Alex Smith

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Founder of The Cares Family

Alex Smith founded The Cares Family and was CEO from 2011 until 2023. Under his leadership, the organization brought together 30,000 older and younger people to reduce loneliness and attitudinal polarization and to build solidarity across generations in times of change. Through this role, Alex helped shape the world's first government-level loneliness strategy which was launched by the former UK Prime Minister at a Cares Family event. Alex was an inaugural Obama Fellow in 2018 and is now Senior Development Advisor, Europe, at the Obama Foundation. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Times, The Economist, BBC News and The Chicago Tribune.

Meet our 2023 Democracy Forum Speakers

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Baratunde Thurston

Democracy Forum Host
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Wemimo Abbey

Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Esusu
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Peter Adams

Senior Vice President of Research and Design of the News Literacy Project
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Aleena Agrawal

Director of Talent Solutions at P33
Ellen Alberding

Ellen Alberding

President and CEO, The Joyce Foundation
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Ian Bassin

Co-founder and Executive Director of Protect Democracy
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Brian Deese

MIT Innovation Fellow
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Hany Farid

Professor at the University of California, Berkeley
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Nancy Gibbs

Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice and Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
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Emma Grede

Entrepreneur & Chairwoman of The Fifteen Percent Pledge and the CEO and Co-Founder of Good American
Regina Hall

Regina Hall

Award-winning actress and producer
Mary Kay Henry (Fair Economies and the Future of Work)

Mary Kay Henry

International President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
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Darryl Holliday

Journalist, civic strategist, and media organizer
Valerie Jarrett Headshot

Valerie Jarrett

Chief Executive Officer
Major Brandon Johnson

Mayor Brandon Johnson

Mayor of Chicago
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Terah Lyons

Founding Executive Director of the Partnership on AI
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Anna Makanju

OpenAI's Vice President of Global Affairs
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Governor Wes Moore

Governor of the state of Maryland
Alondra Nelson Headshot (Weighing AI and Human Progress)

Alondra Nelson

Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study
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Suzanne Nossel

CEO, PEN America
Chiedo Nwankwor

Chiedo Nwankwor

Vice Dean for Education and Academic Affairs, Interim Director of SAIS Europe, Senior Lecturer, and Director of SAIS Women Lead
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President Obama

44th president of the United States
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John Palfrey

President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
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DeMario Phipps-Smith

Senior Manager of Community Learning at News Literacy Project.
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Sonal Shah

Chief Executive Officer at The Texas Tribune
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Betsey Stevenson

Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the University of Michigan
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Mandy Teefey

Co-Founder and CEO of Wondermind
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Shani Tran

Licensed therapist and author
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Raquel Vazquez Llorente

Head of Law & Policy, Technology, Threats and Opportunities - WITNESS
Judy Woodruff Headshot (Democracy-s Immune System)

Judy Woodruff

Senior Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour

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