2024 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows
Kenn Harris
National Partnership for Community Leadership
Senior Consultant
Connecticut
Priya Iyer
Our Roots
Founder & CEO
California
Sarah Kuriakose
New York State Office of Mental Health
Associate Commissioner, Division of Integrated Community Services for Children and Families
New York
Vance Lewis
Promise Venture Studio
Associate Partner
California
Natalie Renew
Home Grown
Executive Director
Pennsylvania
Demetrius Starling
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Senior Deputy Director
Michigan
Madeleine Thakur
The Children's Movement of Florida
President & CEO
Florida
Shannon Wanless
Office of Child Development, University of Pittsburgh
Executive Director & Associate Professor
Pennsylvania
Jennifer Wells
Community Change
Director of Economic Justice
Alabama
Chelsea Wesner
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado
Research Instructor
South Dakota
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.