Conference Presenters

  • Dr. Antone Brooks

    Son of Juanita Brooks

    Research Professor Emeritus at Washington State University, Tri Cities, holds a Masters of Radiation Ecology and a PhD in Physical Biology. Has contributed to more than 200 professional papers. He resides in Kennewick, WA with his wife Janet and they are the parents of 6 children

  • Barbara Jones Brown

    Signature Books

    Barbara Jones Brown is the director of Signature Books. She was the lead editor of Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Oxford University Press, 2008). She coauthored, with Richard E. Turley Jr., the book's sequel, Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath (OUP, 2023), winner of several awards including the Utah Historical Society's Juanita Brooks Best Book Award. While working on Vengeance Is Mine, she discovered that (like her hero, Juanita Brooks) she is a direct descendant of a massacre perpetrator. In 2012 Brown received the Utah Historical Society’s Outstanding Achievement Award for her efforts at reconciliation and achieving National History Landmark Status for the Mountain Meadows.

  • Kimball Clark

    Kindex

    Kimball of Kaysville owns Kindex.org, an archival and transcription software for families & organizations. Kimball also co-owns Glyph Forge, an AI company that can extract entire family trees and other gems from big data. A technologist since ’96, and an entrepreneur since ’03, Kimball earned his BA in Visual Communications with an emphasis in Graphic Design at Weber State in 2004. Kimball also loves bees!

  • Ryan Combs

    Church History Dept

    Ryan Combs is the Museum Director and Archivist for the Juanita Brooks Historical Preservation Society. He previously worked for the Church History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Harold B. Lee Library of Brigham Young University. His research interests include Southern Utah history, Latter-day Saint missiology, early pioneer maps and trails, information technology, Biblical Studies, and Ancient Near Eastern history. He lives in Provo with his wife and four children.


  • Todd Compton

    Author, Educator

    Todd Compton has written prize-winning books on women in Nauvoo and Utah polygamy and a prize-winning biography of explorer and Indian missionary Jacob Hamblin. He is currently writing a biography of prominent Navajo headman Ganado Mucho, a friend of Hamblin. Ganado Mucho was always welcoming to Mormons visiting Navajo territory, and traveled to Utah in 1877; he and his friends were some of the last people to speak with Brigham Young before his death. Todd has always felt like he is standing on the shoulders of giants such as Juanita Brooks when he writes about southern Utah and Arizona.

  • Trevor Cox

    Utah Tech University

    Trevor Cox grew up in Hurricane, Utah. He has master's degrees in history and library science and is currently serving as interim head of Special Collections & Archives at Utah Tech University. His main areas of historical interest are southwestern Utah's regional history, East Asian History (especially Okinawa), and British history.

  • Macrae Heppler

    Eagle Gate Title

    Born and raised in St. George, I've always been passionate about this community and the opportunities it offers. That led me to co-found Eagle Gate Title St. George in 2015.

    I'm also deeply involved in Southern Utah's business and economic development. That's why I created "What's Happening in Southern Utah"— My goal? To keep you informed, connected, and excited about everything this area has to offer.

    When I'm not working or filming, you'll find me spending time with my wife Chan, my daughters Coco and Lola, and our two dogs, Scottie and Rosie. I'm always up for a round of golf, a game of pickleball, or a mountain bike ride—one of the best things about living in Southern Utah is enjoying the outdoors year-round.




  • Dr. Reid Neilson

    Brigham Young University

    Dr Neilson is currently serving as an Assistant Academic Vice President and also a Professor at BYU. He has authored or edited more than 40 books and several dozen articles and book chapters. He has two MA degrees from BYU and a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina.

  • Dr. Richard Saunders

    Southern Utah University

    Dr. Richard Saunders is an academic librarian and former Dean of Library Services at Southern Utah University. A graduate of Utah State University, he holds graduate degrees in history from USU and the University of Memphis.

    His career in history has centered on preserving thesources of history as a Certified Archivist and special collections librarian, but he has also researched, written, and published widely in historical topics including Yellowstone, the American West, Mormons, American popular literature, and the US civil rights movement. His biography of Utah native and western American historian Dale L. Morgan was named a Finalist in 2024 for the Evans Biography Prize.

  • Cristina M Cardon-Sessions

    Bunkerville Library

    Cristina Cardon-Sessions is the Library Associate for the Bunkerville Library in Clark County Nevada. She has been with the Library District since 2013.

    She enjoys learning about the local area history, and she is looking forward to sharing a few stories of the early Bunkerville settlers.

  • Ricky Valadez

    Ricky Valadez Music

    Ricky Valadez is a composer, producer, and Berklee College of Music graduate whose music has appeared in thousands of film and television broadcasts worldwide. He is the producer of the Not Forgotten podcast, a project dedicated to preserving and sharing the stories of Utah's Dixie. Through original compositions and beloved hymn arrangements performed by thousands worldwide, Ricky uses music to carry the faith-filled voices of the past into the present — and attributes God as the sacred source of all creativity and inspiration.

  • Brian Wages

    Brigham Young University

    Brian Wages, MA, MLis, is the History and Political Science Librarian at Brigham Young University. A native of Idaho Falls, he completed undergraduate degrees in History and English. With graduate degrees in History and Library Science, he’s worked at the BYU Library for over twenty-five years. Current research interests center on mid-nineteenth century American diplomacy, popularization of history in media, and film history.