Meet United States's 101 Top Founders in the Association Space

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At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.

This list showcases the top United States based Founder operating in the Association space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.

The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:

Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.

Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.

Kevin Hartz

Co-Founder & Chairman of Eventbrite

Kevin is the Co-Founder & Chairman of Eventbrite and an EIR & Venture Partner at Founders Fund. Prior to joining the firm, Kevin was Co-Founder and CEO of Eventbrite. Kevin was previously Co-Founder and CEO of Xoom Corporation, an international money transfer company servicing more than 30 countries worldwide. Xoom went public in 2012 and was acquired by PayPal in 2015. Kevin has served as an early-stage investor and advisor to successful start-ups including Airbnb, Lookout, PayPal, Pinterest, Skybox Imaging, Trulia, Uber, and Yammer.

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About Eventbrite, Y Ventures: Eventbrite develops an online platform that lets users find and create events.

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Julia Hartz

Co-Founder & President of Eventbrite

Julia Hartz hopes to inspire people to live more by building the world’s largest marketplace of live experiences. Since founding Eventbrite in 2006 with Kevin Hartz and Renaud Visage, the company has generated over $3 billion in gross ticket sales, with more than $200 million tickets processed to events and experiences around the globe. A key to this growth and success is the people of Eventbrite (fondly referred to as The Britelings), which has grown to nearly 400 employees in six offices around the world. Julia cultivates and advocates for Eventbrite’s award-winning culture (voted Best Places to Work in the San Francisco Bay Area five years running). She has been honored as one of Inc.’s 35 under 35 in 2014 and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2013. Julia is also a frequent speaker on live experiences, consumer trends and entrepreneurship, and has been recently featured in Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg and Inc. Magazine. Previous to Eventbrite, Julia was a TV development executive at MTV and FX Networks.

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About Eventbrite, Eventbrite, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, The Aspen Institute: Eventbrite develops an online platform that lets users find and create events.

Esther Dyson

Founder of Way to Wellville

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About 23andMe, Commercial Spaceflight Federation, EDventure Holdings, GridPoint, HICCup, New York Angels, Way to Wellville, Wellgood: 10-year nonprofit project to show impact of investing in health (vs. renting it)

Cory Levy

Founder of NextGen Conference

Cory Levy was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Cory is currently a student studying Computer Science at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Cory is the COO of One Inc. He focuses mostly on a mobile application called “1”. Prior to One Inc., he started several companies including an educational startup with a Professor at Duke University, a t-shirt printing company, and a sports memorabilia company. Over the last few years he has interned at: TechStars, Union Square Ventures, The Founders Fund, and DFJ Mercury. He has also guest lectured several times at Duke University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Cory is the Creator of the NextGen Conference, a conference which brings together young, rockstar entrepreneurs with more experienced entrepreneurs. NextGen Conference is hosted annually at Stanford University.

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About AfterSchool, NextGen Conference, One Inc., Union Square Ventures: The NextGen Conference is an initiative of Levant Ministries to connect like-minded people and equip them with excellent resources.

Lady Gaga

Founder of Born This Way Foundation

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress

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About Born This Way Foundation, Haus Beauty: BTWF is for the wellness of young people, and empowering them to create a kinder and braver world.

Cynthia Germanotta

Co-Founder of Born This Way Foundation

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About Born This Way Foundation: BTWF is for the wellness of young people, and empowering them to create a kinder and braver world.

Sara M. Williams

Co-Founder of Sara & Evan Williams Foundation

Sara Morishige Williams

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About Sara & Evan Williams Foundation: Sara & Evan Williams Foundation

Michelle Obama

Founder of Obama Foundation

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American lawyer and writer. She is the wife of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, and the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, she is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and spent the early part of her legal career working at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met Obama. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center.

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About Obama Foundation: The Obama Foundation is a start-up for citizenship and an ongoing project for people to shape, together, what it means to be a good citizen.

Barack Obama

Founder of Obama Foundation

President Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. He was born on August 4th, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a mother from Kansas, Stanley Ann Dunham, and a father from Kenya, Barack Obama Sr. He was also raised by his grandfather, who served in Patton’s army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to become vice president at a local bank. He worked his way through school—Occidental College in Los Angeles, Columbia University in New York, and later, Harvard Law School—with the help of scholarship money and student loans. In 1985, Barack Obama moved to Chicago, where he got his start in community organizing on the city’s South Side, working to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants. The President called that time in his life “the best education I ever had, better than anything I got at Harvard Law School.” He has credited that experience as crucial to finding his identity—something that shaped his path to the White House. Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. During his time in Springfield, he passed the first major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working families, and expanded health care for children and their parents. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, he reached across the aisle to pass the farthest-reaching lobbying reform in a generation, lock up the world’s most dangerous weapons, and bring transparency to government by tracking federal spending online. Barack Obama was sworn in as president on January 20th, 2009, in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, at a time when our economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month. He acted immediately to get our economy back on track. Since then, the private sector has added back more than 10 million jobs during the longest, uninterrupted period of job growth in our nation’s history. In his first term, the President cut taxes for every American worker—putting $3,600 back in the pockets of the typical family. He passed historic Wall Street reform to make sure taxpayers never again have to bail out big banks. He passed the landmark Affordable Care Act, helping to put quality and affordable health care within reach for millions of Americans. He ended the war in Iraq and is working to responsibly end the war in Afghanistan. He’s the first sitting president to stand up for marriage equality, and is fighting for equal pay and a woman’s right to make her own health decisions. He’s made a college education more affordable for millions of students and their families. And he believes it’s time for a comprehensive solution to fix our broken immigration system. The President believes an economy that’s built to last starts by growing and strengthening the middle class—that’s why he has a plan to create jobs and restore economic security to working families. He’s been driven by the basic values that make our country great: America prospers when we’re all in it together, when hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded, and when everyone—from Main Street to Wall Street—does their fair share and plays by the same rules.

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About Obama Foundation: The Obama Foundation is a start-up for citizenship and an ongoing project for people to shape, together, what it means to be a good citizen.

Duygu Oktem Clark

Founder & Managing Partner of DO Venture Partners

Duygu Oktem Clark is the Founder & Managing Partner at DO Venture Partners.

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About DO Venture Partners, European Commission, European Investment Fund: DO Venture Partners is an investment firm.

Eric Schmidt

Co-Founder and CEO of Glue Up

As a leader in the global tech industry, Eric is focused on developing customer-centric products and transforming the way professional communities build and enrich relationships. He has incubated multiple tech startups within the software, mobile, and environmental industries, and has worked with venture capital and private equity investments in the United States and China. He also founded China Entrepreneurs — a community he built into a 20,000+ member network. Eric is an elected member of AmCham China’s Board of Governors. In 2004, sponsored by Nike and Phillips, he traced Marco Polo’s route, cycling 100 days from Beijing, China to Venice, Italy. Eric holds an M.S. and a B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has been featured in media such as the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Barron’s, CCTV, China Daily, and numerous other outlets.

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About Glue Up: Glue Up is an all-in-one engagement management CRM for associations, chambers of commerce, event organizers and marketing professionals.

Tim Ranzetta

Founder of Next Gen Personal Finance

Tim Ranzetta is the Founder of Next Gen Personal Finance, a non-profit organization to connect educators with free resources and equip students with the knowledge and skills to lead financially successful and fulfilling lives since 2014. Tim is also the Founder and President of Student Lending Analytics (SLA), an independent research and advisory firm focused on finding the best lenders for students. While researching student loan options for several of his 14 nieces and nephews, he identified the need for an independent, analytical and objective source of information to increase the transparency of the student lending market. SLA advises financial aid administrators on lender selection by employing a rigorous and comprehensive process augmented by proprietary customer research on lender performance. SLA’s research has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, US News and World Report and Chronicle of Higher Education. SLA is not affiliated with any student lenders or other financial service firms.

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About Next Gen Personal Finance: NGPF is a free blended-learning personal finance curriculum, to engage and empower students to make smart financial choices.

