@15 Advisory Board

Peter L. Benson

President and CEO, Search Institute

Peter Benson is one of the world's leading authorities on positive human development. He weaves together rigorous scholarship with a passionate commitment to understanding—and influencing—society to be more attentive to children and adolescents. His insight, vision, and passion have made him a widely sought speaker, writer, and consultant for major national and international events and policy initiatives.

Dr. Benson's international reputation in human development emerged in the 1990s through his innovative, research-based framework of Developmental Assets, the most widely recognized approach to positive youth development in the United States and, increasingly, around the world. His vision, research, and public voice have inspired a "sea change" in research, practice, and policy. Dr. Benson's work has inspired and guided more than 600 community-based initiatives in 45 states and every Canadian province, and on six continents. The approach has been embraced by most national youth-serving systems and is embedded in the curriculum in numerous colleges and universities. It influences state and national public policy in education, juvenile justice, public health, substance abuse prevention, and other youth-related fields.

Dr. Benson is the author or editor of fifteen books on child and adolescent development, including most recently, Sparks: How Parents Can Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers (Jossey-Bass), All Kids Are Our Kids: What Communities Must Do to Raise Caring and Responsible Children and Adolescents (Jossey-Bass) and The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence (Sage). He is the lead author of a groundbreaking chapter on the theory of youth development published in the 2006 edition of The Handbook of Child Psychology, the most prestigious reference publication in the field. His book, Vision: Awakening Your Potential to Create a Better World, will be published by Templeton Foundation Press in May, 2009.

Catherine and Dave Cook

Founders, myYearbook

Catherine and Dave Cook are the teenage founders of myYearbook.com, the third largest and fastest growing social network in the United States. They brainstormed the idea for the site -- a digital yearbook for the modern age -- over Spring Break when they were in high school. They then persuaded their older brother, Geoff, to sign a $250,000 check to fund the company.They launched the site in their high school through a guerilla marketing t-shirt strategy and convinced hundreds of their classmates to join in the first week. Currently myYearbook receives 10M unique visitors per month, 2B pageviews/month, and registers 20,000 new members per day.

Catherine and Dave lead up the product development side of myYearbook and are responsible for such innovative applications as Battles, the most popular contest site in the US, myMag, the largest online teen magazine, and Causes, a charitable giving application that supports various charities. They also have helped achieve multi-million dollar revenue through partnerships with, P&G, and other brand advertisers and helped land a Series A raise of $4.1M from the venture capital firms US Venture Partners and First Round Capital in November 2006 and a Series B raise of $13M from Norwest Venture Partners in July 2008.

myYearbook has been reported on extensively in CNBC, MTV, Entrepreneur, ABC News, Fox News, BusinessWeek, the San Francisco Chronicle, and CBS. Catherine attends Georgetown University, and Dave attends the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Michael Franzini

Photographer and Author, One Hundred Young Americans

Michael Franzini is a photographer based in Los Angeles and New York City. Also an Emmy-winning director, his TV spots have twice been highlighted by the New York Times as being among the best advertising on television.

His photographs appear in magazines and ad campaigns targeting Americans young and old, as well as the book One Hundred Young Americans, recently released by HarperCollins. The book tells the true story of youth culture in America through images and biographies of a cross section of 100 teens from all 50 states.

Current and past clients include Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, T-Mobile, Panasonic, Pacific Sunwear, Google, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Girl Scouts of the USA, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Rock the Vote and the Partnership for a Drug Free America.

Anastasia Goodstein

Founder and Editor-In-Chief, YPulse

Anastasia is an award-winning blogger and often-quoted expert on American tweens, teens and early twenty-somethings. She has worked in media for the past 15 years and has helped launch youth oriented web and television properties for brands including Oxygen, AOL and Current TV. She will never forget her roots having begun her career in the non-profit youth media space at Teen Voices. Anastasia was one of the first graduates of the Medill School of Journalism's new media program at Northwestern University, where she earned an MSJ in 1999. Her first book about teens and technology, Totally Wired: What Teens & Tweens Are Really Doing Online was published by St. Martin's Press.

Hill Harper

Founder and President, Manifest Your Destiny Foundation

Accomplished actor, bestselling author, celebrated motivational speaker, caring philanthropist, entrepreneur, and all around good guy, Hill Harper is the essence of a Renaissance man. Harper, currently starring as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the hit CBS series CSI:NY has the opportunity to defy the stereotypes of Black males as he has in his real life. Harper graduated from Brown University and also has a law degree from Harvard Law School and a master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

He has appeared in over thirty feature films, numerous television movies and series, as well as several acclaimed stage plays.

Harper is the author of two New York Times best sellers: Letters to a Young Brother (2006) and the follow-up and companion book, Letters to a Young Sister. To complete his multiple accomplishments, Harper's community involvement includes his own foundation, Manifest Your Destiny, as well as serving as spokesperson for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Most recently, Harper campaigned to support his friend and Harvard classmate, Barack Obama, in his successful run for Presidency.

