After months of reviewing applications from all over the world, we are honored to present the

LEAD20@MIT 2019 TEAM

LEAD20@MIT Leadership in the Digital Age is a collaboration of the Ruderman Family Foundation’s LINK20 and MIT Sloan School of Management. This unique program will equip influencers with theories and strategies in the areas of digital leadership, networking and entrepreneurship to become high impact social influencers.

The program will take place between May 12-17, 2019 in Cambridge, MA.

Amanda Frantz

New York

Amanda is the Executive Director of the nonprofit KEEN New York, empowering youth with disabilities by providing free programs of exercise, fitness and fun led by volunteer coaches. Her long-term career goal is to establish a training camp for adults, featuring several learning tracks including Faith & Discipleship, Disability Awareness and more.

Chris Ulmer

Florida

Chris is the founder and CEO of the non-profit Special Books by Special Kids, which has 1.9 million followers on Facebook and 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube. It started as an idea to have his students become self-advocates by publishing their own books. It soon became one of the world’s greatest advocacy platforms.

Ken Chua

Singapore

Ken is the Director and Founder of (these)abilities, an Inclusive Design & Technology Agency that works to build inclusive products, services, & campaigns that benefits people with disabilities. With an academic background in Design, Engineering & Social Impact Strategy, Ken has given talks & workshops on Inclusive Design at places such as Google, Adobe, TEDx, and many more.

Bat-El Borenstein

Israel

Bat-El is an actress, writer, producer, and lecturer. She is the sole creator and performer of the enormously successful and inspirational one-woman show I am Bat-El viewed by over one million people in Israel. Her artistic abilities and self-humor help her perform on any place with a stage big enough to hold her.

Russell Lehmann

Nevada

Russell is an award-winning and internationally recognized motivational speaker, poet, author, and advocate for autism and mental health, who has reached over 25 million people worldwide. In 2018, Russell was named as Reno-Tahoe’s “Most Outstanding Young Professional Under 40”.

Ruth Umoh

New York

Ruth is a reporter at Forbes covering the many aspects of diversity and inclusion in business and society at large. She was previously a reporter at CNBC, focusing on leadership, strategic management and the future of work.

Noa Ohayon Bab

Israel

Noa is an entrepreneur and Co founder of a leading social media career initiative in Israel. She is a leading figure in the Israeli high tech eco-system, working for and mentoring to VCs, startups, and global corporations. At present, Noa is Head of Employer Brand & Internal Communication at eBay.

Guilherme Braga

Brazil

Guilherme is the founder and CEO of Egalite. Egalite is a Brazilian company that promotes the employment of people with disabilities through an innovative technology demonstrating to companies and society the value of diversity.

Kayla McKeon

New York

Kayla is the first registered lobbyist with Down syndrome. She also is a Special Olympics athlete and Special Olympics Congress member. She is a member of the National Down Syndrome Self Advocacy Advisory Board and 2016 recipient of the Self Advocate of the Year.

Yoseph Haddad

Israel

Yoseph is a co founder and CEO of the nonprofit Vouch for Each Other, an organization that aims to be the catalyst of change, bridging between the Arab sector in Israeli society with Israeli society as whole.

Dr. Mikhail Varshavski

New Jersey

Dr. Mikhail, commonly known as Doctor Mike, is a social media entrepreneur, TV medical expert, philanthropist, and physician and the most followed Doctor on social media. He stresses the importance of medical literacy and battles misinformation for audience of over 7 million social media subscribers.

Pamela Rae Schuller

New York

Pamela is an internationally known disability and mental health advocate and professional stand-up comedian. She is also the director of Here.Now, a Jewish teen mental health initiative through the Jewish Board. You can catch her live on her upcoming tour of the US and Canada with her one woman show, “What Makes Me Tic.”

Lucy Aharish

Israel

Lucy is an Israeli news presenter, journalist, reporter, and television host. She is notable for being the first Arab Muslim to present the news on prime time television in Israel. She is known for promoting pluralism and interdenominational openness in Israel’s public agenda.

Mark Hanis

Washington, D.C.

