Sam Finn is a retired astrophysicist. He earned his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics & Astrophysics from Caltech in 1987, did research at Cornell University from 1987-91, was an assistant and then associate professor in Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University from 1991-1998, and from 1998 until his 2018 retirement was an associate and then full professor at Penn State with a joint appointment in the Physics and Astronomy & Astrophysics departments. In 2001 he was named the first Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Physics Frontier Center for Gravitational Physics. He was the founding Chief Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences. He has served in advisory roles to the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Intelligence Community. 

Terry Smith, is a long time Santa Fe resident who, along with his wife Susan Munroe, practiced real estate until their retirement in 2018.  During that time, Terry served for three years as board chair of the  Santa Fe Conservation Trust.  Terry served for many years as a senior policy and congressional relations staff member of the National Governors’ Association in Washington, DC before becoming the founding director of the State of Florida’s DC office.