Future Positive

In this Labor Day special a racy conversation takes place around labor, race, and equity - it’s an important one. This week, XPRIZE’s own Shlomy Kattan sits down with New Profit Partner, Dr. Angela Jackson, and attorney / activist, Karen Fleshman to discuss the future of work. Over the course of this conversation we take a deep dive into capitalism’s historic inequality, how Gen Z will save us all and the tools and procedures necessary to make meaningful careers accessible to ALL. 

Dr. Angela Jackson leads New Profit’s Future of Work Initiative, which seeks to close the career-readiness gap for workers from disinvested communities. She is currently leading a $15M Future of Work global initiative to invest in entrepreneurs and companies developing innovative technical solutions to upskill workers for the jobs of the future.

Karen Fleshman is a mentor, activist, entrepreneur, attorney, author, educator, proud San Franciscan, and a single soccer mom. In 2014, she founded Racy Conversations, a workplace workshop facilitation company, to inspire the antiracist generation. Inspired by Mike Brown, Black Lives Matter, and her mentees, Karen vowed to stop preparing young adults for the workplace and start preparing the workplace for young adults. She is currently seeking a publisher for her first book White Women We Need to Talk: Doing Our Part to End Racism.

Links:

https://www.xprize.org/prizes/rapidreskilling 

https://www.newprofit.org/go/fow-grand-challenge/

www.racyconversations.com

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In this episode, Ali Velshi, TV journalist, NBC News correspondent and co-anchor of Velshi & Ruhle on MSNBC, sits down to talk with entrepreneur, author, lifestyle guru, and Founder of Bulletproof 360 and Bulletproof Nutrition, Dave Asprey. 

Ali and Dave met at XPRIZE Visioneering, to talk about how their experience gave them a necessary escape from the cynicism of today’s world and opened their eyes to infinite possibilities. Ali and Dave argue that innovation should be fun, and how surprising and unexpected meetings can lead you to the next breakthrough idea. 

Ali Velshi is an MSNBC Anchor and Business Correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC.

Velshi has covered a wide range of breaking news events and global affairs throughout his career, including U.S. presidential elections, ISIL and the Syrian refugee crisis, the Iran nuclear deal from Tehran, the tensions between Russia and NATO from Eastern Europe and the High Arctic, the debt crisis in Greece, the funeral of Nelson Mandela, and the global financial crisis.

Before joining NBC News and MSNBC, Velshi hosted “Ali Velshi On Target,” a nightly primetime show on Al Jazeera America. Before that, he served as CNN’s Chief Business Correspondent, anchor of CNN International’s “World Business Today” and host of CNN’s weekly business roundtable “Your Money.” Velshi also co-hosted CNN’s morning show, “American Morning.”

An award-winning journalist, Velshi was honored with a National Headliner Award for Business & Consumer Reporting for “How the Wheels Came Off,” a special on the near collapse of the American auto industry. His work on disabled workers and Chicago’s red-light camera scandal in 2016 earned him two News and Documentary Emmy Award nominations, adding to a nomination in 2010 for his terrorism coverage. Additionally, Velshi has taken his economic analysis to “Oprah,” “The View,” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

Velshi is the author of Gimme My Money Back (Sterling and Ross, 2008) and co-author with CNN’s Christine Romans of How to Speak Money (Wiley, 2010).

Born in Kenya and raised in Canada, Velshi graduated from Queen’s University in Canada, which bestowed an honorary Doctorate of Laws upon him in 2016. Velshi splits his time between New York City and Philadelphia. Active in the community, Velshi serves on the Board of Trustees of the Chicago History Museum, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also volunteers with New York’s Center for Urban Community Services homeless outreach program.

Dave Asprey, founder of Bulletproof and author of New York Times bestseller The Bulletproof Diet, is a Silicon Valley investor and technology entrepreneur who spent two decades and more than one million dollars to hack his own biology.

Dave lost 100 pounds without counting calories or excessive exercise, used techniques to upgrade his brain and lift his IQ by 20 points, and lowered his biological age while learning to sleep more efficiently in less time. Learning to do these seemingly impossible things transformed him into a better entrepreneur, a better husband, and a better father.

Dave is the creator of the widely popular Bulletproof Coffee, host of the #1 health podcast, Bulletproof Radio, and author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Bulletproof Diet. Through his work Dave provides information, techniques and keys to taking control of and improving your biochemistry, your body and your mind so they work in unison, helping you execute at levels far beyond what you’d expect, without burning out, getting sick, or allowing stress to control your decisions.

