Potential Board
Minerva Tantoco
Chief Technology Officer, Mayor’s Office of Tech and Innovation, New York
Led citywide strategy to make New York City the most technology-friendly and innovation-driven city in the world.
2012.
CIO 100 Innovation Award,
Jeff Merit
Director of Innovation, Mayor’s Office of Tech and Innovation, New York
He began his career in war-torn former Yugoslavia, helping support local democracy-building. After living in New York during 9/11, he decided to refocus his efforts at home, leading a good government organization called the Center for Civic Responsibility then founding Grassroots Initiative, the nation’s first nonprofit election consulting firm.
Jeff made his first foray into city government in 2009 when he helped organize the first online public elections in U.S. history in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. The following year, he became an advisor to then Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and, as they say, the rest is history.
Eric Adams
Borough President of Brooklyn
In November of 2013, he was elected to represent all of Brooklyn as borough president.
Eric represented the 20th Senate District – which includes Borough Park, Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Sunset Park, and Windsor Terrace, working tirelessly to address a broad range of issues affecting constituents, from civil rights and public safety to transparency in government and quality of life.
John Maeda
Global Head, Computational Design and Inclusion at Automattic
John currently advises technology startups as a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a world-leading venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. In addition, Maeda serves on the Boards of Sonos and Wieden+Kennedy, and on the Technical Advisory Board for Google’s ATAP.
An internationally recognized speaker and author, Maeda’s books include The Laws of Simplicity, Creative Code, and Redesigning Leadership. He has spoken at TED, the World Economic Forum, and at many corporations and universities on the convergence of technology, business, and design.
Benjamin Prosky
Executive Director at Center For Architecture (AIANY)
With a background in urban studies and urban planning, Prosky has devoted the past 15 years of his career to a range of projects and initiatives dedicated to the promotion and interpretation of architecture and the city.
Julia Kaganskiy
Director of New Inc
Julia Kaganskiy is a recognized cultural producer across the art and technology fields. She previously served as Global Editor of the Creators Project, a partnership between VICE Media Group and Intel, and founded #ArtsTech Meetup, a group that brings together professionals from New York’s museums, galleries, art-related start-ups, and digital artists.
Carlo Ratti
Director of MIT Senseable Cities Lab
Carlo Ratti is an Italian architect, engineer, inventor, educator and activist founder of Carlo Ratti Associati and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Saskia Sassen
Sociologist, Professor of Sociology at Columbia
Saskia is a prolific author in urban sociology. She studied the impacts of globalisation such as economic restructuring, and how the movements of labour and capital influence urban life. She identified and described the phenomenon of the global city.
William Morish
Professor of Urban Ecologies, Parsons
Dean, School of Constructed Environments, Parsons New School for Design from 2009 to 2013.
Anwar Shaikh
Professor of Economics at the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, Parsons
Author of Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises. In the book, he critiques mainstream neoclassical economic ideology and offers an alternative framework for understanding modern markets.
