COMMON SENSE MEDIA - Key Persons
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
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- Chairman of the Board of Advisors
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- Member of the Board
- Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners
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- Member of the Board
- Founder, Chez Panisse and Chez Panisse Foundation
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- Meet Our Head of Research
Amanda shares what's at the top of her research agenda, how Common Sense research is different, and why she's excited about young adult and middle grade books.
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Digital Equity, Broadband Policy, Closing the Digital Divide / See Profile
- Head of Tech Policy Advocacy
- Senior Director of Equity Policy
Amina Fazlullah is the Senior Director of Equity Policy at Common Sense Media. She has been an integral part of several projects relating to tech policy issues, but her expert focus is mostly focused on Common Sense's work to close the digital divide by 2025. Amina is a sought-after expert in the field and routinely presents her ideas to leaders and policy makers in Washington D.C. Amina also served as the Media And Telecommunications Staff Attorney for the United States Public Interest Research Group which gave her a plethora of opportunities to testify in front of Congress. She has also been featured in a variety of press including Time Magazine.
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- Member of the Board
- CEO and Founder, Madison Reed
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- Member of the Board
- Partner and Director of Research, Paulson & Co. Inc.
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Head of Partnerships
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Founder and CEO, PolicyLink
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- Independent Consultant
- Member of the Board of Advisors
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- Chief Product and Technology Officer
- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- President, Morgan Charitable Foundation
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- Senior Editor, Head of Streaming
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- Chief Development Officer
- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Editorial Director, Head of Ratings & Reviews
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- Senior Editor, Edtech Ratings
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- Workplace Experience Coordinator
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- Executive Assistant to the CEO
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- Member Experience Manager
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- Member of the Board
- President, Charles Schwab Foundation
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- Director of Product, Consumer
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- Member of the Board
- Vice Chair, Clinton Foundation
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- Head of Design
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
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- Senior Editor, Learning Content
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- Senior Manager, Workplace & People Operations
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Global Chair of Baker McKenzie 's Cybersecurity Practice
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- Senior Education Program Manager
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- Executive Editor, Head of Streaming
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- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
- Chief Advocacy Officer
- Meet Our Chief Advocacy Officer
- Public Policy, Media and Tech Policy, Government Affairs
To his role overseeing all of Common Sense's advocacy operations, Danny brings nearly three decades of service on Capitol Hill, most recently as chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Before working for Pelosi, he served as chief of staff, senior committee advisor, and communications director for Congressman George Miller, a highly respected leader in Congress and former chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, the Natural Resources Committee, and the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families. Danny has extensive background in education, children's, and family policy and was involved in a number of significant legislative accomplishments and battles on the Hill, including passage of the Affordable Care Act, the increase in the minimum wage, and protection of the school lunch program. Danny first joined Common Sense in 2015 and returned again in 2020, and has led efforts to close the digital divide, protect children's online data privacy, hold tech companies accountable for online practices that harm kids, and expand access to and awareness of the child tax credit to lift children out of poverty. Danny started out as a reporter in Washington, D.C. covering Congress and the Administration. He lives in D.C. with his wife, and when not tracking down the latest ins and outs of government, he enjoys playing music, exercising, and cooking dinner.
Danny oversees advocacy operations at Common Sense. He brings nearly three decades of service on Capitol Hill, including as chief of staff to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Rep. George Miller. Danny has an extensive background in policy and has worked on the winning side of a number of significant legislative battles on the Hill, which include passing the Affordable Care Act, saving the school lunch program, and protecting national parks and forests. Danny and his advocacy team lead Common Sense's efforts to close the digital divide, protect children's online data privacy, and hold social media companies accountable for making the internet healthier and safer for all kids and teens.
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- Member of the Board
- Mayor, City of Sacramento
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- Member of the Board
- Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
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- Member of the Board
- Partner, August Capital
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- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
- Chief Financial & Administrative Officer
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- Member of the Board
- President, the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Senior Engineering Manager
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- Member of the Board
- President of Policy and Advocacy, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
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- Member of the Board
- Faculty Director, Haas Center for Public Service, Stanford University
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Board Chair, Carlson
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Head of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
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- Member of the Board
- Surgeon General
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- Director of Strategic Campaigns and Events
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Vice President of Communications
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- Member of the Board
- General Counsel, Tribune Company
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Head of Teaching and Learning
Eisha is the head of teaching and learning at Common Sense Media. She oversees Common Sense's award-winning Digital Citizenship Curriculum, a free K-12 curriculum for schools. Eisha's work is focused on building successful research-based programs and curricula that promote media literacy, social and emotional learning, and youth agency for school-based communities.
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Senior Director, Advocacy Campaigns
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- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
- President
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- Member of the Board
- Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University
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- Member of the Board
- Chairman, Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, UPenn
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Senior Advisor / Boston Consulting Group
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Managing Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co
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- Member of the Board
- Founder and President, Harlem Children 's Zone
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Professor & Director, USC Annenberg
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- Member of the Board
- Founding Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Co - Founder DAY ONE Early Learning Community
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- Meet Our Privacy Expert
- Senior Counsel and Head of the Privacy Program
Get to know Girard and his insight on advocating for stronger digital privacy for kids and families.
Girard Kelly is senior counsel and head of the Privacy Program at Common Sense Media. He is an attorney focused on privacy, security, and legislative policy who thrives on cutting-edge legal issues and has a strong background in public policy, information technology, data ethics, and emerging technologies.
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- Director, Consumer Marketing
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Deputy General Counsel of HP
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- Senior Counsel Tech Policy
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- Manager, Foundation Partnerships
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- Member of the Board
- Education, Harvard University
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- Director, Development & Operations
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- Senior Manager, Development Events
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- Member of the Board
- Founding Partner, TPG Capital, L.P.
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- Member of the Board
- Senior Vice President, the College Board
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- Chief Executive Officer
- Founder
- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
- Our CEO and Founder
Our CEO and founder, Jim Steyer, is a nationally recognized advocate for children. Learn more about his work.
Jim is one of the most respected experts and entrepreneurs on issues related to children, education, and media and technology in the United States. He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Common Sense Media, the nation's leading nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and impactful voice they need to thrive in the 21st century.
Jim is also a nationally known author, having written the widely acclaimed book Talking Back to Facebook in 2012, as well as another highly successful book, The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on Our Children in 2002. Prior to launching Common Sense, Jim was chairman and CEO of JP Kids, a leading educational kids' media company. Before that, he was the founder and president of Children Now, the highly respected national advocacy and media organization for children, which he founded in 1988. In addition, Jim co-founded the Center for the Next Generation with his younger brother Tom Steyer in 2012.
Jim has long been an award-winning adjunct professor at Stanford University, where he has taught popular courses for more than 30 years. He is an adjunct professor in the Stanford School of Education as well as the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, teaching a variety of courses on civil rights, civil liberties, and education issues. Among other honors, Jim has received the university's highest teaching honor, the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, which is awarded annually to three Stanford professors. He was also voted by the students to be Class Day speaker at Stanford's graduation exercises.
Jim began his professional career as a law clerk for Justice Allen Broussard of the California Supreme Court. He then served as a civil rights attorney, working for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. There, he helped spearhead the Poverty and Justice Program, focused on developing national legal and legislative strategies on behalf of lower-income African Americans. In addition, while still in law school, Jim was a founder and original chairperson of the East Palo Alto Community Law Project. This nonprofit law office served for over 30 years as the primary source of legal services for lower-income families in East Palo Alto and has been the training ground for hundreds of students at Stanford Law School.
Jim's long-standing commitment to disadvantaged children and to teaching began decades ago when he was a remedial reading tutor to at-risk kids in New York City public schools. Since then, he has taught reading and math to disadvantaged students in Harlem, East Palo Alto, and Oakland, California, and he spent more than 10 years as a volunteer teacher to second-, third-, and fifth-graders in East Oakland.
