Who We Are

Dr Akwasi Aidoo

Dr. Akwasi Aidoo is a Senior Fellow at Humanity United, working to deepen the foundation’s understanding of African philanthropy and strengthen advocacy to African inter-governmental institutions.

Dr Aidoo is the former executive director of TrustAfrica, a foundation dedicated to advancing equitable development and democratic governance in Africa. His previous roles include head of Canadian International Development Research Center’s health and equity program for West and Central Africa, head of the Ford Foundation’s office for West Africa, and director of the Ford Foundation’s Special Initiative for Africa. He previously served as a trustee for several international organizations, including OXFAM America and Resource Alliance.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Dr. Aidoo taught at universities in Ghana, Tanzania, and the United States. He was educated in Ghana and the United States and received a doctor of philosophy degree in medical sociology from the University of Connecticut in 1985. He writes poetry and short stories in his spare time.

Ione Ardaiz Osacar

Ione Ardaiz Osacar has experience working for various organisations in countries such as Italy, Belgium, Germany, Australia, and Spain. She worked at The Australian Centre For Social Innovation where she led and implemented initiatives alongside the Australian government and NGOs co-designing services. She then joined the Agirre Lehendakaria Center team where, based on the successful case of social transformation in the Basque Country, she applied the centre’s methodology for systems change.

Ione is currently Arantzazulab’s Projects Lead, where she designs, coordinates, and participates in Democracy Innovation initiatives. She focuses her activity on systems change, activation of innovation ecosystems, collaborative governance, and deliberative democracy. She also collaborates with several universities as a speaker and lecturer.

By training, Ione is a technical engineer in industrial design. She graduated from Mondragon University and holds a Master’s in Product Design from the Polytechnic School of Milan.

Hannes Astok

Hannes Astok is the Executive Director and Chairman of the Management Board at the Estonian e-Governance Academy. He also acts as the Senior Expert on the information society, promoting the role of local governments and addressing challenges of mobile governance. He has also trained and consulted with central and local governments in Central Asia, Caucasus, South-East Europe, the Middle East, and other transition areas. He has recently worked with the governments of Ukraine, Namibia, Moldova, Georgia, Mauritius, among other developing contexts.

The e-Governance Academy (eGA) is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded for the creation and transfer of knowledge concerning e-governance, e-democracy, and the development of civil society, based in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia. It is a joint initiative of the Government of Estonia, Open Society Institute (OSI), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), founded in 2002. eGA trains and advises leaders and stakeholders in using information and communication technology (ICT) to increase government efficiency and to improve democratic processes with the aim of building open information societies.

eGA has worked with more than 130 governments, trained more than 6500 officials from more than 50 countries, and led or participated in more than 50 ICT projects on the international, national, and local levels.

Sara Atalla

As a Vice President for Porter Novelli, Sara Atalla collaborates with social impact organizations that are tackling our world’s most complex problems. Partnering with philanthropies, NGOs, and businesses, she develops communication strategies and campaigns aimed at improving our planet and creating a healthier, more equitable world for all.

Prior to her time at Porter Novelli, Sara was the Director of Communications & Marketing for Global Washington where she worked with international NGOs, Fortune 500 companies, university leaders, and elected officials.

Sara holds a master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she captained the Division I women’s basketball team.

Dr. Tusi Avegalio

Papalii Dr. Failautusi ‘Tusi’ Avegalio, is a retired Director (2023) of the Pacific Business Center Program (PBCP) under the auspices of the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, and an associate professor of the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus.

He is traditional leader with the heir title of Papalii of Samoa. As a traditional leader and academic he is an advocate of holistic, regenerative and systems thinking and development rooted in balance, harmony and reciprocal-giving (giving back in full measure what one receives, takes or gifted) for the wellness of the Moana (e.g., Earth Mother). Under his leadership PBCP was one of the most award-winning University Centers in the nation as recognized by the University Economic Development Association (UEDA) comprised of US colleges, universities, research institutions, agencies and organizations.

According to Papalii Dr. Tusi, “The ability to weave traditional wisdom, cultural, spirituality and aloha, with modern quantum science and technology is an essential skill towards effective leadership in today’s world. Good leaders lead. Great leaders heal.” Dr. Tusi retired as a noted ‘Legend of Oceania’ by the University of Hawaii system.

Gabrielle Beran

Gabrielle Beran is Senior Manager at the Centre for Public Impact’s Europe and Climate Action teams, focusing on the intersections of climate, economic, and social systems.

Her past work spans the not-for-profit and public sectors in climate, economic development, gender and social inclusion, democratic accountability, infrastructure, and fiscal governance. She has worked across the Pacific, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Gabrielle holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and an LLB/BA from Victoria University of Wellington. She was brought up in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Kelly Born

Kelly Born is the inaugural Director of the Democracy, Rights, and Governance initiative for The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In this role, she leads the organization’s emerging grantmaking in support of a thriving, pro-equity democracy in the United States.

Prior to joining the foundation, Kelly served as the Director of the Cyber Initiative at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, overseeing a $150M grantmaking portfolio to bolster tech policy, in order to improve the impact of technologies on democracy, and society. Previously, Kelly was the founding director of Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center, where she focused on the global impacts of technology on democracy. Before Stanford, in an earlier period of time with the Hewlett Foundation, she helped launch and lead the foundation’s U.S. Democracy Program, leveraging grantmaking to build public trust in U.S. democracy, combat disinformation, and strengthen American electoral and governing institutions.

Earlier in her career, Kelly worked as a strategy consultant with the Monitor Group where she supported strategic planning efforts with nonprofits, private sector companies, philanthropies, and governments in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in economics from Pepperdine University and a master’s degree in international policy studies from Stanford University.

Suzette Brooks Masters

Suzette Brooks Masters is a social entrepreneur, philanthropic advisor, thought leader, and strategist in the fields of democracy, futures, and pluralism. She has decades of experience advising foundations, non-profit organisations, policy makers, and corporations, and serving on nonprofit boards of directors. Suzette has received numerous awards for her philanthropic vision and impact, and accolades for her incisive publications. She prides herself on seeing around corners and challenging conventional thinking.

Suzette currently leads the Better Futures Project at the Democracy Funders Network, a cross-ideological learning and action community for donors concerned about American democracy. She previously served as Senior Strategist at the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council, and as Program Director for Migration at the J.M. Kaplan Fund in New York City.

The author of Imagining Better Futures for American Democracy, Suzette is a graduate of Harvard Law School, University of Cambridge, and Amherst College. A lifelong New Yorker, she is the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants.

Kevin Chang

Kevin Chang was born in Honolulu and raised in Ahuimanu valley, ahupuaʻa of Kahaluʻu, moku of Ko’olaupoko, O’ahu. A proud graduate of J.B. Castle High School, he received a B.A. in Psychology and a J.D. from the University of Oregon.

Prior to KUA–his original dreams of becoming a circus performer stifled–Kevin served as a newspaper deliverer, an usher and bouncer, cafeteria worker, plate lunch and short order cook, caregiver for the seriously disabled and dying, a Land Manager for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Field Representative for the Trust for Public Lands’ Hawaiian Islands Program, and also practiced law as a solo practitioner in the field of entertainment law.

Kevin’s interests include football coaching, creative writing, and film production. He is also a singer-songwriter and performs as a member of the band Kūpaʻāina which uses music as a tool to raise awareness on the contemporary economic, social, cultural, and environmental justice issues of Hawaiʻi.

Heather Chaplin

Heather Chaplin is a Brooklyn-based author and journalist. Her most recent book, Reckless Years: A Diary of Love and Madness, was published by Simon & Schuster in July 2018. She is also the founding director of Journalism + Design at The New School and the recipient of more than $2 million in journalism innovation grants. In her spare time she can be found taking ballet classes she has no business attending but does anyway.

Heather started her career at Salon where she wrote The Reluctant Capitalist column. Over the years, she’s worked for many publications, such as The New York Times and All Things Considered. She is the co-author of Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution, a New York Times Notable Book of 2006.

In 2016 Chaplin was a fellow at The Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. The previous year, she wrote a paper for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on complexity and the news. She is on the advisory board of The Guardian’s Mobile Innovation Lab.

Chaplin has been recognized for her work on digital culture and the future of journalism in places including The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Believer, CBS Sunday Morning, Talk of the Nation and The Nieman Report, among other places. Chaplin is also a frequent speaker on these topics.

Keya Chatterjee

Keya Chatterjee is a member of both the Evergreen Advisory and Governing Boards and Executive Director of USCAN. She is the author of the book The Zero Footprint Baby: How to Save the Planet While Raising a Healthy Baby. Her work focuses on building an inclusive movement in support of climate action.

