The Judges

Anousheh Ansari is CEO of XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Ansari sponsored the $10M Ansari XPRIZE, igniting a new era for commercial spaceflight. Prior, Ansari served as CEO of Prodea Systems, a leading Internet of Things technology firm. She captured international headlines by embarking upon an 11-day space expedition, becoming the first female private space explorer, first astronaut of Iranian descent, first Muslim woman in space, and fourth private explorer to visit space. Ansari co-founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, with a goal of investing $1 billion in women-founded companies by 2020. Her memoir, My Dream of Stars, aims to share her life story as inspiration for young women around the world.

Cecilia A. Conrad, Ph.D. is CEO of Lever for Change and a Managing Director at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Lever for Change is a new nonprofit affiliate of the MacArthur Foundation whose mission is to unlock philanthropic capital and accelerate solutions to the world’s biggest social challenges. In addition to her role at Lever for Change, Dr. Conrad oversees the MacArthur Fellows program and MacArthur’s 100&Change, the Foundation’s competition for a single $100 million grant to help solve a critical problem of our time. Before joining the foundation in January 2013, Conrad had a distinguished career as both a professor and an administrator at Pomona College, Claremont, CA. She held the Stedman Sumner Chair in Economics and is currently emerita professor of economics. She served as Associate Dean of the College (2004-2007), as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College (2009-2012), and as Acting President (Fall 2012). From 2007-2009, she was interim Vice President and Dean of the Faculty at Scripps College. As Associate Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Pomona, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Pomona, Conrad championed the College's summer undergraduate research program and expanded it to the arts and humanities, led conversations regarding the value and assessment of a liberal arts college education, nurtured collaborations between the arts and the sciences, and worked with academic departments to improve the campus climate for diversity. As a member of the faculty, Conrad contributed to the curriculum of several interdisciplinary programs and, in 2002, was recognized as California's Carnegie Professor of the Year, a prestigious national award that recognizes faculty members for their achievement as undergraduate professors. Conrad's academic research focuses on the effects of race and gender on economic status. Her work has appeared in both academic journals and nonacademic publications including The American Prospect and Black Enterprise.

The Honorable France A. Córdova was the 14th director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), an independent federal agency. Córdova has been a leader in science, engineering and education for more than four decades. She has a distinguished career in both higher education and government; she has served in five presidential administrations, several universities, and in three federal agencies. Her contributions in multi-spectral research on x-ray and gamma ray sources and space-borne instrumentation have made her an internationally recognized astrophysicist. She is president emerita of Purdue University, chancellor emerita of the University of California, Riverside and former vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Córdova served as chair of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution and on the board of trustees of Mayo Clinic. She also served as NASA's chief scientist and is a recipient of the agency's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal. She received her B.A. from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology. Her first government job was with DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and her first university position was as professor and department head at Penn State University. Córdova was honored as a Kilby Laureate in 2000, recognized for "significant contributions to society through science, technology, innovation, invention and education." She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a National Associate of the National Academies and an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). She was named a distinguished alumna of Caltech, is in Stanford’s Multi-Cultural Hall of Fame and the California Hall of Fame. She has numerous honorary degrees and medals from Ireland, Chile, and Colombia.

Dr. Angela Duckworth is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the co-founder and CEO of Character Lab, a nonprofit that uses psychological science to help children thrive. A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Angela has advised the White House, the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs. Prior to her career in research, Dr. Duckworth founded a summer school for low-income children that was profiled as a Harvard Kennedy School case study and, in 2018, celebrated its 25th anniversary. She has also been a McKinsey management consultant and a math and science teacher at public schools in New York City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Angela’s TED talk is among the most-viewed of all time. Her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance was a #1 New York Times best seller.

