In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

The 'Quin House
217 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts, 02116
United States

Alex Josephson

ALEXANDER JOSEPHSON Co-Founder of PARTISANS, studied sculpture and architecture at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, and at the University of Rome, where he graduated as President's scholar. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and exhibitions including a New York Prize Fellowship awarded by the Van Alen Institute for Architecture. While studying and living in Italy he worked for studio Fuksas. His thesis work on Islamic architecture has been the subject of numerous awards and reviews. In 2010 he was admitted to post graduate studies at the Architecture Association school (AA) in London England, but left to found PARTISANS in Toronto.

Ana Pantelic

Dr. Ana Pantelic is a social entrepreneur and international development professional with nearly fifteen years of experience in policy and practice, who has worked at the confluence of systems change, innovation, and economic opportunity. As the Executive Director of MIT D-Lab, she leads a team of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners to develop and advance solutions to global poverty challenges. Prior to joining MIT, she was the interim Chief of Social Policy with UNICEF Uganda, where she launched the country’s first urban social protection program for adolescent girls. She is also the founder of LISTA, a digital solution proven to increase financial health, which has reached nearly a million people living in poverty across three continents. A prolific lecturer, published researcher and author, she is fluent in three languages and holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Belgrade in her native Serbia, and received her MA and BS degrees from Boston University.

Benjamin Von Wong

Benjamin Von Wong's work lies at the intersection of fantasy and photography and combines everyday objects with shocking statistics. It has attracted the attention of corporations, like Starbucks, Dell, and Nike and has generated over 100 million views for causes like ocean plastics, electronic waste, and fashion pollution. Most recently, he was named one of Adweek's 11 content branded masterminds. He is also the host of the Impact Everywhere Podcast and a creative advisor for the Ocean Plastic Leadership Network and the Sustainable Ocean Alliance. 300k + Fans on Facebook 80k + Subs on youtube 100k + Followers on Instagram 15k + Followers on Twitter 30k unique monthly hits on the blog Website: https://www.vonwong.com/

Carol Novello

Carol Novello is founder of Mutual Rescue™ and author of Mutual Rescue: How Adopting a Homeless Animal Can Save You, Too. Mutual Rescue is a national initiative highlighting the connection between people and homeless animals to inspire life-saving efforts in communities around the world. Mutual Rescue’s first short film, “Eric & Peety,” has been viewed more than 100 million times on social media. A former senior software executive at Intuit, Carol served as president of Humane Society Silicon Valley for nearly a decade and earned her MBA from Harvard Business School. Her family includes several rescue animals.

Chris Ullman

Chris Ullman is a four-time national and international whistling champion (1994, 1996, 1999, and 2000). He has performed with major symphony orchestras, serenaded President George W. Bush in the Oval Office, whistled the National Anthem at major league sporting events and entertained millions around the world on TV and radio. In what Chris describes as a “ministry,” he whistles “Happy Birthday” more than 400 times each year to friends and family. Chris started his puckered pursuits at age five, whistled incessantly while delivering newspapers as a teen, jammed with jazz bands in college, and worked the open mike circuit in his Washington, DC home in the 1980s-90s. He competed nine times at the National and International Whistling Convention and served as a judge twice. Chris has appeared on The Tonight Show, The Today Show, CNN, NPR, CNBC and has been featured in The New York Times, People Magazine, The Washington Post, and Time Magazine. His repertoire includes classical, blues, jazz, Broadway, and rock. In 2000, Chris was named the Lillian Williams Whistling Entertainer of the Year, and in 2003 he released his debut CD, The Symphonic Whistler. In 2012 Chris was inducted into the International Whistling Hall of Fame. By day Chris is a Director of Global Communications at The Carlyle Group, an investment firm based in Washington, DC.

David Chang

David is an entrepreneur and angel investor who has held operating roles at 6 startups and invested in 60 companies. He was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Gradifi, which was acquired by E*TRADE. Previously, he held roles at Tripadvisor, PayPal, and m-Qube/Verisign. In addition, he was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School and Director of the Babson Summer Venture Program. www.davidchang.me

David Kong

David Sun Kong is a Synthetic Biologist, community organizer, musician, and photographer based in Lexington, MA. He is the Director of the MIT Media Lab's new Community Biotechnology Initiative. David is a pioneer in developing "lab-on-a-chip" technologies for synthetic biology and a leader in the global community biology movement. He conducted his graduate studies at MIT’s Media Lab, receiving a Master's degree for developing technology for printing nanostructures with energetic beams and a Ph.D. for demonstrating the first gene synthesis in a microfluidic (“lab-on-a-chip”) system. He was recognized as an emerging leader in synthetic biology as a "LEAP" fellow, served as a guest faculty member at the Marine Biology Lab in Woods Hole, MA, and is co-founder and managing faculty of "How To Grow (Almost) Anything, an international course on synthetic biology. He founded and chaired new Microfluidic and Hardware Tracks for the International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition (iGEM) and is the official iGEM DJ. He was Technical Staff in the Bioengineering Systems & Technologies group at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory and a founding member of the synthetic biology team. He is also the founder of Metafluidics, an open repository for fluidic systems. He is also the founder and Board President of EMW Community Space, an art, technology and community center in Cambridge MA and is a long-time organizer in the Asian American arts community. David has performed around the country as a DJ, beat-boxer, vocalist, and rapper in hundreds of venues including South by Southwest, the Staples Center in Los Angeles and Brooklyn Bowl, opening for hip hop legend Questlove. He is also an an award-winning vocal arranger and producer. His photography has been exhibited at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, the Japanese American National Museum, and other museums and galleries across the country.

