Philip Auerswald is Director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy and an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy, George Mason University. Auerswald's work focuses on linked processes of entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology. He is the co-editor of Innovations: Technology | Governance | Globalization, a quarterly journal from MIT Press about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. He is author and co-author of numerous books, reports, and research papers, including Taking Technical Risk: How Innovators, Executives, and Investors Manage High-Tech Risks (MIT Press: 2001). Prior to joining the faculty at George Mason University, Professor Auerswald was a lecturer and Assistant Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He has been a consultant to the National Academies of Science, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington and a B.A. (political science) from Yale University.

Paul Rogers is an Assistant Professor of English at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. in education at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2008.  Paul is passionate about building the communication capacities of individuals and organizations as they seek to make a more just and sane world.  Paul works with educators throughout Northern Virginia in his capacity the Associate Director of the Northern Virginia Writing Project.  His research interests include the development of writing abilities across the lifespan, the role written communication in the global knowledge economy, and the intersections of writing and the teaching and learning of science.  A recipient of the K. Patricia Cross Award for leadership in higher education, Paul served on the Board of Directors of the historic Curriculum Study Commission (an educational think-tank on West Coast) for four years, and was recently Chair of the 56th annual Asilomar conference on literacy education. He is currently teaching concepts of research and communication in relation to social entrepreneurship in his freshman composition courses at George Mason University.

Whitney Burton is a sophomore from Houston, Texas. Whitney first became interested in children’s rights when she heard the activist Craig Kielburger speak about Iqbal Masih. Believing that education to be the essential ingredient for eradicating child labor and extreme poverty, she led a successful initiative at her high school to raise $16,000 to build a school in Sierra Leone through Free the Children, the largest network of children helping children through education. A firm believer that youth have the power to change the world, she worked as a regional coordinator with Free the Children from 2007-2008.

Whitney attended a youth activism conference hosted by the British Council in January of 2008, which brought together 60 young people, ages 16 to 19 from 43 different countries, who had taken action to create a better world for all people. Chosen by her peers to represent them in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, she spoke about economic development and education in the youngest youth panel ever to appear at the WEF. Whitney continued to actively learn about economic development through traveling and volunteering in South Asia during the summer in 2008.


Alex Gudich-Yulle was born in Khmelnitsky, Ukraine and raised in San Francisco, California, and received his Associates Degree in Business Administration from The City College of San Francisco before transferring to George Mason University this past January. He is enrolled in the Integrative Studies program at New Century College, studying Organizational Administration with minors in Leadership Studies, Business, and Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Alex aspires to graduate from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he hopes to obtain a dual-degree JD/MBA or MPA/MBA. He enjoys dreaming big and working incessantly to turn those dreams into reality. His passion for social entrepreneurship came when he was working for Wells Fargo & Company in San Francisco and asked himself “Why am I working to make executives and shareholders wealthier when I can dedicate myself to taking on the world’s biggest problems?” Since then, he has focused on his education and recently worked to organize the 2008 Global Youth Enterprise Conference, which brought together over 350 people from 60 different countries to discuss best practices for tackling global youth unemployment.


Tom Klump, a first-year grad student in the Peace Operations Policy Program, currently works for Booz Allen Hamilton’s Organization and Strategy team.  Over the past two years he has worked to support personnel transformation and recruiting for the U.S. Army and Army National Guard (ARNG) through business process reengineering, change management, strategic communications, as well as implementation management support. He now serves as a Captain within the Regional Training Institute of the Virginia Army National Guard, and an Officer Candidate School Instructor.

Between his time with Booz Allen and the active duty Army, Tom served as an associate board member of the Community Rehabilitation Center in Jacksonville, FL, where he researched best practices in the non-profit field and worked to apply them to counteract Jacksonville’s crime and violence.  Mr. Klump developed an innovative program to train, employ, and support ex-offenders as they reintegrate into society and briefed corresponding proposals to political, business, and religious leaders to garner support for an expanded mission for the center.

