Dr. Frances Murphy Draper (Toni) is the chairman of the board and publisher of the Baltimore-based AFRO-American Newspapers (afro.com) — a publication founded by her great grandfather in 1892. In 2021, the Local Media Association (LMA) named her “Content and Audience Innovator of the Year” and in 2022 the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) named her “Publisher of the Year.”

Draper received a bachelor’s degree in Spanish language education from Morgan State University and was on the university’s Board of Regents for 25 years before stepping down last year. Draper also has master’s degrees in education (Johns Hopkins University), business administration (University of Baltimore) and pastoral counseling (Loyola University Maryland). In 2006, she received a Doctor of Ministry degree in preaching and leadership from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Draper serves on the boards of the National Newspaper Publishers’ Association and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (Baltimore City).

Savannah Wood is the Executive Director of Afro Charities where she leads the charge to increase access to the 130+-year-old AFRO American Newspapers’ extensive archives. In this role, she has shepherded the organization through a period of historic growth, initiated new programming, and attracted support from national funders including the Mellon Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The Ruth Foundation.

Wood is also an artist with deep roots in Baltimore and Los Angeles working primarily in photography, text, and installation to explore how spirituality, domesticity, and our relationships to place shape our identities. She is a graduate cum laude of the University of Southern California. She is a member of the 2023 class of The Leadership Baltimore, a 2022 Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund fellow, 2022 Creative Capital finalist, and a 2019 – 2021 Robert W. Deutsch Foundation fellow.