Prior to joining USCAN, Keya served as Senior Director for Renewable Energy and Footprint Outreach at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), where she worked for eight years. Before that, she was a Climate Change Specialist at USAID. She also worked at NASA headquarters for four years, communicating research results on climate change, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco from 1998 to 2000.

Keya currently serves on the board of the Washington Area Bicycling Association. She received her Master’s degree in Environmental Science and her bachelor’s in environmental science and Spanish from the University of Virginia.

Winny Chen

Winny Chen is the Associate Director for the Governance program at Democracy Fund, an independent foundation working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people. She helps guide the development of program strategies and works with the Governance program team to refine, develop, and assess the progress of programs and grantmaking.

Winny brings extensive experience in management consulting, advocacy, and public policy. Prior to Democracy Fund, she was a Manager at Monitor Deloitte, where she advised federal agencies and social sector organizations on enterprise strategy, strategic planning, performance measurement, and communications. She also served as a Senior Associate in the Crimes Against Humanity Program at Human Rights First and as a Policy Analyst on the National Security team at the Center for American Progress.

Winny earned a Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University and holds a Master’s degree in Security Studies from Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Alexis Cherem

Alexis Cherem is a research manager for the healthy governance project with The Omidyar Group as well as the Governance Futures Network. Prior to her time with TOG, she specialized in data driven public policy analysis and implementation.

Alexis previously worked for the office of the President of Mexico, where she was a part of the team in charge of implementing RCTs related to maternal health and financial inclusion; as a Research Coordinator at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Mexico, where she lead projects related to Procedural Justice, community policing and crime prevention; and at the consulting firm Data4, as a project manager and data analyst.

Alexis studied Political Science and International Relations at ITAM University in Mexico and the London School of Economics in the UK.

Dr. Rekgotsofetse Chikane

Dr. Rekgotsofetse Chikane is a lecturer at the Wits School of Governance as well as a political commentator, activist, and the author of Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation: The Politics behind the #MustFall Movements. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government where he completed his Master’s in Public Policy. He received his PhD at the Wits School of Governance where he focused his research on Decoloniality, Development, and Complexity Economics.

Dr. Chikane is a research associate at the Wits Institute for Socio-Economic Research and the Education and Learning Manager for the Tayarisha Working Group on Digitial Governance. His broad areas of research include: Decolonial Thought, Development, Youth Politics, Complexity, and South African Public Policy.

Dr. Chikane is a Mandela-Rhodes Scholar, a Mandela-Washington Fellow, a Chevening Scholar, a former Masters Fellow at the Public Affairs Research Institute, one of Mail and Guardians Top 200 Young People (2016 – Civil Society), and an Obama Africa Programme leader for 2019.

Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook

Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook is the co-founder and co-holder of 7GenCities and project co advisor at Dark Matter Labs; advisor to a number of Indigenous, foundation and non-profit organizations; and post-secondary educator in environmental, Indigenous and urban studies. She is deeply engaged in Indigenous, environmental, trans-disciplinary and trans-systemic approaches to education and research, land relationships and stewardship, climate resilience, bio-regional regeneration, placekeeping, innovation, and healing justice and mental wellness.

She is passionate about reciprocal, collaborative and inter-generational pathways for learning and knowledge co-creation, practice, and partnerships in her roles within project and research leadership, academia, advising, and community building. Her Akawaio-Kapon and mixed ancestry from Guyana and the Netherlands, combined with community and international experiences across cultures, ecologies and geographies, enable her to bring multifaceted perspectives and sensibilities to her work that are both place-based and global.

She is the co-editor and co-author of Sacred Civics: Building Seven Generation Cities with Jayne Engle and Julian Agyeman and many other authors across many disciplines, knowledge traditions and geographies (Routledge 2022); and many other peer-reviewed and online publications.

Claudia Chwalisz

Claudia Chwalisz has been working on democratic innovation for over a decade, initially sparked by her research on populism and the extent to which it is driven by people’s disillusionment with the political system and with a lack of agency to shape the decisions affecting their lives. She was involved in designing the world’s first permanent Citizens’ Assemblies in Paris, Ostbelgien, and Brussels.

Claudia established and led the OECD’s work on innovative citizen participation from 2018-2022, creating the Deliberative Democracy Toolbox, which includes a public database of over 700 examples of Citizens’ Assemblies, the flagship report Catching the Deliberative Wave (2020),  standards for implementation (2020), and guidelines for evaluation and institutionalisation of deliberative assemblies (2021), as well guidelines for citizen participation processes (2022).

Claudia led the drafting of the OECD Action Plan on Enhancing Representation, Participation, and Openness in Public Life (2022) and the related chapter in the Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy report (2022). Claudia also set up the OECD Innovative Citizen Participation Network and the blog Participo. She managed five pilot projects of citizen participation in cohesion policy, supported by the European Commission, advised on institutionalising deliberative democracy in the Basque Country in a project with Arantzazulab, and advised on designing deliberative processes in Finland and Lebanon.

Claudia is an Obama Leader 2023 and serves on the Advisory Boards of the UN Democracy Fund, MIT Center for Constructive Communication, The Data Tank, and Design & Democracy. She is the author of *The Populist Signal: Why Politics and Democracy Need to Change (2015) and The People’s Verdict: Adding Informed Citizen Voices to Public Decision-making (2017), and the co-editor of New Routes to Social Justice](2017) and The Predistribution Agenda* (2015).

Jessica Clark

Jessica Clark is a futurist, journalist, and strategist whose work connects ideas and people across art, technology, media, and politics. She founded Dot Connector Studio in November 2013—clients have included the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the Wikimedia Foundation, the Internet Archive, and other philanthropic and media organizations. 

In 2022-23, Jessica served as the Futurist in Residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is the co-author of *Making a New Reality: A toolkit for inclusive media futures,* published in 2020. In 2016, she co-founded Immerse — an online publication designed to spur creative discussion of emerging storytelling.

From 2011-2014, Jessica served as AIR’s media strategist, working to develop the national public media transformation production Localore. From 2007-2011, she led the Future of Public Media Project at American University’s Center for Media and Social Impact.   The co-author of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010), she was the Executive Editor at national political magazine In These Times. She holds a BA/MA from the University of Chicago.

Murray Clay

As president, Murray Clay oversees and manages all aspects of Ulupono Initiative. He guides the team on overall strategy and process, focusing on the best way to achieve the firm’s mission-driven goals using due diligence and analysis. He is also one of Hawaii’s leading proponents in the area of performance-based regulation (PBR) as a means to accelerate progress toward the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals.

Prior to joining Ulupono Initiative, Murray served as deputy chief investment officer of SDS Management LLC in Connecticut. He has more than 15 years of experience in managing hedge fund and private equity portfolios, and he has led due diligence, negotiated and structured direct investments in many industries including energy, natural resources, and biotechnology. Prior to his finance career, he served as an intelligence officer for U.S. Air Force special operations forces for five years.

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Murray holds a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs, with a minor in Japanese. He earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Murray serves on the board of directors for the U.S.S. Missouri Memorial Association, Inc. and the Oahu Economic Development Board, and is an active member of his church. He and his wife, Jodi, have five children.

Shari Davis

Shari Davis (they/she) serves as a Co-Executive Director at the Center for Economic Democracy. They are a NYT visionary leader who brings expertise as an executive leader, community organizer and facilitator with 15 years of service in local government and ten years of leadership in national non-profits.

Shari advises and supports other leaders of color in creating and exploring shared leadership models. During her time as Co-Executive Director of the Participatory Budgeting Project, Shari worked with local government staff and community organizers on building deep decision making processes rooted in equity and people power.

Shari also creates experiential and world-building workshops facilitated around the United States that engage BIPOC communities in radical imagination using art and illustration, including comic books, to collectively envision an equitable, shared and safe future.

Shari is a graduate of Boston University’s Sargent College for Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and holds a master’s degree in anatomy and physiology. You can learn more about Shari’s work by viewing their TED talk or following their work as a 2019 Obama Fellow or 2022 Emerson Collective Fellow.

Roger Dennis

Roger Dennis consults in foresight, innovation, and large-scale change. He is based in New Zealand and supports government bodies and companies across Asia, Europe, and Australasia.

Roger was a Senior Fellow (non resident) at the Scowcroft Centre at The Atlantic Council from 2020-2023. He also helped set up Future Agenda, the worlds largest open source foresight programme. Additionally, he co-led the 2007 Shell Technology Futures programme for the GameChanger team in The Hague and co-wrote and edited the book that resulted from the programme. Before this he was at egg, the pioneering European internet bank, where he worked on areas as diverse as the online gaming industry and deploying financial services on smartphones.

Roger is interested in weak signals from the edges that give clues about the future. He likes to discuss why forming strategy without knowing about the future is like pouring coffee without a cup. In addition, he also likes to talk about why a strategy without an innovation capacity is akin to walking very slowly on the same spot.

