About the Dela programme
The Dela programme comprises of the Dela Accelerator and New Fellows Selection. By supporting innovative ideas, the Dela Accelerator enables established Social Entrepreneurs to continue developing their strategies with the goal to scale impact.
Through New Fellows Selection, we identify social entrepreneurs in every corner of the world, whose system-changing innovations solve deep-rooted social problems. After a rigorous selection process, they are invited into the Ashoka Fellowship – providing early stage financial support and a lifetime membership into an expansive network of peers and partners – enabling them to achieve their vision and have even greater impact.
This global programme offers a unique Fellowship experience based on Ashoka’s and IKEA’s expertise and networks.
Summit Thought Partners
Summit Thought Partners are high-level industry leaders, experts and entrepreneurs from the business and the social innovation sector, who offer in-depth feedback to help the Social Entrepreneurs strengthen their impact strategies.
Andrew Moose
Head of the World Economic Forum’s Retail, Consumer and Lifestyle Industries
Andrew Moose
Head of the World Economic Forum’s Retail, Consumer and Lifestyle Industries
Andrew Moose is Head of the World Economic Forum’s Retail, Consumer and Lifestyle Industries. He holds a BA degree from Duke University, a Master’s degree in International Management from the University of Paris – Sorbonne and an MBA from Georgia State University. At the Forum, he is responsible for the development of industry strategies as well as the advancement of new models of responsible consumption through the Future of Consumption platform. Prior to the Forum, Andrew worked as a management consultant with a focus on strategy, innovation and technology-enabled growth serving clients in North America, South America, and Europe.
Bertrand Launay
General Manager for Microsoft One Commercial Partner
Bertrand Launay
General Manager for Microsoft One Commercial Partner
As General Manager for Microsoft One Commercial Partner, His mission is to harness the expertise and knowledge of Microsoft partners, to get the most from the current digital revolution.
With over 30 years’ sales and marketing experience in the IT industry, Bertrand’s passion lies in helping companies realise their potential and stay ahead of their competitors, by working with them to create digital solutions that transform their businesses. They ensure a return on investment is not only realised through the transformation these solutions provide in their own respective companies, but by also working with them to take these solutions to the market, creating additional revenue streams.
On a personal note, his other passions involve reading, travelling, cycling, and running marathons (Paris, New York, Berlin, Siem Reap, and Singapore, to name a few) and I am now preparing for my first triathlon.
Chris Underhill
Ashoka Senior Fellow - quality of life and health. Field of community and development
Chris Underhill
Ashoka Senior Fellow - quality of life and health. Field of community and development
Chris Underhill MBE is a social entrepreneur in the field of quality of life and health, a mentor and a thinker in the field of community and development. He has developed Thrive, an organization working in gardening, disability and community (www.thrive.org.uk), ADD International (www.add.org.uk), working in the developing world with disabled people creating systems of representation, advocacy and policy creation, and BasicNeeds (www.basicneeds.org) which promotes the Model for Mental Health and Development created by Chris in 2000. He runs his own mentoring practice, Mentor Services (www.mentorservices.org.uk), and presents on health, quality of life, mental health and resilience. Chris is co-founder of a new organization benefitting social entrepreneurs: The Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs. He is an awardee in Social Entrepreneurship for the Skoll and Schwab Foundations, and a Senior Fellow of Ashoka. Chris has been honored with an MBE by HRH the Queen for his work in disability.
Cindy Rose
President of Microsoft Western Europe
Cindy Rose
President of Microsoft Western Europe
On October 1, 2020, Cindy was appointed President of Microsoft Western Europe. In this role, she is responsible for bringing to life Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more for all of Microsoft’s customers and partners.
Prior to this appointment, for four years, Cindy was CEO of Microsoft UK where she oversaw all of Microsoft’s commercial product and service offerings, continuing the company’s transformation into the leading productivity and platform company for the cloud-first era.
Prior to Microsoft, Cindy was Managing Director of the UK Consumer division at Vodafone, leading their launch of Vodafone home broadband. She also led the expansion of Vodafone’s retail store estate from 350 stores to over 500 stores and returned the consumer business to growth after 12 consecutive quarters of revenue decline.
