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Roger Plant is an English rock singer and songwriter, famous for his membership in the former rock band Led Zeppelin as the lead vocalist and lyricist, as well as for his successful solo career. In 2007, he released an album, Raising Sand, produced by T-Bone Burnett with American bluegrass soprano Alison Krauss, which won the 2009 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Mary Renner is currently serving a three-year term as Chair of the Board of Overseers of the New England Aquarium. She also serves as an ex-officio trustee, member of the Executive Committee and is past President of the Aquarium Council. She has been actively involved at the Aquarium since 1991. She is particularly passionate about this Boston institution because of the Aquarium's commitment, worldwide, to protecting the world of water. In addition to her involvement at the New England Aquarium, Mary is a trustee and Vice President of the Board of Crossroads for Kids, a non-profit organization for homeless and at-risk youth in the greater Boston area. She is also actively involved at Trinity Church in Boston and Dartmouth College. Her professional experience includes eight years in advertising account management at Leo Burnett in Chicago and Young & Rubicam in San Francisco. She also had her own children's clothing manufacturing company.

Mariel Gonzales serves as chief financial officer and vice president for Finance and Administration, overseeing the services that support the delivery of YouthBuild programs and the fulfillment of YouthBuild's mission. Prior to joining YouthBuild, she was vice president and chief operating officer for Boston After School & Beyond, an intermediary working to build the availability and quality of out-of-school time programs, and executive director of Bird Street Community Center, a youth program in Dorchester's Uphams Corner. She has a degree in Asian Studies from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of California Haas School of Business.

Edmund C. Toomey is President and Chief Executive Officer of the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts. In this role, he leads the Aquarium in implementing the institutional mission to present, promote and protect the world of water. The Aquarium is a recognized leader in exhibit development, community-based educational programming, and international conservation and research projects. An accomplished and respected administrator, Mr. Toomey spent 15 years at the University of Massachusetts Boston, most recently in the position of Associate Chancellor. Prior to that he served as Vice President at the Boston Committee, Inc. He has held leadership positions at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, the Abbey School in Canon City, Colorado, St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Toomey serves on numerous civic and non-profit advisory boards. A South Boston native, Mr. Toomey is a summa cum laude graduate of Boston College and was a National Woodrow Wilson Fellow at St. Louis University where he was a candidate for a Ph.D. in philosophy.

Jennifer Davis is the co-founder and president of Massachusetts 2020, a nonprofit foundation founded in 2000 with a goal of expanding educational and economic opportunities for children and families across Massachusetts. Massachusetts 2020 currently focuses chiefly on efforts to expand and improve learning opportunities for Massachusetts' children during out-of-school time. In 2004, Massachusetts 2020 launched its most ambitious initiative to date, a research and policy effort to restructure public schools to extend their day. In 2005, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a budget that included funding to support this policy reform. From 1989 to 1992, Jennifer was the special assistant to the executive director of the bi-partisan National Governors' Association (NGA), and advised the director on education and health policy, management, and political issues. In 1988 and 1992, Jennifer managed presidential campaign operations in several East Coast states, overseeing press strategy, field organization, volunteer operations, constituency groups and candidate visits. Jennifer began her career as a consultant to the youth organization Communities in Schools and developed case studies on their innovative program to support at-risk youth in Houston, Atlanta, Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1998, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino appointed Jennifer Davis to serve as the executive director of the Boston 2:00-to-6:00 After-School Initiative. Also, Jennifer Davis served in the Clinton Administration as deputy assistant secretary, Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs, at the US Department of Education. Jennifer also worked as the special assistant to Secretary of Education Richard Riley from March 1993 until March 1997. Jennifer Davis has a master's degree in public policy from the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California, and a bachelor's degree with a concentration in government and sociology from Connecticut College. She was named a Coro Fellow in public policy in 1984 and participated in this leadership training program in St. Louis, Missouri.

Scott Kirsner is a journalist who writes about innovation and entrepreneurship. His “Innovation Economy” column appears Sundays in the Boston Globe, and he is also editor of the site [Innovation Leader](innovationleader.com ""), which focuses on R&D, product development, corporate venturing, and new initiatives within large companies. Scott's writing has been a contributing writer for Fast Company and Wired and his writing has also appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Salon.com, The San Jose Mercury News, CIO, and The San Francisco Chronicle. Kirsner is co-founder of three conferences that have focused on the innovation economy in New England: "The Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation", "Convergence: The Life Sciences Leaders Forum" and "Future Forward". Follow him on Twitter: **@ScottKirsner**