LINKS

https://www.bulletproof.com/

https://www.msnbc.com/velshi-ruhle

https://www.xprize.org

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In this week’s episode, Dr. Emily Church, Executive Director of Equity & Education at XPRIZE, will be dropping in on a conversation between Brent Bushnell, entrepreneur, engineer and CEO/co-founder of Two Bit Circus and Chris Copeland, professional athlete who has played for the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, ultimately earning the nickname "The X-Factor". In this candid conversation, Brent and Chris come together to talk about creativity, their experience at XPRIZE Visioneering, and the importance of experimentation and taking risks. 

Brent Bushnell is an entrepreneur, engineer and CEO/co-founder of Two Bit Circus, a Los Angeles-based experiential entertainment company. The interdisciplinary team strives to create immersive, social fun and is currently building a network of micro-amusement parks featuring free-roaming VR, robot bartenders, an interactive supper club and more. Previously they created STEAM Carnival, a traveling event to inspire kids about science, technology, engineering, art and math.

Brent is on fire about using play and spectacle to inspire inventors. He is passionate about rebranding STEM learning to STEAM with the inclusion of art and creativity. He is motivated by the power of group games and interactive media to bring people together in fun and meaningful ways. As a UCLA-trained engineer, he is a hands-on maker who uses rapid prototyping to turn vision into reality. He's board president of Two Bit Circus Foundation, an LA-based 501c3 that deploys STEAM-based programs for middle and high school students. 

Previously, he was the on-camera inventor for the ABC TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. He was a founding member of Syyn Labs, a creative collective creating stunts for brands like Google and Disney and helped OK Go build the Rube Goldberg machine for their viral This Too Shall Pass music video that garnered 50+ million views on YouTube.

In his spare time, Brent enjoys mentoring teens in entrepreneurship via programs such as NFTE. He's a supporter of Clowns Without Borders and publishes on Twitter at @brentbushnell.

Chris Copeland nicknamed "The X-Factor" is an American professional basketball player who last played for MoraBanc Andorra of the Liga ACB. He played college basketball for the University of Colorado Boulder from 2002 until 2006

Links: 

http://www.twobitcircus.org/

https://www.xprize.org

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In this episode, XPRIZE founder Peter H. Diamandis discusses AI and how it is often portrayed in science fiction with world renowned sci-fi author Kim Stanley Robinson, at XPRIZE Visioneering recorded at Paramount Studios. Robinson questions our relationship with AI and the important future of synthetic medicine. Although he is inspired by space exploration, he argues that the race to Mars is not an urgent problem, but rather a reward for fixing the problems on planet Earth. 

Recently named by Fortune as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” Peter H. Diamandis is the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. He is also the executive founder of Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world's leaders on exponentially growing technologies. As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital and education. He is cofounder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250M investing in exponential technologies, and co-founder and Vice Chairman of Celularity, Inc., a cellular therapeutics company. Diamandis is a New York Times Bestselling author of two books: Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think and BOLD – How to go Big, Create Wealth & Impact the World. His newest book in this series of exponential technologies—The Future is Faster Than You Think—was released on January 28, 2020. He earned degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering from the MIT and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Diamandis’ favorite saying is “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American novelist, widely recognized as one of the foremost living writers of science fiction. Robinson began publishing novels in 1984. His work has been described as "humanist science fiction" and "literary science fiction". Robinson himself has been a proud defender and advocate of science fiction as a genre, which he regards as one of the most powerful of all literary forms.

