Update: We have moved our program to the
Leadership Now Project
Team
Council of Advisors
Andrea Lee-Zucker is the DC City Ambassador of NEXUS, a global network of young investors and innovators dedicated to bridging communities of wealth and social entrepreneurship. Andrea is also a writer, activist, social entrepreneur, and manager of Antigravity Ventures, an impact fund at The InterTech Group, Inc. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Andrea was shaped by early experiences in community activism through her parents’ community leadership and through her work with Youth Service Charleston, Operation Understanding, and The Coastal Community Foundation. She is a board member of South Carolina’s Women’s Rights & Empowerment Network (WREN) and of Foundation For Inclusion, and she serves as an advisor of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). Andrea is the proud mother of three children and wife of a tech entrepreneur who is helping her discover the potential of our exponential future.
Bill Lyons has worked extensively with next generation donors supporting transformational change and healing by and for those who face systemic barriers to equal opportunity. Utilizing his law degree and M.Ed he specializes in leadership and systemic change. As a philanthropic and governance counselor to entrepreneurs, families, foundations and family offices, he has been a trustee/advisor for several single-family offices, trusts and giving collaboratives. He also serves as a board member and advisor to a family foundation, the Center for Community Change and Wheelhouse Creative, a visual media company. He is a graduate of Georgetown Law, Loyola – Chicago (M.Ed.) and Boston College.
Billy Birdzell grew up in Larchmont, NY and graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in Economics. Following graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Billy served two tours in Iraq as an infantry officer and was a founding member of Marine Corps Special Operations where he led a team on advisors missions in Africa. After eight years in the Marine Corps, Billy earned an M.B.A. at the University of Virginia. He later worked for the National Rifle Association, helping to lead Corporate and Foundation Relations. Billy currently works in private banking and volunteers as a security consultant for Rhino 911. Billy enjoys rock climbing, skiing, hunting and shooting. He lives in Santa Monica, CA with his wife Meaghan Kennedy Townsend and their twins Arabella and David.
Brandyn Keating is the CEO of YOUnify, a new project bringing people together across sectors (business, philanthropy, media/entertainment, nonprofit, grassroots) to reduce polarization and accelerate progress on key issues of our time. She is founder of United Citizen Power, a nonprofit organization that develops the capacity of people to organize their own communities and is a co-founder of L I G H T S P A C E, a female led consultancy focused on cultivating human, economic and land based regeneration. Keating served in leadership roles on both of President Obama’s campaigns at the SuperPAC NextGen Climate and on many issue and electoral campaigns. A civic engagement innovator, Keating has conducted first-of-their kind randomized controlled experiments on the most effective ways to change voter behavior. She also served as Executive Director of the Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, on the Public Safety Working Group of Governor Patrick’s 2006 transition team and on the Drug Policy Task Force of the Massachusetts Bar Association.
Bryan Miller is a speaker, author and coach. Whether speaking to visionaries at Harvard Business School or creatives at SXSW, Bryan electrifies listeners with his unique message of personal transformation. The son of self-made billionaires Larry H. and Gail Miller, Bryan had the inside track to a corner office. Instead, he forged his own path to fulfillment. Bryan shares his journey and insights with humor and conviction, drawing from his leadership roles inside his family’s massive enterprise, and his own deep inquiry into what it means to live a life of meaning and contribution. His simple yet profound practices offer a roadmap for doing “great work” in the world. Audiences leave empowered to harness their true genius, fuse their passion and purpose, and transcend society’s traditional definitions of success. In 2016, Bryan established Bryan Miller & Associates, a professional training and personal development consultancy serving conscious leaders and creative professionals. A certified iPEC coach, he has trained with Jack Canfield and Tony Robbins and is a certified HeartMath trainer and Awakening the Dreamer Symposium facilitator. Bryan is the award-winning author of Behind the Drive: 99 Inspiring Stories from the Life of an American Entrepreneur, a collection of powerful lessons from his father’s life and work, gleaned from political leaders, NBA legends, business competitors, and close friends. Bryan serves on the board for the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, as well as the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation. Together with his wife, life coach Heather Dawn, Bryan founded 100% of Humanity, a charitable foundation dedicated to making the world work for everyone. The foundation shares the Pachamama Alliance’s vision of “an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on this planet.” Bryan holds degrees in English and Asian studies from the University of Utah. When not speaking and coaching nationally and internationally, he is an avid reader, writer, and traveler. He lives in Sandy, Utah, with his wife and six children.
Christopher Mellon conceived and drafted the legislation establishing the US Special Operations Command in 1986 while working as an aide for US Senator William S. Cohen (R-ME). He subsequently spent nearly 20 years in the U.S. Intelligence Community, to include serving as the Minority Staff Director of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. He has taught at Georgetown University; authored a number of articles on public policy issues; and received numerous awards including the National Reconnaissance Office Gold Medal; the DIA Director’s Medal, and the Secretary of Defense Public Service Award. Mr. Mellon is also the Chair of the Science Committee at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. He earned his B.A. from Colby College and his M.A. from Yale University. Since retiring from federal service Mr. Mellon has been working as a private equity investor engaged in biotech and information technology start-ups.
Daniel Penchina is the President of Voices for Progress and Voices for Progress Education Fund, a community of business owners, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other influential leaders who advocate to protect our climate, ensure equality and expand opportunity, and strengthen representative democracy. Penchina has 16 years of experience navigating the intersection of policymaking and politics. For eight years, he was a principal at The Raben Group, a progressive public affairs firm, where he designed and managed national issue and advocacy campaigns — including developing legislative strategy, communications plans, coalitions, and tools for grassroots organizing — for dozens of national nonprofits, foundations, and businesses. Prior to joining the firm, he worked as a senior advisor and strategist for several members of Congress, including legislative director to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL), legislative director for Congressman (now Senator) Christopher Murphy (CT) and legislative assistant and appropriations associate for Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY). Penchina is a member of the board of the LGBTQ Victory Fund and a member of the board of Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders (SMYAL). He graduated with honors from New York University.
Daniel Polk is CEO of Baxter, Stinson Polk, LLC (“BSP”) and a resident of Annapolis, Maryland. BSP is a small family office practice, specializing in Private Equity. Previously, Mr. Polk was a capital partner with Federal City Capital Advisers where he advised on multimillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions and private equity placements. In 2012, he was asked to be a senior advisor to the Task Force for Business and Stability operations in rebuilding the economy of Afghanistan. Mr. Polk serves on the board of Steward Partners Global Advisory, a mid-Atlantic based financial advisory business. Mr. Polk has a world-class network of active national and international investors, and political/social leaders that consider him a trusted friend and advisor. Mr. Polk attended Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
Daniella Ballou-Aares is CEO of the Leadership Now Project. She was previously a Partner and Director for the Americas at Dalberg. She joined Dalberg in 2004 and helped grow it from a start-up to a leading global group of social impact businesses, with 25 offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the US. Daniella returned to Dalberg after serving for five years as the Senior Advisor for Development to the Secretary of State, serving under Secretaries Clinton and Kerry. She started her career at Bain & Company and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, where she serves on the Advisory Council. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA from the Kennedy School and a BS in Operations Research and Engineering from Cornell.
David Nevins is the president and co-director of the Bridge Alliance. He brings business acumen, vision and a tireless this-must-and-can-be-done zeal to the burgeoning movement to bridge divides to transform the political process. As a business leader, Nevins excels at building bridges between people and organizations from the right, left and center for civilized conversation and then action. He co-founded the Bridge Alliance because, as he says, “No matter how well managed and how well funded anyone organization is, significant political reform will not happen without an alliance to further collaborative interactions. Together we can and will raise the collective impact of all.” He is a member of the Aspen Institute Society of Fellows, with a focus on the Aspen Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, he established and continues to work with The Nevins Democracy Leaders program at Penn State University. Nevins graduated with honors in economics from Penn State in 1969 and received an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He continues as President of Nevins Real Estate Management.
David H. Wills, J.D., also known as Dave, served as the President at National Christian Charitable Foundation, Inc. from 1998 to 2018, and is currently the President Emeritus. Mr. Wills also serves as an Advisor at Sovereign’s Capital. Mr. Wills has practiced law since 1988 and his primary areas of practice for the last 22 years include charitable gift planning, exempt organizations (specifically in the public and private foundation arenas), estate planning, and fiduciary related matters. He serves on numerous boards, including Generous Giving, Hope for the Heart, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), and the ProVision Foundation. Mr. Wills is the co-author of two books, Investing in God’s Business, Family Money, and numerous articles. He lectures throughout the country on issues involving foundations and nonprofit organizations, the transition of wealth, responsibility from one generation to the next, as well as tax and spiritual issues in charitable giving. Mr. Wills earned a J.D. and a B.B.A. from Baylor University and completed post-graduate work at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Emily Baker serves as Director of the Washington, DC Office of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, an institution dedicated to educating the public about the important role of the Senate in our government, encouraging participatory democracy, invigorating civil discourse, and inspiring the next generation of citizens and leaders to engage in the civic life of their communities. Previously, Emily worked at the National Venture Capital Association where served as the Vice President of Federal Policy and Political Advocacy. Emily has notable professional experience on issues including, immigration, tax, healthcare, and government funding for research and development (R&D) in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields, and more. She has also previously worked for Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), and the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). In addition, Emily worked on Capitol Hill, both in the majority and minority, where despite partisanship, the government maintained the ability to function and relative civility reigned.
