Superpowers
In this time of accelerated history and unprecedented change, each of us possesses unique insights and talents – their true impact often not yet discovered.
Whether through incredible leaps in science or in simple grace amid great trials, all of us together will overcome today’s challenges to forge a surprising future. Perhaps unfamiliar, it will still be recognizable: fair, kind, human… even super-human.
Join us, as we discover SUPERPOWERS both known and waiting to be discovered, through stories of individual triumph and global interconnectedness; this future is one we will enthusiastically embrace.
Watch Tim Kaine’s talk »
Tim Kaine
United States Senator
Tim Kaine has helped people throughout his life as a missionary, civil rights lawyer, teacher and elected official. He is one of 30 people in American history to have served as a Mayor, Governor and United States Senator. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, Tim serves on the Armed Services, Budget, Foreign Relations, and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees. He is Ranking Member of the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee and the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism.
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Tim grew up working in his father’s ironworking shop in Kansas City. He was educated at the University of Missouri and Harvard Law School and started his public service career by taking a year off from Harvard to run a technical school founded by Jesuit missionaries in Honduras. After law school, he practiced law in Richmond for 17 years, specializing in the representation of people who had been denied housing due to their race or disability. He also began teaching part-time at the University of Richmond in 1987.
Tim was first elected to office in 1994, serving as a city councilmember and then Mayor of Richmond. He became Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2002 and was inaugurated as Virginia’s 70th Governor in 2006.
Watch Mindy Fullilove’s talk »
Mindy Fullilove
Psychiatrist to Cities
Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, is a professor of urban policy and health at The New School, having moved there in 2016 after 26 years at New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University. Trained at Bryn Mawr College and Columbia University, she has conducted research on AIDS and other epidemics of poor communities and is interested in the links between the environment and mental health. Her research examines the mental health effects of environmental processes such as violence, segregation, and urban renewal.
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In 2004, she worked with colleagues in Upper Manhattan to start the CLIMB project, which has advocated for re-investment in the area’s cliffside parks. This has spurred millions in new investment, including a 2016 $30 million investment to update Highbridge Park. In 2007, along with other community activists, she helped found the University of Orange in her hometown of Orange, NJ. The UofO is a collective offering free courses in urban culture so that students can become more active in determining the future of their city.
In 2016, author Dr. Fullilove was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects for “advancing architecture and urban planning through her expansive knowledge of cities and the relationship between the built environment and the wellness of society.”
Her work is the subject of feature articles, including the 2015 New York Times “The Town Shrink,” and she herself has published more than a hundred articles and six books.
Watch Jackie Savitz’s talk»
Jackie Savitz
Protector of Oceans
Jacqueline Savitz is Oceana’s Senior Vice President for U.S. Oceans. Her background and training in marine biology and environmental toxicology combined with more than two decades of policy advocacy experience provides Oceana with a combination of sound science, strategic environmental vision and successful leadership. In addition to overseeing all campaigns for U.S. Oceans, Jackie leads Oceana’s involvement in Global Fishing Watch, a partnership of Oceana, SkyTruth and Google that has made the tracks of the global commercial fishing fleet available to everyone in the world with an internet connection, in near real time, for free. Global Fishing Watch sheds light on commercial fishing behavior worldwide.
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Jackie has held several positions at Oceana over her fifteen-year tenure, including senior scientist, senior campaign director and deputy vice president for U.S. campaigns. During that time she designed and led Oceana campaigns on climate and energy, mercury and cruise ship pollution. She has been interviewed by hundreds of news organizations worldwide about a variety of issues, appearing on new programs including CNN’s John King USA, All Things Considered, The Diane Rehm Show, On the Media, The Mark Steiner Show, The O’Reilly Report and others. Jackie has presented three “TEDx” Talks, including one which has earned more than one million views on TED.com. She has also served as an invited panelist for the Heinz Center, the Pew Oceans Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, National Academy of Sciences, Washington Post and others.
Prior to working with Oceana, Jackie served as Executive Director of Coast Alliance, a network of over 600 organizations around the country working to protect U.S. coasts from pollution and development. In the mid-nineties, Jackie worked as an environmental policy analyst with the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C., an organization known for producing media-savvy reports on a variety of environmental issues. Before that she worked as an environmental scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, one of the nation’s largest regional conservation organizations, where she spent five years working to protect the Chesapeake Bay.
Jackie earned her master’s degree in environmental science with an emphasis in toxicology from the University of Maryland, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, where her work focused on the effects of contaminants on aquatic life. She earned her bachelor’s degree in marine science and biology from the University of Miami in Florida.
Watch FK Day’s talk »
FK Day
Cyclist & Humanitarian
Frederick (F.K.) Day is a long time Chicago businessman, entrepreneur and humanitarian. In 1987, Day, his brother Stan and some friends founded leading bicycle component supplier, SRAM Corporation. In 2005, immediately following the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Day and his wife Leah, with support from SRAM Corp and the Bicycle Industry, founded international non-profit World Bicycle Relief. Their first program delivered over 24,000 new bicycles to men, women and children in to Tsunami impacted Sri Lanka.
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SRAM produces high-end bicycle components including drive-trains, brakes, suspension and wheels; brands include RockShox, Avid, Truvative, Zipp and Quark. Today, SRAM operates 20 facilities in the US, Europe and Asia and employs over 3,000 people. Driving annual revenues in excess of $600 million, SRAM is the largest bicycle component supplier in the US and the second largest in the world.
Day leverages his and SRAM Corp’s bicycle experience and that of the Global Bicycle Industry to deliver large-scale, comprehensive bicycle programs in developing countries. Working in partnership with NGOs, Corporations and Government Agencies; World Bicycle Relief executes bicycle programs that empower recipients to overcome the barriers of distance to healthcare, education and economic development.
