Tree Swenson, President / Executive Director
Tree Swenson is the Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets, which sponsors Poets.org, the web's most comprehensive site devoted to poetry; National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; the Poetry Audio Archive, capturing the voices of major American poets for generations to come; American Poet, a biannual literary journal; and numerous awards and prizes for poets. Immediately prior to joining the Academy, Swenson served as Director of Programs for the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Prior to that, she was the Publisher and Executive Director of Copper Canyon Press, which she co-founded in 1972, and where she worked for twenty years to establish a national press that remains dedicated to publishing poetry.

Eric Engleson, Finance Manager
Eric Engleson has been the financial manager at the Academy since 1993. Prior to joining the Academy, Eric worked as a controller for Berger, Stone & Partners Advertising. He received his M.B.A. in finance (2002) and B.B.A. in accounting (1993) from Baruch College (CUNY).

Audrey Ference, Membership Coordinator
Audrey Ference was raised, though not born, in San Antonio, Texas. Before joining the Academy, she worked in development at the Morgan Library and the Regional Plan Association. She has an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Haverford College, and her essays and criticism have appeared in various publications.

Julia Guez, Program Intern
After five years of service with Teach For America, Julia Guez is pursuing her M.F.A. at Columbia University, to build on a B.A. from Rice University. Guez has received a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize and a Naomi Shihab Nye Fellowship to attend The Round Top Poetry Festival in Round Top, Texas. She is now living and writing full-time in New York City. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Litchfield Literary Review, Numinous Magazine, The Blue Fifth, and The Basilica Review.

Beth Harrison, Associate Director / Director of Development
Prior to joining the Academy of American Poets, Beth was the Development Specialist for Literary Publishing at the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. She has also worked as a development consultant for arts organizations and nonprofit presses and as an editor for Princeton Architectural Press and Oxford University Press. She has a B.A. in English/creative writing and religion from Miami University and is the founding editor of the literary magazine Spinning Jenny.

Christina LaPrease, Publicity & Events Coordinator
Christina LaPrease was raised in the backwaters of Louisiana. She received her M.F.A. in Poetry at Columbia University and a B.A. in English from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Beloit Poetry Journal, Black Warrior Review, and Painted Bride Quarterly. She resides in New York.

Paul Legault, Program Associate
Paul Legault was born in Ontario and raised in Tennessee. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Virginia and a B.F.A. in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California. His poems have been published in Denver Quarterly, Drunken Boat, FIELD, and other journals. His first book, The Madeleine Poems, is forthcoming from Omnidawn Press.