Evan Baehr is a serial founder of technology companies, venture investor and advisor, best-selling author, and university professor. Baehr is currently the Founder/CEO of Teneo, a national leadership organization, author of Get Backed from Harvard Business Press, professor of marketing at the University of Texas, and cohost of the podcast Our American Experiment. Most recently he cofounded Able, a financial technology company backed by Mike Maples and Peter Thiel, which sold in 2017. Able serves the ‘fortune 5,000,000’—the millions of small businesses that create two-thirds of all jobs in the United States—with low interest loans to help them grow. Forbes called Able “capitalism at its best.” Previously he cofounded Outbox, a startup designed to disrupt the United States Postal Service. After being shut down by the federal government, Baehr was profiled in the Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Interview titled “A Case of Uncreative Destruction.” Baehr’s book, Get Backed, equips entrepreneurs with the key skills to build a pitch deck and then raise capital to launch a business. Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran calls the book a ‘must read’ before pitching on the show. It has equipped over 1,000,000 entrepreneurs. He has worked for Clarium Capital, a global macro hedge fund, the U.S. House of Representatives as a legislative aide, and the White House Office of Faith Based Initiatives. He founded the first chapter of the the Adam Smith Society, the largest organization of MBA’s committed to capitalism, and has served as a member or advisor to the Lincoln Network, Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Federalist Society, Alliance Defending Freedom, and American Enterprise Institute. He is an honors graduate of Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School), Yale University (MA, Ethics), and Harvard Business School (MBA).
Fred Smith is president of the Gathering, an international association of individuals, families, and foundations giving to Christian ministries. He is also the chairman of the Fourth Partner, a nonprofit organization focused on Christian philanthropy and community development within the East Texas area. Mr. Smith spent several years as teacher and administrator at Charlotte Christian School and The Stony Brook School before joining Leadership Network, where he served as president for 12 years. He is a graduate of Denver University and Harvard Divinity School.
Joe Lonsdale is an American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. He is a founding partner at 8VC, a technology investment fund. Most recently, Lonsdale was a founding partner at Formation 8, the precursor fund to 8VC, which manages over $1.5 billion and is one of the top performing private funds. He was an early institutional investor in many notable companies including Wish, Oculus, Illumio, Virgin Hyperloop One, RelateIQ, ZenReach, Color Genomics, and uBiome. Lonsdale also co-founded and serves as chairman of Addepar, a wealth management technology company, and OpenGov, a technology platform that helps manage data intelligence and budget processes of governments. In 2004, Lonsdale co-founded Palantir Technologies, a company focused on analyzing, integrating, and visualizing data especially in defense and finance.
John Steiner is a networker, transpartisan (bridging the divides) leader and creative consultant, often with his wife and working partner, Margo King. He is one of the national leaders of the current effort to take the transpartisan movement to scale. For decades he has been passionate about how we can heal across the divides in our country – political, economic, social and cultural — and globally. From 2004-2009 he helped organize Reuniting America, as it brought together conservative, moderate, liberal and progressive leaders of national organizations to engage in constructive dialogues and to prove that leaders with highly divergent views could and were actually eager to work together to find common ground solutions. He was a founding board member of Search for Common Ground, a co-founder of the National Commons, a predecessor organization to the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution on whose leadership council he serves. He was one of founders of the Social Venture Network, and the Threshold Foundation. He served as board chair of CDR Associates, formerly the Center for Dispute Resolution. He currently works full time helping to build, catalyze and serve this emergent, transpartisan/bridge field as a co-founder and board member of the Bridge Alliance as co-founder and co-director of the Bridge Summit, and as a board member of the Mediators Foundation and BridgeUSA — . https://www.bridgeusa.org/. He works closely in this arena with Mark Gerzon, author of The Reunited States of America: How We Can Bridge the Partisan Divide and president of Mediators Foundation. John has long worked with Dr. Robert Fuller to help further the Dignity Movement. John is a graduate of Harvard College, class of ’65. He spent a year in Venezuela with Accion en Venezuela (like the Peace Corps). Studying city planning at Berkeley brought him out to California in 1966 and for twenty years thereafter. He has practiced Zen Buddhism at the Zen Mountain Center at Tassajara Hot Springs in California. John and Margo have lived in Boulder, CO since 1986. Along with their grown children, Elizabeth King and Michael Steiner, they are trustees of the Steiner King Foundation and members of Impact Partners, which invests in social impact documentary films. Their work and life are animated by a long-term commitment to the timeless wisdom traditions and to planetary awakening.
Jonah Wittkamper is the Founder of the Healthy Democracy Coalition and the Co-Founder and President of NEXUS, a global movement to bridge communities of wealth and social entrepreneurship. NEXUS works to increase and improve philanthropy with a membership of 5000+ from over 70 countries, including people from many of the world’s leading business and philanthropic families. In March of 2014, Jonah led the effort to convene the first White House Conference on Next Generation Philanthropy. Prior to co-founding NEXUS, Jonah served as the US Director of Search for Common Ground and was part of Distributive Networks Inc., where he worked on the text messaging technology of the 2008 Obama campaign. In 2000, Jonah co-founded the Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) to strengthen youth participation in global decision-making. As the organization grew it merged with TakingITGlobal (www.tigweb.org) to form the largest site on the Internet dedicated to empowering young leaders with a membership of hundreds of thousands. Earlier in his career, Jonah founded two internet companies, served as a board member of the L. A. Jonas Foundation and as an advisor to the ManyOne Foundation. He is an alumnus of Williams College and Camp Rising Sun.
Kahlil Byrd is the CEO of Invest America. He has expertise in building and leading large, disruptive technology based bipartisan reform organizations. He was president of the education reform effort StudentsFirst and cofounder and CEO of Americans Elect. His current firm, Forward Progress in Politics (FPPCO) is building the Invest America Fund, a national bipartisan community of investors and entrepreneurs committed to essential and aggressive issue reform and political transformation.
Melissa L. Bradley is a tri-sector leader with more than 20 years of entrepreneurship, investment and leadership experience. In 2015, she was awarded the Anne S. Ferren Award for Curriculum Design and completed her Certificate for Online Learning. During the summer of 2016, Melissa was named as a nonresident senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. Since 2012 Melissa has been a professor of practice at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University where she serves as an expert lecturer on impact investing, social entrepreneurship, peer-to-peer economies and innovation. In 2015 she was awarded the Entrepreneurial Faculty Excellence Award and the Joseph F. LeMoine Award for Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching Excellence and in 2016 she was awarded the MBA Excellence in Teaching Award. She is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Sidecar Social Finance, a social impact agency that provides impact investing advisory and capital services to individuals, institutions, and social enterprises. She is also Founder and Curator of Venture DC, an initiative that seeks to empower emerging entrepreneurs who are addressing and solving some of DC’s most pressing challenges related to health care, education, housing, economic security and access to financial services, specifically in Wards 7 and 8. Launched in 2015, the initiative has collaborated with the public and private sectors to bring human and financial capital to marginalized entrepreneurs across the City. Bradley has served as a Presidential Appointee under President Obama from 2012-2015. In this role she was Chief Strategy Officer at the Corporation for National and Community Service, served at the Department of Education and was responsible for securing over $20 million in public-private partnerships to support national service and My Brother’s Keeper. From 2014-2015 she served as Acting Director of the Social Innovation Fund, a White House Initiative committed to scaling ‘what works’ in our communities.
Mikuak Rai is Co-founder of the World Future Coin initiative, a call to action for a new system of global governance that unites the resources of blockchain finance and citizenship together with regenerative economies and democratic processes. A self-described ‘creative catalyst’ and ‘systems change architect’, Mikuak is passionate about the role of creative arts, systems thinking, and collaboration in designing and perpetuating a future that encourages and supports personal and planetary coherence and wellbeing. Mikuak is the former Communications & Community Manager for NEXUS, a global community bridging communities of wealth and social entrepreneurship, and currently Co-chairs the NEXUS Lab on Blockchain & Systems Change and the NEXUS Lab on Music. Mikuak is also a co-founder of One Common Unity, a Washington DC-based nonprofit organization “building a non-violent culture through arts, music, and education”, since 2000. In 2016, Mikuak co-founded the Global Council for Calendar Awareness (GCCA) whose aim is to promote calendar reform by educating people on the benefits of adopting a new harmonic calendar standard of 13 months with 28 days each as the basis for an upgraded ‘operational system’ for human society, in order to consciously realign and synchronize with natural biological and planetary cycles. This effort has led to the ongoing Calendar Referendum 2020 and Declaration of Universal World Peace petition via Change.org. Mikuak also currently serves on the URI (United Religions Initiative) Multiregion Leadership Council “Baraza.”
Rachel Cohen Gerrol is the Co-Founder and CEO of NEXUS, a global network of young investors, donors and innovators. She is widely recognized for her work on innovative philanthropy and her projects have been featured in The NY Times, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, Forbes, Vanity Fair, Barron’s, Inc. and The Huffington Post. She was named one of the “99 Most Influential Foreign Policy Leaders under 33” by the Diplomatic Courier and was honored as 2011 “Jewish Girl of the Year” by GathertheJews.com. Rachel helped organize the first “White House Conference on Next Gen Philanthropy & Impact Investing” in 2014 and Co-Chaired the G8 Young Summit in 2013. Rachel was founding Executive Director of PVBLIC Foundation, an innovative in-kind grant-making organization that aggregates advertising space to donate to social impact causes. In this role she organized the 2014 and 2105 Media for Social Impact Summits at the United Nations and has curated the Social Impact Film Program for “The Collective” at The Sundance Film Festival since 2013. Through PVBLIC, Rachel also worked closely with the White House to launch the “It’s On Us” campaign to stop sexual assault on campus.In 2012 Rachel founded The Survivor Initiative, a next-gen effort to raise awareness and funds for US Holocaust survivors living in poverty. Rachel previously was Director of Young Adult Initiatives for the Schusterman Foundation and spent eight years as Special Assistant to Ambassador Nancy Rubin, U.S. Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Rachel sits on the Board of Directors of the Birthright Israel Foundation and the Next Gen Council of the USC Shoah Foundation. She is on the Speaker’s Bureau and National Young Leadership Cabinet of the Jewish Federations of North America, has testified before the Israeli Knesset and is a Wexner Heritage Fellow. Rachel Co-Chairs the Board of Jumpstart, serves on the Advisory Councils of Girl Up (UN Foundation) and Charity Miles and is on the Advisory of BeeSpace. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In the past she has served on the Evaluation Panel for Bloomberg’s Genesis Generation Challenge, the Advisory Council of Invisible Children, the Leadership Council of the Classy Awards and the Advisory Board of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day.
