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Speakers and PIT Experts

The PIT-UN Summit will engage leaders from across Silicon Valley and beyond, including representatives from the corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors. In addition, activities such as the Spartan PITathon (WT) will provide students with opportunities to collaborate across disciplines to tackle real-world problems with an eye toward putting people at the center. Students will learn new skills as they network with peers and mentors as well as showcase their projects to future employers.

Past Keynote Speaker

Ingrid LaFleur

Ingrid LaFleur is a curator, artist, afrofuture theorist, pleasure activist, and founder of The Afrofuture Strategies Institute (TASI). 

As a former candidate for the mayor of Detroit, LaFleur has made it her mission to ensure equal distribution of the future. She explores the frontiers of social justice through emerging technologies, and new economies and modes of government to empower Black bodies and oppressed communities. 

As a thought leader, social justice technologist, public speaker, teacher, and cultural advisor she has led conversations and workshops at Centre Pompidou (Paris), TEDxBrooklyn, TEDxDetroit, Ideas City, New Museum (New York), Harvard University, Oxford University, and Museum of Modern Art (New York) among others. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR’s This American Life, and Hyperallergic to name a few.

ILaFleur Pic.Portrait by Jacques Nkinzingabo
JBNoiseCat

Past Keynote Speaker

Julian Brave NoiseCat

At heart, Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, son, brother, nephew, cousin, godfather, friend and community member. Julian’s work cuts across the fields of journalism, policy, research, art, activism and advocacy, often engaging multiple disciplines at once. 

Raised in a single-mother household in Oakland, California, Julian is a proud member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen and a descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie. He is the Vice President of Policy & Strategy with Data for Progress, a think tank, the Narrative Change Director of The Natural History Museum, an artist and activist collective, and a fellow at the Type Media Center, NDN Collective and the Center for Humans and Nature. 

His journalism has been recognized by the judges of the Livingston Award as well as the Canadian National Magazine Awards and Digital Publishing Awards, among others. Julian wrote the foreword to the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada and was invited to consult for the forthcoming UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ general comment on land rights. He has authored and edited many public policy briefs, memos, reports, polls, scorecards and other works, shaping progressive platforms like the Green New Deal. 

After graduating high school, Julian interned for Representative Barbara Lee. He later studied history at Columbia University and the University of Oxford, where he was a Clarendon scholar. He led 350.org’s US policy work and was an Urban Fellow in the Commissioner’s Office of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development. In 2021, Julian was named to the TIME100 Next list of emerging leaders.

Past Speakers

DANIELLE ALLEN

Professor and Director of the Allen Lab
for Democracy Renovation
Harvard Kennedy School

AFUA BRUCE

Founder & Principal
ANB Advisory Group LLC

MICHAEL CROW

President
Arizona State University

SHANNA CRUMLEY

Director, Impact Data Science
Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

SYLVESTER JOHNSON

Founding Director
Virginia Tech Center for Humanities

KATY KNIGHT

President & Executive Director
Siegel Family Endowment

INGRID LEFLEUR

Founder
The Afrofuture Strategies Institute

JASMINE MCNEALY

Senior Fellow in Tech Policy
Mozilla Foundation

DEIRDRE MULLIGAN

Principal Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer
White House Office of Science & Technology Policy

LARRY SUSSKIND

Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning
MIT

LATANAYA SWEENY

Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of
Government and Technology
Harvard Kennedy School

JENNY TOOMEY

Director of the Catalyst Fund
Ford Foundation

Speaker Inquiries

The PIT-UN Summit draws from a wide spectrum of voices and perspectives. Nominate or inquire about becoming a speaker.