[Past Event] Using a New Lens to See and Invest in Transformative Change in Work

Alex Bernadotte Founder & CEO, Beyond 12 Alexandra (Alex) Bernadotte is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Beyond 12, a high-tech, high-touch nonprofit that integrates personalized coaching with mobile technology to increase the number of traditionally underserved students who graduate from college and who translate their degrees into meaningful employment and choice-filled lives. She has more than 18 years of executive management and strategic development experience in the nonprofit and private sectors. Immediately before launching Beyond 12, Alex was an entrepreneur in residence at NewSchools Venture Fund where she developed the business plan for Beyond 12. Alex's previous professional experience includes serving as executive director of The Princeton Review's Silicon Valley office; executive director of Foundation for a College Education, a nonprofit college access program; co-founder and vice president of marketing at educational travel startup Explorica; director of operations at EF Education; and operations manager at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where she coordinated the efforts of an international youth substance abuse prevention foundation. Alex currently serves on the board of directors of Great Oakland Public Schools and the board of advisors of the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship and the Presidential Commission for Financial Aid at Dartmouth College. Alex received her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth and earned a master's degree with a concentration in policy and organizational leadership from Stanford. She is an Ashoka Fellow, a recipient of the 2011 NewSchools Venture Fund Entrepreneur of the Year award, a 2012 Jefferson Award for Public Service winner, a Stanford University Alumni Excellence in Education Award honoree, a Fellow of the 22nd class of the Pahara - Aspen Education Fellowship, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In addition, Beyond 12 was named one of the world's 10 most innovative education companies by Fast Company and the organization’s MyCoach mobile app won the 2016 Xammy Award for best social impact app from Xamarin, a Microsoft- owned mobile development platform.

Jesús Gerena CEO, Family Independent Initiative Jesús Gerena is CEO of Family Independence Initiative (FII), an antiracist change organization that trusts and invests in low-income families, allowing them to move themselves out of poverty. Under Jesús’ leadership, FII has quadrupled its revenue, doubled in staff, and expanded its work to all 50 states through the adoption of its strength-based approach (SBA) and technology platform, UpTogether. Prior to joining FII in 2010, Jesús worked for the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF), where he served as Deputy Director and worked on the Youth First project that helped lay the groundwork for a proposed $250 million urban development project. In 2008, the HSTF team organized and designed a youth-led comprehensive Civics curriculum in Boston Public Schools. Jesús has held numerous Board leadership positions across New England and is also a co-founder of the Community Fellows Program at the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. He currently serves on advisory groups for The Aspen Institute and the Kresge Foundation. Jesús is an established speaker and has presented at myriad conferences and gatherings across the United States, most notably as a featured speaker at the 2011 TEDx Cambridge conference. In 2015, the Boston-based Barr Foundation awarded Jesús a Barr Fellowship for his contributions to the city and his potential to drive positive change. Recently, the Schwab Foundation named Jesús as a 2020 Social Innovator of the Year for leading FII’s work supporting tens of thousands of families across the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Puerto Rican native, Jesús is the youngest of three children born to parents who were just nineteen years old when they married. Although his family struggled to make ends meet, they benefited from a support network of extended families and friends. It was not until his parents’ divorce that this support network fractured, causing him, his mother and siblings to struggle in deep poverty. At the age of nine, Jesús moved with his mother and siblings to Amherst, Massachusetts. This community was full of resources, lifting up opportunities for Jesús’ family to achieve their goals. This life experience has shaped Jesús, fueling his desire to eliminate place,race, or economic position as the marker for individual and collective success.

Adrian Haro CEO, The Workers Lab Adrian is the Chief Executive Officer at The Workers Lab, which gives new ideas about increasing worker power a chance to succeed and flourish. He joined the lab in 2017 as its Managing Director. Prior to joining The Workers Lab, Adrian built a career in progressive politics, government, and public affairs. He started as a field organizer on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and then served as the speechwriter to United States Secretary of Labor, Hilda L. Solis. He then spent four years at Civitas Public Affairs Group, a leading national public affairs firm. Adrian had a brief but beloved stint in Hollywood working under the mentorship of acclaimed Latino entertainment executive, activist, and entrepreneur, Moctesuma Esparza. Adrian holds a degree in rhetorical studies and political science from California State University, Long Beach and grew up in East Los Angeles.

Dr. Angela Jackson Managing Partner, New Profit Dr. Angela Jackson leads New Profit’s Future of Work Initiative, which seeks to close the career-readiness gap for Americans from low-income backgrounds. Angela’s career started in the private sector leading business development for organizations like Viacom and Nokia. While working internationally, she began to wonder: if multinational companies can deliver their products consistently and with quality at scale, what would it take to deliver social interventions like education and health in a similar manner?   She began to tackle this question by founding Global Language Project, a social venture that aimed to transform how we prepare students with skills to succeed in a global economy and workforce. Angela completed a Doctoral degree at Harvard University, where her focus was on this question, along with the role of scale and strategic capital deployment and philanthropy in systems change initiatives.   Angela’s work with New Profit allows her to marry her research interests with practice. She currently leads New Profit’s $15M Future of Work global fund to invest in entrepreneurs and companies developing innovative technical solutions to upskill low-income and entry-level workers at scale. Angela recently launched a $6 million Future of Work Grand Challenge, powered by XPRIZE and MIT Solve, to rapidly reskill 25,000 displaced workers into living-wage jobs in the next 24 months.   Her work and writing has been featured in CNN, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune and Harvard Business Review. You can read her thoughts on the intersection of race and the Future of Work on Medium and follow her on Twitter at @angjack.