David Troy

Dave Troy is a serial entrepreneur and data activist in Baltimore, Maryland. He is currently CEO and product architect at 410 Labs, maker of the popular e-mail management tools Mailstrom.co and Chuck. He has been acknowledged by the founding team at Twitter as the first developer to utilize the Twitter API, with his project “Twittervision,” which was featured in the 2008 MoMA exhibition “Design and the Elastic Mind,” curated by Paola Antonelli. His current projects use social network data to map cities and analyze disinformation campaigns. He is also organizer of TEDxMidAtlantic in Washington, DC, and lives in Baltimore with his wife and two children.

Gihan Amarasiriwardena

Gihan is co-founder and president of Ministry of Supply, an apparel brand dedicated to making clothing scientifically better through innovative design, cutting-edge manufacturing, and new materials. A graduate of MIT’s chemical engineering program and a tinkerer at heart, Gihan leads design, R&D and product development at Ministry of Supply, and brings his engineering mindset to solving common wardrobe problems. Over the past few years he has consistently put his designs to the extreme test. In 2015, he set the Guinness World Record for fastest half marathon in a suit, and in 2018 he cycled across America wearing a Ministry of Supply NASA-derived polo design. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2015. Ministry of Supply has been named to Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” list for 2021, and winner of their Innovation in Design Awards in 2018 and 2020.

Giuseppe Stuto

GIUSEPPE STUTO - CO-FOUNDER, MANAGING PARTNER I am the first US born in my family which wholly immigrated from Italy. My technological curiosity mostly sparked when I taught myself how to program objective-C during the “early” YouTube days in 2009. As a former founder and operator with both large scale consumer technology and really hard “deep tech” respectively, I like to work with and support founders who are tackling an ambitious mission that has the ability to disrupt the way things operate in today’s world. I tend to favor founding teams that have at least some technical component given their natural ability to investigate and iterate aggressively. Prior to co-founding 186 Ventures with Julian, I was a founder and CEO at Fam. We built one of the largest group video communities ever by scaling to over 7 million users in just about 12 months time. Fam was acquired by DraftKings, where I subsequently served in product & strategy roles leading up to their IPO. I later on joined an early investment in the neural interface space, Pison Technology, as COO to help triple the team and sustain rapid revenue expansion. In my entrepreneurial experience I had the opportunity to work with an amazing founding team, as well as working with and learning from some of the world’s leading venture partners and angel investors from whom I learned a ton from. At 186 Ventures I spend the majority of my time meeting companies, diligence, supporting portfolio companies, and fund administration. Academically I obtained a B.S.B.A. from the Boston University Questrom School of Business and attended Malden Catholic High School prior to that. I am a mediocre at best self-taught programmer and am constantly interested in learning new developments in automation, FinTech, enterprise SaaS, consumer behaviors, and artificial intelligence technology, among other things.

Greg LoPiccolo

After a 10-year stint as bassist/songwriter for Boston-based alt-rock band Tribe, Greg shifted to composing music for videogames. He joined Harmonix Music in 1999 to run product development - and led the teams that developed Guitar Hero and Rock Band, among many other titles. Greg founded ToneStone in 2018, which is applying design insights from game development to music creation - and unlocking musical expression for a mass audience.

Harald Ott

Dr. Harald C. Ott is a thoracic surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital and an Associate Professor in Surgery at the Harvard Medical School. He is best known for his work in whole organ regeneration. He discovered and perfected the method of stripping an organ of its own cells and then infusing the remaining scaffold with new progenitor cells. To date, his technology has been successfully applied to heart, liver, lung, kidney, and pancreas regeneration. This method of reseeding and engraftment with native cells potentially eliminates donor organ shortage and the need for life-long immunosuppression in transplant patients, and thus lays the path for effective solutions for the millions of people in need of organ repair or replacement.

Hayley Reardon + Pau Figueres

Folk + Flamenco Duo

Hayley Reardon is a singer-songwriter with an innate gift for capturing the essence of people and personal history through song. At 25, the young storyteller has been honing her craft for over a decade. In 2019 Hayley was honored by the city of Dachau, Germany with the Ruckteschell-Villa Scholarship--an artist residency program. Barcelona native Pau Figueres blends Flamenco guitar with the music of our century. Pau is an outstanding guitarist who tackles music from multiple interpretative angles using different concepts, understanding and studying the guitar as a versatile cross-over instrument. Together, they weave stories and melodies that defy a place and time.

