Events
ABC Continuity Forum 2014

ABC Continuity Forum 2014 ... List of speakers

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

SPEAKERS DR. DANIEL KAHNEMAN Nobel Prize Winner in Economics PETER DIAMANDIS CEO, X Prize Foundation NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Pulitzer Prize-Winning New York Times Columnist DAVID BROZA Artist and Activist MIRA AWAD Singer, Songwriter, Actress and Humanitarian STEVEN M. WISE President, Nonhuman Rights Project MADISON STEWART Shark Advocate & Underwater Filmmaker JULIAN UGARTE Founder & Director, Socialab BEAU LOTTO Prof. of Neuroscience at University College London SIR KEN ROBINSON Author & Educator DR. M. SANJAYAN Executive VP & Senior Scientist, Conservation International EMILIO AZCÁRRAGA JEAN CEO, Grupo Televisa RADU DUMITRAŞCU Communications Manager, Executive Director’s Office, Greenpeace International MATHIS WACKERNAGEL Ph.D. - President, Global Footprint Network VIK MUNIZ Artist and Photographer MICHAEL W. BECK The Nature Conservancy, Lead Marine Scientist YONATAN RAZ-FRIDMAN Kano Co-founder and CEO NATHAN WATERHOUSE Managing Director & Co-Founder of IDEO's Collaborative Innovation Platform, OIEngine.com KAREN APPLETON Senior Vice President, Industry Alliances and Founder, Box.org

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Dr. Daniel Kahneman DR. DANIEL KAHNEMAN Nobel Prize Winner in Economics

Daniel Kahneman is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is also Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at the Woodrow Wilson School, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Dr. Kahneman has held the position of professor of psychology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1970-1978), the University of British Columbia (1978-1986), and the University of California, Berkeley (1986-1994). He is a member of the National Academy of Science, the Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the Econometric Society.

He has been the recipient of many awards, among them the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association (1982) and the Grawemeyer Prize (2002), both jointly with Amos Tversky, the Warren Medal of the Society of Experimental Psychologists (1995), the Hilgard Award for Career Contributions to General Psychology (1995), the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2002), the Lifetime Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association (2007), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013). Dr. Kahneman holds honorary degrees from numerous universities.

He is also the author of the award-winning Thinking, Fast and Slow, winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012 and selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011.

Peter Diamandis PETER DIAMANDIS CEO, X Prize Foundation

Dr. Peter Diamandis is the chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, which leads the world in designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Best known for the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight and the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize for 100 mile-per-gallon equivalent cars, the foundation is now launching prizes in exploration, life sciences, energy, and education.

Diamandis is also an international leader in the commercial space arena, having co- founded and run many leading entrepreneurial companies, including Zero Gravity Corporation, the Rocket Racing League, and Space Adventures.

As co-founder & chairman of Singularity University—a Silicon Valley-based institution partnered with NASA, Google, Autodesk, and Nokia—Diamandis counsels the world’s top enterprises on how to utilize exponential technologies and incentivized innovation to dramatically accelerate their business objectives.

Diamandis inspires and moves audiences to action. His message is clear: there is no challenge that cannot be overcome as long as you have a clear objective goal, know what you are measuring, and incentivize the right community to solve your challenge. Using personal and inspirational stories, Diamandis has been called “one of the best speakers ever” by numerous CEO-level audiences. He has received accolades from an impressively diverse list of listeners, including Google, Microsoft, the United Nations, Facebook, TED, Autodesk, and Activision-Blizzard. He is a frequent contributor to CNN, CNBC, and MSNBC.

Peter Diamandis attended MIT where he received his degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering, as well as Harvard Medical School where he received his MD. His personal motto is “The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!”

Nicholas D. KristofNICHOLAS D. KRISTOFPulitzer Prize-Winning New York Times Columnist

A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof is an extraordinary thinker, human rights advocate, and chronicler of humanity. A seasoned journalist, he has traveled the major roads and minor byways of China, Africa, India, and South Asia, offering a compassionate glimpse into health, poverty, and gender in the developing world. Kristof has lived on four continents, reported from six, and traveled to more than 150 countries, all 50 states, every Chinese province, and every main Japanese island. In his most recent book, A Path Appears, which was co-authored with his wife Sheryl WuDunn, Kristof looks at those working to make the world a better place, and shows readers the numerous ways this work can be supported.