Robinson was born in Waukegan, Illinois, but moved to Orange County, California, when he was two. As a child he loved to play in the orange groves stretching out for miles around his home, so when suburban sprawl began to encroach and the groves were torn out and paved over, the rapid change of modern life hit close to home. It was not until college in 1971 that he would stumble upon new wave science fiction and find in it an expression of that very sense of rapid change that had made such an impression upon him growing up, at which point he knew almost immediately that he would be committed to science fiction from then on. He enrolled at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) in 1970 and received his B.A. in Literature in 1974. During that time he developed the idea to write a trio of books exploring three different alternative future histories in which southern California had gone down different paths, what became the Orange County trilogy. After briefly leaving California to receive an M.A. in English at Boston University in 1975, Robinson returned to UCSD to complete his Ph.D. Though science fiction was something of a "literary ghetto culture" in the academic world, Robinson could not have had a more sympathetic advisor in Fredric Jameson, who suggested that Robinson do his thesis on the works of Philip K. Dick, whom Robinson was not particularly familiar with at the time but whom Jameson regarded as the greatest living American novelist. Robinson agreed to the idea and finished his Ph.D. in 1982, a revised version of which was published in 1984 as The Novels Of Philip K. Dick. In 1978 Robinson took a break from his Ph.D. work and moved north to Davis, California, where he worked in a bookstore and spent a lot of time outdoors, especially backpacking in the mountains, where he continued to develop his love for landscape and the outdoors. While in Davis he met Lisa Howland Nowell, an environmental chemist, and in 1982 upon completing his Ph.D. he returned to Davis and the two were married. He taught freshman composition among other courses at UC Davis, another autobiographical tidbit that would be bestowed upon his fictional alter-ego Jim in 1988's The Gold Coast. Then a few years later, after publishing his first few novels, his wife's post-doctoral work in environmental toxicology took the couple to Switzerland, where they lived for two years, and at which point he began to write full time. Her work also took them to Washington, D.C., and during their four years there Robinson was a stay-at-home parent to their first son while his wife worked. Finally, in 1991 they moved back to Davis to buy a house in Village Homes -- a planned community that shares many things in common with the community depicted in his 1990 novel Pacific Edge -- where their second son was born. Robinson is still the stay-at-home parent, giving him plenty of time to write, while his wife continues to work full time as a chemist. As a result, much of the couple's social circle is made up of her friends and colleagues, giving Robinson ample material with which to write about scientists. As can be gathered from above, Robinson enjoys inserting personal life experiences or autobiographical elements in his works. 

For example:

• Robinson enjoys mountaineering greatly, which can be seen in landscape descriptions and trekking trips in nearly all his works.
• His stay in Switzerland is a likely inspiration for frequent references to Swiss government and people (Green Mars, Fifty Degrees Below).
• He has visited Greece and enjoys the architecture of the Greek islands (The Gold Coast, Blue Mars).
• He likes softball, referenced in Icehenge and Pacific Edge, and plays the frisbee golf described in Fifty Degrees Below.
• At times he is a stay-at-home dad, like Charlie Quibler in the Science In The Capital trilogy.
• He is a Californian teacher, like characters in The Gold Coast and The Years Of Rice And Salt.

Links: 

https://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info

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In this episode, our podcast host Dr. Emily Church looks at how technology is innovating modern medicine at an exponential rate to be smarter and proactive. In a special recording from Visioneering, XPRIZE founder Peter H. Diamandis is joined by two of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs: iBOT & Segway inventor engineer Dean Kamen, and science innovator and founder of United Therapeutics, Martine Rothblatt. They discuss the future of health and medicine where biology IS technology. Drawing from their own inspirational experience, including printing new organs, and eradicating diabetes and Alzheimers, Peter, Dean and Martine discuss the positive impact that innovation is having on human health and longevity. 

Recently named by Fortune as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” Peter H. Diamandis is the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. He is also the executive founder of Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world's leaders on exponentially growing technologies. As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital and education. He is cofounder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250M investing in exponential technologies, and co-founder and Vice Chairman of Celularity, Inc., a cellular therapeutics company. Diamandis is a New York Times Bestselling author of two books: Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think and BOLD – How to go Big, Create Wealth & Impact the World. His newest book in this series of exponential technologies—The Future is Faster Than You Think—was released on January 28, 2020. He earned degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering from the MIT and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Diamandis’ favorite saying is “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”

Dr. Martine Rothblatt founded Lung Biotechnology, as well as its parent company, United Therapeutics, in order to develop therapies for orphan diseases such as PAH. She earned her PhD in medical ethics from the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary College, University of London and also obtained JD and MBA degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles. Prior to entering the life sciences field, Dr. Rothblatt was active in satellite communications, founding Sirius XM Satellite Radio and serving as its Chairman and CEO. She has also published many books, including Your Life or Mine: How Geoethics Can Resolve the Conflict Between Public and Private Interests in Xenotransplantation.

Dean Kamen, Founder of FIRST and President of DEKA Research & Development Corporation

Dean Kamen is an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology. His roles as inventor and advocate are intertwined—his own passion for technology and its practical uses has driven his personal determination to spread the word about technology's virtues and by so doing to change the culture of the United States.