Rob Mosbacher, Jr. is Chairman of the Board of Mosbacher Energy Company, a family-owned energy company headquartered in Houston, Texas. He served as the ninth President and Chief Executive Officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation from 2005 to 2009, an independent agency of the U. S. Government that has facilitated over $20 billion in investments in developing countries around the world. He is Chairman of the Board of Global Communities, an international non-profit organization that works closely with people in over 20 countries worldwide to bring about sustainable changes that improve the lives and livelihoods of the vulnerable. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of the Initiative for Global Development, which is a Washington, DC-based non-profit that engages and harnesses the power of the private sector to create sustainable development and inclusive growth in Africa. He was Founder and Chairman of BizCorps, Inc., a non-profit that places graduates of top business schools with SME entrepreneurs in Colombia. He also serves on the Board of the Center for Global Development, a think tank in Washington, DC. In 2009, he re-joined the Board of Devon Energy, a large, independent oil and gas producer, and served on the Board of Calpine Corporation, one of the largest independent power companies in the U. S., until the company was taken private in March, 2018. He received a law degree in 1977 from Southern Methodist University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University in 1973.
Sharif Azami has been actively engaged in the field of sustainable development since 2000 through his work with CIDA, Oxfam GB, and United Nations World Food Programme. As a Rotary Peace Fellow, Sharif has earned a master’s in International Development Policy from Duke University, and a graduate certificate in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At present, Sharif serves as a Program Officer at the Fetzer Institute.
Steven Wozencraft, the Executive Vice President of the John D. Evans Foundation, has spent the last 30 years of his career working with NGOs and not-for-profits to refine their fundraising practices, programmatic focuses, and strategic partnerships. He is the former President of the John O’Donnell Company, a firm established in 1966, which specialized in helping global NGOs and not-for-profit organizations achieve sustainable growth. As President, he oversaw the development of numerous organizations by helping them build their financial capacity while strengthening civil societies. Steve is known for his unique ability to bring together diverse networks for a common cause across a range of issues, with a focus on HIV/AIDS treatment & prevention, criminal justice reform, Social Justice, environmental issues, technological innovation, and the arts. As a private citizen, Steve worked closely with President Obama’s White House to engage high-level Republicans and convened various groups for high level talks on how to build consensus and collaboration on Criminal Justice Reform. Steve currently serves on the boards of the Vet Voice Foundation, Atlas Corps (as Chairman of the Board), Dr. Robert Gallo’s Institute of Human Virology, the Department of State Fine Arts Committee, the University of Michigan Spectrum Center Advisory Council, The State Department Global Equality Fund and the Advisory Board of the Bretton Woods II initiative at the New America Foundation. He is a past board member of South Coast Medical Center, University of Michigan Center for Global Health External Advisory Board, GLAAD, NGLCC, Positive Young People Foundation (PYP), The Global Virus Network and Friend Factor.
Trammell S. Crow is the founder of EarthX (formerly known as Earth Day Texas), the largest annual exposition and forum showcasing the latest initiatives, discoveries, research, innovations, policies and corporate practices serving to re-shape the future. With a focus on inspiring environmental leadership across sectors and party lines, Crow serves on the board of directors for ConservAmerica and is a co-founder of Texas Business for Clean Air and Texans for Clean Water. He is also a long-term supporter of the Texas Conservation Alliance, the Nature Conservancy of Texas, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Log Cabin Republicans and the League of Conservation Voters. His philanthropy benefits various nonprofit organizations that are active in family planning, education, the environment, community initiatives and political causes. Crow’s passion for art extends to his role as president of the Crow Family Foundation, which operates and manages The Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art. Prior to his current endeavors, Mr. Crow held various other positions within the Crow family businesses. From 1986 to 1993, he served as CEO of Trammell Crow International, overseeing the Brussels International Trade Mart (largest in Europe) and developing additional trade marts in Asia.
Vanita Bhargava is the Senior Advisor to the Council on Founations’s President & CEO. Prior to joining the Council, Vanita worked with a broad range of organizations including Pew Charitable Trusts, Kaiser Permanente, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Playworks, and the Boston Ballet. Most recently she was a partner with Onward, a consulting firm that assists non profits to solve problems and manage change. She received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a master in public policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Prior to moving to the DC area, Vanita served as the senior program officer at the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health in Palo Alto, California. She helped launch the foundation’s grantmaking program. In her time at the foundation, she managed an $11.4 million portfolio of grants for youth development and early childhood programs. She worked with a diverse set of grantees–from grassroots non profits to multi-million dollar institutions–to help them deliver measurable impact in a timely manner. Vanita is an active community member and school volunteer and has served on the boards of the Youth Leadership Institute and Playworks. In her personal life, she enjoys travel, photography, puzzles of all sorts, and most of all, listening to the laughter of her husband and two children.
William A. Galston is the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair and Senior Fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program. Prior to January 2006, he was the Saul Stern Professor and Acting Dean at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, and founding director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). Galston was Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Policy from 1993 to 1995. Galston is a winner of the American Political Science Association’s Hubert H. Humphrey Award and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His most recent book is Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy (Yale, 2018).
William Kristol, the founder and editor at large of The Weekly Standard, is widely recognized as a leading analyst and commentator on American politics. Over the last few decades, he has helped shape the national debate on issues ranging from American foreign policy to the meaning of American conservatism. Before starting the Weekly Standard in 1995, Mr. Kristol led the Project for the Republican Future, where he helped developed the strategy that produced the 1994 Republican congressional victory. Before that, Mr. Kristol served in senior positions in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations. Before coming to Washington, Mr. Kristol taught politics at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. He received his undergraduate degree and his Ph.D. from Harvard University.
HDC Regional Organizers
Alex Rozenfeld founded Climate Impact Capital to help fill the market gap for early stage companies and investors seeking to make an impact on climate change. With 20 years of energy and innovation experience, Alex has worked extensively internationally as an entrepreneur, angel investor, and venture capitalist for Fortune 500 companies. His main focus has been on bringing corporations and entrepreneurs together to impact one of the world’s largest challenges – sustainable and plentiful energy access. He has been investing in energy technologies since 2001, including hydrogen, fuel cells, and energy storage. Notable roles have included being part of the development of the earliest H2 vehicle station in California, an international GameChanger, and most recently the founding member and President at Shell Technology Ventures, LLC. Alex is an active supporter of the Texas energy entrepreneurship community, with past and current roles such as, Director Energy Initiatives for The Center for Houston’s Future, the Energy Co-chair of the Houston Angels Network, Advisory Board member of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, and an adviser to the Houston Technology Center. Alex’s firm Climate Impact Capital is also known for incubating and launching Impact Investment projects, including Texas Innovates, a non-profit focused on accelerating hard-tech science companies and providing education to entrepreneurs. Alex holds a BSE magna cum laude from Princeton University and MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
Amy Holdsman has twenty-five years of executive level experience leading nonprofit and philanthropic organizations in Philadelphia. She has created and enhanced multiple scholarship programs serving thousands of high achieving students from low-income families, increasing their access to a quality education. Her decades of leadership experience combined with her love and passion for serving as a guide for others has led to the creation of Essential Leadership, where she coaches her clients for purposeful engagement and social impact. She works to identify their strengths and core values so that they can be effective in their own spheres of influence and strategically engage in the community, connecting them to others and a cause larger than themselves. Amy seizes the opportunity for one on one coaching and mentoring, particularly in the college access arena, and also serves annually as the pronouncer in the Scripps-Howard/Tribune Spelling Bee.
Amy Rosenberg is the Chief Development Officer of Friends of The Underline, a 10-mile linear park and arts destination that just broke ground in Miami’s urban core. Amy is an attorney and arts and environmental advocate who has co – founded five non – profit organizations including the Arsht Center’s young patrons group, Overtown Music Project and Dream in Green. She is a member of Art Basel Miami Beach’s Junior Host Committee and the Funding Arts Network.
Anasa Troutman, writer, producer, and entrepreneur, has dedicated her work to the importance of culture and the power of love. As CEO of her company, Culture Shift Creative, Anasa works to build and execute strategies for artists and organizations that are aligned with her vision of a loving world and her belief in creativity as a pathway to personal, community and global transformation. Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Anasa awakened to her life’s work during her time in Atlanta, Georgia, attending Spelman College and founding Groovement/EarthSeed Music, a successful record label and collective of young, cutting edge, visionary musicians, performers, and writers. Best known for her work as strategic advisor and executive producer for long time friend India.Arie, Anasa recently stepped into leadership as the first Executive Director of the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis. Anasa has provided strategic and creative support in many important cultural, political and social justice spaces; she has designed and facilitated national learning exchanges, served as a consulting producer, trained and transitioned the leadership of organizations to integrate cultural strategy as a community organizing tactic, produced tours & festivals, curated artistic programming, shepherded many artists and creative thinkers through the process of manifesting their own creative vision and has been invited twice to the White House by the Obama administration to advise on cultural policy. Anasa works hard to embody her strong belief in creativity as a transformative practice and engages art making as a pathway to her own healing and spiritual expansion. While she experiments with many forms of creative practice, her deepest love is writing. She creates stories, songs and essays that reflect her unique point of view, commitment to loving kindness and thirst for beauty and adventure.
Andrew Carton is the Co-Founder and President of Mobile Nations – a leading independent tech media company that reaches nearly 40 million readers. Andrew is a self-styled “misfit” who founded his first company in 1993 and has been an entrepreneur ever since. His current company Mobile Nations was started in 1999 with a couple of key insights: “everybody will own a smartphone”, “digital convergence will transform everything” and that “the future of marketing is passion and transparency”. Mobile Nations grew entirely organically and without any external capital and the company’s sites now reach some 40 million unique monthly visitors across its three main properties – Android Central, iMore and Windows Central – placing it among the Top 20 largest tech media companies in the US. Andrew was born in Spain, raised speaking French with a German mother and an English father. He has lived in ten countries on four continents and is fluent in four languages. He holds a British passport but maintains a strong Spanish/French accent. His wife is Italo-Venezuelan and his four year old son was born in Miami. Andrew’s most influential schooling was at the Architectural Association in London.