Kristof and WuDunn are the first married couple to win a Pulitzer in journalism, awarded for their coverage of China’s Tiananmen Square democracy movement. Their other books include China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power and Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which draws attention to the maltreatment, marginalization, and brutality toward women and the trials and triumphs of women struggling for opportunity and equality. Often called the “reporter’s reporter,” Kristof is the subject of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival documentary Reporter.

Kristof goes beyond reporting to give a voice to the voiceless. He shares firsthand accounts of some of the world’s most devastating human tragedies, believing, “you tell the story of a place by writing about a tiny village as a sort of prism into the bigger issues the culture [is] facing.” Ultimately delivering a message of hope, Kristof empowers audiences to not only understand the world we live in, but transform the lives of others within it.

David Broza DAVID BROZA Artist and Activist

The separation between Israeli West Jerusalem and Palestinian East Jerusalem is more than geography. The divided city represents stark differences in religion, politics and sensibility that have made it a symbol of how difficult it is to even imagine a peaceful solution to the conflict. Two constituencies live steps from each other, yet contact and interaction can be rare and complicated.

In 1999, David Broza—one of Israel’s most popular musicians, met Said Murad, a renowned Palestinian composer, producer and the leader of the band Sabreen. Broza began visiting Sabreen’s East Jerusalem studio where, over the next decade, he periodically played and worked.

“For Israelis, East Jerusalem is unknown territory,” says Broza. “When I would invite friends to come to the studio, they would think twice or wouldn’t show up. We’re so afraid of something because we don’t know what it is. But I immerse myself in situations, really give myself to ideas, and I realized that if I want to be around Said more, I would need to bring my music to him, and bring projects to the studio.”

Broza decided to record an album in the studio and bring this oft-invisible district to the world. The result is “East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem,” a collection of 13 songs that blends cultures, languages, and styles into a powerful statement about collaboration and coexistence.

For (an almost-biblical) eight days and eight nights, the group stayed in the studio and slept nearby. “We were able to completely dive into the music and turn the studio into a home,” says Broza. The singer began to visit the Shuafat refugee camp, home to the members of G-Town, where he continues to work with local children. The sessions were filmed for an upcoming documentary with the same working title as the album.

Mira Awad MIRA AWAD Singer, Songwriter, Actress and Humanitarian

Mira was born in Rameh, Galilee to Anwar, her Palestinian father and Snejanka, her Bulgarian mother. She started singing from an early age—her mother swears she was singing before she could talk. Her first stage performance was at age 9 at International Child’s Day, where she sang a song about peace called “Give us a chance.” At 13, she started writing her own songs, and from the age of 17 she sang with the rock band Samana. In her compositions Mira dealt with a variety of topics, such as women’s rights, including a song about a victim of domestic violence.

In both Israel and abroad she has collaborated with a wide range of world-famous musicians including Noa (Achinoam Nini), world music artist Idan Raichel, Joca Perpignan, George Dalaras, La Oreja de Van Gogh, Andrea Bocelli and Bobby McFerrin. Last year, Mira participated in David Broza’s “East Jerusalem, West Jerusalem” album and documentary.

Mira won first prize in the World Music category in the 2012 ISC (International Songwriting Competition). Judges included Tom Waits, Garbage, Jon Secada, Dido, Anoushka Shankar, and many more. In 2012 she established LabelFree, a world music label.

Steven M. Wise STEVEN M. WISE President, Nonhuman Rights Project

The major purpose of the Nonhuman Rights Project is to attain legal personhood—the capacity to possess one or more legal rights—for such nonhuman animals as the great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans), elephants, and cetaceans (whales and dolphins). He holds a J.D. from Boston University Law School and a B.S. in chemistry from the College of William and Mary. He has practiced animal protection law for 37 years throughout the United States and is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. Currently he teaches “Animal Rights Jurisprudence” at the Vermont, Lewis and Clark, Autonomous University of Barcelona, and St. Thomas law schools, and has taught Animal Rights Law at the Harvard, University of Miami, and John Marshall law schools. He regularly lectures throughout the world.

He is the author of four books: Rattling the Cage – Toward Legal Rights for Animals (2001); Drawing the Line – Science and the Case for Animal Rights (2003), Though the Heavens May Fall – The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery (2005), and An American Trilogy – Death, Slavery, and Dominion Along the Banks of the Cape Fear River (2009).

