Summit on Entrepreneurship and Equity, Sustainability and Social Justice

Adam Boyko is Associate Professor in Biomedical Sciences at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. He is also co-founder and chief science officer of Embark Veterinary, a dog DNA testing company founded in 2015 and incubated at the Cornell McGovern Center for Life Sciences. Prior to joining the faculty at Cornell, Dr. Boyko received undergraduate degrees in computer science and evolutionary ecology from the University of Illinois as well as a Master’s in Computer Science and doctorate in Biology at Purdue. He worked as a postdoc and research associate at Cornell and Stanford studying population genomics before focusing his research on canine genomics.

Alex Ruiz, ‘90 B.S., leads a cross-functional team at Kantar and is responsible for the growth of his client portfolio through data and brand initiatives. Prior to Kantar, Mr. Ruiz was the go-to-market lead for the Northeast region of Accenture Interactive’s creative and marketing transformation services. Working in digital marketing for over 20 years, he began his career in account management at K2 Design, one of the first boutique digital agencies. Mr. Ruiz has built digital strategies and marketing campaigns for leading brands including Subway, Cape Cod Chips, Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzels, Duncan Hines, Jim Beam, Birds Eye, Adidas, American Express, and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, he has worked at leading digital marketing agencies including 360i and Digitas. Mr. Ruiz is currently on the Cornell Dyson School Alumni Advisory Council.

Anu Rangarajan was appointed director of the Cornell Small Farms Program in 2004. The program is dedicated to helping farmers obtain expert assistance to facilitate all phases of small farm development, from new startup to growth to maturity. Dr. Rangarajan first joined Cornell in 1996 as the Statewide Fresh Market Vegetable Specialist. Her research and extension work focused on the environmental and economic sustainability of vegetable farms in the Northeast. In addition, Dr. Rangarajan’s experience of operating a small u-pick strawberry farm in Freeville, NY, provided her with a new perspective and approach to research and deepened her commitment to NY farms and local food systems. She holds a Ph.D. from MSU in vegetable production and physiology and held a fellowship with Winrock International, a nonprofit organization that implements a portfolio of more than 140 agriculture, environment, and social development projects in over 46 countries.

Chris Hemmeter has spent his entire professional life in and around startups and high-growth businesses in travel, hospitality, and technology, having founded six companies during his 35 years in business. Today he is a co-founder and managing director of Thayer Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in emerging technology companies in the travel and transportation space. Immediately prior to Thayer Ventures, Mr. Hemmeter was founder and president of iCare Marketing (sold to Sysco Foodservice Corporation in 2012) and founder and CEO of Dynamic Payment Ventures (sold to Elavon, a subsidiary of US Bank in 2007).

Prior to that, Mr. Hemmeter was founder and CEO of CriticalArc Technologies, a supply-chain software provider to the foodservice industry; founder of E&O Kitchen and Bar, a casual dining restaurant based in San Francisco; founder of The Hemmeter Collection, a direct response retailer; and founder of Hemmeter Publishing, a publisher and distributor of travel books and content. Upon graduating from Cornell University in 1986, he joined Hemmeter Investment Company, a real estate developer of destination resort properties. Founded by his father in 1962, the Hemmeter organization developed major destination resort hotels in Hawaii and operated several related hospitality and travel businesses in the foodservice, gaming, retail, and aviation sectors.

Mr. Hemmeter received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Cornell University and his graduate degree from Harvard Business School in 1995, where he was recognized as a Baker Scholar for his academic achievement.

Dr. Gail P. Myers, cultural anthropologist, earned her Doctorate in Anthropology from The Ohio State University, Masters’ in Applied Anthropology from Georgia State University, and Bachelor’s in English from Florida State University. Dr. Myers is the founder of Farms to Grow, Inc. in Oakland, CA. She works with organizations locally, nationally, and internationally to improve the lives and futures of socially disadvantaged and sustainable small farmers. For the last 18 years, she has been researching, teaching, and writing about Black farmers, producing articles, papers, and documentary shorts related to the adaptations and sustainable practices of African American farmers. Dr. Myers is currently completing the film documentary “Rhythms of the Land,” which voices the life stories of African American farmers, sharecroppers, gardeners, and basket weavers, and will be available 2022/23 (www.rhythmsoftheland.com). Dr. Myers currently serves as the board chairperson for Jubilee Justice, which has a mission to support Black farming communities through new models of regenerative farming, cooperative ownership, and access to new markets.

Earl Martin Phalen is founder and CEO of George and Veronica Phalen Leadership Academies (PLA), serving over 25 schools and communities across the country with its mission to transform F-rated schools into A-rated schools. He was honored by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and the PLA approach was heralded as a model to guide national legislation by Secretary Hillary Clinton during her tenure as a New York senator and by President Barack Obama during his tenure as an Illinois senator. Mr. Phalen earned the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award and was honored by the entertainment industry at the BET Awards. His work in education has also been lauded by the New York Times, Parents Magazine, Education Week, and ABC World News. TIME Magazine wrote, “Phalen has become one of the country’s leading education reformers.” He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.

Liz Ngonzi is an international executive coach and speaker, as well as an award-winning social entrepreneur and educator, who helps purpose-driven leaders worldwide to clarify, develop, and share their stories to increase their impact. She believes that when you share your story, you invite others to learn what makes you unique, and you inspire them to support you, thereby amplifying your voice and strengthening your personal brand.

As an international executive coach and public speaker, through her firm, Liz Ngonzi Transforms, Ms. Ngonzi enables purpose-driven leaders worldwide to define and tell their stories, accomplish their objectives, and align their paycheck with their purpose. Through the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell University, she facilitates online courses for women entrepreneurs on their venture creation journey.

As a social entrepreneur, last year Ms. Ngonzi founded The International Social Impact Institute, which — through initiatives with the King Baudouin Foundation U.S.; Nelson Mandela University (South Africa); Hunter College, City University of New York (U.S.); the Arcus Foundation (U.S.); and The Resource Alliance (U.K.) — aims to amplify the voices of and increase opportunities for social impact leaders from historically marginalized communities (in the U.S. and around the world), facilitate interactions among such leaders, and assist in training more of them.

Additionally, as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Fundraising at New York University and as a trainer to organizations such as Candid, and Vital Voices Global Partnerships, Ms. Ngonzi has delivered courses to thousands of professionals from organizations on six continents, teaching them how to activate their supporters through effective storytelling.

Ms. Ngonzi earned a Master of Management in Hospitality degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from Syracuse University’s iSchool, and she graduated from the United Nations International School, which she attended K through 12.

Hindatu Mohammed, BS ‘99, DVM ‘07, joined Allandale Vet Clinic in Austin, TX, in 2014 and purchased the clinic in 2016. Dr. Mohammed is (to her knowledge) the only Black female veterinary practice owner in Austin and, as such, is committed to providing visibility, mentorship, and support to encourage more BIPOC individuals to pursue careers in veterinary medicine. This fall she plans to launch her nonprofit designed to pair high school students with veterinary clinics for focused mentorship and training.

With over four decades’ experience working with First Nations governments and industry, James Malcolm Ross has been involved in leading Northern Canada’s resource projects since his early 20s. A four-term Chief of the Teetl’it Gwich’in First Nation, Mr. Ross played a key role in creating economic opportunities, including his role as a negotiator for the Gwich’in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement which granted the Gwich’in ownership of over 22,000 square kilometers in the Northwest Territories and 1,500 in the Yukon. This deal also provided significant local government and co-management rights and cash compensation. Mr. Ross studied world petroleum economics at Yale University and business management at the University of Lethbridge, and completed two terms as a board member of the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board of Canada. He is a board member of the Arctic Athabaskan Council, which has Permanent Participant Status on the Arctic Council.