Gary Tuerack

Founder and Chief Visonary of The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS)

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About The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS): The NSLS is the nation’s largest and only accredited leadership honor society with more than 1.5 million members.

Alexander Dembitzer

Founder of The Northern Charitable Foundation (NCF)

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About SKY POWER, LLC, SkyREM, The Northern Charitable Foundation (NCF): The Northern Charitable Foundation (NCF) is a tax deductible 501 C3 non-profit organization.

Vinton Cerf

Founder of Internet Society

Vinton G. Cerf has served as Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google since October 2005. In this role, he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services from Google. Cerf also served at MCI, the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Agency (DARPA), and as a member of the Stanford University Faculty. Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-inventor of the architecture and basic protocols of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M.Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. The Turing award is sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of Computer Science.” In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. In April 2008, Cerf and Kahn received the prestigious Japan Prize. Cerf served as chairman of the board of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from 2000-2007and as founding president of the Internet Society from 1992-1995, and in 1999 served a term as chairman of the Board. Cerf is honorary chairman of the IPv6 Forum, dedicated to raising awareness and speeding introduction of the new Internet protocol. Cerf also served as a member of the U.S. Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) from 1997 to 2001 and serves on several national, state and industry boards and committees focused on cyber-security and other topics. Cerf has received numerous other awards and commendations, nationally and internationally, in connection with his work on the Internet, including the Marconi Fellowship, the Charles Stark Draper award of the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Medal of Science from Tunisia. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, the ACM, and American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Engineering Consortium, the Computer History Museum, the Annenberg Center for Communications at USC, the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, the Hasso Platner Institute and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2011, he was made Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. In December, 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year’s “25 Most Intriguing People.” Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA. He has received twenty honorary degrees.

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About Google, Internet Society: The Internet Society engages in a wide spectrum of internet issues, including policy, governance, technology, and development.

Chris McCoy

CEO and Founder of Footprint

By day, transforming data into cryptocurrency (into datacoins) and pioneering the world’s first decentralized democracy at Storecoin. http://storecoin.com By night, building blockchain tools for $STORE at Footprint Labs. http://footprintlabs.co

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About Data4America, Footprint, STORE: Footprint is a software platform that provides tools to help the public with blockchains.

Sepideh Nasiri

Founder & CEO of Persian Women In Tech

Sepideh (“Sepi”) Nasiri is an award winning serial Entrepreneur with 16 years of experience working in the Tech Industry, the Founder of Persian Women In Tech, the former Vice President at Women 2.0 and a life-time advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. Mrs. Nasiri started her career as a Co-founder and Managing Editor of a digital and print Los Angeles Magazine and later joined a number of successful startups in Silicon Valley. In 2014, she was recognized by San Francisco Business Times/Journal “40under40” and Diversity Journal’s 2014 “Women Worth Watching”. Currently, Mrs. Nasiri advises early stage startups including at global initiatives such as WeMENA (a program by the World Bank) and mentors globally many female entrepreneurs and founders in technology serving as an advisor to initiatives such as TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).

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About Persian Women In Tech: Persian Women In Tech supports Iranian women in Tech/STEM from all across the Globe’s landscape.

Kimbal Musk

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Big Green

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About Big Green, Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation, Square Roots Urban Growers, The Kitchen Restaurant Group: The Kitchen Community believes that every child deserves the opportunity to learn, play and grow in a healthy community.

Ruchi Sanghvi

Founder of South Park Commons

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About FWD.us, South Park Commons: South Park Commons brings together talented people to share ideas, explore directions, and realize the opportunities that’ll get you there.

Roman Tsunder

Co-Founder & CEO of PTTOW!

Driven by a passion to influence culture on a global scale, Roman Tsunder serves as Co-Founder and CEO of PTTOW!, an invite-only, member network for today’s most creative CEOs, CMOs and Icons from all 70 major industries who are shaping our world. Members include His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Shaun White, Kerri Walsh Jennings, David Blaine, Quincy Jones, will.i.am, Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk and David Guetta as well as top executives from VICE, GM, Apple, Red Bull, GoPro, Google [x], Coke, YouTube, the U.S. State Dept., Facebook, Instagram, Warner Bros and many more. Inspiring social impact has also been at the forefront of Roman’s career as he was a founding member of Gen-Next.org and co-founder of Movements.org, which brought together leading youth movement activists to empower young people to mobilize against violence and oppression. A professional dreamer with a piercing vision for the future of culture, Roman most recently launched WORLDZ, the first and only future-focused summit and community uniting today’s superstars with tomorrow’s rising stars to ignite a cultural revolution.

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About Access 360 Media, AccessSportsMedia.com, PTTOW!, WORLDZ: PTTOW! is an invite only membership for CEO’S, CMO’S, and ICONS from all 70 Industries shaping tomorrow’s culture.

Lazar Finker

Founder and Executive Director of Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation

Dr. Lazar Finker is the Chairman of the Board at Forum Capital Group, a position he has held since 2012. Forum Capital is a private equity group specializing in real estate and seafood. When not overseeing operations at Forum Capital or servicing their select group of high net-worth individuals, Dr. Finker focuses on philanthropy, primarily through his organization the Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation. Lazar Finker got his start in Russia, where he founded the country’s first community college. He was later invited to teach at Florida Community College. Originally only slated to stay for a semester, he and his family loved Jacksonville so much that they decided to move there. Though they travel often, they have come to be very involved in their community in the United States. The main mission of the Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation is to be a family-run organization of like-minded philanthropists joined in their commitment to improving the lives of others and passing the Foundation’ principles from one generation to the next. The Foundation makes an impact by supporting causes in multiple fields such as medical research, education, religious development, and children’s welfare. By emphasizing the role of family in the Foundation’s efforts, Lazar Finker has passed his passion onto his son, Eugene Frenkel, who is equally committed to making a difference through philanthropy. Over time, as this passion is passed from generation to generation, the Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation will achieve its mission. Since its founding, the Foundation has greatly expanded in scope, encompassing more causes and supporting larger projects in the area. In addition to promoting a myriad of causes through the Foundation, Lazar Finker is also involved with organizations like the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Mount Sinai. Through his connections, he strives to build a better community in southern Florida, supporting his friends and neighbors in their respective missions to improve health, religious groups, and education.

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About Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation, Forum Capital Group: The Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation funds world-changing initiatives both at home and abroad.

Patrick Reed

Founder of Team Reed Foundation

Patrick Reed is a proud Texan, Patriot, and Ryder Cup Player. While he’s been in the headlines for a number of PGA TOUR events, the 26-year-old is credited for leading Team USA in singles with a 1-up win over Rory McIlroy during the 2016 Ryder Cup. Patrick played a pivotal role in helping the United States secure a victory over Europe at the 41st Ryder Cup held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota. Patrick Reed attended Augusta State University, where he led the team to back-to-back NCAA Division-I Golf Championships in 2010 and 2011. He finished his collegiate career as a two-time All-American before turning professional in 2011. Patrick now has five PGA Tour Wins, including breaking Tiger Wood’s record at WGC- Doral in 2014 en route to becoming the youngest WGC (World Golf Champion) ever. Outside of golf, Reed enjoys time at home in Texas with his wife, Justine and daughter, Windsor-Wells. He also loves to cook and help junior golfers improve their game. Because of this, Patrick hosts a multiple award-winning American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) tournament every year. In the future, Patrick has course design aspirations as aims to focus on the growth of his newly founded “Team Reed Foundation”.

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About Team Reed Enterprises, Team Reed Foundation: Non-profit organization dedicated to changing lives by working with local and national communities to form a meaningful impact.

Kavya Kopparapu

Founder & CEO of Girls Computing League

Kavya Kopparapu is the Founder and CEO of GirlsComputingLeague and current junior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She is dedicated to sharing her passion for computer science with others, especially young girls, as the field has given her a world of opportunities. Kavya has been recognized by organizations such as the White House and the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT). Recently, she spoke at the March for Science in DC about Computer Science for All and presented at a TEDx Conference.

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About Girls Computing League: GCL is a nonprofit working to empower underrepresented groups in technology by fostering the interests of girls in computer science

James Han

Co-Founder, President, COO of SeedInvest

James co-founded SeedInvest after founding his own startup but encountering a number of difficulties when raising capital on more conventional paths. Prior to pursuing entrepreneurship, James was an investor at Francisco Partners, where he focused on equity investment opportunities in the technology sector. James also spent time in Morgan Stanley’s technology investment banking group, Riot Games and Cisco in various roles. James brings to SeedInvest his love for technology and propensity to play basketball and video games whenever given the chance. James received an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton Undergraduate Program as well as a BAS in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

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About SeedInvest: SeedInvest is an equity crowdfunding platform that connects investors with startups.

Ryan Feit

Founder and CEO of SeedInvest

Ryan Feit is the CEO and Co-Founder of SeedInvest. Prior to founding SeedInvest, Ryan worked at Carlson Capital, Wellspring Capital Management, and Lehman Brothers in New York City where he invested in, financed, and managed dozens of private and public businesses. Ryan was instrumental in the passage of the 2012 JOBS Act, which changed 80-year-old U.S. securities laws to make it possible for entrepreneurs to raise capital over the Internet. Since then, Ryan has served as a focal point of the budding Equity Crowdfunding industry, co-founding the Crowdfunding Professional Association and serving as a board member of the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates. He also worked closely with members of the SEC, FINRA, the White House, and the Treasury Department on the implementation of the JOBS Act. In addition, he frequently serves as a subject matter expert on startup investing and the JOBS Act for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, CNBC, FoxBusiness, the Economist and the New York Times as well as a columnist for Fortune Magazine and Inc. Magazine. Ryan received an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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About FINRA, SeedInvest: SeedInvest is an equity crowdfunding platform that connects investors with startups.

Lisa Marrone

Co-Founder of Revel

Lisa Marrone joined August Capital in August of 2017. Lisa had previously worked with August Capital during the Summer of 2016 while completing her JD/MBA. Prior to joining August Capital, Lisa worked short stints at the White House for President Obama’s National Economic Council, and as director of strategic marketing for Lyndra, a biotechnology company in Massachusetts. Earlier in her career, she spent three years at Bain & Company in New York City.

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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Revel: Revel is a marketplace for women over 50 to host and attend small, local gatherings on topics of their choice.

Alexa Wahr

Co-Founder of Revel

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About Revel: Revel is a marketplace for women over 50 to host and attend small, local gatherings on topics of their choice.

Deepak Chopra

Chairman, Founder & Director of The Chopra Foundation

Founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a whole health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization.

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About Chopra Global, Osi Systems, The Chopra Foundation: The mission of the Chopra Foundation is to advance the cause of mind/body spiritual healing, education, and research.

Sajid Shariff

Founder & CEO of Doing Good Fellows

Sajid is a consultant at Boston Consulting Group and a graduate from Stanford University in California and IIT Bombay, where he served as the General Secretary. Previously he worked in investment banking, venture capital and consumer tech startups and is passionate about using technology to create impact. While he’s not by his laptop, he loves traveling, beaches and fitness.

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About Blitz Technologies, Doing Good Fellows: Doing Good Fellows enables people to donate their skills and networks to solve the challenges of social organizations in India and Kenya.

Jonathan Kola

CTO & Co- Founder of Wecyclers

Olawale is a production supervisor with 9 years of industrial experience at a US Fortune 200 company. He has deep experience in Electric Arc Furnace, Ladle Metallurgy Furnace and Casting Operations. Olawale is experienced in construction and commissioning of multimillion-dollar production facilities. He is a highly motivated individual with a proven ability to lead teams and generate results. Olawale holds an MBA from the Indiana State University, Kelly School of Business and an M.S and B.S in Chemical Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology. Wale is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the Wecyclers.

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About Wecyclers: Wecyclers offers convenient household recycling service using a fleet of low-cost cargo bikes.

Peter Galvin

Co-Founder, Director of Programs of Center for Biological Diversity

Peter Galvin, Director of Programs, is a founder of the Center. He holds a bachelor’s from Prescott College and a master’s degree from Norwich University. Peter helps coordinate the Center’s legal actions and campaigns, assists in the formulation of organizational policy and strategy and serves on the Center’s leadership team. Before working for the Center, he worked as a contract wildlife researcher for the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Arizona Game and Fish Department. A longtime environmental activist, Peter also serves on the board of directors of the Beech Hill Foundation and is a member of the Science Oversight Team for the Global Owl Project.

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About Center for Biological Diversity: At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature

George Kozmetsky

Founder, IC² Institute of The University of Texas at Austin

George Kozmetsky (1917-2003) founded the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin while he was Dean of the College of Business Administration and the Graduate School of Business. A lifelong educator, Dr. Kozmetsky was a co-founder and former Executive Vice President of Teledyne, Inc., Kozmetsky was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1993 as an acknowledgment of his decades of exceptional contributions as a mentor and champion of high technology entrepreneurs including Michael Dell, Dell Computer Corporation, and Jim Truchard, National Instruments.

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About Teledyne Reynolds, The University of Texas at Austin: University of Texas is an educational institution that provides undergraduate, graduate, and research programs.

Apolo Ohno

Founder of Allysian Sciences

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About Allysian Sciences: Mastermind™ Nootropic is Allysian’s flagship product.

Josh Sagman

Co-Founder of Boys & Girls Clubs of America

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About Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Tito’s Handmade Vodka: To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

Tameika Reed

Founder of Women In Linux

Tameika Reed founded Women In Linux out of frustration that there were no other women or women of color represented at the workplace or tech events. Tameika is a self-taught Linux administrator who has spent countless hours helping others get started in Linux. In conjunction with NAACP, she provides families with basic computer training and life skills. Tameika is also a consultant to the Education Foundation on how to introduce Linux and other tech careers to Florida students.

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About Women In Linux: Women In Linux is a dynamic group who celebrate Linux centric women in technology, exposing women.

Brent Stinski

Co Founder of Future of StoryTelling

Brent Stinski is the founder and CEO of Media Predict. Leveraging the “wisdom of crowds,” Media Predict is an online marketplace where participants buy and sell shares linked to the likely future success of media content – an activity that produces highly predictive research insights. Since the launch of its real-money trading platform in 2011, Media Predict has served clients in categories including broadcast television, cable, film, television production and publishing. Stinski holds a PhD degree from the University of Cambridge, where he researched the psychology of art and entertainment.

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About Future of StoryTelling: FoST brings together executives, creative talent, and technologists with the vision and influence to change the way stories will be told.

Sukhinder Singh

Founder of The Boardlist

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy has founded and successfully built and scaled technology companies at the intersection of media and commerce throughout her career. As SVP and President of StubHub, she is advancing global expansion and championing technology innovation to deliver a superior fan experience. Sukhinder and the StubHub team advocate for fans in search of the best choice, providing open access to live events and connecting fans with their favorite teams, shows and artists around the world.Prior to StubHub, Sukhinder was founder of theBoardlist, a talent marketplace that matches women leaders with board opportunities. She was also founder and CEO of Joyus, CEO of Polyvore and co-founded Yodlee. Sukhinder also held senior leadership positions at Google, including serving as President of its Asia Pacific and Latin America business.

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About Acrew Capital, Broadway Angels, The Boardlist: The Boardlist facilitates the placement of qualified women leaders on the boards of private and public-tech companies.

Kevin Jennison

Co-Founder & CTO of Tab for a Cause

Kevin Jennison is the Co-Founder & CTO at Tab for a Cause.

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About Gladly, Tab for a Cause: Save the world, one tab at a time.

Donna Alvarado

Founder & Managing Director of Aguila International

Donna Alvarado was elected to the Company’s Board of Directors in December 2003 as an independent director. Donna is the founder and managing director of Aguila International. Aguila is an international business-consulting firm, specializing in human resources and leadership development, that provides a consortium for businesses and non-profit organizations seeking to collaborate in the western hemisphere. Donna has held senior management positions in government, in addition to her established career in the private business sector. She has served as deputy assistant secretary of defense, U.S. Department of Defense; counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Policy; and staff member of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control. Donna also was appointed by President Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as director of ACTION, the federal domestic volunteer agency, where she directed the activities of nearly 500,000 Americans serving as volunteers, leading 500 employees and managing a $170 million budget. Donna currently serves as a Regent on the Ohio Board of Regents, serves as a member of the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and the Economy, and Vice Chair of the Governor’s Workforce Policy Board in Ohio. Donna earned her postgraduate certificate in Financial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, completed doctoral coursework on Latin American Literature from the University of Oklahoma, and earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Spanish from Ohio State University.

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About Aguila International, Ohio Department of Higher Education, Workforce Policy Board: Aguila International.

Diane Tavenner

Co-Founder & CEO of Summit Public Schools

Diane Tavenner is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Public Schools. Diane founded Summit’s flagship school in 2003, and grew the organization into a leader charter network serving California and Washington State. Today, Summit’s graduates are completing four-year college degrees at twice the national average. Newsweek and US News & World Report have ranked Summit among the top public schools in the nation. In partnership with Facebook, Summit is currently working to scale personalized learning by making its Personalized Learning Plan Platform (PLP) available to schools across the country for free. Diane serves as the Board Chair of the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) representing the majority of California’s 1,100+ charter schools and the California Charter Schools Association Advocates, a political advocacy organization working on behalf of public school students. Diane also serves on the board of Transcend and The Primary School. Diane is a Member of the Spring 2013 cohort of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship, a leadership program within the Aspen Institute and a fellow in the Broad Academy. Prior to Summit, Diane was a public school Teacher, Administrator and Leader in traditional urban and suburban public schools throughout California. Diane holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Southern California and a Master’s degree in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University.

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About Summit Public Schools: Summit Public Schools is the first Charter Management Organization (CMO) based in Silicon Valley.

Graham Covington

CEO & Founder of Engaging Networks

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About Engaging Networks: Engaging Networks is the technology used by many of the world’s leading charities to power their digital strategies.

Vanessa Dawson

Founder & CEO of The Vinetta Project

Vanessa is a Serial entrepreneur with a background in digital development, retail finance and private equity. She began her career in retail finance and later moved onto Private Equity in New York at Columbus Nova Technology partners: a global, multi-stage technology investment firm. Following this worked with a leading digital development agency where she structured partnerships and digital strategy for fortune 500’s like: Hearst, Priceline, Esquire and Sports Illustrated. After seeing a major need to support female founders in accessing capital and connections, Vanessa founded The Vinetta Project, a high impact ecosystem that accelerates founder’s growth and facilitates access to capital. The project sources high potential female founders with proven business models and offer them unprecedented access to proprietary online resources, exclusive networks and capital from vetted investors.

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About The Vinetta Project: Vinetta is focused on changing this distribution of knowledge, power and capital.

Devendra Mishra

Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Media & Entertainment Services Alliance – MESA

Devendra has been the president and COO of such companies as, LIVE Entertainment, VCL-Carolco, Lieberman Enterprises, Technicolor Worldwide Media and Distribution, Strawberries Records and Tapes, International Multifoods, Stan lee Media, etc. At RCA Records, as the Vice President of Worldwide Manufacturing and Distribution, he implemented the revolutionary Hits and Catalog distribution, which became the hallmark of the industry. As president of worldwide new media and distribution services at Technicolor, Mishra strategically developed and launched Technicolor Entertainment Services and also engineered and put into production its first optical media manufacturing facility. A professor of Decision Sciences at Pepperdine University, he is recognized as an eminent thinker and practitioner of supply chain management.

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About Media & Entertainment Services Alliance – MESA: Building efficiencies in the creation, production and distribution of physical and digital media and entertainment.

Kathryn Cartini

Co-Founder & Partner of Chloe Capital

Kathryn Cartini is the Co-Founder & Partner at Chloe Capital.

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About Chloe Capital, Peacock Media, Republic, Upstate Venture Connect: Chloe Capital is a seed stage VC firm investing in women-led innovation companies across North America.

Jamie Gates

Founder of Brooklands Capital Strategies

Mr. Gates is a Founding Partner of Brooklands Capital Strategies, a Partner of TPG Holdings LP, and a member of its Executive Committee. Prior to joining TPG in 1995, Mr. Gates was a Partner and Executive Vice President of Starwood Capital Group, L.P., a real estate investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Mr. Gates worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and served as Executive Director in its London office beginning in 1987. Prior to 1984, Mr. Gates was associated with the Tax Division of Arthur Andersen LLP in Chicago, specializing in corporate and partnership taxation. Mr. Gates was admitted to the state bars of Illinois and Indiana after graduating with honors from Indiana University School of Law. He received a B.S., with distinction, from DePauw University. Mr. Gates is the Founder and President of the Alopecia Areata Initiative, a scientific research foundation.

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About Brooklands Capital Strategies: Brooklands Capital Strategies is a fundraising advisory partner for alternative asset managers and companies at all stages of growth.

Doug Devlin

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zuman

Founder of Zuman.

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About tabulera, Zuman: Zuman provides the premium solution for HR, payroll, and benefits administration.

Georgene Huang

CEO & Co-Founder of Fairygodboss

Georgene Huang is founder of Fairygodboss.com, an employer review site and community for working women.

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About Fairygodboss: Fairygodboss is the largest career community for women. Free for women, we help employers recruit and hire women.

Romy Newman

President and Co-Founder of Fairygodboss

Romy Newman is the Co-Founder at Fairygodboss since June 2015. Previously, Romy was the Head of Strategic Partner Development at Chartbeat until April 2015. Until October 2014, Romy was Head of Digital Advertising for The Wall Street Journal, overseeing sales, marketing and operations for The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. Previously, Romy held several management roles at The Wall Street Journal including General Manager of Print, Conferences and Radio, Vice President of Multi-Media Sales and Vice President of Sales Strategy and Operations. During her tenure at The Journal, Romy was proud to be involved in several extremely successful new product development efforts, including WSJ. Magazine, WSJ Weekend, Greater New York and the original groundbreaking WSJ iPad app. Before joining The Journal, Romy held marketing positions at Google and Estee Lauder and was also a strategy consultant for a boutique media firm called Kannon Consulting, where she advised top management for Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Romy graduated with a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University and an MBA in Strategy, Finance & Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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About Fairygodboss: Fairygodboss is the largest career community for women. Free for women, we help employers recruit and hire women.

Marc Hodulich

Founder of CharityBets

Raised in Birmingham, Alabama Graduate of Auburn University, 2002 SEC All-Academic Team as a member of Auburn University track & field team Lives in TriBeCa with his wife Stacey; sons, Chase and Dylan; and dog, Barkley.

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About CharityBets: Select an athletic event. Set a goal. Choose a charity. Friends, family, clients, and colleagues bet on your performance

Debe K.

Founder & COO of ManageCasa

Debe has a diverse entrepreneurial background that includes operational startup experience in various industries for almost 20 years. She is a long-time homeowner and was a commercial real estate tenant for almost 20 years.

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About ManageCasa: The leading intuitive, interactive and automated software for property managers, associations and landlords.

Sergio Ristie

Lead Singer & Founder of RISTIE, The Band

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About RISTIE, The Band: Ristie, The Band, brings a new sound that incorporates old school music in a new and innovative vibe, a multi-era blend.

Donn Davis

Founder & Chairman of Professional Fighters League

Donn Davis co-leads Revolution Growth, which invests in and helps build innovative and impactful companies. Prior to founding Revolution LLC with Steve Case in 2005, Donn was a senior executive at America Online and AOL Time Warner.Donn served as COO and then President of the AOL Interactive Properties Group, driving the mission to expand beyond the core AOL Service with new brands and new strategies. Donn served as CEO of Exclusive Resorts LLC from 2004 to 2007. He built Exclusive Resorts from a start-up to the #1 market leader, and defined an entirely new segment of luxury hospitality called the destination club. From 1992 to 1998, Donn served in numerous senior roles at Tribune Company. He was the founder and President of Tribune Ventures, pioneering the concept of strategic corporate venture capital and delivering an overall 55% IRR. Previously, as Senior Counsel, he structured and negotiated dozens of acquisitions and strategic partnerships in publishing, broadcasting, and digital media.In addition to Echo360, Donn sits on the board of directors of Zipcar and Everyday Health.

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About Professional Fighters League, TeamLiquid: Professional Fighters League is a mixed martial arts league.

Meredith Whittaker

Co-Founder and Co-Director of AI Now Institute

Meredith Whittaker is a Distinguished Research Scientist at New York University, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the AI Now Institute and the Founder of Google’s Open Research group. She has over a decade of experience working in industry, leading product and engineering teams. She co-founded M-Lab, a globally distributed network measurement system that provides the world’s largest source of open data on internet performance. M-Lab provides one of the primary resources for policy makers and researchers investigating issues of net neutrality and network performance. She has worked extensively on issues of privacy and security, advising on both policy direction and technical implementation. She co-founded Simply Secure, helped build and currently advises the Open Technology Fund and led work to strengthen the security of critical internet infrastructure. She has advised the White House, the F.C.C., the City of New York, the European Parliament, and many other governments and civil society organizations on artificial intelligence, internet policy, measurement, privacy and security. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the AI Now Institute at N.Y.U., which is a leading university institute dedicated to researching the social implications of artificial intelligence and related technologies in an interdisciplinary context.

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About AI Now Institute: AI Now Institute is a research institute examining the social implications of artificial intelligence.

Luke Iseman

Co-Founder of Boxouse

Luke Iseman is the Co-Founder at Boxouse.

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About Boxouse, Edyn: Boxouse converts shipping containers into tiny off grid houses and promotes sustainable communities.

M.R. Rangaswami

Founder of Indiaspora

M.R. Rangaswami is a software executive, investor, entrepreneur, corporate eco-strategy expert, community builder and philanthropist. In 1997, he co-founded Sand Hill Group one of the earliest “angel” investment firms and was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Rangaswami produced the prestigious Enterprise and Software conferences that were held in Silicon Valley. He was also listed on the Forbes “Midas” list of investors. Rangaswami is also the Founder of Corporate Eco Forum, an invitation-only membership organization for Global 500 companies that demonstrate a serious commitment to environment as a business strategy issue. In 2012, Rangaswami founded Indiaspora (a non-profit) to unite Indian Americans and to transform their success into meaningful impact in India and on the global stage.

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About Corporate Eco Forum, Indiaspora, Sand Hill Group LLC: Transforming the success of Indian Americans into meaningful impact worldwide.

Naj Austin

Founder &CEO, Somewhere Good of Ethels Club

Naj Austin is the founder and CEO of Somewhere Good and Ethel’s Club. She has spent her career building digital and physical products that make the world a more intersectional and equitable space. She was named one of Inc’s 100 Female Founders transforming America, a Huffpost Culture Shifter of 2020 and Time Out New York’s 2020 list of women making NYC better.

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About Ethels Club, Somewhere Good: An immersive wellness platform centering people of color. By us, for you.

Julianna Rapu Leong

Co-Founder of Kupu Hawaii

Julianna was born and raised in Rapa Nui, Chile. Her family immigrated to Hau’ula, Oahu, in pursuit of educational opportunities for herself and her younger brother in the 1990s. After graduating from Punahou School, Julianna earned a BA in Biology from Scripps College, CA. She is married to John Leong and together are blessed with three children: TeAraMa’eha, Heikura Hererangi, and Mataora Taharoa. Julianna feels blessed to be able to invest time in both the Hawaii and Rapa Nui communities.Julianna has a deep love of open spaces and nature. She is a founding member and current Vice President of Pono Pacific Land Management, which in 2001 began providing land owners and conservation agencies with cost-effective land management services. Pono Pacific currently works on/manages over 45,000 acres statewide with offices on Oahu, Hawaii Island, and Molokai.Julianna is also passionate about education and encouraging individuals and communities to thrive. She is a founding member of Kupu, a Hawaii based non-profit whose mission is to “empower youth to serve their communities through character-building, service-learning, and environmental stewardship opportunities that encourage integrity (pono) with God, self, and others.” Kupu partners with over 80 organizations throughout Hawaii. In 2012, Kupu programs provided an average of $2.8 dollars in community benefit for every $1 in cost. The same year, Kupu volunteers logged over 250,000 volunteer hours and provided a total benefit to Hawaii of $8.8 million dollars.

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About Kupu Hawaii: Kupu, based in Hawaii, aims to empower the youth to serve the community through character building and environmental stewardship.

John Leong

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kupu Hawaii

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About Kupu Hawaii: Kupu, based in Hawaii, aims to empower the youth to serve the community through character building and environmental stewardship.

Jay Liddell

Co-Founder of Bleeker

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About Bleeker, MIT Media Lab: Putting you in the driver’s seat of your career.

Cam Snaith

Principal & Co-Founder of Bleeker

Cam Snaith is the co-founder of Bleeker, a company that surrounds elusive talent with essential resources to unlock their extraordinary life’s work. Leaders from around the world trust Bleeker to advance their most essential pursuits. In Bleeker’s early years, Cam moonlighted as a Research Affiliate with the MIT Media Lab’s Social Computing group. Before Bleeker, Cam was a marketing executive at PepsiCo and the National Basketball Association and the founder of an arts-based non-profit. Cam was born in Bermuda and received his MS in Strategic Communication from Columbia University, and an AB in English from Princeton University.

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About Bleeker, Bleeker: Putting you in the driver’s seat of your career.

Jeff Herman

Attorney, CEO & Founder of Herman Law

Jeff Herman is a nationally-recognized advocate and attorney for victims of rape, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. Driven by his commitment to break the silence on child sexual abuse, Jeff Herman has dedicated his career to exposing sexual predators and the institutions that protect them. The trailblazing attorney is noted for exposing the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Miami and in dioceses around the country. In 2011, he won a landmark $100 million verdict on behalf of a client who was sexually abused by a priest. Recently, Herman made national headlines for representing multiple men in sexual abuse lawsuits against former Elmo puppeteer, Kevin Clash. Herman’s Boca Raton based law firm, Herman Law, is dedicated exclusively to representing victims of sexual abuse in civil lawsuits nationwide. Outside the courtroom, the high-profile attorney continues to “shine the light” on sexual abuse. He has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes and New York magazine and he has been a featured expert on CNN, FOX, HLN, and MSNBC. Herman has been recognized for his unique child forensic interviewing technique and he trains professionals from various child welfare organizations on helping sexually abused children heal through disclosure.

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About Herman Law: Law Office founded by Jeff Herman and headquartered in Boca Raton, FL.

Yvonne Lui

Founder of Yvonne L.K. Lui Foundation

Executive Director of Chinese Estates Holdings Limited, Yvonne Lai Kwan Lui gained her Bachelor of Science and PhD in Chemical Engineering from King’s College London before developing her career in Asia. In her philanthropic roles, Yvonne Lui oversees the charitable efforts of Chinese Estates and the Yvonne L. K. Lui Foundation. As a board member of the international NGO, Conservation International, Yvonne promotes conservation, environmental friendly projects and sustainability in Asia. Taking part in community programmes relating to women, education, art and culture, and youth development, Yvonne is Honorary President of the Hong Kong Federation of Women, trustee of Beijing University and the University of International Business and Economics in China. She is Vice President of the Organising Committee of Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition, China, and has also chaired several non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong, including acting as the Honorary Chairman of Hong Kong United Youth Exchange Foundation. In terms of activities in the field, Yvonne helped to establish a disaster relief wing overseeing operations in Sichuan’s 2008 earthquake, and the Ching Hai earthquake of 2010. She travelled to the underdeveloped provincial towns of Hubei Province, Northeastern China, to build upon an aid project that created local medical and sanitation clinics for remote communities. The Hebei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Committee acknowledged her work by appointing Yvonne an honorary member of their committee. Yvonne was later appointed a member of the CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) in the capital, Beijing, where she now acts as a political advisor and strategist.

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About Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition, Chinese Estates Holdings Limited, Hong Kong Federation of Women, Yvonne L.K. Lui Foundation: Whether providing support in disaster relief areas, advancing medical research, extending education grants or promoting sustainability.

Rachel Sklar

Founder & CEO of TheLi.st

Rachel Sklar is a writer and social entrepreneur based in New York. She is the co-founder of Change The Ratio, which increases visibility and opportunity for women in tech & new media, and TheLi.st (in beta), a community platform for women driven by that same mission. She is serious about diversity and will let you know if she finds you wanting. Rachel is a TechStars mentor and an advisor to several startups, including Vox Media, The Daily Muse, Gui.de, Lover.ly, Votizen (acquired by Causes) & TeachAIDS.org, and is a proud Board member at She’s The First. She is also a proud member of the Reboot, TED & Summit communities and of the Lean In Foundation launch team. Rachel’s other initiatives include founding Charitini, a social enterprise to facilitate group giving around events, and CTRComedy – an all-women comedy initiative which quadrupled the number of women performing comedy at SXSW in 2011 and 2012.

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About Change The Ratio, TheLi.st: Theli.st is a visibility platform and network for professional women from all sector.

John Ramey

Co-Founder of Nomadic Mentors

John Ramey is a founder, investor, mentor, and product nerd from San Francisco. He was most recently the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of [isocket](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/isocket) (acquired 2014) and is the Founder of Nomadic Mentors, a nonprofit that connects traveling mentors with developing ecosystems around the world. A three-time successful founder, John was the youngest entrepreneur in the world to raise VC in 2009. In 2012 he was awarded by the White House / US Chamber of Commerce as one of the top entrepreneurs in the US under 30. He previously founded Maven Ventures, Lythargic Media, and electronicfood.com.

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About ADVON Partners, Nomadic Mentors: Non-profit connecting top startup mentors with developing ecosystems

Elisabeth Stock

CEO & Co-Founder of CFY

Elisabeth Stock built CFY from a nascent non-profit in 1999 into a national leader in the K-12 digital learning space. Recognized as an expert in her field, Elisabeth is a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow and a life-long Ashoka fellow. She has given a TEDx talk and high-level briefings at the White House, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Federal Communications Commission, and she has served as an advisor to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the NYC Department of Education. Elisabeth has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio and has published Op-Eds in media outlets such as Education Week and the Huffington Post. In 2001, she was honored by Crain’s New York Business as one of 40 New Yorkers under 40 shaping the city. From 1996-97, Elisabeth served as a White House Fellow in the Office of the Vice President, where her experience as the principal architect of a government-wide education technology program led her to launch CFY a year later. Elisabeth was a high school teacher for two years while a Peace Corps volunteer and later worked for the World Bank on appropriate technology in Africa. She also worked at the Vera Institute of Justice and helped the Open Society Institute start the After-School Corporation. Elisabeth served as a member of the MIT Board of Trustees (1997-2002) and is the youngest individual ever to be appointed to the MIT Executive Committee (2000-2002). Elisabeth has earned four degrees from MIT. She also holds a patent for a medical device.

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About CFY, PowerMyLearning: CFY is a national nonprofit organization that helps students, teachers and parents use digital learning to improve educational outcomes.

Brett Alessi

Co-Founder & Partner of Empower Schools

Brett Alessi currently works as the Co-founder and Partner for Empower Schools.

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About Empower Schools: Empower Schools collaborates with communities to help them get the schools they want with the outcomes that students require.

Nick Jones

Founder and CEO of Soho House

Nick Jones is the Founder and CEO of Soho House.

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About Soho House: Soho House is a private members’ club for people in the creative industries.

Noam Lautman

Founder of Lautman Foundation

Lautman is the General Manager of 2gether Capital Ltd, and a member of the board of directors of Babcom Centers Ltd. Mr. Lautman is a co-founder of the Lautman Foundation. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Ma’ase, an organization that operates volunteer programs for young people in Israel, and a Board member of Kav Mashve, the Employers Coalition for Equality for Arab University Graduates. Mr. Lautman is the Vice President of the New Israel Fund and a Board Member of the Jewish Funders Network. He is also a member of the Tel Hai Academic College Board of Governors. Mr. Lautman holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Tel Aviv University and an M.B.A. from New York University.

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About Lautman Foundation: The Lautman Fund is a family fund established in 2008.

Maleka Momand

Co-Founder & CEO of Esper

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About Esper: Esper provides a platform for governments to create and manage public policy from a single dahsboard.

Lilli Oetting

Technical Co-Founder of Esper

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About Esper: Esper provides a platform for governments to create and manage public policy from a single dahsboard.

Andy White

Founder of Millennial Technology

Andy White Bio: I most recently lead the VegasTechFund to become the 5th most active Micro VC firm in 2014. The focus was to empower amazing founders and startups passionate about building a community-focused ecosystem in downtown Las Vegas. I’m currently exploring how the City as a Startup process can lead to more tightly unified communities that encourage traditional investors to invest in early stage startups. This will then help entrepreneurs bridge the gap between seed capital and additional funding. This process builds a @CityAsAStartup through Learners, Doers and Connectors in the community.

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About Millennial Technology: Investing to build community with the people who make it happen.

Clay Mathile

Founder and Chairman of Aileron

Former CEO and owner of The Iams Company, Clay is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Aileron. He believes strongly in free enterprise and has a high respect for business owners who risk their capital to employ others. Clay attributes professional management as one of the key reasons he was able to grow Iams to a $1 billion organization. In 1999, the Mathile family sold Iams to international conglomerate Procter & Gamble for the sum of $2.3 billion. Still active in several business ventures, Clay devotes most of his time to philanthropic interests. In addition to Aileron, Clay and his wife, MaryAnn, created the following initiatives to foster hope and inspire change in the Dayton region and around the world.

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About Aileron: Aileron is a national non profit that exists to help private businesses to grow, to scale growth.

Jacob Hornberger

Founder and President of The Future of Freedom Foundation

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on Fox News’ Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show Freedom Watch.

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About The Future of Freedom Foundation: The Future of Freedom Foundation was founded in 1989 by FFF president Jacob Hornberger with the aim of establishing an educational

Adriana Gascoigne

Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech

Adriana Gascoigne is the Founder & CEO of Girls In Tech, a non-profit Organization. Adriana is the Vice President of Marketing at SecondMarket, the global marketplace for alternative investments. She is responsible for SecondMarket’s marketing, branding strategy, event production and digital media efforts. She assists in formulating the strategic direction and branding of the company as well as public relations efforts. Prior to joining SecondMarket, Adriana worked at a variety of technology start-ups spearheading marketing, communications and analytics. She worked at hi5, SocialGamingNetwork (SGN), Jambool’s SocialGold, GUBA as well as Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide as the Vice President of 360 Digital Influence and Edelman as the Vice President of the Digital Group. In March 2007, Adriana launched Girls in Tech, an organization focused on the empowerment, engagement and education of women in tech. She is an “Intel Insider,” serving as a brand and product advisor for Intel. She is an advisor to a variety of start-ups including Involver, Kupoz, CharityBlossom, DooChoo, Numiyo Technologies, Palindrome Advisors, and Change.org. In 2009, Adriana launched SmittenWithMittens, a 501 (c) 3 providing fair trade mittens, clothing, uniforms and resources to orphans in developing countries. Adriana holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Economics from the University of California at Davis, received a degree from El Tecnologico de Monterrey in Aguascalientes, Mexico in 2000, and participated in Semester at Sea, University of Pittsburgh in 1997. She is currently enrolled in USF’s MBA 2012 program. Adriana is fluent in Spanish and speaks some Japanese and French.

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About Girls in Tech, Palindrome Advisors: Girls in Tech (GIT) is a non-profit focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of girls and women passionate about technology.

Erica Pelavin

Principal and Co-Founder of My Digital TAT2

Erica Pelavin is Co-Founder of My Digital TAT2. She is a family psychologist with over 20 years’ experience. Working from a strength-based perspective, Pelavin specializes in bullying prevention, relational aggression, digital drama, cyber-safety and conflict resolution. Pelavin has a passion for helping children learn the skills to become their own advocates, as well as helping schools become caring communities. For the past eight years, she has been a High School Counselor in East Palo Alto. In addition to her counseling work with adolescents, she facilitates both parenting and teacher seminars in media literacy and 21st Century Learning Skills.

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About My Digital TAT2: My Digital TAT2 is to facilitate conversations that inspire thoughtful and ethical online behavior by teaching educators, parents.

Gloria Moskowitz-Sweet

Co-Founder & Vice President of Program Development and Training of My Digital TAT2

Gloria has been a school social worker, educator, and program developer since 1981. She has served as a lecturer in the Graduate Program of Social Work at San Jose State University for 20 years. Gloria is a strong believer in the importance of working with educators, parents, and students to create safe, inclusive environments online and offline. Gloria has worked in educational settings advocating for children and families throughout her career. Gloria is bicultural and the parent of three sons.

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About My Digital TAT2: My Digital TAT2 is to facilitate conversations that inspire thoughtful and ethical online behavior by teaching educators, parents.

Oliver Griebl

Managing Director & Founder of Profit Intelligence

Oliver is a Managing Principal at The Market Element as well as the Managing Director of Profit Intelligence, a business performance consultancy. He has more than 16 years of consulting experience across many different industries, including many companies in the Fortune 100. His work has mainly focused on assisting clients with achieving increased revenue and margin performance with a focus on strategy development, marketing excellence, and pricing improvement. He has led numerous initiatives for clients in the automotive, energy, healthcare, wholesale , and consumer goods industries. His consulting experience includes developing pricing and sales channel strategies, improving price execution capabilities, redesigning operational processes in marketing/sales/finance, and performing in-depth analytics to diagnose and remedy issues related to poor profitability. Prior to Profit Intelligence Oliver spent more than a decade in Deloitte Consulting’s Customer Strategy vertical where he was a founding member of the Pricing & Profitability Management Practice and was involved with the development of the methodologies, frameworks, and other intellectual assets for the practice since its inception. Oliver holds two B.S. degrees in engineering and a Masters in Engineering Management from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He also holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.Oliver enjoys spending every minute of free time with his wife (Sonja), two kids (Kayla & Karsten), and their dog (Kaia). They live in Katy, TX.

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About Profit Intelligence, The Market Element: Profit Intelligence, is a business performance consultancy that advises clients on profitability improvement opportunities.

Michael Milken

Founder and Chairman of Milken Institute

Mike Milken’s career has mirrored his three main professional passions: medical research, education and finance. In each, he has been uniquely successful in creating value, whether measured in lives saved (Fortune magazine called him “The Man Who Changed Medicine”), students inspired or jobs created. Between 1969 and 1989, he financed more than 3,200 companies that collectively created millions of jobs. His philanthropy, which began in the 1970s and paralleled his business career, expanded in 1982 with the establishment of the Milken Family Foundation. He also heads the Prostate Cancer Foundation and FasterCures, a Washington-based think tank that removes barriers to progress against all life-threatening diseases. Mike joined leading physicians in launching the Melanoma Research Alliance to support work on fatal skin cancers. He is chairman of the widely respected and influential Milken Institute, an economic think tank whose annual Global Conference brings more than 3,000 leaders from 60 nations to Los Angeles each spring. Mike graduated from Berkeley with highest honors and earned his MBA at the Wharton School. He and his wife, Lori, have three children and four grandchildren and celebrated their 41st anniversary this year.

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About Milken Institute: Milken Institute is an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California.

Viswa Mani Kiran Peddinti

Co-Founder of Meed

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About Meed: Meed is a platform where young professionals learn, network, and find opportunities to build a career.

Erica Bishaf

Founder & CEO of CampfireSocial

Erica is a 20yr veteran in the market intelligence and strategy space, specifically working for Kraft, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, and MillerCoors. In 2015, she started her own consultancy, where she gained consumer packaged goods (CPG) clients such as Dude Wipes, Weber Grill, Pharmavite, among others and she consulted for Freeman and GES. While consulting, she worked directly with trade & professional association c-suite executives and board members on strategic planning efforts, event innovation, restructuring trade events, and figuring out ways to diversify revenue streams. During this time, Erica embarked on her first technology startup, Pet Gotcha Day!, which continues to service over 3,000 shelters throughout the US and Canada. In January 2020, she worked directly for Freeman as the Strategy Director until her departure in August 2020 to launch CampfireSocial.

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About CampfireSocial, Greenlight Insights: CampfireSocial is a social network and e-commerce SaaS platform designs for industry verticals and organizations.

Debra Miller

CEO & Founder of Cure Duchenne

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About Cure Duchenne, CureDuchenne Ventures: Duchenne is the most common muscle disease in children.

Pamela Hawley

Founder & CEO of UniversalGiving

Pamela Hawley is the Founder & CEO of UniversalGiving.

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About Duke Angel Network, Stanford University, UniversalGiving: UG award-winning nonprofit organization whose vision is to “Create a World Where Giving & Volunteering Are a Natural Part of Everyday Life.

Gesche Haas

Founder & CEO of Dreamers & Doers

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About Dreamers & Doers, Founders Pledge: Dreamers & Doers is a private collective for extraordinary entrepreneurial womxn.

Luca Pivato

Founder and CEO of Recoup

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About Recoup: Recoup is a philanthropic engine that brings businesses, consumers and non-profits together via e-commerce and f-commerce platforms.

Cynthia Rubio

Founder of Radiant RFID

Cynthia Rubio is co-founder of Radiant RFID, a market leader for advanced asset tracking and human accountability solutions. Radiant provides full end-to-end solutions in these markets, including hardware and software products and deployment services. Cynthia brings over 20 years engineering experience to the company, currently leading their Product Development efforts. Prior to founding Radiant Cynthia worked for Trilogy software in Austin, Texas and for Ford Motor Company. She holds a BSME from Cal State Northridge and an MSME from Wayne State University. A former Executive Board Member of the Society of Women Engineers, Cynthia is dedicated to the advancement of women in STEM fields and the development of women entrepreneurs.

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About Radiant RFID: Radiant RFID has enabled public and private organizations to enhance asset visibility and location accuracy.

David Spinks

Founder and CEO of CMX

David is the founder and CEO of CMX Media. Above all else, David seeks to help and empower community builders. He started CMX Summit and CMX Hub after he noticed that the thousands of community builders in the world weren’t talking to one another. Before CMX, David co-founded an online cooking school called Feast (part of 500 Startups) and BlogDash, a platform to help businesses with blogger outreach. As a consultant and employee, David has worked with some amazing companies such as Zaarly, LeWeb, Udemy, Seatgeek, Binpress, and more. Hailing from New York originally, he now lives in the Mission District of San Francisco.

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About Bevy, CMX: CMX is advancing the community industry and helping community professionals thrive.

Marya Bangee

Founder and CEO of SILA Consulting

Marya Bangee is the Founder and CEO of SILA, a social impact firm that brings stakeholders from different sectors together on projects that drive social change. Through SILA, she currently serves as Director of Programming for Harness, an organization founded by America Ferrera, Wilmer Valderrama, and Ryan Piers Williams to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities in popular culture.

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About SILA Consulting: SILA works to strengthen the ecosystem of social impact by fostering relationships.

Jim Ziolkowski

Founder, President & CEO of buildOn

Jim Ziolkowski is Founder, President & CEO @ buildOn.

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About buildOn: buildOn runs youth services afterschool programs and builds schools in developing countries.

Brad Hines

Founder of Hungry Kids

Brad Hines is the Founder, President of YumDomains.

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About BradfordHines.com, Hungry Kids, NerdPlaythings.com, TeachBoys, Techopedia, Wefunder, Yum Domains: HungryKids is a not for profit grassroots organization dedicated to raising awareness for world hunger and poverty relief.

Michael Ellsworth

Co-Founder & CCO of Civilization

Civilization is a Seattle-based design firm that works on a wide range of multi-disciplinary projects for public, private, non-profit and international clients. For all the complex ways you can push boundaries, Michael Ellsworth has always kept it very simple: find the creative idea at the core of the story, question or experience—and then let it lead you to the next one. Over the last decade, this has been the central element of Ellsworth’s eclectically driven career, bringing together work as a creative director, producer, curator and public programmer.

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About Civilization: Civilization is a design firm for public, private, non-profit and international clients.

Ken Ham

Founder & CEO of Answers in Genesis

Since moving to America in 1987, Australian Ken Ham—president and founder of Answers in Genesis-US, the highly acclaimed Creation Museum (well over two million visitors since it opened), and visionary behind the construction of a full-size Noah’s Ark—has become one of the most in-demand Christian conference speakers and talk show guests. (In one year alone he appeared on Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor and Fox and Friends in the Morning, CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, ABC’s Good Morning America, the BBC, and so on). He became internationally known for his 2014 creation/evolution debate with Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” which has been watched by an estimated 15 million people. In May of 2007, Answers in Genesis opened its high-tech and acclaimed Creation Museum and education center in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area (on 70 scenic acres in Petersburg, Kentucky). The brainchild of Ken Ham, the state-of-the-art facility contains dozens of world-class exhibits—including impressive animatronic dinosaur models, a $1 million allosaur fossil, and planetarium—which are now on display inside the 75,000-sq-ft museum. In its first seven years, the museum attracted over two million guests. AiG is building the Ark Encounter, an attraction featuring a life-size Ark as its centerpiece, about 40 miles south of the museum. A biblical apologist, Ken gives numerous faith-building talks to tens of thousands of children and adults each year (he receives hundreds of invitations to speak annually) on such topics as the reliability of the Bible, how compromise over biblical authority has undermined society and even the church (which is seeing a massive exodus of young people), witnessing more effectively, dinosaurs, “races,” and so on. Ken cofounded AiG in 1994 with the purpose of upholding the authority of the Bible from the very first verse. Already Compromised Ken is the author of many books on Genesis, including the eye-opening book Already Gone, coauthored by renowned researcher Britt Beemer on why so many young people have left the church, the best-selling The Lie: Evolution, and a number of children’s books (Dinosaurs of Eden, D is for Dinosaur, A is for Adam, and so on). Other recent coauthored books include One Race, One Blood and How Could a Loving God …?, and the provocative book Already Compromised about Christian colleges and how they treat the authority of the Bible. Ken is heard daily on the radio feature Answers with Ken Ham (broadcast on more than 850 stations) and is a frequent guest on national TV talk shows. Since the Creation Museum opened, he has been interviewed on CBS News Sunday Morning, The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, The PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and many other outlets. Ken is also the founder of the award-winning Answers magazine, which won the prestigious “Award of Excellence” (for top Christian magazine) in 2011 from the Evangelical Press Association. He also writes articles for AiG’s popular website, which was the 2012 recipient of the “Best Ministry Website” as awarded by the 1,200-member National Religious Broadcasters (in 2014 the website was receiving over 1.5 million visitors a month). Ken’s emphasis is on the relevance and authority of the book of Genesis to the life of the average Christian, and how compromise on Genesis has opened a dangerous door regarding how the culture and church view biblical authority. His Australian accent, keen sense of humor, captivating stories, and exceptional PowerPoint/Keynote illustrations have made him one of North America’s most effective Christian communicators. Several of his live talks were recorded and released in a well-produced DVD set and curriculum titled Foundations (2011).

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About Answers in Genesis: Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry, dedicated to enabling Christians to defend their faith

Mariska Hargitay

Founder and President of Joyful Heart Foundation

Mariska Hargitay is an American actress and the founder and president of Joyful Heart Foundation. Mariska is best known for her role as NYPD Special Victims Unit Detective/Sergeant/Lieutenant Olivia Benson on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she has earned multiple awards and nominations, including an Emmy and Golden Globe. She made her film debut in the 1985 horror-comedy film Ghoulies and her major television debut in the 1986 adventure drama series Downtown. She appeared in numerous roles in film and television shows throughout the late 1980s and 1990s before being cast as Olivia Benson. Mariska Magdolna Hargitay is the daughter of bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay and actress Jayne Mansfield.

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About Joyful Heart Foundation: Joyful Heart Foundation is a national organization that provides support to women who have been sexually abused.

Jennifer Lawrence

Founder of Jennifer Lawrence Foundation

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress. Her Hollywood films have grossed over $5.5 billion worldwide, and she was the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016. She appeared in Time’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2013 and in the Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2014 and 2016.

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About Jennifer Lawrence Foundation: The Jennifer Lawrence Foundation assists and empowers charitable organizations that fulfill children’s vital needs.

Mark Torrance

Founder of Mark Torrance Foundation

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About Mark Torrance Foundation: Mark Torrance Foundation (MTF), they invest in people and organizations with the potential to strengthen communities locally and globally.

Simon Tian

Co-Founder of Globle

Founder at Globle & Neptune

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About Globle, Neptune: Globle aims to fully democratize our political, economic and social institutions and bring us towards a fair and equitable society.

PJ Hagerty

Founder/Chief Community Officer of DevRelate.io LLC

Developer, writer, speaker, musician, and Community Advocate, PJ is the founder of DevRelate.io. He is known to travel the world speaking about programming and the way people think and interact.

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About : Developer and Community Relations as a Service

Robert Hammond

Founder & Interim Executive Director of Friends of the High Line

Robert Hammond is Founder & Interim Executive Director at Friends of the High Line.

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About Friends of the High Line: Friends of the High Line is a non-profit, private organization that funds virtually all the High Line’s operations by raising contributions.

Patricia Dugan

Founder of It’s The Community

Patricia Dugan is a communications and behaviorally-oriented community architect, creating structure, marketing and branding vehicles to create lasting value for the world’s largest and strongest companies. Her core community representations surround open source, cloud, networking, infrastructure, virtualization and SDN, as well as strengthening the communities around languages and systems such as ONOS, Java and OpenStack. She has helped build two digital publishing companies from the ground up and is the epitome of the passionate “maker” in the startup world. She’s a yogi and fitness nut who is always on the search to optimize awesome.

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About It’s The Community: It’s The Community

Isaac Wilder

Co-Founder, Executive Director of The Free Network Foundation

Isaac is responsible for the day-to-day operations of The Free Network Foundation, as well as long-term strategic vision and public advocacy. In addition to writing and speaking on issues of network freedom, Isaac designs, engineers, builds and deploys tools for more democratic networks. He is currently based in Kansas City, MO.

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About The Free Network Foundation: We envision a world where communities build, maintain, and own their own share of the global computer network.

Charles Wyble

Co-Founder, CTO of The Free Network Foundation

Charles is a systems architect with 10 years experience designing, implementing and supporting large scale systems in many different industries. He is in charge of architecting the Free Network Foundation’s enterprise and production networks, as well as engineering hardware and software tools in support of the cause. He resides in Austin, TX.

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About The Free Network Foundation: We envision a world where communities build, maintain, and own their own share of the global computer network.

Charles Wyble

Co-Founder, CTO of The Free Network Foundation

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About The Free Network Foundation: We envision a world where communities build, maintain, and own their own share of the global computer network.

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