Supporting our Vulnerable Through a More Collaborative and Inclusive Economy
Supporting our Vulnerable Through a
More Collaborative and Inclusive Economy
This event will convene executive leaders from academia, industry, impact investing, government, and non-profits to discuss Indiana’s most vulnerable communities and highlight novel approaches in unifying efforts for maximum impact.
Topics will include bridging the divide on inclusive economies, de-risking investment in underestimated communities, co-creating advantaged solutions to solve societal problems, the role of the business community to alleviate poverty, impact investment and philanthropy, and venture studios as an emerging impact model.
Where:
High Alpha Innovation
830 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 1500, Floor 4
Indianapolis, IN 46204
When:
June 20, 2024; 9:00am – 5:00pm
Doors open and breakfast available at 8:00 am
Featured Voices:
With over two decades as a social impact strategist and technology innovator, Salah Goss currently serves as Senior Vice President at Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth where she spearheads initiatives like Mastercard’s $500 million commitment to help close the racial wealth gap and oversees a grant portfolio that has delivered over $6 billion in loans to small businesses.
Throughout her extensive career at the intersection of social impact and technology, Salah has been widely recognized for her contributions to global financial inclusion initiatives across the U.S., Africa, India and more to address the racial wealth gap. Salah is an Aspen Finance Leaders Fellow, a World Economic Forum Schwab Foundation Fellow and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident. She is also on the Board of Root Capital, the Advisory Council of Heartland Forward, Blavity Inc.’s AfroTech Advisory Board and Common Threads’ National Board.
Stephen Goldsmith is the Derek Bok Professor of the Practice of Urban Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Bloomberg Center for Cities where he directs Data-Smart City Solutions, a project to highlight local government efforts to use new technologies that connect breakthroughs in the use of data analytics with community input to reshape the relationship between government and citizens. He also directs the Project on Municipal Innovation, a platform for cities’ mayoral senior staff to share and adapt best practices and innovative policy ideas that increase efficiency and improve the lives of residents, as well as other projects, including the Civic Analytics and Chief Equity Officers Networks.
He previously served as Deputy Mayor of New York and Mayor of Indianapolis, where he earned a reputation as one of the country’s leaders in public-private partnerships and neighborhood redevelopment. Stephen was the chief domestic policy adviser to the George W. Bush campaign in 2000, the Chair of AmeriCorps under Presidents Bush and Obama, the Chair of the Anacostia Waterfront Redevelopment Corporation in D.C. and the prosecutor for Marion County, Indiana. He has authored and coauthored various books on cities, including: The Power of Social Innovation, Governing by Network: the New Shape of the Public Sector, The Twenty-First Century City: Resurrecting Urban America, The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance, Collaborative Cities: Mapping Solutions to Wicked Problems, A New City O/S, The Power of Open, Collaborative and Distributed Governance and, most recently, Growing Fairly: How to Build Opportunity and Equity in Workforce Development. He is recognized as a leading authority on local government and applied technology. He writes regularly for Government Technology and Governing Magazines and has frequently appeared in national publications including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Boston Globe and New York Times.
Christopher Day (Toph) is the CEO of Elevate Ventures, the #1 most active Seed and Early Stage investor in the Great Lakes Region and #5 in the United States. He is also the Chief Visionary for Rally, the largest cross-sector innovation conference. He is an innovator, entrepreneur, business creator, community builder, job maker and wealth creator throughout his endeavors over the last 30 years having co-founded eight businesses in seven different sectors with multiple exits to Fortune 500 companies. He has led companies across multiple sectors including artificial intelligence, SaaS, hardtech, broadband, entertainment, investment banking and real estate.
Monique Carswell is currently Director Center for Racial Equity, Walmart.org. Monique previously led corporate social responsibility at Comcast NBCUniversal, cause marketing, and diversity outreach at Teach For America, with prior posts including CosmoGirl! (Hearst Corporation) and Black Enterprise magazines. As a life-long learner and educator, she also taught for many years as an adjunct professor at both New York University (NYU) and Fordham University. And as a former entrepreneur, Monique served as principal of her own agency, Myles Ahead Consulting, supporting clients such as the Emma Bowen Foundation, Kaplan, and a host of small businesses. In her spare time, Monique enjoys mentoring and serving on several nonprofit boards of directors.
Brenda Gerber Vincent is a speaker, community leader, and outspoken mental health advocate. Her passions include inspiring and empowering the next generation of leaders by creating opportunities for others to succeed. She is committed to creating equity and quality of place for all through economic development, programming, and leadership. Brenda currently serves as the Chief Impact Officer at Greater Fort Wayne Inc. and serves on numerous boards and committees including the Vera Bradley Foundation, Carriage House, Parkview Health Board and Love Fort Wayne.
Brenda is a recipient of the “Sagamore of the Wabash,” Indiana’s highest civilian honor, and the first woman in NE Indiana to be awarded the prestigious “Heart of Indiana” Torchbearer Award.