Jeff Grantz

Jeff Grantz is the director of Creative Technologies at Design Communications, Ltd in Boston. He is the former owner and director of the creative technology studio Materials & Methods, as well as founder of Boston’s Nighttime Contemporary Arts Festival “ILLUMINUS.” Jeff attended the Rhode Island School of Design where he later taught in the departments of Industrial Design, Interior Architecture, and Foundation Studies. A bastion of internal conflict, multidisciplinary designer, creative technologist, and corporate provocateur – Jeff has spent the last 20 years avoiding any particular field or focus, but is an expert seeker of creative pursuits, enhancer of human experience, excels in bi-directional candle burning and using business development as an excuse to have drinks with friends.

Jennifer Buell

Dr. Jennifer Buell is the Chief Executive Officer at MiNK Therapeutics. She brings more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical experience, leading teams to advance discovery candidates through to clinical development to commercialization. She was previously President and Chief Operating Officer at Agenus, where she was responsible for organizational operations, overseeing research, clinical development, manufacturing, commercial operations, investor relations and external affairs. During her tenure, she transformed Agenus from a neoantigen vaccine company to a global, fully-integrated biotech company with multiple strategic partnerships. Prior to Agenus, Dr. Buell held leadership positions in R&D operations at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Harvard Clinical Research Institute (Baim), where she was involved in the development strategy and operations for a portfolio of industry and government-sponsored clinical programs. She obtained her Ph.D. in Cellular, Biochemical, and Molecular Biochemistry with an M.S. in Biostatistics from Tufts University.

john Werner

Founder of TEDxBoston

John Werner

Founder and Curator of TEDxBoston

Jonatan Lopez

Living upon the streets of Mexico, longing for love, hope and a life of passion, searching for a path to call his own, Jonatan Elihu Lopez developed a distinct liking for rhythm at an early age. The styles and rhythms of numerous music styles made sense to him, as does swallowing to an infant. Hearing wasn’t just hearing. Listening was the key, and listening to the voices, the voices of the Universe. Their perfect flowing balance of harmony within all of the earth and ourselves, it was the structure to our very souls. Thus, a beat-boxer was born. Action had to be taken. How can one with no means of an instrument or gift of vocal singing talent create such beauty? How can one replicate what they feel with what they are given to in terms of musical understanding? Yet, Jonatan was somehow given the gift of understanding the re-creation of musical structure itself, the musical balance of existence. Born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in 1990, Jonatan Lopez, more notably known as, “JFlo,” began a life not so known to others. Upon living a life of poverty, Jontan came to the United States with his elder brother in 2001. Not knowing a word of English, Jon struggled to adapt to his new environment. After quickly learning English, as well as the US customs and societal standards, JFlo soon learned how conformed the system truly was in this new country. With no other means of escape, nor expression of feelings of dismay and discomfort other than music, music than thus, became his outlet of choice. Consistently listening to genres that exhibited a musical quality in which he could relate, Jon soon learned to understand music in a new way. Without any regard to lyrics, instrumentals of the hip-hop genre infiltrated Jon’s mind with wonder and intrigue. Continuously exploring new sounds not only new to his ear, but also to his world, Jon explored realms unbeknownst to him. To name but a few are: Trance, Electronic, Dub-Step, Drum and Bass, Trip-hop and his newest of passions, but greatest endeavor, Jazz. Jonatan found many forms of music true in relation to him, and used this connection to further himself creatively. JFlo is always learning and exploring the beauty of musical expression. Another new form of creative expression for JFlo is painting. This new creative outlet spurred when our artist felt he needed something new- a new means upon which to express himself. This had led him to discover an entirely new aspect of himself- one which he didn’t even knew existed. One that could convey passions for this world in ways which beat-boxing could not. To this day, JFlo indulges in his beat-boxing daily, day and night- in the shower, while going for a walk, while working, while painting, heck, even while making love! This style of music is instinctive, a pure passion and love for Jonatan- one that will never leave him. His only desire is to bring joy, love and inspiration to all those who wish to express themselves in their true fashion. https://tedxbeaconstreet.com/speakers/jonatan-lopez/

Juan Enriquez

Juan Enriquez is one of those unique individuals who lives in the future and works on the cutting edge of discovery. He is an active investor in early-stage private companies in the life sciences sector, and is one of the world’s leading authorities on the uses and benefits of genomic research. His book, with Steve Gullans, is Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth. In Evolving Ourselves, Juan and Steve Gullans conduct a sweeping tour of how humans are changing the course of evolution — sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. In his newest book, Right/Wrong: How Technology Transforms Our Ethics (October 2020), Juan reflects on the evolution of ethics in a technological age. He examines the many shifts in the right vs. wrong pendulum are affected by advances in technology. Bio-science is beginning to affect the way we live, work, and do business, and Juan is an articulate and effective advocate of its promise. Synthetic Genomics, which he co-founded, is a company developing breakthrough genomic-driven solutions for major global issues. They are focused on energy and chemical solutions first but researching a wide range of business solutions in human health (vaccines) and food and water production and the environment. Synthetic Genomics was a partner and major funder of the J. Craig Venter Institute’s recent breakthrough — the creation of the first synthetic bacterial cell. In addition to his entrepreneurial work in the life sciences, Juan writes and speaks engagingly about the profound changes that genomics and other life sciences will cause in business, technology, politics and society. He is a sought-after speaker, and his highly-anticipated appearances at TED and other venues are dynamic, funny, insightful, and illuminating. He was named one of two guest curators — both global thinkers (the other is Bill Gates) for the 2011 TED conference. His work has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Foreign Policy, Science, and The New York Times. He also coauthored, with Steve Gullans, an electronic book titled, Homo Evolutis: A Short Tour of Our New Species.

