Jeffrey J. Bussgang is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School (HBS) and Co-Founder and General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm with offices in Boston and New York City. Flybridge manages over $1 billion across six seed funds and nine network funds, with "unicorn" portfolio companies including BitSight, Bowery, Chief, FalconX, Habi, MadeiraMadeira, and MongoDB. Jeff specializes in studying lean startups and addressing strategy and management challenges for founders. At HBS, Jeff teaches MBA courses on entrepreneurship and lean startups, including Launching Technology Ventures, Venture Capital Journey, and Scaling Minority Businesses. He has authored two acclaimed books: *Entering StartUpLand*, a guide for startup joiners, and *Mastering the VC Game*, which offers entrepreneurs an insider’s guide to venture capital and company-building. Both books have been praised by the *Wall Street Journal*, *BusinessWeek*, *TechCrunch*, and *The Financial Times* as essential reading for entrepreneurs. Jeff is deeply involved in his community, serving as board chair and co-founder of Hack.Diversity, a talent development program for Black and Latinx technologists, as well as a board member at the educational non-profit Facing History and Ourselves. He is also the co-founder and board chair of LEADS, an economic and leadership development program for diverse leaders in Gateway Cities. Jeff holds a BA in Computer Science from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

From a modest upbringing in Lawrence, MA, Socrates De La Cruz has become one of the Merrimack Valley’s most influential business, civic, and evangelical leaders. He is the founder and CEO of De La Cruz Law, a criminal defense and personal injury firm, and De La Cruz Properties, a real estate investment, holding, and management firm that maintains one of the largest residential portfolios in Lawrence. Previously, he served as a trial attorney for McBride and Associates and as an Assistant District Attorney in Essex County. Socrates uses his personal experiences and successes to inspire others and give back to his community. He founded and runs Socratic Inc., a non-profit offering motivational speaking and scholarships to Merrimack Valley youth. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Lawrence Partnership and sits on the boards of the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council. Additionally, Socrates is a founding Board Member of LEADS. Socrates earned his JD from Suffolk University Law School in 1998 after receiving his BA from Holy Cross, where he was a Division 1 basketball player. He attributes many of his early opportunities to his relationship with the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club, for which he was honored as the National Youth of the Year in 1991, culminating in a visit to the White House where he was recognized by President George H. Bush. In 1999, Socrates was recognized by Oprah Winfrey on *The Oprah Show* for his civic leadership and community contributions. In 2006, he authored a chapter in the *New York Times* bestseller *A Hand to Guide Me* by Denzel Washington, alongside contributors such as Muhammad Ali and President Bill Clinton. In 2012, Socrates was ordained as a minister through the Free Methodist Church USA and currently serves as an Assistant Pastor at the First Spanish Free Methodist Church in Lawrence, the same church his grandmother attended for decades. In addition to preaching and visiting congregants, Socrates is part of the governing body of his local church. He lives with his wife and three daughters in Methuen, MA. When he is not spending time with his family, building his businesses, or giving back to his community, Socrates enjoys golfing and reading.

Jesse Mermell, President and Founder of deWit Impact Group, is a leading progressive voice with over twenty years of experience fighting for equity and social justice. She has been on the front lines of successful campaigns for equal pay, paid family and medical leave, increases in the minimum wage, and reproductive health care in Massachusetts and nationally. Her extensive background in communications strategy and implementation for progressive causes includes roles such as leading the Alliance for Business Leadership, a Boston-based socially responsible business organization; serving as Communications Director for Governor Deval Patrick; and heading communications and government affairs for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. Mermell is also the former State Director of the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and has held positions as the Executive Director of FairTest and the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. For over a decade, she has been featured as a political analyst on NECN and WGBH. In addition to her professional achievements, Mermell is an active community member. In 2020, she was a Democratic candidate for Congress in Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District. She was also elected to the Brookline Board of Selectmen in 2007, serving until 2013. Upon her election, she became the youngest Selectman in Brookline's history and helped create the first female majority on the Board since the town’s founding in 1705.

Bob Rivers is Executive Chair and Chair of the Board of Directors of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. and Eastern Bank, Greater Boston’s leading local bank and the largest bank-owned independent investment advisor in Massachusetts, with roughly $25 billion in assets and approximately 110 locations serving communities in eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut . A 40-year community banker who started his career as a teller at Randolph Savings Bank, he is a graduate of Stonehill College. Bob is involved extensively in the community, serving as Chair of The Dimock Center and on the Board of Directors of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, The Lowell Plan, and The New England Council. He also is a member of the Board of Trustees of Stonehill College, the Advisory Boards of the JFK Library Foundation, Lawrence Partnership and UTEC, as well as the Boston Women’s Workforce Council and The Boston Club, in addition to providing support and guidance to numerous other non-profit organizations. In addition, he is a Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education, comprised of more than 100 Massachusetts companies and business associations focused on raising awareness about the need for a more robust and sustainable network of early childcare and education. A co-founder of Eastern’s innovation hub, Eastern Labs, which has pioneered new products with fintech’s and advanced digital banking services, Bob also serves on the Advisory Board of the Mass FinTech Hub. Most recently, he was appointed to the Federal Reserve’s Federal Advisory Council. Bob has been recognized by many organizations for his work in championing diversity and social justice and has been regularly named among the Top 10 “Most Influential People in Boston” by Boston Magazine, and to the Boston Business Journal’s Power 50 list.

Julieann M. Thurlow is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Reading Cooperative Bank, where she is responsible for the strategic leadership and stewardship of the $750 million mutual bank, founded in 1886 in Reading, MA. Julieann currently serves as Chair-Elect of the American Bankers Association (ABA). She is the immediate Past Chair of ABA’s Core Platforms Council and a member of both the Government Relations Administrative Committee and the Membership Council. She is a founding member of Alloy Labs, a consortium of banks formed nationally to innovate within the banking space, and is a Director of Atlantic Community Bankers Bank (ACBB). Locally, Julieann serves on the MA Fintech Hub and is a Board and Executive Committee member of the Lawrence Partnership, the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, and the Greater Lawrence Community Health Center. American Banker Magazine has repeatedly named Julieann among its Top 25 Women to Watch in Banking, and the Commonwealth Institute has included Reading Cooperative Bank on its list of the Top 100 Women-Led Businesses for the past six consecutive years. Julieann holds an MBA from the Charles F. Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University. She has also completed advanced studies at the Stonier Graduate School of Banking, Harvard Business School’s Division of Continuing Education, and the CEO Leadership Lab at Wharton’s Aresty Institute for Executive Education. She is a proud member of the first cohort of LEADS, MA (Leaders Engaged and Activated to Drive Systemwide Change), a cross-sectoral leadership program focused on innovation, civic engagement, and social responsibility.