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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**

Mary Jo Meisner joined the Boston Foundation in November 2001 as Vice President for Communications, Community Relations and Public Affairs. In her current capacity, she is responsible for all of the Foundation's communications, media relations, public affairs, and civic leadership activities, including the Boston Indicators Project and helping shaping the Foundation's public policy initiatives. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Meisner spent 25 years in the newspaper business as a reporter, editor and news executive at newspapers throughout the United States. From April 1997 to February 2001, she was Editor and Vice Chairman of Community Newspaper Company, New England's largest newspaper publisher, with more than 1 million readers each week. The company was sold to the Boston Herald in February 2001. From June 1993 to January 1997, Ms. Meisner was the Editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where she oversaw the merger of the afternoon Milwaukee Journal and the morning Milwaukee Sentinel in April 1995. Prior to joining the Journal as Editor in 1993, Ms. Meisner was Managing Editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. From 1987 to 1991, Ms. Meisner was City Editor of the Washington Post, where she was responsible for the coverage of the city of Washington and oversaw the criminal investigations of then-Mayor Marian Barry. She also has served as Metropolitan Editor of the San Jose (CA) Mercury News and Metropolitan Editor of the Philadelphia Daily News. She started her career as a reporter for the Wilmington News-Journal in Wilmington, Delaware. Ms. Meisner is a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) and the International Press Institute, of which she is still a member of the board. She also served for many years on the board of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association. She has served as a Pulitzer Prize juror three times and was chair of the 1996 ASNE Writing Awards. In addition, she has taught various writing, editing, journalism ethics and management courses at the Maynard Institute, The Poynter Institute for Media Affairs and the American Press Institute. Ms. Meisner serves on the board of several Boston area organizations, including the American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay, the Greater Boston Food Bank, the ACCESS Scholarship Program and REACH Beyond Domestic Violence.

Regina Szwadzka is the director of Information Services at the Red Cross in Boston. The Polish-born Szwadzka is part of the International Tracing Service of the Red Cross.

Deborah C. Jackson has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay since 2002. During this time, she has led the organization through tremendous growth including the doubling of its territory to serving over 190 cities and towns in Eastern Massachusetts. She has expanded the chapters capacity to respond to disasters, strengthened other core services; enhanced the local Red Cross brand, launched innovative fund raising strategies to grow resources; and built a stronger, dedicated volunteer core including leadership board members. Deborah's career in urban policy and community services has spanned more than 25 years. During this time, she has held a number of executive positions in health and human services including Vice President of the Boston Foundation, Senior Vice President of Boston Children's Hospital, and President and CEO of Goodwill Industries (Ma.). She also serves on a number of Boards and has held numerous appointed positions on task forces - serving the Mayor of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including; the Boston Chamber of Commerce Pinnacle Award for Non-Profit Leadership, the Womens Business Hall of Fame Award and was recognized by Boston Magazine as one of the areas 100 Most Influential Women. She is a frequent speaker, presenter and panelist.

Michael J. Cudahy is an entrepreneur, business executive and philanthropist. Along with Warren Cozzens, he founded Marquette Electronics in 1965 and served as chairman and CEO. The company went public in 1991. After starting with only $15,000 in capital, the company went on to have over $350 million annually in sales. His company put together the nation's first central electrocardiographic system at Northwestern University Medical School. This machine has since become standard in hospitals throughout the United States. The company was also noted for having one of the first on-site day care centers in the nation. In 1982, he and Warren bought the failing Patient Monitoring Business Unit from GE (then known as General Electric Medical Systems Division) and combined it with the existing business (primarily diagnostic equipment). In 1998, he sold Marquette Electronics (by then known as Marquette Medical Systems) to GE. The company exists today as part of the Clinical Systems division of GE Healthcare, a subsidiary of the American conglomerate. After stepping aside at his company, Cudahy focused his energies on philanthropy and serving on the boards of other companies. In 2002 he told the story of the founding of Marquette Electronics in the book *Joyworks*.