Muna AbuSulyman a Thought Leader in the Arab world, has had immense experience in the field of development, women empowerment, and poverty alleviation. She was appointed by the UNDP as the first Saudi Arabian woman to become a Goodwill Ambassador, as well as UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador and Regional Expert for the UN World Humanitarian Summit. In addition, Muna built the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation from the ground up and served as the Secretary General and Executive Director. Muna’s role as co-host of the Arab world’s #1 talk show has served as a public platform to discuss social issues. She served as a Fouonder/advisor/board member for several socially driven establishments, such as partnering on Niya, 3S, CovidPass, and Arab Digital Reform Institute.

Ellen serves as the CEO of the END Fund, working to see an end to the suffering caused by five neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affecting 1.7 billion people.

Ellen holds graduate degrees in International Health from the Harvard School of Public Health and in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.

Ellen currently serves on the boards of the Global Institute for Disease Elimination, Uniting to Combat NTDs, Legatum Institute, the World Economic Forum’s Global Health security Advisory Board, and Panorama Global.

Michael Aguhar is the Program Director at Crossroads Fund in Chicago. He is passionate about donor organizing and collective liberation. Previously, Michael was the Executive Director of the Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE), an organization rooted in the Filipinx/a/o community working on issues of social, racial, and economic justice. In 2016, he worked alongside Filipinx, Black, Latinx, and Polish workers to pass the Illinois Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston Law Center.

Kehinde Ajayi is an economist in the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab, where she leads research initiatives on women’s economic empowerment, youth employment, and social protection. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Economics at Boston University, a Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Fulbright Fellow. Kehinde holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.

A humanitarian by heart, Dania is a social entrepreneur, strategist by trade and a design thinker whose life has always been aligned to the causes she believes in. Whether it's about empowering the youth, developing socially impactful products or helping impact driven businesses thrive; Dania's aim through the past ten years of her career has been a consistent one; to be a driver of social change and innovation. She is the co-founder of Deeds, a development consultancy that helps design and execute initiatives that addresses community needs, and often uses the power of technology to harness the same. Some of her most successful products at Deeds includes Khadoum, a civic tech app that is the first virtual hub for good-doers in the region and, EduVestment; a digital platform (in the making) that helps bridge the gap between students seeking scholarships and investors that eventually helps the youth unleash their potential through education.

Naif ALObaid has had 17 years a diverse career in development, philanthropy, education and program management, such as a program to provide micro financing loans to persons with disabilities, vocational training programs for persons with disabilities, acquiring mobile clinics to detect breast cancer, a center for research on Autism, a mental health survey and the establishment of clinics to treat children with learning and other disabilities. He is currently the Senior External Relations and Projects Officer at the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East “UNRWA”, prior to that he was the Executive Director of the Shefa Fund, Senior consultant for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations on Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and a mentor at two local NGO’s that incubates and supports social entrepreneurs. Naif also worked at the Public Education Evaluation Commission in several different capacities, managing the project to build the framework for evaluating public and private schools in Saudi, engaging the commissions stakeholders and becoming an Assistant Vice governor. In addition to his previous role as a CEO for Education for Employment Saudi Arabia, Naif also spends a substantial amount of time working with refugees in Europe, and in developing a school in one of the slums in Nairobi, Kenya.  

Naif holds certificates in Psychological First Aid, Foundations for Global Health Responders, Public Health in Humanitarian Crisis, a Bachelor of Arts in Management with a minor in International Relations from Webster University in Geneva, a Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate from Georgetown university and an MBA with concentration in International Trade from Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island, USA.

Adriana Alejandro-Osorio serves as a Major Gifts Officer at UNICEF-USA. She drives supporter engagement and awareness, increasing connectedness to UNICEF’s mission to put Children First and ensure all children are safe, protected and empowered through fundraising, advocacy and education in her region. She also serves as a member of the Commission on Judicial Selection in Minnesota. Prior to her work at UNICEF-USA, she served as the Director of Partnerships and Engagement at Global Impact, as the President and Founder at Alejandro Consulting Group, and Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. Dr. Alejandro-Osorio received her B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras and her Ph.D. degree in Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Eleanor Allen is the CEO of Water For People, a nonprofit whose mission is to develop sustainable water and sanitation services globally. Eleanor is a social entrepreneur recognized by the Schwab Foundation, a TEDx speaker, and an influential Women of Water. She serves on the board of Parametrix and the University of Colorado. Eleanor is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a distinguished alumna of the University of California at Berkeley.

Her passions include STEM and JEDI (justice/diversity/equity/inclusion). She has lived/worked all over the world. Eleanor enjoys ultra-cycling, hiking, and traveling with her husband and two boys.

Kate Anderson is the founder of Unbounded Associates, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that supports governments, donors, UN agencies, NGOs, and researchers to equitably increase their impact in education. Previously, Kate was an associate fellow at the Brookings Institution, where her research focused on early childhood development, 21st century skills, assessment, and global citizenship. She holds a M.P.P. from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University.

Alexis has been an activist since she was a college student. Driven by the disparities in educational opportunity she encountered growing up in Wisconsin, she co-founded Youth Reclaiming Our Communities (Youth ROC), mobilizing students across the state to press for education finance reform. Since then, she hasn’t stopped working toward a vision of a more inclusive and more equitable society. She has dedicated her career to community organizing, coalition building, public policy, and strategic planning, exemplified by her work on issues of racial and gender equity and the politics of power and privilege.

Prior to her tenure as State Voices’ Chief Executive Officer, Alexis served as the deputy director of the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, a philanthropic affinity group dedicated to enhancing democratic participation in all aspects of civic life. Before joining FCCP in 2016, Alexis served as the senior director of programs for State Voices, leading efforts to support and expand the work of our national network of state tables in promoting civic engagement, civic access, and civic representation. She came to the national office of State Voices after serving for three and a half years as executive director of Wisconsin Voices, where she worked to expand and defend voting rights in the state.

Alexis graduated with honors from Alverno College with a degree in History and Political Science, and is completing a Master of Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Alexis serves on the boards of the Alliance for Youth Organizing and the Analyst Institute. When not at work, she can be found trying out new recipes for family and friends and traveling with her husband, Derek.

Irissol Arce is a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) champion with a reputation for building bridges, breaking down barriers, and forging new pathways. As Senior Director of DEI for Northwestern Mutual, Arce combines over 20 years of experience in international business, technology, community impact, and workforce culture to offer strategic direction, thought leadership, and targeted DEI strategies. As Founder of The Learn Up, Arce is also a trusted, executive coach to leaders looking to improve their effectiveness and ability to lead diverse teams. Social impact topics Arce has tackled include human trafficking; teen pregnancy prevention; childhood cancer; reading proficiency, and workforce development.

Belinda Archibong is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University. Her research areas include development economics, political economy, economic history and environmental economics with an African regional focus. Her research investigates the role of historical institutions and environment in inequality of access to public services and the development of human capital. Some current research studies the effects of epidemics on gender gaps in human capital investment, the economics of epidemics and vaccination, and the impacts of air pollution from gas flaring on human capital outcomes; with a focus on the ways in which institutions mitigate or exacerbate the impacts of climate change and environment on inequalities around gender and marginalized groups. Other works study the economics of prisons, the effects of protests on taxation and gender gaps in political participation, and the drivers of gender gaps in labor markets in African countries. She is a faculty affiliate at Columbia University's Center for Development Economics and Policy (CDEP), The Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Institute of African Studies, the Institute for Research in African-American Studies, the Columbia Population Research Center (CPRC), and the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy (CEEP).

She joined the Barnard Economics faculty in 2015 and received a B.A. in Economics/Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Sustainable Development from Columbia University. Her CV and further information can also be found on her personal website.

Emily Arnold-Fernández is the founding President and CEO of Asylum Access, the leading global refugee human rights organization. Working with and for refugee communities around the world, Asylum Access today has impacted over a million refugees, dismantling barriers that keep refugees from living safely, moving freely, working, attending school, and rebuilding their lives.

A longstanding leader in promoting and supporting proximate solutions, Asylum Access is part of a coalition of refugee-led organizations that recently received the $10 million Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award, another Lever for Change project. The award supports the Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative, seeding a fund that will support dozens of refugee-led organizations creating solutions for their communities.

Also a scholar, Emily writes and teaches, including at Stanford, University of York and University of London. Her accolades include the prestigious Alexander (2018) and Grinnell (2013) prizes; Mexico’s Equality and Nondiscrimination Award (2016); and recognition by the Dalai Lama as one of 50 “Unsung Heroes of Compassion” (2009).

As Founder and CEO of Bridge Philanthropic Consulting, Dwayne Ashley is renowned for his bold, strategic thinking and wise counsel in philanthropy. In the course of his career, he has raised more than $800 million. A fearless and authentic professional, he is committed to social justice and helping organizations of color maximize their mission success. He advises non-profit, philanthropists, and influencers globally.

A powerhouse of energy and a passion for philanthropy, Dwayne has managed capital, annual campaigns and spearheaded the development of such notable organizations as the Jazz at Lincoln Center, Success for Kids, 100 Black Men of America, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the United Negro College Fund, and the United Way of Texas Gulf Coast, among many others.

Dwayne is a thought-leader in the field and he has shared valuable concepts in numerous articles and in four books. They include Eight Steps to Raising Money: Measuring Your Fundraising Impact, Word for Word Publishing; 8 Winning Steps to Creating a Successful Special Event with Carol Campbell, Director of Events at Prairie View A&M University; I’ll Find A Way or Make One: A Tribute to HBCUs with noted journalist Juan Williams and Dream Internships: It’s Not Who You Know, But What You Know! His new book Soulful Philanthropy will be out in the Fall of 2021 with his co-authors, Dr. Tashion Macon and Jennifer Jiles.

He is the Co-Founder of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s Leadership Institute and is committed to addressing equity and parity in the Philanthropic sector. At BPC, the firm utilizes its unique platform as the largest African-American-owned fundraising firm to advance equity and equality in the sector and to open the doorway for the creation of more philanthropic firms of color.

He is an alumnus of Wiley College and the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels School of Government. He is very proud of his great-grandmother’s contribution of land to establish one of the oldest schools to educate blacks in Heflin, Louisiana. The school is now one of the oldest black churches in the state of Louisiana.

Dwayne is a member of The Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Association of Black Foundation Executives, Americans for the Arts, and a 26 member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. He has served as a member of the Boards of AFP (Formerly NSFRE) in Philadelphia and New York Chapters. He is a member of the Board and Executive Committee of The Giving Institute and the New York Society Library, America’s oldest library and the original Library of Congress.

