Wade P. Catts, MA, RPA is the President and Principal for South River Heritage Consulting, LLC. He is an historical archaeologist specializing in history, archaeology, and historic preservation. He holds a graduate degree in American History from the University of Delaware (1988).

A Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA), he has more than 40 years of experience in the field of cultural resource management. His research interests include the history of farmsteads and agricultural landscapes, military history and archaeology, environmental history, African American studies, and Middle Atlantic regional history and historic preservation.

Mr. Catts is a past president and former vice president for Membership of the American Cultural Resources Association (ACRA), the national trade association representing the cultural resources management industry. He is a past president of the Delaware Academy of Science, and serves on the boards of the Old Swedes Foundation in Wilmington, Delaware; the Advisory Board for Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Masters in Applied Archaeology Program; The Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation; and as a Trustee for Preservation Delaware. In 2016 Mr. Catts was the recipient of the Archibald Crozier Award for Distinguished Achievement in and Contributions to Archeology from the Archeological Society of Delaware and in 2021 he received the History Award Medal from the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution.

His higher education teaching experience includes guest lecturer and adjunct professor for the anthropology departments of the Princeton University, the University of Delaware, Temple University, Washington College, The State University of New York, Binghamton, and West Chester University of Pennsylvania. where in 2021 he received a Visiting Fellow award by the Consortium of Practicing & Applied Anthropology Programs. He has also lectured to preservation programs including Rutgers/Camden MARCH Historic Preservation Continuing Education Program, and the Center for Historic Architecture and Design, University of Delaware.

Patrice L. Jeppson, Ph.D. is an historical archaeologist whose long-term research focuses on how and why different publics engage with archaeological evidence, especially when collectively creating new historical memory. This theory was presented in her dissertation work in South Africa (U. of Penn., 2005).

Toward this end, Dr. Jeppson has researched how and what the public learned about Benjamin Franklin via archaeological evidence for the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission (2005). She participated in 2007 excavations of the President’s House site at the Independence Park, in Philadelphia, PA where nine enslaved Africans lived and toiled during George Washington’s Presidential administration. She also undertook, 2009-2011, Digging in the Archives, one of the earliest blogs on archaeology that brought part of the park’s vast collection of archaeological site records forward for the public, and she wrote (in 2005) one of the earliest archaeology-themed podcasts (with K. Kris Hirst of [email protected]) on a mastodon tooth discovered at Franklin Court.

Between 2009 and 2011, she was a Co-Principal Researcher on an NSF grant-funded study bringing the Independence Park archaeological artifact collection together with Drexel University computer engineers, computer scientists, and media arts specialists. The work produced 3D scans and photogrammetry images that were also used to create short animated videos for Pennsylvania Archaeology Month as well as an interactive, virtual model based in the Oculus RiftÒ 3D headset technology that interprets the late 18^th-century home of the African American coachman James Dexter

In 2010, in collaboration with the African American Burial Ground National Monument and a Wenner-Gren grant, Dr. Jeppson co-organized a workshop for international colleagues on the topic “Dynamics of Inclusion in Public Archaeology” which included a public event exploring how communities form in, around, and with the archaeology of New York City.

She has served as lead coordinator for several public-focused project including:

Archaeology for the public, (2005) a web-based, clearing-house for public archaeology information hosted by the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), which earned the Society’s 2005 Presidential Award of Merit.

The Philadelphia Archaeological Forum’s annual “Explore Philadelphia’s Buried Past!”(2005-2009) celebration — a day-long, event co-sponsored by Independence National Historical Park and hosted by the National Constitution Center.

Between 2007 and 2019, Dr. Jeppson taught full time and later part time as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Cheyney University (CU), the nation’s oldest Historical Black University.

Her courses engaged students in hands-on, real life, learning experiences based on, and in, historical archaeology research – including at the Dennis Farm.

Previously, Dr. Jeppson taught both upper and lower division college courses as well as graduate level courses, while a Visiting Researcher at the University of Cape Town and at Rhodes University in South Africa, as a College Junior Lecturer at the University of Venda in South Africa, and as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at California State University, Bakersfield and at West Chester University of Pennsylvania (including dual enrollment courses bringing high school students into the college-level learning environment). Dr. Jeppson team-taught a computational archaeology course in the Drexel University Computer Science and Computer Engineering Departments.

Dr. Jeppson regularly reports on her research in scholarly publications such as: (In Final Review) “Public Archeology at the President’s House: The Peoples’ Platform above the Excavation” (P. Jeppson, et.al.); “Computational Science, Convergence Culture, and the Creation of Archaeological Knowledge and Understanding” (P. Jeppson, G. Muschio, J. Levin); Archaeology and the Public in the 21st Century: Increasing Heritage Awareness through Community Participation. Her most recent publicly directed articles published online include “Cats in the Past: Archaeological Evidence of Feline Epidemic Disease in Early America” (2018) and “Archaeology Supports African American History as American History”(2017).

Dr. Jeppson joined the Editorial Board of the Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage in 2013, and the Board of the Dennis Farm Charitable Land Trust in 2017.

Curtis Johnson is a strategist and media executive with nearly 15 years of experience spanning media and entertainment, non-profit, sports and consumer packaged goods. He is currently the Director, Creative Council Integration for Disney’s Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion team. In his role, he works directly with Disney Chairman and former CEO Bob Iger, collaborating with creative stakeholders to help execute large-scale initiatives that transform creative processes, increase cultural competency and facilitate the sharing and adoption of best practices across Disney’s ecosystem.

Previously, Curtis worked on Disney’s Corporate Brand Development team where he developed insights on consumer behavior, entertainment spend and media consumption to guide global strategies across Disney’s businesses, including movies, products and theme parks. Among other things, he created brand growth strategies in key global markets like Japan, where he led a cross-functional team presenting to executives in Tokyo, and drove analyses supporting new business initiatives, including Disney’s acquisition of digital streaming company BAMTECH. Curtis also served as co-President of The Bond, Disney’s Black Employee Resource Group, which generates insights to help Disney better serve Black consumers, provides professional development opportunities to its members and fosters an inclusive culture for Black employees.

Passionate about serving others, Curtis brings extensive non-profit experience to the Board of The Dennis Farm Charitable Land Trust. He previously worked at the NAACP’s national office, where he served as the first social media strategist in the organization’s 100-year history and helped lead the organization’s transition into the digital age. He developed integrated communications strategies to amplify human rights campaigns aimed at criminal justice reform, including the successful campaign to free the Scott Sisters and the international campaign to save Troy Davis from Death Row, which reached more than 73 million Twitter users. The NAACP’s digital footprint on the Davis case helped make the case the second-most talked about Twitter topic in 2011, and led to the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut and Maryland.

A second-generation alum of Hampton University, Curtis graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and was inducted into their 40 Under 40 Society in 2018. He earned a Master of Arts in Strategic Communications from Penn State University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business. He is a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., initiated in the Gamma Iota (Hampton University) Chapter.

A Philadelphia native, Curtis currently lives in historic Leimert Park in Los Angeles, CA. He enjoys playing basketball, traveling and exploring the LA area with his wife and two daughters.