Julian Fialkow

JULIAN FIALKOW - CO-FOUNDER, MANAGING PARTNER I’ve had the opportunity to play operating roles at one of the fastest growing tech companies in Boston, opportunity to help stand up a premier venture firm, and have now co-founded 186 Ventures. I enjoy spending time with founders of any industry and learning more about how they can change the world with technology. I was privileged enough to grow up around entrepreneurs and saw the value in DraftKings (DK) early and began my operating career there. I joined DK with nearly 200 employees and served as a direct report and Project Manager to the Chief Business Officer. I was a member of the DraftKings Strategic Ventures group and in this role I was responsible for establishing marquee partnerships, driving customer acquisition and fostering new revenue streams. Prior to co-founding 186 Ventures with Giuseppe, I was a founding team member and on the investment team at Drive by DraftKings, a multi-stage venture capital firm that invests in SportsTech and Entertainment. My main focus at DRIVE was sourcing, investment due diligence, fundraising and portfolio management. At 186 Ventures I am applying all of the learnings I accrued from witnessing hyper growth firsthand and investing in so many bright founders over the past 4 years. I spend the majority of my time sourcing opportunities, spearheading community efforts to further building our brand name, diligence, and general ecosystem development. I attended Colgate University and studied Digital Arts & Entrepreneurship and later on studied Entrepreneurship and Clean Energy Studies from the Copenhagen Business School. I was a member of the Division 1 Men's Varsity Hockey team at Colgate and went on to play professional hockey in Copenhagen. I have also been a participant in the Pan Mass Challenge for 13 years and am the Co-Chair of the Boston Winter Ball.

Kendall Spencer

Kendall Spencer, became the first student-athlete to serve on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors in 2015 as part of the new governance structure. Spencer recently served as chair of the National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee after joining national SAAC in 2013 and his school’s SAAC in 2011. His leadership within college athletics helped athletes successfully advocate for representation and voting power at all levels of the NCAA governance structure. He has lead quarterly national SAAC meetings, established priority items and guides other SAAC members in discussions on legislation, health and safety issues and various student-athlete initiatives. He has since had the opportunity to present to a variety of audiences on the intricacies of college athletics as they relate to student-athletes and the greater model of higher education. Recently he helped national SAAC conduct the most comprehensive survey to date of current student-athletes on their overall experience in college. Results from this survey are leading the ongoing discussion of student-athlete time demands in Division I and other divisions. Spencer earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology with minors in Business and Sociology from the University of New Mexico. After graduation, he studied Neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and in the wake of the nation’s controversy on racial injustice decided that his talents were best served in the legal industry. As a student-athlete, Spencer has won a National Championship in the Long Jump, earned First Team All-American honors in addition to numerous conference honors and has since competed at the Olympic Trials. Last year he spent his time as a volunteer coach at Harvard and the Kennedy School of government prior to starting school in the fall of this year. Kendall is currently attending Georgetown University Law School and hopes to use the lessons learned in intercollegiate athletics to serve the community through advocacy and ultimately pursue a career in government/public policy. https://www.knightcommission.org/bios/kendall-spencer/

Khalid Shah

Khalid Shah is the Vice Chair of Research at BWH Neurosurgery and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. He directs of the Center for Stem Cell & Translational Immunotherapy at BWH and the joint Center of Excellence in Biomedicine with KACST and BWH. He is also a Principal Faculty at Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston. Khalid and his team have pioneered major developments in translational cell therapy field, successfully developing gene edited and engineered cellular therapies for cancer. Previously, Khalid's translational work has caught the attention in the public domain and was highlighted in the media world-wide including features on BBC and CNN. Recently, Khalid’s laboratory has repurposed cancer cells by reverse engineering and utilized them as therapeutics to treat cancer which was highlighted world-wide including features on Scientific American, New York Times and Scientific American. Amongst Khalid’s published works are also two books featuring groundbreaking insights into treating cancer using different engineered cell types. He has presented his findings in more than 300 seminars worldwide and in recent years has given various keynote lectures on Innovation and Translation of biological therapies. The potential of developing novel cancer therapies by Khalid and his team has been recognized by many cancer alliances and associations and has received the young investigator, mentorship, distinguished research, innovation, idea and impact awards for his work. Khalid holds current positions on numerous councils, advisory and editorial boards in the fields of Cell therapy and Oncology and has participated in the training of numerous undergraduate, graduate students and residents who have come from across the US and from more than 45 foreign countries. Khalid currently holds 15 patents and he has founded two biotech companies whose main objective is the clinical translation of therapeutic cells in cancer patients. A prolific innovator, published researcher and author, Khalid is keen to bridge the barriers between traditional and modern medicine and ultimately find a cure for cancer.

