Our Board
Dr. Maureen Dunne
Dr. Maureen Dunne is a globally recognized neurodiversity expert, thought leader, public policy professional and champion. She currently serves as the neurodiversity expert for the LEGO Foundation’s $20 million Play For All global accelerator social impact fund targeting neurodiversity inclusion. She is also the co-founder of the first neurodiversity social impact investment association and the CEO of Autism Community Ventures, a neurodiversity inclusion consultancy and social impact firm.
Maureen is also an elected official and education advocate, promoting neurodiversity inclusion with leadership roles at the local, state, and national levels. She currently serves as Board Chair at College of DuPage (one of the largest single campus community colleges), as President of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association (a statewide legislative advocacy and trustee education organization that represents 48 member colleges serving over 700,000 students), and as Board Director of the Association of Community College Trustees, where she helps guide policy and advocacy efforts affecting more than 12 million community college students in the United States and beyond.
A former National Science Foundation Fellow, Kauffman Entrepreneur Fellow, and Women 2.0 Founder to Watch, Dr. Dunne has written or been featured in hundreds of articles and received her doctorate degree from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
Megan Patel
Megan Patel is a leader in the innovation & entrepreneurship space with 15+ years of experience supporting businesses in ideating and launching new initiatives. She has spearheaded a number of new business verticals, leading the charge on providing strategy and resources to impact and entrepreneurial endeavors. Megan’s passion lies in my creating products, services, and business models that empower individuals and inspire delight. The idea of designing creative solutions to purposeful challenges drives her career in innovation, design, and development.
Megan Patel is a Senior Manager of the Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program at Schmidt Futures. In this role, she leads the Entrepreneur-in-Residence program helping some of the world’s most talented people incubate new ideas for public good and invest in efforts for impact at scale.
Most recently, Megan was the Director of Innovation at a private impact investor where she developed and launched unique ideas, approaches, and concepts to build their investment pipeline. Previously, she worked at global innovation firm IDEO on projects ranging from the future of transportation to low-income energy needs and at a venture-backed health-tech startup as their Head of New Product Development. She has her MBA from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Robert W. Simmons III
Dr. Robert Simmons III is an innovative STEM education and social impact leader, with 20+ years of experience in managing critical initiatives across matrixed teams and leading social impact efforts inside of organizations while mitigating risks to ensure deep impact.
Dr. Robert Simmons III, EdD is currently the Head of Social Impact and STEM Programs for Micron Technology, and a Scholar in Residence and Scholar of Antiracist Praxis in the doctoral program (educational policy and leadership department) at American University. As a noted scholar on STEM equity, urban education and race, Dr. Simmons teaches doctoral courses on race & racism in society and schools, as well the ways in which social media is a tool for activists and movement building. As a member of the Diversity Scholars Network at the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan, Robert‘s research for the last 15 years has focused on racial equity in STEM and the lived realities of historically marginalized communities across multiple K-12 contexts.
During his career, Robert has served in senior leadership roles in the nonprofit sector and a large urban school system. As the CEO of an operating foundation and network of charter schools in Washington DC that supported incarcerated youth and young people pushed out of schools and into alternative education settings, Robert also served as the first Chief of Innovation and Research in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS).
Dr. Simmons utilizes a variety of data analysis tools as a trained researcher and develops analytics to foster organizational effectiveness, teamwork, and continuous improvement. He specializes in all facets of managing and establishing partnerships to elevate social impact, drive sustainability, and results. Robert has authored over 50 publications, focusing on race and racial justice, as well as equity, diversity and inclusion.
As a noted researcher in STEM education, Dr. Simmons was a key contributor to the groundbreaking research connected to the Mind Project--https://mind.ilstu.edu/.