Today, World Bicycle Relief employs over 100+ people in the US, Asia and Africa, and runs or supports 6 bicycle assembly facilities in Angola, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. To date, over 350,000 specially designed, locally assembled bicycles have been distributed and over 1,500 field mechanics have been trained. In 2010, Day and World Bicycle Relief were named #12 on Barron’s list of the World‘s Top 25 Most Effective Givers. In 2015, Fast Company named World Bicycle Relief among its’ Most Innovative Companies for organizations working on the continent of Africa.
In addition to his work in the bicycle industry, Day is actively involved with education and environmental issues. Day is a long-standing board member of his alma mater, in Western Connecticut, The South Kent School. Day studied Economics at Wayne State University and attended Tulane University majoring in Economics and Latin American Studies. Day was awarded an honorary degree from Tulane in 2014.
Day is married to photographer, and World Bicycle Relief co-founder Leah Missbach Day. They live together in Chicago with their ten-year-old son Lincoln Ray Day.
Watch Rachel Wurzman’s talk»
Rachel Wurzman
Neuroscientist
Dr. Rachel Wurzman is a Fellow with the Center for Neuroscience and Society, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Neurology with the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation at the University of Pennsylvania. Rachel also currently serves as Director of Science on the Board of Directors for SeekHealing, a non-profit whose mission is to reduce addiction relapse cycles. Rachel is the author of over 20 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters on various topics in developmental, cognitive, and systems neuroscience, neuroethics, and science policy.
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Previously, Rachel served as an Intern in the Science Division of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States, an Independent Contractor for the World Technology Evaluation Center (dba WTEC, Inc.) in support of the National Nanotechnology Coordinating Center, a Neuroscience Scholar Program Fellow with the Society for Neuroscience, and a Researcher in Residence in the Neuroethics Studies Program of the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University.
Throughout her career, Rachel has investigated neurodevelopmental mechanisms for plasticity in brain circuits whose wiring, and sometimes mis-wiring, contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders on the addiction, obsessive-compulsive, and autistic spectrums. Her current research in the field of neurorehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania seeks to understand mechanisms for neuroplasticity in brain networks, using non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, neuroimaging, and network neuroscience methods. Additionally, ongoing research in neuroethics addresses the implications of a biopsychosocial and systems-oriented perspective on neuropsychiatric spectrum phenomena (such as addiction) for research, treatment, and social policy.
Rachel received her PhD in Neuroscience from Georgetown University’s Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, where her she was an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Fellow. She received her M.S. in Physiology and Biophysics from Georgetown University, and her B.A. in Neuroscience from Smith College.
Watch Paul Shapiro’s talk»
Paul Shapiro
Humane Society
Paul Shapiro serves as the vice president of policy for The Humane Society of the United States, the world’s largest animal protection organization. In 1995, Shapiro founded Compassion Over Killing as a high school club, building it into a national organization over the next decade. An inductee into the Animal Rights Hall of Fame, Shapiro has published dozens of articles about animal welfare in publications ranging from daily newspapers to academic journals. He’s also the author of a forthcoming book on the clean meat movement.
Watch Randi Gloss’ talk»
Randi Gloss
Activist
Randi Gloss is a DC-raised social entrepreneur, activist & writer. Her brand GLOSSRAGS, is committed to conscious consumerism through critically crafted designs that are a catalyst for social activism & discourse. GLOSSRAGS’ signature “And Counting” Collection of apparel does the necessary work of memorializing black men and women who’ve lost their lives at the hands of police and trigger-happy citizens. In May 2017, Randi was recognized as one of ESSENCE Magazine’s Woke 100.
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Randi engages academic and professional communities around the topics of privilege, courageous conversations, and productive through workshops, seminars and lectures.
Through GLOSSRAGS Media Co., Randi is working to produce meaningful media focused on telling critical, unheard narratives of Black Americans. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, Complex, The Fader, ESSENCE, Nylon Magazine and other publications.
In May 2017, Randi was recognized as one of ESSENCE Magazine’s Woke 100 and was commissioned to design the t-shirts for the cover women, including Shonda Rhimes (Scandal; Grey’s Anatomy), Sybrina Fulton (Mother of Trayvon Martin), April Reigns (Creator,#OscarsSoWhite; #NoConfederate), Angela Rye (Political Commentator) & other women.
The original t-shirt, which listed Emmett Till, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, now bears the names of over 25 Black men and women, including Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray and Philando Castile. The STAY WOKE Collection challenges us to remain vigilant during our everyday lives and routines.
Randi is the co-host of Help Me Understand with journalist Niema Jordan, a podcast that seeks to understand and challenge social phenomenons, trends, facts & things we just flat out don’t understand. Through GLOSSRAGS, Randi continues to create strategies, initiatives and apparel to educate, empower and honor Black communities while uplifting the names of those who are no longer here.
Watch Susan Shaw’s talk»
Susan Shaw
Environmental Health Scientist
Dr. Susan D. Shaw is an environmental health scientist, explorer, author, and ocean advocate. She is Founder/Director of the Marine & Environmental Research Institute, and Professor, School of Public Health, SUNY-Albany. Shaw is a globally recognized expert on the health effects of environmental chemical exposure. Over three decades, her game-changing research has fueled protective public policy nationally and globally. Her 1983 book, OverExposure, written with landscape photographer Ansel Adams, exposed the health hazards of photographic chemicals. An outspoken voice on ocean pollution, Shaw dove into the 2010 BP oil spill and influenced the national debate on the dangers of dispersant chemicals. Currently, she leads an international team addressing the compound threat of climate change and pollution across three oceans.
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A Fulbright scholar with dual degrees from Columbia University in film and public health/ environmental health sciences, Susan Shaw’s early career was launched with the 1983 publication of Overexposure with the legendary landscape photographer Ansel Adams. The book was the first to document the health hazards of photographic darkroom chemicals, and ultimately transformed the field.