Deepti Doshi

Deepti Doshi is the Co-Director of New Public. Her work has focused on the intersection of social media, community organizing, and leadership development over the last two decades. Prior to New Public, she set up Meta’s New Product Experimentation team and established Meta’s Community Partnerships team to build products (namely, Groups), programs, and partnerships that support community leaders.

Deepti is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and the Wharton Business School and holds a bachelors degree in Psychology. She is a TED Fellow, an Aspen Institute First Movers Fellow and Ideas Scholar, and her work has been featured in multiple publications.

Jake Dunagan

Jake Dunagan is an experiential futurist, political system designer, and teacher. He is Director of the Gov Futures Lab at the Institute for the Future, a research and education non-profit organization based in Palo Alto, CA. He teaches foresight in the School of Design and Creative Technologies at UT-Austin and is international mentor for the Diseño de Mañana program at CENTRO, a media and design university in Mexico City.

Jesse Eaves

Jesse Eaves is a Senior Director at Humanity United, a private U.S. philanthropy focused on cultivating the conditions that can transform human exploitation and violent conflict into enduring peace and freedom. With a background in child protection and systems change, Jesse has worked extensively in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe on issues ranging from human trafficking and child exploitation to youth-led conflict transformation.

Jesse currently manages part of HU’s peacebuilding strategy to support and accompany networks of local peacebuilders from around the world as they reimagine a system where the international response to violent conflict is defined by those living closest to that conflict and honors their vision for sustainable peace.

Coraline Ada Ehmke

Coraline Ada Ehmke is an internationally recognized tech ethicist and software engineer. For more than a decade, she’s worked on practical approaches to promoting the values of diversity, equity, and justice in the technology industry, with a particular focus on open source. She is the creator of Contributor Covenant, the first and most popular code of conduct for digital communities, and the Hippocratic License, an innovative software license designed to promote and protect human rights. Coraline co-founded the Organization for Ethical Source and serves as its Executive Director.

Jayne Engle

Jayne Engle has a background in urban and regional planning, policy, development, and governance; philanthropy innovation; and social research and participatory practice. She’s worked in diverse societal change contexts around the world and is now a mission co-holder at Dark Matter Labs, where she’s co-leading 7GenCities, the Property & Beyond Lab and collaborative governance projects. Jayne’s passionate about futures of cities, infrastructure, and institutions, and is committed to decolonizing systems and opening possibilities for what that can mean.

Jayne previously led the Cities & Places Portfolio for the McConnell Foundation, and now is working with philanthropy on mission-aligned endowment strategy. Based in Montreal, and originally from the US, Jayne has also worked extensively in Eastern and Western Europe, including as a Peace Corps economic development volunteer in Slovakia. For her PhD, she carried out fieldwork in Haiti, where she studied community-led reconstruction and locally-designed governance efforts following the devastating earthquake of 2010.

Jayne holds a PhD in Urban Planning, Policy & Design from McGill University where she’s an Adjunct Professor. She’s a Futures Fellow with the Future of Canada Project and co-authored the book Sacred Civics: Building Seven Generation Cities (2022).

Steve Francis

Steve Francis is a senior executive and gifted product strategist with a 30-year career ranging from hands-on software engineer to public company CEO. He has substantial experience in organizing teams and attacking new opportunities and markets while ensuring a balance between specific tasks and the “bigger picture” of a successful outcome.

After consulting for three years on various high-impact social good projects, Steve joined Tech Matters in late 2019.

Gyorgyi Galik

Gyorgyi Galik is a Copenhagen-based socio-ecological systems designer, design strategist, and environmental advocate. She is the City Transitions Co-Lead at Dark Matter Labs. She previously served as Head of Strategic Partnerships at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose and as a Lead Advisor and the interim Head of Social Innovation at Design Council.

Gyorgyi has seventeen years of experience in policy, service, and innovation design, having worked in the public, private, and third sectors. Her specialisation spans design, behavioural, and environmental sciences, with a strong understanding of the built and natural environment. She has designed, led, and managed a variety of projects – working in organisations ranging from small startups and individual communities to large corporations and local and national governments.

Gyorgyi received her PhD in Innovation Design Engineering from the School of Design at London’s Royal College of Art where she focused on design and climate change.

Marcus Ganley

Marcus Ganley has spent the last 25 years working across government and private sector in Australia and New Zealand, including as a senior adviser to a New Zealand Prime Minster and to a Finance Minister in each country.

Marcus has written about parliamentary democracy and public participation in Australia and New Zealand, including Public Perceptions of the New Zealand Parliament, What the Australian Senate can learn from NZ’s House of Representatives, and Select committees and their role in keeping Parliament relevant. He now works for the Government of the Australian Capital Territory.

Keesha Gaskins-Nathan

Keesha Gaskins-Nathan is the director for the Democratic Practice–United States program and the Racial Justice Initiative at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She is dedicated to advancing measures and ideas that improve democratic systems and engage democratic culture in the United States to support full and fair democratic and economic opportunity for all residents.

Keesha is a long-time organizer, lobbyist, and trial attorney. Prior to joining the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, she was senior counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice, serving as the director of the Redistricting and Representation program. She also served as executive director for the League of Women Voters Minnesota and the executive director for the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus. She worked for several years as a civil trial attorney and served as a special assistant appellate public defender for the State of Minnesota.

Keesha is the 2021-2022 Daynard Public Interest Fellow at Northeastern University School of Law, Adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, 2019 Aspen Ideas Scholar, and 2008 Feminist Leadership Fellow with the University of Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs – Center on Women and Public Policy. She is a frequent commentator on voting rights and redistricting reform and regularly appears on numerous news and public affairs programming, including past appearances on Background Briefing, The Great Battlefield, PBS’s NewsHour, MSNBC, and Bill Moyers.

Tom Glaisyer

Tom Glaisyer is the Executive Advisor to the President at Democracy Fund, an independent foundation that champions the leaders who defend American democracy and challenge our political system to be more open and just. As Executive Advisor, Tom works with the organization’s leadership to anticipate and plan for long-term threats and opportunities.

Tom brings to Democracy Fund a background in media research and policy, as well as social media advocacy consulting. He led the Media Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute where he sought to track and influence media efforts at the local, community, and national levels. During his time at New America, Tom’s efforts centered on policies that support the open Internet and innovation in media, strengthening independent reporting on issues of public interest, and helping citizens access and engage with high-quality information. Tom also brings more than 14 years of international experience in information technology implementation and organizational change to Democracy Fund.

Tom received his bachelor of engineering and economics from the University of Birmingham, England. He holds a master’s of international affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University as well as an M. Phil and Ph.D from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where he wrote his dissertation on the future of the public square.

Naiara Goia

Melanie Goodchild

Dr. Melanie Goodchild, Anishinaabe (Ojibway), moose clan, is a design and innovation strategist with over 30 years of experience working with First Nations communities. Her practice has transitioned from applied sociology to Anishinaabe, decolonial, and participatory approaches to better understand how to tackle complex systems challenges. With a Ph.D. in Social and Ecological Sustainability from the University of Waterloo, she has worked on transformative systems initiatives with other practitioners and scholars around the world.

Melanie is a contributing faculty member with the Presencing Institute’s u-school for Transformation at MIT and the Wolf Willow Institute for Systems Learning. She is passionate about utilizing complexity-aware tools together with Anishinaabe gikendaasowin (our original ways of knowing) to support innovation at scale. She is a Systems Changer in Residence with the Canadian Association of Science Centres (CASC); the Academic Director of Makwa Waakaa’igan at Algoma University; and a research associate at NORDIK Institute.

Melanie is a certified 3 Horizons facilitator and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change. She is currently an advisor to the Edge Finance Accelerator at Solvable; a member of the Measuring Systems Practice Development Group with the Social Impact Exchange in New York City; a Systems Coach with the Center for Care Innovations in California; and she serves as a member of Policy Horizons Canada’s Deputy Minister Steering Committee.

Melanie holds an MA and HBA in Sociology from Lakehead University and she was a university finalist for the Alumni Gold Medal at the doctoral level in the Faculty of Environment, 2023 recipient. She is an alumna of the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation’s Fellows Program (2015/16) sponsored by Harvard Business School and INSEAD. Melanie is from Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, Aroland, Couchiching and Ketegaunseebee First Nations and she resides in Bawating with her family.

Melanie Greenberg

Melanie Greenberg is Managing Director at Humanity United, overseeing the Peacebuilding & Conflict Transformation portfolio. In this role, Melanie develops, refines, and implements strategies to build peace and counter violent conflict. She also oversees HU’s office in Washington, D.C.