As an inventor, he holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. While still a college undergraduate, he invented the first wearable infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from such diverse medical specialties as oncology, neonatology, and endocrinology. In 1976, he founded his first medical device company, AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. Then, working with leading diabetes researchers, Dean pioneered the design and adoption of the first portable insulin pump. It was quickly demonstrated that using a pump could much more effectively control patients’ blood glucose levels. . At age 30, he sold AutoSyringe to Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Following the sale of AutoSyringe, Inc., he founded DEKA Research & Development Corporation to develop internally generated inventions as well as to provide research and development for major corporate clients. Kamen led DEKA's development of the HomeChoiceTM peritoneal dialysis system for Baxter International Inc. The HomeChoiceTM system allows patients to be dialyzed in the privacy and comfort of their home and quickly became the worldwide market leader. Kamen also led the development of technology to improve slide preparation for the CYTYC (now Hologic Inc.) ThinPrep® Pap Test. Kamen-led DEKA teams have also developed critical components of the UVARTM XTSTM System, an extracorporeal photophereisis device marketed by Therakos, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, for treatment of T-Cell lymphoma. An advanced prosthetic arm in development for DARPA should advance the quality of life for returning injured soldiers. Other notable developments include the HydroflexTM surgical irrigation pump for C.R. Bard, the CrownTM stent, an improvement to the original Palmaz-Schatz stent, for Johnson & Johnson, the iBOTTM mobility device, and the Segway® Human Transporter.

Kamen has received many awards for his efforts. Notably, Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000. Presented by President Clinton, this award was in recognition for inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology. Kamen was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1997. He was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, as well as many other national and international engineering organizations.

In 2010, Dean hosted the Planet Green television series Dean of Invention.

In addition to DEKA, one of Dean's proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology. Founded in 1989, this year FIRST® will serve more than 1,000,000 young people, ages 6 to 18, in more than 86 countries around the globe. Last year, high-school-aged participants were eligible to apply for more than $50 million in scholarships from over 200 leading colleges, universities, and corporations.

Links: 

https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc

https://www.unither.com/

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In this episode, XPRIZE CEO and astronaut Anousheh Ansari, talks to SpaceX COO and President, Gwynne Shotwell, about working with interstellar innovator Elon Musk, and the company's plans for the future of space travel and exploration including its plans to build communities on the moon, Mars and beyond. Recorded at Paramount Studios during XPRIZE Visioneering, Anousheh invites guests to question Gwynne about her predictions for commercial space travel.

Anousheh Ansari is CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Ansari, along with her family, sponsored the organization’s first competition, the Ansari XPRIZE, a $10 million competition that ignited a new era for commercial spaceflight. Since then, she has served on XPRIZE’s Board of Directors. Prior to being named CEO of XPRIZE, Ansari served as the CEO of Prodea Systems, a leading Internet of Things (IoT) technology firm she co-founded in 2006, and continues to serve as the executive chairwoman. She captured headlines around the world when she embarked upon an 11-day space expedition, accomplishing her childhood dream of 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 serves on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council and has received numerous honors, including the WEF Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, among others. She is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and serves on the board of Jabil and Peace First, as well as several other not-for-profit organizations focused on STEM education and youth empowerment. Ansari also co-founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, announced in October 2018 at the Tri Hita Karana (THK) Forum on Sustainable Development in Bali, with a goal of investing $1 billion in women-founded companies by 2020.

She published her memoir, My Dream of Stars, to share her life story as inspiration for young women around the world. Ansari holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University; and honorary doctorates from George Mason University, Utah Valley University, and International Space University.

As President and COO of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell is responsible for day-to-day operations and for managing all customer and strategic relations. She joined SpaceX in 2002 as Vice President of Business Development and built the Falcon vehicle family manifest to more than 70 launches, representing more than $10 billion in business. Shotwell is a member of the SpaceX Board of Directors. Prior to joining SpaceX, Shotwell spent more than 10 years at the Aerospace Corporation, holding positions in Space Systems Engineering & Technology and Project Management. Shotwell was subsequently recruited to be Director of Microcosm’s Space Systems Division,managing space system technologies, serving on the executive committee and directing corporate business development. In 2014, Shotwell was appointed to the United States Export Import Bank's Advisory Committee and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Management Advisory Council. Shotwell has been awarded the World Technology Award for Individual Achievement in Space, has been inducted into the Women In Technology International Hall of Fame and was elected to the honorable grade of Fellow with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. SpaceX supports science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs locally as well as national engineering programs and competitions. Shotwell has helped raise over $1.4 million for STEM education programs reaching thousands of students nationwide. Shotwell received, with honors, her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics, and serves as both a University Trustee and a member of the Advisory Council for Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering. She has authored dozens of papers on a variety of space related subjects.

