Serial entrepreneur and community leader Nathan Ryan is co-founder/CEO of Blue Sky Partners, focused on helping organizations build healthy, sustainable systems so they can scale. He is also co-founder/CEO of Good Politics, focused on connecting disengaged voters to the political process. He serves on the board of directors at the LBJ Presidential Library’s Future Forum and the Austin Monitor; the Austin Chamber of Commerce’s COVID-19 Task Force to Reopen Central Texas; and on the Economic Prosperity Commission and the Ethics Review Commission for the City of Austin. Nathan lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Amanda, and dogs, Max and Rory.
Ryan Connell is a traveler, writer, and photographer. He currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can find more of his writings at theholyapostate.com
Christopher Brown is an Austin-based business lawyer and author, and one of the founding members of the Colorado River Conservancy. His newest novel, Failed State, is now available from HarperCollins.
Kyle Moser, a leader at Conara, is focused on designing toward ideals and cultures that can stand the test of time. His experience spans real estate, construction, technology product design, filmmaking and Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. He has lived in Austin for eight years.
Andrew Escher, a leader at Conara, has experience spanning real estate, small business, international healthcare, technical training, public speaking and finance. He's interested in human motivation and learning about what makes cultures, companies and cities work. He has lived in Austin for four years.
A native of Turkey, Banu Paksoy immigrated to the United States a decade ago to pursue a career in global education, digital tools and technology. Today, in addition to being a mother, she leads the digital design and strategy of Urbanitus.
Janet Miranda is a recent University of Houston graduate who majored in Political Science and Business Administration. During her time at UH, she served as a staff writer and news reporter in her college newspaper, The Cougar. She is currently a freelance writer for InnovationMap, covering energy, tech, and healthcare. And like many other grads, she is looking for a journalism opportunity to use her storytelling skills full-time.
Peniel E. Joseph is an American scholar, teacher, and leading public voice on race issues. He holds a joint professorship appointment at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the History Department in the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. He founded and directs the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy (CSRD) on the University of Texas campus, housed at the LBJ School. The Center promotes engaged research and scholarship focused on the ways issues of race and democracy impact the lives of global citizens. He has published many award-winning books. The most recent, published in March, is The Sword and the Shield -- The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.