A documentary about the Nonhuman Rights Project and its first three cases, in which it demanded that common law writs of habeas corpus be issued by three New York Supreme Courts on behalf of four chimpanzees, is being produced by DA Pennebaker, the 2012 recipient of an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and his wife and fellow filmmaker, Chris Hegedus.

Madison StewartMADISON STEWARTShark Advocate & Underwater Filmmaker

My life is anything but ordinary. It is based on the beliefs I have held since I was a child that the natural world is the real world, and when injustice becomes law, law destroying our oceans and our future, then resistance becomes duty. I witnessed the decimation of a species within my lifetime, a species I consider my family, and I decided to fight back. I am no one special; I fight the way anyone else would for his or her own family. So my story is not only one of following my passion, or living the dream, and my career is not a planned occurrence.

Everything I do, and who I am, is a product of actions against the natural world. It is a result of, in 20 years on this planet, seeing the things I love taken from me by government negligence and our population’s separation from the oceans.

I work for sharks. They are everything to me, and my story is one of loss at the hands of environmental injustice, and I work to take back what I believe is mine: That is a future with an ocean that has sharks. The most important career I can hope to be involved in is the protection of this planet, and thus my own future. I have seen a change in my lifetime. I am not an activist or a conservationist. I am just a person who refuses to believe they will lose their home in their lifetime. Not now, nor has it ever been impossible for one person to make a difference.

JULIAN UGARTE JULIAN UGARTE Founder & Director, Socialab

Socialab is a platform where more than 300,000 creative people propose solutions to overcome poverty and other social problems. It may not seem out of the ordinary anymore to crowdsource solutions to the problems posed by poverty, but doing so with a for-profit business model adds a new twist. That’s a challenge that Socialab, a Latin American nonprofit company, welcomes.

The organization runs competitions for technology-based business proposals that address major problems wrought by poverty in the region: food insecurity, lack of clean drinking water, struggling public education and so on. Then it taps its virtual community of 300,000 users to identify the best ideas and fine-tune them.

The network is the largest open innovation platform in the world. After spinning off from the youth-led Chilean nonprofit Techo in 2007, Socialab began hosting crow-sourced competitions in 2010 shortly after Ugarte participated in Singularity University’s 2010 GSP Program. Drawing on its own funding from grants, Socialab incubates the winning projects, encouraging the companies to test their products on real users. When it’s clear that the products will sell and the revenue model is solid, Socialab and the company approach investors.

Last year, Socialab whittled 15,000 proposals down to 111 products that it supported based on $2.1 million in grants. It’s currently incubating 35 companies. Among the projects Socialab has supported are MirOculus, a blood test for multiple forms of cancer; Algramo, a Chilean company that uses a business model similar to Groupon’s to negotiate lower prices for food and household items; and Plasma Water Sanitation System, a pump that uses pressure and electricity to purify drinking water.

Beau Lotto BEAU LOTTO Prof. of Neuroscience at University College London Beau Lotto

Beau Lotto is a world-renowned neuroscientist who specializes in the biology and psychology of perception. Originally from Seattle, Wash., he has long lived in the United Kingdom and currently resides in Oxford. He has been conducting and presenting research on human perception and behavior for more than 25 years. A professor of neuroscience at University College London, his interest in education, business and the arts has led him into entrepreneurship and engaging the public with science.

Beau founded the first neuro-design and neuro-branding company, and recently created Traces, the first augmented-reality, geo-messaging app—an innovative approach to perception and behavior that harnesses social media and encourages users to engage with the physical world.

Beau is also the founder of NeuroDesign, an innovation consultancy that works to enable applied creativity in organizations.

In 2001, Beau created his own space for science play—the Lottolab. During its residency at the Science Museum in London, the lab blurred the lines between neuroscience, research, art, learning, and parties. Experiments ranged from testing how women respond to men who make public donations to seeing how children can navigate space blindfolded with just a cell phone in hand.

Lottolab’s experimental studio approach to research and learning explores change at personal, social, and environmental levels. Among other achievements that have come out of the Lab was the world’s first peer-reviewed science paper authored by primary school children.

Beau has been featured on two BBC Horizon programs, the National Geographic Channel, and the Discovery Channel and has given two main-stage TED talks. He is also a frequent corporate and motivational speaker.

