Keynote Speakers

Meet Dexter Patterson, also known as the Wisco Birder, on social media. Passionate about making birdwatching inclusive for everyone, Dexter's lively "You Ready? Let's Go!" videos showcase his discoveries of various bird species and have garnered millions of views online. As an educator, photographer, writer, and co-founder of the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin, Dexter is committed to demonstrating that birding is accessible to all. His goal is to promote inclusivity and help people connect with nature's beauty through Bird Joy. He also co-hosts the Bird Joy Podcast and is the author of Birds of the Great Lakes (Timber Press/Hachette, 2025), a birding field guide that blends birding, storytelling, and community. Through his work, he encourages a new generation of birdwatchers to explore the outdoors and appreciate the diverse life around them.

A dedicated naturalist from the age of six, Kenn Kaufman burst onto the birding scene as a teenager in the 1970s, hitch-hiking all over North America in pursuit of birds—an adventure later chronicled in his cult-classic book Kingbird Highway. After several years as a leader of birding tours worldwide, he transitioned to a career as a writer, editor, and illustrator. Most of his energy currently goes into book projects and painting bird portraits. His 14 books include his latest, The Birds That Audubon Missed, published in May 2024. Kenn is a field editor for the National Audubon Society, a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, and the only person to have received the American Birding Association’s lifetime achievement award twice. 

Makeda "Dread" Cheatom is an American entrepreneur and civil activist in San Diego's African-American community. She is the founder of the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park, creator of the Children’s EthnoBotany Peace Garden, and co-founder of Casa del Tunel in Tijuana, Mexico.

Over the years, Jason Hall has transformed his love of birding into a movement for community and inclusion. He is a son of SoCal (Pasadena) and the adopted son of Philly.  He is the founder of the In Color Birding Club (ICBC), a nonprofit that creates safe, joyful, and welcoming entry points into birding for historically marginalized communities. Through ICBC, Jason and his board work to expand access to nature across the Philadelphia region—partnering with local organizations to host bird outings, sponsor buses for public school field trips, provide classroom supply scholarships for teachers, and organize community food drives.

In 2024, Jason teamed up with Dexter Patterson to launch the Bird Joy Podcast, a vibrant space where birders of all backgrounds and experience levels can explore the diverse stories, ideas, and joy that make birding such a powerful connector in our lives.