Founding Advisors

Simon Anholt

Simon is an independent policy advisor to the Heads of State and governments of 57 countries. He is the Founder of The Good Country Index and of the Anholt - Ispos Nation Brands Index. Simon is also a TED and Youtube talks sensation with more than 12 million views on his videos. His 2020 book, The Good Country Equation: How We Can Repair the World in One Generation, was called "a masterpiece" by Zaid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights.

Brett Henning

Brett is the Co-Founder and Director of The Sortition Foundation, which campaigns for the introduction of stratified random selection (also called sortition) in government. He is an Astrophysicist and the author of The End of Politicians: Time for a Real Democracy, which was called "a book for visionaries" by James Kelsey-Fry. Brett also authored Legislature by Lot: Transformative Designs for Deliberative Governance.

Shaolan Hsueh

ShaoLan is a two-time TED speaker. She is the Founder and Creator of Chineasy - one of the world's most popular methods of learning Chinese outside of Chinese-speaking countries. Chineasy was named one of the 'World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies' by Fast Company in 2015. ShaoLan is also the author of Chineasy: The New Way to Read Chinese, which has been translated into 19 languages.

Peggy Liu

Peggy is a World Economic Forum 'Young Global Leader' and is Chairperson of JUCCCE, which has been at the heart of the greening of China since 2007. She has been called "one of the most innovative thinkers in Asia" by The Economist. Peggy has also been referred to as a "Hero of the Environment" by Time and as the "Green Goddess" of China by Global Times.

Ed Martin

Ed is former CEO of GoodXChange. He has served as a Senior Advisor for the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and as Chief Omniwin Officer of 5th Element Group. Ed has additionally served as Chair Emeritus to the Association of National Advertisers Research and Measurement Council.

Alvaro Umaña Quesada

Alvaro served as Costa Rica's first Minister of Natural Resources from 1986 to 1990. He has also served as Leader of the Energy and Environment Group at the UN Development Program (UNDP). Alvaro was additionally Chairman and Founding Member of The World Bank Inspection Panel. He has also served as the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director for Central America, Mexico, Spain, and Venezuela at the International Monetary Fund.

Isaac Shongwe

Isaac is the Founder and Chairman of Letsema. He has also served as Chairman for Wits Business School in South Africa. Additionally, Isaac is a Board Member of The Aspen Institute, The Ragon Institute, and Endeavor (South Africa).

He additionally has served as an Executive Director and Board Member of Barloworld Ltd.

Kunal Sood

Kunal served as the former Executive Producer and Spokesman of TEDx at the United Nations General Assembly. He is the Founder of Novus Summit Inc., X Fellows, and X Impact Group. Kunal is additionally the Founder and CXO of #WeThePlanet. He serves as the Global Ambassador for Peace at The Non-Violence Project and is an Ambassador for OpenEXO and Singularity University.

Lara Stein

Lara is the Founder and former Director of TEDx. She led the expansion of TEDx into a global movement. Lara is also Co-Founder and CEO of Bona Global. She is additionally the former Executive Director of Women's March Global (for all initiatives outside of the U.S.) Lara has also served as the former Managing Director for Global Development at Singularity University.

Sterling Speirn

Sterling is Senior Fellow and former CEO of the National Conference on Citizenship (chartered by the U.S. Congress). He is also former President and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Sterling served as former President of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (formerly known as the Peninsula Community Foundation). He additionally served as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship.

Ketan Patel

Ketan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Greater Pacific Capital. He served as a former Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs. Additionally, he founded the Strategic Group of Goldman Sachs. Previously, Ketan served as a Partner at KPMG. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors and of the European Strategy Team while at KPMG. He is the author of The Master Strategist: Power, Purpose and Principle. He leads the "Capital as a Force for Good" initiative, and works closely with UNCTAD and the World Academy of Art and Science to change the way capital and finance are allocated.

Nouriel Roubini

Nouriel formerly served as a White House Senior Economist for International Affairs (1998-2000). He has also served as a Consultant for several private and public institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Nouriel has been a long-term Professor of Economics at NYU Stern School of Business. He additionally is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Roubini Macro Associates, LLC.

Tara Kangarlou

Tara is an award-winning, Iranian-born journalist, author, and humanitarian. She has reported, written, and produced for global news outlets such as CNN and Al Jazeera America.

Her work has also appeared in TIME and Vanity Fair.

Until recently she served as a Fellow at the East West Institute and the McCain Institute for International Leadership, and is a frequent on-air and print contributor to various international news outlets. In 2016, Tara founded Art of Hope - focused on providing mental health support through Art Therapy for Syrian refugees and vulnerable host communities in Lebanon. Tara's highly acclaimed debut book, The Heartbeat of Iran, was released in June 2021 (IG Publishing - NY).