Advisors

Paola has lectured worldwide in settings ranging from peer conferences to global interdisciplinary gatherings and has served on international architecture and design juries. Her goal is to educate people about the positive influence that design has on the world.

For thirty years, Sunny has used her knowledge and intuition to create inspired marriages between ideas and capital, between creativity and sponsorship, between genius and its audience. She is a pioneer of the invisible network and its protocols, understanding that the connector is the new agent of innovation and business success.

Tim is an architect of products, services, environments, and digital experiences. He is inspired by the convergence of technology and art, as well as the ways in which good design can help emerging economies. He is the author of Change By Design and has written for the Harvard Business Review and The Economist.

Ronda Carnegie most recently served as Head of Global Partnerships/Strategic Initiatives for TED over the last seven years and during that time founded the TEDInstitute in 2012 with a mission to utilize a specialized curatorial approach around story to uncover innovative ideas and expertise discovered inside corporations around the world.

Jon is a branding and marketing expert with new ideas to help shape the future of Internet culture. His company, Futurlogic, is a next-generation, online education company. The Internet-based platform specializes in online programs and curriculum ranging from brief webinars to virtual universities.

Candice Faktor has a passion for growing consumer Internet companies. As Head of Business at Wattpad, Candice leads monetization and partnership efforts in entertainment, technology, media, and advertising. Wattpad is a new form of entertainment that connects over 40 million people through addictive and engaging stories. These stories attract a global millennial audience who spend 30 minutes at a time immersed in free, original content. Candice is no stranger to innovation and entrepreneurship. Previously, she was cofounder of Torstar Digital, one of Canada’s leading digital portfolios, where she launched over 15 mobile, social, and digital businesses. Before Torstar Digital, Candice worked for Monitor Group, a boutique strategy consulting firm. Candice is a frequent speaker on innovation, technology, and storytelling.

Peter is a visionary in the fields of communications, entertainment, and design. He is credited for producing the Blade films, creating the integral pre-vision sequences in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, and supervising marketing efforts for Ray, Spider-Man, and Transformers.

Lisa oversees the company’s community outreach and philanthropic giving, and the arts. She also leads company-wide efforts aimed at better serving and reaching more diverse audiences. Active in civic issues, Lisa was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate to serve on the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service. She is Vice Chairman of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and serves on the board of the Apollo Theater Foundation.

Eileen is the founder of Blurb, a company that allows individuals to produce their own books in small volumes. She has also served as VP at Wall Data and as CEO at Personify, a pioneering developer of e-business software for profiling, analytics, and segmentation.

Former Vice President Gore serves as chairman of the Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit focused on solutions to the climate crisis. He is also cofounder and chairman of Current TV and Generation Investment Management, senior partner with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a member of the board of directors of Apple, and senior advisor to Google.

Jon Kamen is Founding Chairman and CEO of RadicalMedia, creating some of the world’s most innovative content across all platforms of media. Originally renowned for its commercial and advertising success, it has transformed and grown to develop, produce, and distribute television, feature films, music programming, live events, digital content and design. Aside from his professional duties and prolific production credits, Jon is on the Board of Trustees of the Rhode Island School of Design, and has recently has been appointed to the Board of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. He has continuously fostered RadicalMedia’s work with numerous organizations and public service initiatives, including RED, ONE, and Conservation International. RadicalMedia was a recipient of the Smithsonian’s National Design Award, and in 2012 Jon accepted Mayor Bloomberg’s Made in New York Award.

As one of the world’s most awarded creative directors, Tham Khai Meng made history in 2016 by leading Ogilvy & Mather to win Network of the Year at Cannes for the fifth time in a row.

Robert Krulwich works in radio, podcasts, video, and the blogosphere. He has been called “the most inventive network reporter in television” by TV Guide.

Robert is a science correspondent for NPR. His NPR blog, “Krulwich Wonders,” features drawings, cartoons, and videos that illustrate hard-to-see concepts in science. He is also the cohost of Radiolab, a nationally distributed radio/podcast series that explores new developments in science for people who are curious but not usually drawn to science shows. Radiolab won a Peabody Award in 2011.

For twenty-two years, Robert was a science, economics, general assignment, and foreign correspondent at ABC and CBS News. He won Emmy awards for a cultural history of the Barbie doll and for a Frontline investigation of computers and privacy; a George Polk Award and an Emmy for a look at the Savings & Loan bailout; and the 2010 Essay Prize from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Itamar is one of the visionaries behind Pilobolus, a dance troupe renowned for its shape-shifting human sculptures and daring acrobatics. He founded and co-curates the International Collaborators Project, which opens Pilobolus’s choreographic process to artists and thinkers from diverse fields.

Ari has been designing, advising, and completing creative projects that matter to him and his community since 2005. His tireless passion for blazing trails has led to collaborations with TED, GE, Common, Vimeo, Intel, Amex, the Climate Reality Project, and some of the world’s leading artists, thinkers, and companies. He has been featured in Creativity magazine’s “New Talent,” Sundance Channel’s “New Revolutionaries,” Adweek’s “Portraits,” and TED’s “Ads Worth Spreading.”

Jacob Marshall is a musical artist, lecturer, writer, artist manager, social entrepreneur, and pioneer of humanitarian art campaigns. He serves as a Senior Connector at More Partnerships, working with some of the world’s largest and most innovative public and private companies to coordinate their cause partnerships with some of the world’s best artists. He worked as a senior advisor and liaison for the Global Citizen Festival, which brought 60,000 music fans to New York’s Central Park on September 29th, 2012.