Larry Nagler

Born and raised in N.Y. Attended UCLA on Tennis scholarship. NCAA Singles, Doubles and Team Champion in 1960, National Collegiate Tennis Player of the Year; PAC 12 (different name them) singles Champion ’60, ’61 and ’62. Tennis All American for 3 years. Admitted to UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame, and to the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame. Member of UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame committee for several years, responsible for choosing new admittees. Walk-on to UCLA basketball team, and played for 1 + years. Legendary coach John Wooden was a tennis fan, who supported my decision to drop basketball for tennis when it was clear I could not do justice to both; and became close personal friends with Coach Wooden after college. Proud to say he publicly praised my basketball ability . Played tennis on the amateur tennis circuit, including the US Championships, for 8 years; doubles partner with Arthur Ashe and Allen Fox on the circuit; traveled and roomed with Ashe after UCLA . Had many interesting experiences and conversations with Arthur over the years until he died of AIDS, after a contaminated blood transfusion. What a loss to the country. Attended UCLA Law School, and practiced business litigation for 55 + years. Was Ashe’s attorney, and Tom Okker’s, the winner and runner-up of the first U. S. Open Tennis Championships in 1968, when they were deciding to turn pro; participated in the birth of Open Tennis and had a front row seat on the evolution of tennis from the era of small wood rackets, etc. to today’s version of the game. Currently, I play paddle tennis 5-6 days a week in Venice Beach, California, which has become my exercise, my social life and my entertainment. I am also the pro-bono unofficial general counsel to the Venice Beach paddle tennis community and its’ many strange characters. I have 4 kids, and 2 grandkids, and try to stay close to all of them. I am a most fortunate man. http://www.nagler.com/index.php/attorneys

Lavina Talukdar

Lavina Talukdar works as a Senior VP Head of Investor Relations at Moderna, which is a Manufacturing company with an estimated 2,700 employees; and founded in 2010. They are part of the Finance team within the Finance Department and their management level is VP-Level. Lavina graduated from Stony Brook University in 1995 and is currently based in Cambridge, United States.

Leah Ellis

Leah Ellis Producing Climate-friendly cement Leah Ellis is co-founder and CEO at Sublime Systems, a company that has developed a breakthrough process to produce carbon-neutral cement. The technology replaces the industry's legacy fossil-fuel intensive thermal calciner with an electrochemical process that produces carbon-neutral lime at ambient temperatures with renewable electricity. Sublime’s technology was co-invented by Leah and Sublime's co-founder, Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, at MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering during Leah's tenure as NSERC/Banting Postdoctoral Fellow. Prior to working on cement at MIT, Leah earned her PhD in chemistry with Professor Jeff Dahn at Dalhousie University, Canada, where she worked on optimizing lithium-ion cell lifetime in partnerships with 3M and Tesla. Leah is an Activate Boston Entrepreneurial Fellow and was recently named among MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators under 35.

Mark Schatzker

Mark Schatzker Writer in residence at the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center, which is affiliated with Yale University Mark Schatzker is the author of three books: Steak, The Dorito Effect, and The End of Craving. A former feature writer for Conde Nast Traveler, his work has been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Best American Travel Writing and Annual Review of Psychology. He is the writer in residence at the Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center, which is based at Yale University. He lives in Toronto. Website: https://www.markschatzker.com/

Mike Lynch

Mike Lynch is a sports correspondent for WCVB Channel 5’s award-winning sports department with special focus on his signature “High Five” high school sports series and the Thanksgiving night high school football special, as well as other major sporting events. Mike was formerly the principal weeknight sports anchor for WCVB for 34 years since September 1985 and a member of the WCVB sports team for 37 years since March 1982. From 1995 through 2008, Mike hosted the weekly sports program "Patriots All Access," a behind-the-scenes look at New England’s NFL franchise, and served as a broadcast commentator during Patriots pre-season games. He has also done play-by-play coverage for the Boston Celtics, New England Patriots, and college football. For eleven years, he hosted the Boston College weekly football coach’s show "Eagles Preview" on Channel 5. In 1985, Mike initiated “High Five,” a weekly NewsCenter 5 report highlighting the achievements of high school student athletes. For over 30 years, these unique segments have been lauded by critics and received numerous honors for a continuing commitment to covering high school athletics. Mike also continues to be instrumental in the annual production of "High 5 Salutes Thanksgiving Heroes," WCVB's half-hour wrap-up program of all the traditional high school football rivalries across the Bay State. Mike was voted Massachusetts "Sportscaster of the Year" by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association in 1985-1991, 1999, 2003, and 2006-2012 for a total of 16 times, the most honors of anyone in the history of the award. In 1987, SportsCenter 5 won the United Press International Award for “Best Sports Reporting” in the country. Prior to coming to WCVB, he was sports director for Boston’s WMRE Radio, formerly WITS, from 1977 to 1983. During this time, Mike was responsible for the station’s Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins pre-game shows. In addition, he hosted a weeknight sports talk show and was the radio voice of Harvard University’s football broadcasts. Mike’s broadcasting career began in 1974 at WLYN Radio in Lynn, where he served as a color commentator for high school football and basketball broadcasts. Mike was brought up in the Boston suburb of Swampscott. He graduated from Harvard in 1977. While in college, he quarterbacked and kicked for the Harvard team that won the 1975 Ivy League Football Championship. He also played first base for the Crimson baseball team. Mike resides in Winchester, MA, with his wife Mary Ellen, and has three daughters Kelly, Molly and Katey. WCVB profile: https://www.wcvb.com/news-team/ae3d8c5e-ee18-484a-9b5e-18cf79236dbb

