Advisory Board

Steven Chu is Professor of Physics, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He received the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for laser cooling and trapping of atoms. Other contributions include the first optical tweezers manipulation of biomolecules, precision atom interferometry based on optical pulses of light, and single molecule FRET of biomolecules tethered to surfaces. He is now developing and applying new methods in molecular biology and medical imaging, materials science, and batteries. Previously he was U.S. Secretary of Energy, where he began ARPA-E, the Energy Innovation Hubs, and was tasked by President Obama to help BP stop the Macondo Oil spill. Previously, he was Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford, and helped initiate Bio-X, which linked the physical and biological sciences with engineering and medicine. Before Stanford, he was a department head at Bell Laboratories. He was past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Senior Advisor to the Directors of the NIH and the NNSA. He received an A.B. degree in mathematics and a B.S. degree in physics from the University of Rochester, a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, has 35 honorary degrees, and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and 8 foreign academies.

Steven Koonin, a Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, authored the recent bestseller Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters. He has previously served as Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy (2009-2011), as Chief Scientist for BP (2004-2009) moving the firm into renewable energy, and as a professor at Caltech (1975 – 2004, the last nine years as the Institute’s Vice President and Provost).  Koonin is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the JASON group of government advisors, as well as an Independent Governor of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, having served in similar capacities for the Los Alamos, Sandia, Brookhaven, and Argonne National Laboratories.  Other prior roles include a University Professor at NYU, a non-resident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a Trustee of the Institute for Defense Analyses. 

Koonin has a BS in Physics from Caltech and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from MIT. He is the author of the classic 1985 textbook Computational Physics and has published some 200 peer-reviewed papers in physics and astrophysics, scientific computation, energy technology and policy, and climate science.

Joanna Riley is an entrepreneur, investor, and advocate in technology and is currently the CEO and Co-founder of Censia, a leading talent intelligence platform that helps companies harness the power of AI to make the best and fairest decisions about Human Capital.

Joanna has a highly experienced background in building and scaling companies, which she attributes to her deep passion for people and building technologies that allow people to be their best selves. Under her guidance, Censia has been celebrated as a leader in vertical AI advancements and a driver of positive change in the future of work.

Prior to founding Censia, she led her companies through two successful acquisitions and an IPO, was part of the FBI’s International Training Unit, was a collegiate rower, and earned her BA degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.

A thought leader on the future of work, Joanna advocates for inclusive practices and supports women in technology and female-led startups. Beyond Censia, Joanna sits on the Board of Directors for CompTIA, the leading certification body in the IT industry. She serves as Pacific Regional Membership Officer for the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the largest organization of CEOs globally, with more than 34,000 members in 150 countries who are driven by the belief that the world needs better leaders. She is an active early-stage angel investor in category leaders, including Modern Health, Rebel Girls, Upside, Poplin, and more, nurturing the next generation of tech leaders.

Joanna’s influence and impact have earned her recognition and awards from Forbes, Fast Company, Fortune, Inc., the World Economic Forum, Goldman Sachs, and others for her contributions to tech innovation and entrepreneurship.

Ms. Salisbury is the CEO of Humanist Venture Studio, where she builds companies that use AI to maximize human potential, especially for low opportunity learners and workers.  Humanist Venture Studio specializes in building commercial teams and strategies for category-defining companies like Deep Fission.

Among her many contributions in the business world, Ms. Salisbury spent four years building go-to-market teams at Guild, where she helped Fortune 500 partners such as Walmart, Disney, and JPMC put learning and career mobility at the center of their talent strategy. She also served on the leadership team at Guild through a four-year period of hyper growth and a Series F fundraise and $4.4 billion valuation.

Prior to Guild, Ms. Salisbury was a leader at Entangled, an edtech venture studio. At Entangled, she supported the launch of six new ventures with positive growth and/or exits. Entangled was acquired by Guild in 2020.

Ms. Salisbury has also held leadership roles at Edsurge, a vertical media business, and Davidson College, where she led strategic initiatives from the President’s Office. She started her career as a community organizer in the rural south with a focus on economic opportunity.

Ms. Salisbury is a mom of three — Pax, Nora & Jack — and lives in the Presidio of San Francisco with her husband Rex.

She regularly shares new perspectives in her column on Forbes.