Melanie comes to HU from the Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), where she served as President and CEO. Before joining AfP, she was the President and Founder of the Cypress Fund for Peace and Security, a foundation making grants in the areas of peacebuilding and nuclear nonproliferation. She has also served as a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, focusing on issues of justice in post-conflict peacebuilding; and as director of the Conflict Resolution Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Melanie previously served as associate director of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation and deputy director of the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation. In her work on international conflict resolution, Melanie has helped design and facilitate public peace processes in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and the Caucasus. She has taught advanced courses in international conflict resolution, multi-party conflict resolution, and negotiation at Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, and the Elliott School of George Washington University. She was lead editor and chapter author of the volume Words over War: Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflict, and co-editor and chapter author of Civil Society, Peace and Power.

Melanie is a member of the International Advisory Board of the United States Institute of Peace and serves on numerous non-profit boards. She holds an bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a juris doctor degree from Stanford Law School.

Rob Griffin

Rob Griffin is the Associate Director of Research for Democracy Fund as well as the Research Director for Democracy Fund’s Voter Study Group. He is the co-author and lead data analyst for the “States of Change” project — a collaboration between the Center for American Progress and demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institution.

Rob serves on the editorial committee of PS: Political Science and Politics, the journal of record for the American Political Science Association. His research has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Economist, and NBC News, and has been featured on CNN and Meet the Press. Before joining the Voter Study Group, Robert was the Associate Director of Research at the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), focusing on demographic change and American political behavior. He also served as a Director of Quantitative Analysis at the Center for American Progress.

Rob has taught courses on research methodology, statistics, public opinion, and political advocacy for The George Washington University, Pennsylvania State University, and Loyola University Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in political science and research methodology from The George Washington University.

Joe Guinan

Joe Guinan is President of The Democracy Collaborative where he focuses on political economy and economic system change. He is co-author of The Case for Community Wealth Building (Polity, 2020) and People Get Ready! Preparing for a Corbyn Government (O/R Books, 2019), which was named one of The Guardian’s best politics books of the year.

A former journalist, Joe was previously a program director at the Aspen Institute, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and a consultant to the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation. Born in England with dual Irish and British citizenship, he grew up in British labor movement circles and was educated at Balliol College, Oxford.

Joe was the executive director of the Next System Project at The Democracy Collaborative when it launched in 2016. Based in Washington, D.C., he writes regularly for an array of progressive outlets, is a frequently cited expert on the new economics in major news media, serves on several nonprofit boards, and is a commissioning editor of the journal Renewal.

Santiago Hoyos

Santiago Hoyos is a project lead for the healthy governance project with The Omidyar Group. Before joining TOG, Santiago finished his Masters in Public Policy (MPP) at the University of Chicago. During his MPP, he worked as a consultant for the Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame, monitoring the Colombian Peace Agreement.

Prior to his time at the University of Chicago, Santiago served in Colombia’s Ministry of Public Affairs where he worked for five years in the Victims and Demobilized Office as well as in the Peace and Victims Office. As a public servant, Santiago coordinated official policy reports for Congress regarding the implementation of the Victims and Land Restitution Law. Finally, he worked with a team that negotiated the provisions between the ethnic communities and national government around the Framework Implementation Plan, an essential document in the peace process between former FARC guerrillas and Colombia’s government.

Santiago holds an undergraduate degree in political science and a minor in economics from Universidad de los Andes.

David Hsu

David T. Hsu is a Senior Director at Omidyar Network, the social change venture established by philanthropists Pam and Pierre Omidyar. He oversees program strategy, grantmaking, and partnerships aimed at strengthening people’s power to shape the digital revolution. He led the firm’s Building Cultures of Belonging portfolio team and was part of its future sensing unit.

A cultural strategist and social scientist with 20 years of cross-sector experience, David previously worked at the Hollywood-based impact consultancy Propper Daley, community organizing tech startup NationBuilder, University of Pennsylvania, and the tech section of the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division.

A frequent speaker on what it takes to build belonging in our diverse democracy, he wrote Untethered: A Primer on Social Isolation and serves on the boards of Inclusive Action and CoGenerate.

David holds a Ph.D. in international political economy from Princeton University and B.A. from Duke University. He lives in Los Angeles.

Indy Johar

Indy Johar is an architect, co-founder of 00 (project00.cc), and most recently Dark Matter Labs.

Indy, on behalf of 00, has co-founded multiple social ventures from Impact Hub Westminster to Impact Hub Birmingham.
He has also co-led research projects such as The Compendium for the Civic Economy, whilst supporting several 00 explorations/experiments including the wikihouse.cc, opendesk.cc. Indy is a non-executive director of WikiHouse Foundation & Bloxhub. He was a Good Growth Commissioner for the RSA, RIBA Trustee and Advisor to Mayor of London on Good Growth, The Liverpool City Region Land Commissioner, and The State of New Jersey – The Future of Work Task Force, amongst others.

Most recently he founded Dark Matter Labs – a field laboratory focused on building the institutional infrastructures for radicle civic societies, cities, regions, and towns. Dark Matter Labs works with institutions around the world, from UNDP (Global), Climate Kic, McConnell (Canada), to the Scottish Gove, to Bloxhub (Copenhagen).

Indy has taught at various institutions from the University of Bath, TU-Berlin, Architectural Association, University College London, Princeton, Harvard, MIT, and New School. Indy is currently a Professor at RMIT University.

He was awarded the London Design Medal for Innovation in 2022 and an MBE for Services to Architecture in 2023.

Puna Kalipi

He kama ʻo Kawaipuna Līhau Hiʻilani Kalipi o nā ʻāina aloha o Molokaʻi, mai nā kumu kūpuna o Hālawa a i ka wela o ka lā i Kaluakoʻi.

Puna serves as the Interim General Manager for the Molokai Heritage Trust, a community-driven nonprofit dedicated to honoring and perpetuating Molokaʻi’s legacy of aloha ʻāina and community.

Currently pursuing her PhD in Political Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Puna brings a deep understanding of the inseparable bond between ʻāina and kānaka that guides her efforts in community-driven land stewardship. She has facilitated community planning initiatives to restore community ownership of Molokaʻi lands through the Molokai Heritage Trust—an endeavor focused on revitalizing ancestral ties and sustainable governance.

Puna is a proud alumna of Pūnana Leo o Molokai and Ke Kula Kaiapuni o Kualapuʻu, where she established a foundation in ʻike Hawaiʻi and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. Continuing her education at Kamehameha Schools’ Kapālama Campus as a boarder. Puna holds a Double Bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian Studies and Psychology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Martin Kalungu-Banda

Martin Kalungu-Banda is a consultant in Leadership & Organisation Development, a designer and facilitator of innovation and organisation change processes, a trainer, coach, author, and an entrepreneur. Living between Lusaka, Zambia, and Oxfordshire, UK, Martin serves as Core-Faculty Member of the Presencing Institute, Visiting Fellow of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University’s Said Business School, and Co-founder of the Ubuntu.Lab Institute. He is also a member of faculty for the Global Alliance for Banking on Values’ Leadership Academy and the Mastercard Executive Leadership Program.

Previously, Martin served on the executive programs of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, London Business School, and the Copenhagen Business School. He co-founded Impact Hub Lusaka and has served as a consultant for Mercedes Benz, the COFRA Group, Airbus, 3M, The Tony Blair Institute for Global Governance, HSBC, the World Bank, McKinsey & Company, and the United Nations.

Previous roles include Head of the Private Sector Policy Unit and Global Leadership and Capacity-Building Adviser for Oxfam GB, Special Consultant to the third President of Zambia, Regional Social Performance Manager and Corporate Affairs Manager for BP-Africa, and teaching Business Ethics at the University of Zambia. Martin’s three books include: Leading Like Madiba: Leadership Lessons from Nelson Mandela, It’s How We End That Matters: Leadership Lessons from an African President, and Driftology: How to Access Life ‘s Greatest Opportunities by Flying on the Wings of Others. All the three books run as training programs.

Lorelei Kelly

Lorelei Kelly is a research faculty member at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, where she leads efforts to modernize Congress. In her work with the bipartisan “Fix Congress” group, she helped pass 202 recommendations to improve Congress’s effectiveness in creating a more informed and responsive democracy. Currently, Lorelei focuses on implementing these reforms, particularly those related to digital capacity, peacebuilding, and increasing public involvement in lawmaking.

Previously, she led the Smart Congress project at the Open Technology Institute with New America and worked at Stanford’s Center on International Conflict and Negotiation. With expertise in civil-military issues, she spent ten years hosting bipartisan discussions in Congress as the founder of “Security for a New Century,” a study group in both the House and Senate. Additionally, Lorelei has supported hundreds of women political candidates across the U.S., helping them develop national security platforms suited to a rapidly evolving world.

Lorelei attended Grinnell College, Stanford University, and the Air Command and Staff College of the US Air Force. She has authored many “how to” books and numerous articles.

