Advancement Project competitors

Gerald Chertavian is dedicated to closing the Opportunity Divide that exists in our nation. Determined to make his vision a reality, Gerald combined his entrepreneurial skills and his passion for working with urban young adults to found Year Up in 2000.Gerald's commitment to working with urban youth spans more than 25 years. He has actively participated in the Big Brother mentoring program since 1985 and was recognized as one of New York's outstanding Big Brothers in 1989. He is the recipient of the 2003 Social Entrepreneurship Award by the Manhattan Institute and the 2005 Freedom House Archie R. Williams, Jr. Technology Award. In 2006, Gerald was elected as a Fellow with the Ashoka Global Fellowship of social entrepreneurs, and in 2008, he was appointed by Massachusetts' Governor Deval Patrick to serve on the MA State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. In 2013, he was appointed by Governor Patrick to serve as Chairman of the Roxbury Community College Board of Trustees.Gerald began his career on Wall Street as an officer of the Chemical Banking Corporation. Following graduate school he co-founded Conduit Communications and fostered its growth to more than $18M in annual revenues and more than 130 employees in London, Amsterdam, New York and Boston. Following the sale of Conduit to i-Cube in 1999, Gerald turned his full attention to opportunities for others.Gerald earned a B.A. in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School. He has received honorary doctorates from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and Mount Ida College. He is on the Board of Advisors for the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative and a member of the World Economic Forum's Youth Unemployment Council. Gerald is a former Board member of The Boston Foundation and an Emeritus Trustee of Bowdoin College. His 2012 book, A Year Up, is a New York Times best seller.

Diane Regas is Senior Vice President for Programs at Environmental Defense Fund, where she is responsible for providing overall vision, strategy and leadership for current and new program development.Prior to joining EDF in 2006, Diane spent 20 years developing and supporting scientifically sound responses to environmental challenges at Environmental Protection Agency. Today, her extensive management and policy experience is driving success throughout all of EDF’s programmatic efforts in the United States and beyond. The solutions EDF seeks require a commitment to strong science and bi-partisan solutions, both of which Diane has demonstrated time and again throughout her career. As a senior policy analyst for President Clinton, she advised the president, through the Domestic Policy Advisor on environmental and natural resource issues. Award-winning work protecting and strengthening our rivers, lakes, bays and oceans defined her tenure at EPA, and she also chaired President George W. Bush’s interagency task force on Oceans. She’s been equally productive at EDF. Among numerous accomplishments, thanks to Diane’s teams and their partners, protecting one of the largest ocean areas in history—more than 195,000 square miles—bigger than the state of California; and one out of two fish caught in U.S. waters is from a catch share-style fishery.With the unmatched expertise EDF staff bring to all of our program areas, she’s confident that even greater successes are yet to come. Prior to joining EDF, Diane spent 20 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she served during four presidential administrations in some of the agency's highest positions, including Deputy Assistant Administrator.Her EPA accomplishments included: receiving the Presidential Rank Award for ''exceptional long-term accomplishments,'' and leading a path-breaking monitoring strategy, establishing the first-ever scientifically valid national report card on fresh water quality. Diane is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar and California Bar.Diane received her BA in history, her MS in environmental science and her JD at the University of California at Berkeley. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including one of the most prestigious, the Presidential Rank Award.

Mark Hetfield is President and CEO of HIAS, which is the oldest refugee organization in the world, founded in 1881 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to welcome Jewish refugees fleeing to the United States. Today, HIAS operates on five continents to protect refugees of all faiths and ethnicities. An attorney, Hetfield frequently appears in media as an expert in refugee law and policy with nearly 30 years of experience in the field, having worked in both the public and private sectors.

James McSpiritt is a Chief Executive Officer - Archdiocesan Housing at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York/The and is based in New York City, New York. He has worked as General Counsel at Phipps Neighborhoods and Chief, Economic Development Division at NYC Law Department. James attended 美國普林斯頓大學 between 1978 and 1982 and UCLA School of Law between 1983 and 1986.