Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows

Meet the Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows, a group of extraordinary leaders who are moving ideas to action for children and families in the US.

Senior Director and Head of Accessibility

Phyllis Albritton

Managing Consultant

Colorado Safety Net Collaborative

Global Operations Consultant

CEO and Chairman

Black Star Fund

Senior VP, Collaboration and Impact

Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation

Erin Arango-Escalante

Founder & Principal

All Children Thrive

Jovanna Archuleta

Early Childhood Community Outreach Director

LANL Foundation

Deana Around Him

Research Scholar

Anthony Barrows

Managing Partner & Founder, Center for Behavioral Design & Social Justice

Project Evident

Katherine Beckmann

Program Officer and Manager for the Children, Families & Communities program

The David & Lucile Packard Foundation

CEO & Co-Founder

Kristin Bernhard

Chief Policy and Research Officer

Shine Early Learning

Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN) at Georgetown University

Economic Security Project

Melanie Bridgeforth

President and CEO

Women’s Foundation of Alabama

Bezos Family Foundation Professor of Early Childhood Development

Department of Population Health NYU School of Medicine

Vice President, Community Investment & Impact

The Colorado Health Foundation

Program Director, Health and Human Services, Counties Futures Lab

National Association of Counties

Vice President – Birmingham Division

Alabama Power Company

City of Saint Paul

P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale

Professor Emerita of Human Development and Social Policy

Northwestern University, Institute for Policy Research

Director, Division of Mental Health and Addiction

Indiana Family and Social Services Administration

Nathan T. Chomilo

Medical Director, Medicaid and MinnesotaCare

Minnesota Department of Human Services

Mary Alice Cohen

Deputy Executive Director

Colorado Department of Early Childhood

Janeen Comenote

Executive Director

National Urban Indian Family Coalition

Operations/HR Director

Whole Child Strategies, Inc.

Senior Vice President and Chief Mission and Education Officer

Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana

Executive Director

HealthConnect One

Senior Director of Integrated Care

Axis Health Systems

Founder and Special Advisor

Assistant Professor, Center Director

Center for Community Resilience, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University

Chief of Staff/Deputy Disruptor

Morgridge Family Foundation

Verónica Figoli

Vice President for Institutional Partnerships

Accion Opportunity Fund

Raphael Gamaliel Warnock

United States Senator

President and CEO

Social Venture Partners Tucson

Professor of Pediatrics and of Medical Social Sciences

Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago/ Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine

Tony Gherardini

Executive Director

Department of Personnel and Administration for Governor Polis

Vice President for Employee Health

Edwards Lifesciences

Gretchen Hammer

Public Leadership Group

Maria Harper-Marinick

The Aspen Institute, College Excellence Program

Regional Administrator

Administration for Children and Families

Managing Director

The Kresge Foundation

President and CEO

American Indian OIC

John Hudson III

Senior Vice President, Entergy Corporation | President, Entergy Charitable Foundation

Laura Huerta Migus

Deputy Director

Institute of Museum and Library Services

Strategic Initiatives Officer

CEO & Executive Director

Center for African American Health

Executive Director

San Juan Basin Public Health

Christopher Jones

Executive Director

North Dakota Department of Human Services

Founder and President & CEO of the Center for Urban Families

Center for Urban Families

Myra Jones-Taylor

Chief Policy Impact Officer

Urban Institute

Senior Vice-President for National Programs

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)

Professor and Director

University of Chicago, Center for Human Potential and Public Policy

Blythe Keeler Robinson

President and CEO

Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Centers

Christopher King

Senior Research Scientist and Lecturer

Ray Marshall Center, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

Executive Director

Family Resource Center Association

Executive Director

Mesa County Public Health

Southern New Hampshire University

Chief Medical Officer

Executive Fellow

International Center for Finance at Yale School of Management

Mental Health In-Chief, Cannon Y. & Lyndia Harvey Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Chair of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute

Children’s Hospital Colorado

Founder and Senior Advisor

Vice President, Families and Communities

The David & Lucile Packard Foundation

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Boston University

President and Chief Executive Officer

The Colorado Trust

C. Nicole Mason

Institute for Women's Policy Research

Felix V. Matos Rodriguez

City University of New York College System

Margaret McKenna

Boston Human Rights Commission

Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Division Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine

The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Women and Infants Hospital

Georgia Mjartan

Executive Director

South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness

Governor of Maryland

Alicia Mousseau

Oglala Sioux Tribe

Dipesh Navsaria

Associate Professor of Pediatrics

School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Writer in Residence

Columbia Justice Lab Square One Project

Michael Niyompong

Vice President & Chief Engagement Officer

Christine Norbut Beyer

New Jersey Department of Children and Families

Executive Director

Springboard to Opportunities

President Emeritus

Miami Dade College

Adrián A. Pedroza

National Executive Director

Abriendo Puertas | Opening Doors

President and CEO

Women's Foundation of Minnesota

Senior Director

Washington State Department of Social and Health Services

First Assistant, Deputy Governor for Education

Office of Governor J.B. Pritzker

Director for Early Childhood Success in the Institute for Youth Education and Families

National League of Cities

Michelle Sarche

Associate Professor

University of Colorado - Denver

Aysha E. Schomburg

Associate Commissioner

Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Kimberly Seals Allers

Executive Director

Narrative Initiative

Instructor/Director

Colorado State University

William Serrata

El Paso Community College

Ann Silverberg King

Senior Director, Systems Improvement

Casey Family Programs

Quetelet Professor of Social Science

Department of Sociology at Columbia University

Executive Director

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Mary Anne Snyder

Dr. Darius Tandon

Director, Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM) - Center for Community Health; Associate Professor of Medical Social Sciences

Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine

Executive Director

National Basketball Association Foundation

Arapahoe County Department Human Services

Jessica Saniguq Ullrich

Assistant Professor

Washington State University

Ebony Underwood

Chief Community Impact Officer

Trinity Commons

Stephanie Villafuerte

Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman

Child Protection Ombudsman of Colorado

Scott Wasserman

The Bell Policy Center

Dr. Sarah Watamura

Professor and Chair

University of Denver, Department of Psychology

Co-Founder and CEO

Executive Director

Burke Foundation

Birth Detroit and Birth Center Equity

Sherece West-Scantlebury

President and CEO

Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation

Founder and CEO

Strategy with Rox

Co-Founder & CEO

Acelero Learning, Inc.

Daniel Williams

President and CEO

Steelcase Foundation

Howard Community College

Katharine Winograd

Executive Director

Economic FORUM of Albuquerque

President & Chief Executive Officer

Millenial Action Project