Leadership

Tom Vander Ark is an advocate for innovations in learning. As CEO of Getting Smart, he advises schools, districts, networks, foundations and learning organizations on the path forward. A prolific writer and speaker, Tom is author of Getting Smart, Smart Cities That Work for Everyone, Smart Parents, Better Together, The Power of Place, and Difference Making at the Heart of Learning and has published thousands of articles and papers. He writes regularly on GettingSmart.com, Forbes, and LinkedIn.

Previously he served as the first Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Tom served as a public school superintendent in Washington State and has extensive private sector experience. Tom is a board member for Education Board Partners, Director for 4.0 Schools, Digital Learning Institute, Latinx Education Collaborative, Mastery Transcript Consortium and eduInnovation.

Greg Gunn is a leader in using technology, innovation, and venture capital investing to promote educational and economic opportunity. As co-founder of Lingo Ventures, he makes early-stage investments in education and workforce technologies. Greg co-founded Wireless Generation (now called Amplify Education), a leading educational software company serving millions of K-12 students with groundbreaking instructional products. He was named one of Fast Company magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business”.

Mr. Gunn serves on the boards of the Donors of Color Network, FHI 360, Bridgespan, Transcend Education, and Zearn. He holds a Master of Science in Management and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.

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Ryan Shadrick Wilson has been referred to as “the good food whisperer” because of the quiet yet significant role she has played in launching many of the innovative ideas and companies shaping the future of health, climate, and culture. Throughout a career that has spanned law, civil rights, public policy, marketing, philanthropy, and finance, Ryan has maintained a devotion to creating a healthier, happier, and more equitable future

Ryan is the founder and CEO of Boardwalk Collective, a venture catalyst firm that advises and invests in cutting edge ideas. She is the Executive Chairperson of Mealogic Inc.—a tech company providing a platform for healthy meal delivery brands. She serves as Co-Chair of ICON–the Investor Coalition on Nutrition. And, she is the Chairperson of Amir “Questlove” Thompson’s Future of Food Entrepreneurship Program. Ryan serves on the boards and advisory boards of numerous companies and organizations, including Instacart, the Rockefeller Foundation, OneBio, Arcaea, Voyage Foods, Arcaea, and Partnership for a Healthier America. In addition, as a Senior Advisor to the Milken Institute, Ryan launched — and now serves as Chairperson of — Feeding Change, an effort to catalyze a more nourishing, sustainable, and equitable food system.

Previously, Ryan served as Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel of Michelle Obama’s Partnership for a Healthier America, where she worked with CEOs, celebrities, government officials, and health experts to improve health in all communities. During this time, Ryan was an architect of the innovative FNV campaign, which engaged over 85 celebrities in a humorous, national campaign to promote fruits and vegetables. Ryan also launched and served as the Chairperson of Feeding Change at the Milken Institute.

Ryan began her career at international law firm Hogan Lovells, where she counseled food and agriculture companies around the globe. While at the firm, she also maintained a commitment to a robust pro bono practice, handling civil rights, death penalty, and political asylum cases.

Ryan is a proud graduate of Virginia Beach Public Schools and graduated with honors from Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

Angela Mwanza is Co-Founder of Evergreen Wealth Management at UBS Private Wealth Management, where she has achieved immense success as a Private Wealth Advisor and Family Office Consultant by focusing on the intersection of family, finance, and philanthropy. She serves on UBS’ Sustainable Investing Advisory Council and was selected as a UBS Global Visionary Ambassador in recognition of her leadership at UBS in driving innovative solutions to societal issues, which she addresses through sustainable and impact investments, bridging the divide to philanthropy, and working closely with families and family offices to build sustainable enterprises that will thrive across generations.

Ms. Mwanza was named as one of “46 Leaders in Sustainable Investing” by Forbes, a recipient of the “Women of Power and Influence Award” by the Natural Organization of Women (alongside Janet Yellen), listed as one of the City and State of New York’s top 100 in CSR (2017) as well as one of the “50 Most Influential Women in Private Wealth Management” by Private Asset Management Magazine (2015).SC Johnson Cornell College of Business awarded Angela the Wilbur Parker Award for her work in diversity, and most recently she was awarded the Robert J. Swieringa Service Award. Ms. Mwanza holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BA/MA in Linguistics from the University of Konstanz in Germany. She is fluent in German.

Ms. Mwanza frequently speaks about financial markets and their intersection with environmental, social, and governance issues at various conferences and on television with Bloomberg and CNBC. She has also been featured in multiple print publications, including Barron’s and Bloomberg Markets.

