NERGC is excited to have three excellent speakers as our Featured Speakers for the 2025 Conference. Below is a short biography for each speaker as well as their expected presentations for our event.
Annette Burke Lyttle
Annette Burke Lyttle owns Heritage Detective, LLC, providing professional genealogical services in research, education, and writing. She speaks on a variety of genealogical topics at the international, national, state, and local levels and loves helping people uncover and share their family stories. She is coordinator of the Foundations: The Research Process course and the Writing the Stories of Our Ancestors course for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Annette is past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists and editor of The Florida Genealogist.
Opening Session
How Advertising Caused Ancestors to Migrate
Additional Presentations
Following Ancestral Migrations: Three Case Studies
How Settlers Guides Can Help us Understand Our Ancestors Lives
Cari Taplin
Cari A. Taplin is related to Roy Rogers. Or at least that’s what her family told her. As a result, finding her true heritage has been her focus since the year 2000. She is a native of Wood County, Ohio but now lives in Longmont, Colorado. Cari holds the Certified Genealogist® credential and has served in a wide variety of volunteer and leadership positions for local, state, and national societies. As the owner of GenealogyPANTS, she writes a blog and provides speaking services. Cari currently works for Ancestry ProGenealogists. Her personal research focuses on midwestern and Great Lakes states.
Saturday Banquet
How Potty Training Helped My Genealogy
Additional Presentations
Who Lives Next Door
Using Lists to Find Proof
Diahan Southard
Diahan Southard, has been helping people use DNA to explore their roots for over 20 years. She started her career at the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, which created the DNA database that became AncestryDNA. After witnessing the power of DNA for family history–and the difficulties people face in using it effectively–she launched a pioneering career in DNA education.
Over the last 20 years Diahan has given hundreds of lectures on DNA from Burbank to Oslo, London to Seattle, to crowds of tens to thousands. Diahan’s talents for making DNA accessible, exciting and relevant are on full display as host of the PBS special, Your DNA Secrets Revealed. Diahan teaches on global platforms such as RootsTech, GenealogyTV and Legacy Tree Webinars. She appears on popular genealogy podcasts and is a DNA columnist for Family Tree Magazine.
Thursday DNA Workshop – Do the DNA
Friday Banquet – How DNA Influences Our Identity
Additional Presentation – Combined Power of YDNA & Autosomal DNA: A Case Study
There will be two additional talks per speaker to be selected from the Call for Presentations by the Program Committee. Stay tuned to this page to see what presentations are selected.