Tracy Taylor, Executive Director As Executive Director, Tracy oversees the day-to-day activities of IBP, guiding the organization to achieve its mission efficiently and effectively. She highly values the relationships built with IBP's overseas partners and truly believes in the power of literacy to promote peace. Through partnerships and collaboration, Tracy seeks to fully understand the challenges grassroots organizations face, and she works to ensure that IBP provides programming that empowers those organizations to promote sustainable development. Having served as Books as Bridges Coordinator, Tracy is aware of IBP's unique opportunity to promote cultural awareness throughout Central Kentucky, and she seeks to engage the community in promoting global awareness and the value of literacy. She received her B.A. in International Affairs from Murray State University and is currently earning her MPA at the University of Kentucky. Tracy has been with the International Book Project since 2008.

Todd Johnson, Volunteer and International Project Coordinator In his role as International Project Coordinator, Todd manages IBP’s overseas partnerships, reviewing applications to assess and fulfill the needs of book recipients.  As volunteer coordinator, Todd encourages, recruits and supervises the numerous volunteers that devote their time and energy to IBP’s book-sending mission.  A native of Lexington, Todd earned a B.A. in history from the University of Kentucky.  He continued his education at the University of Manchester, England, receiving an M.A. in Cultural History. Teaching ESL in Barcelona, Spain gave Todd a unique insight into the importance of literacy.  A recent service trip to Vietnam with the YMCA confirmed Todd’s passion for making learning accessible to all.  By helping in the construction of an elementary school in a remote area of Vietnam, Todd was able to see first hand the role of education in improving quality of life in a developing country.

Tejas Shastry, Director of Development Tejas is a native of Worthington, KY. He attended the University of Louisville, and received a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy. As an undergrad he enjoyed working for Peritus Public Relations, and serving as the Philanthropy Chair of the McConnell Center. During his time at the University he was active in East Asian and South Asian Studies, and was afforded the opportunity to study at Renmin University in Beijing. Additionally, he spent one summer working for a NGO in Auroville, India. For nine months Tejas was fortunate enough to live and teach in Sri Lanka on a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) grant.  In his free time he enjoys reading, learning languages, playing guitar, the outdoors, and constantly checking his Google Reader.

Kate Fox, Books as Bridges Coordinator and Local Donations Coordinator, AmeriCorps VISTA Kate Fox is a recent graduate of Berea College with a B.A. in Psychology. Growing up in rural Appalachia, she understands how important education and reading is to helping children become successful. As the Books as Bridges Coordinator, Kate is excited to begin fostering education and opening the pathway for dialogue in central Kentucky classrooms and those in developing countries. Kate will also be encouraging and coordinating local donation activities within the United States.  In particular Kate’s enthusiasm for service learning can be put to good use with the new endeavor that Books as Bridges is embarking upon of funding fifteen small groups. These groups will strive to accomplish a service learning project over the span of a single school year to help communities in their designated countries     Michael Burgess, Global Literacy Resource Assistant Michael attended High Point University in North Carolina, and received a B.S. in Global Trade. As an undergraduate, Michael was involved in the Harvard Model United Nations working on behalf of numerous international non-profit organizations. During this time Michael learned firsthand how mutual beneficial cooperation between government and NGO’s can improve the developing world. From this experience, in addition to his diverse business background, Michael hopes to improve and expand IBP’s relations with overseas partners. With his undergraduate background and time traveling abroad, Michael has seen how crucial literacy can be for improving the human condition. As the new Global Literacy Resource Assistant, Michael seeks to foster new relationships while helping maintain current international partnerships, streamline warehouse processes, increase revenue, and work with volunteer groups to promote local awareness of IBP’s mission.