Programming, Services and Fostering Language Comprehension

Liz McChesney is a career-long children’s librarian and administrator and under her leadership numerous national initiatives have been spearheaded including the move to broaden summer offerings for youth. Liz serves as a Senior Advisor in Educational Equity at The Urban Libraries Council, she is a Fellow at the National Summer Learning Association and is the Community Partnerships Director for the Laundry Literacy Coalition. A frequent author and speaker, Liz has earned numerous national awards including the 2024 David M. Rubenstein Award for Literacy Excellence from the Library of Congress and the ALA Library Service to Children Distinguished Service Award. Her book, The Path Forward, was published in 2023 by ALA Editions. 

Shannon Ayers, Ph.D., is a respected and committed leader in early childhood program innovation. She brings nearly 25 years of experience developing, implementing and evaluating transformative materials, programs and strategies designed to improve the health, education and well-being of young children. Shannon has broad experience throughout the early childhood field—spanning in scope from the classroom to state and national thought leadership. In her role as Director of Lakeshore’s Custom Solutions Division, Shannon utilizes her extensive knowledge to ensure that early learning programs working in partnership with Lakeshore receive the targeted resources they need to ensure success for children, families and staff alike.
Prior to joining Lakeshore, Shannon was senior program officer at The Nicholson Foundation, where she led investments in early childhood health and education. Previously, she was associate research professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. In this role, she led a variety of research, technical assistance and professional development projects. Shannon also served as co-director of the Office of Early Literacy at the New Jersey Department of Education, and she was instrumental in developing and implementing the New Jersey Early Literacy Initiative.
Shannon holds both an M.Ed. in language and literacy, as well as a Ph.D. in educational psychology, from The Pennsylvania State University. She is also a certified teacher and reading specialist, with several years of experience in public school classrooms and higher education teacher preparation programs.