specialist at Literacy Minnesota. She’s currently consulting with national organizations and state governments on implementing Northstar Digital Literacy assessments and curriculum. In addition, she is managing a project in conjunction with the local county on providing digital navigation to people who have experienced job and income loss due to COVID, is point person for Literacy Minnesota on a national study regarding digital navigation conducted by WorldEd, and consults on a statewide digital equity survey in Minnesota. Aside from work related to digital literacy, she works with Literacy Minnesota’s national Open Door Collective program and is on Literacy Minnesota’s DEI Governance Committee. Prior to this work, she developed statewide training on Navigation related to helping adults stay in school and taught ESL and GED classes. Theresa has a BS in Biology from Lewis and Clark College and a MA in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. She worked as a counselor, project manager and corporate trainer before joining the field of education.

Deqa Hassan is very familiar with the ABE network, having served as a Community Technology Empowerment Project (CTEP) member in Minneapolis, a Computer Education Intern at Open Door Learning Center—Northside, and as a program assistant with Franklin Learning Center. She earned her MA in English: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Minnesota State University and has taught English in the Middle East. She is currently finishing her Master of Library and Information Science Degree from Wayne State University, and also works as a SCOPE Librarian at Sumner Library. Deqa considers knowledge powerful and information literacy a crucial tool for success. For fun, she likes reading, traveling, and archery.