He is currently working with museums from Istanbul to Paris, and is working with the Chilean government to create the first science institute where children from deprived backgrounds undertake scientific projects as a means to transform their lives and communities.

Sir Ken RobinsonSIR KEN ROBINSONAuthor & Educator

An internationally recognized authority in creativity and innovation in education and business, Sir Ken Robinson is also one of the world’s leading speakers. Videos of his famous talks to the prestigious TED Conference are the most viewed in the history of the organization and have been seen by an estimated 300 million people in over 150 countries.

Sir Ken works with governments in Europe, Asia and the United States, international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and leading cultural organizations. He led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government, was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, and was one of four international advisors to the Singapore Government for a strategy to become the creative hub of Southeast Asia.

Called “one of the world’s elite thinkers on creativity and innovation” by Fast Company magazine, Sir Ken has received numerous awards and recognitions for his groundbreaking contributions. He was included in Thinkers50 list of the world’s leading business thinkers and has been named one of TIME/Fortune/CNN’s Principal Voices. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. His 2009 book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, is a New York Times best seller and has been translated into 21 languages. A 10th anniversary edition of his classic work on creativity and innovation, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, was published in 2011. His latest book, Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life, was published by Viking in May 2013 and is also a New York Times best seller.

Dr. M. SanjayanDR. M. SANJAYANExecutive VP & Senior Scientist, Conservation International

Dr. M. Sanjayan (@msanjayan) is a global conservation scientist, writer and Emmy-nominated news contributor who specializes in conservation as it relates to improved human well-being. He serves on Conservation International’s senior leadership team as executive vice president and senior scientist.

Sanjayan’s peer-reviewed scientific work has been published in leading scientific journals, including Science, Nature and Conservation Biology, and his expertise has attracted national media coverage in publications such as Outside, Time, Men’s Journal, National Geographic, AFAR, Grist and The New York Times. He is also the co-editor of Connectivity Conservation (Cambridge University Press).

Sanjayan recently completed a quest to examine the state of wild nature and human well-being across the globe. In February 2015, PBS will broadcast his two-year journey in a series called “Earth – A New Wild.” Filmed in 29 countries on six continents and produced by National Geographic and Passion Pictures, the film reveals how humans are inextricably linked with wild nature.

Sanjayan also recently reported from Christmas Island and journeyed up to Tupungato glacier in the Andes as a correspondent for “Years of Living Dangerously,” the 2014 Emmy-winning series that examines the connections between people and the impacts of climate change. In addition, he serves as a science and environment contributor to CBS News, and his 2013 CBS Evening News report on elephant poaching in Kenya earned an Emmy nomination in the investigative journalism category. His television experience also includes numerous documentaries for Discovery Channel and the BBC.

Sanjayan is a Clinton Global Initiative senior advisor, a Catto fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of National Geographic Society’s Explorer’s Council, which is a distinguished group of top scientists, researchers and explorers who provide advice and counsel to the Society across disciplines and projects. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Oregon and a doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Sanjayan writes for Orion, The Huffington Post and Fortune China and posts frequently from his expeditions at @msanjayan.

Emilio Azcárraga Jean EMILIO AZCÁRRAGA JEANCEO, Grupo Televisa

Emilio Azcárraga Jean was born in Mexico City in 1968. He is a founder of the abc* Foundation where he also serves as co-chair. He is President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Grupo Televisa S.A.B., as well as President of Fundación Televisa.

His career with the company began in 1988 as Operations Director of Channel 12 in Tijuana. Two years later, he was appointed Grupo Televisa’s Corporate Vice President of Programming and, in 1996, Chief Operating Officer, responsible for the overall operation of the company. In 1997 he became CEO of the group.

Led by Emilio Azcárraga Jean, Grupo Televisa has more than doubled its operating margin and has consistently captured more than 70 percent of Mexico’s broadcast television market. Today, Televisa is the undisputed leader of Spanish-language content worldwide. It produces, yearly, more than 90,000 hours of original programming that is exported to over 85 countries, including an audience of 50 million Hispanics in the United States. Through its continued expansion into cable and satellite TV as well as landline and mobile telephony services, Televisa has also become a major player in the Mexican telecommunications industry.

Mr. Azcárraga’s commitment to social responsibility is reflected in his support of Fundación Televisa, Mexico’s most prominent foundation; and Teletón, a nationwide event to assist handicapped children and fight childhood cancer.

