Speakers

Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace, an incubator of projects that works at the intersection of volunteerism, technology and gift-economy. What started as an experiment with four friends in Silicon Valley has now grown to a global ecosystem of over 500,000 members that has delivered millions of dollars in service for free. Nipun has received many awards, including the Jefferson Award for Public Service, Wavy Gravy's Humanitarian award, and Dalai Lama's Unsung Hero of Compassion. In 2015, President Barack Obama appointed him to a council on poverty and inequality. Nipun is routinely invited to share his message of "giftivism" to wide-ranging audiences, from inner city youth in Memphis to academics in London to international dignitaries at the United Nations; his speech at UPenn commencement in May 2012 was read by millions. He serves on the advisory boards of the Seva Foundation, the Dalai Lama Foundation, and Greater Good Science Center

Studies show that nearly 1 in 4 women and about 1 in 7 men have experienced violence from an intimate partner during their lifetime. Ruth Patrick founded the non-profit, Women of Silicon Valley. In seven years, WomenSV has offered free services for more than 1200 domestic violence survivors, mostly women, in middle to upper income Silicon Valley communities.

WomenSV (Women of Silicon Valley) offers support to women who are trapped in abusive relationships with people who use their power, status, wealth to control and coerce their partners.  We also provide professional training and public education on the impact of domestic violence in the affluent community. Our goal is to break the cycle of violence and prevent future generations from becoming victims or abusers.  

 

Colleen and her husband Tom completed “America’s most famous hike”, the 210 mile John Muir Trail, in August 2018. Over 17 days, they saw a piece of California that very few people get to see. The trail climbs 11 mountain passes, summits the tallest peak in the contiguous US and winds through three national parks and one national monument. Colleen Conrado Ferguson is the COO or Conrado Builders. She's born and raised in Saratoga, graduated from Saint Francis High School and earned her BFA in Communication Design and Art History from Washington University in St. Louis. In her down time, you can find her cooking, skiing, through-hiking, or organizing and attending events for her alma mater. She serves as a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Cabinet for Washington University in St. Louis.

In Biocurious they believe that innovations in biology should be accessible, affordable, and open to everyone. They’re building a community biology lab for amateurs, inventors, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to experiment with friends.

They are a complete working laboratory and technical library for entrepreneurs to cheaply access equipment, materials, and co-working space, a training center for biotechniques, with an emphasis on safety, a meeting place for citizen scientists, hobbyists, activists, and students.

There are a million microorganisms in a speck of seawater, and we have only a limited understanding of what these organisms ‘do’—what they ‘eat,’ how they survive, or how they interact.  However, we do know that the collective activities of these tiny cells drive global cycles of biologically‑essential elements such as nitrogen and carbon, and that global biogeochemical cycles have been subsequently altered by human activities.

Jay Alexander is an American magician and comedian known as a corporate and society entertainer. He has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America and MTV, and also on many local morning shows.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, David Lazarus wrote, "One of the highest-paid, and busiest, performers on the Bay Area corporate circuit is magician Jay Alexander 

Alexander creates customized shows for Fortune 500 companies and is a consultant and co-author of several magic books. Alexander is also the host of Learn the Art of Magic, a CD-ROM that introduces 26 different magic tricks. At the age of fourteen, he became the youngest recipient of the Society of American Magicians' Gold Medal of Honor.

His clients have included Robin Williams, Steve Wozniak and the Rolling Stones.

Born and raised in China, Mr. Nan Su came to the U.S. in 1989. He has been serving as a news commentator for SOH International Chinese Radio Network and NTD International TV Network since 2003, commenting on a wide range of national and international news events. In the past decade, Mr. Su has made many speeches at public events on topics related to China. He has also been publishing poems, short stories, and prose in Chinese since 2000.

In addition to his media work, Mr. Su is an advocate for human rights in China. He was one of the coordinators of Human Rights Torch Relay in 2008 prior to Beijing Olympics. Starting from Athens, the Human Rights Torch Relay spanned from July 2007 to July 2008, with stops at more than 100 cities around the world in order to raise international awareness of China’s human rights situation.  Mr. Su was instrumental in making San Jose as the first stop of the torch relay in North America.

Besides his involvement in the public, Mr. Su holds a Master degree in Engineering and has been a professional engineer for over 20 years. Mr. Su has been married for 27 years, and currently lives with his wife and two daughters in San Jose, California.

Learn about how to assess cognitive decline and impairment for people of all ages. Cognitive health issues often remain undetected until it's too late to do anything about it, even in cases where there is a cure if a patient knows early enough. Hear about the cognitive health assessment process, the shortcomings of our current cognitive health paradigm, and some possible solutions for this issue that people rarely think about until they experience it themselves.

Their Mission is to repair children’s broken smiles by providing free comprehensive treatment for cleft lip and palate anomalies in under-served areas of the world. They organize and send surgical teams to sites for two-week missions. A surgical team is comprised of approximately 15 medical volunteers, supported by approximately 5 non-medical volunteers. During a mission 70 to 100 under-served children receive surgery for cleft lip & palate anomalies. The AfS team works side-by-side with local medical practitioners to exchange ideas on proper medical techniques and procedures, as well as to provide follow-up care.
AfS provides care to all patients, regardless of sex, age, economic status, educational background, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity or marital status.

Because many of you asked to have Dr. Doty visit our club. Dr. Doty is the author of the NY Times Bestselling book: Into the Magic Shop. It's a neurosurgeon's quest to discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart. 

Today he is the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, of which the Dalai Lama is a founding benefactor. But back then his life was at a dead end until at twelve he wandered into a magic shop looking for a plastic thumb. Instead, he met Ruth, a woman who taught him a series of exercises to ease his own suffering and manifest his greatest desires. Her final mandate was that he keep his heart open and teach these techniques to others. She gave him his first glimpse of the unique relationship between the brain and the heart.