Monica Geraffo

Monica Geraffo is a professional fashion historian. Her research focuses on the representations of fabric and fashion trends within popular culture mediums, especially superhero comics and their film and television adaptations. Currently a professor at Woodbury University, Monica has published with the Film, Fashion & Consumption Journal and The Middle Spaces, presented with the Comics Arts Conference at San Diego Comic Con, and appeared on Buzzfeed's YouTube channel As/Is. She is also a regular co-host with VoxPopcast.

Nicole Lazzaro

Nicole Lazzaro, President and Founder of XEODesign, is the leading authority on emotion and player experience and designed the first true iPhone game. With a Stanford degree in psychology Lazzaro is the first to use facial expressions to measure player emotions. A leading designer, developer, and researcher Lazzaro applies her expertise to design award-winning XR experiences for games as well as enterprise. One of the top 20 women working in video games, millions of leading developers worldwide use Lazzaro’s emotion framework The 4 Keys to Fun, including Assassins Creed, WOW, and Battlefield. Since 1992 her clients include Disney, EA, Facebook, Oculus, Survios, BOSEAR, Double Eye Studios, TRIPP, Samantha Bee, and the Obama White House; on titles such as The Sims, Myst, Star Wars and Horizon Worlds. She is widely cited by global news media such as Wired, Rolling Stone, Fast Company, CNN, CNET, Wall Street Journal, and TED. Lazzaro is currently developing Follow the White Rabbit a mind-bending XR adventure about a magician whose magic one day suddenly works. (http://playwhiterabbit.com)

Nir Barzilai

Dr. Nir Barzilai is the director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research and of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. He is the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair of Aging Research, professor in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics, and member of the Diabetes Research Center and of the Divisions of Endocrinology & Diabetes and Geriatrics. Dr. Barzilai’s research interests are in the biology and genetics of aging. One focuses on the genetic of exceptional longevity, where we hypothesize and demonstrated that centenarians have protective genes, which allows the delay of aging or for the protection against age-related diseases. In a Program he is leading we take full advantage of phenotypes, DNA, and cells from the Ashkenazi Jewish families with exceptional longevity and the appropriate controls and his group have established at Einstein (over 2600 samples of which ~670 are centenarians) and discovered underling genomic differences associated with longevity. Longevity Genes Project (LGP) is a cross-sectional, on-going collection of blood and phenotype from families with centenarian proband. LonGenity is a longitudinal study of 1400 subjects, half offspring of parents with exceptional longevity, validating and following their aging in relationship to their genome. The second direction, for which Dr. Barzilai is holding an NIH Merit award that focuses on the metabolic decline of aging, and his team hypothesize that the brain leads this decline. His lab has identified several central pathways that specifically alter body fat distribution and insulin action and secretion by intraventricular or hypothalamic administration of several peptides that are modulated by aging including: Leptin, IGF-1, IGFBP3 and resveratrol. He has received numerous grants, among them ones from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), American Federation for Aging Research, the Ellison Medical Foundation and The Glenn Medical foundation. He has published over 280 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and textbook chapters. He is an advisor to the NIH on several projects and serves on several editorial boards and is a reviewer for numerous other journals. Dr. Barzilai is in the Scientific Director and on the board of the American Federation for Aging Research, is its co-scientific director, and has served on several NIA study section. He is also a founder of CohBar Inc., a biotech that develops mitochondrial derived peptides as therapy for aging and its diseases and of Lifebioscince biotech. Dr. Barzilai has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Beeson Fellow for Aging Research, the Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar in Aging Award, the Paul F. Glenn Foundation Award, the NIA Nathan Shock Award, the 2010 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction in Aging Research and the IPSEN Longevity Prize (2016). He is currently leading an international effort to approve drugs that can target aging. Targeting Aging with METformin (TAME) is a specific study designed to prove the concept that multi-morbidities of aging can be delayed by metformin, working with the FDA to approve this approach which will serve as a template for future efforts to delay aging and its diseases in humans. Born in Israel, Dr. Barzilai served as chief medic and physician in the Israel Defense Forces. He graduated from The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and completed his residency in internal medicine at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. He served in a refugee camp during the war in Cambodia (1979-1980) and built a nutritional village in the homeland of the Zulu (1983 – Kwazulu). He has completed 2 fellowships at Yale (metabolism) and Corenell (Endocrinoology and molecular Medicine). He was an invited speaker to the 4th Israeli President Conference (2012) and a Vatican conference on efforts to enhance cures (2013, 2016). He has also taken part in Global initiatives and spoke at The Milken Global Institute, Asian Megatrends and is an advisor for the Prime Minister of Singapore on Aging. Dr. Barzilai has been on the ‘Forward 50, top 50 influence Jews in the US (2011). His work has been profiled by major outlets, including the New York Times, the BBC and PBS' NOVA science now, TEDMED and several TEDx talk is the leading feature on the Ron Howard/Jonathan Silberberg/National Geographic film about the Age of Aging. He authored Age Later (2019)