Matthias Kettemann

As an expert in internet law, Matthias Kettemann engages with key questions of regulating digital societies and their communication mechanisms. His work contributes to establishing legal foundations for a technologically advanced, yet ethically grounded digital world. He explores the role of power structures in the context of rule-setting from both national and international perspectives. This includes examining how these rules influence power relations, with a focus ranging from political communication on social media platforms to infrastructure like undersea data cables. A significant part of his inquiry is how democracy and human rights can be safeguarded against the commercialisation and datafication of digital spaces.

At the core of Matthias’s work is the study of regulatory mechanisms for digital platforms and the interaction between states and private actors. Additionally, as a digital expert, he delves into governance aspects of new technologies, such as the metaverse, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum technology, to understand and shape their impact on societal structures. He questions how we can realise the private and public benefits of using these technologies while minimising individual and social risks, always with an eye on intergenerational responsibility, international solidarity, and wise social action in responsible societies.

Jessica Kiessel

Jessica Kiessel is systems and complexity-aware artist, facilitator, coach, and strategist committed to creating conditions for individual and organizational transformation in the service of a more loving, inclusive, just, and sustainable society. She founded (re)Patterning Labs with the hopes of encouraging playful experimentation and learning that may help social purpose organizations and leaders better live the patterns they hope to see in the world. Jessica shares her writing and art on this topic, and encourages others to do the same, at www.patternmaking.org, which is a community of people sharing their individual way-finding through writing and art. She also accompanies leaders and teams committed to systems and complexity aware strategy, learning and practice.

She is the former Senior Director of Learning & Impact as part of the Strategy Group at the Omidyar Network. Prior to this role, she served as the Deputy Director of Strategy and Learning at PATH, a non-profit global health organization based in Seattle. She was also the Global Chief Program Officer at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), a non-profit research organization, overseeing the strategy and management of IPA’s 16 country programs and 7 strategic initiatives. Before that, Jessica was the Ghana Country Director for Innovations for Poverty Action; supported USAID education projects in Egypt, Zambia, Namibia and Pakistan for American Institute for Research; and a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, serving as a social studies teacher in Samoa.

An organizer and educator at heart, Jessica is a certified Advanced Practitioner in Emergent Learning, holds a Masters of Public Administration from New York University, and a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology from Kalamazoo College.

Maria Kisumbi

Maria Kisumbi is Director of Policy & Government Relations at Humanity United, leading efforts to influence governments and international institutions for enduring peace and freedom. With a focus on inclusive policymaking, Maria draws from her lived experience and has an extensive background in advocating for human rights and women’s rights. She has contributed to publications such as Just Security, American Foreign Service Association, World Politics Review, and Africa Journals Online.

Maria is an inaugural member of Rights and Dignity (RAD), an employee-led initiative of The Omidyar Group (TOG) that focuses on advancing the rights and dignity of communities affected by oppression. As part of RAD, Maria works to raise awareness about some harmful and extractive aspects of philanthropy and advocates for restorative and regenerative practices both within and outside of TOG. Previously, she served as a Senior Human Rights and Governance Technical Advisor to the Uganda National Planning Authority at the German Development Cooperation and coordinated efforts for women’s rights with LAW-Uganda, achieving significant legal milestones.

Recognized as a 2023 DINSN National Security & Foreign Affairs Leader, Maria holds a master’s degree in global health law from Georgetown University Law Center, a Bachelor of Laws degree from Makerere University in Uganda, and is an alumna of the Georgetown Law and Advocacy for Women in Africa Program.

Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Mahesh Krishnamurthy leads Omidyar Network India’s investment management function. In this role, he manages the investment portfolio and drives the evaluation, selection, and closing of investments.

Mahesh brings more than 20 years of investment experience to the firm. Most recently, he served as a general partner at True North (formerly IVFA), a highly successful private equity fund in India. During his nine-year tenure, Mahesh played a key role in helping to grow the fund from $0.6 billion to $2 billion. Among other investments, he led a control investment in a micro-finance company that has since become a small finance bank. He also co-founded the Global PE Alliance, an active network of eight geographically focused, mid-market buyout funds across China, Europe, and South America, focused on knowledge sharing to enable greater success for each of the funds.

Before his time at True North, Mahesh worked for almost two decades in the US in principal investing, management consulting, and technology for KT Venture Group, Idanta Partners, McKinsey, Accelrys and Honeywell. Mahesh holds a B.Tech. in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay), an M.S. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He recently received an LLB from the Government Law College, Mumbai.

Ashanti Kunene

Ashanti Kunene is an epistemic activist, slam poet, decolonial dialogue facilitator, published writer, and the founder of Learning 2 Unlearn. She is interested in how cultural narratives are reflected through big data and technology; and how pedagogical design and dialogical narrative change work can be used as decolonial tools to create social change.

John Paul Lederach

Dr. John Paul Lederach is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in the field of peacebuilding. He received his bachelor’s degree in history and peace studies from Bethel College and his doctorate of philosophy degree in sociology, with a concentration on social conflict, from the University of Colorado.

Dr. Lederach currently serves as Senior Fellow for Humanity United and Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He works extensively as a practitioner in conciliation processes active in Latin America, Africa, Southeast and Central Asia.

Dr. Ledarach is widely known for the development of culturally based approaches to conflict transformation and the design and implementation of integrative and strategic approaches to peacebuilding. He considers himself a practitioner-scholar who seeks to bring integrity, curiosity, and wholeness to the understanding of conflict transformation and peacebuilding.

Clare Lockhart

Clare Lockhart is the Director of the Institute for State Effectiveness (ISE), which works to advance citizen-centered governance and economic reform. She has worked in over twenty countries on reconstruction, recovery and institution building processes. ISE creates frameworks, tools and courses, and supports reform-minded leaders at open moments for reform.

Clare is the co-author of the book Fixing Failed States and numerous book chapters and articles. She regularly contributes to the media on issues of security, peacebuilding, and development. She was named by Foreign Policy Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential Global Thinkers” and was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She served on the faculty at Yale University teaching classes on governance, citizenship and the application of new technologies in governance.

Clare serves on the board of the Asia Foundation and has served on several advisory boards including for the Alliance for Peacebuilding, Global Dignity, and Equality for Peace and Democracy.

Annie Maxwell

As Omidyar Network’s executive vice president, Annie Maxwell leads the firm’s worldwide operations and presence in the Bay Area, as well as a range of key strategic initiatives.

Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Annie worked with the Skoll Global Threats Fund for seven years, initially serving as Chief Operating Officer and later as President. Previously, she was a White House Fellow in the Office of Vice President Biden, where she focused on the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Annie has also served as Chief Operating Officer for the humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief. During her tenure, she was seconded to the United Nation’s Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, led by President Bill Clinton.

Annie is currently a board member of Muso, a Trustee of the German Marshall Fund, and a member of the Dean’s Committee at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. She is also a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Annie received her Masters in Public Policy and B.A. in English and political science, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Michigan. She attended the university on a full athletic scholarship and was captain of the university’s Division I volleyball team.

Sacha McMeeking

Sacha McMeeking brings a serial entrepreneur’s approach to working with and for Iwi Māori. From instigating United Nations proceedings to architecting a Māori social enterprise fund and leading commercial negotiations, she is known for solution-building that meets Iwi Māori aspirations.

Before arriving at University of Canterbury, Sacha was the director of a boutique consultancy working with Iwi Māori in strategy development, kaupapa Māori asset management, and innovation. She was also the general manager of strategy and influence with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, responsible for government relations on behalf of the Iwi.

Recognised as an emerging New Zealand leader, Sacha won the inaugural Fulbright Harkness Fellowship in 2010. Sacha is a change agent and compliments her varied background with a desire to support and grow the next generation of Māori scholars. Initiatives like the Māui lab are a product of that intent and just one of the many innovations that Sacha intends to bring through Aotahi in the years to come. Her current research includes: Iwi Māori development, innovation, and entrepreneurship; Iwi Māori futures, social, and cultural capital; comparative approaches to Indigenous peoples; and public policy.

Dini Merz

Nandini “Dini” Merz earned a degree in international relations from Cornell University and then a J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center. After completing her formal schooling, she became an environmental-policy consultant for Public Sector Consultants, where she worked on issues related to sprawl and contamination remediation. Next, she served as program director for the Tremaine Foundation, where she focused her energies on grant-making programs in the areas of learning disabilities, arts, and the environment.

In 2003, Dini served as a board member for the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, a grant-making program which seeks to energize and nurture long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe, and environmentally sustainable communities in the New England area. That same year, Dini joined the Proteus Fund where she currently serves as Director of Peace & Security Programs and works closely with Proteus Fund founder and president Margaret Gage.