Dwayne enjoys travel: “I have visited more than 90 countries and I bake a mean mac and cheese--Cajun Louisiana style.”

Marth Bailey is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California-Los Angeles. She is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, CEPR, CESifo, and IZA.

Her research focuses on issues in labor economics, demography and health in the United States, within the long-run perspective of economic history. Her work has examined the implications of the diffusion of modern contraception for women’s childbearing, career decisions, and the convergence in the gender gap. Most recently, her projects focus on the 1960s, including evaluations of the shorter and longer-term consequences of War on Poverty programs, including a co-edited book, Legacies of the War on Poverty.

Martha serves as an editor at the Journal of Labor Economics and on the editorial boards at the American Economic Review and the Journal of Economic Literature. She is also an elected member of the executive committees of the American Economic Association, Society of Labor Economists, and on the Board of Trustees at the Economic History Association.

Supriya Baily is an activist, a scholar, and an educator. Her work, spanning thirty years, began as a teenager in India as a community organizer and leader. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Education at George Mason University, focusing social justice issues in education, the marginalization of girls and women in educational policy and practice, and the role of teacher education to address educational inequity. Prior to joining academia, she spent a decade working for development and social justice organizations cementing her lifelong interest to better understand the processes of agency and voice that promote grassroots transformation in marginalized communities. She serves also as the Co-Director for the Center for International Education and is currently the Vice President of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), where she formerly served as Treasurer. She has co-edited four books, published numerous articles and book chapters, and has secured nearly $2m in collaborative grant partnerships.

Jeannine Balfour leads implementation of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s foster youth initiative. Previously, she served for five years as Program Officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota with the McKnight Foundation in the Children and Families program where she was responsible for a diverse portfolio including Homeless and Runaway Youth, Fatherhood, Family Economic Success, Out of School Time and Multiservice. Balfour also worked as Associate Community Liaison at the Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota where she helped develop and implement urban and regional community partnerships to reduce poverty. She spent several years as the HIV Prevention Coordinator for the Louisiana Office of Public Health HIV/AIDS Program in New Orleans, Louisiana; she was program manager for Population Services International of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and English language instructor in Banjul, The Gambia. She received her Master in International Public Health from Tulane University.

Lawrence is a founding partner of Bivium Capital Partners. He is responsible for the overall direction of the firm, driving new business development and developing innovative service offerings. Lawrence has over 20 years of investment experience. His responsibilities also include client servicing, product development, portfolio construction, as well as manager search and due diligence. Prior to founding Bivium, Lawrence was employed at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York in the Investment Management Division. He was one of the first members of Goldman Sachs' external manager selection team and was involved in all aspects of the development of the group's fund of funds business. Lawrence worked on a number of the firm’s outsourced CIO client portfolios. Lawrence also spent of portion of his time evaluating minority owned investment companies as part of the firms’ Urban Investment Group for allocation of Goldman Sachs & Co. capital.

Currently Lawrence serves on the boards of Buck Family Fund, Green Book Ventures, Beacon Rose Partners, Xprize Racial Equity Alliance Brain Trust, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, and Play Marin.

Lawrence attended Cornell University where he received his BS from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and his MPA from Cornell University School of Public Affairs. Lawrence has been with the firm since 2003.

Gilda A. Barabino is President of Olin College of Engineering, which develops students as engineers who design their own paths forward. It is ranked among the top three undergraduate engineering programs nationally. Dr. Barabino is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine. She serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. She is a noted investigator in the areas of sickle cell disease, cellular and tissue engineering, and the role of race/ethnicity and gender in science and engineering.

Dr. Barabino received her B.S. from Xavier University and Ph.D. from Rice University

Ms. Barham is the Chief Development Officer of Grameen America, a national, non-profit microfinance organization empowering women who live in poverty to build small businesses to create better lives for their families.

As part of her role, Ms. Barham is leading Lifting America: The Campaign for Her Future, a bold campaign to realize our broader vision for the next 10 years. The $300M campaign comprises philanthropic support and loan capital, and will allow us to scale our organization, lift low-income communities, stabilize families and create multigenerational change. We are focused on Expansion to Deepen Our Impact and Reach New Communities; Continued Innovation and Digital Inclusion; and Providing Enhanced Wraparound Services. We aim to double our footprint by expanding to over 40 branches across the country by 2028, reaching over 500,000 women with $12B in loan capital. These women will spearhead economic revitalization in their communities, improving the economic situation of their spouses, children and employees, changing the lives of over 1 million people across the country.

Ms. Barham has over 25 years of nonprofit and development experience, and has held key positions in fund development at Columbia University, Classroom, Inc., the YMCA of Greater New York, and was most recently the Vice President of Resource Development at the United Way of New York City. Mindee is a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals NYC Chapter, and is Co-Chair of its Professional Advancement Committee. She holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from the New School and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Hispanic Studies from Northwestern University.

Ellen Barry is a racial and social justice activist who focuses on challenging the destructive impact of the U.S. prison system on low-income people and people of color, their children and families. She has worked for justice on behalf of prisoners, their children and families for over 40 years and has specific expertise in working with women prisoners, incarcerated parents, children of incarcerated parents, formerly incarcerated people, and restorative justice and trauma healing. She is also committed to the important efforts of diversifying the leadership of non-profit organizations. In 1978, she founded Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, one of the first US organizations to raise issues impacting people in prisons and jails and their children. She served as executive director of LSPC from 1978 to 2001, building a diverse and effective program which achieved significant legal and policy changes around prisoners and formerly incarcerated people. Ellen helped to co-found several progressive organizations, including Critical Resistance, National Network for Women in Prison and the Circle for Justice Innovations. She is the principal consultant at Women & Justice Issues Consulting firm.  In the last decade, she has focused on restorative and transformative justice, and currently serves as Director of Fund Development and Contracts of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, a visionary organization that is leading the effort to center restorative justice practices in a racially and culturally diverse indigenous traditions.

Audrey Battu is the Director of Essential Medicines at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, (CHAI). As director, Audrey is responsible for increasing the use of treatments for pediatric diarrhea and pneumonia, including access to medical oxygen across high-burden countries. The program has a strong track record of increasing diarrhea treatment rates at scale, and expanded to include pneumonia treatment in 2015. Audrey’s work on access to medical oxygen expanded rapidly in 2020 in the wake of the global pandemic, and she has supported a number of countries to scale up their access to medical oxygen. Audrey’s research work includes studies of oxygen systems in Ethiopia and Nigeria, and increasing pediatric treatment of diarrhea in Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda.

Audrey joined CHAI in 2009 and prior to her role in Essential Medicines, she worked in global operations, focusing on CHAI’s people management, including staff development, recruitment, and compliance. Audrey represents CHAI in a variety of global working groups focused on child health. Audrey also serves in several community organizations, including Duxbury for All, a group focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Audrey and her husband are raising three wonderful children and still figuring out what it means to be a multiracial family in America. Audrey has a BA from Gordon College and an MPA from Northeastern University.

Sarah Beiderman is the Chief of Staff for Friends of the Children, a national nonprofit with the mission of impacting generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors – 12+ years, no matter what. The innovative model revolutionized the field of mentoring and youth services with salaried, full-time, professional mentoring and data-informed performance management. Through catalytic capital aggregation, Friends of the Children has continued to scale its model, growing from seven to 22 locations in the past seven years.

Sarah is passionate about moving from the diversity, equity, and inclusion spaces into realizations of justice and freedom. At Friends of the Children, she drives strategy and collaborations to imbue the brand, organizational activities, and decision-making with core values like Put Children First and Demand Equity. Prior to Friends, with an eye toward freedom of expression and the power of arts and culture, Sarah ran the SPACES World Artists Program, an international cultural exchange for experimental, alternative artists addressing systemic inequities and socio-political issues, served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations and the Advisory Board of the National Performance Network’s Visual Artists Network, and co-led Hispanic/Latino arts initiatives in Cleveland, Ohio. Now, in her free time, Sarah can be found working across the country to Get Out The Vote!

After receiving her BA in Art History and Religion from Oberlin College in 2003, Sarah went on to graduate from the Neighborhood Leadership Institute in 2006. In 2017, she obtained her MBA from the University of Portland and became a member of Beta Gamma Sigma.

BJ Bell leads BlackRock’s Performance Attribution teams for the US and APAC regions. His teams are responsible for investment performance, analysis, oversight, and attribution globally. They drive projects that improve investment technology and operating platforms by combining attribution, strategy, business process, and technology expertise across BlackRock’s suite of analytical tools. In addition, BJ serves as the Chair of the Seattle Leadership Committee, and is the Seattle Technology & Operations Office Leader.

BJ is bi-racial and the first person in his family to go to college. Since joining BlackRock in 2007, he has been actively involved in local organizations and company initiatives that focus on financial well-being, with an emphasis on financial inclusion and creating opportunities for underrepresented students of color. He was awarded the Heart of BlackRock in 2019, which honors employees who foster a culture of belonging, and create an environment of empathy, trust, and respect. BJ earned a BA in Mathematical Economics and Japanese from Pomona College, in Claremont, CA and a MA in Economics from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.

Pamela Benson Owens is the President and CEO of Edge of Your Seat Consulting, Inc and is currently serving as the Executive Director of Six Square. For 25+ years Pam has owned Edge of Your Seat Consulting, a unique consulting firm that is dedicated to assisting for-profit, nonprofit, and faith-based entities. The major focus of Edge of Your Seat Consulting, Inc., is to provide methodologies that help manage perceptions and narratives about complex and challenging issues with courage and strategic passion.

She serves on the faculty of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence at Austin Community College and enjoys helping fundraising professionals in understanding not only the fundamentals of fundraising but also donor motivations. Pam leverages humor and honest storytelling to create memorable and applicable strategies for sustainable and substantive change.

She is a proud Texas A&M Aggie where she earned a degree in Journalism and a certification in Diversity Education, and completed her graduate work at St. Edward's University with a Masters in Human Services with a concentration in Conflict Resolution/Mediation. Pam has also completed coursework at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She resides in Austin with her spouse, Arlyn, and two kids, Preston and Allyson.