Ashley Wright runs a single family office in Austin. Her role is to ensure that the family’s wealth is managed well and their financial goals are realized. Additionally, she manages the family’s foundation and works closely with each family member to match personal passion with proactive giving. Prior to joining Alatair in 2010, Ashley worked at UBS. She began her career at UBS in 2005 as a Municipal Bond Portfolio Specialist. In 2008, she transitioned to an internal strategy role. As a Strategic Analyst, Ashley developed internal business reviews and analyzed internal business units. She wrote speeches and created presentations for executives to present at conferences, town halls and external public appearances. Ashley graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2004, where she was a pole vaulter on the track team. In 2009, she earned her MBA from New York University. Ashley currently serves on the board of the USA Track and Field Foundation and the board of CASA of Travis County. She lives in Austin, TX with her husband and two children.
Bill High is the Chief Executive Officer of The Signatry: A Global Christian Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation in 2000, Bill was a partner with Blackwell Sanders LLP, a national and international law firm. He is also the founder of iDonate, a fundraising software company serving the non-profit community. iDonate.com provides an online marketing solution for non-profits to market and receive gifts of all kinds: including cash, text, credit card and non-cash gifts. With the foundation, he has been a vital part in overseeing their efforts from startup, to almost $3 billion in contributions. Bill invests his time working with families, individual givers, ministries, and financial advisors. He also works strategically with business owners who are looking to sell and/or transition their business to the next generation, and teaches ministries how to work with major donors. Bill’s personal mission is to change the way people view and practice generosity. Through innovative resources, leadership and writing – he’s helped show generous families how to grow their impact through cash and noncash giving. As part of that mission, he’s working with families to carry on a lasting legacy of true wealth. Bill is also a published author. His recent books include a book co-authored with David Green, CEO and Founder of Hobby Lobby, called Giving It All Away…And Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously (Zondervan 2017), and a book co authored with Steve and Jackie Green, This Dangerous Book: How the Bible Has Shaped our World and Why it Still Matters Today (Zondervan 2017). Other books include Stories of the Generous Life. Ordinary People. Extraordinary Generosity, and its sequel, The Generosity Bet. He co-authored Sell Well, which highlights avoiding common mistakes when selling a business, and Why the Conservative Mind Matters. He also contributed to unHeritage: 11 Pitfalls to Family Legacy and How to Avoid Them, and the companion volume, unPrepared Heirs At Risk. Apart from writing books, Bill is a highly sought-after conference speaker on topics relating to philanthropy and the transforming power of biblical generosity. He was named one of the Top 25 Philanthropy Speakers in the United States by Philanthropy Media. Bill has been married to his wife Brooke for more than 30 years. They have four children, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren.
Brandon Lee has an unconventional story that spans from dropping out of college as an international speaker to flipping homes in Silicon Valley. Most recently, Brandon co-founded an afterschool education program called Orenda Academy teach teens life skills, productivity skills, and soft skills. Brandon has spent the past decade teaching, mentoring, and coaching people in all the industries he was a part of. On the side, he writes to inspire people to become the best versions of themselves, has garnered over 7.5 million views, and has been featured on media outlets like Inc.com, TIME, BBC, Quartz, and Mashable.
Carey Friedman is a writer, yogi and practicing Buddhist. He has been teaching film, theater and experimental writing at Columbia College Chicago for twenty years, and also offers his service as a writing mentor. As a yoga and meditation teacher, he creates with the intention of stories functioning as medicine while also aligning with the body’s subtle energies. Carey facilitates strengthening the muscles of the imagination, ensuring access to a deeper connection to one’s personal story while also shedding light upon alternative solutions to the larger narrative of culture.
Chad Jordan is the author of Shut Up & Give?, ReThink Missions, and Three Jobs, as well as the founder & chief consultant of Cornerstone International and the co-founder & CEO of Arrow Global Capital. Chad holds a bachelor’s degree in international policy and a master’s degree in international development from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., has been selected by the Development Diaries as a “Changemaker for Africa”, is a NextGen Under 30 award winner, and serves as a foreign policy advisor to the U.S. Senate.
Chok Ooi is the CEO of Kenzie Academy, a 6-month to 2-year tech apprenticeship school, pioneering a new model in education; developing future technology leaders with the skills, passion and purpose to meet the needs of employers and closing the talent gap. Kenzie is focused on empowering individuals to achieve extraordinary outcomes, providing them with access to the skills and opportunities to build their future in tech. Chok is also Chairman of AgilityIO, a software innovation company, and an angel investor. With a background in Electrical Engineering, Chok has gone beyond the technical aspects of his work to foster cooperation between business and technology. In 2011, he founded Agility with a team of like-minded individuals and has grown the company to over 250 employees globally over the span of six years. Prior to this, he built trading systems for top investment banks including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America. Chok also worked for Silicon Valley startup Loopt and was previously CTO of AZAP Mobile and Head of Web and Mobile Solutions at Selerity. Chok enjoys discovering the latest tech and startup trends and meeting people in the field at various conferences around the globe. In recent years, he has traveled extensively and met entrepreneurs across the U.S. and also in Asia and the Middle East. Chok has shared his experience at the Echelon Malaysia Conference 2014, with students at Wharton School of Business and also several educational institutions in Malaysia. He was a speaker at the Malaysia Forum 2014 in New York and was profiled on Astro Awani’s program, “Life in the Valley, the Digital Gold Rush.”
Christian Bailey is the Founder of Curated Innovation, an MIT-fueled invention lab whose mission is to deliver breakthrough products that save lives. Prototypes being developed include preventing skin-cancer with computer vision, replacing the mammogram, and a quadcopter that can rescue a human. He was an investor in applied-science spinouts from MIT and Harvard, a founder of Lincoln Group, acquired 2008, and a coach with United Way Youth Venture and Junior Achievement. Christian holds a BA and MA in Economics and Management from the University of Oxford. He completed studies in molecular biology and materials science as a Fellow at MIT.
Clint Misamore leads the marketing and partnerships for The Recording Academy (The GRAMMYs). Simultaneously, he has Co-founded and leads an invitation-only dinner series called Storytellers, which takes place each month and is attended by some of the biggest business leaders and Hollywood influencers. He also lends his marketing expertise by consulting for a select number of organizations that have innovative approaches to improving the planet, including the Global Seed Vault. Prior to The GRAMMYs, he worked for Mike Milken at the Milken Institute where he developed and executed strategic initiatives in emerging markets, most notably the Access to Global Capital Initiative and Africa Program, and GlobalGiving, where he was involved in advancing the organizationÕs business development efforts in 15 international markets. Beyond his corporate experience, Misamore serves as the Head of Los Angeles for Nexus Youth Summit ÐÑ the largest organization representing the intersection of next generation wealth and philanthropy globally. He has Co-founded three philanthropic organizations Ð Y-Generation Against Poverty (recently in the press for it’s Polished Man Campaign), Sanejo and Startup Impact Day, collectively impacting over 200k direct beneficiaries in 7 countries and on 3 continents. Additionally, he serves on the host committee for TEDxLA and Human Gathering and actively advises and supports a number of non-profit causes. He earned a B.S. in Hospitality Management from Purdue University, and a M.A in International Relations from The Maxwell School – Syracuse University, where he was also awarded a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Civil Society Organizations. Misamore has lived, worked and studied in over 70 countries and likes to fly fish.
Dana C. Ackley, Ph.D., received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Florida State University in 1973. From the beginning, his goal was to help each client achieve new levels of success. He became interested in emotional intelligence as a respectful, effective way of helping his clients build key skills, overcoming internal and external barriers they had lived with for years. Since 1994, Dr. Ackley has worked with organizations and their leaders to build effectiveness. In developing a program to use with client organizations, Dr. Ackley created The EQ Leader Program, a comprehensive approach to building leaders’ EQ skills. He has used the EQL Program successfully with leaders from major US corporations, small companies, healthcare systems, major agencies of the US Government, law enforcement, educational organizations, sales organizations, and individual professionals such as physicians and dentists.
Daphna E. Ziman, the President of Cinémoi, a network on Verizon FIOS devoted to film, fashion, and lifestyle, is also the founder of a music label, a movie writer and director, an author and a philanthropist, known internationally and in the Halls of Power in Washington, D.C. for her work on behalf of at-risk and foster children. Cinémoi is an elegant channel tailored for discerning viewers and recognized for its high-quality eclectic array of classic and contemporary curated movies and documentaries and its glamorous coverage of top worldwide film festivals and Fashion Weeks. In 2011, Ms. Ziman’s first novel, The Gray Zone, inspired by her own experience adopting a daughter she rescued from a homeless shelter, was a New York Times Bestseller, and it will soon be turned into a major motion picture. Formerly, Ziman was President of Edwards Entertainment International, an independent film and television production company, and wrote and directed the movie, Footsteps, which stars Maria Conchita Alonso and debuted on Showtime. Away from the office, her passion is helping at-risk and foster youth. She is the founder and emeritus chairperson of Children Uniting Nations, a charity that provides foster children with devoted non-paid mentors, and successfully lobbied to amend the Family Preservation Act, ensuring the safety of children returning home after foster care. Ms. Ziman also serves on the Board of Trustees of Children’s Institute International, is a Chairperson of ABC LOVE (Adoption Brings Children Love), and has been the recipient of many honors, including: The Jacqueline Kennedy Award by JFK University; the Women of Achievement Award by the North American Council for Adoptable Children; the Uniting Children of the World Award by the Child Welfare League of America; the 2011 Community Hero Award by the Dreamland Foundation; the 2010 Soromundi (Sisters of the World Award) by the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles; the 2007 Blue Skies Award by Penny Lane Center; the 2006 Spirit of Life Award by LA’s City of Hope; the 2002 Spirit of Compassion Award, presented by Aviva Family and Children Services; and the 1999 Peace & Tolerance Lifetime Achievement Award for Child Advocacy.
