Social Enterprise Collective
Join Us for the 3rd Annual Social Enterprise Collective – DC: “Cross-Sector Collaboration: Unifying for Social Change”
For the third year, Pepperdine University’s Masters in Social Entrepreneurship and Change Program and the School of Public Policy proudly host this one-of-a-kind event celebrating the power of collaboration to create meaningful social impact.
This year’s theme, “We Need All of Us to Make a Difference,” emphasizes the importance of breaking silos and working together across government, nonprofit, business, and entrepreneurship sectors to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.
Event Highlights:
- Pitch Competition: Masters students from Pepperdine will present social enterprise ideas they’ve been incubating through the program. At the end of the night, we’ll announce three winners who will receive seed funding to launch their good-for-the-world organizations or projects.
- Engaging Panels and Keynotes: Learn from leaders across sectors who are making collaboration the key to their impact.
- Collaboration and Solutions Roundtables: Participate in interactive sessions to brainstorm and co-create solutions to pressing social issues.
- Networking Mixer: End the evening with meaningful connections, celebrate the pitch competition winners, and find opportunities to amplify your mission.
Now more than ever, we need all of us to make a difference. Join changemakers and thought leaders as we work together to build a brighter, more equitable future.
Sponsor a Future Changemaker: Donation Ticket
Empower the Next Generation of Social Impact Leaders
Your donation will directly sponsor a student studying social change and community impact. By investing in these future leaders, you’re not just supporting their education but fueling their passion to create meaningful change. Your contribution provides them access to inspiring mentors, valuable networking opportunities, and firsthand insights from industry experts that will shape their careers and drive the impact they seek to make.
Why Donate?
- Empower Aspiring Leaders: Your support gives students the chance to learn from top professionals and gain the tools they need to drive positive change in their communities.
- Foster Social Innovation: Help cultivate the next generation of innovators dedicated to solving social issues and building a better future.
- Build a Stronger Community: Your donation contributes to a vibrant network of changemakers who are committed to cross-sector collaboration and community impact.
Be a part of shaping the future of social impact. Sponsor a student today and leave a lasting legacy of empowerment and change.
Agenda Overview
Opening Welcome
Time: 4:00 PM – 4:10 PM
Panel: Collaborating for Change: How Social Impact, CSR, Business, and Nonprofits Unite to Create Measurable Impact in Today’s Climate
Time: 4:10 PM – 4:55 PM
- Panel discussion featuring leaders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors
- Topics include:
- Aligning goals across industries to drive sustainable impact
- Challenges and opportunities in the current climate
- Real-world examples of successful cross-sector collaborations
Collaboration & Solutions Roundtable Discussions
Time: 5:00 PM – 5:30 PM
- Attendees break into facilitated table discussions to brainstorm solutions to cross-sector challenges
- Each table will focus on a key theme (e.g., funding partnerships, policy barriers, technology in social impact)
- At the end, table representatives share key insights with the room
Student Pitch Competition
Time: 5:30 PM – 6:40 PM
- Students from Pepperdine’s Social Entrepreneurship and Change Program pitch their social enterprise ideas
Break
Time: 6:40 PM – 6:50 PM
Keynote Fireside Chat: Unifying for Social Change: Lessons from Leaders in Collaboration
Time: 6:50 PM – 7:35 PM
Pitch Competition Winners & Alumni Awards
Time: 7:35 PM – 7:50
- Pitch Competition Winners Announced
- Alumni Awards Presented
Networking Mixer & Celebration
Time: 7:50 PM – 9:00 PM
- A vibrant networking session with light refreshments and opportunities to connect with fellow changemakers
- Highlights:
- Sector-specific networking areas (government, nonprofit, business, and social enterprise)
- Live music or background entertainment
- Celebration of competition winners and alumni award recipients
Social Enterprise Collective 2023
See what you can look forward to by watching a compilation from a past event.
Keynote Speaker
David Ryan Polgar
David Ryan Polgar is the Founder and President of All Tech Is Human, an organization that has become synonymous with the Responsible Tech movement. His work building a large and diverse community of individuals coming together to tackle wicked problems was recently covered in the MIT Technology Review and also a chapter in Greg Epstein's upcoming book, Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation.
David is also an international speaker and regular commentator on increasing ethical considerations regarding emerging technology, improving social media platforms, and the need for a collaborative, multi-stakeholder, and multidisciplinary approach to building a tech future that is aligned with the public interest. His commentary has been featured in The Guardian, TODAY show, BBC World News, MSNBC, Fast Company, Associated Press, LA Times, USA Today, and many more. He has been on stage at Harvard Business School, Yale School of Management, Columbia Business School, Princeton University, NATO's Stratcom Summit (Istanbul), TechChill (Latvia), The Next Web (Amsterdam), BrainBar (Budapest), and more.
His work with All Tech Is Human is focused on creating a better approach to tackling the thorniest issues in tech and society. This approach involves leveraging the collective intelligence of the community, diversifying the underlying tech pipeline, and being able to move at the speed of tech. David has served on multiple advisory boards, including TikTok's Content Advisory Council (US) and Teleperformance's Trust & Safety council.