David is the principal and founder of Bickham Innovation Catalysts, LLC, a consultancy specializing in innovation and organizational change in economic, philanthropic, educational and community development. He speaks across the nation on culturally responsive practices, building systems for innovation, impact and change and other areas. He lives in Atlanta, GA and Brandon, MS. He has consulted with over 50 organizations, including grant writing, design and planning across 20 disciplines. He is a graduate of Tougaloo College in Mississippi and an award winning short story writer and poet.‍

Sharon Bissell is a feminist grantmaker and human rights strategist. Through her work with Mexican civil society organizations and for twenty years at the Mexico office of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Sharon has helped facilitate access to millions of dollars for Mexican human rights, migration, and feminist organizations. She became involved in the Mexican pro-choice movement in the 1990s and in philanthropy in 2001. Her work helped to increase recognition of young people’s sexual rights, advance abortion rights, and shift attention toward the need for women-centered reproductive health care at the hands of traditional indigenous and formally trained midwives. Her human rights work has focused on improved criminal investigations, enforced disappearances and femicide, access to justice, and the historic criminal justice reform process.

Sharon is skilled at bridging – and helping others bridge – political and sectoral cultures, from private to public, US to Latin American, literal to literary, and grassroots to international. She is a founding strategist for the 2020 creation of Mexico’s social justice fund, Acento: Acción Local and of the Repository of Documentation on Disappearances in Mexico. She is Board Secretary at Fondo Semillas, Mexico’s feminist fund, and former Board Chair of Funders for Reproductive Equity. She lives in Mexico City, is bilingual, bicultural, and binational US-Mx, holds an MA in postcolonial literature, post-graduate courses in human rights and reproductive health, and is a candidate for an MFA in creative writing at Antioch University Los Angeles.

Fred Blackwell is the CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, one of the largest community foundations in the country. Since joining the foundation in 2014, Blackwell has led it in a renewed commitment to social justice through an equity agenda focused on racial and economic inclusion.

Blackwell, an Oakland native, is a nationally recognized community leader. Prior to joining the foundation, he served as interim city administrator for the city of Oakland. Blackwell serves on the board of Independent Sector, Northern California Grantmakers, Bridgespan Group, the dean’s advisory council for UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, and the community advisory council of the San Francisco Federal Reserve.

Meghan has been with MSI for nearly 10 years. As Director of Foundation Relations at MSI United States Meghan engages US-based foundations in supporting high-impact programming around the world. Prior to joining MSI-US, she served as the Senior Program Design and Development Advisor for Asia and the Middle East for Marie Stopes International, based in New Delhi, India. She directly supported country programs including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Yemen in new business development, fundraising, and strategy development.

Previously, Meghan worked with Chemonics International, a USAID contractor, for three years. At Chemonics, she worked collaboratively with teams across the organization on new business development to secure multi-million dollar awards across multiple sectors including health and environment in Asia and Latin America.

Meghan has an MPH in global health and a BA in international affairs and Latin American studies from The George Washington University.

Lisa Bohmer leads the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s Global Early Childhood Development Initiative, working in concert with government, other funders and grantee partners to improve caregiver well-being and early childhood development outcomes in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and the United States. Bohmer has more than 30 years of experience with programs, research and grantmaking in the areas of early childhood, HIV and AIDS, maternal and child health, reproductive rights and the empowerment of women and girls. Prior to joining the Foundation, Bohmer was director of program partnerships with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Past positions also include HIV/AIDS director for UNICEF in Ethiopia, senior advisor to the president of the Nike Foundation, program director at the Pacific Institute for Women’s Health, and Ipas’ regional representative for East and Southern Africa. Her background also includes five years living and working in Ethiopia and consultancies with numerous organizations including UNFPA, the International Center for Research on Women, South Los Angeles Health Projects and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. Bohmer recently served as chair of the Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS, on the Executive Group for the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN) and on the board of directors for Funders Concerned About AIDS. Bohmer has a master’s degree in public health from UCLA.

Melissa Boteach, Vice President for Income Security and Child Care/Early Learning, oversees NWLC’s advocacy, policy, and public education strategies to ensure that all women and families have the income and supports they need to thrive. Prior to joining NWLC, Melissa spent nearly a decade at Center for American Progress (CAP), where she founded and led the Poverty to Prosperity Program, growing it from a team of 1 to 17, establishing projects to center the voices of low-income families; leading the team’s message and narrative change work, overseeing intersectional advocacy campaigns, and developing bold ideas to cut poverty & expand opportunity that resulted in new legislation, executive actions, and other progress. Melissa also served as policy editor on The Shriver Report, a book and multimedia platform by Maria Shriver and Center for American Progress on the 1 in 3 U.S. women on the financial brink, and solutions to help them push back. Previously, she worked at The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), where she led interfaith antipoverty campaigns. She has testified before Congress and frequently serves as a media spokesperson on issues relating to economic opportunity. A Harry Truman and George J. Mitchell Scholar, Melissa has a Master’s of Public Policy from The George Washington University, a master’s of Equality Studies from University College Dublin where she studied women in social movements, and bachelor’s degrees from University of Maryland in government and Spanish.

In her role as Head of Global Programmes in the LEGO Foundation, Sarah provides strategic oversight to the Foundation’s efforts to promote learning through play for children aged birth to twelve through parenting interventions, early childhood center-based approaches, formal education and humanitarian settings.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Sarah led program quality efforts for ChildFund International, as Vice President for Program Development, and for CARE USA as the Director for Basic & Girls’ Education. She also has experience managing programs and partnerships in Africa and Asia centered around education and Early Childhood Development for Save the Children and the Aga Khan Foundation. Her professional accomplishments include developing a global monitoring and evaluation system tracking half a million children around the world, managing a $70M partnership focused on girls’ education and leadership, and starting a pre-school in Mozambique. She has served on several expert panels focused on education and gender, and has been a Steering Group Vice Chairperson for the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies.

Janis Bowdler is the President of the JPMorgan Chase & Co Foundation, a global leader dedicated to driving inclusive economic growth in communities worldwide. The JPMorgan Chase & Co. Foundation made a commitment in January 2018 to invest $1.75B over the next five years to strengthen workforce systems, revitalize neighborhoods, grow small businesses, and improve the financial health of individuals.

Janis has spent the last two decades advancing economic opportunity for families at risk of being left out of growing global prosperity. She began her career in her native Northeast Ohio, working to rejuvenate Cleveland’s east side neighborhoods. Her passion for helping families move up the economic ladder took her to Washington, DC where she spent ten years advocating on behalf of Latino families at UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza).

Compelled by the opportunity to help realize a vision for widely shared economic prosperity through the scale of a global financial institution, Janis joined JPMC in 2013 to help the Foundation develop a new approach to corporate giving that would increase its impact and advance its mission. Under her leadership the firm has launched several high profile initiatives, including Financial Solutions Lab, PRO  Neighborhoods, Entrepreneurs of Color Funds, and blight mitigation initiatives in Detroit, MI.

Janis has authored a number of publications on financial opportunity and economic mobility. Most recently she co-authored Building Equitable Cities: How to Drive Economic Mobility and Regional Growth with Henry Cisneros and Jeff Lubell. She also serves on the boards of Raza Development Fund, Low Income Investment Fund, and Opportunity Agenda.

Janis is a proud Latina, yoga teacher, and mom to one daughter and two rescued pit bulls. She lives with her husband and family in Takoma Park, MD.

Rose M. Brewer is The Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor and past chairperson of the Department of African American & African Studies, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She holds affiliate appointments in Gender Women Sexuality Studies and Sociology. She received her M.A and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from Indiana University and did post doctoral studies at the University of Chicago. A social activist and scholar, Brewer publishes extensively on Black feminism, political economy, social movements, race, class, gender and social change. She is one of the authors of the award winning book, The Color of Wealth and a number of co-edited volumes including Rod Bush: Lessons from a Radical Black Scholar on Liberation, Love, and Justice: The U.S. Social Forum: Perspectives of a Movement; Bridges of Power: Women’s Multicultural Alliances and Is Academic Feminism Dead?: Theory in Practice. Her work includes more than 80 essays, articles, and refereed publications.

She’s held the University of North Texas Multicultural Lectureship Award, the Sociologist for Women in Society Feminist Lectureship in Social Change, a Wiepking Distinguished Visiting Professorship, Miami University of Ohio and was a Visiting Scholar in the Social Justice Initiative, University of Illinois-Chicago. She is a University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Medalist, a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, a winner of the American Sociological Association’s Outstanding Teaching award, and a Josie R. Johnson Social Justice Award recipient.

Dr. Nzinga H. Broussard is a Senior Director of Analytics at the Global Innovation Fund, a non-profit organization that invests in the development, rigorous testing, and scaling of innovations targeted at improving the lives of the world’s poorest people. She has over twelve years of experience applying her expertise on identifying solutions that can improve the lives of the poor in meaningful ways. Dr. Broussard has a joint doctoral degree in Economics & Public Policy from the University of Michigan.

Judge Zoe Bush was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1994 by President William Jefferson Clinton. She was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She graduated with Honors from Wellesley College in 1976 and received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1979. Immediately after law school, Judge Bush moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as a law clerk to the Honorable James F. Merow of the United States Court of Federal Claims. The following year, she was a law clerk to the late Honorable Phillip N. Nichols of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In 1981, she joined the Office of General Counsel of the Washington Gas Light Company as a rate lawyer, and in 1984, she joined the Office of General Counsel of the Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO). After ten years of litigation, Judge Bush was appointed as an Administrative Judge on the Board of Contact Appeals for the District of Columbia, later becoming Chief Administrative Judge. Judge Bush has served in the Criminal, Civil and Domestic Violence Divisions of the Superior Court as well as in the Family Court. She has served as the Presiding Judge of the Family Court. Judge Bush has been active in bar activities and community service, and is the proud mother of a daughter.

Kimberlin Butler is a cross-sector bridge-builder with nearly 20 years of experience in public education, public affairs, and philanthropy. Ms. Butler amplifies lessons learned, helps advance evidence-informed grantmaking, and catalyzes collaboration across the field of philanthropy. She partners with philanthropy to center racial equity in investments and founded Mathematica’s Equity Community of Practice.

Previously, Ms. Butler served as Director of Strategic Partnerships at StriveTogether where she managed the Accelerator Fund, which invested $15 million in underserved communities. An advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Education on philanthropic alignment, Ms. Butler launched federal place-based collective impact initiatives for the Obama Administration as part of the White House Community Solutions Team engaging urban, rural and tribal communities. She also led three national funder networks at Grantmakers for Education.

Ms. Butler started a career in philanthropy designing a place-based investment framework to support education, health and human services grantmaking programs at The Zeist Foundation in Atlanta. She served as a teacher (TFA) in Atlanta Public Schools and advisor to Georgia’s State Superintendent of Schools. Ms. Butler holds an MPA from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and currently studies educational and organizational leadership as a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania.