Richard M. Lerner

Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University

Lerner is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. He went from kindergarten through Ph.D within the New York City public schools, completing his doctorate at the City University of New York in 1971 in developmental psychology. Lerner has more than 500 scholarly publications, including 70 authored or edited books. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence and of Applied Developmental Science, which he continues to edit. He was a 1980-81 fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the

Lerner is known for his theory of relations between life-span human development and social change, and for his research about the relations between adolescents and their peers, families, schools, and communities. As illustrated by his 2004 book, Liberty: Thriving and Civic Engagement among America's Youth, and his 2007 book, The Good Teen: Rescuing Adolescence from the Myth of the Storm and Stress Years, his work integrates the study of public policies and community-based programs with the promotion of positive youth development and youth contributions to civil society.

Shanterra McBride

Founder and Director, PLOT – Preparing Leaders of Today

Shanterra McBride is the founder and director of PLOT-Preparing Leaders of Today, a company committed to inspiring young people to be more than what's expected, more than what's required, and more than what's modeled. She is a sought-after speaker on all things related to young people, including youth development, youth leadership, and issues often prominent with adolescents, such as: friendships, cyber bullying -- including sexting-- communities, and teen relationships. McBride speaks throughout the country at schools, corporations, universities, faith-based organizations, and a variety of associations. She has been interviewed by various media, including National Public Radio, Essence magazine, and an assortment of ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC affiliates.

McBride is a Master Trainer for the Owing Up© Curriculum with Rosalind Wiseman. She is also a consultant with the DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation as a Best Practices trainer for the Advancing Youth Development curriculum where she has trained over 4,000 front-line youth workers and managers in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.

McBride received a Master's degree from Gonzaga University in Organizational Leadership. She volunteers with several organizations including the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc., Imagine Me Ministries, Be Girls Camp and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Leadership Development Institute. She is also an alumnus of the New Leaders Academy and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

William E. Milliken

Founder and Vice Chairman, Communities In Schools

Bill Milliken, who founded Communities In Schools in 1977, is one of the most successful and respected youth advocates in the U.S. The year 2000, which marked the 40th anniversary of Milliken's commitment to kids, also saw him honored with two major national awards.

As winner of the American Association of School Administrators' "Champion for Children" award, he was lauded by the association as "a guiding force – who has opened the doors to success and growth to countless youngsters." And when the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership gave Milliken its Edward A. Smith Award for Excellence, the center hailed him for providing "the highest level of service to communities."

Milliken serves on the board of Leadership Foundations of America. He is the author of three books, So Long, Sweet Jesus, Tough Love and The Last Dropout: Stop the Epidemic. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters on May 25, 2007 from Bard College.

Marc H. Morial

President and CEO, National Urban League

According to a major publication, "Marc H. Morial, a lawyer by profession, is leading the National Urban League into a new era with street smarts and boardroom savvy." Selected in May of 2003 as the 8th President and CEO of the nation's largest and oldest civil rights and direct services organization empowering African Americans and other ethnic communities, Morial has helped thrust the League into the forefront of major public policy issues, research and effective community-based solutions.

From Hurricane Katrina and the extension of the Voting Rights Act to creating jobs and housing through effective economic strategies, he is considered one of the nation's foremost experts on a wide range of issues related to cities and their residents. He has also been recognized by the Non-Profit Times as one of America's top 50 non-profit executives and has been named by Ebony Magazine as one of the 100 "Most Influential Blacks in America."

Upon his appointment to the League, Morial established an ambitious five-point empowerment agenda encompassing Education & Youth, Economic Empowerment, Health & Quality of Life, Civic Engagement and Civil Rights & Racial Justice that informs the League's programs, research and advocacy efforts. He created the new quantitative "Equality Index" to effectively measure the disparities in urban communities across these five areas. The index is now a permanent part of the League's annual and much-heralded The State of Black America report.

Rebecca Saito

Senior Research Associate, Center for Youth Development, University of Minnesota

Rebecca Saito is a researcher, evaluator, consultant, facilitator, speaker, and author, who has focused her passion and work over the past 25 years on deepening our understanding of, and impact on, the well-being of young people and communities. Her current work focuses heavily on learning, promoting and supporting youth engagement; community-Based strategies to promote positive youth development; youth violence prevention through public information and mobilization; formal and informal mentoring; and research and program evaluation that helps build stronger youth development programs and practices.

Saito, along with her husband R. Delroy Calhoun, were the recipients of the 2004-2005 Howland Family Endowment for Youth Leadership Development Chair. Through their work in their own neighborhood as Endowed Chairs, they created the Youth Action Crew project—a "youth-driven" social marketing project that is designed to increase awareness of and engagement in youth programs and opportunities.

Of the numerous publications Saito has authored and co-authored, her most recent publication was a study on "Promoting Participation of Older Youth in Out-of-School Time Programs and Opportunities." Her work has also been published in the New Directions for Youth Development journal, The Journal of Primary Prevention, and Trends in Youth Development.

