Theme: Unbreakable

What does it mean to be strong? When we face challenges, do we stand rigid against the wind – or are we energized, like a turbine? Complex systems are often fragile, but some actually become stronger when stressed. We’ll explore systems and processes that appear UNBREAKABLE, and ask how our civic systems and our shared culture can withstand the deep uncertainties of our time.

Sidney Harman Hall
610 F Street Northwest
Washington, District of Columbia
United States

Abigail Spanberger

U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger represents Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which comprises 10 counties throughout Central Virginia. Representative Spanberger began her career in public service, first serving as a federal agent with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigating money laundering and narcotics cases, and then serving as a case officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As a CIA officer, she worked at home and abroad to collect vital intelligence, keep our country safe, and work in furtherance of our national security priorities. In the private sector, Representative Spanberger worked with colleges and universities to help them diversify their student bodies and increase graduation rates.

Adam Davies

Born in the United Kingdom, Adam Davies studied painting before switching to large-format photography in the late 2000s. Adam received an EdM from Harvard University and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University. In 2015, Adam was honored as Outstanding Emerging Artist at the DC Mayor’s Arts Awards and was the recipient of the Clarence John Laughlin Award. He is an artist-in-residence at Creative Alliance in Baltimore where his recent exhibition featured collaborations with Los Angeles-based musician Alex Zhang Hungtai and Baltimore-based percussionist Adam Rosenblatt. He is currently working with two award-winning authors: Joan Wickersham on a project based upon the 17th-century Swedish shipwreck ‘Vasa’ and Ivy Pochoda on an exploration of the annual wildflower bloom that borders the highways in downtown Los Angeles.

Adrian Bejan

Adrian Bejan received the Benjamin Franklin Medal for “Thermodynamics and constructal theory, which predicts natural design and its evolution in engineering, scientific, and social systems.” All his degrees are from MIT. At Duke University he is the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor. He authored 30 books and 650 peer-refereed journal articles, and was awarded 18 honorary doctorates from universities in 11 countries. His latest book is The Physics of Life (St. Martin’s Press 2016), and his most recent work focuses on how the human mind perceives time.

Albert Rizzi

In January 2006, Albert Rizzi opened his eyes to a world gone dark. The fungal meningitis that sent him into an opioid-induced coma robbed him of his sight, but not his vision. Immediately, Rizzi threw himself into learning to navigate the world as a person who just happened to be blind, bringing a sense of adventure to his endeavors. In 2009, he founded My Blind Spot, a New York City-based nonprofit dedicated to inspiring accessibility for all!

Allison Archambault

Allison is president of EarthSpark International, a non-profit organization incubating businesses that solve energy poverty. EarthSpark has built two town-sized, solar-powered smart grids in rural Haiti and has spun off a smart meter company, SparkMeter, which is now enabling grid operators in 25 countries to expand energy access to low-income customers. EarthSpark’s ‘Feminist Electrification’ approach to microgrid development won a United Nations Momentum for Change award in 2018, hailed as a ‘practical example of what real climate action looks like.’ Allison has consulted to clean energy companies, governments, and advocacy groups. She previously worked with 3TIER on large-scale renewable energy siting and integration and with GridPoint, an early distributed solar+storage company in the United States. She holds a B.A. (hons) from Tufts University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Antonio Tahhan

Born in Venezuela to a Middle Eastern family and growing up in Miami, Tony Tahhan draws inspiration from a variety of cultures. Tony pursued degrees in Math, Economics, and Spanish Literature from Cornell University. As an elective course, he explored food anthropology and became fascinated by its stories, traditions, and taboos. In 2010, Tony was awarded a Fulbright Research grant to Syria, where he studied the midday meal in three contexts: at homes, in restaurants, and in the streets. From cooking to eating, food was a natural vehicle for cultural exchange and one that he continues to explore. From his current home in Baltimore, Tony documents recipes and stories from Aleppo and his many travels, bringing people together online and in person around the love of food.

Ava Pipitone

Ava Pipitone builds tools to scaffold the imaginations of others. She serves as the Co-founder and CEO of HostHome Benefit Corp., the Leadership Consultant with The Baltimore Transgender Alliance, the Board Secretary of the GLCCB, and a diversity and inclusion consultant with Circles of Voices. Ava invites authentic community healing through the her words and equitable organization designs. Housing LGBT folx, building collective worker power, and organizing the transgender community are the fruits of her labor.

