When power is concentrated, decisions are made to benefit the few, often at the expense at the many. In an effort to shift toward a more inclusive economic system that serves all stakeholders, how can we shift power and wealth to those whom the system was designed to marginalize? Is power like pie—a finite resource where someone must relinquish their piece for others to enjoy it? Are there entrenched interests that are simply unlikely to budge; and if so, how might we overcome these barriers? Join us to explore the big questions and the concrete solutions social innovators are pursuing to shift power toward a more inclusive and sustainable global economic system.
Rodney is CEO of Common Future, a nonprofit social enterprise with a bold vision: Building a future where all people have power, choice, and ownership over the economy. Previously, he was founder and CEO of Invested Impact, an intermediary that facilitated millions of dollars in philanthropic and impact investment capital into community economic development projects and social entrepreneurs of color.
His writing has appeared in the Boston Review, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Nonprofit Quarterly, and Stanford Social Innovation Review. A Ford Global Fellow and Skoll Awardee, Rodney has been quoted in Forbes, Inc., MarketWatch, The New York Times, and Vox. He’s spoken at Aspen Ideas Festival, Clinton Global Initiative, Global Philanthropy Forum, and other stages, addressing topics such as monopoly power, economic racism and wealth inequality, and institutionalized discrimination in philanthropy.
He serves on the boards of Nonprofit Finance Fund, Race Forward, and SOCAP Global.
Dr. Michael McAfee leads PolicyLink, a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity by lifting up what works. He is responsible for achieving the result of all people in America participating in a flourishing multiracial democracy, prospering in an equitable economy, and living in a thriving community of opportunity.
During his time at PolicyLink, McAfee has played a leadership role in securing Promise Neighborhoods as a permanent federal program, led efforts to improve outcomes for more than 300,000 children, and facilitated the investment of billions of dollars in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. He is the catalyst for a new and growing body of work—corporate racial equity—which includes the first comprehensive tool to guide private-sector companies in assessing and actively promoting equity in every aspect of their company’s value chain.
Marla Blow is the President and COO of the Skoll Foundation. Previously, she was North America lead at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and was Founder and CEO of FS Card Inc., a subprime credit card venture (sold to strategic acquirer).
Ms. Blow won the EY Mid Atlantic Emerging Company Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2018, and has been listed as one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business. Marla was featured in the April 2018 Vanity Fair “26 Women of Color Diversifying Entrepreneurship” photo shoot, and she is a Henry Crown Fellow as part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Previously, she was part of the Implementation Team to stand up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and ultimately served as the Assistant Director for Card and Payment Markets, where she shaped the CFPB’s regulatory priorities in these markets.
Prior to joining the CFPB, Marla spent seven years in a variety of functions at Capital One in the credit card business. Ms. Blow is a member of the US Capital Chapter of YPO, and previously served on the Board of Directors of Care.com (NYSE: CRCM, sold to IAC), and on the Board of Directors of Factor Trust (sold to TransUnion). Marla holds an MBA from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Liz is Managing Director – Portfolio and Investments at the Skoll Foundation, where she identifies and leads timely, strategic investments in Awardees with whom we see extraordinary potential for large scale and lasting change in the world. She also serves as a collaborative advisor to grantees and multiple external partners.
Liz has significant experience in the broad areas of investment and finance in developing markets - from digital financial inclusion to fund structuring and facilitating supply chain investments with small local firms and large multinational corporations - and deep agriculture sector knowledge. She is passionate about growing markets and empowering economically disenfranchised people around the world with choice to pursue a range of economic livelihoods. Prior to joining Skoll, Liz held positions with USAID, World Economic Forum, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, OPIC, and as a development consultant.
Liz is a Midwesterner at heart (KCMO!) and a globalist in spirit who never ceases to be moved by human kindness.
As the President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, Felicia Wong directs the organization’s mission, vision, and strategy in pursuit of an economy for the many, not the few. Under her leadership, Roosevelt has grown more than four-fold, and now regularly works with the nation’s top public officials, academic experts, and progressive movement organizers. Her own research focuses on post-neoliberal thought and the intersection of race, economics, and social stratification. She is the author of The Emerging Worldview: How New Progressivism Is Moving Beyond Neoliberalism (Roosevelt Institute, 2020) and the co-author of The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, and the Boston Review.
Prior to joining Roosevelt, Felicia ran investment services for the Democracy Alliance. She also ran operations and product development at a venture-funded, labor union-aligned education services company. Her public service includes a White House Fellowship in the Office of the Attorney General and a political appointment in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. She serves as board chair of New Media Ventures, which funds progressive media and organizing start-ups. She is also on the boards of Deep Springs College and the immigration policy group America Is Better. Felicia holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. Her doctoral dissertation on the role of race and framing in K-12 public education politics received the 2000 American Political Science Association award in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics.
