Pete Crean is the Vice President of Education and Access at The National WWII Museum. He previously served as Director of the US Army Heritage and Education Center at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. As an Army officer with nearly three decades of experience and multiple deployments, Crean has an extensive record of service as a leader in logistics and administrative roles.  

Michael Bell is the Executive Director of the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. Commissioned in Armor following graduation from West Point, he is a combat veteran, historian, and strategist who has served at every level from platoon through theater army, as well as with US Central Command, the Joint Staff, the West Point faculty, and the National Defense University. As a civilian faculty member at the National Defense University, he also served details to the Office of the Secretary of State and as a National Security Council Senior Director and Special Assistant to the President.

John Curatola is the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. A US Marine Corps officer of 22 years, he is a veteran of Operation Provide Hope in Somalia, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort. Curatola’s first two books, Bigger Bombs for a Brighter Tomorrow and Autumn of Our Discontent, assess US national security and nuclear capabilities in the early Cold War period. His most recent title, Armies Afloat: How the Development of Amphibious Operations in Europe Helped Win World War II, explores the US Army’s journey in mastering amphibious warfare. 

Nicholas Reynolds is a US Marine Corps veteran, serving as an infantry officer and then as an official historian. As a Colonel in the Reserves, he was Officer in Charge of Field History, deploying historians around the world to capture history as it was being made. For many years, he worked at the CIA, most recently as the historian for the CIA Museum. Reynolds has taught at the Naval War College, Johns Hopkins University, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. 

Mary Kathryn Barbier is an associate professor of history at Mississippi State University. She is the author of several books, including Spies, Lies, and Citizenship: The Hunt for Nazi Criminals and D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion.