After successful private sector careers, Jay Coen Gilbert and Andrew Kassoy co-founded B Lab, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a new sector of the economy that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab drives systemic change through three initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easy to tell the difference between “good companies” and good marketing; 2) driving capital to impact investments through use of B Lab’s GIIRS Ratings and Analytics; and 3) advancing supportive public policies to accelerate growth of social entrepreneurship and impact investing.

Ann launched LINC in 2007 to incubate leadership and interaction between actors in the children’s sector and to innovate new approaches to the systemic problems hindering the delivery of services to children. Before moving into the children’s sector, Ann Lamont was CEO of the Learning Channel where she combined corporate acumen with a desire to address the highly complex challenges that need to be understood to support human rights and democracy on the Continent. LINC works with 100 leaders in the children’s sector, representing nearly 11 million children in South Africa.

Nationally, college attainment rates have been stagnant for 30 years; in Denver, 9 percent of 9th graders graduate college within ten years. DSF has developed a formula to reverse these trends. A product of Denver Public Schools, Tim Marquez, CEO of the energy company Venoco, co-founded Denver Scholarship Foundation in 2006 to combat the inequity of college success for Denver’s youth. Since 2006, DSF has helped 9,500 students navigate the college and financial aid process and awarded $9.6 million in scholarships to 2,000 students, 83 percent of which are either still enrolled in college or have completed their program.

If you are born hungry and poor, the chances of catching up with the rest of society are stacked against you due to mental and physical underdevelopment and a weakened immune system. These irreversible consequences present overwhelming challenges and perpetuate poverty. Moved by this, Alejandro, a director of one of El Salvador’s largest conglomerates, started LDA in 2004 by designing and implementing a comprehensive, sustainable and replicable intervention model that empowers families to attain healthier and more productive lifestyles. In rural El Salvador, 25% of children under five are chronically malnourished. To date, LDA has impacted over 85,000 people by cutting chronic malnutrition rates and raising income levels.