OUR

PEOPLE

Our work is made possible by the selfless contributions of many remarkable people.

Our founding board is a collection of educators, researchers, financial experts, nonprofit veterans, and visionaries—each of whom believes in the power of books and imagination to unlock possibility.

BOARD

David Hornik

Chairman of the Board

David has served as Busload of Books chairman since long before the nonprofit was founded—helping Robbi and Matthew dream up and pull off the year-long, cross-country adventure that got the bus rolling.

David is a busy guy who wears many hats:

Venture capitalist who discovers and builds amazing companies (www.lobby.vc).
Creator and executive director of The Lobby Conferences—annual gatherings to discuss and shape the future of digital media.
Teacher of entrepreneurship and venture capital at Harvard Law and Stanford Business School.
Member of the board of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Stanford Alumni Association, Media Res, and innumerable technology companies.

Along with his wife Pamela, David is a celebrated benefactor of artists and the arts—playing a key role in establishing the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco (ICA SF).

Some might argue his greatest accomplishment is being enshrined in bobblehead form and traveling 40,000 miles while nodding affirmingly from the dashboard of the Busload of Books. They would not be wrong.

Amanda Ensor

Vice Chair

Amanda is an educator and family engagement leader with more than 20 years of experience in public education. As Senior Content and Learning Manager at TalkingPoints, she helps schools and families build meaningful connections that support every child’s success.

Amanda has been part of Busload of Books since before the beginning—partnering with Robbi and Matthew during her time as Title I Family Engagement Specialist for Queen Anne’s County Public Schools to bring author and illustrator visits and free books to every elementary school in her district. That partnership helped shape the model that became the Busload of Books Tour, now serving students and families across the country.

A former Teacher of the Year, Amanda has worked with districts nationwide, led professional learning for educators and families, and shared her expertise at national conferences and with such organizations as MSDE, MELLFIN, MAEC, NCFL, and NAFSCE.

At core, Amanda is passionate about bringing the joy of reading to schools and sharing her love of books with children. She seeks to help kids and families explore the world through stories and discover the endless possibilities waiting in their future.

Liz Beshel Robinson

Treasurer

As a kid, Liz dreamed of becoming a children’s librarian. She loved books and believed in their power to inspire and transform.

After college, her talents were demanded by Wall Street, where she served as partner, managing director, and global treasurer for Goldman Sachs—helping her firm execute its IPO in 1999 and navigate the global financial crisis of 2008.

Liz was named a “rising star” by Fortune and was featured among U.S. Banker’s “Top 25 Women in Finance.” (All of which was just a warmup for overseeing financials for Busload of Books.)

Today, Liz serves on the boards of Every Mother Counts, the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, St. Luke’s University Health Network, The Travelers Companies, and Blair Academy—and is Board Chair Emeritus and investment committee member for her alma mater Williams College.

Throughout the many twists of her career, Liz has remained a steadfast champion of reading and books. She believes in the importance of inspiring kids to read at an early age—as a springboard to fulfillment, imagination, and success.

Christina Personti

Secretary

Known (and heard) far and wide as The World’s Loudest Librarian, Christina is the Library Media Specialist for Austin D. Baltz Elementary in Wilmington, Delaware.

Across twenty years of inspiring students to love learning, Christina has taught third and fourth grade, worked with K-5 English learners, and is a three-time winner of Baltz Teacher of the Year—including during her first year as librarian.

A lifelong creator, Christina’s love of reading took off when she started teaching third grade and discovered the work of Mo Willems. Suddenly, her classroom was filled with laughter, read-alouds, and kids performing stories on stage. That’s when she realized the true power of books.

Now in her dream job as children’s librarian, Christina spends her days sharing stories with students and seeking opportunities to increase their love of reading by connecting them with authors and illustrators—including Robbi and Matthew and the Busload of Books.

Whether using her 3D printer to make something fun for her students or helping a reluctant reader find their perfect story, Christina is happiest when kids are excited about reading.

Sara Clarke-De Reza

Research Team Lead

Sara is well-versed in the challenges (and joys) of working with and for Title I schools. She has served in middle and high school classrooms as a humanities and social sciences teacher, a curriculum developer and instructional coach, and even (briefly) as a principal.

Now Department Chair and Assistant Professor of Education at Washington College, Sara teaches courses in the historical, cultural, and psychological foundations of American education, educational research, and program design and assessment. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of New Hampshire, an M.Ed. in Child Development from Southern New Hampshire University, and a BA in Psychology from Bard College.

In partnership with the Busload of Books, Sara and her colleagues at Washington College have spent the past five years conducting a landmark study of how author/illustrator visits impact elementary student attitudes about literacy. Their findings have revealed (for the first time at large scale) a notable boost in enthusiasm for reading, writing, and drawing across all elementary age levels.

Sara spends the rest of her research-life creating amazing learning experiences in the places where schools meet communities. In her life-life, she’s a mom, band mom, dog-mom, maker-of-things, and collector of thrift store art.

Our small but mighty staff consists of co-executive directors Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson (who both also sit on the board) and Isabel Frey Ribeiro—a writer, researcher, editor, scholar, and champion of books—who has been on the bus since the very beginning.

STAFF

Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson

Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors

Matthew and Robbi are author/illustrator, husband/wife creators of illustrated books for children. They attended Title I schools, send their four children to Title I schools, and see every day the challenges faced by underserved communities.

Their yearlong, 50-state Busload of Books Tour was an effort to bring books, creative empowerment, and joy to far-flung and overlooked places—while building awareness for the incredible work being done by Title I teachers and librarians.

They founded Busload of Books Inc. to continue the work of bringing books and literacy programming to communities where both are in short supply—while seeking ways to expand the scope of their work to reach many more of the nation’s 47,000 Title I schools than they could ever visit in their bus.

Most of the time, they live and make books in an old barn on the Eastern Shore of Maryland but spend summers running a small commercial salmon fishing operation on the Alaskan tundra.

Their dream is to live in a world where their organization is unnecessary—because every kid has realized their full potential and has plenty of books to read.

Isabel Frey Ribeiro

Director of Special Projects

The daughter of a teacher and a scientist, Isabel thought she might become a teacher herself, or maybe a neurologist, diplomat, or veterinarian. In all her life’s wanderings, Isabel’s goal has been channeling curiosity into thinking and action that makes the world better.

While still in college, Isabel helped plan, organize, and execute the Busload of Books Tour—handling correspondence and authoring informative essays on all fifty states. After two years as an editor at Penguin Random House, Isabel is marching toward her PhD at Harvard, studying modern U.S. and European history with forays into the history of books and education.

Isabel believes children deserve to read—as a means of encountering worlds that both affirm their worth and expand their sense of possibility. Whatever her eventual job title, she hopes to locate her work in the realm of schools and libraries, two places where those who have no other access to books can encounter them most freely.