In addition to her work with the Proteus Fund, Dini guides the work of the Colombe Foundation, a family philanthropy that focuses on creating a more peaceful world through changes in U.S. policy. Dini also sits on the steering committee of the Peace and Security Funders Group along with Cora Weiss, among others.

Irene Mwendwa Muchomba

Irene Mwendwa Muchomba has over nine years of experience in policy advocacy and partnerships, focusing on data and technology policy, especially from an Afrofeminist perspective. She is skilled in policy analysis, research, project management, stakeholder engagement, and partnership development, and has a legal background and a certificate in gender and public policy studies.

As the current Executive Director at Policy, a feminist collective of technologists, data scientists, creatives, and academics, Irene leads a cross-functional team of five, building unique programs that empower people to achieve more using gender data and a safe and feminist internet. Irene has brokered and strengthened long-term external partnership engagement with over 60 multinational non-profits, tech companies, governments, and academic, philanthropic, and civil society partners, generating nearly $1 million in revenue.

Irene also contributes to the proposal writing and project management of several grants and projects on Afrofeminist Data Governance, AI, Data Policy, Sustainability, and IoT. She is passionate about creating impactful and trusted programs that shape better African policies on technology and data.

Anna Muoio

Anna Muoio is a social impact leader and system change strategist. As Founder of The Theory of We, she continues her work helping groups build shared strategies, coordinate action and shift systems, aligned behind a shared vision for what’s possible and a smart plan for moving towards it. In 2020, Anna launched and is now Co-Lead of the New Capitalism Project (NCP), a system change effort to reimagine capitalism by shifting the norms, behaviors, rules and practices of business and financial sector leaders. NCP’s Economic System Change Lab now serves as a space for supporting leaders in incubating and implementing systemic interventions as members of a powerful change collaborative.

For eight years, Anna led the Aligned Action practice at Monitor Institute by Deloitte where she pioneered large-scale collective problem-solving methods which integrate network theory, systems change and collective strategy. Anna’s work draws on a range of professional experiences—from being a Senior Writer (and 14th member of the startup team) at Fast Company Magazine, and launching the Social Innovation practice at Continuum, a global design and innovation firm. Her first job out of school was as filmmaker Jonathan Demme’s story editor where she learned the alchemical art of storytelling.

Anna speaks regularly at conferences on the power of aligned action and innovation to drive social change. She has been a guest lecturer at Yale School of Management, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her writing has appeared in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and Chronicle of Philanthropy. She is the author of several field-shaping pieces such as GATHER: The Art and Science of Effective Convening; ENGAGE: How Funders Can Support and Leverage Networks for Social Impact; PARTICIPATE: The Power of Involving Business in Social Impact Networks; and Shifting a System: the Reimagine Learning network and how to tackle persistent problems. Her most recent pieces focus on “Rethinking How to Finance System Health” and “Financing System Health: The Pando Fund”.

Dzingai Mutumbuka

Until December 2020, Dzingai Mutumbuka served as a member of the Governing Board for UNESCO’s Paris-based International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) as a representative of the African Region. For ten years, he served as the Chair of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), a network that brings together all African Education Ministers and representatives of donors supporting the development of education in Africa.

Previously, Dzingai held various senior management positions in the education sector at the World Bank from 1990-2007. Before joining the World Bank, he had significant political appointments in Zimbabwe, including as an elected member of parliament. He was the first Minister of Education and Culture at Zimbabwe’s Independence in 1980 and, during his long tenure from 1980 to 1989, developed one of the best education systems in Africa.

He participated in the struggle for Zimbabwe’s Independence, rising through the ranks to the leadership of ZANU-PF. Against the odds, he organized a vibrant education for over 12 000 Zimbabwean youth who were too young to join the armed fighters. Before joining the freedom struggle, he lectured in chemistry at the University of Dublin in Ireland and the University of Zambia in Lusaka. He had a doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.

Currently, Dzingai sits on many boards dealing with education, including Results for Development, Teach for All, Educate! Big Win Philanthropy, Vitol Foundation, and the Advisory Council of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program. He is also chair of the RISE Advisory Board.

Zoe Newcomb

Zoe Newcomb is a Senior Program Manager, Peacebuilding at Humanity United, where she leads the South Sudan country pillar. In this role, Zoe stewards Humanity United’s long-term commitment to supporting a growing network of youth peacebuilders and activists in South Sudan. Her work emphasizes fostering resilient relationships across social divides and co-creating responses to deeply entrenched polarization.

Zoe also plays a key role in HU Peacebuilding’s Healing & Wellbeing thematic work, promoting a greater understanding of individual and collective care within the peacebuilding community. She is a passionate advocate for trust-based philanthropy, focusing on more equitable, responsive grantmaking practices that amplify the leadership of grassroots peacebuilders.

With a background in emergent strategy, systems-informed tools, and facilitation, Zoe brings extensive experience in convening global peacebuilders and creating physical spaces that facilitate transformational learning. After joining Humanity United, she helped design a co-created systems mapping process for South Sudan, centering local voices in strategy development. Previously, Zoe worked on issues of supply chain transparency and community health.

Zoe holds an M.A. in Human Development from George Washington University, where her research focused on group sense-making and navigating complexity in diverse contexts. She also holds a B.A. in Political Science from Westmont College.

Zoe lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughter and enjoys spending as much time as possible outdoors enjoying the beauty of California.

Randy Newcomb

Randy Newcomb is a Senior Advisor at The Omidyar Group, a collection of global companies, organizations, and initiatives founded by Pierre and Pam Omidyar that strive to catalyze social impact globally.

Previously, Randy was the founding President and CEO of Humanity United. Across multiple countries, Randy grew Humanity United as a values-based organization focused on reducing intractable problems such as violent conflict, atrocities, human exploitation, and modern-day slavery. Prior to Humanity United, Randy was a Vice President at the Omidyar Family Foundation and the Omidyar Network. He was also a Fellow at the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University and a Fellow at the University of Bath.

Randy holds an Ed.D from the University of San Francisco, a MSc degree in development economics from the University of Bath, a MA degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, and an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws, from the University of Bath.

Reanne Olivier

Reanne Olivier, of Haitian descent, has lived and worked in countries in Africa, Europe, and North America. With over a decade of experience in nonprofit program management and instructional design across Africa and other parts of the Global South, she specializes in designing and developing highly effective learning materials to enhance knowledge retention among young people, talent management, and relationship building.

Reanne is the co-founder and CEO of Africa Matters Initiative, a youth-led organization dedicated to empowering and upskilling African youth. As the CEO, she has led successful youth programs promoting transformative leadership and community advancement across 23 African countries. Beyond her leadership roles, she is a gender activist, facilitator, problem-solver, and mother. Her international exposure and travels have given her a global perspective, earning her the reputation of being a global think tank.

Reanne will earn an MSc in Africa & International Development from the University of Edinburgh in November 2024. In 2024, she was awarded the Top 25 Women in Management Africa award.

Pam Omidyar

Pam Omidyar’s life is oriented towards perpetual learning and to be of service. Alongside her husband, Pierre, they have established several organizations and supported initiatives across various philanthropic areas, with an overall commitment to supporting conditions for healthier societies.

Pam prioritizes a community-centric approach, grounded in both local and indigenous wisdom, and prefers to work so that a multitude of voices are included in governance. Guided by values of integrity, human rights, restorative justice, and kindness, Pam aims to support relationships based on mutual stewardship and clear, aligned visions.

Pam holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Tufts University and a Master of Science in plant molecular genetics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Outside of her family and philanthropic work, Pam enjoys quilting, baking and cooking, ocean time, and learning Hawaiian and Micronesian seafaring and navigation.

Ann Pendleton-Julian

Ann Pendleton-­Jullian is an architect, educator, and writer of international standing. Her design work negotiates the overlap between architecture, landscape, culture, and technology and is motivated towards internationalism as both a concept and a reality. Ann took up architecture after a brief but serious attempt to adopt astrophysics as a career choice.

Ann obtained her BArch degree from Cornell University and her MArch from Princeton. She began her professional apprenticeship in Chicago, and in the mid eighties opened her first professional office in Los Angeles. After three years in practice there, she returned to the east coast to establish a partnership with Guilllaume Jullian de la Fuente from 1986 – 1996. Back on the east coast, she also began teaching at Cornell University, Princeton University, and then later at MIT for fourteen years.

Currently Director of the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University, Ann’s most recent work has focused on furthering the use of game design as a way to approach complex and emergent systems within architectural, urban and landscape design, both theoretically and in practice. And seeing education as its own design problem, she is also involved in thinking and writing about education for the 21st century, in practice.

Ann maintains ongoing working affiliations with the MIT Media Lab, the School of Architecture at the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile, The University of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Tongji University in Shanghai, the New University of Singapore, and the London School of Economics.