Georgia M. Dunston, the first African American to receive the Ph.D. degree in Human Genetics, is founder, president, and CEO of Whole Genome Science Foundation (WGSF), Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation initiated at Howard University (HU) in 2014 to promote and advance knowledge on the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) of the human genome as a fundamental functional unit of biological life. Dr. Dunston is HU Professor Emerita since 2017, where she was founder and former director of the National Human Genome Center. Her passion is building community-academic partnerships that connect the African Diaspora to the global genome revolution in knowledge on human identity, population diversity, and global community. She currently serves in academia as Senior Advisor of the HU Quantum Biology Laboratory.

Prasad Kaipa, Ph.D is a thought leader in innovation and leadership. In the last 30 years, he has integrated spiritual frameworks with neurological models and traditional management models in his work with business organizations and senior leaders. He has coached and advised over 100 C-suite executives in global Fortune companies like Boeing, Cisco, Disney, Ford Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Maersk, State Bank of India and Tata Steel. Prasad’s approach to executive coaching focuses on “igniting the creative genius” of leaders and unleashing the innovation capabilities in their organizations. Prasad was recognized as one of the top Management Thinkers of Indian origin by Thinkers50. Prasad has designed and led over 200 Executive Education programs organized by University of Southern California, INSEAD, London School of Business, Dartmouth University, IIM Bangalore and Indian School of Business. He is also the co-founder and founding academic Dean for the Hindu Community Institute and cofounded the TiE (Entrepreneur) Institute. Prasad also served as a Professor and founding Executive Director of ISB's Center for Leadership, Innovation, and Change. He currently serves as a Board member for Intellect Design Arena (USA), YogaBharati, SamskritaBharati, and the North South Foundation. In the Past, Prasad has been on the Board of International Leadership Association (ILA), Marico Innovation Foundation, Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) and also served as an advisor on the Government of India's "Innovation and Knowledge Creation" panel in 2017. Prasad co-authored the best-selling book “From Smart to Wise,”and his second book about differently-abled entrepreneurs, “You Can Be Smarter and Wiser” came out in 2016. He has published several articles in HBR, SMR, Business Week, Forbes, and the New York Times. As an early employee at Apple, he was a Technology Advisor, a Product Marketing manager, and an Apple University Research Fellow. Prasad holds a Ph.D. in Physics from IIT Madras and helped build an International Research Laboratory in Radiation Dosimetry at the University of Utah while he was an Assistant Professor.

Tsitsi Masiyiwa is an African philanthropist and social entrepreneur. She is Executive Chair and Co-Founder of Higherlife Foundation, whose primary goal is to invest in human capital development to build thriving individuals, communities and sustainable livelihoods. As a result of her work and experience establishing and growing Higherlife Foundation over the last twenty-five years, Tsitsi has become an advisor and thought partner to universities, national leaders, and social entrepreneurs on issues of education, health, leadership development, and youth empowerment. In 2017, Tsitsi established Delta Philanthropies, as a vehicle for impact investing and grant-making. Delta Philanthropies seeks to unlock and catalyse innovative solutions to the elimination of poverty by convening strategic partnerships and incubating new development models. Her work has garnered global recognition, including Honorary Doctorate degrees from Morehouse University in Atlanta, Georgia; Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe; as well as the prestigious Champions for Change Award for Leadership from the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). Tsitsi is a founding board member and the current Board Chair of the African Philanthropy Forum; a Trustee of the Legatum Institute, and the END Fund; a member of the Sesame Workshop Global Advisory Group, the Generation Unlimited Global Leadership Council, the International Advisory Board for Texas A&M University, the Yale Institute for Global Health Advisory Board, the Prince’s Trust International West Africa Advisory Board, and the Kenjin-Tatsujin International Advisory Council. Her most recent appointments include serving on the inaugural Board of Directors of Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) and as the Co-Chair of The Trinity Challenge Judging Panel. Tsitsi and her husband, Strive, have been signatories to the Giving Pledge since 2014.