David Dietz founded Modavanti in 2014 the brainchild of his desire to fuse social good and fashion. Since launching, Modavanti has been named a top Ethical Fashion site by Instyle Magazine, named one of the “Coolest Startups of 2016” by Huffington Post and Honoree for Best for NYC by B Corp and the City. David serves as a board member of Georgetown University’s Entrepreneurship Alliance and as co-chair of the Nexus Global Ethical Fashion Lab and Nexus Global Ambassador to New York City. Prior to Modavanti, David served as a conflict journalist in the Middle East where he reported on the Arab Spring. He holds degree in Political Economics and Arabic studies from Georgetown University.
David Talenfeld is the founder and manager of Botanisol Holdings. He has spent the entirety of his career in a technology transfer, entrepreneurship, and specifically medical technology commercialization context. This included law and business training, professional internships via the University of Arizona Office of Technology Transfer and Office of University Research Parks, medical technology evaluation consulting engagements with Los Alamos National Laboratories and the CORE Institute, a legal clerkship emphasizing issues pertaining to the corporate practice of medicine, market, technology, and regulatory research for a provider of healthcare market research, and, most . recently, two years directing investment diligence for the leading medical technology investment organization in the Southwestern United States. In his free time he is a Translational Genomics Institute Ambassador and an Associate Partner with Social Venture Partners Arizona, and has recently become an advisor to the World Agriculture Project at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He holds an MBA in Marketing of Innovation and Juris Doctorate with an emphasis on Comparative Commercial Law from the University of Arizona, and an MGM in Global Entrepreneurship from The Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He is currently pursuing a Stanford Certificate in Genetics and Genomics.
Debilyn Molineaux is a transformation partner working on grass roots and systems levels. She co-founded the Bridge Alliance to harness the exponentially growing field of organizations into a “game changing” movement, shifting the underlying dynamics of power, politics, and participation in our country. She works with the staff, board members and other leaders of Bridge Alliance members in advancing the common mission of all 80+ organizations. Debilyn brings a passion to her work that is contagious to all around her. At the grass roots level, Living Room Conversations assists people from all walks of life to connect authentically to those different from them. Debilyn co-founded and is the guide designer for this work of reweaving our social fabric. Hailing from a conservative, agricultural community, Debilyn started her career as a small business owner, working with community businesses to promote and grow their own operations through advertising and marketing. After engaging other women business leaders, Debilyn was inspired to become more active in the political process. Her own personal experiences — as a small business owner, a local candidate for office, and an elected president of a national organization — have given her enormous insight into the challenges facing citizens who want to get involved and organizations that want to scale their impact. Debilyn continues to bring her insight to entities seeking to grow their participation and efficacy. She serves as an advisor to Allsides.com and to the Oregon-based Ingenuity Innovation Center. She is also a director emeritus for Coffee Party USA, a nonpartisan movement working to restore the principles and spirit of American representative democracy. Debilyn is an ontologically trained coach and is especially adept at guiding organizations in new ways to bring out hidden talents of volunteers and staff who become valuable assets.
Emily Lewis is a hospitality artist who is committed to building bridges in our local and national communities through the breaking of bread. As head chapter leader of Make America Dinner Again (Seattle) and Program Director at Brehm Cascadia, she is passionate about empowering, educating and equipping local communities to lead the way in the art of hospitality. Her work is driven by a deep calling towards humanizing the conversation, telling stories, and making space for all voices on our political spectrum. Thai food, Beyoncé, felt hats and the book Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl are just a few of her favorite things. You can follow her journey at (growinghomenw.com) Growing Home NW, which is a public platform dedicated to building a thriving culture of hospitality in the Pacific North West region through community partnerships, workshops and group discussions.
Eric Tucker serves as a Director for ValueWorks LLC. He is responsible for growing ValueWorks’ exposure with financial professionals and the firms they work for. Before joining ValueWorks, Eric was a Senior Analyst at Goldman Sachs & Co. responsible for oversight functions in the Global Control Department. Prior to this, he ran his own international business and economic development consulting practice focusing primarily on East Asia. Earlier, Eric worked in international research and consulting in various capacities in both the public and private sectors. Eric graduated from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs with a Master’s Degree in International Affairs. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Eric was a Fulbright Scholar in Japan and Southeast Asia and resided in Asia for over four years. He is conversant in Mandarin Chinese.
Eva Kathleen Schulte, vice president for economic opportunity at Travois, leverages impact investments and resources to advance the economic development priorities of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities. As a proven community organizer, president and CEO, and social change leader, Eva secures economic and policy solutions to move human dignity to the center of public life. In her career, Eva has directly shaped benefit strategies securing tens of millions of investment dollars for housing stabilization, public health demonstrations, and community resilience. She founded and grew non-profit organizations, expanding them from localized presence to regional and national hubs of opportunity and leads the Travois B certification process. She is a trusted mentor, teacher, and consultant for community organizations, religious leaders, higher education, and campaigns. As vice president, Eva builds on the $1.4 billion of value Travois has helped create for affordable housing and economic development since 1995. Eva began her career supporting job training and health with rural migrant farm workers in Iowa and wrote her master’s thesis on women-led economic cooperatives in Mayan Indigenous communities of the Yucatan, Mexico. She effectively bridges social activism and social entrepreneurship through building diverse networks, leading progressive #MoralEconomy initiatives, and mobilizing thousands of people to action. Accomplishments include supporting the co-founding of a non-governmental organization in Rwanda, Africa, and building new models and loan products for fair community credit. Eva was named Distinguished Executive Director and led one of the largest nonpartisan, data-driven civic engagement campaigns in metro Kansas City, directly contacting 131,000 voters from 2012 – 2016. Recent awards include Alumni Achievement of the Year from Central College; Voices of Faith award for her justice work across the heartland; Kansas City Connector recognition by Kauffman Foundation; and the Kansas City Health Commission’s 2017 Agitator award for her leadership in increasing life expectancy. Eva is alum of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Centurions and current Diversity Committee co-chair and is a Sunflower Foundation Advocacy Fellow. She is a rostered Deacon called by the Central States Synod of the ELCA to the work of justice for indigenous communities and serves on the board of directors of Girls to School. Eva participates in the Investor and Indigenous People’s Working Group and chairs the Investor and Corporate Support for Indian Country committee. Eva is the exhibition organizer for a juried series featuring North American indigenous artists at Travois, which has generously featured 10 artists to date and received over 1,000 visitors.
Gary Sheng is a Lead Software Engineer on Google Cloud and the President of Renascent America: a new social enterprise that aims to use the vehicle of pop culture to bring millions of disillusioned and disengaged young Americans into the world of productive, transpartisan civic and political engagement. He also runs a large social media network focused on criminal justice advocacy that has achieved over 1.5 billion impressions since 2017. Previously, he cofounded Dancing Pineapple, an electronic music blog and events company, where he learned how to build a pop cultural brand, which started with a niche following that grew to include hundreds of thousands of fans from all walks of life. He received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Duke University, where he probably learned as much dancing for four years in the school’s premier dance team as he did studying for class.
Gleb Tsipursky, Ph.D., is passionate about promoting truth-oriented behavior, rational thinking, and wise decision-making. He runs a nonprofit that popularizes the research on these topics to a broad audience, Intentional Insights. He is also one of the lead creators of the Pro-Truth Pledge project. Gleb spent over 15 years in academia, including as a professor at Ohio State University’s Decisions Sciences Collaborative and before that at the University of Northa Carolina at Chapel Hill, and published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and 2 peer-reviewed monographs. He wrote the Amazon best-sellers The Truth-Seeker’s Handbook: A Science-Based Guide and Find Your Purpose Using Science among other books, and contributes to prominent venues, such as Time, Scientific American, The Conversation, Salon, The Huffington Post, and elsewhere. He appears regularly on network TV, such as affiliates of Fox and ABC, radio stations such as NPR and Sunny 95, as well as internet-only media such as podcasts and videocasts. For more about him, see his website. Get in touch with him at gleb (at) intentionalinsights (dot) org.
Gray Keller writes, speaks and advises on philanthropic leadership as he practices philanthropy as a way of living. Gray Keller serves on several nonprofit boards, while traveling the world on behalf of widows, orphans and the extreme poor. He currently presides over the Leader Foundation; and participates in many diverse philanthropic causes from medical missions to constructing homes in the developing world. He participates with the Global Philanthropy Forum, Institute for Private Investors, Nexus Global Youth Summit, Purposeful Planning Institute, SOLVE/MIT and the Mountain West Family Office Forum. Gray believes in the power of engaging people at the heart level, then educating at the head level, whereby they are released for empowerment at the hands-on level for a holistic philanthropic leadership approach. Over the years he has given away millions of dollars to charities throughout Central Florida, America and the world. He understands both the blessings as well as the burdens that donors experience as they participate in giving. Dr. Keller has degrees in philosophy, theology and leadership, along with a certificate of professional development from the Wharton School. Dr. Keller has been published in The Eight Principles of Sustainable Fundraising Podcast (2016), as a contributing author in “Family Offices: The STEP Handbook for Advisers” (2015), “Developing a Global Agenda: Expert Insights from the Inaugural STEP Global Congress” (2014), “Sorbet” (2014), “The Times of India: Paying it Forward” (2013), and has published one book “Everyone Wants Your Money” (2010). He speaks on philanthropy, servant leadership, and the relational aspects of wealth dynamics on the soul.
