Keynote Speaker

Van Jones is a CNN host, political commentator, Emmy Award-winning producer, and author of three New York Times best-selling books: The Green Collar Economy (2008), Rebuild the Dream (2012) and Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How we Come Together (2017).

Van has also found success as a social entrepreneur, having founded and led many thriving enterprises including the REFORM Alliance, Color of Change, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the Dream Corps, which works to close prison doors and open doors of opportunity in the green and tech economies.

In 2009, as the Green Jobs Advisor to the Obama White House, Jones oversaw an $80 billion dollar investment in clean energy jobs.

Jones was the main advocate for the Green Jobs Act. Signed into law by George W. Bush in 2007, the Green Jobs Act was the first piece of federal legislation to codify the term "green jobs." During the Obama Administration, the legislation has resulted in $500 million in national funding for green jobs training.

Jones has stewarded several bipartisan legislative and advocacy efforts, racking up wins under the last four US Presidents: Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump. Jones’ most recent victory was advocating successfully for the passage of the FIRST STEP Act, which the New York Times calls the most substantial breakthrough in criminal justice in a generation.

A Yale-educated attorney, Jones has won numerous awards, including the World Economic Forum’s “Young Global Leader” designation, Rolling Stone’s 2012 “12 Leaders Who Get Things Done”, TIME’s 2009 “100 Most Influential People in The World”, the 2010 NAACP Image Award, a 2017 WEBBY Special Achievement Award, a 2019 Lumiere Award and a 2020 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Interactive Program.

Moderator

Lori Patton Davis, Ph.D. is one of the most accomplished, and influential scholars in the field of higher education. She is a Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at The Ohio State University and Chair of the Department of Educational Studies in the College of Education and Human Ecology. Dr. Patton Davis is also past president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the first Black woman to lead the organization. She is best known for her important cross-cutting scholarship on African Americans in higher education, critical race theory, Black culture centers, Black girls and women in educational and social contexts, and college student development. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and other academic publications appearing in highly-regarded venues, has been cited in multiple publications, and her research has been funded by grants from the Spencer Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and American Psychological Foundation.

 

She has received national recognition for her scholarly contributions including her recent delivery of the American Educational Research Association Brown Lecture in Education Research and being listed in Newsweek’s Edu-Scholar Rankings among the top 200 most influential educators in the US. She is a frequently sought expert on various education topics. The Chronicle of Higher EducationInside Higher EdUSA TodayDiverse Issues in Higher Education, and dozens of other media outlets have quoted her and featured her research. She has also advised university presidents and other senior administrators, philanthropic foundation executives, culture center directors, and educators in urban K-12 schools.