Daniel Skoghäll
Board member in Ikano Industry
Daniel Skoghäll
Board member in Ikano Industry
Daniel is a 59 years old, married man, with three grown-up children. He has worked at Ikano Bostad as the working chairman, from 2005 to 2017. He was also the CEO of the company Ikano Bostad which is a property and construction company with activities in Sweden and Denmark. It is also a part of Ikano, a conglomerate owned by the Kamprad family. He is a board member in Ikano Industry, another business in the Ikanoconglomerate, which is producing mattresses for IKEA in Poland and Mexico. All his life, he has worked, in the property and construction industry, and before being employed in Skanska, he was the CEO for a listed company, Bostads AB Drott. Besides his work in Ikano, he is also board member in Erikshjälpen (Eriks Development Partner), which is children´s right organization with sixty second-hand stores in Sweden and the program works in helping children in Sweden, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
David Jaffe
Senior Fellow in Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative
David Jaffe
Senior Fellow in Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative
David Jaffe is currently a Senior Fellow in Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. In addition to his academic work, he is starting up a not-for-profit venture that combines his interest in promoting education with fighting climate change. David is also an angel investor and advisor to early-stage entrepreneurs and investors.
Until his retirement in 2019, David was the Chairman and CEO of ascena Retail Group, Inc., a leading specialty retailer of apparel for women and tween girls. Ascena generated $7 billion in annual sales, operated over 4,500 stores across the U.S. and Canada and employed 65,000 associates through its eight distinct brands: Ann Taylor, Loft, Lou & Grey, Lane Bryant, Justice, dressbarn, maurices and Catherines.
David’s previous experience was as a General Partner of Chemical Venture Partners, a private equity firm, and as a portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch. He received a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his BS/BA from the Wharton School/University of Pennsylvania.
Devyani Hari
Director at Centre for Responsible Business (CRB)
Devyani Hari
Director at Centre for Responsible Business (CRB)
Devyani Hari is a Director at Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), a think tank with a vision that businesses integrate sustainability into their core operations. She has a post graduate degree in finance and started her career with JP Morgan in Singapore. After her stint at JP Morgan she moved into the field of sustainability through her work with renewable energy financing. She has tried her hand at entrepreneurship by setting up her own social enterprise and followed this up with a role in the development sector. In her previous role as a technical expert with GIZ, Ms. Hari was responsible for working with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and SME bankers to increase lending for sustainable investments especially for clean energy projects. At CRB, she continues to focus on issues of sustainability especially pertinent to the SME sector, sustainability through global value chains, the interface between SDGs and the private sector and circular economy.
Emma Harbour
Rainforest Alliance’s Global Director of Advocacy & Themes
Emma Harbour
Rainforest Alliance’s Global Director of Advocacy & Themes
Emma Harbour is Rainforest Alliance’s Global Director of Advocacy & Themes. She oversees the organization’s advocacy and policy work at a global, regional, and local level. The Rainforest Alliance’s advocacy work focuses on engaging with policymakers in order to influence change to help create more enabling environments for sustainable supply chains to flourish.
With an international career in development and sustainability, Emma has advocated with policymakers on issues including gender equity, livelihoods, and sustainable supply chains. Since joining UTZ in 2014, (subsequently Rainforest Alliance), she has set up and led the organization's advocacy work. Prior to this, she has led global campaigns on poverty reduction and equitable value distribution, coordinated the global launch of UN Women's first Progress of the World's Women and communications on the 2005 Make Poverty History campaign, and campaigned for garment workers' rights with the Clean Clothes Campaign in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza collapse.
Gerda Larson
Former Deputy Executive Director at UN Women Sweden, CEO at Charity Rating, and CSO at Mitt Alby AB
Gerda Larson
Former Deputy Executive Director at UN Women Sweden, CEO at Charity Rating, and CSO at Mitt Alby AB
A strong voice for gender equality, innovation enthusiast, and entrepreneur. She started her first organisation in her early 20’s and later co-founded The Case for Her, a FemTech and women’s health investment portfolio. Former Deputy Executive Director at UN Women Sweden, CEO at Charity Rating, and CSO at Mitt Alby AB. On the board of Estate FM Group,
The Case for Her chairs Mitt Alby Foundation, and serves as a jurist for The Anna Prize, a feminist film prize. Selected as a Nova Talent, awarded the 101 Global Fabulous CSR Leaders by World CSR Congress, and in 2019 she was one of the awardees of the Power Together-award given by Women Political Leaders.