Holly Swift represents the ordinary girl from the suburbs who discovered her power, passions and life’s purpose early. Her power lies in her empathy, her love for people and her passion for . connecting strangers through unbridled transparency, authenticity and sometimes unconventional ways of interacting with the world (yes, this is code for “she’s a little weird, but in . a charming way”). Her life’s purpose is “to unleash potential for good—always.” She’s constantly looking for ways to better the world, herself and those around her. Professionally, she launched after two years in AmeriCorps*NCCC and has worked in industries ranging from . scientific publishing to cruise ships, eventually making her home in the world of nonprofits and philanthropy. Most recently, she led a national nonprofit called “Our Community Listens,” charged with empowering individuals to transform relationships through empathic listening. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and an M.A. in Nonprofit Management from Washington University in St. Louis. She currently works for a private foundation.
Ian Abston is an expert in Millennial talent attraction and retention. Abston founded NEWaukee, the largest Millennial group in the Midwest helping to connect and engage the next generation with today’s cities. Speaking nationally on the emerging trends of this young audience, Abston has worked with both large corporations, and civic leaders on strategies and placemaking efforts to enhance the quality of life in Urban environments. Abston studied Marketing and Advertising at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh –and began his career at Junior Achievement of Wisconsin as a corporate fundraising event planner. After a year in the non-profit sector, Abston took a position at GMR marketing running campaigns with national brands such as Power Bar, MLB, Gatorade, and NEW Balance. Abston is a proud Eagle Scout, sits on the board for the Salvation Army of Greater Milwaukee, is a member of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and In 2014 Abston was appointed to the Governor’s Talent Development Workforce Committee.
Jacob Bornstein is the founder and principal of Wellstone Collaborative Strategies and the founder and project director of United Politics Initiative, a Mediators Foundation project. The UP Initiative is tackling gun violence against youth with a bipartisan, data-driven, and community based approach. Bornstein has a 20-year track record in facilitation, stakeholder engagement, strategy design, and nonprofit leadership. Bornstein specializes in reaching consensus in collaborative initiatives around contentious topics. While at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, he spearheaded the development of the scenario planning process that underpins Colorado’s Water Plan and facilitated the final set of consensus actions detailed in the Colorado Water Plan. through a stakeholder process that included nearly 400 members. Bornstein has also provided facilitation, stakeholder engagement, and strategic planning services for topics including: environmental health, health care, services people with disabilities and older adults, healthy schools, social and emotional learning, climate change, sustainable ocean fisheries, restorative justice, and others. Bornstein has a M.S. in biology and a B.A. in philosophy and history of science, with a minor in physics. He is also a certified facilitator and Six Sigma Black Belt (a statistical process improvement approach). He lives with his wife and two daughters in Denver, Colorado and is always on the lookout for great Thai or Indian food.
Jay Newmark is a dedicated impact investor & advisor, who is involved in a number of different impact projects around the world from his base in Miami, Florida. Prior to adopting this exclusive focus, Jay was affiliated with Ask the Circle, a large, global family office networking platform, where he served as CEO from 2011 – 17 after first being a Senior Advisor to the platform. Prior to that, he spent eleven years in the Private Wealth Management division at Goldman Sachs in New York and London. He is a CFA charter holder and a member of the Association of Investment Management and Research. He earned his BA degree from Hamilton College, where he majored in Economics and graduated magna cum laude.
Jessica Higgins specializes in sustainable investment strategies. She began her career trekking through the mountains of Colorado as a wildlife biologist, and she carried this experience with her to Honduras, where she served as a natural resources specialist with the Peace Corps. In 2005, she deployed to New Orleans as a veterinary disaster responder, where she carried out the devastating task of picking through wreckage to find the pets that people had left behind. She continued to focus on animal welfare as part of the nonprofit community, working as Program Manager for Humane Society International in Latin America and the Caribbean. As part of her graduate studies, she spent three months in Zimbabwe studying Painted Dogs in the country’s largest national park. As she became exposed to broader ideas of social change, she became interested in the idea that the markets can serve as an engine for social and environmental progress. Jessica works with investors who strive to be conscientious with their wealth. It’s very different from counting endangered species or pulling animals from flooded buildings. But she is excited to be a part of the sea change that will one day render the term “sustainable investing” obsolete, because sustainable investing will be the norm rather than the exception. Jessica holds a Master of Science in sustainable development and conservation biology and a Master of Public Policy with a specialization in environmental policy. She shares her home in Evergreen, Colorado with her husband and fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Shenandoah, and their two sons and Future Peace Corps Volunteers, Kai and Taj.
Joan Blades is co-founder of MomsRising.org and MoveOn.org, as well as coauthor of The Motherhood Manifesto and The Custom-Fit Workplace: Choose When, Where and How to Work and Boost the Bottom Line. Trained as an attorney/mediator with ten years experience as a software entrepreneur, Joan is also an artist, mother and true believer in the power of citizens and the need to rebuild respectful civil discourse and embrace our core shared values.
Jonah Evans is a recognized facilitator, speaker and consultant who specializes in organizational change management, process facilitation, and civic engagement. He has worked with 17 of the Fortune 100 companies and for a number of government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Evans is the founder of Neutral Ground, which helps colleges and universities develop innovative programs to help students have conversations around race, identity and mental health. Evans earned his master’s degree from the Harvard Kennedy School where he received the Ash Center Fellowship for Democratic Governance and Innovation.
Josh Entsminger is a writer, advisor, and researcher, working on the commercialization and governance of artificial intelligence. He serves as an AI specialist at Nexus Frontier Tech, senior fellow at the Center for Policy and Competitiveness at Ecole Des Ponts Business School, advisor for business development at Fundie Ventures, ambassador at ImpactOn, and was named a young leader in circular economy by the Advanced Leadership Foundation. He recently served as a research contributor to the Future of Production Initiative at the World Economic Forum and a researcher at IE Business School’s Social Innovation Initiative. He regularly collaborates with and advises startups and firms on matters of deep tech, social impact, and circular economy.
Joshua Solomon is the COO of Generation Citizen. He has over 20 years of nonprofit management experience working with national education and youth development nonprofits, including Teach For America, Youthbuild USA, and Peace First. He led the launch of a national fellowship program for young leaders at Peace First, scaled up Teach For America’s alumni giving and volunteerism programs, and managed technical assistance to over 100 YouthBuild programs. Josh received his BA from Williams College and his MBA from the Yale School of Management. Josh was also chair of the Young Nonprofit Professional Network’s national board during a period of rapid expansion, led the Development and Search Committee for The Food Project, and is a LeadBoston alum. A lifelong follower and debater of politics, nationally and locally, Josh is excited to support Generation Citizen’s mission of engaging young people in fashioning solutions to community challenges in partnership with local and state government. His experience working with youth from diverse backgrounds in each of his roles, and seeing how their voices broadened the conversation, grounds his commitment to ensuring that our civic institutions are representative and responsive to all of their constituents. Josh grew up in Guilford, Connecticut and lives outside Boston with his wife and son.
Kali McNutt is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Elysian Fields International, a new company focused on strengthening the Afghan economy and economically empowering women via the cultivation, export, and sale of saffron. Kali also serves as Board Chair of the Birmingham Committee on Foreign Relations, where she works to educate and engage Birminghamians on topics related to national security, human rights, and foreign policy.
Kyle Wright is CEO of Stardust, a family office that oversees a dynamic portfolio of projects, investments, and social benefit ventures. For over a decade, he has lead Stardust’s strategic initiatives, including the organization’s commitment to align its investment portfolio with social justice principles. Kyle is a key advisor to the Stardust Fund, a philanthropic endeavor dedicated to social participation and power of excluded and exploited people. He currently serves on the boards of directors of Texas Civil Rights Project and Transparentem, and is a member of the Houston Area Council on Human Trafficking and Greater Houston Community Foundation’s Philanthropic Impact Committee. A Texas native, Kyle holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D., cum laude, from South Texas College of Law.
Laura Hansen, as Board President of Chill Sacramento, provides community leadership, strategic planning and community partnership development along with staff and administrative oversight. Most recently, she led the Compassionate Sacramento initiative in partnership with Mayor Steinberg’s office and over 50 community organizations of diverse faiths and perspectives. As Founder/President of GoldVision, LLC, she and her team guide for-profit businesses in cultivating stewardship practices and mindful leadership. She is an advisor to Compassionate California. She is a best-selling author, community organizer and volunteer.
Laurent Roux has worked with families and family offices worldwide for more than 30 years. His focus has been in the fields of strategic wealth management, family wealth advising, family office construction and operations as well as international asset management. He was Director and Managing Director at Pictet & Cie, Private Bankers, Geneva, Switzerland and a number of its international affiliates during his 35 years at the firm. Following his years with Pictet & Cie, Laurent founded Gallatin Wealth Management, an independent wealth management advisory and consulting firm which acts as trusted advisor to a limited number of families, family offices and multi-family offices. Laurent holds a JD degree from California Western School of Law in San Diego, received a BA from the University of Colorado and attended the Graduate Institute of International Studies Master’s program in Geneva.
Leslie Falconer chairs the NEXUS Lab on Education and Entrepreneurship. She is co-founder and trustee of the Alabaster Fund, a private family foundation, through which she researches and invests in international development programs that support increased access to education and social entrepreneurship initiatives worldwide. She serves on the board of International Step by Step (ISSA), International Child Resource Institute (ICRI), the Nhaka Foundation. Dedicated to strengthening the ecosystem around early learning and family systems, she and her husband have built an impact investment portfolio and philanthropic approach that supports projects connected to increasing access to early learning resources and strengthening workforce through progressive teacher training and shared services models. In 2007, through an acquisition, she took over the leadership and redesign of the Mother Goose Time Curriculum and scaled the business to be an international brand with a mission for increasing quality of early education programs. As an international speaker and trainer, she has presented on topics related to education, innovation and next generation philanthropy. On her downtime, Leslie loves to be outside hiking and enjoying beautiful Traverse City, Michigan with her husband three active daughters.
