Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows
Kwame Anku
Black Star Fund
CEO and Chairman
California
Anthony Barrows
LIFT - New York
Executive Director
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
Former 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.