Hélène Barnekow
GM Microsoft AB
Hélène Barnekow
GM Microsoft AB
Hélène Barnekow is the GM Microsoft AB and has 25 years of experience in IT, Mobile Industry and Telecom including roles such as CEO at Telia Sverige and director of Field & Partner Marketing at EMC in Boston, USA. Hélène loves being part of the bigger game, is a true change agent passionate about customers, technology, our people and making a difference in the world. True believer that sustainable change comes from relentless genuine leadership. Change starts with doing!
Javier Quiñones
Country Retail Manager (President), and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA US Holding
Javier Quiñones
Country Retail Manager (President), and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA US Holding
Javier Quiñones is the Country Retail Manager (President), and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA US Holding. IKEA Retail U.S. operates 52 customer meeting points across the country, which includes 50 stores and two smaller format stores in NYC. The retail locations are supported by 10 distribution and customer fulfilment units, three service centers and more than 18,000 co-workers who are passionate about home furnishings and making life better for the many. IKEA believes in being a good neighbor in the communities where we operate and investing in the worldwe all share. To this end, IKEA US also includes two windfarms (TX and IL) and 135k acres of forestland among 5 states (SC, GA, AL, TX, OK). He started his career in 1999 as a self-serve co-worker at IKEA Badalona (Barcelona). Over the last 20 years--he has held various positions of responsibility in three different retail markets; including Store Manager in IKEA Spain; Country Retail Manager in IKEA UK and Ireland; and now Country Retail Manager of IKEA US. He has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Barcelona. He is married to Maria and they have two daughters.
Jay Corless
Sr. Director Amplification & Partnerships at EYElliance
Jay Corless
Sr. Director Amplification & Partnerships at EYElliance
Jay Corless, Sr. Director Amplification & Partnerships at EYElliance, drove the launch of the implementation phase of the national school eye health initiative in Liberia, guiding every aspect of the first phase, including drafting a scale plan aligned with Ministry objectives, coordinating INGOs to fill gaps in government capacity, systematizing data collection, and developing reporting practices and an activity monitoring dashboard. Jay successfully advocated for incorporating school eye health into UNESCO’s 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report and accompanying video case study on Liberia’s school eye health initiative. Jay was also the lead author of the Field Catalyst Guide to Government Led School Eye Health. Before EYElliance, he served as Senior Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the United Nations Foundation. He worked to scout and scale start-ups that advanced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He has over 20 years of experience with the UN System. From 1995 to 2014, he held executive officer, technology, summit planning, and communication roles with UNESCO. Jay also held management and fundraising roles with the London Design Festival, Design Miami, and Design Philadelphia. He graduated from the University of Arts London with an M.A. in Creative Industries Management and serves on several innovation boards and advisory bodies.
Jeroo Billimoria
Skoll awardee, Ashoka and Schwab Fellow
Jeroo Billimoria
Skoll awardee, Ashoka and Schwab Fellow
Jeroo Billimoria is the founder of several innovative and award-winning NGOs and has over twenty years’ experience running systems change organizations. She is a Skoll awardee, an Ashoka and Schwab Fellow. Among her organizations are Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) and Aflatoun International. Jeroo also founded Childline India and Child Helpline International, which have facilitated a global movement for protection of children and youth and are active in more than 181 countries – having responded to over 160 million calls. Jeroo is now founder of One Family Foundation which incubates social innovations and applies the systems change methodology to help organizations scale. As of June 2019 One Family Foundation is anchoring Catalyst 2030, initiated by leading social entrepreneurs from Ashoka, Echoing Green, the Schwab Foundation, the Skoll Foundation and other global networks of social entrepreneurs. Catalyst 2030 aims was launched at the World Economic Forum in January 2020. It aims to accelerate progress towards the SDGs by radically transforming social innovation ecosystems and driving systems change interventions at the country level.
Katarina Walter
CEO of Antrop
Katarina Walter
CEO of Antrop
Katarina Walter is a designer, expert on human behavior and CEO of Antrop. She is strongly convinced that design thinking is a powerful tool, not only to influence behaviors and create positive change, but also to build successful and sustainable businesses. Katarina has been appointed CEO of the Year and her firm Antrop has won Agency of the Year several years.
Kate Mohan
Lead of Target Foundation’s global philanthropy
Kate Mohan
Lead of Target Foundation’s global philanthropy
Kate Mohan leads Target Foundation’s global philanthropy, working with community leaders around the world to support them in creating opportunity for their communities.
Kate has more than twenty years of experience designing and implementing philanthropy and social responsibility strategies. She believes strongly in the power of cross-sector partnership, community voice, continuous learning, and humility.
