Daniel is an entrepreneur who has had a highly successful career in business and is now creating new models of philanthropic ventures that hold extraordinary promise for promoting powerful change in the world.

After fifteen years holding multiple executive management roles as executive vice president of Chicago-based CDW computers, Inc., in 2005 he turned his attention to philanthropy by founding XXI Century Kids 1st Foundation and is now directing his attention to the worldwide stage, combining his entrepreneurial talents and management experience in all phases of business to help people around the world develop their communication skills using the latest, cutting-edge technology.

Dan founded InterCulture in 2009 to provide and facilitate solutions by building strategic relationships and partnerships to implement media technology, civil society programs and education initiatives.

To achieve this Dan has partnered with 1) educational facilities specializing in media education and entrepreneurship to educate, train and counsel media students and professionals, 2) social benefit program developers and providers to generate positive media content in the Middle East region (The da Vinci Society, Educate Girls Globally, Institute of Middle East Peace and Development), and 3) media industry professionals to mentor the program’s graduates and promote and distribute their content using successful branding, marketing and social networking techniques across multiple media platforms (Anthem Digital, Mainwaring Creative).

Saafir Rabb II - American Muslim Communities

Saafir served as assistant to the late Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, leader of the largest Muslim community in the United States. Subsequent to Imam Mohammed’s passing in 2008, Rabb continues to represent and promote an American Muslim expression that encourages human excellence and American civic duty.

Saafir is also the founder and CEO of Managing Opportunity, Inc. (MO) – a strategic planning and development consulting firm that operates in the U.S. and internationally to provide business solutions to socially-oriented organizations and enterprises. Over the past five years, Saafir has generated millions of dollars toward joint community development and business initiatives.

Prior to founding MO, Saafir served as COO of I Can’t We Can (ICWC), a unique community development and drug-rehabilitation organization that received over 100 awards and citations from state and local officials and peer organizations. Under his guidance, ICWC and other community-based entities purchased and rehabilitated more than 100 units of low-to-moderate income housing.

Additionally, Saafir has worked in various areas of international development, a few of which include the World Summit for Information Society in Tunisia, SME Business training seminars in Nigeria, cultural exchange and internships in Malaysia, Arabic and Islamic Law training programs in Syria, bed-net distribution with Malaria No More, and the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists.

Saafir works diligently to promote the truest intersection of American and Islamic identity. Toward this end he lectures frequently at venues in the U.S. and internationally on relations between global and local dynamics of Islam. He also served as a consultant to the Obama administration’s transition team for public diplomacy and is a Senior Advisor to the dean of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

A. Lawrence Chickering - Education

Lawrence is a social entrepreneur and writer whose work has focused on empowering citizens to partner with governments and help solve major public challenges. His extraordinary ability to build bridges and use principled thought to influence practical change calls for citizens to play an increased role in public institutions from government schools to foreign policy.

Beginning his public policy career working for William F. Buckley, Jr., Lawrence’s life work features a strong emphasis on mitigating conflict. He has founded or co-founded several organizations that promote reforms in the United States and other countries that appeal to conservatives, liberals and others across the political spectrum.

The most powerful example of Lawrence’s approach to public policy and social reform may be found in Educate Girls Globally (EGG), which he founded in 1999 to promote girls’ education by reforming government schools in developing countries. Partly influenced by 2009 Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom’s work on self-governing organizations, EGG has worked in partnership with The World Economic Forum and now partners with the state government of Rajasthan in India. Under Lawrence’s leadership, EGG has developed a potential breakthrough model for promoting girls’ education and general education reform of government schools. EGG’s process effects extraordinary cultural transformation in both traditional communities and government bureaucracies. By empowering all major stakeholders in schools–parents, teachers, administrators, children, and even government bureaucrats–EGG is able to achieve change at unique scales and very low costs.

Lawrence’s model is adaptable for other, major applications–addressing any political or social need where empowered citizens can make important contributions. Other applications include health, poverty reduction, job creation, environmental protection, and even political reform. Because this model focuses on empowering people and promoting ownership in both public and private spaces, it creates a principled approach that provides a sense of stake in societies and encourages people to resist forces that want to bring the systems down. It also operates without significant political opposition.

Lawrence wrote his first manifesto for a "transpartisan" politics in his 1993 book, "Beyond Left and Right," which drew wide praise across the U.S. political spectrum, as did his co-authored 2008 sequel (with James S. Turner), "Voice of the People: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life". His co-authored 2006 book, "Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in International Security," is part of a new (post 9/11) way of thinking about foreign policy and is encouraging various government agencies to explore how civil society initiatives can be integrated into foreign policy.

Among his other efforts to promote citizen empowerment and transpartisan politics, he coedited (with Mohamed Salahdine) a book on economic empowerment of the poor, "The Silent Revolution: The Informal Sector in Asian and Near Eastern Countries"; he was cofounder of The International Center for Economic Growth, which in a ten-year period helped promote major reforms in more than fifty countries; and he was a co-founder of Reuniting America, a citizen organization bringing together officials of major conservative and liberal organizations in the U.S.

Simon Mainwaring - Branding

Simon Mainwaring is a branding consultant, advertising creative director, blogger and speaker. A former Nike creative at Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, and worldwide creative director for Motorola at Ogilvy, he now consults for brands and creative companies that are re-inventing their industries and enabling positive change.

Simon offers a global purview on branding having worked at many of the world’s best advertising agencies in Asia, Europe and the U.S.. His expertise is informed by experience across a wide variety of industries, brands and product categories. He provides strategy, creative and community building across traditional, digital and new media working synergistically.

Simon’s clients include advertising agencies (Wieden, Chiat, Goodby, Saatchi, Fallon, Anomaly), production companies (Saville Productions), digital shops (Digital Domain, Exopolis, M80), experiential companies (George P. Johnson), eco-conscious firms (Sexton Co.), design firms (Troika), Hispanic agencies (Acento) and purpose-driven companies (FreeForm).

He has been included in the Los Angeles Twitter Elite 50, SEO Blog named him #1 social media specialist in the U.S. and the Daily Reviewer has recognized his blog as one of the top 100 marketing blogs in America.

Simon’s work is featured in "Cutting Edge Advertising" by Jim Aitchison, "The Best Advertising of the Decade" by Campaign Brief, "How to Write Great Copy" by Dominic Gettins, and "Pure Process" by Prof. Glenn Griffin and Deborah Morrison, as well as Lurzer’s Archive, The One Club and Communications Arts Magazines.

He has received over 70 international awards (Cannes, One Show, D&AD, among others) and speaking engagements have taken him from Sydney to Mexico City to Dubai and Acapulco.

Simon studied Law and Fine Arts at Sydney University, Australia, and lives in Los Angeles with wife and two daughters.