Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows


Kwame Anku
Black Star Fund
CEO and Chairman
California


Anthony Barrows
Project Evident
Managing Partner & Founder, Center for Behavioral Design & Social Justice
New York


Kristin Bernhard
Primrose Schools
Executive Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Advocacy
Georgia


Matthew Biel
Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN) at Georgetown University
Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
District of Columbia


Myla Calhoun
Propel Education
President and CEO
Alabama


Wendy Ellis
Center for Community Resilience, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University
Assistant Professor, Center Director
District of Columbia


John Farnam
Buell Foundation
Director of Strategic Grantmaking
Colorado


Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock
US Senate
United States Senator
Georgia


Joe Hobot
American Indian OIC
President and CEO
Minnesota


Laura Huerta Migus
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Deputy Director
Virginia


Christopher Jones
Cicero Institute
Senior Fellow and Vice President for Healthcare Policy
North Dakota


Joseph Jones
Center for Urban Families
Founder and President & CEO of the Center for Urban Families
Maryland


Ariel Kalil
University of Chicago, Center for Human Potential and Public Policy
Professor and Director
Illinois


Paul LeBlanc
Human Systems
Board Chair and Co-Founder
New Hampshire


Jennifer Lee
ACHP
Chief Medical Officer
Virginia


Georgia Mjartan
Central Carolina Community Foundation
President and CEO
South Carolina


Nitzan Pelman
Climb Together
CEO & Founder
California


Lori Pfingst
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
Senior Director
Washington


Michelle Sarche
Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska
Professor and Project Lead
Colorado


Lorelei Vargas
Trinity Church Wall Street
Chief Community Impact Officer
New York
Ascend Fellows are a community of values-driven leaders who share an unwavering commitment to our shared goal of intergenerational family prosperity and well-being.