Merve is responsible for the overall outreach strategy and national partnerships for Common Sense Education and oversees a team that works directly with leadership to impact communities using technology for learning and life. Collaborating with school networks, state-level organizations, community leaders, and national partners, Merve is committed to fostering a whole-community approach to digital well-being, and establishing supportive learning spaces for all children and families to thrive in a world with media and technology.

Merve has over 17 years of experience driving education technology initiatives across school programs, and building educator confidence through professional development and strategic implementation. Merve continues to keynote education-based events across the United States and delivers professional development to school networks, districts, and major conferences. He sits on a number of steering committees addressing school climate and state policy initiatives within his local counties and currently sits on the Marketing and Communications Board for the University of San Francisco.

Merve holds a B.A. in psychology and sociology from the University of San Francisco and is often behind a camera snapping pictures of his wife and two daughters dancing around the Bay Area. You can follow him on Twitter @molapus and email him directly at mlapus@commonsense.org.

James R. Doty, MD, is a clinical professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is also the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University of which His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. He works with scientists from a number of disciplines examining the neural bases for compassion and altruism.

Dr. Doty attended U.C. Irvine as an undergraduate, received his medical degree from Tulane University and completed neurosurgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dr. Doty served 9 years on active duty in the U.S Army attaining the rank of major. He completed fellowships in pediatric neurosurgery and electroneurophysiology.

He is an inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He holds multiple patents and is the former CEO of Accuray (ARAY:NASDAQ). Dr. Doty has given support to a number of charitable organizations supporting peace initiatives and providing healthcare throughout the world. Additionally, he has supported research, provided scholarships and endowed chairs at multiple universities.

He is a consultant to medical device companies and is an operating partner and advisor to venture capital firms. Dr. Doty serves on the Board of a number of non-profits and is the vice-chair of the Charter for Compassion International and the former chair of the Dalai Lama Foundation. He is on the Senior Advisory Board of the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Dr. Doty serves on the Board of Governors of Tulane University School of Medicine and the President’s Council at Tulane University.

He is the New York Times bestselling author of Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discovery the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart now translated into 31 languages. Dr. Doty is also the senior editor of the recently released Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science.

Dr. Ross, PhD, BCBA, is an Assistant Professor at CSU-MB, teaching classes in Special Education, General Education, and School Psychology. Dr. Ross has a Masters in SPED and a PhD in School Psychology, and has over a decade worth of experience across four states developing evidence-based strategies in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), and Implementation Science. Dr. Ross is also an award-winning international expert in bullying prevention and is the author of the Bullying Prevention in Positive Behavior Support curriculum. Dr. Ross has acquired and overseen over $17 million dollars in grant funds to improve outcomes for students with and without disabilities. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Association on Positive Behavior Support (APBS), the California PBIS Coalition, and Stand for Courage (SfC).

Radha is a community force. She is the co-Founder, CEO and Chief Community Architect of Daybreaker, the early morning dance and wellness move-ment that currently holds events in 25 cities and over a dozen college campuses around the world with a community of almost half a million people. She is a successful entrepreneur (Co-Founder THINX, LiveItUp), author, globe trotting speaker, DJ, inventor, and investor.

Her new book BELONG answers the questions, "how the heck do I find my people?" and "How do I create large and meaningful communities in the real world?". She spent 18 months synthesizing her key methods for community building, peeling back the curtain on exactly what she and her team did (and continues to do) at Daybreaker so that anyone interested in creating their own community could have a blueprint for how to do it.

She was named by MTV as “one of 8 women who will change the world.” Radha lives in Brooklyn NY with her love Eli (a baby on the way) and her twin sister Miki – and lots of family and friends within a few blocks. You can most often find her tinkering with new social experiments, community and experience design projects, speaking around the world, or on the dance floor at Daybreaker in New York City (if she’s not dancing at sunrise in another part of the world.)

Jesse is a social entrepreneur, meditation leader and former record label executive known for founding the mass meditation movement The Big Quiet. Jesse has signed multi-platinum bands like MGMT, has led some of the largest meditations in the world, teaches meditation to next-generation leaders and speaks at Fortune 500s and colleges. At the start of 2020, Jesse was invited to go on tour with Oprah Winfrey and WW to speak at and lead mass meditations at sold-out arenas throughout the US. Jesse’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Vice, Vogue, Fast Company, GQ and the Wall Street Journal.

David Bartlett Molak, age 16, passed away on Monday, January 4, 2016, in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. David had recently achieved the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout with Troop 809. David’s passions included hunting, fishing, and playing video games with his older brothers, Cliff and Chris. He was extremely knowledgeable about professional football and could lead any fantasy association to success. David never passed up on an opportunity for an outdoor adventure or a chance to dominate his family in Monopoly. His infectious smile and sharp wit entertained his peers to the dismay of his teachers, but all in good fun. More importantly, David was a good friend to many and genuinely cared for others. 

Within a couple of days of losing David, his loving brothers wrote a Facebook post sharing their feelings about David’s untimely death and calling on others in the community to join together to stop bullying. They commented that the only way to end the suffering in this nation, whether it is caused by bullying or discrimination, is not to highlight the differences between groups of people but to focus on the importance of the accountability and ultimately the character of people. The post rapidly spread across the country, and it became their dream that David’s legacy would help heal this country. Those words have inspired many, and they remain the vision of our efforts every day at David’s Legacy Foundation.