Ms. Mwanza currently serves on the board as well as the Risk and Audit Committee of Jumia (Ticker: JMIA, that trades on the NYSE), an e-commerce company often called “the Amazon of Africa.” She also serves on multiple non-profit boards that are mainly focused on public health and medical research, an area she is passionate about having grown up in Sub-Saharan Africa at the height of the AIDS crisis and she lost her sister to the disease. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Investment Committee for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation ($1.8B endowment), on the Board of Directors of Grace Farms Foundation, and recently joined the Board of Advisors of the SC Johnson Cornell College of Business. She formerly served on the boards of Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), Global Health Alliance (formerly MDF Health Alliance) that was an initiative of the UN Special Envoy for Health, Beespace, Grassroot Soccer, and FORWARD Impact (formerly Good Films Foundation). She was also selected to be 1 of 10 Founding Members for the United Nations Foundations’ Global Entrepreneurs Council.

She is a member of the Economic Club of New York and The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. She is also an avid runner with six marathons behind her and has scaled Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for Grassroot Soccer. She lives with her husband and son between Brooklyn and Ithaca.

Tommy Cerja has been with Simpson Thacher since receiving his J.D. in 2024 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was President of the Student Bar Association. He received his B.A. in 2021 from the R.C Nusbaum Honors College at Norfolk State University. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.

Lisa is an entrepreneur and angel investor with over 30 years of executive and strategic leadership across a variety of businesses and industries. She believes in getting involved and making the world a better place for children and people today and for future generations.

In 2002 she co-founded Close Reach Partners, providing advisory services to CEOs, boards and executive teams of public and privately held companies to improve business strategy and fuel profitable growth. During this time from 2009 – 2018 Lisa was strategic advisor to Zumba Fitness, working closely with the owners and executive team to grow Zumba into the largest branded fitness program in the world.

From 1996-2001 Lisa was co-founder, an investor and Executive Vice President of Consumer Financial Network (CFN), which created the first online financial services marketplace. She and her team created relationships with 80 financial services providers, developed product marketplaces that were marketed to over 5 million employees of major corporations, and raised over $300 million in venture capital from outside investors including GE Capital and Chase Capital Partners. In September 2001 the business was sold to a global insurance company.

From 1992 to 1996 Lisa was an executive at Equifax, Inc. (NYSE: EFX), an information services company. Lisa was involved in the successful turnaround of a large, unprofitable division which subsequently spun out as a separate NYSE company, ChoicePoint Inc. ChoicePoint was later purchased by RELX Group. Lisa began her career in public accounting with Arthur Andersen & Co. from 1986 to 1992 as an Audit Manager and CPA.

Lisa is a current Board Member and the immediate past Board Chair of the Strategic Forum in South Florida. She is an investor and board observer for Anatomie (www.anatomie.com) and sits on the advisory boards of several entrepreneurial companies. From 2010-2012 she was a Board Member of Renaissance Charter Schools overseeing a dozen charter schools at Charter Schools USA. She and her husband Courtland are active philanthropically and have two children, Alexis and Beckton.

As CEO of The Cleveland Avenue Foundation for Education Group (The CAFE Group), Liz
Thompson is deeply engaged in the social innovation and philanthropic communities. The CAFE
Group provides financial and programmatic support to Leaders of Color whose proximity to current
and historic challenges in education allows them to influence philanthropic decisions and create
meaningful and relevant solutions. By leveraging lived experiences and the genius within our
communities, The CAFE Group creates a glidepath from College Intern to Established Leader
designed to catalyze lasting systemic change.

Liz began working with nonprofits in 1993 as founding Executive Director of City Year Chicago, a
national service organization that was the template for the AmeriCorps Program. Then in 1995, Liz
served as Executive Director of Family Star Montessori School in Denver, where she led a multimillion dollar expansion of their Early Head Start program. In 1998, she became active with nonprofit
boards in the San Diego area, which further fueled her interest in philanthropy and education.
Before following her passion in the nonprofit sector, Liz had a successful ten-year career with
Ameritech Corporation after having received an Electrical Engineering degree from Purdue
University.

In addition to her commitment to serving students, professionals, and communities, Liz and her
husband, Don Thompson, are co-founders of the investment firm Cleveland Avenue, LLC.
Cleveland Avenue provides financial resources, expertise, and individual support to entrepreneurs
to grow and scale their businesses. Their collective work was highlighted by World Business
Chicago through their Corporate Ambassador Award, by Loyola University Chicago’s Baumhart
Center with their Innovator Award for Social Impact, and most recently by the Chicago History
Museum with their Jane Addams Award for Distinction in Social Service.