Brenda Butler is an experienced journalist with more than 35 years in newspapers and magazines. A witness to and participant in the sectionalizing of American newspapers in the 1990s, she held numerous editing positions at the Tribune, including associate managing editor for features, where she was involved in the conception and development of award-winning newspaper sections and magazines and co-managed a staff of more than 100 reporters, editors and support staff. In the late 1990s, Butler also wrote, produced and moderated a 13-week series for Chicago cable TV titled “Playback: Views from an African-American Perspective.” She left the Tribune in 2009 after more than 10 years as senior features editor for the Chicago Tribune Magazine. Before joining the Tribune, Butler was an editor at Johnson Publishing’s Jet Magazine. She was three-term president of the National Association of Black Journalists-Chicago Chapter. Under her leadership, the organization was named the national 2009 NABJ Chapter of the Year. Butler was most recently executive director of Columbia Links, a journalism, news literacy and leadership development program for underserved youth in Chicago public high schools and for teachers, housed at Columbia College Chicago. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and creative writing from Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., and graduated from the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education management program at Kellogg’s Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, Evanston.

Amanda Cage is the president and CEO of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. Amanda joined the National Fund in March 2020, bringing more than 25 years of federal workforce system, grantmaking, and organized labor experience to the organization. Throughout her career, Amanda has focused on ensuring economic inclusion and stability for workers and their families. Most recently, she served as the chief program officer at the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership. There she managed a $70 million portfolio of public and private funding and a network of over 50 agencies for the country’s second largest workforce system. Before that, Amanda served as director of human capital strategy for the Chicago Workforce Investment Council, where she led a citywide effort to increase Chicago’s competitiveness in a knowledge-based global economy. For five years, she led the workforce development portfolio at the McCormick Foundation, and she was the 2004 J. Ira & Nicki Harris Foundation Fellow at the Chicago Community Trust. Amanda started her career as a labor organizer working for Jobs with Justice and the Service Employees International Union and was a Trade Union Program Fellow at Harvard Law School. She is an Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program 2017-2018 Job Quality Fellow and a 2019 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow. Amanda earned a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harris School at the University of Chicago.

Diana Campoamor is the editor of “If We Want to Win: Latine Visions for a New American Democracy.” She is an adviser to philanthropists and a mentor to change-makers. She founded the Nuestra América Fund (NAF) to support a new narrative of Latine leadership. She was the founding President of Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) through 2017. Campoamor served on the Boards of the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region. Among her honors, she received the Council's Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking, the Maestro Award from Latino Leaders magazine, and was named consecutively among The NonProfit Times "Top 50 Leaders." She previously edited "Nuevos Senderos: Hispanics and Philanthropy."

Rachel Cantave, PhD is a cultural anthropologist and an Assistant Professor of International Affairs at Skidmore College. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University, M.A. in Public Anthropology, and B.A. from NYU. She teaches courses on cultural theory, race, religion, and identity politics in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is published in the Journal of Religious Studies, History and Society, and the upcoming edited volume, Embodying Black Religions in Africa and its Diasporas: Memory, Movement, and Belonging through the Body. She is also co-founder of TheEbonyTower.com and co-producer of the documentary film Chèche Lavi (Looking for Life).

Sueli Carneiro is a feminist and anti-racist activist. Bachelor in philosophy and PhD in education. Executive coordinator of Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra, editor of Portal Geledés; fellow Ashoka since 1992. Board member of Fundação Tide Setubal, Baobá Fund for Racial Equity, Conectas Human Rights, Amnesty International Brazil and Instituto Ibirapitanga. Author of several articles about gender, race and human rights.

Sarah Carthen Watson is the Legal Director at the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center (LaFHAC), where she supervises the organization's ever-growing range of enforcement efforts to ensure fair access to housing for protected classes across the state of Louisiana. In addition to managing LaFHAC's litigation and administrative representation portfolio, Sarah also supervises the organization's testing program and serves as a liaison to HUD. Prior to joining LaFHAC, Sarah was Associate Counsel in the Fair Housing and Community Development Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where she litigated challenges to discriminatory housing practices, drafted several Analyses of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice, and engaged in policy advocacy at the federal and state level. Originally from Minnesota, Sarah received her J.D. and Certificate in Public Interest Law from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and her B.S. in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University.

Elena Chávez Quezada is Vice President of Programs at the San Francisco Foundation (SFF). In this role, Elena works to ensure that the Program Division advances SFF’s equity agenda through internal collaboration, centering grantees, and engaging key community partners. Prior to this role, Elena was Senior Director of the People Pathway at SFF. She previously oversaw the economic security portfolio at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and was a senior program officer at Tipping Point Community. Elena is also Head of Investments at the Chavez Family Foundation (CFF), where she supports her brother in the launch and grantmaking of a new foundation focused on the intersection of immigration, education, and entrepreneurship. Prior to her roles in philanthropy, she managed the California expansion of Single Stop USA and worked on research and policy at the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program.

Elena is involved in various local and national organizations/efforts, including Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap Initiative, Immigrants Rising, Concrete Rose Foundation, and Campaign for College Opportunity. She is also an appointee to the San Francisco Guaranteed Income Advisory Council. Elena received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and lives in San Francisco with her husband and two sons.

Lanyan Chen has a PhD in Sociology from the University of British Columbia and a Master’s in Communications from Simon Fraser University. She publishes in both English and Chinese and brings a perspective of feminist political economy to her areas of research. Her authored books, journal articles, contributed chapters, and other publications deal with gender issues and inequality. She is the author of Gender and Chinese Development: Towards an equitable society and her leading articles appeared in China Quarterly, Gender and Development, and Feminist Economics. While her published research has mostly focused on China, she is increasingly doing research on these issues in Canada and other countries using comparative perspectives. Her recent research under academic journals review covers issues of empowering Indigenous women, the development of the Anishinabek Nation’s Child Well-Being Law, and health policy in Canada. She has also been extensively involved as a co-applicant over the past few years in a SSHRC-funded project to establish a coordinated rights-based, culturally aware and gender equality approach to combating sex trafficking in Northeastern Ontario, and another SSHRC-funded project to evaluate the role of philanthropy in response to social inequalities and environmental protection. She is the applicant/chief investigator of a SSHRC-funded project on Promoting Reconciliation through Collaboration on a Forum for Regional Development. She received a Nipissing University Research Achievement Award in 2015.

As a researcher, she takes her role seriously in spreading knowledge and working with people to think of a way forward. This approach reflects her experiences with several United Nations appointments including the UNIFEM Gender Advisor for Northeast Asia based in Beijing from 1998 to 2003, a position where she was able to create change through projects, campaigns and mobilization of people and communities. She has had numerous appointments as a Gender Expert, working on the design, implementation, and evaluation of large-scale projects and programs in support of compliance to international human rights norms and standards. She also initiated situational analyses by way of surveys and field visits, interviews and focus groups, and led training workshops on participatory, action-oriented methodology (PAR), gender analysis, human rights commitments, gender statistics, social assessment, and survey design for projects.

Dr. Trenita Childers is a sociologist and health researcher at the American Institutes for Research. Her work focuses primarily on health equity, social determinants of health, and communicating health information to broad audiences. Dr. Childers also examines how structural barriers – such as discriminatory policies and practices – worsen inequality. In her book, In Someone Else’s County: Anti-Haitian Racism and Citizenship in the Dominican Republic, Dr. Childers uses ethnography to connect race, labor, and immigration. She has extensive expertise conducting community engaged research, especially among marginalized populations including racial and ethnic minorities and immigrant communities. Dr. Childers’ research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Fulbright Program. She is a Davidson College graduate with a PhD in sociology from Duke University.

Stacey Choe is Director at Asia Philanthropy Circle (APC), a non-profit initiative that convenes Asian philanthropists to learn, collaborate and catalyse new social interventions.  At APC she launched regional and in-country projects, including collective impact funds targeting early childhood nutrition and community building, research projects that she co-wrote on the philanthropy ecosystem, and programmes targeting pressing issues like rising radicalism, ageing in society and education gaps.  Stacey has a strong background in the philanthropic sector, having served as the Membership Services Director at the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) for 4 years before her last role as Director of Policy Engagement.

Prior to joining AVPN, she had 8 years of experience in marketing communications, market research and strategy in both corporate and government sectors in China, Italy and Singapore.

Stacey holds an MA in Social Anthropology of Development from SOAS, University of London, and a BA in Political Science and English Literature from the National University of Singapore.

Elizabeth is President and CEO of the Rita Allen Foundation, an organization that invests in transformative ideas in their earliest stages to leverage their growth and promote breakthrough solutions to significant problems. In that capacity, Elizabeth is guiding the Foundation through a period of rapid expansion fostering new partnerships, practices and knowledge to enable inclusive democratic engagement with science and our shared civic life. Prior to joining Rita Allen in 2009, Elizabeth was the first female Executive Director of New Jersey’s public broadcasting network (NJN). As a member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Board, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and in other leadership roles, she has initiated programs to broaden meaningful participation and leadership opportunities. She is the recipient of five honorary degrees and numerous awards for public service, including the prestigious Women Who Make a Difference Award from the International Women’s Forum (IWF), and has served as a jury member for international media competitions, including chair of NHK’s Japan Prize.

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld is the CEO and co-founder of MiracleFeet, a non-profit that treats children born with clubfoot in low-income countries. In launching MiracleFeet, Chesca saw the opportunity to bring the low-cost, non-surgical solution for this leading cause of physical disability to global scale.

Working with local partners, MiracleFeet has helped over 50,000 children in 29 countries access the high quality treatment they need to live active, productive lives.

Chesca grew up in Africa and Asia before becoming a Morehead Cain scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and later earning an MBA from Stanford University.

Colleen Copple is a social entrepreneur and the co-founder of Strategic Applications International, a consulting firm that is focused on pursuing great ideas, promoting action and affecting change with demonstrated results and Servant Forge, an international NGO that serves as an umbrella for humanitarian and pro-bono work. SAI is deeply involved in the national dialogue on police reform, having facilitated the Task Force on 21st Century Policing on behalf of the White House in 2015, resulting in a consensus set of recommendations and action steps that have framed police reform over the last six years. SAI authored the implementation guide and eight additional documents addressing major aspects of the recommendations. In 2020, SAI facilitated the Minnesota Working Group on Police-Involved Deadly Force Encounters that produced a roadmap for reducing use of force just 3 months before George Floyd’s death. That report led to the Attorney General being able to prosecute the case instead of the County Attorney. SAI recently launched a national demonstration project called ACT NOW that brings underrepresented grassroots communities together with rank-and-file officers to reimagine public safety in 14 cities, counties and tribes nationwide. SAI and Servant Forge also have a strong portfolio of international development projects, mainly in Africa, that address gender-based violence, youth and women employment, HIV/AIDS, and environmental issues.

