Before becoming a PA, Kai Swanson spent nine years in the newsroom of WVIK, Augustana College's public radio station. Thanks to the station's proximity to lowa and its caucuses, Kai got to cover a couple of presidential elections up close and personal. On campus, he's helped students from across the political spectrum channel their passionate beliefs into effective activism. Kai currently serves as Special Assistant to the President at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.

Former Congresswoman Cheri Bustos is a Partner at Mercury, working across our Washington D.C. office while also leading our firm’s operations in Illinois. As a former senior member of House leadership with a long career in both the public and private sectors, Bustos brings 20+ years of experience in politics, journalism, healthcare and communications.

While representing Illinois’ 17th Congressional District for the past 10 years, Bustos held powerful roles in leadership, serving as Co-Chair of the Steering and Policy Committee during her past term in Congress; Co-Chairing the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, playing a key role in Democrats taking the majority; and chairing the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee.

Bustos served on the House Committee on Agriculture for her full tenure in office; six years on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; and four years on the House Appropriations Committee. While on the House Appropriations Committee, she served on some of the most powerful subcommittees: Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services and Education; Energy and Water; and Military Construction and Veterans Administration.

Outside of her public service work, Bustos has helped advance the next generation of Democratic leaders, protecting the Democratic House majority in the 2020 election cycle as Chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). In that role, she helped raise a record-breaking one-third of a billion dollars for the organization.

Additionally, Bustos is the founder of Build the Bench, a program focused on identifying and training individuals interested in running for office at all levels. She is also a Founding Board Member of Elect Democratic Women, which raised close to $10 million in the 2022 Election cycle.

Bustos is a Spring 2023 Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland in College Park, and a Master’s in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Kristen Shahverdian is the program director of campus free speech at PEN America, developing campus engagements and public events related to free expression and education. Before joining PEN America, she was a senior lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and previously was an adjunct professor at Rowan University and Temple University. She served as a project manager for the Philadelphia Folklore Project, and facilitated workshops on how to teach representations of violence in art at Moore College of Art & Design, Common Field, the College Art Association and Dance Studies Association. She is also a writer and editor at the online dance journal thINKingDANCE. She received her BA in history and dance from Hamilton College, her MFA in dance from Temple University, and her MA in socially engaged art from Moore College of Art & Design.