Andrew Slack
Andrew, 29, is a teacher, social organizer and human rights activist, comedian, actor, and writer. He spent years performing sketch comedy for hundreds of colleges across the US only to stop touring so that he could devote himself full time to the HP Alliance which he co-founded in 2005. Andrew has also co-written, acted in, and produced online videos that have been viewed more than six million times and continues to perform stand up comedy in the Boston area. He has trained at an acting conservatory in London and studied under peace and civil rights activists in both Northern Ireland and the United States. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University, Andrew is dedicated to learning and extrapolating how modern myth, new media, and expressive therapy can transform our lives both personally and collectively. He is incredibly grateful and humbled by everyone who has helped the HP Alliance come into existence and continue to work toward putting the magical lessons that we have learned from Harry, Hermione, and Ron into our world.
Melissa Anelli
Melissa Anelli is a writer from New York City who runs The Leaky Cauldron, co-hosts PotterCast, and has spent most of the last decade reporting about Harry Potter. She has written the New York Times Best Seller, Harry, A History, chronicling the Harry Potter phenomenon, and is currently writing her second nonfiction book. She loves peanut butter and theater, and thinks the HPA is the best thing to happen to fandom since the invention of the midnight release party.
Paul DeGeorge
Paul co-founded the Harry Potter Alliance with Andrew Slack in 2005 and currently serves on its board of directors. In 2002, Paul and his brother Joe started the band Harry and the Potters, now cited as the founders of Wizard Rock, a genre of music based on Harry Potter. They have spend much of the last 9 years touring the country, performing in libraries, and promoting the powers of love, reading, music, and enthusiasm. Paul also founded the Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club, a subscription-based CD club that has raised over $50,000 for lit-based charities. He was profiled in the 2008 documentary We Are Wizards as a pioneer in the creative subculture spawned by the Harry Potter phenomena. His heros are Bruce Springsteen, Ian MacKaye and Wayne Coyne and his high score in Ms. Pacman is 261,370.
Matt Maggiacomo
Matt is the singer/songwriter behind The Whomping Willows, and also serves on the Harry Potter Alliance Board of Directors. Matt is a native of Rhode Island and has been writing music for 15 years. He fell in love with the Harry Potter series in 2000, but he wasn’t introduced to the Harry Potter fandom until May 2007, when The Whomping Willows were invited to play at the Phoenix Rising conference in New Orleans. After realizing that Harry Potter fans are the nicest, most charitable and loving people on earth, Matt has devoted his life to everything Harry Potter, particularly the wizard rock community and the Harry Potter Alliance.
Seth Soulstein
Seth is a co-founder of the HPA, and currently spends his time on its board of directors. In 2000, while at Brandeis University, he co-founded sketch comedy group the Late Night Players along with Andrew Slack. Together, they have produced, written, and performed in online videos that have been seen over six million times, as well as performed hundreds of shows live in front of tens of thousands of audience members. Seth runs a blog about basic homesteading, and is also the creator of sethTV, which is really just videos of him goofing off.