Colombian entrepreneur and leader with purpose, with 25 years of international experience in sustainability in business, civil society, and academia. After a successful career with multinational corporations, in 2012 Correa co-founded Sistema B, a movement to promote B Corps - businesses that use the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems. 2019 Fellow Advanced Leadership Initiative, Harvard University. Named one of the 30 most influential intellectuals in Latin America in 2017 by EsGlobal. Jury, 2016 Global Rolex Award. Correa serves as a member of the Board for Colbún and Córpora (Chile), HQAI (Switzerland), Fundación Bancolombia and Fundación Gaia (Colombia).

Stephanie Cosner, Ph.D. serves as Dean of the College of Social Sciences, Policy, and Practice at Simmons University. She is a Professor in the School of Social Work and serves as Chair of Online Graduate Strategy. Dr. Cosner joined Simmons in 2018 from Boston College, where she served as Assistant Dean, Chair of Social Innovation and Leadership, and Director of the Center for Social Innovation. She has more than 70 published works, including Innovation from Within with Oxford. Dr. Berzin graduated cum laude from Cornell University, earned her M.S. from Columbia University, and her Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley.

Mary Crock (BA (Hons) LLB (Hons) PhD (Melbourne University)) is Professor of Public Law at Sydney Law School at The University of Sydney.  She has worked in the area of immigration and refugee law since 1985. An Accredited Specialist listed in Best Lawyers in Australia in Immigration Law, she maintains interests in practice alongside academic research. She has authored 14 books and over 70 book chapters and refereed articles, with a strong research focus on vulnerable migrants and comparative law and practice. Work with Professor Jacqueline Bhabha on unaccompanied children (Seeking Asylum Alone (Australia 2006) (comparative report 2007)) was funded in part by the MacArthur Foundation. With Professor Ron McCallum, she was involved in 2012-2014 reforms of the UN human rights treaty system. A co-authored 2017 monograph examined disability prevalence amongst refugees, research she presented to the UN in 2015 and 2018. Her latest books concern refugee children (2018, 2020).

Attorney Jyarland Daniels, MBA, Esq., is a global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) leader and President and Founder of Harriet Speaks℠. Harriet Speaks℠ is a Michigan-based diversity and inclusion consultancy that supports schools, nonprofits, and corporations in their efforts to shape culture, improve communication, and develop policies and practices that result in a more inclusive organization. In addition to developing customized trainings for organizations in DEI, Jyarland is Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, who provides coaching on DEI topics and organizational and individual effectiveness.

Jyarland brings clients over 20 years of experience in social justice and civil rights non-profit organizations, as well as corporate experiences in Fortune 500 organizations in product marketing, luxury branding, crisis communications, public relations, and management positions. She also brings a global perspective to DEI, acquired from having lived and studied in Japan and Germany, and having led global teams.

Since founding Harriet Speaks, Jyarland has curated diversity and inclusion training for nonprofits in the areas of land development, HIV prevention and education, health-care organizations, city governments, high schools and colleges, and tech start-ups. In addition, she is a frequent media guest and thought leader on topics related to DEI.

Recognized as a “Leader and Innovator” in Diversity and Inclusion by The University of Kansas Alumni Association in 2019, Jyarland’s strength in the diversity and inclusion space lies in her ability to bring a creative and multi-disciplinary approach to problems of equity. Going beyond conversations on bias, and systems of racism, through Harriet Speaks℠ Jyarland helps clients develop skills for productive dialog, resolve racial conflicts, develop compassion, and understand the connections between history and the present day. She advocates an approach that seeks to dismantle racism while building community.

Jyarland holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Kansas, where she was a Multicultural Business Scholar; an MBA (Marketing and Finance) from The Ross School of Business at The University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, where she was a Consortium for Graduate Studies in Management Fellow, and a Juris Doctor in Civil Rights and Education Law from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, where she was also a summer law clerk for Chief Judge Gerald E. Rosen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

She is a former Board Member of the ACLU of Michigan, and a current trustee for Youth for Understanding International Exchange (YFU), the first African-American trustee in the history of the organization, where she actively seeks to increase the representation of Black students in international study abroad programs. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Sheldon H. Danziger is the President of the Russell Sage Foundation which supports social science research “for the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” He is also the Henry J. Meyer Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. Previously, he was Director of the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan and of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a John Kenneth Galbraith Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and was a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow. He received his BA from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From 1989 through 2013, Danziger directed the Research and Training Program on Poverty and Public Policy at the University of Michigan, a training and mentorship program for developing the careers of emerging scholars from underrepresented groups.

Maria Smith Dautruche (she/her/hers) is proud to be from Mount Vernon, NY – an inner-ring suburb of New York City in Westchester County (land connected to the Munsee Lenape people). She organized Westchester County’s first observance of National Day of Racial Healing on January 19, 2021 and served a productive term on the County’s African American Advisory Board from 2018-2020.

Professionally, Maria currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the President and CEO of the National Urban League. Prior to this role, she was on staff at the historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization as Vice President, Partnerships & Advancement. In addition to fundraising during her time on staff, Maria was the organization’s Steward within the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative for five years. In January 2020, Maria completed Rx for Racial Healing Co-Facilitator Training led by Dr. Gail Christopher’s Ntianu Center for Healing and Nature.

Maria is a member of the recently launched The Rooted Collaborative™ - a global community focused on the holistic evolution and advancement of female leaders of color in the social impact sector. She serves on the boards of Data for Black Lives and Awesome Foundation NYC. Maria is a PURPOSE Productions Leading Organizer and coordinates the New York Youth Justice Initiative – a coalition of philanthropists and donors who seek to improve outcomes for court-involved youth in New York City. Maria is currently an Elias Foundation Activist Fellow and was an Independent Sector NGen Fellow in 2018 and a 92Y Women in Power Fellow in 2017. While an undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh, Maria co-founded New Voices for Reproductive Justice – a powerful organizing force for the health and well-being of Black women and girls, women of color and LGBTQ+ people of color at the local, state (PA and OH) and national levels.

Joost is a Professor of Economics at the Utrecht University School of Economics and the director of the Utrecht Centre for Global Challenges (UGlobe). He previously worked as a Senior Economist at the World Bank and managed its Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF). He was part of the management team at Porticus, supporting the global philanthropy transition toward a focus on contributing to systemic change. Joost also held academic positions at the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) and Harvard University. He holds a PhD in Economics from Brown University. Joost's current research agenda is focused on addressing two global challenges: ensuring disadvantaged children have the same (early) education opportunities as everyone else, and promoting environmental sustainability. It has been published in leading journals such as Science and the Journal of Development Economics. Joost is a passionate ambassador for transdisciplinary research, working collaboratively with societal partners to address the globe’s most pressing challenges.

Ellen DeVoe is a nationally recognized expert in trauma and families. She is interested in developing and disseminating community-driven and culturally responsive prevention and intervention programs to mitigate the impact of violence exposure on families and children. Her work has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, Centers for Disease Control, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For more than a decade, DeVoe has directed the Strong Families Strong Forces program, an intervention research project funded by the Department of Defense focused on developing a parenting program to support military parents with very young children throughout cycles of deployment and reintegration.

At BUSSW, DeVoe served as director of Trauma & Violence specialization and the inaugural director of the PhD Program in Social Work. At the national level, DeVoe is a member of the consensus study team for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society. In 2019, DeVoe contributed to two policy briefs for the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Center for Child Policy. She also was an invited member of two Council of Social Work Education’s Curriculum Task Forces on Military Social Work and Trauma-Informed Care.

Emilia DiMenco is the President & CEO of the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC).

The WBDC supports and accelerates business development and growth, targeting women and serving all diverse business owners, in order to strengthen their participation in, and impact on, the economy. Under her direction, the WBDC has expanded its WBE certification reach, diversified its curriculum for businesses at all stages, and launched new innovation programming.

Prior to joining the WBDC in 2010, Emilia spent 30 successful years at BMO Harris N.A., being elevated to executive vice president in the corporate and commercial bank. She also led BMO Harris’ Women in Business Initiative, which, under her leadership, made the Bank the bank of choice for many women business owners.

Emilia is well-known for her contributions to leading civic and professional organizations. She currently serves on the State of Illinois Business Enterprise Council and the Cook County Economic Development Advisory Council. She is also active on the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) in a leadership role, and serves as a Board Member and Executive Committee Member. Emilia is a member of The Chicago Network, International Women’s Forum, Economic Club, and Executive Club.

Emilia holds B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from DePaul University and studied international finance at Loyola University’s Rome Center.

Tim Diette is Professor of Economics at Washington and Lee University with affiliate appointments in the Africana Studies Program, Education Studies Program, and Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability. He currently serves as the Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Analysis and as the Acting Director of the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability. He previously served as the Associate Dean of the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics and as the Acting Head of the Economics Department.

Deirdre Drake is Executive Vice-President and Chief People Officer for UScellular Corporation, a position she has held since April 2014. As EVP and CPO, Deirdre leads the Human Resources and Communications organizations and is responsible for delivering integrated human capital solutions that enable UScellular to achieve its strategic objectives.

Deirdre was born and raised in Flint, MI. She received her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Central Michigan University and her MBA from St. Joseph’s University.

Deirdre’s career in human resources prior to joining UScellular included senior leadership roles with ARAMARK Corporation as well as BMO/Harris Bank. Earlier in her career, she worked with Marathon Oil Company and Kraft General Foods.

Deirdre has several civic affiliations and personal accomplishments. She delivered the winter commencement address and received an honorary doctorate from Central Michigan University in 2018. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and a lifetime member of the National Black MBA Association. She serves on the boards of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago and the Chicago Public Library Foundation. Deirdre also dedicates time and treasure to UCAN, NAAAHR, By the Hand Club For Kids and Impact Grants Chicago.

Deirdre is single and has no children. She dedicates her family time to her sisters, niece and nephew.

Indivar Dutta-Gupta is co-executive director at the Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality where he leads work to develop and advance ideas for reducing domestic poverty and economic inequality, with particular attention to gender and racial equity. Indivar also serves on the National Academy of Social Insurance’s board of directors and as an advisor for the Aspen Institute’s Benefits21 Initiative, Liberation in a Generation, and The Policy Academies. He has previously worked at the Center for American Progress, U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Freedman Consulting, LLC.