Lora O’Connor is one of the nation’s leading strategists in movement making and convening for social good. She is an experienced chief strategy officer with a demonstrated history of working in the civic and social organization fields. She is a strong business development professional skilled in corporate social responsibility, grassroots, political and community organizing, social entrepreneurship, sustainable business, resource development and media/ event production. Currently, Lora is working on several projects, including executive producer at Inaugural National Youth Action Summit – BridgeBuilders, where she leads the development of partnerships and resources as well as programming design and development of a national platform for high school-aged organizers and activists to convene and share regularly. For the last three years, she has also been the Associate Producer of the Dolores Huerta Film Project. And, over the past two years Lora has been Managing Partner, Stakeholder Engagement for Shelectricity, an initiative teaching black and brown middle school girls the skill of innovation.
Lorne Adrain has a national life insurance practice focused on estate planning and corporate applications. He has worked with entrepreneurs and businesses across the country. Mr. Adrain has also been an executive at AT&T and worked for ten years as an entrepreneur in the technology and environmental sectors. He was the founder of KindMark, a leader in the creation of software and technologies to advance philanthropy. Mr. Adrain is an active philanthropic and community leader. He was appointed by Rhode Island’s Governor Chafee as Chairman of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education and to the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. He was a candidate for Mayor of Providence. He has served Chairman of the University of Rhode Island Foundation and as vice president and director of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association. He has served or serves on the Boards of The Rhode Island Foundation, Big Picture Learning and The Business Innovation Factory. He is also founder of National Neighborhood Day and is co-founder of Social Venture Partners / Social Enterprise Greenhouse – Rhode Island and BetterProvidence. Mr. Adrain has served as Chairman of the Rhode Island Special Olympics and President of the University of Rhode Island Alumni Association. He has climbed Mounts Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Denali (McKinley) and other peaks in recent years to raise funds in support of women’s education, economic and health programs on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala and to support aspiring inner-city students from Providence. Mr. Adrain has twice received Northwestern Mutual Life’s National Community Service Award and was recognized as their Most Exceptional Volunteer in the Nation. He has also been honored with the Rhode Island Foundation Inspiring Partner Award, the Jefferson Award for Public Service, Leadership Rhode Island’s David E. Sweet Leadership Award and the Providence Rotary’s 100th Anniversary Community Leadership Award. He is also an Eagle Scout and grew up washing pots and pans at Camp Yawgoog. Mr. Adrain earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School, and a BS from the University of Rhode Island. Mr. Adrain lives in Providence, RI and has four children.
Maria G. Bradford serves as the Director of Community Engagement for the St. Louis Community Foundation. She works with the STLCF’s community programs including Invest STL, St. Louis Graduates and STL Youth Jobs, and serves as the liaison to many groups that fall under the Fiscal Sponsorship or Field of Interest Fund umbrella at the Foundation. Bradford’s previous posts include serving as development manager at the Center for Plant Conservation, managing director of the St. Louis Black Repertory Co., program specialist for the Minority Arts Program, and public information specialist at the Missouri Arts Council. She also had held various roles at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Boys and Girls Club and Grand Center Inc. Bradford holds a bachelor’s degree in performance studies from Northwestern University in Chicago, and a master’s in arts administration and an MBA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Matt Myers is a change agent whose expertise lies at the intersection of technology, investment, policy and the environment. Matt is Co-founder and Managing Director of the E-Capital Summit, a platform convening private capital, cutting-edge cleantech companies, ecosystem partners and government to form partnerships having substantial, positive impacts on people and the planet. Additionally, Matt is Co-founder of EarthxHack, the world’s largest environmental innovation competition. Previously, Matt was a product manager overseeing the development of digital wealth management and e-commerce platforms for China Merchants Bank. He hold a Masters in Public Administration in International Development from Tsinghua University and is fluent in Mandarin.
Mike Deaver is Senior Vice President of Strategies 360, a public policy and government affairs firm based in Seattle. Prior to the merger with S360, Deaver Co-founded and a partner of Live Strategies Group, a public engagement agency focused on generating value for clients through constituent and market activation. Prior to starting Live Strategies, Deaver was the Vice President of Development and Events for the Utah Sports Commission for nearly seven years, and in this capacity helped to produce, promote and secure large sporting events including amateur, collegiate, Olympic-related and professional sporting competitions. During this time frame, Deaver also served as Executive Director of the Governor’s Special Initiatives Office and directed the fundraising and special events for Governor Herbert. That work has carried over to current Utah Governor Gary Herbert. After consulting the Huntsman for Governor campaign in 2004, Deaver was appointed by Governor Huntsman as the Deputy Director of Tourism for the State of Utah and launched the ‘Life Elevated’ brand and campaign managing over $50,000,000 in total marketing, advertising and operational funds. He has also served as Director of Sales for United Concerts where he secured the naming rights for the USANA Amphitheater. Prior to that Deaver was the Athletic Marketing Director at BYU where he helped to unveil new branding for the teams, and set records in attendance and sponsorship revenue generated. Deaver has worked on many federal, state, and local campaigns and has vast experience in producing sporting, non-profit, and other special events. He was part of the Charity Vision Fight Night Board, which produced two fundraisers with Mitt Romney. The ‘Round One Event’ in 2016 included a charity fight with Evander Holyfield and the ‘Round Two Event’ in 2017 included a charity fight with Oscar de lay Hoya. Deaver is a Commissioner for the Utah Athletic Commission which regulates boxing and MMA within the state and he is also on the Board of Directors for the Intermountain Volleyball Association, the Days of ’47, the Utah Golf Foundation and the Governor’s Mansion Artist Series. Deaver has been elected a Utah State GOP state delegate three times and has been elected an Alternate National Delegate for the Utah GOP party. Deaver has a bachelors of arts in marketing communications from Brigham Young University.
Natalie Ryback is the founder of Coepto Consulting, an ideation and idea execution agency. Over the past decade, Natalie has worked with various startups and growth phase companies, launching iconic brands and implementing sustainable strategies. Natalie’s success in brand management and crisis management led to various industry accolades while working with Cepia LLC, makers of Zhu Zhu Pets, including: 2010 SABRE Award for Brand Reputation Management, 2010 American Business Award for Crisis Management PR, 2010 Toy Industry Association Toy of the Year, Most Innovative Toy, and Best Girls Toy. Nominated as a ‘Woman to Watch’ in the toy industry, and voted ’30 under 30′ by the St. Louis Business Journal, Natalie has taken her success as an opportunity to blend the strategy of the for-profit sector with the heart of the nonprofit world.
Nathan Otto is a changemaker, leadership coach, strategist and author. He is the founder of the Safe Conflict Project, a global strategic effort to create a world free from war. He is the co-author of Give Peace a Deadline: What Ordinary People Can Do to Create Peace In Five Years. As an executive coach, Nathan counsels and guides individual leaders and leadership teams to outstanding results. He has worked with leaders in finance, healthcare, government, media, and leading international non-profits. He is currently writing a book on leadership, working title Evolutionary Leadership: How to Lead So People Want to Follow. In his peacebuilding role, Nathan convenes special meetings of select peacebuilding organizations, individuals, business people, government leaders and strategists to increase resource, effectiveness and collaboration. Projects conceived at these meetings, called Synergizers, generate ongoing impact. His work has been endorsed by William Ury, founder of the Harvard Global Negotiation Project and author of bestseller Getting to Yes, F. W de Klerk, 7th President of South Africa and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace; Mike Moore, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Secretary-General of the World Trade Organization, and Anthony Robbins, noted motivational speaker and author Awakening the Giant Within. He is the grandson of Bill and Vieve Gore, co-founders of W.L. Gore and Associates, a widely respected family-owned high-tech manufacturing company with $5b in revenues and over 10,000 associates worldwide. He built and sold two internet-based companies from 1995 to 2005, ArtSelect and MealsForYou, both based on complex consumer-facing CMS platforms he designed. To contrast Nathan’s leadership coaching with other consulting options, imagine focusing, not on just on ‘what to do’ but on ‘who you are’. Instead of the ‘McKinsey 10 Disciplines to Master’, get clear on the ‘Next Single Focused Change’. Include the usual ‘Analysis, Data, Evidence’ in decisive ‘Consideration, Observation, Truth’. And imagine instead of being only ‘Supported, Advised, Informed’, also being ‘Championed, Partnered, Transformed’. Nathan holds a degree in mathematics and computer science, with Honors, from Wesleyan University.
Owen Carver is a highly creative social platform developer who combines his technical software development skills with his social engineering solutions and passion for humanitarian activism to create innovative for-profit business and social impact projects. He founded two social businesses and a code for charity event that raised $300,000 in services for 52 Las Vegas non-profits. He is passionate about using app technologies like the blockchain to democratize power and solve global issues.
Rickey Bevington is a mainstay with Atlantans as local host for NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Her honors include Edward R. Murrow Awards (2016, 2014) and Southeast EMMYS (2014x2). Georgia Trend Magazine and the Atlanta Business Chronicle named Bevington among the “40 Under 40” leaders making a positive impact in Georgia in 2015 and 2016. Bevington is an internationally recognized speaker on the media, democracy and global dialogue. Her October 2017 TEDxPeachtree talk “The Future Of News Media Is In Our Hands” empowers viewers to combat fake news. In February 2018, she traveled to Hungary and Serbia to study the state of press freedoms. A few months later, she was invited to present her findings in Kiev, Ukraine at a conference on global democracy. Bevington’s work on the intersection of democracy and the news media began in March 2014, when she was the only Georgian appointed to a prestigious Marshall Memorial Fellowship by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Her prior public policy experience includes traveling in 2013 with the U.S. Department of State studying political systems of Sri Lanka and India. In 2011, Bevington journeyed to Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Greece with the Middle East Travel Seminar. Bevington’s radio and television stories appear in national outlets including Marketplace, The Takeaway, PBS NewHour, Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Marketplace. She brings nearly two decades of media industry experience including cable entertainment at Sundance Channel and Showtime Networks, local TV news at WFSB-TV 3 (CBS) in Hartford, Conn., publishing with Fodor’s and the Hartford Courant, and reporting for NPR and PBS. She serves on the boards of the Atlanta Press Club, Georgia Associated Press Media Editors and Dad’s Garage Theater.
