The Enlightened Bottom Line

Eric Sapp is an entrepreneur, faith leader, and political advisor dedicated to advancing the common good through technology, policy, and community engagement. He is the founder and president of Public Democracy, a firm that repurposes advanced digital tools to address social inequality by elevating undervalued communities in both society and the digital marketplace. By using data and AI to better understand and serve people—rather than simply targeting them—Public Democracy seeks to correct economic and social injustices while creating market efficiencies. A nationally recognized leader in the "Data for Good" movement, Eric has pioneered breakthroughs in empathy-based machine learning and meaningful AI, earning him a Nonresident Senior Fellowship at the Atlantic Council. His expertise in combating computational propaganda and developing ethical AI solutions has positioned him at the forefront of efforts to create more inclusive and impactful digital engagement strategies.

Throughout his career, Eric has advised over 50 political campaigns, worked in Congress and the Pentagon, and shaped global policy on arms control, veterans' issues, and data ethics. He co-founded Common Good Strategies in 2005, later transforming it into Eleison Group, which gained national prominence for its faith-based outreach in Democratic campaigns. His work has influenced humanitarian advocacy, international peacekeeping, and counterterrorism, leading to the creation of Public Democracy, a Public Benefit Corporation dedicated to empowering individuals through data equity and AI-driven civic engagement.

Believing that true engagement begins with understanding people’s values and aspirations, Eric has advocated for technology that ensures individuals have a voice in decisions affecting their lives. Through Public Democracy and its nonprofit arm, Public Democracy America, he has worked to create systems where communities—not just corporations or governments—benefit from the value of their data. His mission is to harness AI and digital tools to foster a more equitable society where people are empowered to shape policies and narratives that reflect their lived experiences.

Charly Kleissner is an impact investor. He believes that the real meaning of wealth is to make a positive contribution to humanity and the planet. He is a leader of the deep impact movement which is not only treating the symptoms of our failing economic system, but its root causes – with a level of awareness and consciousness that is non-anthropocentric, acknowledging that humanity is part of the evolutionary process, not outside of it. He sees impact investing not as an intellectual exercise, but as an expression of who he really is. 

Dr. Kleissner co-founded KL Felicitas Foundation, Social-Impact International, the Central European Investment Ready Program, pioneer:impact, and Hawai’i Investment Ready, which help social entrepreneurs worldwide accelerate and increase their impact. Dr. Kleissner co-founded the Impact Hub Tirol, Toniic, a global network for impact investors, and Toniic’s 100% Network, a global group of asset owners dedicated to 100% impact, currently representing over $10 billion in assets that are actively moving into impact. 

Dr. Kleissner serves as a full member of The Club of Rome, on the Board of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, ImpactAssets, CSP North America, and Proof of Impact, and on the Advisory Board of Chi Impact Capital, Industree Foundation, MCI Business School, Commonland, 4L Capital and Rainfall. 

Dr. Kleissner has over twenty years of experience as a senior technology executive in Silicon Valley working for companies like NeXT and Ariba. Dr. Kleissner earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Technology, Vienna.

Shabnam Mogharabi is an accomplished entrepreneur and media and entertainment executive with more than 20 years of experience leading social impact studios in strategy, growth, content and marketing, organizational culture, and digital and social media. She co-founded the mission-driven studio SoulPancake with actor Rainn Wilson, which she ran as CEO for nearly a decade before a successful exit. Under her tenure, the company was named to Inc5000’s Fastest Growing Businesses and Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Media.

Currently, she is the founder and CEO of The Joy Brigade, a consulting and advisory firm that helps early- and mid-stage media, entertainment, and tech companies with strategy, business planning, cultural transformation, and brand storytelling. Shabnam is also a highly sought-after public speaker, keynoting dozens of conferences and events annually on the subjects of positive psychology, joy, and purpose. She is a Henry Crown Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Shabnam began her career in journalism, where she ran large editorial newsrooms. She has always been drawn to companies whose mission and culture align with her personal values and desire to tell stories that create hope in a depleted world. 

Samir Goel is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Esusu, a financial technology platform that leverages rental data to help tenants build credit scores while enabling property owners to increase revenue, reduce evictions, and fill vacancies. Esusu's platform reports rental payments to credit bureaus, creating new opportunities for renters to access credit and promoting financial inclusivity.

Before founding Esusu, Samir co-founded Transfernation, a nationally recognized non-profit that uses technology to redirect excess food to underserved communities across New York City. He is deeply committed to driving economic justice and dismantling barriers to housing for working families.

