Our Team
We are united by a love for storytelling, the formation of character, and the thoughtful use of technology to bring timeless wisdom to life.
Courtney Becker
Courtney Becker is an award-winning editor and producer who leads development and production at The Greats Story Lab™. With a background spanning film, entrepreneurship, and creative storytelling, she brings both operational leadership and creative vision to the studio’s work. Her focus is helping build meaningful, high-quality media that brings timeless stories to life.
Co-Founder, Imagineer, and Executive Director
Dr. Sarah Jane (SJ) Murray is a Princeton-trained scholar, Digital Humanist, and Emmy®-nominated filmmaker. As a tenured professor at Baylor University, she teaches in Great Texts and Film & Digital Media. In 2014, she began exploring the links between ancient wisdom and modern science (see her 2014 and 2015 TEDx Talks), and later founded the Greats Story Lab™ to explore edumedia™, an area she pioneered at the intersection of storytelling, technology, and education. Her research has been supported by leading institutions including the National Endowment for the Humanities and American Philosophical Society, and her films have appeared on PBS, Netflix, and Amazon.
Founder, Imagineer, and BOD (Executive Director, emeritus)SJ Murray, Ph.D.
Dr. Caleb Simone is a scholar of ancient Greek cultural and intellectual history, specializing in poetry and performance. He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University and was named the Bothmer Fellow in Greek and Roman Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He currently serves as a Visiting Scholar in Classics at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Simone developed The Greats Story Lab™’s first, free online course on Homer’s Odyssey with SJ in 2026.
BODCaleb Simone, Ph.D.
Dr. Lori Baker is Executive Vice President of Aspirational Excellence at Belmont University and a leading forensic anthropologist. She earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and specializes in the molecular and forensic analysis of skeletal remains. Her work has been featured by National Geographic, Scientific American, NPR, BBC, and major national media.
Senior Advisor