Mike Bell is the Executive Director of the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. Commissioned in Armor following graduation from the US Military Academy at 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 of the United States. He holds a MA and a PhD in American history from the University of Maryland, College Park and a MS in national security strategy from the National Defense University, where he was a distinguished graduate of the National War College. His monograph on the role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was published by the Strategic Studies Institute. His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Defense Superior Service Medal, Bronze Star, Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award, Joint Staff Badge, and Combat Action Badge.

John Curatola is the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. A Marine Corps officer of 22 years, he graduated from the University of Nebraska and is a veteran of Operation Provide Hope in Somalia, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort. He holds masters’ degrees in both American and Military History. With a PhD from the University of Kansas, John’s research focuses upon World War II, airpower, and the early Cold War period. Previously he taught history at the US Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His first book, Bigger Bombs for a Brighter Tomorrow, addressed the nature of the American atomic monopoly, and his latest, entitled Autumn of Our Discontent, assessed US national security policy development in 1950. Additionally, his works are available in compendium books, popular magazines, and academic journals with his many presentations available for viewing on CSPAN and YouTube.

Mark Calhoun is the Senior Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. He earned his PhD in History from the University of Kansas in 2012 and is the author of General Lesley J. McNair: Unsung Architect of the U.S. Army (University Press of Kansas, 2015), the first comprehensive military life of General Lesley J. McNair. Mark's current research interests center on General William H. Simpson, commander of Ninth US Army, and the Ninth Army’s operations during the campaign in Northwest Europe from 1944–45. A career US Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilot and war planner, Calhoun retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2008, after which he served for 14 years as an associate professor on the faculty of the US Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth.

Jennifer Putnam is the Research Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at the National World War II Museum. Jennifer received her PhD in History from the University of London, where she studied prisoner graffiti in Nazi concentration camps and ghettos. Her current research focuses on Briefaktion, a forced letter-writing campaign that camouflaged the true purpose of the concentration and death camps. Her work has been published in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, and will be featured in upcoming edited volumes as well as a photographic exhibition in London. Jennifer has also worked as the DPAA Research Partner Fellow at the National World War II Museum, as a project assistant at a publishing company, and as a translator. Prior to her PhD, Jennifer received an MPhil in Linguistics from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in Contemporary History and Politics from the University of London. Jennifer is also a Conny Kristel fellow with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), board member of the Art Deco Society UK, and a member of the planning committee for the Challenging Research Network.

Steph Hinnershitz joined the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy as a Historian in June 2021. Before coming to The National WWII Museum, she held teaching positions at Valdosta State University in Georgia, Cleveland State University in Ohio, and the US Military Academy at West Point. She received her PhD in American History in 2013 from the University of Maryland and specializes in the history of the Home Front during World War II. She has published books and articles on Asian American history, including Race, Religion, and Civil Rights: Asian Students on the West Coast, 1900-1968 and A Different Shade of Justice: Asian American Civil Rights in the South. Her most recent book, Japanese American Incarceration: The Camps and Coerced Labor during World War II, was recently published with the University of Pennsylvania Press. Her research has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, West Point, the Social Science Research Council, the Library of Congress, and the US Army Heritage and Education Center, among others.

The official Hotel of The National WWII Museum, this stunning art-deco style property offers first-class accommodations, meeting spaces, and dining options providing a sophisticated lodging experience for guests. Named after local Higgins Industries shipbuilder Andrew Higgins, the Hotel pays tribute to a historic time when all Americans came together to secure victory and help change the world.