Indra Nooyi is the former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo (2006-2019); a Fortune 50 company with operations in over 180 countries. In this role, Mrs. Nooyi was the chief architect of Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo’s pledge to do what’s right for the business by being responsive to the needs of the world around us. As part of Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo was focused on delivering sustained growth by making more nutritious products, limiting its environmental footprint and protecting the planet, and empowering its associates and people in the communities it serves. During her tenure, PepsiCo grew net revenue more than 80%, and PepsiCo’s total shareholder return was 162%. Before joining PepsiCo in 1994 Mrs. Nooyi held senior positions at The Boston Consulting Group, Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri. Currently, Mrs. Nooyi is a member of the board of Amazon and sits on the Audit Committee. She serves on the Global Leadership Board at edX, the world’s leading nonprofit online education platform. She is a member of the International Advisory Council of Temasek, an independent director of the International Cricket Council and is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She is also a Dean’s Advisory Council member at MIT’s School of Engineering and a member of the MIT Corporation. Additionally, she is the Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at West Point where she helps enhance the ability of both the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership and the U.S. Military Academy to fulfill the mission of developing leaders of character. Mrs. Nooyi has received many prizes, accolades and honorary degrees over the years. In 2007, the Government of India awarded her the Padma Bhushan, the country’s 3rd highest civilian honor. In 2007, she was named an “Outstanding American by choice” by the US State Department. In 2019, her portrait was inducted into the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. She holds a B.S. from Madras Christian College, an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, and a Master of Public and Private Management from Yale University. Mrs. Nooyi is married and has two daughters.

Tim Shriver has served as the Chairman of Special Olympics International since 1996. He currently serves alongside more than six million Special Olympics athletes and their families in over 195 countries around the world. During his time as Chairman, Special Olympics has developed proven programming for all aspects of a Special Olympics athlete’s life: leadership, health, education, and family support. His commitment to inclusion is evident by Special Olympics athletes serving on the International Board of Directors, hundreds of thousands of health professionals trained in adaptive health care protocols, partnerships with organizations like the World Health Organization, United Nations, and the Unified Champion Schools Program creating a Unified Generation in which all people are included and accepted regardless of intellectual differences. Shriver drove the largest expansion of Special Olympics, growing the movement from one million athletes to over six million athletes and unified partners that are leading the Inclusion Revolution around the world. Shriver has harnessed the power of Hollywood to challenge unconscious bias and share stories of inspiration, co-producing DreamWorks Studios’ 1997 release, Amistad, and Disney Studios’ 2000 release, The Loretta Claiborne Story. He is Executive Producer of The Ringer, a Farrelly Brothers film, Front of the Class, a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie and The Peanut Butter Falcon released in 2019. In 2014, Shriver wrote the New York Times bestseller Fully Alive: Discovering What Matters Most, where he shares the life changing impact of people with intellectual disabilities and their capacity to inspire others to see the world in a more meaningful way. In 2021, Shriver co-edited The Call to Unite: Voices of Hope and Awakening, where citizens from around the world share their prayers, poems, insights, and lessons to live by in divided and challenging times. Before joining Special Olympics, Shriver co-founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). He is a member of the editorial board of the Disability and Health Journal. Shriver is the Co-Founder of UNITE, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, President of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, UNESCO Chair for “Transforming the Lives of People with Disabilities, their Families and Communities, Through Physical Education, Sport, Recreation and Fitness” at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, Ireland, and Co-Founder of Lovin’ Scoopful Ice Cream Company. Shriver earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University, a master’s degree in Religion and Religious Education from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut. He and his wife Linda Potter live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC and they are the proud parents of five adult children and grandparents of three grandchildren.

Meir Soloveichik is the Rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue in Manhattan, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. He serves as the Director of the Straus Center of Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Soloveichik was ordained by Yeshiva’s seminary and received his PhD in religion from Princeton University. In 2018, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty honored Rabbi Soloveichik with its Canterbury Medal for his advocacy of, and commitment to, the free exercise of religion.