Her areas of expertise include social innovation and entrepreneurship, international development, corporate responsibility & philanthropy, human rights, forced migration, post-conflict reconstruction, rule of law, and complex humanitarian crises.
Kate is a graduate of St. Catherine University (St. Paul, Minnesota) where she earned a Bachelor of Arts and was a double major in philosophy and theology. She holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Kent (Canterbury, UK).
She lives near Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA with her husband, two sons, and a tiny dog.
Konrad Gruss
Managing Director of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.
Konrad Gruss
Managing Director of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.
As Konrad is passionate about business and people. Especially when both interact successfully to create impact for the better. His 25 years of retail experience, in different organizations and countries, has taught him that everyone has the potential to make a valued and positive contribution to our business, our society and our lives. He feels privileged to be in a leadership position where he can foster curiosity, encourage openness, and help people consider different ideas to develop successful strategies.
He is humbled to be able to contribute to the success, the future and the longevity of the IKEA concept, vision, and business ideas on a daily basis. Together with his colleagues at Inter IKEA Systems B.V., the owner of the IKEA concept and worldwide IKEA franchisor, they have the unique ability to bring together all parts of the IKEA network to improve the lives of the many people.
Lena Julle
Sustainability Manager Range at IKEA
Lena Julle
Sustainability Manager Range at IKEA
Lena Julle is the Sustainability Manager Range at IKEA. Lena leads and contributes to the development of products and solutions to inspire and enable healthy and sustainable living, towards a circular business and product range as well as the climate positive agenda.
Lena has an extensive experience in leading different business assignments in the supply chain in Sweden and abroad. Before her current position as Sustainability Manager, she was Category Area Manager for Textiles, where she has successfully led, together with her team, a broad Business and People agenda creating a movement of lower prices, better quality, logistics and innovation. Under her passionate leadership, the IKEA Textiles business has gained the recognition of being one of the global leaders in the area of sustainability.
Madan Padaki
Founder & CEO of 1Bridge
Madan Padaki
Founder & CEO of 1Bridge
Madan Padaki is an entrepreneur working at the intersection of transforming youth, enabling entrepreneurial journeys & empowering social changemakers.
Madan Padaki is the Founder & CEO of 1Bridge, a village commerce network that delivers digital financial services & aspirational products to our villages - bridging access, choice & convenience gaps for our rural customers, while enabling a shared digital service, sales & last-mile delivery network for our partners to reach these villages.
A serial entrepreneur, Madan is also the Founder & Managing Trustee of Head Held High Foundation, a non-profit that aims to create abundance by youth transformation. He is the co-founder of Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), a network that aims to catalyse large-scale job creation by bringing together Government, Businesses & Civil Society organisations to work collaboratively on igniting a mass entrepreneurship movement. He currently serves as a Strategy Advisor to UNICEF India on youth empowerment.
Marcel Jacobs
Co-founder and managing director of CIRCL8
Marcel Jacobs
Co-founder and managing director of CIRCL8
Marcel Jacobs is a recognized and rewarded subject matter expert specialized in sustainable value chains and circular procurement, increasing transparency in supply chains, driving multi-stakeholder engagement, and implementing circular business. He is co-founder and managing director of CIRCL8. In his previous role as director supplier sustainability, he worked within Royal Philips’ Group Procurement. Next to development of an innovative and leading Sustainable Sourcing strategy 2020, he managed specific programs like Supplier Sustainability Performance (‘beyond audits’), Circular Procurement to support Philips’ ambition to deliver 100% circular solutions by 2025, Responsible sourcing programs through collaborative stakeholder engagement at origin (mines) or minerals. Through a groundbreaking SSP - Beyond audit approach, Royal Philips increased transparency, achieved higher levels of supplier engagement achieving structural impact in its value chain. Earlier in his career he applied principles and managed programs in eco-design and LCA’s at Philips Lighting and green marketing at Office Depot.
