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Portrait of Melissa Stevens

Melissa Stevens

Executive Vice President, Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy
Melissa Stevens is the executive vice president of Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy, leading its work with individual and family philanthropists and foundations seeking to make a transformative, sustainable impact. Since co-founding Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy in 2015, she has overseen the creation and execution of philanthropic strategies that have influenced more than $3 billion in capital and built an unmatched network for donors to collaborate and amplify their impact.
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Portrait of Diane Ty

Diane Ty

Managing Director, Future of Aging, Milken Institute Health
Diane Ty is the managing director of the Milken Institute Future of Aging, leading efforts to advance healthy longevity and financial security through a life course perspective on aging.
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Professional headshot of Priyanka Shah, a woman with long black hair styled in loose curls, wearing a black blazer over a white top. She is smiling warmly and posed against a dark gray background.

Priyanka Shah

Associate Director, Future of Aging
Priyanka Shah is the associate director of the Milken Institute Future of Aging, which advances healthy longevity and financial security for all through a life-course perspective on aging and longevity.
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Portrait of Esther Krofah

Esther Krofah

Executive Vice President, Milken Institute Health
Esther Krofah is the executive vice president of Milken Institute Health, leading FasterCures, Public Health, the Future of Aging, and Feeding Change. She has extensive experience managing efforts to unite diverse stakeholders to solve critical issues and achieve shared goals that improve patients’ lives.

Small Business Policy, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation

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Small businesses and startups employ approximately half of all private sector workers and are responsible or nearly half of the US’s economic output. Yet, over the last 25 years new business formation has been in a structural decline creating risks to our economic growth, job creation, and innovation.

Community bank consolidation, technology, globalization, and policy changes have disproportionately impacted small businesses and start-ups by fundamentally changing the competitive landscape and entrepreneurial ecosystem.  

The Small Business Policy and Innovation initiative aims to address these challenges through policy recommendations and program solutions to foster a more robust entrepreneurial environment and inclusive prosperity across regions and demographics. 

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A smiling light-skinned, female-presenting person with dark brown hair wearing a dark suit jacket against a gray background

Kelly Clark

Kelly J. Clark, MD, MBA, DFAPA, DFASAM, is the Immediate Past President of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and founded Addiction Crisis Solutions (ACS) to focus on assisting stakeholders in transforming addiction care to evidence-based, cost-effective practice.
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A photo of an older adult man with light white skin and gray hair, including a gray moustache and beard. He is wearing a suit and has brown-ish eyes.

Dan Crippen

Dan Crippen has held some of the highest appointive offices in government: Domestic Policy Advisor to President Ronald Reagan; Director of the Congressional Budget Office; Executive Director of the National Governors Association; and Economic Advisor and Chief Counsel for Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker.
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A smiling light-skinned, male-presenting person wearing a dark suit jacket over a dark shirt and glasses against a dark gray background

Paul Irving

Senior Advisor, Future of Aging
Paul Irving is a corporate and nonprofit director and advisor to leaders in business, philanthropy, and academia. Irving is a senior advisor at the Milken Institute, a national advisor at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, a national law and consulting firm, and a distinguished scholar-in-residence at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.