Tom Melcher is an Internet executive who has successfully created and led innovative start-ups in Silicon Valley and Beijing. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale University and worked for many years at IBM and McKinsey. He was then a principal executive at five high-profile and successful Silicon Valley Internet start-ups over twelve years. He moved to Beijing in 2004, where he co-founded and then sold two successful Internet media companies over the next nine years. He recently moved to New York City, where he is pursuing further investment opportunities.

Originally a New York fashion designer, Oldham’s career has evolved to include all areas of design, from interior design, to film and photography, to furniture and graphic design. Oldham recently completed his 19th book, Charley Harper’s Animal Kingdom. Most recently, Oldham’s Kid Made Modern, a collection of art supplies and kits, books, and events, debuted in all Target locations.

Keith Reinhard is Chairman Emeritus of the DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc., one of the world’s largest and most awarded advertising agency networks. A member of the Advertising Hall of Fame, Keith has been referred to as the industry’s “soft-spoken visionary” by Advertising Age, which in 1999 named him one of the 100 most influential figures in the history of advertising.

As partner of an interdisciplinary design studio that integrates the performing arts, visual arts, and architecture, Charles has worked on large-scale projects abroad and closer to home. His projects include the redesign of the Juilliard School, New York City’s High Line, and Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art.

The Art of Immersion, Frank’s most recent book, has been called “an essential overview” by The International Journal of Advertising and “a new media bible” by La Repubblica of Rome. A well-known author and speaker on media in the digital age, he has been featured on the BBC and published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, Fortune, and Wired, among others.

Jeffrey is an American theatrical producer who has won three Tony Awards for Best Musical for the productions Rent, Avenue Q, and In the Heights. He is widely considered one of the most innovative of a new breed of producers who seek out small productions and then adapt them for commercial success on Broadway.

Tina has been named a top leader in technology by Businessweek, Fast Company, USA Today, and AdvertisingAge. When she was at the helm of BabyCenter, it was the #1 pregnancy and parenting online destination that provided expert advice and mom-friendly insights.

Rachel is an entrepreneur who offers merchandising and marketing solutions to companies like AOL, Gilt Groupe, and Lord & Taylor. She is guided by the philosophy that creativity and commerce are driven by passion, innovation, demand, expertise, margin, and execution.

Alan is one of the best-known figures in the branding business and a driving force behind the plain English movement in the United States and abroad. As cofounder of Sigel + Gale, he and his agency popularized the concept of “brand voice” to describe the totality of an organization’s personality.

Kevin Wall is a producer, digital entrepreneur and environmentalist who creates and produces global events often viewed by a billion or more people. Recent events include CHIME for Change Concert, Opening Kickoff Concert for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, A Decade of Difference Concert celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Clinton Foundation and the first ever U.S. version of the Secret Policeman’s Ball for Amnesty International. Mr. Wall is also the Managing Partner of Craton Equity Partners and an active investor in early stage technology startups. He is married to Dr. Susan Smalley, PhD, and has three grown children. They live in Beverly Hills, CA.

While practicing accounting in Toronto, Robert Wong woke up one day, flew to New York, and became a graphic designer instead. Since then, he has had the privilege of working on some of the world’s most loved brands—Google, Starbucks, Apple, and MTV, among others. At the Google Creative Lab, he leads a small team of amazingly talented people to help communicate to the world the magic of Google products and the spirit of the people who make them. Prior to Google, Robert was Executive Creative Director of Arnold Worldwide, the agency most famous for a decade of epic Volkswagen advertising in the ’90s. His work has won nearly every industry award and is represented in the permanent collections of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. He has no plans of ever going back to accounting.

Tom has helped bring award-winning innovations and software applications to market including Autodesk SketchBook Pro and PortfolioWall. He is also the author of three books on creative thinking and was part of a team that won an Academy Award for its software contribution to the film industry.

Lauren has shaped a multifaceted career in media. From her start as an indy film producer, she now oversees Bravo Media, Oxygen Media, iVillage, and NBC Universal’s Green is Universal initiative. Her marketing strategies create unique opportunities for advertisers to connect with a desirable demographic across all the NBC Universal brands.

Andrew Zolli is a well-known writer, thinker, and social innovator working at the intersection of global innovation, foresight, social change and resilience. He is the author of bestselling Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back, now published in 15 languages worldwide. For twelve years, he was the chief creative and curatorial force behind PopTech (poptech.org), and now works with a wide variety of organizations, from the next-generation Earth-imaging company Planet Labs (where he advises on social, environmental and humanitarian Impact initiatives) to the Garrison Institute, a leading center for contemplative practice and enlightened social change.

Jeffrey is a restaurateur dedicated to supporting urban farming, sustainable cooking practices, and making meals entirely from scratch. As cofounder of Riverpark Farm, Jeffrey is also credited with developing one of the largest and most urban farms in New York City.

Bob Bejan is currently General Manager for Global Communications Strategy: SMSG at Microsoft working directly for COO Kevin Turner. Prior to his current role, Bob was Global Executive Creative Director of AOL Advertising’s Partner Studio, focused on delivering the next generation of content and creative solutions for marketers. Partner Studio offers brands the opportunity to deliver emotive content experiences that connect with their audiences and are fueled by AOL’s flywheel of data, insights, and programmatic optimization.

Beth Comstock leads GE’s growth efforts via marketing, sales, licensing, and communications and oversees GE Ventures.