Avi Rubin

Avi Rubin is Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and Technical Director of the JHU Information Security Institute. Avi’s primary research area is Computer Security, and his latest research focuses on security for electronic medical records. Avi is credited for bringing to light vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines. In 2006 he published a book on his experiences since this event. Avi Rubin is Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and Technical Director of the JHU Information Security Institute. Avi’s primary research area is Computer Security, and his latest research focuses on security for electronic medical records. Avi is credited for bringing to light vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines. In 2006 he published a book on his experiences since this event. Prior to joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins, Avi worked in the Secure Systems Research Department at AT&T Labs – Research. His work there was in the area of cryptography, network security, Web security and secure Internet services. Before AT&T, Avi worked at Bellcore (now Telcordia) in Applied Research. He received a B.S. (‘89), M.S.E. (‘91), and Ph.D. (‘94) in Computer Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Blair Glencorse

Blair Glencorse is leading a movement for accountability and integrity around the world through the Accountability Lab. The Lab works in communities to make governments more accountable and to open-up civic space- using the arts, media, culture and technology. Blair and his team have done everything from helping to found the first film school in Liberia to monitoring and improving public services in Pakistan to running a global TV show called Integrity Idol to “name and fame” honest government officials. The Accountability Lab recently won the UN’s International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award. Blair also co-founded the first co-working and innovation space in Liberia; helped to found both TEDxMonrovia and TEDxBamako; and is an expert on anti-corruption with the World Economic Forum. Blair speaks regularly on issues of community engagement, citizen participation and governance; and his work has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post and the Guardian among other outlets.

Carmen Medina

Carmen is an organizational heretic and all-purpose troublemaker whose only real expertise is asking stupid questions and noticing odd, new things that might amount to something…or maybe not. People on LinkedIn endorse her for strategy, analysis, and leadership. Those who don’t know her very well also endorse her for program management skills… not! Carmen spent 32 years at CIA but when you meet her you will hardly notice. She is recognized as a national and international expert on intelligence analysis, strategic thinking, diversity of thought, and innovation and intrapreneurs in the public sector. She is the co-author of the book: Rebels at Work: A Handbook for Leading Change from Within and of the landmark Deloitte University Press paper on Diversity’s New Fronter: Diversity of Thought and the Future of the Workplace. Her story as a heretic and change agent at CIA is featured in Wharton School professor Adam Grant’s bestseller Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. Some of her most recent presentations include speaking at South by Southwest 2018 on The Mediocrity Trap and on Critical Thinking at SXSW 2017. She is speaking this year at SXSW on Surviving as a Change Agent. Recently she has spoken: to Canadian Federal senior executives about Diversity of Thought and Rebel Thinking, to the California STEM Education conference 2017, at the Business Innovation Factory 2017, and multiple times at GovLoop’s NextGen Leadership summit.

Chuck Marohn

Charles Marohn – known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues is the Founder and President of Strong Towns, and the lead author of Thoughts on Building Strong Towns — Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 — as well as the author of A World Class Transportation System. He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns’ web content. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America and in 2017 was named one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time by Planetizen. Marohn is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the State of Minnesota and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Marohn has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute. Marohn is a long time commentator on KAXE Northern Community Radio. He currently co-hosts KAXE’s Dig Deep program, a monthly examination of public policy issues affecting Minnesotans. Chuck grew up on a small farm in Central Minnesota. The oldest of three sons of two elementary school teachers, he joined the Minnesota National Guard on his 17th birthday during his junior year of high school and served for nine years. In addition to being passionate about building a stronger America, he loves playing music, is an obsessive reader and religiously follows his favorite team, the Minnesota Twins. Chuck and his wife live with their two daughters in their hometown of Brainerd, Minnesota.

David Carroll

An associate professor of media design at Parsons School of Design, David Carroll is known for challenging Cambridge Analytica in the UK in a quest to recover voter data profiles from the 2016 election. Before that, he served as director of the MFA Design and Technology graduate program at Parsons and then took a shot at being a media tech entrepreneur after working for media clients in digital marketing since the dawn of the commercial internet. He has written about his data quest for Wired, Motherboard, and Boston Review and is working on a book. His research, scholarship, creative practice, and collaborations have been funded by the US government and private foundations.

