Team
Founders
Abby Falik
CEO
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Travel, Vipassana, my kids, and Rumi.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How we learn, launch, and lead.
How did you learn to fly?
By inviting my fear to join me.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
There's power in the pause.
Abby Falik
CEO
Chalon Bridges
CXO
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Thich Nhat Hanh, the ocean, and trees.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How to lead.
How did you learn to fly?
By leaving a really awesome nest and heading into the unknown.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
It's ok not to know and use questions that animate you as your compass.
Chalon Bridges
CXO
Reimagined Faculty
Andrew Youn
Co-Founder, One Acre Fund
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
East African farmers.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How we pursue bigger social change.
How did you learn to fly?
By crashing a lot.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
I would one day be less uncool :)
Andrew Youn
Co-Founder, One Acre Fund
Angel Pérez
CEO, The National Association for College Admission Counseling
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Traveling the world and meeting people who are very different from me.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Who gets access to college and how we fund it.
How did you learn to fly?
I literally jumped out of an airplane.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Joy and Peace begins with me.
Angel Pérez
CEO, The National Association for College Admission Counseling
Aria Florant
Co-Founder & CEO, Liberation Ventures
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
The duality of my identity.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How we build a culture of repair.
How did you learn to fly?
By doing what I know is right.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
You must belong to, and make a home for, yourself.
Aria Florant
Co-Founder & CEO, Liberation Ventures
Ashanti Branch
Founder & Director, The Ever Forward Club
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Leaving engineering to become an educator.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Creating a world of freedom by teaching people to unlock their chains.
How did you learn to fly?
Trading a life of working for money to living on purpose.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
You will loose money playing around with stocks in 2002 but when you hear about this new company named after a big number (google)...buy as much as you can.
Ashanti Branch
Founder & Director, The Ever Forward Club
Casper ter Kuile
Co-Founder, Sacred Design Lab and Nearness
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Singing together, Harvard Divinity School, and covenant groups.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How we’ll make meaning, deepen our relationships, and experience beauty.
How did you learn to fly?
By holding hands and jumping together.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Sacred is an act, not a thing.
Casper ter Kuile
Co-Founder, Sacred Design Lab and Nearness
Cecilia Ann Conrad
CEO, Lever for Change
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
I've met amazing people, starting with my parents.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
I work to elevate creative and passionate people.
How did you learn to fly?
I read the emergency information card on every flight.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
I should have taken art history.
Cecilia Ann Conrad
CEO, Lever for Change
Chip Conley
Founder & CEO, MEA
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Viktor Frankl.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Our relationship with aging.
How did you learn to fly?
By not worrying about what other people think of me.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
To trust my intuition more.
Chip Conley
Founder & CEO, MEA
Chris Kasabach
Executive Director, Watson
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Time!
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How to expand the vision and develop the potential — personal, professional, and cultural — of remarkable young leaders.
How did you learn to fly?
By knowing no strangers.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Life's long.
Chris Kasabach
Executive Director, Watson
David Bornstein
Co-Founder & CEO, Solutions Journalism Network
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Learning how to ask good questions and listening.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Transforming journalism to build "hope with teeth."
How did you learn to fly?
It's a constant re-learning.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Don't trust your thoughts too much!
David Bornstein
Co-Founder & CEO, Solutions Journalism Network
Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro
Chair, UWC International
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Travel and encounters with local communities in more than 150 countries.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Ways of giving back experience in leadership.
How did you learn to fly?
Embracing my dreams and opportunities.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
We are like butterflies: our behaviors impact the world!
Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro
Chair, UWC International
Dr. Shirley M. Collado
President & CEO, College Track; President Emerita, Ithaca College
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Mentors who enabled me to give myself permission to do the impossible and to not be afraid to lead as my full self.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
An understanding of equity as a practice that honors both our shared humanity and our individual agency.
How did you learn to fly?
Embracing the necessity that transformative leaders do not join organizations to mobilize the status quo.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Your authenticity and curiosity are your greatest assets.
Dr. Shirley M. Collado
President & CEO, College Track; President Emerita, Ithaca College
Eddie Ndopu
Champion for Disability Justice
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
The wisdom of my own intuition.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Access, inclusivity (and joy!) for people with marginalized identities.
How did you learn to fly?
