Marie Pyko is the Chief Executive Officer for the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. She is a 30-year library veteran beginning her career by telling stories in youth services and fell in love with libraries. She has managed several areas of the library including Public Services, Red Carpet, Local History/Genealogy, the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery, Community and Technical Services.

She represents the library and the library profession regularly, advocating for literacy and libraries. Nationally she is recognized within the American Library Association, the Kettering Foundation and National Endowment of the Arts as a leader, spokesperson, and presenter. She currently serves on two Public Library Association committees focused on family engagement and strategic planning and partnership.  Marie enjoys being actively involved in Topeka and communicating the essential role of the library with community leaders.  She serves on the United Way On-Grade Achievement Impact Council, Smart City- Momentum 2022 and is the current president of the Rotary Club of Topeka.

Marie holds a bachelor’s degree in human development psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit and a master’s degree of library science from Emporia State University.

As the Chief Financial Officer, Kim Strube directs and manages all financial operations and systems, prepare the budget, prepares financial statements for the annual audit, ensures compliance with state and federal laws and regulations, and prepares financial analyses.

Thad Hartman is the Chief of Staff at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. He is responsible for leading operational and administrative functions for Collections, Community & Strategic Services, Facilities, Public Services and Safety & Security. In addition, he assists the CEO and Management Council in ensuring that services and resources align with organizational priorities and are reflective of, and responsive to, identified community needs.

Thad began his career as a shelving assistant at the library in 1993. He has worked in a variety of positions at the library, including most recently as Community and Strategic Services Manager. He has lead numerous projects throughout his career including the implementation of the Library @ Work program, Smartlockers, and the community center computer labs. He has also been the co-host of Hush, the library’s podcast, for the last several years. Two of the major initiatives that Thad is currently focused on is the implementation of the Facilities Master Plan and Community Impact Goals.

As a lifelong Topekan Thad developed his love of reading at a young age by going to the library and checking out Choose Your Own Adventure books, sports biographies, and books about bigfoot. Thad’s proudest moments at the library include being a member of the 2016 Library of the Year, being named an American Library Association Emerging Leader in 2006, and once managing the library softball team to a 1-11 record.

Paul Brennan is Collections Director and he makes sure we have the stuff you want and need and helps you use your library account to get access to it.

Jesse Maddox is the Chief Human Resources Officer at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. He leads the staff responsible for recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce of employees and volunteers, employee compensation and benefits plans, organizational culture and employee engagement, employee relations, and legal compliance. Jesse likes to spend time with his family and attend sporting events.

Scarlett Fisher-Herreman is the Technical Services & Collection Development Supervisor. She leads an awesome team of people who order, catalog and manage the library’s physical and digital collections.

Zan is awesome but needs to write a bio for herself.

Janel is the manager of the Friends of the Library, an organization committed to supporting the library through advocacy and fundraising. She is passionate about working hand-in-hand with Friends members to continue to make the library innovative and relevant to the community.

David Lee King is the Digital Services Director at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, where he plans, implements, and experiments with emerging technology trends. He speaks internationally about social media, emerging technology trends, and libraries. David maintains a blog at davidleeking.com.

Greg works with both staff and the community on safety and security issues and training. He is a member of Safe Streets and American Society for Industrial Security. Greg began at the library in 2000 to start the security department, staffed with in-house officers and off-duty law enforcement officers.

Ivan is the Facilities Supervisor. His primary work revolves around leading our custodial staff in the use of recognized quality methods to ensure a clean and properly set up library.

Patrick Berry is the Community Services Supervisor. He and his team of creative and talented people help support our community via Bookmobile, Adventuremobile, and Kansas Connections programming.

LeAnn Brungardt takes play very seriously and has the joy of working alongside a crew that does the same. Together they support curiosity, creativity, tenacity and literacy in children, teens and families. She is probably the only member of management who has crayons in her office desk. Green is her favorite.

Diana Friend is the Communications & Marketing Director of the best library in the universe! From media relations to poster production, she tells the library’s story.

Autumn Friedli supervises the readers team, which includes the senior services/Red Carpet team and other staff who primarily focus on reading.

Efrain Ruvalcaba is the Finance Supervisor.

Debbie Stanton supervises the information and learning team. She supports and mentors our staff in the Topeka Room, Alice C. Sabatini Gallery and the reference staff.

Kelli Smith supervises circulation staff who keep the books, movies and music on the shelves, at SmartLockers and at Library @ Work sites, and staff who borrow materials for you from other libraries.

Angie supervises circulation staff who check in & out materials, place holds and deliver your items to @TSCPL at Home and Smartlockers.

Joe ensures the library building and grounds are well-maintained and comfortable for customers and staff. He oversees a great group of dedicated people who work behind the scenes. Hobbs has worked in the Shawnee Heights school district for the last 12 years and most recently as building coordinator.

Brenda is the Staff Development Coordinator for the library.

Ashley is the Foundation Executive Director and has over 25 years experience working for volunteer-based associations and non-profits to create an awareness of its causes, needs for educating its members, corporate funders, sponsorship and finance, along with continuous membership recruitment and retention, which is vital to any not-for-profit organization.