David Rothkopf

David Rothkopf is the CEO of The Rothkopf Group, a media and advisory company. Via its DSR Network it is a leading presenter of podcast and other web-based content on politics, foreign policy, national security and technology. Rothkopf is a well-known author whose next book Traitor: The Case Against Donald Trump is due out later this year from St. Martin’s Press. His prior books include “National Insecurity”, “Power, Inc.”, “Superclass” and “Running the World: The National Security Council and the Architects of American Power.” He is also the author of “The Great Questions of Tomorrow” from Simon & Schuster and TED Books, based on his TED talk which has been seen to date by well over a million viewers. He was previously editor and CEO of the FP Group, publishers of Foreign Policy Magazine, managing director of Kissinger Associates and served as a senior official in the Commerce Department. He has taught at the schools of international affairs at Columbia University, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown. He is a regular columnist and contributor to major newspapers, websites and broadcast outlets worldwide.

Dr. Anne Marie Lennon

Dr. Lennon is an Associate Professor of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland USA. After receiving a medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and a PhD from University College Dublin, Dr. Lennon completed her residency training in internal medicine in Ireland and at the Cleveland Clinic. She then completed a Fellowship in Gastroenterology in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, followed by an Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship at Johns Hopkins. She joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2010. Dr. Lennon is a Fellow of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the American Gastrointestinal Association, the American College of Gastroenterology, and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers, 21 book chapters and is the co-editor of the textbook Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in Practice. Dr. Lennon’s research is centered on early cancer detection and prevention.

Dr. Jerome Adams

Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH, the 20th Surgeon General of the United States, was sworn into office by Vice President Mike Pence on September 5, 2017. Dr. Adams, a board-certified anesthesiologist, served as Indiana State Health Commissioner from 2014 to 2017. Dr. Adams, a Maryland native, has bachelor’s degrees in both biochemistry and psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a master of public health degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and a medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. As Surgeon General, Dr. Adams oversees the operations of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which has approximately 6,700 uniformed health officers who serve in nearly 800 locations around the world to promote, protect and advance the health and safety of our nation and our world. Dr. Adams was also an associate professor of clinical anesthesia at Indiana University School of Medicine and a staff anesthesiologist at Eskenazi Health, where he was Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. He has served in leadership positions at a number of professional organizations, including the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Association and the Indiana Society of Anesthesiologists. He is the immediate past Chair of the Professional Diversity Committee for the American Society of Anesthesiologists. As Health Commissioner, Dr. Adams presided over Indiana’s efforts to deal with the state’s unprecedented HIV outbreak. In this capacity, he worked directly with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as with state and local health officials and community leaders, and brought the widest range of resources, policies and care available to stem the epidemic affecting that community. He also helped with the successful launch of Indiana’s state-based, consumer-driven alternative to Medicaid expansion and worked with the state legislature to secure more than $10 million to combat infant mortality in high-risk areas of the state. Dr. Adams’ motto as Surgeon General is “better health through better partnerships.” As Surgeon General, Dr. Adams is committed to maintaining strong relationships with the public health community and forging new partnerships with non-traditional partners, including business and law enforcement. He has pledged to lead with science, facilitate locally led solutions to the nation’s most difficult health problems, and deliver higher quality healthcare at lower cost through patient and community engagement and better prevention.

Dwan Reece

Dwandalyn (Dwan) Reece is a musician, scholar and museum professional who is Curator of Music and Performing Arts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History Culture. Responsible for the acquisition, research and interpretation of the museum’s music and performing arts collection, she curated the museum’s permanent exhibition, Musical Crossroads, for which she received the Secretary’s Research Prize in 2017. Dwan’s other projects include the museum’s three-day Grand Opening Festival, Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s 2011 Folklife Festival program, Rhythm & Blues: Tell it Like It Is. She serves as chair of the SI pan-institutional group, Smithsonian Music, and is co-curator of the 2019 initiative, the Smithsonian Year of Music. Other projects include the forthcoming, Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap and a book on the material culture of African American music. A resident of the Washington, DC metropolitan area for the last nineteen years, Dwan’s work at the museum and within her local community focuses on exploring the arts within a social, cultural and historical context.