Allowing my spirit transcend the space I currently occupy.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
I am not my accomplishments. How my life feels matters more than how it looks.
Eddie Ndopu
Champion for Disability Justice
Jenny Odell
Author
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
The Santa Cruz Mountains.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How we make meaning for ourselves.
How did you learn to fly?
By trusting my curiosity.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Mistakes are the only way you learn.
Jenny Odell
Author
Jeremy Heimans
Chairman, Purpose
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Starting things.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
LGBT connection and solidarity.
How did you learn to fly?
A sense of idealism.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
That the personal is as important as the rest.
Jeremy Heimans
Chairman, Purpose
John Wood
Founder & CEO, U-Go; Founder Emeritus, Room to Read
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Books — I read 50 a year.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
U-Go will help 100,000 ambitious and promising young women in low income countries to graduate from university by 2040 as a result of our long-term scholarship program.
How did you learn to fly?
Libraries.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
The value of always being kind to others.
John Wood
Founder & CEO, U-Go; Founder Emeritus, Room to Read
Laura L Carstensen
Professor & Founding Director, Stanford Center on Longevity
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
My dad.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Using 100-year lives to improve quality of life at all ages.
How did you learn to fly?
Who's flying?
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
It will, truly, be okay.
Laura L Carstensen
Professor & Founding Director, Stanford Center on Longevity
Matthew Rascoff
Vice Provost for Digital Education, Stanford University
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
“I have learned much from my teachers, even more from my friends, but from my students I have learned the most.” - Rabbi Hanina, Taanit 7a
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Spreading access to higher education and opportunity.
How did you learn to fly?
By embracing non-conformism. In at least one area of your life, be a dissident.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
"Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will." - Antonio Gramsci
Matthew Rascoff
Vice Provost for Digital Education, Stanford University
Mia Birdsong
Founder & Executive Director, Next River
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Any experience that invites accountability.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How we think about and pursue freedom.
How did you learn to fly?
By being naive enough to assume I already knew how.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
We are all born worthy. There is nothing we need to do to earn our worthiness and there is nothing we can do to unearn it.
Mia Birdsong
Founder & Executive Director, Next River
Olivia Leland
Founder & CEO, Co-Impact
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
My dog – and moments of deep connection and understanding.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
The vision that justice is for everyone.
How did you learn to fly?
With a lot of co-pilots!
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
The importance of living in the moment.
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Olivia Leland
Founder & CEO, Co-Impact
Premal Shah
Co-Founder, Kiva.org & Renewables.org
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
My parents, Gandhi, and my kids
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How to love well.
How did you learn to fly?
By traveling to India repeatedly. By turning towards suffering.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
When uncertain or scared turn to three words: Notice. Choose. Trust.
Premal Shah
Co-Founder, Kiva.org & Renewables.org
Raj Panjabi
Former White House Senior Director & Co-Founder of Last Mile Health
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
My kids.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How we protect the health of all.
How did you learn to fly?
By refusing to let the story be written for me.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
No condition is permanent.
Raj Panjabi
Former White House Senior Director & Co-Founder of Last Mile Health
Sanjay Purohit
CEO & Chief Curator, Centre For Exponential Change
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Books.
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How to make a change that ripples into more positive change?
How did you learn to fly?
By rolling up my sleeves.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Timeliness is not the same as timelessness.
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Sanjay Purohit
CEO & Chief Curator, Centre For Exponential Change
Stephanie Harrison
Founder, The New Happy
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
Pain
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
Redefining happiness to align self and other interest
How did you learn to fly?
By messing up
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Waiting to do it perfectly will leave you waiting forever
Stephanie Harrison
Founder, The New Happy
Wendy Kopp
CEO & Co-Founder, Teach For All
Who (or what) has been your most formative teacher?
My work!
What are you working to re-imagine in the world?
How we foster the collective leadership to shape a better future.
How did you learn to fly?
By charting my own path.
One thing you wish you'd known at 18?
Diverse, collective leadership will take us further than any one person can.
Wendy Kopp
CEO & Co-Founder, Teach For All
Donors
With special thanks to our founding supporters:
- Anonymous
- Enlight Foundation
- Maggie Kaplan
- Pam Scott and Tim Koogle
- Missy and Karr Narula
- TrueVentures.org
- Deb Wetherby
- Qasar Younis