Liz is currently a Director of the Lamar Advertising Corporation and a Director for Chicago Public
Media/WBEZ. She is a National Director for Braven and Chairman of Braven’s Chicago Board. She
serves on the board of the Partnership for College Completion, and as Special Advisor to OneGoal.
Liz is an alumnus of the Nonprofit Leadership Program of Denver and Leadership Greater Chicago,
where she served on the Board for ten years. Liz is a past Trustee of the University of Chicago, the
Museum of Science and Industry, and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Liz received an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology where
she was the commencement speaker for the graduating class of 2023. She was recognized The
Chicago Urban League as the Lester H. McKeever Jr. Individual Service Award Recipient, by
Chicago Statue University with the 2023 Cougar Servant Leadership Award in Education Equity, as
an IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy 2023 Black Women Give Back Honoree, an inaugural
Crain’s Chicago Business’ Women of Note and is a member of the distinguished Aspen Institute’s
Pahara Fellowship. She has received the Chicago Public Media’s Amplifier Award, YWCA Chicago’s
Community Leadership Award, the Outstanding Community Leader Award from The Association of
Fundraising Professionals, the Dream Builders Award from the Chicago Child Care Society, and the
John J. Dugan Award from OneGoal. She was featured in Make It Better Magazine as one of
Chicago’s Top Black Women of Impact. She has appeared as a keynote speaker for the
Grantmaker’s for Education Conference, The Walton Family Foundation, the National Center on
Family Philanthropy, the Forefront Annual Luncheon, the Rustandy Center for Social Sector
Innovation, and the Chicago Venture Summit.

Liz has been married to Don for 30 years. They have two adult children and live in the southwest
area of metropolitan Chicago.

Diane Whitty, Executive Director and Global Head of The Philanthropy Centre, joined J.P. Morgan in 2010. The Philanthropy Centre is focused on providing clients with insights and services to help meet their financial and philanthropic goals through innovative advice, thought leadership and collaborative opportunities.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Diane served over the past 30 years as a senior executive in the corporate and non-profits sector. Ms. Whitty has held leadership positions at Save the Children as Senior Vice-President of corporate relations and Executive Vice-President of marketing, communications and development at the US Fund for UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund). During her tenure, she spearheaded many global health and development initiatives, but most notably, campaigns to eliminate maternal and neo-natal tetanus, iodine deficiency, address the incidence of HIV/AIDS and improve access to education for girls in developing countries.

Under her leadership at UNICEF, Diane and her teams were responsible for growth in revenue exceeding 327%. Prior to her non-profit work, Diane spent 17 years at Avon products as a Senior Sales and Marketing Executive.

Cary Leitzes is the Founder and President of LEITZES&CO, a creative agency that specializes in blockbuster partnerships between creatives and brands that drive cultural relevancy. Her roster of clients and projects span across all sectors and include the likes of Target, NBC Universal, Karl Lagerfeld, Lady Gaga’s Workshop at Barneys, Diplo, Cindy Sherman, MAC Cosmetics, Sephora, Jimmy Choo, Coca-Cola and more… A publishing veteran, prior to founding LEITZES&CO, Cary was an editor at W Magazine and the Director of Photography at Harper’s Bazaar for over 10 years and marking the youngest ever in the publications history.

In June 2021, Darla Vaughn joined Emerson Collective’s Culture Council: an asymmetric, culture-focused EC resource created in response to the Golden Age of art and activism. She leads, advises, supports, serves, and collaborates on a wide variety of projects with innovative and creatively inspiring problem-solvers—internally and externally—in pursuit of a more just, equitable, and inclusive society.

Darla served 3.5 years as Head of Brand Marketing at i am OTHER, the creative collective founded by Pharrell Williams —responsible for implementing an array of Pharrell-led initiatives and businesses from concept to reality.

Prior to joining i am OTHER, Darla spent over 20 years in energy marketing, branding, and product-centric roles at NIKE, Inc. where she pursued unprecedented convergences of design, art, music, culture and sport

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad is the John Corbally Endowed Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has previously served as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, school district administrator, curriculum director, and school board president. She studies Black historical excellence in education, intending to reframe curriculum and instruction today. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading academic journals and books. She has also received numerous national awards and is the author of the best-selling books Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy. She also co-authored the book Black Girls’ Literacies. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools and districts across Canada. In 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, she was named among the top 1% Edu-Scholar Public Influencers due to her impact on policy and practice. She has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. In the fall of 2025, her first curriculum, entitled Genius and Joy, will be available to schools and educators.