Robert Perry served as a professor of Ecology and Resilience for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previously he worked as the Environmental Program Officer at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation as well as a teacher and administrator at Saint Ann’s School. He has also worked as an organic farmer and apple picker with the Green Leaf Harvesters Guild in New Hampshire.
Robyn Schein is Director of the Family Philanthropy Resource Center at The Minneapolis Foundation. She has been at the Foundation since 2006, and her skills have been used to engage the next generation in giving, to facilitate inspiring workshops on intentional and focused philanthropy, and to help donors achieve their giving goals. Using her natural facilitation skills and the tools she learned as a certified 21/64 (a national multi-generational philanthropy consulting firm) consultant on multi-generational giving, Robyn helps families bridge generational differences and make the most of their giving. Robyn received a B.A. in international studies from American University and a Master of Public Administration degree with a focus on nonprofit management from New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked at Orr Associates, a nonprofit consulting firm, and with the Employee Volunteer Programs Office at JP Morgan Chase. Robyn has served on the Council on Foundations’ National Committee on Family Philanthropy and has spoken at several conferences on multi-generational giving. She serves on the board of the Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School.
Sara Harvey held the title of Chief Operating Officer of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing for the past seven years. She worked directly with co-founder, Deepak Chopra for many years, to inspire and guide a team of committed leaders to achieve on-going financial growth for the company in order to fulfill the company’s mission. Over her 14 year career at the Chopra Center, she has been instrumental in developing the Center’s well respected lifestyle brand with leadership roles in event management, sales, marketing and product development. As a Chopra Center instructor certified in Primordial Sound Meditation, Perfect Health/Ayurveda and Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga you will regularly find Sara teaching at events and programs. In addition, Sara is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and is helping individuals and teams to improve their performance through the development and application of their strengths and talents. Beyond the work she does with the Chopra Center, she is also on the board of advisors for the Chopra Foundation. Sara previously held leadership roles at American Airlines and America West Airlines in a variety of departments including food and beverage, vacation packaging and customer loyalty. Sara holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a B.A. in Spanish/French from the University of Arizona. She has lived in Mexico, Spain and Puerto Rico and currently resides in Carlsbad, California with her 2 beautiful children.
Sarah Stranahan has more than 20 years of work experience in social change philanthropy, mission related investing, and economic justice. As a long term Board member of the Needmor Fund, she helped design and oversee its philanthropic support of community organizing and its integrated mission related investment program. She served on the Finance Committee of the Council on Foundations from 2008-2012, where she helped design and implement an investment policy aligned with the Council’s mission. Sarah is a Board member of the Stranahan Foundation. She co-founded the New Economy Network in 2010, to accelerate the transition to an economy that supports people and the planet. After serving as the Network Coordinator, she joined the board of the New Economy Coalition in 2012. She currently works at The Democracy Collaborative, a national research initiative dedicated to building new strategies for a more democratic economy. Sarah lives in New York and Cape Cod.
Savannah Miller serves as Program Strategist for Exposure Labs, the award-winning film production company behind Chasing Ice and the Netflix Original documentary Chasing Coral. Prior to joining Exposure Labs, Savannah aligned policy analysis with design-thinking at municipal and multinational government agencies, including supporting the launch of the Atlanta urban ag brand “Aglanta” to raise awareness about the city’s local food economy. Savannah holds an MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in Environmental Science and Policy.
Stephen Shaya graduated from Birmingham Brother Rice High School summa cum laude. He was awarded a merit scholarship to attend Wayne State University (WSU). During his time at WSU, Dr. Shaya won many leadership awards including the Outstanding Student Leader in 1991 and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Grant Awardee. He was selected to serve on the Wayne State University board of governors from 1991 to 1993. He attended Wayne State University Medical School and graduated in 1996. Dr. Shaya subsequently finished training in family practice at North Oakland Medical Center and pursued a fellowship at Wayne State University for occupational and environmental health. Since 2004, Dr. Shaya has been the chief medical officer (CMO) of J&B Medical, a global data and health care solutions company. J&B, which was started in 1996, is a privately held company based in Wixom, Michigan. It has 16 different business enterprises with customers in 48 states and 28 countries. This innovative company has brought many new ideas and solutions forward to the delivery of health care and continues to strive to improve patient access and quality. His role oversees all strategy, innovation, and growth within J&B. By leading the planning and development of new enterprises, many describe Dr. Shaya as an intrapreneur; someone who behaves as an entrepreneur within a large organization. Dr. Shaya has received many recognitions, including becoming a Knight of Grace for the Knights of Malta, the 2015 Global Distinguished Health Care Award from the Center of Economic and Leadership Development, the 2016 Global Health Care Innovation and Leadership Award and a United States Congressional Commendation. Recently, Dr. Shaya was named the 2017 Father of the Year by the American Diabetes Association.
Teddy Teece has a mission to deepen human consciousness, starting with his own. He is an executive coach, eco-psychologist, entrepreneur, and writer who works to awaken individuals and communities to their true potential. As a founder and experimenter with three companies in diverse industries (travel, finance, and personal/leadership development) and multiple countries (New Zealand and the United States), his coaching is informed by lived experience ‘in the trenches’ of business and places a heavy emphasis on service, which has been proven to be the most reliable way to sustain high-performance and wellbeing. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and is pursuing an MA/PhD in East-West Psychology via the California Institute for Integral Studies.
Tom Williams is a Member in Stoll Keenon Ogden’s Louisville office. He serves as co-chair of the Arbitration & Mediation practice and is a member of the Labor, Employment & Employee Benefits practice. Tom occupies a unique position in the community that enables him to counsel new and existing businesses as they explore whether B Corporation is appropriate for them. He also works with existing Public Benefit Corporations on various aspects of governance and compliance. He has more than 20 years of labor and employment law experience. Since 2004, Tom has been recognized by Chambers USA as a “Leader in Kentucky” in the field of labor and employment law. According to that publication, he is considered by clients to be “an extremely professional lawyer who treats each of his clients as if they’re number one.” He is AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. Since 2008, Tom has been recognized by Kentucky Super Lawyers as one of the top 50 attorneys in the state. In addition to his litigation practice, he is an employment law mediator and a frequent lecturer, trainer and writer on employment law topics. Tom is past President of the Louisville Bar Association. Active within the community, he was a founding board member of Restorative Justice Louisville, Inc. and co-chair of Partnership for a Compassionate Louisville. Tom also served as the Board Chair for the Leadership Louisville Center in 2010. He is married to his wife Sarah, and has three children. He enjoys golf in his free time.
Yinka Onayemi is on an adventure to understand the world. After graduating from Colby College in 2016 with a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics, he witnessed firsthand the attempted coup d’état in Turkey, the rise of Marine Le Pen’s Front National in France, and the hostile unseating of the Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh before finally settling down in Dakar to teach economics at L’Institut Africain de Management. In Dakar, he closely monitored the U.S. presidential elections and began piecing together what seemed to be a mosaic of the breakdown of democracy across much of the globe. He then returned to the states to do foreign policy research at UPenn’s Lauder Institute before moving to New York City. Inspired by his experiences, he co-founded Renascent America: a new social enterprise that aims to use the vehicle of pop culture to bring millions of disillusioned and disengaged young Americans into the world of productive, transpartisan civic and political engagement. Yinka is currently a J.D. Candidate at Georgetown Law School in Washington D.C while maintaining his position as the Vice Chairman and Executive Director of Renascent America.
Zachary Garber has extensive experience serving a wide range of clients, from large retirement plans and endowments to high-net-worth individuals. He specializes in custom portfolios with expertise in overlaying alternative investments, including private equity, hedge funds, real estate and structured solutions. Zack infuses enthusiasm and thoughtfulness into his work, and strives to help clients seamlessly navigate all aspects of their financial well-being. Zack was initially driven to the industry by his desire to serve business and community leaders while also stimulating his intellectual curiosity. Today, he makes full use of the tools available at Alex. Brown, a division of Raymond James, to provide suitable investments based on a client’s goals and risk profile and offer strategies customized to his clients’ needs. Before joining the team, Zack was an associate on Deutsche Bank’s structured solutions desk. He graduated Beta Gamma Sigma from Emory University Goizueta School of Business with a B.B.A. in finance, and later participated in Deutsche Bank’s global analyst training program*. He then went on to graduate with honors from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with an M.B.A. He has met the CFA Program requirements and Zack is a CFA® charterholder. In addition to this, he has Series 7, 63, 66 and Health, Life, Variable Life & Variable Annuity insurance licenses. Recent accolades include Zack being recognized as one of America’s Top Next Generation Wealth Advisors by Forbes in 2017 and The Garber Wealth Management Team being recognized as one of America’s Top 100 Wealth Advisors by Forbes in 2016. When he’s not in the office, Zack stays active as a member of a number of community organizations, including The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, where he is part of the Young Leadership Council program. Zack is also part of the Living Classroom Foundation’s Rising Star program and is a volunteer with Volunteering Untapped, a nonprofit organization. Zack is a Baltimore, Maryland, native.
Zander Grashow is a recognized authority on leadership development, personal development and business evolution, who has made it his mission to know how to transform the way we live and work. He is a renowned facilitator, speaker and advisor to leaders around the world, with a broad reach into the global business, philanthropic, entrepreneurial and creative communities. Consequently, he has been a confidential advisor to presidents, activists and change agents in their most critical moments of transition. With a deep commitment to share what works, Zander co-authored “Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing the World,” from Harvard Business School Press, and “Leadership in Permanent Crisis,” of the Harvard Business Review. For the last decade, Zander has taught executive programs at Harvard, NYU, Duke and LSE. Zander feeds the good wolf by spending time with his incredible children, putting new music on repeat, hosting his famed dinner parties with half loved ones and half strangers and nurturing his endless curiosity.