Elliott Parker is founder and CEO of High Alpha Innovation, a venture builder that partners with corporations, universities, and entrepreneurs to co-create startups that solve compelling problems. He built his career in strategy consulting at Innosight, the firm founded by Clayton Christensen, in corporate venturing, and as an entrepreneur bringing new ideas to market. To date, he has launched over 40 venture-backed startups. Elliott earned a B.S. in Finance from BYU and an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Elliott is the author of The Illusion of Innovation: Escape “Efficiency” and Capture Radical Progress. A California native, Elliott takes any opportunity he can to surf. In 2022 he competed in the Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim where he placed in the top-ten for his age group. Elliott resides in Carmel, Indiana with his wife, five children, and two Australian Shepherds.
Claudia Cummings is the president & CEO of Indiana Philanthropy Alliance (IPA), one of the largest statewide networks in the country created to boost philanthropy’s impact in communities throughout its state borders.
A strategic leader and dedicated public servant, Claudia brings a distinct vision and passion to maximizing the impact of Indiana’s foundations, corporations and social investors that collectively hold more than $21 billion in assets and make more than $850 million in grants annually.
During her tenure leading IPA, Claudia has worked with leadership to inspire innovation and action; to engage members in collaborative forums to address key issues; and to amplify the diverse voices that make up Indiana’s philanthropic sector.
Jennifer Hankins serves as Managing Director for Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL), a tech-led economic development organization responsible for catalyzing the Tulsa Region’s leadership in advanced industries. TIL was pioneered by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and believes that by building a world-class tech hub in America’s heartland, opportunity is unlocked for all.
Jennifer joined the founding team in January 2020 and brings over ten years of direct economic development experience to the team. Working to convene myriad stakeholders across multiple industries, she is responsible for setting TIL’s strategic direction, driving engagement across a diverse set of stakeholders, and most importantly, leads the organization’s dynamic and high-performing team and the broad portfolio of work currently underway. Most recently, Jennifer successfully led a regional coalition to secure a $38.2 investment from EDA’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge for the Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility (TRAM) Cluster and also an EDA Tech Hubs Designation for the Tulsa Hub for Equitable Trustworthy Autonomy (THETA).
Rev. Jay Height is an ordained minister with a journalism and philanthropy background, Jay has led Shepherd since 1998. His longstanding connections with the community and vision for a revitalized city inspire Shepherd’s staff and neighbors as well as our civic, institutional, and corporate partners.
Prior to his role as a Partner at 1842, Matt Gardner played a pivotal role in establishing the innovation arm at the University of Notre Dame. He contributed significantly to building out commercialization pathways for a diverse range of technologies, including therapeutics, deep tech, and software. During his tenure, Matt also served as a principal of the PitRoad Fund, a $23 million investment vehicle aimed at providing early-stage capital to technologies emerging from the university’s research endeavors.
Before his time at Notre Dame, Matt was instrumental in the growth of the commercialization arm at the University of Utah, which attained the top ranking in University Commercialization during his tenure. These experiences collectively demonstrate Matt’s expertise in technology commercialization, venture capital, and fostering innovation within academic settings, all of which undoubtedly inform his current role at 1842.
Cordell Carter II brings more than 20 years to his pursuit of a society and organizational cultures where everyone belongs and has equitable opportunities to thrive. He is currently executive director of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program, a global education forum and the founding director of the Aspen Institute’s Project on Belonging. Finally, Cordell founded the Festival of the Diaspora, a Colombia-based convener of diasporic communities across the Americas. Before his current roles, Cordell held leadership roles with the TechTown Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle Public Schools, Business Roundtable, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the IBM Corporation.
Mike Joslin is a Partner at the 1842 Fund, a mission-aligned venture capital fund anchored by the University of Notre Dame. He also serves as Director at High Alpha Innovation. Prior to High Alpha Innovation, Mike built and managed the corporate venture capital program and incubated new internal ventures at Marriott International, established and led platform in support of portfolio companies and funds at Greenspring Associates, created and spun out tech-enabled startups at a Boston-based startup studio, and consulted large corporations on growth strategy, innovation capabilities, and new venture development at Innosight, a firm co-founded by late Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen. He began his career at Best Buy Co. in marketing, marketing research, and new product development. Mike holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Our Partners
High Alpha Innovation is an Indianapolis-based venture builder that partners with corporations, universities, and entrepreneurs to create and launch advantaged startups. Its dedicated team of company builders, strategists, and designers apply a proven playbook — pioneered by High Alpha — to help the world’s leading organizations innovate through systematic startup creation.
The 1842 Studio is a new venture studio that co-creates software startups from scratch, built from the ground up to address societal challenges aligned to the mission of the University of Notre Dame and Catholic Social Teaching. The 1842 Studio is funded by the 1842 Fund, a venture capital fund anchored by the University of Notre Dame.