Dr. Harter took the helm at Black Mountain in 2006 to direct the institute’s growth into the chief outlet for literary arts programming in southern Nevada and has since secured over $3.5 million in gifts and pledges for BMI's programs and activities. Dr. Harter was UNLV’s seventh and longest-serving president (1995-2006), overseeing the creation of more than 100 new degree programs and five new professional schools. She was instrumental in raising more than $550 million for the university, quadrupling the institution’s external research funding, and initiating the construction of seventeen new buildings. Prior to her arrival at UNLV, she served as president of SUNY Geneseo for six years and spent almost nineteen years at Ohio University, where she was a faculty member, ombudsman, and served in two vice presidential roles. She holds a Ph.D. in literature from SUNY Binghamton and has co-authored books about John Irving and E.L. Doctorow.

Richard Wiley is author of the novels Soldiers In Hiding (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for best American fiction and reissued in 2007 by Hawthorne Books), Fools' Gold, Festival for Three Thousand Maidens, Indigo, and Ahmed's Revenge. His most recent novel, Commodore Perry's Minstrel Show, was published by the new Michener Series at the University of Texas Press in 2007. Wiley has been a member of the UNLV English Department faculty since 1989. Visit him at richardwileyauthor.com.

Jessica Lucero manages event marketing, budgeting, outreach and administrative affairs for Black Mountain Institute (BMI). She is also the managing editor of Witness magazine, a BMI publication. She earned a BA in English with minors in Creative Writing and German from Mississippi State University and an MA in English Literature from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Currently, Jessica is a doctoral candidate in UNLV’s English Department and is working on her dissertation, tentatively titled, "James Joyce and the Archive: Digital Technologies and the Changing Landscape of Literary Studies." She has presented her research at the Modern Language Association Convention, the International James Joyce Symposium, the North American James Joyce Conference, and the Modernist Studies Association Conference. In addition to her scholarly pursuits, Jessica has also been active in Graduate Student Government at UNLV serving two terms (2008-2010) as the Graduate and Professional Student Association Student Body President.

Maritza White is a former executive assistant with 7-Eleven Corporation, Mid Pacific Division/Las Vegas. She has also held various civil service positions with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, including executive office manager for the Office of Corporate Business, secretary for the Theater Air Defense Logistics Department, and secretary for the Fleet Liaison and Veterinary Services offices. She holds an AA in Business Administration.

D.M. Armstrong is the BMI PhD Fellow in Fiction at UNLV and holds a Master's Degree in English (Fiction) from Ohio University. He is the author of several short stories and a textbook on Panama. He and his wife, Melinda, reside in Las Vegas.