Miguel Zamora
Expert in food and agriculture, international development and business development
Miguel Zamora
Expert in food and agriculture, international development and business development
Miguel has over 20 years of experience in food and agriculture, international development and business development. He collaborates with companies to build and strengthen sustainable supply chains while supporting farmers and workers to build more resilient communities. Miguel leads a global team partnering with coffee, cocoa, banana and tea companies in Europe, North America, the Asia/Pacific region and Brazil. He leads efforts to develop solutions that create value for companies, reduce risk, and supports farmers and workers in the Global South. Miguel is from Ecuador and has lived and worked in Honduras, Brazil, and the U.S. He speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Oscar Castaneda
Experienced development executive
Oscar Castaneda
Experienced development executive
A deeply passionate and experienced development executive devoted to solving the earth’s most pressing economic, environmental, and social challenges. Currently working across multiple private and government partnerships to bring better efficiencies in the delivery of development aid with the goal of accelerating developing countries to self-reliance. Driven to constantly iterate and innovate to develop and scale the most effective programmatic solutions for global impact. A supportive leader and partnership builder, intent on forging effective and inclusive teams with a lifelong commitment to learning. Strong business and development acumen and deeply entrepreneurial spirit cultivated from decades of experience. A proven record of collaboratively integrating teams with diverse perspectives, talent, and cultural backgrounds to tackle global issues, committed to “Think globally, act locally.”
Patrik Lindvall
Experienced retailer with more than 20 years of international assignments
Patrik Lindvall
Experienced retailer with more than 20 years of international assignments
Patrik Lindvall is a Swedish citizen and experienced retailer with more than 20 years of international assignments. Patrik has spent the last 10 years in Asia and was in 2018 appointed as President Director of PT Hero in Indonesia where he also holds the position as President Director for IKEA Indonesia.
His assignments have been focused on growth and expansion in both mature and emerging markets including expansion of store network, accelerating e-commerce, and developing partnership with local enterprises. Throughout the years Patrik has also dedicated considerable time to develop and mentor team members and future leaders of the organization.
Patrik is passionate about making a difference and positive impact to people, community, and planet. He is excited to engage and work together with all great people during the Dela Summit
Sharla Halvorsen
Lead of health and sustainability agenda for Food at IKEA
Sharla Halvorsen
Lead of health and sustainability agenda for Food at IKEA
Sharla leads the health and sustainability agenda for Food at IKEA. She works with a talented and passionate group of individuals working towards making a better everyday life for the many people by being people and planet positive.
Originally from the US, she has worked extensively in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and has worked with a number of major corporations on sustainability & corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Sukai Ceesay
CEO/Founder of Royal Blue & Orange Int’l Trading
Sukai Ceesay
CEO/Founder of Royal Blue & Orange Int’l Trading
Sukai is a serial social entrepreneur, an EQ master trainer, and startup investor in Europe and West Africa. She’s an advocate for universal human values, women’s education and achievement of financial independence. A CEO/Founder of an agri-food tech solution, Royal Blue & Orange Int’l Trading, focusing on conscious and ethical sourcing of food ingredients and logistics using Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence to ensure no child labour or slave labour, an end-to-end traceability, verification, and certification of food, equipment and logistics services. During her career among others in Domino’s Pizza LLC, she helped create state-of-the-art systems that reduce waste in food manufacturing and improved efficiency in the supply chain. She was involved in the transformation of operations through automation, robotics and lean principles.
Sukai Ceesay holds a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Design and Planning from Eastern Michigan University (EMU), Masters of Industrial Engineering from The University of Michigan, and an Executive MBA from Harvard Business School.
Ulf Johansson
Business Unit, Wood Supply & Forestry team
Ulf Johansson
Business Unit, Wood Supply & Forestry team
Ulf Johansson had been working for 14 years in different forest industry companies when he joined IKEA as Forestry Manager in South East Asia in 2001. After 4 years spent in Asia, Ulf returned back to Sweden to the head office in Älmhult where he held various managerial positions connected to the sourcing of woodbased furniture before becoming Wood Supply & Forestry Manager in 2015. Tasked with setting up the new Business Unit, the Wood Supply & Forestry team that Ulf leads now comprises over 50 individuals worldwide leading business priorities for responsible Ulf Johansson forest management, strategic wood sourcing and communication.
Vineet Rai
Aavishkaar Group
Vineet Rai
Aavishkaar Group
Vineet believes in building impact ecosystem to deliver real Impact as enshrined in the vision of Aavishkaar Group “We exist to bridge the Opportunity Group for the Emerging 3 Billion”. Vineet believes that Impact Investing has the potential to change the world of finance irreversibly. Aavishkaar Group today comprises Aavishkaar Capital – the ground breaking Impact Investment Fund Manager, Arohan – a Microfinance Institution, IntelleGrow – a Venture Debt Company, Tribe3 – a technology enabled lending platform and IntelleCap – the Global Impact Ecosystem builder. The Group also manages Sankalp - the foremost Global platform for engagement around impact investing. Aavishkaar Group has 6000 employees, manages assets in excess of US $ 1 Billion while trying to serve needs of entrepreneurs from debt of US $ 150 (INR 10 thousands) to equity of US $ 15 Million (INR 100 Crore) while aligning the group to 13 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals or SDG’s.
