Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
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Aspen Institute Announces 2025 Ascend Fellows

Meet 20 cross-sector leaders who are transforming systems in order to improve opportunities and outcomes for children and families. 

Washington, DC, September 10, 2025 – Today, the Aspen Institute announced its 2025 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows, 20 dynamic leaders from across the United States, joining a national network of Ascend Fellows who are pursuing prosperity and well-being for children and families. From local and state government to postsecondary institutions to hospitals, these Fellows represent a broad cross-sector of leaders and innovators united by one vision: helping families build stronger, more secure futures. 

The 2025 Ascend Fellows cohort reflects Ascend’s commitment to serving all families, with representation from 14 states and the District of Columbia; backgrounds and perspectives that reflect the rich diversity of the country; and leadership across family-centered systems and sectors. 

As families navigate the rising costs of everyday life and prepare for a workforce shaped by rapid technological change, these changemakers are bringing bold solutions to the communities where they live, work, and play. 

By focusing deeply on the local, 2025 Ascend Fellows are helping communities heal from generational challenges and advocating for opportunity, safety, and dignity for all. Across states, Fellows are providing practical pathways to family prosperity and creating new approaches to supporting financial stability, housing access, and  civic engagement. Many are also creating ways for parents and children to thrive by expanding educational opportunity, including at community colleges and Tribal and historically Black colleges and universities. 

From public services to innovative policy, these leaders are not waiting for change – they are creating it, putting families first in every decision and every action.

The 2025 cohort demonstrates Ascend’s commitment to change at the state and local level, with Fellows being selected in Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon for the first time.

“Ascend is turning up the volume on a unified, unstoppable movement that ensures intergenerational family economic mobility and well-being is growing – not shrinking,” said Anne Mosle, vice president of the Aspen Institute and founder and executive director of Ascend. “These 20 leaders have bold ideas that are ready for a quantum leap not just individually, but as a collective. Our country and communities are hungry for leaders like them, ones they can trust and who offer – and deliver – innovative solutions and a path forward.”

With the addition of the 2025 cohort, the Ascend Fellowship is home to a national community of more than 180 of the most promising leaders our country has to offer – leaders well-connected, well-prepared, and powerfully positioned to build goodwill, change systems, and drive the policy agenda needed for the prosperity and well-being of all children and families.   

Below are the 2025 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows:

  • Dr. Carlos Alemán, CEO, ¡HICA! Hispanic and Immigrant Center of Alabama | Birmingham, AL
  • Dr. Uju Berry, Director and Medical Director, NYC Domestic Violence Mental Health Initiatives & NYU Langone Medical Center | New York, NY
  • Lelaine Bigelow, Executive Director, Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality | Washington, DC
  • Gena Boyle, Deputy Commissioner, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services | Frankfort, KY
  • María Carla Chicuén, Executive Director of Cultural Affairs, Miami Dade College | Miami, FL
  • Zeke Cohen, City Council President, Baltimore City Council | Baltimore, MD
  • Dr. Brad Hall, President, Blackfeet Community College | Browning, MT
  • Dr. Adrian Huerta, Associate Professor of Education, University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA
  • Dr. Su Jin Jez, CEO, California Competes: Higher Education for a Strong Economy | Oakland, CA
  • Dr. Valerie Kinloch, President & CEO, Johnson C. Smith University | Charlotte, NC
  • Kali Thorne Ladd, Chief Executive Officer, Children’s Institute, Inc. | Portland, OR
  • Kerry McKittrick, Director, Harvard University Project on Workforce | Boston, MA
  • Dené Mosier, President/CEO, Kansas Children’s Discovery Center | Topeka, KS
  • David Lee Newville, Deputy Director for the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, U.S. Federal Reserve Board | Washington, DC
  • Dr. Monte Randall, President, College of the Muscogee Nation | Okmulgee, OK
  • Emilie Rodriguez, Founder, The Bridge Directory | Bronx, NY
  • Erin Saul, Executive Director, GreenLight Fund Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH
  • Dr. D’Artagnan Scorza, Executive Director, Racial Equity, County of Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA
  • Dr. Vincent Smith, Division Chief of Newborn Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Professor of Pediatrics, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine | Boston, MA
  • Dr. Janelle Williams, CEO & Co-Founder, Kindred Futures | Atlanta, GA

About the Ascend Fellowship

With the addition of the 2025 cohort, there are now 182 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows across the country building pathways to intergenerational family prosperity and well-being.

Through the Fellowship, Ascend at the Aspen Institute invests in a diverse cadre of leaders who are well-connected, well-prepared, and powerfully positioned to build goodwill, change systems, and drive the policy agenda needed for increased prosperity and well-being of all children and families

Since the Fellowship’s founding in 2012,  the eight previous Ascend Fellow cohorts have enacted transformative policies in roles including US Senator, Governor, Mayor, and Tribal leader, as well as state systems leaders, doctors, foundation presidents, researchers, and non-profit founders. Click here to learn more about the full network of Ascend Fellow alumni.

The Ascend Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation, Bezos Family Foundation, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Catto Shaw Foundation, Charlotte Perret Family Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Liz Blake Giving Fund of the Blake Family Foundation, Merle Chambers Fund, Patrice King Brickman, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

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Ascend at the Aspen Institute is a catalyst and convener for diverse leaders working across systems and sectors to build intergenerational family prosperity and well-being by intentionally focusing on children and the adults in their lives together. We believe in the power of co-creation. We are a community of leaders — well-connected, well-prepared and well-positioned — building goodwill that transforms hearts, minds, policies, and practices.

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The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

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Contact: Adam Flango
Communications Officer, Ascend at the Aspen Institute
[email protected]
724.316.4761