Sarah EchoHawk, a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, has been working on behalf of Native people for over 20 years. She has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) since 2013. Prior to joining in AISES, Ms. EchoHawk was the Executive Vice President of First Nations Development Institute, a national nonprofit organization with a focus on economic development for American Indians. Ms. EchoHawk also served as the interim CEO for the organization’s subsidiary, First Nations Oweesta Corporation, during its management transition in 2010.

Before joining First Nations Development Institute, she spent several years working for the American Indian College Fund raising support for tribal colleges and universities. During her tenure there, she served in many areas including operations, program management, communications, foundation relations, and individual giving. Ms. EchoHawk was an adjunct professor of Native American Studies at Metro State University of Denver for nine years where in addition to teaching introductory Native American studies courses, she also taught Native American Politics and co-taught Native Americans and Law with her father, John Echohawk, who co-founded the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in 1970.

Ms. EchoHawk serves on multiple boards. She is currently the Vice Chair for Native Americans in Philanthropy, the Chair for the Native Ways Federation, and the Chair for Red Feather Development Group. She is also a member of the ad hoc committee at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for a project addressing the underrepresentation of women of color in tech. Additionally, Ms. EchoHawk is a member of the advisory board for the American Indian Policy Institute at the University of Arizona, Collaborative Advisory Board for Women of Color in Computing Research, Champions Board for the National Girls Collaborative, and is a former board member for the Oregon Native American Business and Entrepreneurial Network (ONABEN). She is the PI/Co-PI on multiple National Science Foundation grant projects and previously served as an Ambassador for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Minorities in Energy Initiative.

Ms. EchoHawk has a Master of Nonprofit Management (MNM) degree from Regis University and an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Native American Studies from Metro State University of Denver. She attended law school at the University of Colorado and completed additional graduate coursework in applied communications at the University of Denver.

Soha has 20 years' experience in the development and humanitarian response sector. Since 2010, her work has focused on developing strategic partnerships that have led to the growth of Save the Children’s programs in a number of countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Before joining Save the Children, Soha worked with a number of multilateral and international organizations, including six years with UNHCR, where she held a number of roles, including managing UNHCR’s partnerships with implementing partners in South Iraq. Soha also spent considerable time in the private sector most notably working with McKinsey & Co to set up the first Directors Institute in the Middle East.

The role that stayed with her the most was working at the start of her career with the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, where she interviewed asylum seekers denied refugee status by UNHCR, helping them navigate the appeal process. Soha has a BSc. in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Cairo University.

Carolina Eterovic founded and served as partner, executive director, and president of Mujeres Empresarias, a pioneering organization that works to promote and strengthen diversity and inclusion for women in the Chilean workforce. Since its inception, Mujeres Empresarias has trained more than 20,000 women for senior management roles, has supported the formation of women-founded companies through incubation, capital raising, and acceleration, and has partnered with development agencies including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Kaufman Foundation. Carolina is a board member of CorreosChile, the Chilean national postal service, and a past director of MCapital, a syndicate of angel investors supporting women-founded ventures.

Flavia Faugeres is currently attending the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University, an academic program focused on social impact for experienced leaders. Flavia is the founder of Learntofly, a start-up web-based platform providing global reach for youth to access mentors, facilitate meaningful connections, and utilize social emotional development tools for personal and professional growth.

Prior to Learntofly, Flavia was the CEO for Brazil and the executive vice president of BRF Global, one of the world’s largest producers of poultry and pork products. Previously she served as Global Chief Marketing of Burger King Corporation, senior partner of N-Ideias, a marketing consultancy, Global Vice President of insights and research at AB-Inbev, and in market research at Unilever. In her business career, she has been an advocate for food safety, quality and access, and for increased leadership opportunities for women.

Dr. Jelani M. Favors is an associate professor of history at Clayton State University. He has received major fellowships in support of his research that includes an appointment as a Humanities Writ Large Fellow at Duke University in 2013, and he was an inaugural recipient of the Mellon HBCU Fellowship at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke in 2009.

In 2019, Dr. Favors released his first book entitled Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism, which was published by the University of North Carolina Press. Shelter in a Time of Storm was the recipient of the 2020 Stone Book Award presented annually by the Museum of African American History in Boston. It also won the 2020 Lillian Smith Book Award given yearly by the Southern Regional Council and the University of Georgia Libraries and it was one of five finalists for the 2020 Pauli Murray Book Prize presented by the African American Intellectual History Society. Dr. Favors’ research and commentary have appeared in several media outlets, including CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Conversation. Dr. Favors is a native of Winston-Salem, NC and he currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

Michael has worked for the Van Leer Group since 2007. Prior to his current role as CEO, he served as the Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation from 2014–2019.

Before this he held several other positions within the Foundation including programme director, programme manager and programme officer. Before Van Leer, Michael spent most of his career serving grassroots and non-profit organisations in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe working with homeless and displaced children and families. Early in his career he also spent time as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company.

He has degrees from Wesleyan and Princeton Universities, was honoured as a Thomas J. Watson fellow and was a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Behaviour. Michael loves to write, swim, bike, take photographs and make music with his daughter.

Wayne L. Firestone is trained as an international lawyer and devotes his career to innovative nonprofit leadership, social entrepreneurship, playwriting and thought leadership. Firestone has held national and international organizational leadership positions including: Executive Director of the America-Israel Friendship League; CEO of the International Lifeline Fund, which sparks catalytic market sensitive change in clean water and cooking in sub-Sahara Africa and Haiti; President of the Genesis Generation Challenge to promote young adult initiatives that measurably improve the world; and President and CEO of Hillel International which operates on over 500 university campuses around the world. Firestone is an active community leader serving as a board member for the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues and a participant in the Aspen Institute’s Inclusive America Project. He founded Plays2Gather- a community driven performing arts network inspired by Jewish stories to celebrate diversity and educate about “the other.” He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Dr. Bettye Ward Fletcher is a retired career academician, researcher and administrator. She retired in May 2005. During her thirty years in higher education, she ascended the academic ladder from instructor to Interim President of Jackson State University. She gave institutional leadership to the development of the Jackson Heart Study, which is the largest study of African American cardiovascular disease in the nation.

Dr. Fletcher is the founder of Professional Associates, Inc. an organizational development consulting firm specializing in proposal writing, outcomes evaluation, strategic planning and organizational infrastructure development. Her firm has an international clientele including corporations, institutions of higher learning, philanthropic foundations, state agencies, school systems, colleges and universities, and community and faith-based organizations.

Dr. Fletcher has experienced all aspects of grantsmanship. She has successfully written, awarded and reviewed grants in the public and philanthropic areas. Over the course of her career, she has generated over $50 million in funded support. As a state agency head, she designed a peer-review system for awarding over $54 million in grants. Thirdly, Dr. Fletcher has served as a grant reviewer for several federal agencies. In 2001, Dr. Fletcher gave leadership to the establishment of a faith-inspired nonprofit organization in her native rural community, which received approximately $400,000 over the life of the award. The mission of this organization is to improve the quality of life among rural residents through family and youth development.

Dr. Fletcher is a prolific writer, inspirational speaker and community activist. She serves on the Board of several non-profit organizations. At this juncture in her life, Dr. Fletcher’s focus is on being significant rather than successful. To this end, her spirituality is the central focus of her life. She is dedicated to living a purposeful life through the practice of servant leadership. She is also an avid gardener. She is the mother of Imari and Aisha and has three grandsons.

Kevin Kahakula’akea John Fong is a nationally recognized and respected cultural translator, facilitator, and speaker in transformative justice, leadership development and organizational design. His mission is to clarify purpose, align principles, and integrate systems to cultivate healthy and equitable communities.

Prior to founding Elemental Partners, Kevin was the Founder and Director of the Clinical HIV Program and Teen Clinic at Asian Health Services in Oakland, CA. Kevin was a Kellogg Fellow from 1994-1997.

Kevin is a faculty member of the UCSF Center for Health Professions and the University of Michigan New Leadership Academy. A graduate of the University of California, Kevin resides in San Francisco.

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Marina Fragata Chicaro is Manager, Applied Knowledge Department, whose portfolio focuses on implementing and scaling innovative and evidence-based models, policies, and practices to address early childhood development challenges in Brazil.

Marina spent more than 10 years working to address Brazilian social challenges, adversities, and equity in the public, private and non-profit sectors, and with international organizations in the health, social assistance, and early childhood development sectors at the federal, state and municipal levels.

Marina holds a degree in Law, and a Masters degree in management of international cooperation entities for development and social interventions at the Universidad de Oviedo, Spain (AECID fellow).

Meredith has extensive experience in the social impact sector and community development. She has worked with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Citibank Global Community Relations and is currently the Director of Alignment and Impact Investing with the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation. In 2014, Meredith was selected for the inaugural class of the WK Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network. Meredith received a B.A. from Michigan State University, and an M.S. in Management and Urban Policy from the New School University in New York. She has also served as adjunct faculty for graduate level courses in Nonprofit Management at Seton Hall University and the New School.

Jessica Fulton is the Vice President at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. An expert on issues at the intersection of race and economic policy, Jessica’s work focuses on identifying and promoting policies to advance the socioeconomic status of the Black community. In her current role, she oversees the Joint Center’s research, policy, and operations teams, and identifies opportunities to advance the organization's mission through strategic planning and management.

Before joining the Joint Center, she served as External Relations Director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, where she worked with scholars to advance policymaker understanding of the connection between economic inequality and economic growth. She has also held positions in local research and advocacy at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute and the Chicago Urban League. Jessica is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and serves on the Board of The Black Swan Academy and the Advisory Board of the Sadie Collective. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of Chicago and a Master's Degree in Economic Policy Analysis from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at Depaul University.

Morning Star Gali is a member of the Pit River Tribe located in Northeastern California. Ms. Gali serves as Project Director for Restoring Justice for Indigenous Peoples (RJIP) and as the California Tribal and Community Liaison for the International Indian Treaty Council, working for the Sovereignty and Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples and the recognition and protection of Indigenous Rights, Treaties, Traditional Cultures and Sacred Lands. She's the Tribal water policy organizer for Save California Salmon and has worked as the CA Regional Network Weaver for Native Americans in Philanthropy.

She is a 2019 Open Society Institute Racial Equity fellow, Funders for Justice fellow 2018-2021 and a 2016-2018 Rosenberg Foundation Leading Edge Fellow, focusing on the disproportionate impact of the criminal and juvenile justice systems on Native Americans. Between 2012-2016, Ms.Gali previously worked as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for Pit River Tribe. She Continues to lead large-scale actions while helping organize Native cultural, spiritual, scholarly, and political gatherings throughout California. She is deeply committed to advocating for Indigenous sovereignty issues such as missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW), climate justice, gender justice, and sacred sites protection on behalf of the tribal and inter-tribal communities in which she was raised.

