John Calipari is the former head coach of the University of Memphis Tigers, the University of Massachusetts Minutemen, and the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets. He is the only coach to direct three different colleges to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. As a college coach, Calipari has 18 20-win seasons (17 official), 8 30-win seasons (7 official), and has been named National Coach of the Year 3 times and is a 2-time Naismith National Coach of the Year. In the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Calipari led Kentucky to its 8th NCAA Tournament Championship, and the first of his career.

Colin O'Brady is a professional endurance athlete who has achieved four world records. He grew up exploring the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and cultivated a passion for adventure in the outdoors. His success swimming in Oregon led him to Yale University. After years as a professional triathlete, he returned to his first love - the mountains. In 2016 Colin conquered the speed records for the Explorers Grand Slam and Seven Summits, a global mountaineering challenge to climb the tallest mountain on every continent including Mt. Everest and ski to the North and South Poles. In 2018 Colin shattered the speed record for the 50 High Points Challenge when he summited the highest point in each of the 50 states in just 21 days. On December 26, 2018 he became the first person to cross the landmass of Antarctica solo, unaided by kites or resupplies. He accomplished the feat in 54 days, covering more than 930 miles along the way, including more than 77 miles in the final 32-hour window where he went without sleep. Throughout the nearly two-month journey, O’Brady never took a full day off.

Jeremiah Grossman's career spans nearly 20 years and has lived a literal lifetime in computer security to become one of the industry's biggest names. He has received a number of industry awards, been publicly thanked by Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, Facebook, and many others for his security research. Jeremiah has written hundreds of articles and white papers. As an industry veteran, he has been featured in hundreds of media outlets around the world. Jeremiah has been a guest speaker on six continents at hundreds of events including and many top universities. All of this was after Jeremiah served as an information security officer at Yahoo!

As co-owners of Neely’s Bar-B-Que, Pat and Gina Neely have turned their family restaurant into one of the most successful barbecue restaurants in the South with locations in Memphis and Nashville. Now they share the secrets behind their favorite dishes and their passion for food, family and fun on Food Network’s Down Home with the Neely’s. After its February 2008 premiere, Down Home with the Neely’s became the highest-rated series debut in the five-year history of Food Network’s “In the Kitchen” weekend block and continues to be a top ratings performer.

Mark Jenkins is a field staff writer for National Geographic Magazine and writer-in-residence at the University of Wyoming. In 2009 he won the National Magazine Award for photojournalism, along with his colleague Brint Stirton, for their National Geographic story “Who Murdered The Mountain Gorillas.” Jenkins was “The Hard Way” columnist for Outside magazine for eight years. He is the author of three books: The Hard Way (Simon and Schuster, 2002), To Timbuktu (William Morrow, 1997), and Off the Map (William Morrow, 1992). He resides in Laramie, Wyoming, with his wife and two daughters.