Elijah Cummings

Congressman Cummings represented Maryland’s 7th district until his untimely passing on October 17, 2019. He also served as the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform. As the main investigative committee in the House of Representatives, Oversight and Reform has jurisdiction to investigate any federal program and any matter with federal policy implications. As the Committee’s Chairman, Congressman Cummings fought to hold the Presidential Administration to a high standard of excellence and to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the actions of the government of the United States. He also seeks to identify appropriate reforms that prevent waste, fraud and abuse and that ensure government programs meet the needs of the American people. Congressman Elijah E. Cummings was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, where he still resides today. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Howard University, serving as Student Government President and graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and then graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law. Congressman Cummings has also received 13 honorary doctoral degrees from Universities throughout the nation. Congressman Cummings has dedicated his life of service to uplifting and empowering the people he is sworn to represent. He began his career of public service in the Maryland House of Delegates, where he served for 14 years and became the first African American in Maryland history to be named Speaker Pro Tem. Since 1996, Congressman Cummings has proudly represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Graham Allison

Graham Allison is the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University where he has taught for five decades. Allison is a leading analyst of national security with special interests in nuclear weapons, Russia, China, and decision-making. Allison was the “Founding Dean” of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and until 2017, served as Director of its Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs which is ranked the “#1 University Affiliated Think Tank” in the world. As Assistant Secretary of Defense in the first Clinton Administration, Dr. Allison received the Defense Department’s highest civilian award, the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, for “reshaping relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to reduce the former Soviet nuclear arsenal.” This resulted in the safe return of more than 12,000 tactical nuclear weapons from the former Soviet republics and the complete elimination of more than 4,000 strategic nuclear warheads previously targeted at the United States and left in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus when the Soviet Union disappeared. Dr. Allison’s latest book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? (2017), is a national and international bestseller. His 2013 book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States and the World, has been a bestseller in the U.S. and abroad. Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, now in its third printing, was selected by the New York Times as one of the “100 most notable books of 2004.” Dr. Allison’s first book, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971), ranks among the all-time bestsellers with more than 500,000 copies in print. As “Founding Dean” of the modern Kennedy School, under his leadership, from 1977 to 1989, a small, undefined program grew twenty-fold to become a major professional school of public policy and government. As Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Clinton and Special Advisor to the Secretary of Defense under President Reagan, he has been a member of the Secretary of Defense’s Advisory Board for every Secretary from Weinberger to Mattis. He has the sole distinction of having twice been awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal, first by Secretary Cap Weinberger and second by Secretary Bill Perry. He has served on the Advisory Boards of the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the CIA.

Greg Nadeau

Greg's life work has been dedicated to improving learning opportunities for all through both enterprise-scale system changes and human-scale interactions and experiences. First on the public side, as Massachusetts' first state education CTO, and, since 2001, as a consultant to other state, local, and national education agencies, Greg has brought disruptive system thinking and compassionate commitment to enable personalized, competency-based learning at the scale of the Internet. Greg now serves as program manager for COVID SafePaths a global movement to develop free, open-source, privacy-by-design tools for residents, public health officials, and larger communities to flatten the curve of COVID-19, reduce fear, and prevent a surveillance-state response to the pandemic.

Janet Noh

Janet Noh is a bi-coastal (NYC & LA) songwriter, performing vocalist, and classical pianist originally from Seattle, Washington. After graduating from Yale with a double major in economics and history, she started her career as an investment banker on Wall Street. It didn’t take long to learn that spreadsheets and data couldn’t feed a creative spirit. After winning a full scholarship at NYU-Tisch and receiving her M.F.A. in musical theatre writing, she abruptly abandoned finance for good (her parents still don’t know, please don’t tell). Since graduating in 2016, she made her Broadway debut in ROCKTOPIA and has been a featured performer at The Lincoln Center, New York City Center, The Public Theater in NYC, among other venues. Also an active educator, Janet is currently a teaching artist at Lincoln Center Theater, a guest songwriter at Columbia University, composer-in-residence at Borough of Manhattan Community College, and was a music director at Marymount Manhattan College (MMC). Janet has been commissioned to write a musical for Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, scheduled to be released worldwide by Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals. Her musical PANGAEA was produced at Live & In Color and MMC with the support of The Frederick Loewe Foundation. She was chosen to write and perform an original piece for the BARS Workshop at the Public Theater where she worked with original cast members of Hamilton. Currently, Janet is working on a new musical about North Korea, an EP of original music, and is writing songs for an upcoming feature film (Anastasia) set to be released in 2019 by Paramount Pictures and Netflix.