Speakers
A’Lelia Bundles
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance (Scribner, June 2025), the first major biography of her great-grandmother, and of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, a New York Times Notable Book and bestseller about her great-great-grandmother, an early 20th century entrepreneur and philanthropist.
She is the founder of the Madam Walker Family Archives and serves on several nonprofit advisory boards including Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, BIO (Biographer’s International), and Columbia Global Reports. A former network television news executive and Emmy and du Pont Gold Baton winning producer at ABC News and NBC News, she is a former chair of the National Archives Foundation and a former vice chair of Columbia University’s board of trustees. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and participated in residencies at Yaddo and MacDowell while writing Joy Goddess.
Her articles and essays have been published in the New York Times Book Review, TheUndefeated.com, Variety, Ms., O Magazine, Essence, and several encyclopedias and books.
Ashraf Hebela
Ashraf Hebela is the head of Startup Banking and co-head of Technology at J.P. Morgan, focused on serving early-stage companies within the Innovation Economy. He leads the growing Startup Banking team, comprised of seasoned banking professionals as well as former founders, investors and startup mentors who understand the needs of pre-seed and seed stage companies. Ashraf also co-leads the Technology team, which supports applied tech, software, internet and payments companies at every stage of their growth.
Prior to joining J.P. Morgan in 2023, Ashraf spent 14 years at Silicon Valley Bank. There, he held a variety of roles from product management to strategic analytics and sales operations, and ultimately served as Head of Technology & Healthcare Banking for North America. Before joining SVB in 2009, Hebela held senior positions at NorthStar Systems and Siebel Systems.
Based in San Francisco, Ashraf earned a BA in Economics from Harvard University and an MBA in General Management and Finance from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Christian Richardson
Christian Richardson is a forward-thinking brand strategist shaping culture through commerce, community, and storytelling. She leads multicultural marketplace strategy for a luxury multi-brand retailer, where she defines strategies, sets goals, and manages key partnerships with Harlem’s Fashion Row, The Folklore Group, and the 15 Percent Pledge to drive equity and representation.
Christian honed her business acumen at Deloitte, supporting Veterans Affairs, the CDC, and USAID in strategic communications and stakeholder engagement. She began her career in editorial, holding roles at PopSugar, Clutch Magazine, and Vibe Vixen, before expanding into consulting for brands like Dine Diaspora and The Spice Suite.
She is also the founder of HAUSHOLD, a lifestyle brand celebrating Black culture and design, with features in Black Food Fridays, Nubian Hueman, and Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s Family Reunion.
A proud Howard University alum, Christian is passionate about authentic storytelling, inclusive brand strategy, and building community. When she’s not driving cultural impact, she’s curating her historic Baltimore home or supporting her husband, renowned jazz musician Brent Birckhead.
Chris Estes
Chris Estes is Co-Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group. He’s a national rural development leader focused on transformative and holistic approaches that address disparities and strengthen rural communities. Chris has strong policy expertise and practice experience at the community, state, and federal levels on poverty, housing, disaster and community development.
He has co-led the creation of CSG’s reports on Natural Disaster, Outdoor Recreation, Funding Flexibility Rural Health & Devlopment as well as numerous case studies all featuring the voices and wisdom of rural development practitioners. In his free time he is on his bike or in the woods, hiking or mountain biking, or in the mountains doing all of those things.
Raymond P. Towle
Raymond P. Towle, IOM, CAE is vice president of Institute for Organization Management, a four-year educational program on nonprofit management of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In this role, he oversees all aspects of the Institute program in addition to his responsibilities as executive director of the Federation Relations and Coalition Partnerships department.
The Institute, the industry leader in nonprofit education, is an inspiring and thought-provoking program for chamber and association executives seeking to expand their peer groups, learn about industry trends, and meet some of the country’s most innovative business thinkers. The program, which meets one week per year over a four-year period, is held at five different university locations across the country.
As executive director of Federation Relations, Towle is responsible for managing the daily operations of the chamber and association programs marketplace, including a membership budget of $4 million, the Association Committee of 100 and the Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100 programs, and Accreditation. He also ensures that the goals of the department are achieved and aligned with the overall strategic goals of the U.S. Chamber.
Towle supports the department’s efforts by working cross divisionally to identify strategic partnerships at the state level and to coordinate the Chamber’s involvement through coalitions. As part of these initiatives, Towle promotes Friends of the U.S. Chamber, a nationwide grassroots network dedicated to supporting pro-growth policies that strengthen the economy.
Before becoming executive director of Federation Relations, Towle was vice president of Member Resources at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), where he led a team responsible for dues revenue of more than $5 million annually.
Earlier, Towle was director of ASAE’s Public Policy Division. He was staff liaison to the Government Relations Section and its governing council.
Prior to joining ASAE, Towle was with the grassroots lobbying firm of Bonner & Associates for six years. Previously, he spent four years on the personal staff of Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI) as a legislative aide.
An accomplished association executive, Towle has more than 19 years of experience in association management, including strategic planning, governance, membership, sponsorships, affinity programs, expositions, professional development and public policy; six years in grassroots management; and more than five years on Capitol Hill.
Towle is a 1983 graduate of the University of Maryland and a graduate of Institute for Organization Management. He received his CAE certification in June 2000, the highest honor of professional achievement available from ASAE.