In addition to his activities as an advocate, author, and teacher, Jim serves regularly as an expert commentator on many national TV and radio programs. He frequently appears on national television on shows and networks including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Fresh Air, The CBS Morning Show, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and 2020.
Jim grew up in New York City and went to college at Stanford University. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded the Lindsey Peters Award for Outstanding Work in American Government. After two years of community development work in Asia, he returned to Stanford Law School, from which he received his J.D. in 1983. Jim lives in the Bay Area with his wife, Elizabeth, and their four children, Lily, Kirk, Caroline, and Jesse.
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- Director of Product, Education
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- Director of Community Engagement & Partnerships
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- Member of the Board
- Founder, Altamont Capital
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- Community Volunteer
- Member of the Board of Advisors
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- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
- Chief Content Officer
- Parenting With Media and Tech, and Media Use Trends / See Profile
Jill Murphy is Chief Content Officer at Common Sense Media and serves as a strategic leader within the organization. Jill joined Common Sense in January 2005, built the editorial department with founding editor-in-chief Liz Perle. She oversees the ratings and reviews for all media channels including movies, streaming, TV, games, websites, apps, and books. She also oversees the content strategy and development for parenting advice. Jill also works closely with content partners including SkyUK, Hulu, Charter, DirecTV, Comcast, Netflix, Target.com, ATT, and more to further leverage the library of Common Sense Media reviews and advice.
In her time with Common Sense Media, Jill has been instrumental in evolving our ratings, reviews, and advice to keep up with where parents are. She has overseen the creation of our For Your Family recommendation engine, worked to refine and enhance the rating process, and continues to ensure the latest research on kids and media is incorporated into Common Sense advice and reviews. She has been involved in countless product launches, all while keeping the team on schedule to produce thousands of new reviews and hundreds of recommendation lists, each year.
Jill's commitment to Common Sense affords her the opportunity to help families avoid the TV shows she is devoted to. She serves as the resident expert on any and all reality TV, late '80s/'90s sitcoms, and other useless pop culture trivia that she claims is "for work." Jill holds a BA from San Francisco State University in broadcast and electronic communication arts, with an emphasis on writing and media literacy.
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- Member of the Board
- President and CEO, First Republic Bank
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- Member of the Board
- President, University of Virginia
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- Mobile APP Product Manager
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Co - Founder, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
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- Director, Video Content & Strategy
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- Senior Technical Product Manager
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- Director
- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Distinguished Professor of Law
Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and the Director of the UNC Center for Civil Rights
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Vice President of Development, Individual Giving
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- Senior Manager, Partnerships
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- Controller
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
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- Chief Marketing Officer
- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
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- Education Marketing & Community Coordinator
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- President and CEO, the San Francisco Giants
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Partner, Bain & Company
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- Executive Editor, Head of Digital Media and Family
- Trends in Kids' Media Use and Digital Platforms / See Profile
As Common Sense's senior editor, head of digital content and curation, Laura spearheads all of our podcast and digital platform coverage and curation. Before joining Common Sense, Laura spent 10 years as a communications specialist in the health and wellness space and then followed her passion for writing and storytelling into the world of journalism. She fell in love with investigative reporting and sports writing while getting her bachelor's in journalism from San Francisco State University and went on to cover the Golden State Warriors as a reporter and editor, earning several awards for her coverage, including the 2017 Oakland A's Bill King Scholarship and Associated Press Sports Editors Award. More recently, Laura was a podcast host and producer for a Bay Area startup, working to create a platform to help parents gain knowledge and confidence in raising their children. As a social justice warrior and mental health advocate, she spearheaded DEI efforts to create more diverse content relatable to a broader audience. She's currently working on launching her own podcast focused on helping intersectional feminists support their mental, emotional, and physical health while standing in their power. She also enjoys Muay Thai, cuddling with her dog, trying to get her teenage son to think she's "not a regular mom" but a "cool mom," and meditating over tarot cards while dissecting her horoscope. Follow her on Twitter.