Jeff Speck

Jeff Speck is a city planner and urban designer who advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, he presided over the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design. Prior to his federal appointment, Mr. Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at DPZ & Co., the principal firm behind the New Urbanism movement. Since 2007, he has led Speck & Associates, a boutique planning firm that specializes in making American downtowns thrive. With Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Mr. Speck is the co-author of The Smart-Growth Manual and the “modern classic” Suburban Nation, which the Wall Street Journal calls “the urbanist’s bible.” His latest book, Walkable City — which the Christian Science Monitor calls “timely and important, a delightful, insightful, irreverent work” — was the best selling city-planning book of 2013-16. His TED talks and YouTube videos have been viewed more than 3.8 million times.

John Prisco

John Prisco is an entrepreneur and technologist that has led Triumfant, GeoVantage and Ridgeway Systems to successful exits. His depth of experience in telecommunications, cybersecurity and quantum physics are ideally suited to help lead Quantum Xchange and its customers, partners, investors, and employees through the emerging era of quantum computing and the future of encryption. John holds degrees in Electrical Engineering from MIT and Columbia University.

John Werner

John Werner has created a career out of bringing ideas, networks and people together to generate powerful results. John's deep curiosity and penchant for problem-solving led him to a diverse set of roles spanning many fields and interests. John channels his passion and curiosity into cultivating platforms for thought and exchange. John is a founding board member of Path Check, Inc. Path Check, Inc. is a new nonprofit coming out of MIT. Path Check is creating a software platform for public health to help reopen the economy, starting with test-and-trace and later at-home coordination and return-to-work certification. Hundreds of people have volunteered to support the effort and the group is in discussions with WHO, Mayo Clinic, and over 20 different countries and U.S. states and cities who are seeking a solution. John also founded TEDxBeaconStreet. John is also a co-founder of TEDxMIT. John is a MIT Connection Science Fellow at MIT School of Engineering. John is also a Managing Director at Link Ventures. John is also the Chief Network Officer, SVP Corporate Development of Cogo Labs. Previously, John was a VP of a Y-Combinator augmented reality startup based in Silicon Valley. John's also served as the Head of New Ventures at the MIT’s Camera Culture Group.

Khadijah Tribble

Khadijah Tribble is a social entrepreneur on a mission to do good. She is a recent graduate of Harvard Kennedy School where she was a Cheng Fellow at the Social Innovation Change Initiative. Khadijah currently serves on the board of Changing Perceptions DC, a community-based organization that enables ex-offenders and formerly incarcerated individuals to open small businesses. Prior to attending Harvard, Khadijah worked as a consultant providing information and operational support to grassroots community organizations, healthcare industry firms and government clients related to housing and health. As a Cheng Fellow, Khadijah launched the Marijuana Policy Trust, an organization aimed at interrupting the current cannabis regulatory landscape by modeling equity in cannabis regulations at local, state and federal levels. The Marijuana Matters project promotes equity in cannabis through advocacy, education and the Minorities In Cannabis (MIC incubator/accelerator. The goal of MIC is to increase marketplace access, generate revenue and improve social and economic outcomes for individuals and communities most impacted by the failed war on drug policies.

Kyle Yearwood

Kyle Yearwood is a visual artist from Baltimore, MD. Through his study of filmmaking at Morgan State University and anything he could learn from YouTube, Kyle has mastered an art form that combines photography, videography, compositing, visual effects, and 3D. His artwork has been exhibited in the National Black Theatre in Harlem, The Tectonic Space in Baltimore, and San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora. In 2018, Kyle received the Light City – Neighborhood Lights award and premiered his first major art instillation in the heart of Baltimore City. Kyle credits his journey of overcoming depression as the key to unlocking his passion and purpose. In 2014, he began releasing his surrealistic self-portraits on Instagram along with captivating captions centered around self-love, self-empowerment, and magic. After one of his posts captured the attention of millions on the platform, Kyle was featured on various outlets, such as ABC2News, The Baltimore Sun, Afropunk, and Essence. Kyle’s viral path to success is evidence of the growing importance of social media presence and how it can not only make a career, but also make an impact.