In constant search of connection with the new generations that will determine Mexico’s future, Azcárraga Jean set the tone of dialogue among college students with the annual effort Espacio, and he enthusiastically promoted the entrepreneurs of Endeavor Mexico during his term as president of the organization, between 2011 and 2012.

In alliance with educational institutions, a variety of organizations and the media, Azcarraga Jean championed Iniciativa México, an effort that began with a direct call to society, then identified and advised innovative, sustainable and high impact projects capable of generating social leaderships and strengthening Mexico.

Mr. Azcárraga has a Bachelor in Industrial Relations from Universidad Iberoamericana, and he studied the D1 Program on Business Administration at the Mexico City Branch of IPADE. In 2006, he received an honorary MBA from the Business Institute of Madrid, Spain.

He is a member of the boards of Grupo Financiero Banamex, the Mexican Council of Businessmen and Univision, and he is Co-President of Iusacell.

Radu DumitraşcuRADU DUMITRAŞCUCommunications Manager, Executive Director’s Office, Greenpeace International Radu Dumitraşcu is a communications strategist with Greenpeace International, based in Amsterdam. He is responsible for creating and implementing communications strategies and tactics for the executive director of Greenpeace International, including thought leadership communications and reputation management.

Radu brings more than 12 years of experience in communications and public relations. His background combined with his expertise in message development, positioning and branding, media relations, crisis communications and environmental communications make him a sought-after communications counselor by Greenpeace offices across the globe.

Radu’s analytical skills help him uncover key audience motivation drivers and barriers, identify niche communications platforms and create effective influencer engagement plans and CEO visibility programs. Radu has designed communications strategies for Greenpeace International around key events such as the World Economic Forum, the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations climate negotiations. Radu has been with Greenpeace International since September 2012.

Prior to Greenpeace, Radu directed communications for the Africa program of Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), based in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. While with FZS, Radu designed a communications campaign in support of conservation efforts of endangered species in national parks in DR Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, called the Forgotten Parks.

Before moving to Africa, Radu worked with Ogilvy Public Relations, based in Washington, D.C. Radu provided strategic services to key clients across a wide range of corporations, non-profits and government agencies including the American Association of Railroads, the American Chemistry Council, Huggies, Kimberly Clark, Keep America Beautiful, Boehringer Ingelheim, Nestlé, WellPoint, the World Economic Forum, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Lipton, Special Olympics, and Quaker/Tropicana. Radu holds a master’s degree in strategic public relations from George Mason University (USA) and Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy) and a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations from the University of Bucharest (Romania) and Mid Sweden University (Sweden).

Mathis WackernagelMATHIS WACKERNAGELPh.D. - President, Global Footprint Network

Mathis is co-creator of the Ecological Footprint and president of Global Footprint Network, an international sustainability think tank focused on bringing about a sustainable human economy where all can live well within the means of one planet. It proposes the Ecological Footprint, which measures how much nature we use and how much nature we have, as a tool for bringing ecological limits to the center of decision-making everywhere. In 2012 and 2013, Global Footprint Network was named one of the World’s100 Top NGOs by The Global Journal.

Mathis has worked on sustainability with governments, corporations and NGOs on six continents. He previously served as director of the Sustainability Program at Redefining Progress in Oakland, Calif., and ran the Centro de Estudios para la Sustentabilidad at Anáhuac University in Xalapa, Mexico. Mathis has authored or contributed to more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, numerous articles and reports and various books on sustainability that focus on embracing limits and developing metrics for sustainability, including Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, Sharing Nature’s Interest, Der Ecological Footprint: Die Welt neu vermessen, and WWF International’s Living Planet Report.

After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, he completed his Ph.D. in community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. There, as his doctoral dissertation with Professor William Rees, he created the Ecological Footprint concept. Since 2011, he has also been the Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of 1956 Visiting Professor at Cornell University.

Mathis was named a 2014 ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame inductee, and his awards include the 2013 Prix Nature Swisscanto, the 2012 Blue Planet Prize of Japan, the 2012 Binding Prize for Nature Conservation, the 2012 Kenneth E. Boulding Memorial Award of the International Society for Ecological Economics, the 2011 Zayed International Prize for the Environment (jointly awarded by UNEP) and an honorary doctorate from the University of Berne.

