Moderator - Shaunelle Curry: Shaunelle Curry is the Founder and CEO of Media Done Responsibly, a media and digital literacy organization that works to amplify humanity-centered and socially responsible media. She is a Professor of TV, Film, and Media Studies, Journalism, and Pan-African Studies at California State University-Los Angeles. Shaunelle is also the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the global Digital Wellness Institute, and is a founding member of the Black Women Leaders of Los Angeles Coalition. Shaunelle provides media literacy education, digital citizenship training, inclusion strategies, and internship placement for youth creators of humanity-centered media. She is the Executive Director of the MDR Virtual Film Festival. And she produces the MDR Awards to recognize and amplify filmmakers, songwriters, artists, and media agencies that incorporate social responsibility into their principles, policies, practices, and platforms.
Carmen Raal: Since taking part in international projects, living in France, and studying in Hong Kong Carmen’s favourite thing about introducing Estonia has always been the digital society and the simplicity of interacting with the state. Having previously worked at the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund, she witnessed firsthand how Estonian digital services allowed people to focus more on human interaction and good quality service in general. Carmen’s academic background in political science and her ongoing graduate degree in public administration and innovation have allowed to go further into the “how?” and “why?” Estonia was molded into the digital state it is now. As a Digital Transformation Adviser her aim is to spread the know-how in digital services and to help other countries with their digitalisation initiatives.
Martin Hilbert: Martin Hilbert is Professor at the University of California, Davis, where he tries to better understand the role of digital information and algorithms in the development of complex social systems. He holds doctorates in Economics and Social Sciences (2006) and in Communication (2012), is associated with Communication and Computer Science at UCD, and chairs the campus’s designated emphasis in Computational Social Science. Before joining academia, he created and coordinated the Information Society Program of the United Nations Secretariat in Latin America and the Caribbean. In his 15 years as United Nations Economic Affairs Officer, he provided hands-on technical assistance in the field of digital development in over 20 countries. He has been Principal Investigator of several dozen projects, summing over $25M. He published what he discovers in academic journals such as Science, Psychological Bulletin, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, and World Development, and in popular outlets, including CNN, BBC, WSJ, Washington Post, The Economist, NPR, NatGeo, among others; and currently teaches online classes to over 50,000 students worldwide.
Liz Sweigart: Liz's passion is fostering environments where humans can flourish. In her role as Chief Product & Strategy Officer at Safe Kids AI, she works to empower kids to be safer online by helping them make better decisions. Immediately prior to joining Safe Kids, Liz was a partner in PwC’s Global Structuring practice based in Houston. A business leader for over 20 years, Liz is a sought after advisor, coach, author, and speaker on topics ranging from mental health and digital wellbeing to artificial intelligence and leadership. She serves on the Board of Directors of Mental Health America of Greater Houston and Genesys Works Houston, where she also chairs the Strategic Planning Committee. Liz holds a BA from Rice University, an MBA from the University of St. Thomas (Houston), and a PhD in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
Marc Berkman: Marc serves as the CEO of the Organization for Social Media Safety which he has grown into a prominent national consumer protection organization that has taught social media safety skills to thousands of students, parents, and educators across the country and developed essential social media safety legislation like Jordan’s Law, the nation’s first law to deter social media-motivated violence. Previously, Marc served for over a decade as a senior advisor to members of Congress and the California State Assembly. During his time as a legislative aide, he developed and helped pass into law numerous legislative initiatives to protect vulnerable children and families. Marc received his JD from Columbia Law School and his BA from UC Berkeley. He lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles, CA.