The 30 Summit Team
The Story
The 30 Summit was an idea that hatched during an everyday conversation between two friends. Federico and Stephen met in London in 2007 while studying at the London School of Economics. Both observed a paradox: despite our society's unprecedented interconnectednss, we rarely make the time to reach across boundaries of ideology, expertise, and culture to ask the really big questions. We can let ourselves get so caught up in "the now" (Twitter, the 24-hour news cycle) that we forget to plan for the looming crises/questions that will no doubt shape our generation's legacy. Finally, they wondered: what if we could jumpstart a conversation across a broad range of issues and individuals about what legacy we want to leave as a generation, what difference we want to make. The 30 Summit is that jumpstart, and this website is our chance to invite you into the conversation.
Federico Baradello, Co-Founder
Federico Baradello is a Ph.D. Candidate at the London School of Economics. He is passionate about immigration policy and Western Hemisphere issues, and he has written and spoken on these topics at university campuses around the world. For 3 years Federico has been an Associate at Oakwood Global Finance, a London based private equity firm. Federico holds an AB in International Relations from Princeton University and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he attended on a full scholarship. E-mail Federico at: federico @ 30summit.com.
Stephen Smith, Co-Founder
Stephen Smith runs Sweet Miss Giving’s, a bakery and jobs program that is majority operated by people who are formerly homeless and disabled. Stephen has been an organizer in Boston, Botswana and Chicago. From 2003 to 2007, he founded and led PACT, a grassroots political organization that won victories on health care, voting, and financial aid. In 2007, Stephen got married and moved with his wife to the UK, where he earned his Masters degree from the London School of Economics and served as a visiting lecturer at City University London. Stephen’s first book is about organizing and will be released this summer by ACTA Publications. E-mail Stephen at: stephen @ 30summit.com
Josh Dickson, Chicago Host
Josh Dickson works as the Recruitment Director and Manager of Outreach for Teach For America's Faith Community Relations Team. He leads Teach For America's national faith-based campus outreach and manages partnerships between Teach For America and faith-affiliated organizations. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Josh joined Teach For America first as a kindergarten teacher on Chicago's southwest side from 2006 to 2008. While teaching, Josh became involved in community organizing with Public Action for Change Today (PACT) and, as a volunteer leader, worked on school funding reform, jobs and housing for homeless youth, and other issues impacting low-income children and families. He is passionate about investing faith communities to work for sustainable solutions to poverty, namely through education. He will attend Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in the fall of 2010. E-mail Josh at josh @ 30summit.com.
Justin Gest, Presentations Coordinator
Justin Gest is the Ralph Miliband Scholar in Political Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he co-founded and co-directs the Migration Studies Unit. His doctoral research examines political participation and alienation among European Muslims. He has taught at the high school, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels, and he has worked as a reporter for a variety of American and British newspapers and with production teams at several television networks. He is a regular contributor to The Guardian’s commentary section, and is in the process of producing a book with his research findings. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, and holds an undergraduate degree in government from Harvard University and a masters degree in international relations from the LSE.
Chris Suarez, Press Coordinator
Chris is currently a student at the Yale Law School. His primary research interests are in information privacy law and access to educational knowledge. In 2006, Chris graduated from MIT with dual degrees in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and Political Science. After MIT, Chris taught middle school in Chicago as part of Teach For America, and he continues to advocate for educational equity as an active member of both Yale’s Education Adequacy Project and the Project for Law and Education at Yale. Chris currently serves on the editorial board of the Yale Law and Policy Review and has also served as an editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology. Please direct any media or press inquiries to Chris at christopher.suarez @ yale.edu.
Tom Bailey, Videographer/Editor
Tom Bailey is a filmmaker and educator from Chicago. He recently served as director of photography for Typeface, a documentary produced by Kartemquin Films. His first short documentary, No Halfsteppin’, premiered on WTTW’s Image Union program in 2008, and he recently completed his first short narrative film, Short Winter, which he wrote and co-directed. Tom is also active in the youth media field as a teaching artist for Community TV Network and Peer Review Board Member for the Youth Media Reporter. He teaches media and film studies at Harold Washington College.
Gilmar Gamino, Videographer
Gilmar Gamino is an artist, web designer and community leader from the Southside of Chicago that works towards developing the creative process for people of all ages and all walks of life. Gilmar has explored art and creativity with many organizations throughout the Chicagoland area including Center on Halsted, ChicagoHOPES & Benton House, amongst others. It has been said that Gilmar impacts each project, individual and organization by helping everyone become more engaged with his or her own unique creative process. Gilmar is completing a double-major in Film/Video Production & Media Management at Columbia College Chicago. His ultimate goal is to bridge the Digital Divide and show the next few generations the importance of bringing Technology to the Arts.
Matt Lauterbach, Videographer/Editor
Matt Lauterbach is a freelance documentary filmmaker and museum content developer, and is always on the look-out for creative opportunities to teach in unusual ways. In the recent past, he taught psychology to teens at Curie Metro H.S. and developed interactive maps for use in history classrooms. Currently, Matt is working on an exhibit about Abraham Lincoln opening this fall at the Chicago History Museum.
Dinesh Sabu, Videographer/Editor
Having graduated from the University of Chicago in 2006, Dinesh works at non-profits and as a filmmaker. Currently Dinesh works for Kartemquin Films, a social issue documentary film organization most famous for making Hoop Dreams. In addition to his non-profit work, Dinesh is completing one short documentary while producing and shooting two more. When he's not making movies or working, Dinesh is a passionate advocate for media reform, education reform, and the fair use doctrine.
Lesley Onstott, Additional Editing
Lesley is a visual journalist and documentarian from southern Illinois. After finishing her journalism and international affairs degrees at the University of Georgia, she worked as a photojournalist at the daily Chattanooga Times Free Press before arriving in Chicago where she is currently interning for Kartemquin Films. Experiencing the power of not only consuming documentary films, but also creating them has forever changed her life's trajectory as she begins working on longterm documentary projects of her own. Aside from freelancing as a photographer and videographer, she volunteers with Community TV Network as a way to empower and educate youth, helping them build their own platforms on which they can share their stories.
Matthieu Felt, Webmaster
Matthieu Felt works in the digital humanities at the University of Chicago. In fall of 2010, he will begin working on his doctorate in Japanese literature at Columbia University.
Search Team
More than two dozen leaders in the fields of politics, business, arts, organizing, science, and religion have helped identify and shape this year’s 30 Summit participant list.