Vik MunizVIK MUNIZArtist and Photographer

Born in 1961 in São Paulo, Vik Muniz lives and works in New York City and Rio de Janeiro. One comprehensive retrospective of Vik’s work is currently traveling through Europe and China, now on view at the Long Museum at West Bund, Shanghai after having been shown at the Tel Aviv Art Museum early this year. Another exhibit, traveling through North and South America, just closed at CAC Quito in Ecuador and is traveling to Buenos Aires where it will be presented at MUNTREF. Other venues include MAC Lima in Peru, and Museo Banco de La Republica in Bogotá. Recent solo exhibitions were housed in major international museums such as Coleção Lambert, Avignon, France; the Moscow House of Photography; Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro; Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo; the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA and the International Center of Photography, all in New York.

Along with his artistic activities, Vik is involved in educational and social projects in Brazil and the United States. His documentary Waste Land (2010) was nominated for an Academy Award, and won the Sundance Audience Award for Best Film. In 2011 he was named a Goodwill Ambassador by Unesco and in January 2013 he received the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum. Vik is a member of the Network of Global Agenda Councils. His most recent documentary This is not a Ball is currently on view throughout Latin America and the United States. He was commissioned by the New York City transportation authority to create work for the 72nd Street and 2nd Avenue subway stations, which will open to the public in 2016. Vik will open Escola Vidigal, a school of art and technology for low income children in Rio de Janeiro in 2015.

MICHAEL W. BECKMICHAEL W. BECKThe Nature Conservancy, Lead Marine Scientist

Dr. Michael W. Beck is the lead marine scientist for The Nature Conservancy and an adjunct faculty member at the University of California Santa Cruz, where he is based. Mike works on coastal marine conservation in five continents across science, business and policy to bring clear tools and results to decision-makers. Mike focuses on building coastal resilience in the interface between adaptation and conservation, where he works to reduce risks to people, property and nature.

Mike has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed science articles. His work covers topics from the role of coral reefs in reducing risks from storms to the effects of people on extinctions of Pleistocene mammals.

He has also published numerous popular articles including Op-eds in the Miami Herald, The New York Times, Huffington Post and Caribbean Journal.

He was a Fulbright Fellow and an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Sydney. He has served on advisory boards and panels for NOAA, EPA and the National Academy of Sciences. And in 2012, Mike was selected as a Pew Marine Conservation Fellow.

Yonatan Raz-FridmanYONATAN RAZ-FRIDMANKano Co-founder and CEO

Yonatan Raz-Fridman builds companies. As co-founder and CEO of Kano, Yonatan and Team Kano are offering a personal computing experience to a new creative generation – for anyone, anywhere, from London and Mumbai to Boston and Shanghai.

Kano launched on Kickstarter in 2013, raising $1.5 million, and has already shipped more than 20,000 Computer Kits to parents, kids and teachers from 86 countries.

Prior to starting Kano, Yonatan worked with the CEO of Keter Group, one of the world’s leading designers, manufacturers and marketers of plastic consumer products. He’s a graduate of the Zell Entrepreneurship Program, during which he co-founded Funkkit, and served as operations team leader in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Nathan WaterhouseNATHAN WATERHOUSEManaging Director & Co-Founder of IDEO's Collaborative Innovation Platform, OIEngine.com

Nathan is the Managing Director of OI Engine and has in-depth experience in organizational design and engaging large communities in creative problem-solving. He’s passionate about using technology to increase collaboration within groups.

Nathan co-founded both OpenIDEO.com and OI Engine. In his years at IDEO, he worked with CEOs and senior-level management teams in companies from diverse industries to help them understand why innovation is important, what types are appropriate to each organization, and how to support an entire enterprise in building upon its existing assets to meet future needs and goals.

Karen AppletonKAREN APPLETONSenior Vice President, Industry Alliances and Founder, Box.org

As Senior Vice President of Industry Alliances at Box, Karen leads Box’s vertical industry go-to-market team, responsible for creating ecosystems of customers and partners, and developing transformational solutions that address major opportunities for enterprises. Karen is the founder of Box.org, delivering Box to thousands of non-profits globally to make tech tools accessible and available. Prior to her current role, Karen was SVP of Global Alliances and Vice President of Business Development at Box.

Previously, she was an executive at Prosper, and she served as Head of Business Development at Orrick Herrington and Sutcliffe. Karen was recently named a founding advisor of the global innovation forum for the Information Technology Innovation Council.