With the founding of Marine & Environmental Research Institute in 1990, Dr. Shaw turned her attention to ocean pollution. Named Gulf of Maine Visionary in 2007, she was the first scientist to reveal widespread contamination of fish and marine mammals in the northwest Atlantic Ocean by flame retardant chemicals leaching from furniture. Following this discovery, a landmark investigation led by Shaw of occupational exposure to flame retardants and their carcinogenic by-products in California fire fighters helped fuel bans in several states and increased protective practices in the fire service across the country.
An outspoken and influential voice on ocean pollution, Shaw dove into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 to investigate the controversial use of chemical dispersants to sink the oil. She was appointed to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Strategic Sciences Working Group to assess consequences of the oil spill and recommending policy actions. Her account of the hidden damage below the water’s surface was published in the New York Times and widely broadcast through TED talks and international media including CNN. Dr. Shaw appears in several documentary films on the Gulf disaster including Animal Planet’s Black Tide: Voices of the Gulf and Green Planet’s The Big Fix, the Official Selection documentary at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
The recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Shaw is the 19th recipient of the Society of Women Geographers’ Gold Medal Award since 1934, joining the ranks of Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, Sylvia Earle and Jane Goodall. In 2012, the international Explorers Club recognized Dr. Shaw’s leadership role in ocean conservation with a Citation of Merit Award. She is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow and was named Gulf of Maine Visionary by the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment.
Watch Glen Henry’s talk »
Glen “Beleaf” Henry
YouTube Storyteller
Glen Henry is a father changing the world. With prior success in music, he left the industry because he realized the biggest “stage” he’d ever perform on would be in his living room and his biggest fans would be his family. In 2015, he started his fast-growing YouTube channel called Beleaf In Fatherhood by welcoming us into his home to show the fun and real misadventures of parenting. Growing up in Baltimore, he saw few examples of healthy family dynamics. Now he hopes to Equip Fathers, Give Hope to Mothers and Inspire Children with every upload.
Watch Hasini Jayatilaka’s Talk »
Hasini Jayatilaka
Cancer Fighter
Hasini Jayatilaka is a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University and is currently conducting research on understanding the complex pathways that govern metastasis, the spread of cancer, which is responsible for 90% of cancer related deaths. Hasini recently discovered a new signaling pathway that controls metastasis and showed that by blocking the pathway the spread of cancer can be slowed down.
Watch Travis Rieder’s talk»
Travis Rieder
Bioethicist
Travis Rieder, PhD, is the Assistant Director for Education Initiatives, Director of the Master of Bioethics degree program and Research Scholar at the Berman Institute of Bioethics. Travis’ work tends to fall into one of two, quite distinct research programs. The first concerns ethical and policy questions about sustainability and planetary limits. Much of this research has been on issues in climate change ethics and procreative ethics with a particular focus on the intersection of the two – that is, on the question of responsible procreation in the era of climate change. The second research program concerns ethical and policy issues surrounding America’s opioid epidemic.
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In addition to his more scholarly writing, Travis is firmly committed to doing bioethics with the public, and to that end writes and interviews regularly for the popular media; his work has appeared in many high-impact publications, including The Guardian, Washington Post, NPR’s All Things Considered, New Republic, and IFLScience. He writes regularly for The Conversation and blogs occasionally at The Huffington Post and the Berman Institute Bioethics Bulletin.
Watch Andy Suzuki and The Method’s talk»
Andy Suzuki & The Method
Musicians
Brooklyn’s Andy Suzuki and Kozza Olatunji-Babumba (of future pop/r&b group Andy Suzuki & The Method) have been making music together for nearly a decade, but now with their third full-length album, ‘The Glass Hour’, a creative friendship has flowered into a formidable musical force. The half-Japanese, half-Jewish Suzuki and hand-percussionist Kozza (grandson of percussion legend Babtunde Olatunji) first garnered wider attention with their buoyant, organic folk-pop album, Born out of Mischief, and soon found themselves opening for names as large as Ringo Starr, Eric Hutchinson, Joshua Radin, Marc Broussard, Delta Rae, and Tyrone Wells.
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Fans fell hard for their combination of a “velvet voice” (NPR) and their “deadly way with melody” (TimeOut New York). Their sinuous songwriting, which curves into eddies and unexpected shapes at every measure, is steadied by Andy’s impossibly dulcet vocals, that carry us gently through as the songs toss and heave. ‘The Glass Hour’ keeps all these curves and fleecy vocals, but no longer wants the limits of the folk-pop label. Instead, Andy and Kozza are creating Future Pop with an R&B vibe that both sounds like its beaming in from the year 2019, and also harkens back to the R&B aesthetic that made Andy fall in love with music in the first place.
Andy and Kozza enlisted the production talents of LA-based Juny Mag to scale their music up to stadium-sized dimensions, and also brought in big guns Dominic Fallacaro, Will Hensley, Chris Gehringer— all Grammy winners— for recording, mixing and mastering ‘The Glass Hour’.
Watch Destiny Watford’s talk»
Destiny Watford
Environmentalist
At 17 Destiny Watford, 2016 Goldman Prize Environmental Prize winner for North America, inspired residents of a Baltimore neighborhood to defeat plans to build the nation’s largest trash-burning incinerator less than a mile away from her high school. Now, Watford and allies in the neighborhood are working toward developing a community land trust, so that her community can have control over the decisions that affect them.
Watch Chris Ullman’s Talk »
Chris Ullman
Communicator & Whistler
Chris Ullman is a communications professional with 30 years of experience across the private, public, non-profit and advocacy sectors. Since 2001 he has served as Director of Global Communications at The Carlyle Group, an investment firm based in Washington, DC. Prior to that he served as Director of Communications at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Public Affairs Director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Director of Communications for the Budget Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Chris earned his B.A. in political science from Binghamton University. He is a four-time national and international whistling champion and author of Find Your Whistle: Simple Gifts Touch Hearts and Change Lives, published by Mascot Books in 2017. Chris and his wife Kristen have three children and live in Alexandria, VA.
Watch Molly Joyce’s Talk »
Molly Joyce
Composer & Performer
Active as a composer and performer, Molly Joyce’s music has been described as “impassioned” (The Washington Post), written to “superb effect” (The Wire), and “vibrant, inventive music that communicates straight from the heart” (Prufrock’s Dilemma). Her works have been commissioned and performed by several distinguished ensembles including the New World Symphony, New York Youth Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the New Juilliard, Decoda, and Contemporaneous ensembles. As a performer, Molly often plays on her vintage Magnus toy organ
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Additionally, her work has been performed at the Bang on a Can Marathon and VisionIntoArt’s FERUS Festival, and featured in outlets such as Pitchfork, WNYC’s New Sounds, Q2 Music, I Care If You Listen, and The Log Journal.
Her debut EP, Lean Back and Release, was released in January 2017 on New Amsterdam Records to much acclaim. Featuring violinists Monica Germino and Adrianna Mateo, the EP was praised as “energetic, heady and blisteringly emotive” by Paste Magazine and “arresting” by Textura. Additionally, Molly’s piece Rave was included on pianist Vicky Chow’s recent album on New Amsterdam, and the work was subsequently featured on Pitchfork and WNYC’s New Sounds.
Past seasons have seen commissions from performers such as Avi Avital, Vicky Chow, Mike Truesdell, Present Music, and the Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble, among others. Additionally, Molly has received grants from New Music USA, the Jerome Fund / American Composers Forum, and has held residencies at ArtCenter/ South Florida and Willapa Bay AiR.
As a performer, Molly often plays on her vintage Magnus toy organ, an instrument she bought on eBay and has performed on in multiple capacities; including solo, with toy piano, and with a beatboxer. She is additionally active as a DJ, spinning under the moniker “DJ MJ.”
Also an active participant in other aspects of the music industry, Molly is currently the Digital Content Manager for New Amsterdam Presents/Records and has assisted composers Glenn Kotche, Missy Mazzoli, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Shara Nova, among others. A committed teaching artist, she has taught as part of Yale’s Music in Schools Initiative, Juilliard’s Morse and Gluck Outreach Fellowships, and with the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers Program.
Molly has studied at The Juilliard School (graduating with scholastic distinction), the Royal Conservatory in The Hague as a recipient of the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Grant, and the Yale School of Music.
Watch Amanda Rivkin’s Talk »
Amanda Rivkin
Journalist
Amanda Rivkin is a photographer and writer focused on gender, security, political and military issues in Eastern Europe and the United States. Currently she is at work on a long-term project documenting in portraits and oral histories the victims of Chicago municipal police torture under former Commander Jon Burge. For this work, she has received a grant from the International Women’s Media Foundation Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists and support from The Invisible Institute, a non-profit journalism outfit focusing on issues of policing in Chicago.
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In February 2017, she founded Trumpistan Watch, a free weekday e-mail subscription and blog media monitoring Western and Russian media news sources concerning Trump and Russia, with a particular focus on geopolitical security, media and authoritarianism.
Previously Amanda received two Young Explorers Grants from the National Geographic Society to work in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey documenting the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline route and Bosnia to examine the country’s postwar reconstruction, a Fulbright grant to Azerbaijan focusing on the role of women in society, as well as fellowships from the Dart Center at Columbia University, Yale University, and the American Council on Germany. Her recent work, “Sustenance: Chicago and the Food Chain,” commissioned by Art Works Projects around the issue of child nutrition in Chicago, has been exhibited at the American Corner in Trieste, Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan and during “Hunger Week” at Loyola University in Chicago. Her work was exhibited twice at the Aleppo International Photography Festival, the first time before the Syrian Civil War in an exhibit entitled “Obamaland” and the second time during the first year of the conflict focusing on her work from Azerbaijan and the fomenting of a nationalist narrative, “Tomorrow Belongs To Me”. Her early work covering Chicago politics was displayed in Chicago as well as at Union Station in Washington, DC during Barack Obama’s Inauguration.
Amanda holds degrees from the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Sarah Lawrence College and speaks fluent Spanish, Polish and Portuguese. She has lived and worked abroad in Azerbaijan, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and elsewhere, spending more than five years of her life outside the United States. Her work has been published widely in the United States and Europe including in Foreign Policy, Le Monde, The London Sunday Times Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, TIME and elsewhere. She is the author of one guidebook to Slovakia published by the English language weekly The Slovak Spectator entitled Spectacular Slovakia. Amanda’s work has been cited in books on international oil negotiations, post-Soviet architecture and published in the American Photography annual and a children’s book about the history of the state of Illinois. She currently lives in her hometown, Chicago.
Watch Jordan Randall’s Talk + Performance »
Jordan Randall Smith
Conductor
Award-winning conductor Jordan Randall Smith is the music Music Director of Symphony Number One and Music Director at Govans Presbyterian Church. Smith was formerly Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Dallas Festival of Modern Music and Assistant Conductor of the Peabody Opera Theater. Currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in conducting at the Peabody Conservatory, Smith is a student of Gustav Meier, Markand Thakar, and Marin Alsop.
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Jordan’s leadership of Mahler’s fourth symphony was praised by Tim Smith: “The third movement, in particular, was quite sensitively molded.” According to the Ft. Worth Music Examiner, Jordan, “drove an intensity in the air,” leading the festival’s ensemble in residence, Ars Nova Dallas, in a series of performances of Schoenberg’s landmark Pierrot Lunaire. New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert called Jordan’s conducting of Boulez’ Le Marteau sans Maître, “impressive.”
In 2016, Jordan was named a Baltimore Social Innovation Fellowship and received a prestigious Bruno Walter Fellowship at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2010 where he studied with Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, and Jennifer Higdon and conducted the festival orchestra in concert. Jordan formerly served as Apprentice Conductor of the Dallas Bach Society Orchestra and Chorus. He has mentored hundreds of young musicians in ensembles across the country including the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Cross Timbers Youth Orchestra.
Watch Erricka Bridgeford’s Talk >>
Erricka Bridgeford
Peacemaker
Erricka Bridgeford was trained as a mediator in September of 2001. By 2005, she became the Director of Training for Community Mediation Maryland. In this capacity, she continues to provide training to the 18 community mediation centers in Maryland, as well as to state agencies and organizations, and for national conferences. Because of her continuous commitment to healing violence, In 2015, Erricka was one of two people in Maryland to be given the award for Outstanding Volunteer Contribution to Victim’s Services, by the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention. In 2017 she co-organized the Baltimore Ceasefire.
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Erricka’s most proud achievement is the fact that she, through CMM, was the first trainer to go into prison (Jessup Correctional Institution & Maryland Correctional Training Center) to provide people who were incarcerated with the same, full 40-hour Basic Mediation Training that is given to mediators in communities all over MD.
In January of 2007, Erricka’s foundation was shaken when her brother, David, was murdered. In response to her pain, she adopted the motto, “Live out loud…. regardless, despite, and because…”. Since then, she has intensified her work as a Social Reformer and Inspirational Speaker.
As a murder victim’s family member who is against the death penalty, her voice was instrumental in changing the hearts and minds of key Senators, and MD’s death penalty was repealed. Her involvement sparked the creation of a new law that placed a murder victims’ family member on Maryland’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB), which gives assistance to victims of crime in Maryland.
Because of her continuous commitment to healing violence, In 2015, Erricka was one of two people in Maryland to be given the award for Outstanding Volunteer Contribution to Victim’s Services, by the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention.
Erricka has also been on the leadership team of the 300 Men March Movement (2013-2015); coordinates community activism for Baltimore Girls, a multi-media art movement that uplifts and unifies Baltimore females; and most recently, birthed and co-organized the Baltimore Ceasefire.
The Baltimore Ceasefire was a city-wide call for 72 hours of no murder in Baltimore, which also proclaimed that residents would celebrate life throughout the ceasefire weekend. This effort, also known as the Baltimore Peace Challenge, received global attention, as it unified Baltimore in a way that hasn’t been seen in decades. At a time when Baltimore averaged 1 homicide every 19 hours, Baltimore experienced 67 hours without murder during the ceasefire weekend. Lamontrey and Donte were murdered on August 5th, and people around the world donated to the Baltimore Ceasefire to provide monetary love to their families.
Watch Dale Beran’s Talk »
Dale Beran
Author and Educator
Dale Beran is a writer and comic artist living in Baltimore, MD. He’s done work for McSweeney’s, Quartz, The Huffington Post, The Nib, Cartoon Network, Super Deluxe, and The Baltimore City Paper. His work has been discussed in New York Magazine, The Guardian, Vice Motherboard, and Mother Jones, and been translated into Portuguese, Japanese, German, and Swedish for various foreign publications. Despite this, he still agonizes over spending like two dollars on a cup of coffee. He is currently working on a book about the internet and politics due out on St. Martin’s Press in 2018. You can read his work at medium.com/daleberan
Watch Leanne Pittsford’s talk»
Leanne Pittsford
Tech Equality Fighter
Leanne Pittsford is an entrepreneur who is changing the face of technology by increasing economic opportunity for all Americans. Leanne is the CEO and Founder of Lesbians Who Tech, the largest LGBTQ community of technologists in the world. Now over 25,000 queer women and allies strong, Lesbians Who Tech is increasing visibility and improving representation among women and gender non conforming individuals in the tech sector on a global scale. She recently launched include.io and the Tech Jobs Tour to improve job mobility and fight bias in technology.
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include.io is a mentoring and recruiting platform for underrepresented technologists and recruiters. The product allows hiring managers to be intentional about diversity – leading to stronger work cultures with more racial & gender equity at companies – while they access a new pool of talent that are recommended by current employees. Recruiting and retention improve as technical employees validate and mentor new talent on the platform. Simultaneously, fresh talent access a professional development boost with mentors and jobs.
The Tech Jobs Tour is speeding up how the next generation of technical talent – who happen to be women, people of color, LGBTQ, veterans and people with disabilities – are connected to careers by hitting the road to 50 cities across the United States in 2017. The divide between tech companies who will have 1 million open jobs by 2020 and the American workforce is bridged as The Tour hosts an event like you’ve never experienced. A Tech Jobs Tour event blends inspiring content (talks, panels, workshops) led by influencers, city leaders, and tech executives with a career fair, speed mentoring, tech demos, and a coding bootcamp showcase. The combination connects diverse people who cut across race, gender, identity, background, experience, skill and technical level. Past speakers and advisors include: Van Jones, Megan Smith, Kara Swisher, and Steve Case while Automattic, Uber and Nike are just a few of the companies hiring diverse tech talent from the Tech Jobs Tour.
Before her work with Lesbians Who Tech, include.io, and Tech Jobs Tour, Leanne founded and led Start Somewhere, a design and technology agency. She founded leanimpact.org, while was acquired by Lean Startup in 2016. From 2006 to 2010 Leanne served as the Senior Director at Equality California, the largest statewide LGBTQ organization behind the No on Prop 8 Campaign to legalize marriage equality for same-sex couples – which was deemed constitutional in California in 2013.
Watch Monty Hoffman’s talk »
Monty Hoffman
Wharf DC Developer
Monty Hoffman formed PN Hoffman in 1993 with a single townhouse conversion, and over the past 24 years has built the company into a market leader of real estate development in the Washington, D.C., metro area. PN Hoffman is known for its longstanding track record of successful projects that enhance communities. A design-forward vision, a strong community commitment and a long-term quality perspective have earned PN Hoffman a sterling reputation. The results have revitalized entire neighborhoods and brought new life to communities. Today, PN Hoffman is developing several mixed use projects throughout the region including The Wharf, a $2.5 billion world-class waterfront and the largest transformative development in Washington, D.C.
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PN Hoffman was one of the first developers to revitalize the 14th Street Corridor, Logan Circle and Adams Morgan. The company was also on the forefront of sustainability, having developed the first LEED® certified residential high-rise in The District – The Alta – years before environmental considerations were commonplace. PN Hoffman has been named among Smart CEO’s Washington Future 50, recognizing the future of the region’s economy, and Hoffman has been named as one of Washington Business Journal’s Power 100, a list of the area’s most influential, news-making business leaders.
He is a founding board member on the DC Students Construction Trades Foundation, which provides educational and apprenticeship opportunities for District students interested in design, engineering and construction. He is also a member of DC Public Schools Engineering Advisory Board and the Federal City Council. For his vision and dedication to revitalizing the Washington, D.C. metro area through a wide variety of transformative projects, we are very pleased to honor Monty Hoffman as this year’s TrendSetter of the Year.
Watch Walter Woods’ talk »
Walter Woods
Modern Elder
Walter’s passion is in inspiring others to inspire themselves. He has over 20 years of social development experience working both with and for younger and older adults in America. Prior to assuming the CEO role of the Humana Foundation , Walter served as President of the Good Samaritan Foundation, Vice President – Strategic Programs for the AARP Foundation, a consultant to The World Bank Group, Chief Development Officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington and Managing Director – Commercial Markets for the American Gas Association.
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Walter has published numerous marketing and sales articles including: “A Program for the 21st Century” for the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives magazine Executive Update, 10/’00.
Walter has a MBA from Northwestern University – J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Evanston, IL, 1989; BBA, cum laude, from Howard University, Washington, DC, 1987; and completed the Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Palo Alto, California, 2013, Leadership Greater Washington, 2003 and Leadership South Dakota, 2016.
He has been added to the 2001 Associations Advance America Honor Roll by ASAE for developing a program that “resulted in significant benefit to American society” and given a 2003 Award of Excellence by ASAE for developing a program that resulted in “significant benefit to American society.”
Away from work, Walter enjoys fly-fishing, cross-country/downhill skiing, sky diving and adventure travel.
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Hans Taparia
Food Entrepreneur
Hans Taparia is a serial entrepreneur and professor at the NYU Stern School of Business. He co-founded one of America’s leading health food brands, called Tasty Bite, and helped build it for twenty years, after which it was acquired. Hans is involved in food from a variety of lenses. He is an entrepreneur, a professor at NYU, where he teaches food entrepreneurship and social impact, a board director at Hunger Free America, a leading hunger advocacy organization, and he writes frequently on the topic.
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He also co-founded one of the world’s leading optical networking technology companies, Tejas Networks, which also went public earlier this year. His articles have appeared in leading publications including the Huffington Post and the New York Times. Hans has a Bachelors of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Stephanie Hill
Accidental Engineer
Stephanie C. Hill is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Lockheed Martin. In this role, Ms. Hill is responsible for global strategies and new business capture, and leads the Lockheed Martin business development organization. She assumed this post in September 2017. She also serves as chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee and sits on the Board of Directors for Project Lead the Way, the nation’s leading provider of K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs, and also serves on the Board of Visitors for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
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Since joining Lockheed Martin in 1987 as a software engineer, Ms. Hill has held positions of increasing responsibility including: Vice President & General Manager of Cyber, Ships & Advanced Technologies; Vice President & General Manager of Information Systems & Global Solutions Civil business; Vice President of Corporate Internal Audit; and Vice President & General Manager of the Electronic Systems Mission Systems & Sensors business.
Ms. Hill is a member of the Board of Directors of S&P Global, a leading provider of independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics and data to capital and commodity markets worldwide.
Ms. Hill has been recognized for her career achievements and community outreach, especially in the advancement of STEM education. She was recognized as one of Computerworld’s 2015 Premier 100 IT Leaders and one of Maryland’s 19th Annual International Leadership Awardees by the World Trade Center Institute. In 2014, Ms. Hill was named the U.S. Black Engineer of the Year by Career Communications Group and included on EBONY Magazine’s Power 100 list, recognizing the achievements of African-Americans in a variety of fields. In 2013, she received an AFCEA Heroines in Technology Award and earned the President’s Award from the Greater Baltimore Committee for support of minority business development. Deeply committed to the development of others, Ms. Hill mentors many students and Lockheed Martin professionals.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Ms. Hill graduated with high honors from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Economics; the university also recognized her with an honorary doctorate in 2017.
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Shawn Martinbrough
Comic Book Artist
Shawn Martinbrough is the author of “How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling”, published by Random House and reprinted in several languages. He is a critically acclaimed creator/artist whose DC, Marvel and Dark Horse Comics projects include “Batman: Detective Comics”, “Luke Cage Noir”, “Captain America”, “The Black Panther” and “Hellboy: Secret Nature”. Shawn has co-created characters featured in the blockbuster 20th Century Fox feature film, “Deadpool”, the “Batman: Gotham Knights” animated DVD and the FOX television series, “GOTHAM” and “THE GIFTED”.
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Shawn is the artist of “Thief of Thieves”, the acclaimed graphic novel crime series written by Robert Kirkman, the creator of the hit AMC television series, “The Walking Dead” and award winning author Andy Diggle.
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Topeka K. Sam
Incarceration Fighter
Topeka K. Sam is a founding member and national organizer of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women (The Council) whose mission is to end the incarceration of women and girls and the founder and executive director of The Ladies of Hope Ministries – The LOHM – whose mission is to help disenfranchised and marginalized women and girls transition back into society through spiritual empowerment, education, entrepreneurship and advocacy. She has most recently founded HOPE HOUSE – a safe housing space for women and girls.
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Ms. Sam, first envisioned The LOHM, Hope House & “Real Women Real Voices -Where People Meet the Policy” symposiums while she was incarcerated in Federal prison. The Symposiums have become central to Council programming bringing the voices and ideas of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women to law students, faculty and the public. Immediately upon release, she began putting her ideas in action. In 2016, Real Women Real Voices symposiums were co-sponsored by law schools Columbia Law School, American University Washington College of Law, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, Yale Law School, University of Washington School of Law, NYU Law School, The New School and Tulane University and a divinity school, Vanderbilt University Divinity School.
In 2016, Ms. Sam organized Council meetings in Los Angeles, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago, New Haven, New York City, and Seattle. She led the first ever Council meetings inside a prison at Washington Correctional Center for Women – Women’s Village and at the Federal Halfway House in Seattle, WA.
In September 2016, she led meetings and presentations to 100 prison officers and officials at the Prisons Training College in Arima, Trinidad where she also met with incarcerated women at the country’s only prison for women. This is an on-going consultation.
In addition to her organizing, Ms. Sam has spoken on numerous panels throughout the United States including Symposium for Systematic Change and Criminal Justice Reform the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panthers on Mass Incarceration and Reentry in New York, the Black World Conference and many others.
She has received the “Women’s Championship” Award 2016 from The Go Get It Women’s Empowerment Conference, “Phenomenal Woman” award from Masjidus Sabur, the “Make it Happen” Community Service Award from The Kids League 2016.
Topeka serves on the board of directors for Grassroots Leadership. She is pursuing her Certificate in Christian Ministry at New York Theological Seminary. She is a Beyond the Bars 2015 Fellow and a 2016 Justice-In-Education Scholar at Columbia University. She is also a 2017 Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow.
All of which has been accomplished since her recent release from prison in May 2015.
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Kyle DeCarlo
Healthcare Entrepreneur
Kyle DeCarlo is a TED Global Fellow and is a founder of the Deaf Health Initiative, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization bringing together organizations, policy makers, and world renown researchers to address social and health issues which negatively impact the Deaf community. Through advocacy, policy, and the creation of new technologies, DHI works to forge coalitions and campaigns that improve the public health and wellbeing of the Deaf community.
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This past year, Kyle was named a TED Global Fellow as part of the TED organization’s “Builders. Truth-Tellers. Catalysts.” cohort. Kyle is a graduate of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dept. Health Policy & Management, where he earned his graduate degree in public policy.
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Lyn Slater
Fashion Icon
Lyn Slater is a professor of social work, a cultural influencer, a model, a writer, partner, mother and grandmother. She started her blog, Accidental Icon, in September 2014 because she could not find a fashion blog or magazine that offered an urban, modern, intellectual aesthetic and also spoke to people who live “interesting but ordinary lives” in cities.
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People (like Lyn) who are not famous or celebrities but are smart, creative, thoughtful, engaged, socially responsible and most importantly clear and comfortable with who they are and reflect this in how they dress. At the age when many people retire, Lyn Slater has reinvented herself as an influencer of popular culture, fashion model, and global icon. Lyn’s rejection of age as a variable to be considered in how one dresses has resonated and her blog has fans from around the world. Her Instagram has over 250,000 followers, most of whom are young.
A huge fan of “accidental occurrences” and making something of them, Lyn believes in serendipity (like a professor of social work becoming a fashion icon). Lyn as Accidental Icon has been on the cover of Grey Magazine and featured in W Magazine, Vogue.com, Harper’s Bazaar Brazil and Netherlands, Le’ Officiel Italia and Manila, Milk, Women’s Wear Daily, Marie Claire Espana, Elle Germany, Cosmopolitan Japan, Vogue Espana, Vogue Italia, InStyle, Washington Post, NBC Nightly News and more. She has done campaigns for Valentino Eyewear, Mango, Uniqlo and other beauty and lifestyle brands. Lyn was signed in January 2017 by Elite Models London, Talent Division, The Collective.
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Bart Paulhamus
Intelligent Systems
Bart Paulhamus currently runs the Intelligent Systems & Physical Sciences Branch within the Research and Exploratory Development Department at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). One of the goals of the branch is to tackle the challenges underlying intelligent systems through a multidisciplinary approach that combines machine learning, neuroscience, and robotics. His technical background is in machine learning, and he has over 15 years of experience applying advanced analytics to technical challenges within the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and the Department of Homeland Security.
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In 2016, he co-led the establishment of JHU/APL’s new Intelligent Systems Center. He joined JHU/APL in 2000 after receiving M.S. and B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Penn State University. On the weekends, you can find Bart exploring the outdoors with his wife and four adventurous kids.
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David and Sarah Trustman
Memory Artists
David and Sarah Trustman discovered the memory arts while studying stage magic. They frequently conduct seminars for magicians and laymen alike about their work on visual approaches to aid memorization for education, performances, and everyday life. They believe passionately in the role of effective memory in learning and are advocates for improvements in how memory is incorporated in school curriculum.
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David divides his time between berry farming and writing and illustrating well-known comics, and has been featured in galleries for his watercolor comic art. Sarah’s varied background spans early-childhood education, music, and theater. She spends her free time as an advocate for children’s education. The duo regularly performs feats of memory involving the first 500 digits of pi, multiple shuffled and memorized decks of cards, and long lists of randomly called out objects. The Trustmans live near Raleigh with their two children, dogs, a fish named Blue-Horse, and their small flock of chickens.
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Håkan Lidbo
Musician & Technologist
Håkan Lidbo has released more than 250 records on labels all over the World. Musically stretching from obscure sonic experiments to straight up pop on labels like Shitkatapult, Pokerflat, SKAM, Tommy Boy, Mille Plateaux, Force Inc, Fragile, Paper, Loaded, Skint, Plastic City, Frogman, Tigerbass, Mitek, Data Error , MNW, Moon Harbour, Kant, Moody, Ministry Of Sound and many others. He has produced and remixed artists like Fatboy Slim, Depeche Mode, Yello, Kool Keith, Trentemøller, Gravitonas, Fever Ray, Jonna Lee, Sophie Ellis Bexter, Andreas Tilliander, Ennio Morricone, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, Martha And The Muffins, Si Begg and many others.
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Carla Dirlikov Canales
Opera Singer & Educator
Versatile mezzo-soprano Carla Dirlikov Canales has been acclaimed by Opera Magazine for possessing a voice that “grabs the heartstrings with its dramatic force and musicality.” Ms. Canales is a passionate humanitarian who for the past 10 years has served as a U.S. Department of State Cultural Arts Envoy promoting American culture overseas, giving master classes and teaching music to orphans and poverty-stricken youth.
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In 2014 she became the first singer ever to win the prestigious Sphinx Medal of Excellence, an honor bestowed upon her by Justice Sotomayor in a ceremony and concert at the Supreme Court of the United States. In 2015 she became the first opera singer to be names as one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2015.
Carla Dirlikov Canales is the proud daughter of a Bulgarian father and a Mexican mother. For her advocacy work with underpriviledged youth of over a decade, the U.S. State Department recently conferred upon her the title of Cultural Envoy. Ms Canales is the first opera singer to join the roster of the President’s Committee for the Arts and the Humanities’ Turnaround Arts initiative, which promotes arts education in public schools. She was also recently added to the prestigious roster of the Americans for the Arts Artists Committee. and she is a board member of the Artful Learning model, established by Leonard Bernstein.
In an effort to give voice to issues of identity and culture Ms Canales founded the The Canales Project in 2016.
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Julien Xuereb
Guitarist & Composer
Innovative French guitarist and composer Julien Xuereb strives to make every performance a unique experience. His compositional style ingeniously blends elements of Classical, Jazz, and Middle Eastern music. Tim Smith, critic of the Baltimore Sun, described his works as “Subtly nuanced compositions.” Julien’s recent appearances on stage include performances throughout France, New York City, Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC. Julien has been featured by media outlets such as PBS, the Baltimore Sun, WBAL-TV, and Maryland Public Television (MPT) for his involvement in community outreach.
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In particular, when Julien was still a student at the Peabody Institute, he became the first Musician-in-Residence at the Springwell Senior Living Community. He gave daily performances and lectures to members of the community and visiting guests in exchange for room and board. In 2016, Julien received the Peabody Dean’s Incentive Grant to expand the program to other retirement facilities. The Musician-in-Residence is now one of the most competitive and sought after programs at Peabody.
As a composer, Julien began working on his first solo album, Introspection, in 2006 and subsequently completed it in 2014. The ten-piece album, released in May 2015, outlines aspects of the human experience including: time, death, love, remembrance, and humanity’s place in the universe. The Atlantic Guitar Quartet premiered one of his latest works, Dialogues for Guitar Quartet, in 2015 at the Engineers Club in Baltimore, MD. Julien is now actively working on his second solo album for classical guitar. One of his latest composition, Through the Telescope, depicts the experience of looking at several distant objects in space. The inspiration was drawn from a unique outdoor performance scenario in which Julien played guitar, and the residents of the Springwell Senior Living Community observed stars through a telescope.
Under the guidance of Maestro Julian Gray, Julien Xuereb graduated from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Music degree specializing in Guitar Performance and Pedagogy in 2015, and a Graduate Performance Diploma in 2017.
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Gulrez Shah Azhar
Climate Researcher
Gulrez is a researcher passionate about health, the environment and development. He along with other partners helped develop India’s first heat preparedness plan in Ahmedabad, India. He currently works as an Assistant Policy Analyst at the non-profit RAND Corporation and is also a Public Policy doctoral student at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, where his work focuses on heat waves. Previously he was an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Public Health, part of the Public Health Foundation of India, where he worked on issues of environmental health, climate change, and infectious diseases, focusing on surveillance and early-warning systems.
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Bernard Olayo
Public Health Specialist
Bernard Olayo is a public health specialist and entrepreneur from Kenya. He is the founder of the Center for Public Health and Development, a nonprofit that has designed and developed two social enterprises: MediQuip Global, which offers biomedical equipment repair and maintenance solutions, and Hewa Tele, a public-private venture delivering affordable oxygen in remote areas. Olayo has over 14 years of experience managing complex public health programs in resource-limited settings in 15 countries across the globe. He is also a technical team member on several World Bank projects, primarily as a technical advisor to a number of ministries of health.
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John Werner
Technology Pioneer
John is Vice President at Meta, an augmented reality Technology Pioneer company that was a y-combinator startup, based in Silicon Valley. John is passionate about connecting entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors to drive social and cultural transformation. He was a founding member of Citizen Schools and the Head of Innovation and New Ventures at the MIT Media Lab Camera Culture group where he integrated imaging, machine learning, and computer vision with social transformation. He then served as a Managing Director of Emerging Worlds SIG, where he lead the launch of collaborative innovation centers in Mumbai, Nashik & Hyderabad.
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He founded Ideas in Action, Inc., a non-profit that created and produces TEDxBeaconStreet, which to date has held 15 events, the last one was at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. Inspired by his involvement with TED as a returning speaker, John has brought together a diverse group of 600+ innovators, storytellers and speakers.
John also founded and runs ARIA (AR in Action), a community of inventors, innovators, integrators, investors, and executives focused on the potential of augmented reality, producing over 300 talks at MIT & NYU, with the next event scheduled to be held at Stanford and Blockchain+AI+Human = Magic/Blockchain in Action Summit taking place at MIT and in Davos.
John a graduate of Hamilton College, was a Harvard University Loeb Fellow at the Graduate School of Design and attended The World Economic Forum this past year.
