2017 LSA Annual Conference Speakers

Tim Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics. Shriver is a social leader, an educator, author, film producer and entrepreneur. As Chairman of Special Olympics he serves over 5.3 million Special Olympics athletes and their families in 169 countries. Shriver has been a part of an amazing team that has created exciting new Special Olympics programs in athlete leadership, cross-cultural research, health, education and family support. Among them, Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® has become the world's largest public health examination and education program for people with intellectual disabilities, and Special Olympics Project Unify has become a powerful new program promoting school-based social inclusion and unified leadership. In addition, he has worked to garner more government support for issues of concern to the Special Olympics community, testifying before the United States Congress and challenging government leaders worldwide to respect the dignity and possibilities of people with intellectual disabilities. Shriver's keynote presentation will explore how his faith and personal connections have inspired his journey to public service, his recent book: Fully Alive: Discovering What Matters Most and his long-standing advocacy work on behalf of those marginalized.

Robert Egger, Founder and President of L.A. Kitchen. L.A. Kitchen recovers fresh fruits and vegetables to fuel a culinary arts job training program for men and women coming out of foster care and older men and women returning from incarceration. Egger is also the CEO of Strong Food, L.A. Kitchen's social enterprise business, which employs graduates of the L.A. Kitchen training program, and competes for food service contracts to serve healthy meals to seniors in Los Angeles. Egger pioneered this model during his 24 year tenure as the President of the DC Central Kitchen, the country's first "community kitchen", which has produced over 30 million meals and helped 1,500 men and women gain full time employment. In addition, Egger founded or led numerous efforts (including The Nonprofit Congress and and CForward) to rally employees of nonprofits to educate candidates about the economic role that nonprofits play in every community, and to support candidates who have detailed plans to strengthen the economy that includes nonprofits. Currently, Egger serves on the Board of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, Kitchens for Good, the Philanthropic Collaborative, and Chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen. Egger is the author of, Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All. Egger speaks throughout the country and internationally on the subjects of hunger, sustainability, nonprofit political engagement and social enterprise.

Susan Dentzer is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation, a not-for-profit think tank and membership organization that seeks innovative ways to advance health, improve health care, and produce smarter health care spending. With offices in, Cambridge, MA, and Washington, DC, NEHI represents more than 80 organizations across the spectrum of health and health care. One of the nation's most respected health and health policy thought leaders and a frequent speaker and commentator on television and radio, including PBS and NPR, Dentzer previously served as senior policy adviser to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy focused on health and health care in the United States. She also was formerly editor-in-chief of the policy journal Health Affairs, and the on-air Health Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour. Dentzer wrote and hosted the 2015 PBS documentary, Reinventing American Healthcare, focusing on the innovations pioneered by the Geisinger Health System and spread to health systems across the nation. Dentzer is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) and also serves on the academy’s Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. She is also an elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations; a fellow of the National Academy of Social Insurance; and a fellow of the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics research institute. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Rescue Committee, a leading global humanitarian organization; is a public member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Medical Specialties, which assists 24 medical specialty boards in the ongoing evaluation and certification of physicians; a member of the board of directors of Research!America, which advocates on behalf of biomedical and health-related research; and is a member of the board of directors of the Public Health Institute, a nonprofit organization addressing public health issues and solutions nationwide. She also is a member of the RAND Health Board of Advisors. Dentzer graduated from Dartmouth, is a trustee emerita of the college, and chaired the Dartmouth Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2004. She has served as a member of the Board of Overseers of Dartmouth Medical School for more than two decades. Dentzer holds an honorary master’s degree from Dartmouth and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Muskingum University. She, her husband, and their three children live in the Washington, DC area.