Yasmina Zaidman
Chief Partnerships Officer at Acumen
Yasmina Zaidman
Chief Partnerships Officer at Acumen
Yasmina Zaidman is the Chief Partnerships Officer at Acumen, which works to change the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas. She leads its work to engage with corporate partners and institutions that share Acumen’s commitment to tackling poverty. She also spearheaded Acumen’s gender integration work and co-authored the report Women and Social Enterprises: How Gender Integration can Boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Poverty. She initiated the $22 million Pioneer Energy Investing Initiative with corporate, government and foundation partners.Ms. Zaidman has worked in international development, corporate sustainability and social entrepreneurship for twenty-five years. She is on the board of Cacao de Colombia, a sustainable cocoa enterprise based in Colombia, and KadAfrica, a social enterprise in Uganda that supports women’s livelihoods. She received a BA from Vassar and an MBA from Stanford.
Jennie Perzon
Director within Accenture’s Sustainability Strategy practice in Sweden
Jennie Perzon
Director within Accenture’s Sustainability Strategy practice in Sweden
Jennie Perzon is a director within Accenture’s Sustainability Strategy practice in Sweden, as well as a Ph.D. Student at Stockholm School of Economics. Her research focuses on ecosystems and collaboration models for sustainable change. Jennie is committed to sustainable development and has extensive experience in both commercial and civil society sector as a strategy advisor.
Don Chen
President of the Surdna Foundation
Don Chen
President of the Surdna Foundation
Don Chen is the President of the Surdna Foundation where he leads the 100-year old foundation’s efforts to strengthen and further leverage its commitment to social justice.
Prior to his appointment, Don was the Director of the Cities & States program at the Ford Foundation, where his work supported urban development initiatives to make housing more affordable, promote more equitable land use practices, and empower communities to have a powerful decision-making voice in American cities and in developing countries. He also led a multi-program team to support the strengthening of social justice organizations and networks in targeted U.S. states.
Previously, Don was the Founder and CEO of Smart Growth America, where he led efforts to create the National Vacant Properties Campaign (which later became the Center for Community Progress) and Transportation for America, and managed a merger with the Growth Management Leadership Alliance.
Al Etmanski
Ashoka fellow and a member of John McKnight’s Asset Based Community Development Institute (ABCD)
Al Etmanski
Ashoka fellow and a member of John McKnight’s Asset Based Community Development Institute (ABCD)
Al Etmanski is an author, community organizer, social entrepreneur, and parent activist in the disability world. He is an Ashoka fellow and a member of John McKnight’s Asset Based Community Development Institute (ABCD). He conceived and lobbied into existence the world’s first savings plan for people with disabilities. Deposits in the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP deposits) total more than $5 billion benefitting close to 200,000 disabled Canadians. He is the best-selling author of three books. His fourth The Power of Disability: 10 Lessons for Surviving, Thriving and Changing the World has just been published. The book provides practical advice for navigating the turbulent times we find ourselves in. Ashoka fellow Carolyn Casey describes it as, “…an instruction manual for becoming truly human and a manifesto for transcending all our differences to create a world where everyone thrives.” He blogs at aletmanski.com
Eric Schurenberg
CEO of Mansueto Ventures
Eric Schurenberg
CEO of Mansueto Ventures
Eric Schurenberg is the CEO of Mansueto Ventures, the owner of Inc. and Fast Company. Previously, he was the president and editor of Inc. for six years, during which time Inc. was twice a National Magazine Award finalist for general excellence, and once a winner. Eric was the founding editor of CBS MoneyWatch and the editor of BNET; the brands won more than a dozen awards during his tenure. Eric was also the editor of Money Magazine, which won the Luce award for service journalism in each of the four years it was eligible. Other roles include deputy editor at Business 2.0, assistant managing editor at Fortune, and vice-president at Goldman Sachs. As a writer, he has won a Loeb Award and a National Magazine Award. He has been a regular on Nightly Business Report, CNBC, CNN, The Today Show, The Early Show, Marketplace Radio and Good Morning America.