Paul English

Paul is the Founder of Boston Venture Studio, a startup to create consumer technology startups. Previously, Paul was Cofounder of Lola.com, a business travel and expense management company sold to Capital One. Before that, Paul was CTO of KAYAK, a travel company he co-founded in 2004, took public in 2012, and sold to Priceline in 2013. Paul is also the founder of Moonbeam.fm Podcast Player, Xiangqi.com Chinese Chess community, GetHuman customer service platform, Intermute security software, and Boston Light, a small business ecommerce startup he sold to Intuit. Paul grew up in Boston (as did his parents), his father was a pipefitter at Boston Gas Company, Paul’s first job was delivering the Boston Globe, and he went to Boston public schools until he studied music and computer science at UMASS Boston. (As you can guess, Paul is a Boston Red Sox fan, and his accent gets worse in bahs.) Paul is the subject of Tracy Kidder’s book “A Truck Full of Money”, published by Random House in September 2016. You can also hear Paul’s story on the NPR podcast “How I Built This” with Guy Raz. Nonprofit Work Paul is the founder of Bipolar Boston, a peer network for bipolar people in Boston who come together to share stories and success paths. Paul is cofounder of Summits Education, an organization that is building education systems in rural Haiti. Summits operates a network of 41 schools in Haiti's Central Plateau, employing over 350 educators, and serving 10,000 students. Paul first went to Haiti in 2003. (Paul wè bote ak espwa.) Paul is the founder of King Boston, a racial justice organization dedicated to the work of MLK and Coretta Scott King and their time in Boston. Paul is the founder of the Winter Walk for Homelessness, an annual event in Boston to raise awareness and funds to help care for homeless people in our city. Paul is a Director of Partners In Health and of Village Health Works, both organizations providing quality healthcare to populations of extreme poverty. Ancient History Paul was briefly an entrepreneur in-residence at Greylock, VP of Engineering at NetCentric, SVP of Engineering and Product Management at Interleaf. He also did contract programming for the US Air Force, operations research programming for Data General, programming for a medical device company, and even some video game software and sound-effect development. Paul received a BS and MS in computer science from the University of Massachusetts. Paul was named Chief Technology Officer of the year by Mass Technology Leadership Council in 2009. -- See also www.pme.org/bio/ for headshot and other versions of this bio.

Sam Englebardt

Sam Englebardt is a media and technology investor and content producer who has created, acquired and/or financed a broad range of traditional and digital businesses and dozens of videogames, films and television shows over the past decade. Englebardt is a Co-Founder and Partner at Galaxy Digital (TSX: GLXY) and a founding General Partner of Galaxy’s Interactive division. Now investing from its second venture fund, with a combined $650mm of AUM, Galaxy Interactive focuses exclusively on companies operating at the intersection of content, finance and decentralized technology, with particular emphasis on video game studios, NFTs, social platforms and financial marketplaces. Englebardt’s involvement with Galaxy reflects his deep interest in the intersection of content, consciousness and exponential technologies. In addition to the Galaxy Interactive portfolio (www.glxy.gg), he was an early investor and advisor to several companies in the videogame and mixed-reality space, including Eyefluence, an eye-tracking technology company that was sold to Google and Seismic Games, which was sold to Niantic in 2016). He has also been an active crypto and blockchain investor for years, after first buying Bitcoin in 2013 and Ethereum in 2016. Prior to Galaxy Digital, Englebardt was a Partner and Managing Director at Lambert Media Group (LMG) from 2007 - 2016, where he sourced and managed a portfolio of media-sector private equity investments including Rave Cinemas (sold to Cinemark in 2013). He has been a prolific content producer throughout his career and spent three years running LMG portfolio company, Demarest Films. His recent live-action projects include the acclaimed John Le Carre projects, The Night Manager and A Most Wanted Man. A licensed attorney in California, Englebardt earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and studied philosophy, political science and economics at Oxford University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, from which he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Silvia Lopez Chavez

