Kevin Carroll

Kevin Carroll is the founder of Kevin Carroll Katalyst/LLC and the author of three highly successful books published by ESPN, Disney Press and McGraw-Hill. As an author, speaker and agent for social change (a.k.a. the Katalyst), it is Kevin’s “job” to inspire businesses, organizations and individuals - from CEOs and employees of Fortune 500 companies to schoolchildren - to embrace their spirit of play and creativity to maximize their human potential and sustain more meaningful business and personal growth.

Raised by his grandparents in Philadelphia, Kevin spent endless hours at the neighborhood playground where he found his calling: a red rubber ball. His subsequent pursuit of play and his “red rubber ball” took him overseas with the Air Force, where he served as a language interpreter and translator, gaining fluency in Croatian, Czech, Serbian, and German.

After serving in the Air Force for ten years and earning his college degree, Kevin became an athletic trainer at the high school and collegiate levels in Philadelphia. His expertise in sport performance recognized by the 76ers organization and led to his job as the Head Athletic Trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1995. While at the 76ers, Nike tapped Kevin to bring his unique experiences to the sneaker giant in 1997. Although no job “officially” existed at the time, Kevin was directed to create a position at the company that would add value to the overall mission of the brand. Kevin accepted the challenge and stayed for seven years as “Katalyst” (the ‘K’ is for Kevin) – a creative change agent. At Nike, he was instrumental in helping the company develop a deeper understanding of athletic product performance, team dynamics and interpersonal communication. Kevin left Nike in 2004 to create his own company, Kevin Carroll Katalyst/LLC, committed to elevating the power of sport and play around the world.

Candy Chang

Candy Chang is an artist, designer, and urban planner who explores making cities more comfortable and contemplative places. She believes in the potential of introspection and collective wisdom in public space to improve our communities and our personal well-being. She is a TED Senior Fellow, an Urban Innovation Fellow, and was named a “Live Your Best Life” Local Hero by Oprah Magazine. By combining street art with urban planning, social activism, and philosophy, she has been recognized as a leader in developing new strategies for the design of our cities.

Inspired by the desire to improve her community and improve herself, she creates projects that collect our hopes, fears, and stories in public space to help us lead better lives. Recent work includes Before I Die, where she transformed an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans into an interactive wall for residents to share their hopes and dreams – a project The Atlantic called “one of the most creative community projects ever.” She created fill-in-the-blank I Wish This Was stickers for people to voice what they want in vacant storefronts and co-founded Neighborland, an online tool for people to self-organize and shape the development of their communities. In Looking for Love Again, she turned an empty high-rise in Alaska into a collective archive of residents’ memories and hopes for the building.

She received a BS in Architecture, a BFA in Graphic Design, and a Masters in Urban Planning from Columbia University. She is the co-founder of Civic Center, an art and design studio in New Orleans. She was also once a designer at The New York Times, a design field researcher at Nokia, and the co-founder of record label Red Antenna. Her work has been exhibited in the National Design Triennial at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and she has created public art commissions for civic institutions, international airports, and creative organizations. She speaks internationally and has received awards from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Black Rock Arts Foundation.

Van Jones

Van Jones is president and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, a pioneering initiative to restore good jobs and economic opportunity. Van has a 15-year track record as a successful, innovative and award-winning social entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of three, thriving nonprofit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and Green For All. He is the author of a New York Times best seller, The Green Collar Economy, the definitive book on green jobs. The World Economic Forum named Van a Young Global Leader in 2005. In 2008, Fast Company magazine said he had one of the 12 most creative minds on Earth. TIME magazine named Van a global environmental hero in 2008; it named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009.

A Yale-educated attorney, Van worked as the green jobs advisor to the Obama White House in 2009. There, he helped run the inter-agency process that oversaw $80 billion in green recovery spending. During the 2010-11 academic year, Van taught environmental policy and politics at Princeton University. Today, he serves on the boards of several prestigious organizations, including the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and American Progress Action Fund. A globally-recognized pioneer in human rights and the clean energy economy, Van is one of America's leading champions of smart solutions to create pathways out of poverty and rebuild America's middle class. Van is the founder of Green For All, the national organization working to get green jobs to disadvantaged communities. He was the main advocate for the Green Jobs Act, which George W. Bush signed into law in 2007. The Act was the first piece of federal legislation to codify the term "green jobs." Under the Obama administration, it has resulted in $500 million for green job training nationally.