Links: 

https://www.spacex.com/

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Episode 2:

In this episode, join XPRIZE founder and Star Trek superfan, Peter H. Diamandis for a special recording at Visioneering with LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis and Rod Roddenberry from Star Trek: The Next Generation live from Paramount Studios. XPRIZE’s vision of a future of abundance is inspired by Star Trek’s IDIC (Infinite Diversity Infinite Combinations) and this incredible line-up discusses their inspiration from the franchise including female empowerment, living in a post-scarcity world and how Star Trek’s technology predictions are starting to come true. 

Recently named by Fortune as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” Peter H. Diamandis is the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. He is also the executive founder of Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world's leaders on exponentially growing technologies. As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital and education. He is cofounder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250M investing in exponential technologies, and co-founder and Vice Chairman of Celularity, Inc., a cellular therapeutics company. Diamandis is a New York Times Bestselling author of two books: Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think and BOLD – How to go Big, Create Wealth & Impact the World. His newest book in this series of exponential technologies—The Future is Faster Than You Think—was released on January 28, 2020. He earned degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering from the MIT and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Diamandis’ favorite saying is “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”

LeVar Burton is an American actor, director, producer, and author. Burton first came to prominence portraying Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning ABC television miniseries Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley. He is also well known for his role as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as the host of the PBS children's program Reading Rainbow.

Marina Sirtis is a British-American actress. She is best known for her role as Counselor Deanna Troi on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the four feature films that followed, as well as other appearances in the Star Trek franchise.

Rod Roddenberry 

Rod Roddenberry is a producer, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, and son of Gene Roddenberry, screenwriter, producer and creator of the original Star Trek television series, and its first spin-off The Next Generation. 

Links: 

Levarburton.com 

roddenberry.com/

https://www.diamandis.com/

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NEW SEASON

Welcome to Future Positive from XPRIZE. This season we aim to bring you the most future-forward topics, covering everything from AI to avatars, to climate change, and more. We will share conversations from game-changing leaders, tech entrepreneurs and heavyweights from the creative industry - revealing their inspirations, and how and why they will change the world.

Captured during Visioneering at Paramount Studios, Peter H. Diamandis is joined by Harrison Ford and Wes Bush from Conservation International. In a thrilling discussion, they discuss the urgency to change the economics, behaviors and political will in order to save the planet. It requires the support of everyone, and will rely on technological innovation and new economic incentives to move in the right direction, quickly. 

Recently named by Fortune as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” Peter H. Diamandis is the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. He is also the executive founder of Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world's leaders on exponentially growing technologies. As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital and education. He is cofounder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250M investing in exponential technologies, and co-founder and Vice Chairman of Celularity, Inc., a cellular therapeutics company. Diamandis is a New York Times Bestselling author of two books: Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think and BOLD – How to go Big, Create Wealth & Impact the World. His newest book in this series of exponential technologies—The Future is Faster Than You Think—was released on January 28, 2020. He earned degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering from the MIT and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Diamandis’ favorite saying is “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”

Harrison Ford has become one of the most popular and acclaimed actors of our time. His works include 35 feature films, ten of which have exceeded $100 million each at the box office. Through his starring roles in such cinematic blockbusters as the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies, The Fugitive, Air Force One, Patriot Games and K-19 he has come to embody the quintessential hero for moviegoers around the world. Strongly committed to environmental concerns, Harrison Ford has served on the board of Conservation International for more than 10 years, actively participating in its design and growth. During this time CI has emerged as a leading force in global conservation. He presently serves as vice chair of the board and is on CI's Executive Committee.

He has played an instrumental role in the establishment at CI of the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, the first early warning system for global conservation efforts. Additionally, he played a key role in the design and development of CI's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, a coalition of conservation and business interests searching for ways to reduce the impact of development on the earth's biodiversity. Mr. Ford serves as a board member of Conservation International's Global Conservation Fund, which has secured the protection of over 40,000,000 acres on 3 continents in the past 18 months. Mr. Ford lives in Jackson, Wyoming, where he donated 389 acres of his property for a conservation easement to the Jackson Hole Land Trust.