Mr. Ross is the founder and CEO of Arctic Indigenous Innovations, a not-for-profit center of excellence based in Teetl’it Zheh (Fort McPherson), Northwest Territories, in the Western Canadian Arctic. Arctic Indigenous Innovations’ primary focus is developing the research, demonstration, and application of innovative energy, housing, food, and water technology for Arctic communities. While its home base is Teetl’it Zheh, Arctic Indigenous Innovations’ vision is truly circumpolar.

Jean-Yin Tan, DVM ‘05, is a board-certified large animal internal medicine specialist and tenured Senior Instructor at the University of Calgary. Currently an MBA candidate, Dr. Tan teaches equine internal medicine and business at the university while conducting research on veterinary education. She received a University of Calgary teaching award for educational leadership in 2021, was recognized as one of Avenue Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2020, and received the AAEP Good Works honor in 2019. Dr. Tan is the founding chair of the AAEP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce; a member of the AVMA-AAVMC Joint Commission for a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Veterinary Profession; past chair of the ACVIM ACE Committee; and a past member of the ACVIM Board of Regents.

Joseph Yracheta is passionately working to end Amerindigenous health disparities by researching and applying skills in “omic” technologies, epidemiology, healthcare prevention/intervention, law, ethics, and policy to address allostatic load from racism and Euro-American colonialism. In conjunction with the Native BioData Consortium, a 501(C)(3) entity, Mr. Yracheta is creating a compendium of Native data with a mission to enable tribes to take control of their data and leverage it for their own needs, such as supporting the ability to self-govern and capitalize on technologies that will eventually reduce societal costs and healthcare expenses, and increase new solutions for Indigenous and other populations. Mr. Yracheta graduated from the UW-Seattle with a Master’s of Pharmaceutics and Bioethics. He is currently finishing a Ph.D. in Environmental Health and Engineering from Johns Hopkins.

Juan Guzman, Ph.D., BEE ‘17, is the CEO and co-founder of Capro-X, an ag-biotech company founded with the goal of increasing the sustainability of the dairy industry. Using its proprietary system, Capro-X focuses on turning the problematic acid whey by-product from Greek yogurt into chemicals that are direct alternatives to chemicals sourced from unsustainable palm oil. Dr. Guzman began to develop the technology, funded in part by an NSF Fellowship Grant, during his graduate work at Cornell. He continues to build a career based on developing novel biological solutions that can deliver society-wide impacts at the nexus of food, water, and energy to ensure that future generations may have access to the same quality of life that many enjoy today.

Konda Mason is a social entrepreneur, earth and social justice activist, and spiritual teacher. She is the President of Jubilee Justice, Inc., a nonprofit working to bring economic equity to BIPOC farmers and ecological sustainability by introducing an innovative way of growing rice. Ms. Mason is the founding CEO of Impact Hub Oakland and the Strategic Director of RUNWAY, a financial activist organization dedicated to closing the racial wealth gap for African American entrepreneurs. Additionally, she is the co-founder of the annual COCAP conference in Oakland, focused on “Building the We Economy” and “Just Transition.” Ms. Mason’s work is dedicated to guiding business owners, nonprofit leaders, and government officials to a deeper level of shared intention.

Olivia Watkins is a social entrepreneur and impact investor who has financed, developed, and operated environmental and social projects across the U.S. for the past seven years. Ms. Watkins is also co-founder and president of Black Farmer Fund, as well as a board member for Soul Fire Farm Institute. Prior to founding Black Farmer Fund in 2017, she worked in several production roles at Soul Fire Farm Institute and Kahumana Organic Farms, leveraging her environmental biology background to manage and grow environmentally regenerative and socially impactful business operations.

Ms. Watkins has an MBA from North Carolina State University in Financial Management and a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, in Environmental Biology. She was also recognized on the 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 Social Impact list and The Grist 50.

Ted Teng, SHA ‘79, built a 40-year career in the global hospitality industry, including roles as president and CEO of The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd.; president and COO of Wyndham International, Inc.; and Asian-Pacific president for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Mr. Teng leads the growth of prominent hotel brands by fostering co-creation and innovation opportunities with passionate and like-minded hoteliers. His personal motto is “Preserve, enhance, and invent.