Silvia López Chavez is a Dominican-American painter and designer who works at the intersection of art, design, and community. A brilliant colorist, López Chavez’ murals transform architecture worldwide. From murals to product design and brand collaborations, López Chavez’ technical expertise transcends traditional categories. She is as fluent in digital illustration as in fine art and never shies away from technology’s cutting edge. For López Chavez, every project provides its own context. She begins with a site-specific inquiry into the client or community’s goals that often surfaces the desire to bring awareness to contemporary issues of social and environmental justice. As evidenced by many of her celebrated murals, her work in the public realm provokes collective consciousness and inspires joint ownership of the art by virtue of its placekeeping process. She is a frequent collaborator with urban planners, architects, non-profits, developers, and activists on public art projects. Art commissions include the U.S. Chinese Embassy in Beijing, the Charles River Esplanade created in tandem with Now + There Inc., Harvard University, Punto Urban Art Museum, and Northeastern University. Her works are in the private collections of Google, Twitter, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Barr Foundation. Mural festivals include SeaWalls Boston, Artists for Oceans, Underground InkBlock, and Central Murals. She has been invited to residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Haystack, and the AIR Program at Google HQ in California. López Chavez was recently named a Neighborhood Salon Luminary by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and awarded the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Leadership in Public Art award in 2021. Integral to López Chavez’ practice is providing opportunities for the next generation of female artists to express their visual voice. As her career continues to expand internationally, she remains true to her vision: to make art with others and create beauty that also tells a truth. She is a proud alumna of Altos de Chavon School of Art & Design in the Dominican Republic and Massachusetts College of Art & Design. Resume available upon request. Instagram: @silvialopezchavez LinkedIn: @SilviaLopezChavez Twitter: @Art_Design_Love

Steve Hassan

Steven Hassan, PhD is a mental health professional and expert in undue influence tactics used by authoritarian leaders and destructive cults. His expertise includes harmful influence in cases of destructive religious and political cults, human trafficking, extremist and terrorist groups, one-on-one relationships, families, parental alienation, mini-cults, therapy and self-improvement groups, professional and institutional abuse, corporate and multi-level marketing programs, and harmful belief systems. He is the author of four books including Combating Cult Mind Control, Freedom of Mind and The Cult of Trump. He is a translated author with books in 10 languages. His foundational online course is Understanding Cults: The Basics. He is the Founding Director of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center, which provides training, consulting and support to individuals who are struggling to leave or recover from a cult and to families and organizations that are concerned about cult behaviors. He also is the founder of Freedom From Undue Influence, a not-for-profit entity with the purpose of conducting and publishing the research on undue influence that is needed to update legal and social policies. He developed the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control to identify control tactics and the Influence Continuum Model to discern ethical from unethical influence. He developed the Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA), as an effective and legal intervention alternative for families to help cult members. Dr. Hassan believes that access to the truth, freedom of thought, and freedom from undue influence are basic human rights. A complex systems approach, based in science and supported by the rule of law, is necessary to protect these rights. He is a member of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. He is an experienced educator having served as an instructor for the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop, as an elective teacher and a presenter for the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program, and in other educational and training capacities for other higher education, professional, law enforcement, governmental, non-governmental and advocacy group audiences. Dr. Hassan began helping people affected by undue influence after he was deprogrammed from the Moon cult in 1976 at age 22. His 45 plus years of experience give him a unique perspective on the damaging effects of undue influence and exploitation by destructive cults. He is a frequently requested speaker and media interviewee. Dr. Hassan holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Cambridge College and a Doctorate in Organizational Development and Change from Fielding Graduate University School of Leadership Studies. Visit freedomofmind.com to access information and services.

Vladimir Bulovic

Vladimir Bulović is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holding the Fariborz Maseeh Chair in Emerging Technology. He directs the Organic and Nanostructured Electronics Laboratory, co-leads the MIT-Eni Solar Frontiers Center, leads the Tata GridEdge program, and is the Founding Director of MIT.nano, MIT's nano-fabrication, nano-characterization, and prototyping facility. He is an author of over 250 research articles (cited over 50,000 times and recognized as the top 1% of the most highly cited in the Web of Science). He is fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and an inventor of over 120 U.S. patents in areas of light emitting diodes, lasers, photovoltaics, photodetectors, chemical sensors, programmable memories, and micro-electro machines, majority of which have been licensed and utilized by both start-up and multinational companies. The start-up companies Bulović co-founded jointly employ over 350 people, and include Ubiquitous Energy, Inc., developing nanostructured solar technologies, Kateeva, Inc., focused on development of printed electronics, and QD Vision, Inc. (acquired in 2016) that produced quantum dot optoelectronic components. Products of these companies have been used by millions. Bulović was the first Associate Dean for Innovation of the School of Engineering and the Inaugural co-Director of MIT’s Innovation Initiative, which he co-led from 2013 to 2018. For his passion for teaching Bulović has been recognized with the MacVicar Fellowship, MIT’s highest teaching honor. He completed his Electrical Engineering B.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees at Princeton University. https://energy.mit.edu/profile/vladimir-bulovic/