Morning Star serves as a board member for California Indian Heritage Center Foundation, American Indian Cultural District of San Francisco and Women's Health Specialists of California, along with serving on a number of advisory committees that advocate for the sovereignty and self-determination of California’s indigenous peoples and sacred landscapes.

C’Ardiss “CC” Gardner Gleser is an advocate for social impact and social justice work.

CC began her career as a project manager in the tech and engineering sector with GE Healthcare. However, most of her career she has served in several renowned nonprofit organizations focused on equity and changing educational outcomes for underserved children, such as the Technology Access Foundation (TAF). TAF is a national model of integrating STEM education in underrepresented communities and elevating the impact of teachers of color.

CC transitioned from the nonprofit sector and is now entrenched in the philanthropic sector. CC is the first Director of Programs and Strategic Initiatives at Satterberg Foundation, whose mission focuses on promoting a just society and sustainable environment. She currently serves as a leader on the boards of Andrus Family Fund, Charlotte Martin Foundation, and Philanthropy Northwest.

CC is extremely involved in her community, both locally and nationally. She is very involved in her community, both locally and nationally. She previously served as the National President of the Yale Black Alumni Association and on Yale’s Board of Governors. She was also a Brainerd Fellow and a partner with Social Venture Partners Seattle where she co-chaired the Social Venture Teen Philanthropy Program. CC is a graduate of the 2017 Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) Connecting Leaders Fellowship.

Most exciting, CC founded Black Ivy Manor, which provides funding and other opportunities for Black scholars, artists, and social justice advocates the space to develop their crafts and voices, while supporting movement in community and cultivating relationships with one another.

CC earned her Bachelor's degree in African American Studies from Yale University, and an M.Ed. in Education Administration from Seattle University. She currently resides in the Detroit area with her husband and three children.

Camille Gargiso has extensive Human Resources experience in organizations across financial, tech, and non-profit sectors—especially in the arts—creating HR initiatives that embed racial equity practices into all aspects of HR processes, staff and leadership development, and workplace culture. She is a volunteer with NYC’s Hour Children, serving as a mentor and providing workshops to assist recently released incarcerated women in their search for employment. She received a B.A. from City College of NY.

Oleta Garrett Fitzgerald has devoted her life to the pursuit of justice and equality for all. As Director of the Children's Defense Fund's Southern Regional Office, Oleta has placed special emphasis on education, including early childhood education, children’s healthcare access, and breaking the insidious cradle to prison pipeline pattern, which is all too prevalent in communities of color. Oleta is the Regional Administrator for the Southern Rural Black Women's Initiative for Economic & Social Justice (SRBWI). SRBWI operates in 77 counties across the Black Belts of Alabama, Southwest Georgia and the Mississippi Delta. She is also the principal for an innovative project, the Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK) Initiative, which has operated in more than 12 Mississippi school districts. Oleta’s distinguished public service career began long before she assumed her position at Children’s Defense Fund. In 1993, Oleta became President Clinton’s appointee as White House Liaison and Executive Assistant to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy. Later, she was named the Department’s Director of Intergovernmental Affairs where, among other things, she worked on tribal governmental issues and coordinated the Administration’s long-term recovery of Midwestern states affected by The Great Flood of 1993.

Ms. Fitzgerald serves on the boards of The Center for Education Innovation, NEA Foundation, Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative; is a member of the Stennis Institute of Government advisory committee and a member of the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative Executive Committee and on the advisory boards for Excel by 5, NEA Foundation, Rural Assembly, Philander Smith College Justice Project, and Mississippi Building Blocks. Ms. Fitzgerald received honorary membership to Pi Alpha Alpha, the National Honor Society for Public Affairs & Administration from Mississippi State University in 1999. She contributed to the Covenant with Black America introduced by Tavis Smiley, and numerous news stories by the New York Times, Huffington Post, the BBC, National Public Radio, Commercial Appeal and NBC National and local affiliates as well as other broadcast and print media. Ms. Fitzgerald is the proud mother of four children, Rashida, Yusef, Layla and Joi.

As executive director of Partners for Education, Dreama Gentry leads Berea College’s educational outreach into Appalachian Kentucky. Partners for Education supports the educational aspirations of 50,000 students across eastern Kentucky using an annual budget of $40 million.

An Annie E. Casey Children and Family Fellow, Gentry also serves on the board of directors for the Fahe, a community development non-profit, and the Pine Mountain Settlement School. She is a member of the equity coalition convened by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, which seeks to ensure Kentucky’s school accountability system provides educational excellence to all students. Recently, she organized the annual Rural College Access and Success Summit, an event that brings together approximately 400 participants from across the country to improve the educational opportunities available to students from rural communities.

Gentry holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Berea College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky.

Lisa George is the Global Head of the Macquarie Group Foundation, responsible for strategy and management of the Foundation globally. The Foundation is Macquarie Group’s philanthropic arm and is one of the largest corporate benefactors in Australia.

Macquarie staff engagement in their local communities is the founding principle of the Foundation. Since inception in 1985, the Foundation has donated more than $410 million to charities around the world.  The Foundation also believes in the importance of capacity building and innovation within the sector to increase its effectiveness.

Lisa joined the Macquarie Group Foundation in 2010. Prior to this role she worked for Social Ventures Australia in the consulting arm providing strategic support to non-profit organisations. She is currently on the Board of Philanthropy Australia, an Alternate Director at For Purpose Investment Partners, and Chair of the Harvard Club of Australia Non-profit Fellowship, which awards 2 scholarships annually to Australian non-profit CEOs to study at Harvard Business School. Lisa holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University.

Jesús joined FII in 2010 as Executive Director of Boston, where he grew FII to include 800 families across the city. He assumed the position of CEO in 2017. Prior to joining FII, Jesús worked for the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF), where he served as Deputy Director and worked on the Youth First project that helped lay the groundwork for a proposed $250 million urban development project. In 2008, the HSTF team organized and designed a youth-led comprehensive Civics curriculum in Boston Public Schools, currently being piloted in three high schools with the hope that it becomes a mandatory requirement for all BPS graduates in two years.

Jesús has held numerous Board leadership positions across New England and currently sits on the Board of English for New Bostonians. He is also a co-founder of the Community Fellows Program at the Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership affiliated with Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. In 2016, the Boston-based Barr Foundation awarded Jesús a Barr Fellowship for his contributions to the city and his potential to drive positive change.

Allyson Maynard-Gibson QC is a justice leader and change agent, who continues to work in the public and private sectors. Especially post COVID-19, she advocates that innovation, including use of technology, is essential to promote and effect equity and equality.

Cynthia Gonzalez is director of Pardee RAND Graduate School's Community-Partnered Policy and Action academic stream. Previously, she served as the Senior Project Manager for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles leading the Watts Rising Collaborative, a multi-million dollar place-based infrastructure improvement effort with a community engagement focus. She also served as the assistant director, Division of Community Engagement, at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU), and is an alumna of Pardee RAND's Faculty Leaders Program. She also continues to teach in the CDU MPH program and is a RWJF Culture of Health Leader. Gonzalez has a strong background in community-based participatory research, cultural anthropology and social ethnography to the understanding of community wellness.

Gonzalez focuses her scholarship in the study of urban communities and its impact on community health. Her approach of finding "local solutions to local problems" in urban neighborhoods is rooted in social justice, critical engagement, and multidisciplinary scholarship. Influenced by her Mexican-American roots and upbringing in Watts, Gonzalez is interested in developing place-based initiatives through community engagement and neighborhood assessments to improve the quality of life for low-income and racial/ethnic minority residents living in under-resourced neighborhoods. She has developed partnerships between community, government, and academia through efforts like the Watts Community Studio and Los Angeles Promise Zone Young Ethnographers Program.

Bradford C. Grant is a Full Professor of Architecture in the Department of Architecture of the College of Engineering and Architecture at Howard University, Washington DC. He has been in leadership roles at Hampton and Howard Universities as Chairperson, Director, Associate Dean and Interim Dean. As a registered architect and a distinguished educator he has extensive experience in community design, contemplative practices through drawing in design education and environmental justice in architecture. His community design work, research on the role of African American architects and his teachings on “Drawing as Meditation” has earned him the Virginia Downtown Development Association Award, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Education Honor Award, the AIA Institute Honor for Collaborative Achievement and the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society’s Contemplative Practice fellowship.

Grant has served as past president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Humanities DC, and the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. He is currently president of the board of the Healthy Building Network and is the co-founder of the “Directory of African American Architects”, the first comprehensive survey, analysis and report on the numbers and role of the African American Architect. He is appointed as the inaugural “Instagram Artist in Residence” at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

Grant completed his graduate degree at the University of California Berkeley and the undergraduate degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Allison Grant Williams is a career financial services professional with significant strategic, financial management, and operational expertise in the investment management industry.

Allison has recently retired from Northern Trust Corporation in Chicago, where she held a number of C-suite roles, most recently as Practice Executive of Global Strategic Relationship Management - Asset Management. Allison began her career at a community bank in Chicago, and moved on to large corporate lending at First Chicago Corporation. She chose to attend graduate school thereafter and subsequently joined Goldman Sachs in New York. Returning to Chicago in 1987, she became a founding Partner of Brinson Partners, Inc., where she held leadership positions with that pioneering global asset management firm for 14 years. Allison also managed her own consultancy practice prior to joining Northern Trust in 2011.

Allison is an avid collector of African American/African Diaspora art and a member of the Chicago Finance Exchange and the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). She holds an AB from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Alessandra Greceanu is a 2021 Senior Fellow at Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) and 2020 Cohort Fellow. Prior to ALI, Alessandra Greceanu was a judge at the United Nations Dispute Tribunal, the first instance of the organization’s internal justice system, having been elected by and appointed to this position by the U.N. General Assembly. An expert in international humanitarian law, employment law, comparative law, intellectual property law, mediation/arbitration, and refugee law, she previously was a judge in the Romanian justice system, most notably at the Court of Appeal of Bucharest for 16 years. She is a judge trainer in labor, refugee, and European Union law at Romania’s National Institute of Magistracy, and was a national judge trainer in refugee law, an independent expert of the European Commission in civil and refugee law, and worked in the field of international legal procedure, standards, and instruments both in Romania and in the EU.