Prior to becoming CEO of Northrop Grumman, Wes Bush held numerous leadership roles at Northrop Grumman including President and Chief Operating Officer; Corporate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and President of the Space Technology division. He joined the company as a systems engineer at TRW in 1987 and was the President and CEO of TRW’s Aeronautical Systems business when Northrop Grumman acquired the TRW in 2002. He earlier worked at Aerospace Corporation and Comsat Labs. Bush received both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the Executive Management Program at UCLA. He serves on the board of directors of Conservation International and the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, and he chairs the boards of the Aerospace Industries Association and the Business-Higher Education Forum.

Links: 

https://www.conservation.org/

https://xprize.org/blog

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Welcome to the final episode of our new XPRIZE podcast series, Not Going Back To Normal, Imagining Life After COVID-19, featuring Caroline Kolta. 

In this episode, Caroline questions what role our food system played in leading to COVID-19, and what the future of our food systems will look like as we emerge from the pandemic. Caroline’s own work in food and agriculture led her to realize that it’s time to recognize the interconnectedness of animal health, people’s health, and planetary health. 

Caroline Kolta comes to the XPRIZE Foundation with over 5 years of experience in development programming in the Middle East and North Africa. As a member of the Global Impact Strategy team, she will contribute to XPRIZE’s prize design and global impact strategies and processes.

Prior to joining XPRIZE, she worked with the Carter Center, UNICEF, and other nonprofits as a researcher, program officer, and policy advisor. She is interested in advancing human rights and freedoms, civic engagement, and empowering marginalized populations. She holds a Bachelor of Political Science from Cairo University and a master’s degree in Sustainable International Development and Conflict Resolution and Coexistence from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Enjoy listening and if you like what you hear, please subscribe, rate and leave us a review on Apple or wherever you get your pods.

Links

https://impactmaps.xprize.org/food

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Welcome to the latest episode of our brand new XPRIZE podcast series, Not Going Back To Normal, Imagining Life After COVID-19, featuring Anousheh Ansari, Anya Shakhmeyster, Catherine Connors, and Lisa Bilyeu. 

In this episode, Anya gets inside the minds of three women who are disrupting traditional gender stereotypes every single day. Lisa, Catherine and Anousheh share their personal mission for female progress, and some positive disruptions they see happening in our world due to COVID-19. 

Catherine Connors is the CEO of League of Badass Women and is the co-author of The Feminine Revolution: 21 Ways to Ignite the Power of Your Femininity for a Brighter Life and a Better World. She’s the former Editor in Chief of Babble and head of content for Disney Interactive’s Women and Family portfolio. She has been featured in media like The New York Times, CNN, NPR, and Good Morning America. 

As featured on entrepreneur.com, Lisa Bilyeu is living proof that Darwin was right when he said it is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but rather the most adaptive to change. She began her professional career in film, moved briefly into administration, and then, as a founding team member at Quest Nutrition, she took on logistics - building the company’s fulfillment department from scratch and helping facilitate the company’s rise to #2 on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies. She then returned to media helping build the company’s revolutionary in-house media team, producing content that has been viewed over 100,000,000 times. As co-founder of Impact Theory, she’s looking to combine her highly developed skills as a creative producer with her drive to help people build things that matter.

Anousheh Ansari is CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Ansari, along with her family, sponsored the organization’s first competition, the Ansari XPRIZE, a $10 million competition that ignited a new era for commercial spaceflight. Since then, she has served on XPRIZE’s Board of Directors. Prior to being named CEO of XPRIZE, Ansari served as the CEO of Prodea Systems, a leading Internet of Things (IoT) technology firm she co-founded in 2006, and continues to serve as the executive chairwoman. She captured headlines around the world when she embarked upon an 11-day space expedition, accomplishing her childhood dream of 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 serves on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council and has received numerous honors, including the WEF Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, among others. She is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and serves on the board of Jabil and Peace First, as well as several other not-for-profit organizations focused on STEM education and youth empowerment. Ansari also co-founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, announced in October 2018 at the Tri Hita Karana (THK) Forum on Sustainable Development in Bali, with a goal of investing $1 billion in women-founded companies by 2020.

She published her memoir, My Dream of Stars, to share her life story as inspiration for young women around the world. Ansari holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University; and honorary doctorates from George Mason University, Utah Valley University, and International Space University.

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Links

https://impacttheory.com

https://www.amazon.com/Feminine-Revolution-Ignite-Femininity-Brighter/dp/1580058124

https://go.xprize.org/gendergap

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