Deyanira Del Río (she/her) is co-executive director of New Economy Project, a New York City-based organization that works with community groups to build an economy rooted in cooperation, racial and neighborhood equity, and ecological sustainability. New Economy Project organizes coalitions and campaigns that challenge systemic discrimination and wealth extraction in our financial system and economy; and that promote cooperative and community-led development, through community land trusts, public banking, worker and financial co-ops, and other democratically controlled initiatives.

Dey has worked for 26 years to promote cooperative and community-controlled finance, immigrants’ economic rights, and equitable neighborhood development. She has collaborated with groups throughout New York City and State on community land trust, public banking, and financial justice campaigns; co-designed New Economy Project’s foreclosure prevention, DACA and new economy loan funds; and testified at Congressional and legislative hearings on cooperative development and fair lending matters. Dey previously worked as a program officer at Inclusiv (formerly the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions), and she served as board chair of the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union and Inclusiv. She is the recipient of the Frances Perkins Working People’s Award from Fiscal Policy Institute, the Mujeres Destacadas (Outstanding Women) award from El Diario/La Prensa, and the Revson Fellowship on the Future of the City of New York, and she served on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s inaugural Community Advisory Group.

Jeri Rayon, founder of The Black Donors Project and the Art of Hip Hop Fund, is a seasoned arts administrator and nonprofit leader deeply committed to philanthropic activism and the arts.

As the executive director of Rennie Harris Puremovement, Jeri was a key member of an impactful team that contributed to elevating the pioneering Hip Hop concert dance company to the status of a cultural icon. Her leadership was rooted in strategic programming and guided by a vision anchored in principles of art and social justice.

Jeri’s work challenges the exclusion of Black communities from traditional philanthropic avenues. She employs a multi-layered approach to dismantle these barriers, aiming to recenter Black philanthropic giving as a force for economic redistribution and community betterment.

Jeri holds a BA in English and Communications from Cabrini University. She is also in the process of completing her Master’s degree in Media, Ethics and Social Change at the University of Sussex.

In addition to her academic pursuits, Jeri is developing an online course titled “The Broke Philanthropist.” This course serves as a practical guide to everyday philanthropy, emphasizing the potential for small donations to drive significant social change.

Her roles as a 2022-2023 Leaders of Color Fellow, a participant in the 2023 Social Justice Giving Project Cohort II, and a founding board member of Women of Color in the Arts further exemplify her commitment to social justice. Jeri has also been a grant panelist for various organizations, including SouthArts, Miami Cultural Affairs, The Map Fund, and YoungArts.

Lisa Sobrato Sonsini established the Sobrato Family Foundation in 1996 as a vehicle for multiple generations of the Sobrato family to unify their philanthropic giving for maximum impact and has served as its Board Chair for over 25 years. The Sobrato Family Foundation is now part of a larger umbrella of philanthropic entities known as Sobrato Philanthropies whose mission is to partner with communities to meet immediate needs, address systemic barriers, and pursue social justice. Sobrato Philanthropies is part of The Sobrato Organization, a multi-generational, family-owned firm that has played a dynamic role in the emergence and growth of Silicon Valley for nearly 70 years. The family’s vision is to leverage their real estate, capital, and philanthropic enterprises by integrating them for impact in support of creating a more equitable and sustainable world. 

Lisa is a strong advocate for the rights of disadvantaged youth in both the educational and foster care systems. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for KQED, Silicon Schools, Pivotal, and SEAL. Honors include the John W. Gardner Leadership Award from American Leadership Forum, Humanitarian of the Year from Hidden Villa, and San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee. Lisa received a J.D. from Berkeley School of Law and BA in Communication Studies from UCLA.

Eli Kasargod-Staub is the co-founder and executive director of Majority Action. He has worked at the intersection of corporate governance and corporate accountability for his entire career and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designation. Previously he developed engagement strategy for Majority Action’s predecessor organizations 50/50 Climate Project and the Climate Majority Project, as well as led research and corporate governance initiatives at the Service Employees International Union and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

Eli serves on the board of directors of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.

Abigail E. Disney advocates for real changes to the way capitalism operates in today’s world. As a philanthropist and social activist, she has worked with organizations supporting peacebuilding, gender justice, and systemic cultural change. She is a documentary filmmaker who won an Emmy for “The Armor of Light.” Her latest film, “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,” which she co-directed with Kathleen Hughes, made its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The film screened in select theaters and is available on-demand. In Season 4 of the podcast “All Ears,” Abigail used the film as a jumping-off point to ask big-thinking business leaders, union organizers, economists, and others how they would fix our broken economy.
She is also Chair and Co-Founder of Level Forward, an ecosystem of storytellers, entrepreneurs, and social change-makers dedicated to balancing artistic vision, social impact, and stakeholder return. She also created the nonprofit Peace is Loud, which uses storytelling to advance social movements and the Daphne Foundation, which supports organizations working for a more equitable, fair and peaceful New York City.

Jelani Cobb joined the Journalism School faculty in 2016 and became Dean in 2022. He has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2015. He received a Peabody Award for his 2020 PBS Frontline film Whose Vote Counts? and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary in 2018. He has also been a political analyst for MSNBC since 2019.

He is the author of The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress and To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic. He is the editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Matter of Black Lives, a collection of The New Yorker’s writings on race and The Essential Kerner Commission Report. He is producer or co-producer on a number of documentaries including Lincoln’s Dilemma, Obama: A More Perfect Union and Policing the Police.

Dr. Cobb was educated at Jamaica High School in Queens, NY, Howard University, where he earned a B.A. in English, and Rutgers University, where he completed his MA and doctorate in American History in 2003. He is also a recipient of fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation and the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Journalism Project, and was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2023.

Leopoldo López is a Freedom Activist from Venezuela. He was a political prisoner from 2014 to 2020 after being sentenced to fourteen years in prison for leading non-violent street protests and civil resistance in 2014. After spending seven years in confinement, he managed to escape the autocratic regime of Nicolas Maduro in October of 2020 and was able to travelled to Spain where he lives with his family. From 2000 to 2008 Leopoldo López was mayor of the Municipality of Chacao in Caracas and was later illegally disqualified to run for office. He won his case at the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). In 2009, he founded the political party and freedom movement called Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) and became its national coordinator.

Leopoldo López is the co-founder of the World Liberty Congress. Also, at present he is a visiting fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.