During his five years on active duty with the United States Army, Tom held multiple critical roles in Iraq, Kosovo, and Germany.  His most recent position was with the United States Army Garrison Schweinfurt, Germany as the Director of Plans, Training, Mobilization, and Security.  In this role he coordinated all tasks in a military community of over 12,000 between the 1st Infantry Division leadership, the Installation Management Agency Europe, and the local German government.  Previously, Tom commanded a 50 Soldier artillery detachment in Iraq during continuous combat operations, in which he was responsible for firing over 500 artillery rounds over 5 months in response to daily insurgent mortar attacks.  He later served as the Task Force Personnel Officer (S-1) for a unit of over 525 Soldiers deployed to Iraq, and was awarded the Bronze Star for his leadership in Iraq.

Tom started his military career with a deployment to Kosovo and assumed the role of a Company Information Officer.  In this loosely defined role, he utilized intensive cultural and historical research to target high value individuals in the 3 towns under his responsibility.  He leveraged these individuals and available Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and United Nations (UN) personnel to direct economic, political, educational, and social development for a combined population of over 5,000 Albanians and Serbs.  He created and hosted his own television programming for a reachable audience of 220,000 in order to encourage participation in local democratic elections and cooperation with the multi-ethnic vision of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).    

While attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mr. Klump majored in Economics with a field of study in Systems Engineering, and interned as a speech writer for the Secretary of the Army, the Honorable Louis Caldera, in 2000.  


Diane Lebson, a Ph.D. candidate in the public policy program at Mason, is the Senior Director of Major Gifts for United Way of the National Capital Area, where she is responsible for cultivating strong relationships with donors who each invest $10,000 or more in United Way’s programs throughout the Greater Washington Region.  She oversees a portfolio of $5.1 million that includes contributions from female and young professional donors as well as investors to United Way’s affordable housing and child wellness campaigns.

Prior to her current position, Diane was Director of Strategic Markets for United Way of America, the national organization for the grassroots movement of nearly 1,400 local offices throughout the United States.  In that capacity, she worked with over 100 major gifts executives from across the country to raise $100 million annually from female philanthropists.  Diane’s 15 years of United Way experience also includes leadership positions in the areas of governance, fundraising, program management, and research.  

In addition to her professional work, Diane is a passionate advocate of philanthropy.  In September, 2008, she was crowned Mrs. District of Columbia International 2009, a role in which she raises awareness for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Campaign and other organizations that are focused on improving the lives of women.  She has been a member of the Junior League of Washington for 15 years and has led many of that organization’s committees that focus on increasing the literacy rates of people in the Greater Washington Region.  Diane is also an active volunteer for Soroptimist International of Washington, DC and DC’s Public Library Foundation.

Diane’s intellectual curiosity has been one of her lifelong attributes.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from The George Washington University and a master’s degree in administration from Central Michigan University.  Her educational pursuits have also yielded professional certificates in nonprofit management, campaign management, and catechesis.    

Diane is married to Eric Lebson, an employee of the U.S. Department of Defense.  In her spare time, she enjoys belly dance, yoga, training for marathons, travel, and earning merit badges for grown-up girls.  For more insight into Diane, please visit her blog at www.dcdogooder.blogspot.com.


Ryan Merritt is a MBA student with a concentration on entrepreneurship. He received a BA in Political Theory, with minors in Biology and English, from The College of Charleston in South Carolina. He is currently Assistant Director at TiE-DC, the largest not-for-profit association of entrepreneurs worldwide. At TiE-DC, Ryan assists emerging entrepreneurs in finding venture capital and improving their business plans. He is currently in the early stages of establishing his own business focused on the Healthcare IT Industry. Before attending George Mason University, Ryan worked in Boston for Pfizer and in North Carolina for a small Management and Consulting Company. Ryan is one of seven children in his family and is currently a proud Uncle of three.