Each program we interview various species of Globeshakers who work across the world and across industries, using creativity and innovation to shake up the status quo.
The program's host, Tim Zak, a former management consultant with McKinsey and Company, is currently Executive Director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School of Public Policy-Australia and Co-Director of the school’s Institute for Social Innovation.
Before heading up Heinz School-Australia, Tim was CEO of the Social Enterprise Accelerator, a private operating foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. When the Accelerator was launched in 2002, it initially operated out of the trunk of his car and in neighborhood coffee shops. Today, the organization, which operates like a venture capital firm for social innovations, works directly with a dynamic portfolio of social sector organizations bent on changing the world. It has been globally recognized for its impact on the emerging field of social entrepreneurship.
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Talking with Globeshakers host Tim Zak, Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute argues that the United States can operate on a fourth of the energy it now uses, while still providing the same or better services. This may seem far-fetched, but Lovins has been accused of taking off on flights of fancy before, though time has a remarkable way of proving his assertions correct.
In 1982, ophthalmologist Oliver Foot founded Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, a unique mobile teaching facility housed in a DC-10 jet aircraft. In this audio interview With Globeshakers host Tim Zak, he discusses how his organization brings dedicated eye care professionals to the developing world to restore eyesight through surgery and other treatments.
Robert Langer has been referred to as "a medical pioneer in the guise of an engineer" who has revolutionized the delivery of drugs and the engineering of human tissue. In this audio interview with Globeshakers host Tim Zak, Langer reveals his tenacious nature and talks about what it takes to persevere in the face of public criticism.
In the early 1990s, Cheryl Dorsey got a fellowship from Echoing Green to launch the Family Van, a community-based mobile health unit that provides basic medical and outreach services to at-risk residents of inner-city Boston neighborhoods. Now president of Echoing Green, Dorsey talks with Globeshakers host Tim Zak in an audio interview about the challenge of building on the impressive track record of one of the world's leading investors and supporters of worldwide social change.
Rick Lowe has given new meaning to the phrase "artist-in-residence." This Heinz Award winner and former Loeb fellow at the Harvard School of Design is the founder of Project Row Houses, an organization that merges art and architecture with social activism. In an audio interview with Globeshakers host Tim Zak, Lowe describes how this experiment in "social sculpture" is redefining the role of art and artists in society.
Rick Lowe has given new meaning to the phrase "artist-in-residence." This Heinz Award winner and former Loeb fellow at the Harvard School of Design is the founder of Project Row Houses, an organization that merges art and architecture with social activism. In an audio interview with Globeshakers host Tim Zak, Lowe describes how this experiment in "social sculpture" is redefining the role of art and artists in society.
As executive producer of MCG Jazz, Marty Ashby works with musicians who often devote their proceeds to a community arts and vocational training center in Pittsburg, Penn. In this audio interview, Ashby charts for Globeshakers host Tim Zak his career from jazz musician to director of this philanthropic jazz performance and recording venue.
On Pittsburgh's gritty north side, just down the street from where he grew up, Bill Strickland has created a youth development and adult training center like no other. In this audio interview with Globeshakers host Tim Zak, Strickland talks about the environment he has melded over more than 40 years surrounded by stunning art, the sounds of jazz, beautiful orchids, and brilliant architecture, with programs that get kids into college and adults a job with a future.
Futurist, design strategist, and author Andrew Zolli specializes in helping people and institutions see, understand, and act upon complex change. In this audio interview with Globeshakers host Tim Zak, Zolli discusses some of the grand challenges facing the globe, as well as emerging technologies that may address them.
Play affects children's quality of life. Yet, in many communities, schools, and families, this element has been pushed to the back burner. In an audio interview with Globeshakers host Tim Zak, Darrell Hammond envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Since 1995, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 850 new playgrounds and skateparks, and renovate 1,300 others nationwide.