Lauran Hardin

Lauran Hardin is the Senior Advisor for the Camden Coalition’s National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs. In this role, she builds upon her extensive experience providing consulting, co-design and coaching in care re-design and complex care transformation. Current projects include co-designing a complex care ecosystem for uninsured patients in Memphis, TN, scaling a community based cross-sector care coordination model for vulnerable populations throughout the Adventist Health system and development of a complex care clinic model within the Sutter Health system. Hardin was previously the Director of a Complex Care Center serving hospitals, multiple providers and more than 1,500 high frequency/complex patients in the Mercy Health System. The Center’s model of complex care has resulted in better patient navigation and outcomes, including decreased emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and costs for vulnerable populations. Aspects of the care model were implemented in more than twenty Trinity Health ministries across six states, including rural and urban locations. Hardin was awarded the National CNL Vanguard award from the AACN in January 2015. Her innovative model of care earned her “Edge Runner” recognition from the American Academy of Nursing in June of 2015. She was named AARP Culture of Health Scholar at the National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs in January of 2017 and inducted as a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice in Nursing in 2018. Hardin earned her Master’s degree in Nursing from the University of Detroit Mercy, with certifications as a CNL, Pain Management and Hospice. She trained as a Facilitator with the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Center, spent several years working in hospice, and co-developed the first Pain and Palliative Care service in the West Michigan region.

Leana Wen

Dr. Leana Wen is an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. Dr. Wen previously served as Health Commissioner for Baltimore, Maryland , where she oversaw more than 1,000 employees with an annual budget of $130 million; two clinics that provide more than 18,000 patients with reproductive health services; and mental health programs in 180 Baltimore schools. A board-certified emergency physician, Dr. Wen was a Rhodes Scholar, Clinical Fellow at Harvard, consultant with the World Health Organization, and professor at George Washington University. She has published over 100 scientific articles and is the author of the book When Doctors Don’t Listen. In 2016, Dr. Wen was honored to be the recipient of the American Public Health Association’s highest award for local public health work. In 2018, Time Magazine named her one of the 50 most influential people in healthcare.

Lina Moses

Dr. Lina Moses is an epidemiologist and disease ecologist. Her primary interest is the control of viral zoonoses transmitted from small mammals. Moses utilizes methods from epidemiology and ecology to understand the interface of human, animal and pathogen. In addition to observational and quasi-experimental field studies, she is interested implementing human and animal surveillance for zoonoses at the community level. The ultimate goal of her research is to develop interventions to respond quickly to and reduce primary animal-to-human transmission of pathogens.

Maya Ajmera

Maya Ajmera is the President and CEO of Society for Science & the Public (the Society) and Publisher of its award-winning magazine, Science News. Founded in 1921, the Society works to promote the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement. It is best known for its world-class science competitions, including the Regeneron Science Talent Search, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and Broadcom MASTERS.

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings

After more than two decades operating at the nexus of politics, policy and government, Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings was elected Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party in December 2018. Prior to leading the party, Dr. Rockeymoore Cummings spent her career advising and working for organizations and policymakers fighting for social justice, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), National Urban League, the House Ways and Means Committee, and Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY). Dr. Rockeymoore Cummings’ leadership in the areas of health, education, economic security, and technology have been recognized by leading businesses and organizations, including Google, the Aspen Institute and Running Start. Dr. Rockeymoore Cummings is the President and founder of Global Policy Solutions, a political consulting firm. Her late husband, Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD-7), passed away on October 17, 2019, and was honored as the first African American politician to lie in state at the Capitol.

Paul-Olivier Dehaye

Paul-Olivier Dehaye is a mathematician and privacy advocate based in Geneva Switzerland, and is the founder of PersonalData.io, a Geneva-based nonprofit promoting digital rights in the field of data protection. He was also instrumental in documenting details relevant to reporting the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which has motivated and informed his later work.