Esusu has raised $4 million in total capital, with investors including Acumen Fund, Concrete Rose Capital, Global Good Fund, Impact America Fund, Next Play Ventures, and Zeal Capital Partners. The platform currently serves over 250,000 rental units across 35 states, working to bridge the racial wealth gap and create a fairer credit and financial system.

Marshall Ganz is the Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he teaches and researches leadership, public narrative, and social movements. His courses, including Public Narrative: Self, Us, Now and Organizing: People, Power, Change, examine how storytelling and collective action drive social change. With decades of experience in grassroots organizing, he continues to advise civic, political, and educational organizations worldwide on leadership development and movement-building.

Ganz’s career in organizing began in the 1960s when he left Harvard to join the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement. He later spent 16 years with the United Farm Workers alongside Cesar Chavez, helping to unionize farm laborers and build worker power. Throughout the 1980s, he developed grassroots strategies for political campaigns at the local, state, and national levels, playing a key role in shaping the organizing model for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

A widely published scholar, Ganz has contributed to the American Journal of Sociology, American Political Science Review, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. His book, Why David Sometimes Wins, earned the Michael J. Harrington Book Award for its insights into leadership and strategy in the farmworker movement. In 2010, he received an honorary doctorate in divinity from the Episcopal Divinity School. Through the Leading Change Network, he continues to train and mentor organizations dedicated to leadership, organizing, and social action.

Shiva Dustdar is a leading innovation and sustainable finance expert with over 30 years of experience in NY, London and Luxembourg at J.P. Morgan, Fitch Ratings and now at the European Investment Bank (EIB). 

She is passionate about identifying the next big investment opportunities and developing new business and market opportunities to finance the transition to a sustainable green and digital economy. She is known for her visionary and integrative thinking, growth mindset, inclusive and authentic leadership style, with the relentless drive to make things happen with and through people in her strategic network. She has led the development of innovative financing facilities, such as the EIB’s Infectious Disease Finance Facility and led the first EIB investments using warrants back in 2008. Shiva is a regular speaker and thought leader on innovation and sustainable financing, including gender smart investing, digital and green financing and actively engaged in networks that promote sustainable and mission oriented financing. 

She currently heads the EIB Institute which brings the values and mission of EIB Group closer to society through philanthropic activities collaborating with reputable entities on innovation, climate and development for an inclusive and just society in EU and beyond, using both EIB and third party resources.
Until June 2022, she headed the Innovation Finance Advisory Division which she set up in 2013 and scaled up into a successful financial advisory practice focusing on green, digital and emerging sectors. 

Shiva holds a BA in Economics with Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University and an Executive MBA from London Business School (LBS). Shiva co-founded the European High Yield Association (EHYA), which is now part of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and was nominated to Top 50 Women in Credit by Credit Magazine in 2006. In 2023, Shiva was recognized for her inspirational and authentic leadership on the global stage by the WIN - Women International Network Award. 

Yihana Von Ritter is the Director of Private Fund Investments at Align Impact, where she sources impact investing opportunities across asset classes, conducts in-depth due diligence, and monitors portfolios. Before joining Align, she earned an MBA and a Master's in Global Affairs from Yale. Her professional experience includes working in impact investing with a financial intermediary and a startup accelerator, where she structured deals, performed due diligence, and helped organizations become investment-ready.

She also worked on launching her own startup social enterprise based in Colombia. While the venture was not successful, it provided her with valuable lessons. Earlier in her career, she worked as a consultant in Central America, co-founded a civil society organization during her Peace Corps service in Paraguay, and conducted research on HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea.

Yihana is a multicultural global citizen, holding citizenship in the United States, Costa Rica, and Germany. She is passionate about impact investing and leveraging capital to solve problems rather than create them.

Wayne Silby founded Calvert Investments, a $15 billion investment management group in Bethesda, MD noted for their leadership in the area of socially responsible investment. Mr. Silby also co-founded Social Venture Network, a group of socially oriented entrepreneurs and investors, and Calvert Social Venture Partners, one of the first socially oriented venture capital funds. He also started the Emerging Europe Fund for Sustainable Investment, a $60 million OPIC private equity fund focused on Central Europe.

Mr. Silby chairs ImpactAssets, a $200 million donor advised fund, and SynTao, Ltd., a CSR consulting firm in Beijing, China. He has a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir is an Icelandic thought leader, author, an award-winning serial entrepreneur, advisor and public speaker. She is the author of the book InnSæi: Icelandic wisdom for turbulent times, and Co-director and script writer of the documentary film InnSæi: The Power of Intuition.

Todd Khozein is the Founder and Co-CEO of SecondMuse, an impact and innovation company building resilient economies by supporting entrepreneurs and the ecosystems around them.