Aaron Pereira

Aaron Pereira recently came across an old and slightly dusty high school paper and was more than a bit surprised to see it explored the connection between inner lives and social change. It was lovely to (re)discover that his work in the Project touches on a life long interest alongside other wonderful things in life like travel, meeting people, reading, and hosting dinner parties or other gatherings.

Aaron’s mom got him involved in social change work (some time before the high school paper) and it stuck. The key thread in much of his work is exploring the way we live together. Sometimes that’s taken the form of pop up experiments, boards, or running an organisation. A few other times he’s been a co-founder such as with CanadaHelps. CanadaHelps, one of Canada’s leading charities, engages over 3 million Canadians to raise over $400 million a year for social causes across Canada and around the world.

Taking time for a morning cup of tea helps his day start out gently and well. It started as a (gentle) daily ritual sometime during a 7 year walk-about which was all about taking time for and re-centering his inner life. Something the cup of tea helps with every day. Aaron loves being based in Paris and continuing to spend a lot of time in India.

James Plunkett

James Plunkett is the Chief Practices Officer for Nesta and the Behavioural Insights Team. He has worked for a decade in digital transformation and public policy. Before joining Nesta, James led digital technology and policy at Citizens Advice and before that he held roles at 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Office, and leading policy at the Resolution Foundation think tank.

James’s book, End State, explores how we reform the state for a digital age. He formerly sat on the advisory board of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and writes regularly on technological change and its implications for the way we govern society.

Pedro Portela

Pedro Portela is an explorer of the unknown and a bridge-builder at heart. As a seasoned engineer and a student of the humanities, Pedro is constantly seeking to unite the seemingly disparate worlds of high-end engineering and the rich tapestry of human experience. With a background in mechanical and aerospace engineering, he’s navigated the complexities of the European Space industry and led innovative research in advanced materials and structures. Yet his journey has also led to the fields of permaculture, systems thinking, and peacebuilding, where he’s facilitated transformative conversations and fostered deep connections.

Pedro’s strength lies in his ability to mediate and translate between different perspectives, to intuitively recognize patterns and unseen links, and to maintain resilience under pressure. He is known for his curiosity, his scientific rigor, and his leadership, as well as his ability to not take himself too seriously and to take calculated risks.

Whether he’s organizing a team, sparking a deep conversation, or improvising a solution, Pedro brings the same drive, depth, and calm determination. He’s an insatiable learner, a generous listener, and a resourceful problem-solver, always ready to bring out the best in people and situations.

Eruera Prendergast-Tarena

Eruera Prendergast-Tarena believes in rangatiratanga where we can determine our own path and create the future we want. This inspires him to create mana motuhake solutions and grow the next generation of Māori leadership to lead what comes next.

Making Māori futures is Eruera’s day job and that’s about as inspiring as it gets for him. It’s a mix of removing what’s holding us back whilst simultaneously designing and creating new ways of thinking and doing. This is challenging but rewarding mahi. Eruera never does the same thing twice so, despite its complexity and challenges, his job is his passion and he never finds it to be boring.

Rob Ricigliano

Rob Ricigliano is a Systems & Complexity coach with The Omidyar Group. In that role he supports social change organizations and initiative teams drive deeper impact in the complex environments in which they work. Rob constantly explores how to use systems and complexity thinking in accessible and practical ways.

Prior to joining The Omidyar Group, Rob worked on peacebuilding in complex environments and violent conflict zones around the world – from Iraq and Afghanistan to Cambodia, Colombia, and South Africa, among others. In that role he worked with leaders of governments, non-governmental organizations, armed groups, and political parties. He co-founded the Alliance for Peacebuilding and the Master of Sustainable Peacebuilding program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).

He also serves as an Emeritus Board Member on the Alliance for Peacebuilding. He wrote, Making Peace Last: A Toolbox for Sustainable Peacebuilding (2012).

Julia Roig

Julia Roig has more than 30 years of experience working for democratic change and conflict transformation around the world, and is best known for her ability to convene diverse coalitions and her facilitative leadership of global networks. An organizer at heart, in her role as Chief Network Weaver at The Horizons Project, Julia is committed to bridge-building across sectors, disciplines, and cultures. Throughout her career she has been called upon to translate between theory and practice, while seeding new approaches, organizing principles, and mindset shifts for social change.

After serving for almost 14 years as the President and CEO of PartnersGlobal, in 2022 Julia launched The Horizons Project to focus on the intersection of peacebuilding, social justice, and democracy in the United States. She is a renowned public speaker, facilitator, and trainer able to connect deeply with different constituencies within civil society, social movements, governments, and corporations. Julia is the main architect of ground-breaking new research and approaches for more effective Narratives for Peace, working with front-line peacebuilders, social scientists, filmmakers, advertising industry leaders, and other creatives to bring peacebuilding into the mainstream. She works with philanthropists, non-profits, and movement leaders to incorporate narrative competency as an essential tool for restoring societal relationships and democratic values.

Julia was licensed as an attorney in the state of Maryland and brings to Horizons her many years of diverse international experience and practical field work in more than 30 countries. Prior to joining PartnersGlobal, Julia spent two years as the Country Director for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in Belgrade, Serbia. She is also a recognized expert in community justice and dispute resolution in Colombia having spent five years living and working from Bogota, promoting a national expansion of the Equity Conciliation and Justice Houses programs.

Julia is currently the Chair of the Board of the Alliance for Peacebuilding. She also serves on several Advisory Boards including: Nsquare, the Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Program at Tufts University, and Scripps College Laspa Center for Women’s Leadership. Julia’s roots growing up in the Pacific Northwest are an important part of her identity, and you can always count on her to lead a group in song around the piano or a campfire.

Liz Ruedy

Liz Ruedy is the Senior Advisor to the President at Democracy Fund, an independent foundation working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people. She focuses on systems and strategic foresight, seeking out critical insights to support the field and organizational leadership in making strategic decisions in uncertain contexts.

Liz was previously the Director for Strategy, Impact and Learning at Democracy Fund. Prior to joining Democracy Fund in 2017, Liz was the director of the Office of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning at the International Republican Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that advances democracy and human rights worldwide. At IRI, Liz oversaw an evaluation practice that emphasized the use of evidence to both assess and inform programs to support responsive political and government institutions, engaged citizens, and inclusive political and civic processes, with a focus on complexity-aware approaches and participatory methods.

Liz has more than 20 years of experience in democracy assistance in program management, evaluation, strategy, and learning. She taught a graduate-level course on monitoring and evaluation for foreign assistance programs at the George Washington University from 2011-2017. She holds a master’s degree in European and Eurasian Studies from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary.

Gabriela Saade

Gabriela Saade is an Advisor with BIT Americas where she works with city governments and organizations to apply behavioral insights and embed evaluation practices across a wide range of policy areas.

Before joining BIT, Gabriela worked at Mathematica Policy Research, The Economist Impact, and La Mejor Venezuela, where she used data and evidence to design policies and programs. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a BS in Economics from the Universidad Metropolitana of Venezuela.

Gabriela is the co-founder of two NGOs in the humanitarian sector and a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum.

Rahmin Sarabi

Rahmin Sarabi is the Founder and Director of the American Public Trust, with a mission to empower the problem-solving and agency of everyday Americans to unlock major challenges, bridge our divides, and create better futures. He is a social entrepreneur, human-centered designer, and strategist with a nearly 20 year background across social benefit startups and not-for-profit organizations. His roles have spanned early stage discovery, design research, product management, people operations leadership, and strategic facilitation.

Rahmin’s work in deliberative democracy includes contributions to the Michigan Citizens’ Panel on COVID-19, the Petaluma Fairgrounds Advisory Panel, a novel integration of mini-publics with digital deliberative tools for the State of Colorado, and leading the strategic planning for the Democracy R&D network. He has spoken on democratic innovations to audiences organized by Stanford, MIT, TED, the Berggruen Institute, and the International Association of Public Participation Professionals. He is also a board member of the Co-Intelligence Institute.

Otto Scharmer

Otto Scharmer, a Senior Lecturer at MIT and Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute, has dedicated the past 20 years to helping leaders embrace cross-sector systems transformation. Through his bestselling books Theory U and Presence (the latter co-authored with Peter Senge and others), Otto introduced the groundbreaking concept of "presencing" — learning from the emerging future.

Otto also co-authored Leading from the Emerging Future, which outlines eight acupuncture points for transforming our economy from egocentric to ecocentric. His most recent book The Essentials of Theory U (2018) summarizes the core principles and applications of awareness-based systems change. He co-founded the MITx u-lab, which has activated a vibrant worldwide ecosystem of transformational change involving more than 250,000 users from 186 countries. In collaboration with colleagues, he co-created global Action Learning Labs for UN agencies and SDG Leadership Labs for UN Country Teams in 26 countries, which support cross-sector initiatives for addressing urgent humanitarian crises.