Sam Schwartz

Mr. Schwartz is CEO of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants, a firm that specializes in transportation planning and engineering. He is the traffic columnist, Gridlock Sam, for The New York Daily News (he released the word ‘gridlock’ into the public lexicon). Previously Mr. Schwartz was New York City’s Traffic Commissioner. He started his transportation career in the late 1960’s as a NYC cabbie and joined the Traffic Department, as a junior engineer, in 1971. Mr. Schwartz’s most recent books, No One at the Wheel: Driverless Cars and the Road of the Future (2018) and Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and The Fall of Cars (2015) lay out a recipe for cities faced with rapid changes in modes, automation, demographic shifts and travelers’ preferences. Mr. Schwartz has been an adjunct professor for 40 years at some of New York City’s most respected colleges and universities including Cooper Union, Long Island University, Hunter College and Brooklyn College. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics at Brooklyn College and received a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Florida.

Sticks and Bars Youth Marimba Ensemble

Sticks+Bars Youth Marimba Ensemble is Washington, D.C.’s first and only African style youth marimba band. In fact, it is one of few such ensembles in the eastern United States. Founded in 2014 by Premila Mistry, a music teacher in the District of Columbia Public School System, the ensemble gives students in grades 5-12 the opportunity to learn the beautiful marimba music of Zimbabwe and South Africa. The participating students also play, perform and compose music for marimba in other genres and styles. No prior experience is necessary to join the group, which has grown from 11 students to more than 40 over the past five years. They come from public, private and charter schools across the D.C. metro area. Sticks+Bars has performed by invitation in numerous venues in and around D.C. including Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, Maryland; the Millennium Stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; The Wharf DC in celebration of its opening; and at Mayor Bowser’s State of the District Address at Arena Stage. The Advanced Ensemble traveled to Atlantic City, NJ in 2016, to play as the featured ensemble for 1000 music educators attending the American Orff Schulwerk Association Professional Development Conference. In 2018, the students also traveled to Ithaca, NY where they opened the Ithaca College High School Gospel Festival. Each year, Ms. Mistry also strives to give students the opportunity to interact with professional musicians from around the world and experience music as an international language. Most recently, Sticks+Bars was honored to play for and interact with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a world-famous a cappella singing group from South Africa. These experiences help the ensemble members expand their horizons, enrich their own music, and share the joy of marimba.

Wellsley Brown

As a campaign associate for Oceana, Wellsley is primarily focused on helping build the technical foundation for the organization’s plastics campaign. She spends most of her days immersed in the ongoing science and the political and corporate developments around plastic pollution. A graduate of the University of Miami, Wellsley holds degrees in marine science and biology. Before joining the Oceana team, Wellsley worked with the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, where she monitored the success of sea turtle nests on her hometown beaches. Seeing hatchlings struggle to break free from plastic debris on their trek to the ocean solidified her resolve to tackle the marine plastic pollution problem. Her passion for the ocean and its inhabitants can be attributed in part to growing up in Jupiter, Florida, where she spent most of her free time surfing, swimming and scuba diving.

Werner Reich

Werner Reich an his family were residents of Berlin when the Nazis came to power in 1933, and later fled to Zagreb. When the Nazis occupied Yugoslavia in 1941, Werner was placed into hiding with a couple that worked for the resistance movement. In 1943, at age 15, Werner was arrested and beaten by the Gestapo, jailed for seven weeks, and eventually sent to the Theresienstadt and Auschwitz II camps. In a single day, Werner survived three selections by the infamous Dr. Mengele and became one of 89 who were chosen out of 6,000 and sent to work in Auschwitz I. In January 1945, after a seven-day death march, he ended in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. After liberation in May 1945, he returned to Yugoslavia and after two years escaped to England where he worked as a laborer and later became a tool and die maker. He married in 1955 and immigrated to the United States, where he became an engineer. Werner is a prolific public speaker in the United States and overseas about his life story and the importance of taking care of each other. His work has found application in anti-genocide, anti-extremism, anti-bias, and anti-bullying contexts and beyond. Werner is a founding member of the Long Island Multi-faith Forum and a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Psychic Entertainers Association. He is the co-author of the book “The Death-Camp Magicians,” about how learning magic helped him survive Auschwitz.