Mark is a social entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder of Inclusive America, a nonprofit organization focused on increasing diversity in government. He is also a Research Fellow with Stanford University’s Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice

Rikki Poynter

North Carolina

Rikki is a 27-year-old deaf vlogger on YouTube. She makes content about deaf and hard of hearing awareness, accessibility/closed captioning awareness, mental health, feminism, pop culture, and more.

Adam Moscoe

Ottawa, Canada

Adam is a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum and has served as Policy Advisor to Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Currently he is completing the Government of Canada’s Advanced Policy Analyst Program.

Daniel M. Jones

United Kingdom

Daniel is an international best-selling author, multi musician and video influencer with an award winning YouTube channel called The Aspie World. The Aspie World is dedicated to Autism awareness and understanding from an autistic person’s point of view.

Alex Schwartz

Missouri

Alex is a YouTuber who creates videos on his successful YouTube AMPUTV channel. With over 6 million views, his videos are educational, comic and even serious. He is also pursuing an acting career in TV and film, modeling and entrepreneurship through his own service business.

Angel Giuffria

Louisiana

Angel is an actress, model, and a public speaker. She is very passionate about discussing representation people with disabilities on film and television. She is also a congenital arm amputee who believes that if you have a platform, you have a responsibility to use it for good.

Sarah Cronk

Tennessee

Sarah is the founder of The Sparkle Effect, a national nonprofit that generates cheerleading and dance programs that bring together students with and without disabilities. To date, The Sparkle Effect has generated over 200 teams in 31 states, directly impacting over 10,000 students.

Dylan Bulkeley-Krane

California

Dylan works to promote the rights of people with disabilities through political organizing and advocacy. He is the co-founder of Disability Action for America, a political action organization dedicated to electing leaders who respect disability rights.

Emily Ladau

New York

Emily is a passionate disability rights activist, writer, speaker, and digital communications consultant. She serves as the Editor in Chief of the Rooted in Rights Blog, a platform focused on amplifying authentic writing on disability rights issues, and is a co-host of The Accessible Stall Podcast.

James Rath

California

James is the co-creator of a travel documentary series in development, BLIND ABROAD, focused on showcasing the experiences of traveling with a visual impairment and highlighting how disabilities are perceived in foreign cultures.

Dani Garmise

Israel

Dani is a writer, blogger and public speaker who writes about living with a disability, often from a humorous point of view. He is the manager of several websites for people with disabilities in Israel, and the creator of the Facebook group “I’m Disabled and Sexy”, dedicated to disability, sexuality and body image.

Clark Matthews

Washington

Clark Matthews is the lead producer at Rooted in Rights. This allows Clark to combine his biggest passions: filmmaking and disability rights. Clark’s media collaborations with artists and activists of mixed abilities have played at film festivals around the globe. Clark has a degree in Film and Media Arts.

Liat Kaver

California

Liat Kaver is a Product Manager at Google, currently leading the Captions Infrastructure product at YouTube. Prior to Google, she held business development leadership roles in GBM, and IBM alliance company. She has a BSc from the University of Costa Rica and an MBA from MIT Sloan Business School.

Sid Marcos

California

Sid Marcos is a business developer. She is a founding member of the National Startup League and director of The Outlandish Incubator for economically underserved entrepreneurs. She is the current director of development for Outlandish Travel, a travel organization focused on the inclusion of people with disabilities in the travel industry

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ACCESIBILITY MENU

LEAD20@MIT 2019 TEAM

Amanda Frantz

Chris Ulmer

Ken Chua

Bat-El Borenstein

Russell Lehmann

Ruth Umoh

Noa Ohayon Bab

Guilherme Braga

Kayla McKeon

Yoseph Haddad

Dr. Mikhail Varshavski

Pamela Rae Schuller

Lucy Aharish

Mark Hanis

Rikki Poynter

Adam Moscoe

Daniel M. Jones

Alex Schwartz

Angel Giuffria

Sarah Cronk

Dylan Bulkeley-Krane

Emily Ladau

James Rath

Dani Garmise

Clark Matthews

Liat Kaver

Sid Marcos