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- Development Associate
- Executive Assistant
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- Member of the Board
- President, WNYC Radio
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- Advocacy Project Coordinator
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Co - Chair ) Chairman, Heminge & Condell
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- Diversity and Representation in Media / See Profile
- Senior Director, Content
Li is the Senior Director of Content at Common Sense and founder of Mediaversity - which exists to review content for diversity and encourage the industry to create more media that more accurately reflects the population of the US. Her work has won several awards by Fast Company, Graphic Design USA, WebAwards, BizBash, PRO Awards, and recognition by London's Design Museum. Li worked behind the scenes with our editorial team to create our new diverse representations rating rubric, and is now managing the rollout of these reviews.
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- CEO, Alice Waters Institute
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- Communications Advisor
- Media Contacts
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- Head of Connected Schools Program
- Head of Connected Schools Program / Advisory Council
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- Member of the Board
- Head of School, Marin Country Day School
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- Senior Editor, Book Reviews
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- Member of the Board
- Partner, Bain & Company
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Owner, Carsey Werner Company
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- Senior Director of Marketing and Communications
Marisa Naughton is senior director of marketing and communications at Common Sense. She leads thought leadership, and marketing for our advocacy and research efforts.
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- Spanish Language Editor
- Spanish Language Trends in Media Use and Digital Literacy / See Profile
Mary Aviles began her journalistic career in Venezuela. For 12 years, she worked as an editor covering Hispanics in the United States with the only news wire service specializing in this community -- EFE News Servicio Hispano. In 2013, Mary was awarded a John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University. She has three children, two dogs and is obsessed with cooking shows.
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- Technical Product Manager
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- Member of the Board
- Managing Partner, Ziffran Brittenahm LLP
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- Marketing Operations Manager
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- Member of the Board
- Professor in Computer Science, Stanford University
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Vice President, Education Outreach & National Partnerships
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- Member of the Board
- Partner, JAMS, San Francisco LLP
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- Member of the Board
- Partner, Public Strategies Washington Inc
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Founder, End Poverty in California
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- Member of the Board
- Founder, Gilead Sciences
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Senior Director, Video Production
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- Member of the Board
- President, Mandalay Sports Media
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- Director, California Kids & Tech Policy
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- Member of the Board
- Chairman and CEO, J. Crew
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- Member of the Board
- Partner, Kapor Capital
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- Manager, Foundation Partnerships
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- Head of Communications
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Head of Public Affairs
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- Member of the Board
- Founder, the Corporate Library and Movie Mom
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- President and CEO, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
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- Senior Manager, Talent Management & Development
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- Member of the Board
- Chairman and CEO, Chronicle Books
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- Director, Business Development & Partnerships
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- Business Solutions Designer
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- Senior Editor, Head of TV & Streaming
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- Data Integration Architect
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- Emeritus Member of the Board of Advisors
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Co - Founder and Executive Chair, Zillow.Com
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Chairman, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Senior Director, AI Programs
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Principal Engineer and Development Manager, Education
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- Member of the Board
- Director, GAP Inc.
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- President and CEO, Miller Publishing Group
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- Member of the Board
- Chief Legal Officer, SoftBank
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- Member of the Board
- Founder, Family Friendly Programming Forum
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- Member of the Board
- Trustee, Stanford University
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Vice President of People Operations & HR
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- Director, Foundation Partnerships
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- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Chief of Staff, Office of the President
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- Chief of Staff
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Senior Technology Executive and Cybersecurity Leader
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- Membership Experience Coordinator
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- Member of the Board
- Founding Partner, General Atlantic Partners
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- Director, Education Outreach
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- Member of the Board
- President, Sand Hill Foundation
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- Member of the Board
- Ambassador to Austria ( Ret. )
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Co - Chair ) Former President
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
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- Member of the Board
- Founder and President, NextGen America
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- Member of the Board
- Co - Founder and Co - Chair, Zagat Survey
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- Member of the Board of Advisors
- Proprietor, Price Family Vineyards and Estates
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- Member of the Board
- Managing Director, the Mayfield Fund
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- Chief
- Member of the Executive Leadership Team
- Program Officer