Born and raised near Hamburg, Germany, Otto’s early experiences on his family farm profoundly shaped his vision. From his father, a pioneer of regenerative farming, Otto learned the significance of the living quality of the soil in organic agriculture, which inspired his thinking about social fields as the grounding condition from which visible transformations emerge. Like a good farmer who cares for the soil, Otto believes responsible leaders must nurture the social field in which they operate. He emphasizes that shifting our economic operating systems from extractive to regenerative requires innovations in leadership support structures for shifting mindsets from ego to eco. Building that infrastructure is the purpose of the u-school for Transformation.

Otto earned his diploma and his PhD in economics from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. He is a member of the UN Learning Advisory Council for the 2030 Agenda, the Club of Rome and the World Future Council. He has won the Jamieson Prize for Teaching Excellence at MIT and the European Leonardo Corporate Learning Award. In 2021, he received the Elevating Humanity Award from the Organizational Development Network.

Nathan Schneider

Nathan Schneider is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he leads the Media Economies Design Lab and the MA program in Media and Public Engagement. He is the author of four books, most recently Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life, published by University of California Press in 2024, and Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition that Is Shaping the Next Economy, published by Bold Type Books in 2018.

He edited Vitalik Buterin’s book Proof of Stake: The Making of Ethereum and the Philosophy of Blockchains and co-edited Beautiful Solutions: A Toolbox for Liberation and Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet. Recent scholarship has been published in New Media & Society, Feminist Media Studies, the Georgetown Law Technology Review, and Media, Culture & Society, among other journals. He has also reported for publications including Harper’s, The Nation, The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and others, along with regular columns for America, a national Catholic magazine.

He has lectured at universities including Columbia, Fordham, Harvard, MIT, NYU, the University of Bologna, and Yale. He serves on the boards of Metagov, Start.coop, and Waging Nonviolence. Follow his work on social media at @ntnsndr or at his website, nathanschneider.info.

Gary Shearer

Gary Shearer was born and schooled in Johannesburg, South Africa, having a rich full-spectrum business experience in the IT wave of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, including being a founding management team member of the now global Datatec Group.

Gary co-founded award-winning New York based wine trading entity Cape Classics Inc. with his brother in 1991, with the experience of over almost two decades of tough but creative and stimulating challenges growing the business from the ground up. In 2006, he sold his shares to participate in the realm of Social Change, and is currently CEO of The Saville Foundation, working around the globe within education and enablement of individuals and communities.

Gary has two fabulous thirty-something children, and since 2018 has lived in the UK in Bristol with his soul-partner, Lara. They make trips back to South Africa as often as possible.

Josh Sorin

Josh Sorin serves as the Global Director for CPI’s Climate Change Initiative, where he leads a global team that supports governments and their partners in accelerating climate action through a systemic, portfolio-based approach. He has over 13 years of experience designing and launching initiatives that bring together leaders across sectors to tackle ambitious long-term goals.

Prior to his current role, Josh led CPI’s Government Innovation program in North America where he worked with hundreds of local governments worldwide to grapple with complex problems and establish partnerships with leading philanthropic organizations. Before that, Josh led projects in KPMG’s Public Sector practice, where he advised clients on strategy, change management, program design, innovation, and data/analytics.

Josh’s topical experience has primarily focused on climate/sustainability, public sector transformation, and government healthcare delivery reform. His writing has been featured in Bloomberg’s CityLab, US News World & Report, and various other national outlets. He has published several reports on innovation, organizational transformation, culture building, and public value. And he co-founded a digital language learning startup and a health-equity focused charity supporting the third-largest public health & hospital system in the U.S.

rahel mekdim teka

rahel mekdim teka is an organizer, facilitator, and writer based in Oakland, CA. she is passionate about building power, storytelling, and Ethiopian food. A member of BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100), she strives to bring a Black Queer Feminist lens to all aspects of her life.

rahel is the Communications Manager at the Participatory Budgeting Project, a national organization that creates and supports opportunities for communities to decide how public money is spent. In her spare time you can find rahel watching movies, reading, and exploring new cities. If you ever need to buy her favor, books by Black women authors and tequila based cocktails are the way – don’t worry, she’ll drop hints.

Martin Tisne

Martin Tisné leads the AI Collaborative, an initiative of The Omidyar Group created to help regulate artificial intelligence based on democratic values and principles and ensure the public has a voice in that regulation. Martin brings over 15 years of investment and leadership experience to his role, including advising several heads of state on AI policy, serving as a board member of the Partnership on AI, and helping establish two multi-stakeholder initiatives and three NGOs.

Martin founded the Open Government Partnership (OGP) alongside the Obama White House and helped OGP grow to a 70+ country initiative. He also initiated the International Open Data Charter, the G7 Open Data Charter, and the G20’s commitment to open data principles. Additionally, Martin founded and led the Transparency and Accountability Initiative, a donor collaborative bringing together the world’s largest open government funders, co-founded Publish What You Fund, a global campaign for foreign aid transparency, and co-founded Integrity Watch Afghanistan, the country’s leading anti-corruption NGO.

Latasha Troflianin

As an Executive Assistant at The Omidyar Group, Latasha Troflianin ensures the seamless execution of high-level operations and strategic initiatives, managing complex calendars, coordinating global travel, and organizing impactful events. In her role, Latasha supports executive leadership with precision and discretion, contributing to the group’s commitment to navigating complex systems for meaningful societal impact.

An expert in executive support, Latasha has managed high-stakes logistics and confidential projects, drawing from her extensive experience across multiple sectors. Prior to joining The Omidyar Group, she served as Executive/Personal Assistant to the CEO/Founder at VantagePoint Capital Partners, where she oversaw executive schedules, travel coordination, and personal estate management, demonstrating her adeptness in both professional and personal spheres.

Lily Tsai

Lily Tsai is the Director and Founder of the MIT Governance Lab (MIT GOV/LAB) and the Ford Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as the former Chair of the MIT Faculty. Her research focuses on accountability, governance, and political participation in developing contexts, particularly in Asia and Africa.

In 2014, Lily founded MIT GOV/LAB, a group of social and behavioral scientists and design researchers who develop and test innovations in citizen engagement and government responsiveness. By focusing on how and why citizens become active in engaging their governments, Lily aims to bridge researcher and practitioner communities by developing learning collaborations that can respond to governance challenges using empirical evidence in real time.

Lily has written two books, When People Want Punishment: Retributive Justice and the Puzzle of Authoritarian Popularity and Accountability Without Democracy: Solidarity Groups and Public Goods Provision in Rural China, as well as articles in The American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Political Behavior, Comparative Politics, and World Development.

Cat Tully

Cat Zuzarte Tully leads the School of International Futures (SOIF), a global non-profit transforming futures for current and next generations. SOIF has worked with national governments, the United Nations, NATO, and organizations such as Omidyar Network to make the world fairer for current and future generations. SOIF also supports a growing network of Next Generation Foresight Practitioners.

Previously, Cat served as Strategy Project Director at the UK Foreign Office and Policy Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.

Jacob Ward

Jacob Ward is a veteran technology journalist, most recently an on-air correspondent for NBC News, covering the intersection of technology, human behavior, and social change for Nightly News, The TODAY Show, and MSNBC. He is the former editor-in- chief of Popular Science magazine, and was Al Jazeera’s science and technology correspondent from 2013 to 2018.

Ward is a lecturer at the Stanford d.school, and was a 2018-2019 Berggruen Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, where he began writing The Loop: How AI is Creating a World without Choices and How to Fight Back, out now from Hachette Book Group. The book explores how artificial intelligence and other decision-shaping technologies will amplify good and bad human instincts.

Ward has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, and many other publications. In addition to hosting documentaries for Nat Geo and Discovery, he’s the host of the landmark four-hour PBS television series, “Hacking Your Mind,” about human decision-making and manipulation.

Resla Wesonga

Resla Wesonga is a project lead for the healthy governance project with The Omidyar Group. She recently graduated from Yale University with an MA in Global Affairs where she focused her studies on resilient governance and Africa – Asia-Pacific relations.

Previously, Resla worked as outreach coordinator for Princeton in Africa where she managed all the West Africa-based fellows, revamped and diversified the organization’s communication strategy, and organized fundraising campaigns that gathered over $250,000. She has also held internships at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Bangkok, Thailand where she helped include rights- and gender-based approaches in disaster risk management policies across Asia; the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C., where she conducted an impact assessment of the Zimbabwe grants program; Fidelity Bank in Accra, Ghana, where she worked to expand the bank’s financial inclusion programs; and Keepod in Tel Aviv, Israel, where she helped diversify Keepod’s partners in the Kenyan educational market.

Resla holds a BA in Political Science and African Studies from Yale University.

Aniyia Williams