Heather Smith

President, Rock the Vote

Prior to Rock the Vote, Ms. Smith founded and directed Young Voter Strategies, a nonpartisan project in partnership with The Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, that provided the public, parties, candidates, consultants and nonprofits with data and research on the youth vote as well as best practices to effectively mobilize young people. In 2006, Smith and Young Voter Strategies coordinated the nation's largest non-partisan project to register young voters using innovative and replicable methods of voter outreach. The project registered over 540,000 youth ages 18-30 and played a large role in the young voter turnout increase in 2006.

Prior to launching Young Voter Strategies, Smith served as the national field director for the Student PIRGs New Voters Project, the largest nonpartisan grassroots effort ever undertaken to register and mobilize young voters. Across the country, the New Voters Project, under Smith's direction, registered nearly 600,000 voters and conducted an intensive, multi-faceted get-out-the-vote effort to bring these newly registered voters to the polls on Election Day. Youth turnout was 11 percentage points higher than in 2000.

Prior to her work at the New Voters Project, Smith was an organizing director for Green Corps' Field School for Environmental Organizing in Boston. Smith received a B.A. with honors in economics and public policy from Duke University. In 2006, Smith was named one of Campaign & Elections magazine's Rising Stars for her work with young voters. She has also been named one of Esquire Magazine's Best and Brightest of 2007.

Roger P. Weissberg

President, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Roger P. Weissberg is a LAS Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He is also President of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an international organization committed to making evidence-based social, emotional, and academic learning an essential part of preschool through high school education. For the past three decades, Professor Weissberg has trained scholars and practitioners about innovative ways to design, implement, and evaluate family, school, and community interventions.

Professor Weissberg has authored about 200 publications focusing on preventive interventions with children and adolescents and has written curricula on school-based programs to promote social competence and prevent problem behaviors including drug use, high-risk sexual behaviors, and aggression. He has been the President of the American Psychological Association's Society for Community Research and Action and a co-chair on American Psychological Association Task Force on "Prevention: Promoting Strength, Resilience, and Health in Young People."

He is a recipient of the William T. Grant Foundation's five-year Faculty Scholars Award in Children's Mental Health, the Connecticut Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Psychological Contribution in the Public Interest, and the National Mental Health Association's Lela Rowland Prevention Award. He was named a 1997-2000 University Scholar at the University of Illinois and also was a 2004-2005 UIC Great Cities Institute Scholar. Professor Weissberg received the 2000 American Psychological Association's Distinguished Contribution Award for Applications of Psychology to Education and Training, and the Society for Community Research and Action 2004 Distinguished Contribution to Theory and Research Award. He also received the 2008 "Daring Dozen" award from the George Lucas Educational Foundation for being 1 of 12 people who are reshaping the future of education.

Special Teen Advisor Taylor Swift

Recording Artist

Nineteen-year-old Taylor Swift currently has singles climbing both the country and pop radio charts, and sold more albums in 2008 than any other recording artist, in any genre of music. Her sophomore release, Fearless, reached double platinum in just four weeks and was the year's biggest debut for any female artist, and the fourth highest debut of 2008, over all. Taylor currently holds the Billboard all-genre record for most Top 20 debuts in a calendar year. Just last week, Taylor sold out a show at Los Angeles' STAPLES center in just two minutes. At 17, Taylor became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single entirely on her own and she is the first female solo artist in country music history to write or co-write every song on a platinum-selling debut CD. At 14, she signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music, and in 2006 released her self-titled debut CD on Big Machine Records. Taylor Swift has surpassed triple-platinum (3 million sales) status and spent more than 20 weeks in the #1 position atop Billboard's Country CD Sales Chart. Taylor is consistently ranked Country's #1 artist on MySpace, and was named Country Music's Hottest Female Artist of 2007 by AOL Music and Best New Artist of 2007 by the editors of iTunes.

Taylor was named 2008's Favorite Female Country Artist at the American Music Awards, Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music, and won 2008 CMT Music Awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year. She was recently named Choice Breakout Artist at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, and was as the 2008 Superstar of Tomorrow at the 10th Annual Young Hollywood Awards, making her the first musician to ever receive this prestigious award. In 2007 she won the CMA Horizon Award, as well as the Nashville Songwriters Association International's Songwriter / Artist of the Year, and she received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Taylor has been featured on the covers of Rolling Stone, Billboard, Blender, USA Weekend, Seventeen, Redbook, Us Weekly, CosmoGirl, Girl's Life, Women's Health, First, Your Prom, and Southwest Airlines Spirit magazine. She was featured in a Vanity Fair spotlight, was named one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People of 2008, was Cosmopolitan magazine's Fun Fearless Female of December, 2008, Allure's Face of December, was named a Style Star of 2008 by the editors of Seventeen, and was featured on Maxim's 2008 Hot 100 list. She recently appeared on Saturday Night Live.

Taylor launches her first-ever headlining tour this spring, the TAYLOR SWIFT FEARLESS 2009 TOUR. In the past she has toured with Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill and Brad Paisley.