Chris Baty, Director
A proud resident of Oakland, California, Chris has been heading up NaNoWriMo since founding the escapade in 1999. With his startlingly mediocre prose style and complete inability to write credible dialogue, Chris has set a reassuringly low bar for budding novelists everywhere. Chris is a freelance writer by trade; his work has appeared in the Washington Post, the SF Weekly, the Minneapolis City Pages, and Lonely Planet guidebooks. When not bossing strangers around, Chris spends debilitating amounts of time in coffee shops and record stores. His mercilessly pants-kicking book, No Plot? No Problem!, is available at your favorite bookstore. (photo by Elly Karl)

Hyland Baron, Managing Director
With her world-renowned organizational moxie and awe-inspiring collection of cool vintage dresses, Hyland Baron reigns supreme over NaNoWriMo’s administrative and fashion realms. Hyland is like a frenzied ninja on the spreadsheets, and has twice stunned audiences at the International Project Manager Olympics with her ability to answer fifteen emails while revising annual budget figures and sweet-talking a recalcitrant screenprinter. Though she won’t be writing a novel this year, Hyland has copious experience in masochistic deadlines through her work as director of the Oakland non-profit, Art City Builders. Her border collie, Maki, will herd stuffed animals if you let him.

Lauren Ayer, Municipal Liaison Headmistress
Natural recluse and reluctant cruise director, Lauren plans to use her extensive first-hand knowledge of social anxiety disorder and the nocturnal habits of obsessive novelists -- as well as her eye-opening experience as ML for the rabid Silicon Valley NaNo group -- to help fellow NaNos meet, greet and complete. When not orchestrating write-ins, boldly wasting word-count in the NaNoWriMo forums or running NaNoEdMo, Lauren can be found madly searching for new ways to say "buy this electronic device now -- you know you want it" in order to keep her big old dog in kibble.

Russell Uman, International Computer Guy of Mystery
When he is not cleaning the cages and changing the salt licks for the army of robotic rodents that keep the hamster wheels of nanowrimo.org turning, Russ can usually be found topping up the water bottles for and cracking the electric whip over other, unrelated, robotic armies that turn the hamster wheels of other, unrelated, computer assisted enterprises. When not crafting expertly run-on sentences filled with excessive extended metaphors, Russ is pretty much at a loss for things to do other than bowling, reading comics, and playing Animal Crossing. (photo by Molly Rhodes)

Jeff Fassnacht, NaNoWriMo Graphics Icon
The man responsible for NaNoWriMo.org’s sexy new look (launching October 1), Jeff is a patient, easy-going Scorpio who enjoys strange Japanese monkey stationery and any food items that have been left unattended near his workspace. When not toiling in the NaNoWriMo salt mines, Jeff teaches graphic design at the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco and heads up the fearsome Fassnacht Media Empire. His favorite color is blue, though other colors are pretty good too.

Rowan Cota, Laptop Librarian
Rowan's reassuring touch with aged computers has made her a respected and loved force around NaNoWriMo headquarters. As laptop librarian, Rowan oversees the annual October migration of NaNoWriMo's flock of loaner machines out into the wild, and then helps guide them home again come December. When not speaking computerese with her wards, Rowan is a full-time woman of mystery (the glasses are just part of her disguise).