Mike Green is Co-founder and Chief Strategist at the National Institute for Inclusive Competitiveness, where he works with HBCU leaders, foundations, governments and private sector corporations on economic strategies that prioritize increasing the productivity of America’s most vulnerable populations. From propulsion engineering systems to media innovation and entrepreneurship, to pioneering and codifying the strategy of "Inclusive Competitiveness" as co-founder of ScaleUp Partners, Mike’s experience is in paving new pathways for equitable and inclusive prosperity. In 2017, ScaleUp Partners published the book, The Future Economy and Inclusive Competitiveness: How Demographic Trends and Innovation Can Create Prosperity for All Americans.

Robert M. Groves, provost of Georgetown University, is a social statistician who studies the impact of social cognitive and behavioral influences on the quality of statistical information.

Prior to joining Georgetown as provost he was director of the US Census Bureau (presidential appointment with Senate confirmation) from 2009-2012, overseeing the 2010 Census. He assumed the director position after being director of the University of Michigan Survey Research Center, professor of sociology, and research professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland.

Groves has authored or co-authored seven books and scores of peer-reviewed articles. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the International Statistical Institute.

Maria Guajardo is committed to raising the next generation of global leaders as a Professor of Leadership Studies at Soka University, Tokyo. Previously she served as Dean and Vice-President, with the distinction of being the first female and non-Japanese to serve in these positions. Her research connects leadership development, global citizenship education, and social change. Her work in diversity, equity, and inclusion has taken her from Malaysia to Mumbai, and from Singapore to South Africa. Her portfolio includes national and local policy work, leading national youth development initiatives, and advancing educational initiatives for children living in poverty. Maria, a clinical psychologist, author, and mother, has degrees from Harvard University and the University of Denver. 

Isabel Guerrero has spent the last seven years building IMAGOGG, a nonprofit that works with grassroots, social entrepreneurs and governments around the world to scale up innovations from the Base of the Pyramid.

In addition to being the Executive Director of IMAGOGG, Isabel teaches “Scaling up for Development Impact” at Harvard Kennedy School since 2014. She has also taught scaling up at Harvard Kennedy School executive education for the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs and for the Bernard Van Leer Foundation. From 2014 to 2017 she was a Senior Lecturer on leadership at MIT Sloan School.

Isabel is an economist that worked at the World Bank for most of her professional life, including as VP for South Asia where she managed a 39 billion dollar portfolio, between 2008 and 2013. Before that she was a Country Director for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Mexico, Peru and Paraguay.

Isabel received her MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and trained as a psychoanalyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute and the Peruvian Psychoanalytic Society. Isabel sits on the Board of the UN University and is a frequent guest at CNN Dinero and is part of the UN High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation.

Zarlasht Halaimzai is the Director and co-founder of Refugee Trauma Initiative (RTI) – an organisation committed to resourcing refugees, aid workers and organisations with skills and tools to deal with stress, insecurity and trauma. A former refugee herself, Zarlasht has been advocate for refugee rights and over the last 12 years, she has developed programmes that promote resilience in vulnerable populations in several countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, United Kingdom and Greece. Zarlasht has trained in Childhood and Adolescent Counselling and Psychotherapy at Cambridge University and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at Oxford University. She is multilingual and was selected as a Kathryn Davis Peace Fellow to study Arabic at Middlebury College in 2016. Zarlasht has written for several publications including the Guardian, Washington Post, the Good Journal, Huffington Post and the New Statesman. Her work has been profiled by the Psychologist Magazine, NPR and Grazia, and she was the recipient of 2017 Future Shapers Award from Marie Claire Magazine.

In 2018, she was selected from 20,000 applicants to be one of twenty inaugural Fellows of the Obama Foundation.

Linda C. Halgunseth is an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut and associate editor for Journal of Research on Adolescence. Her research focuses on sociocultural influences on parenting, culturally sensitive parenting measurement, and family engagement with diverse families. Dr. Halgunseth holds and has held many leadership positions in national associations such as Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) and Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA), such as Past Chair of the SRCD Latinx Caucus and Chair of SRA Membership Committee. She received the Early Career Award in Teaching Excellence from AAUP and the Early Career Award in Research from the SRCD Latinx Caucus. Dr. Halgunseth received a BA in psychology and Spanish at the University of Texas at Austin, and a MS and PhD in human development and family studies from the University of Missouri. She is also very active in serving the community as a member on the board of trustees of the Connecticut Community Foundation.  

Mike’s work is focused on sustainable and regionalized food systems. He is the C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Senior Fellow, Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) at Michigan State University. He has a Ph.D. in Human Nutrition. Prior to his 2003 move to MSU he spent nineteen years on the Rutgers University faculty in Nutritional Sciences where he co-founded the New Jersey Urban Ecology Program and the Rutgers Student Organic Farm. At MSU he was founding Director of the Center for Regional Food Systems. In his seventeen years at MSU Mike has published and engaged with communities on a range of topics regarding health, sustainable food systems, urban agriculture, and regional/local food systems. He was a governor-appointed member of the Michigan Food Policy Council. Mike was a consultant on sustainability for the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report. He was an Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow at Oxford University in 2019.

Carly Hare (Pawnee/Yankton) strives to live a commitment to advancing equity and community engagement through her professional and personal life. Carly is a proud daughter, sister, auntie, partner, mother, ally, friend, and equity advocate. Carly’s Pawnee name is <i kita u hoo <i ]a hiks which translates into "kind leader of men."

Carly has spent her professional career navigating the intersections of philanthropy, identity and equity. Carly has served as the Coalition Catalyst/National Director of CHANGE Philanthropy since 2015. Carly lead Native Americans in Philanthropy as its Executive Director from 2010-2015. Carly held the position of the Director of Development for the Native American Rights Fund, 2009-2010 and Director of Programs for The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County 2009-2004.

Carly is currently serving the boards of the following organizations: Common Counsel Foundation, the Highlander Research and Education Center, Impact on Education/Boulder Valley School District Foundation and Equity in the Center. Carly has served on planning committees and presented at over 50 conferences and convenings advocating for philanthropic equity. 

Daquanna Harrison is the founder of Elevation Educational Consulting Group which works on projects within curriculum, trainings, technical assistance, SME, and program implementation. Daquanna is known as an expert in Adult Education, DEI, and leadership development. She is a sought-out keynote speaker, trainer, and grant reviewer.

President of MAACCE Board of Directors and on NBCDI's T.E.A.C.H and XPRIZE advisory boards.

An alumna of Howard, American, and Duke Universities, and the University of Baltimore’s Equity and Inclusion Program and of IEL’s Education Policy Fellowship Program. Proudly from the Gullah Islands of SC, she resides in Prince George’s MD where she was recognized as 40U40: Excellence in Education.

Dr. Debra Harry is Numu/Kooyooe Tukadu from Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Dr. Harry serves as an Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies for the Department of Gender, Race, and Identity at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Debra Harry’s research analyzes the linkages between biotechnology, intellectual property and globalization in relation to Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Dr. Harry has authored numerous articles related to the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ biodiversity and traditional knowledge including “Biocolonialism and Indigenous Knowledge in United Nations Discourse,” (2011) 20 Griffith Law Review, “Indigenous Peoples and Gene Disputes” 84 Chicago-Kent Law Review (2009). She also contributed a chapter titled, “Acts of Self-Determination and Self-Defense: Indigenous Peoples Responses to Biocolonialism,” as a contribution to a book entitled “Rights and Liberties in the Biotech Age,” (edited by Sheldon Krimsky and Peter Shorett) 2005. In 1994, Dr. Harry received a three-year national Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellowship and studied the field of human genetic research and its implications for Indigenous peoples. Dr. Harry earned her Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland under the supervision of renowned Maori scholar, Dr. Linda Tuhiwai Smith.

Lauren Haskins is vice president of membership and partnerships at Philanthropy Southwest. Her career in community relations, communications, and client service has been dedicated to serving vulnerable populations, including: as the communications director for a large anti-human trafficking organization; as an executive at a communications firm serving national nonprofits and foundations; and in direct service at the largest homeless service provider in New York. She attended social work graduate school at Columbia University and graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University as a recipient of the Dean's Award for Outstanding Scholarship. She is a member of Native Americans in Philanthropy.

Courtney E. Hawkins became Rhode Island’s Department of Human Services Director in June 2017 after nearly 20 years of social work service in the fields of child welfare, youth development and workforce development.

Hawkins started her career in New York City where she implemented non-profit programs to support kids and families to make economic progress. This included starting successful small schools, designing programs for youth aging out of foster care, implementing new initiatives targeting disconnected youth and running the city’s welfare to work and unemployment centers in the Bronx and Manhattan.

The Rhode Island native returned to RI as the first executive director of Providence Talks, a successful program, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, designed to reduce language development gaps in low-income children. Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza later made her his Policy Director.

Her commitment to ensuring that all vulnerable families and individuals have a chance to make economic progress brought her to DHS. The Department’s vision is that all Rhode Islanders have the opportunity to thrive at home, work and in the community. DHS administers all of the State’s public benefit programs as well as the divisions that handle child support enforcement and vocational rehabilitation for individuals with disabilities. Since her arrival, improvements in staff development, system stability, customer service and eligibility timeliness have been achieved. She has also shepherded major policy and procedural improvements to the State’s child care aid and cash assistance programs.

As its leader, the Department continues to add to its responsibilities for our great State, including adding child care licensing in late 2019, regulating summer camp offerings in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and any other resources – from basic needs to financial infusions to help stabilize the local economy – needed for Rhode Islanders during this global health crisis. In addition, Hawkins has been a leader in promoting equity and having all voices participate in the change needed to make a better Rhode Island for all.  

Director Hawkins has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island and a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University.

Daniel Heimpel is an award-winning journalist and child welfare expert. As the the founder and president of Fostering Media Connections, Heimpel acts as publisher of the non-profit journalism organization’s two publications: The Imprint and Fostering Families Today magazine. He has both written and produced stories about children, youth and families for Newsweek, The San Francisco Chronicle, CNN and the Oprah Winfrey Network among many others. He is also a pioneer in journalism education, with his Journalism for Social Change class having reached hundreds of graduate students at U.C. Berkeley, USC and UPenn, and thousands globally as a massive open online course offered through edX.

Brittany brings deep expertise in due diligence and organizational design to her work at IAF. She first joined the firm as a graduate fellow in 2017, helping to shape the overall strategic direction, and is now an Investment Associate with a particular interest in unlocking asset ownership for communities of color. Prior to joining IAF, she worked as a management consultant in the strategy practice at KPMG, focusing on mergers and acquisitions for large corporate clients, and on financial process improvement for clients at Accenture. She received her M.B.A. from the Chicago Booth School of Business and her B.S. in Business Administration from Hampton University.