Susan Magsamen is the founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab), Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics, a groundbreaking neuroaesthetics initiative at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her work focuses on how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the brain, body, and behavior, and how this knowledge can be translated to inform health, wellbeing, and learning programs in medicine, public health, and education.

In addition to her academic and research leadership, Susan is a successful entrepreneur who has founded award-winning arts education companies—including Curiosity Kits and Curiosityville—that have received over 600 awards for innovation and impact. She is also the author of seven books on the arts for children, families, and educators.

She developed Impact Thinking, an interdisciplinary translational research model designed to enhance human potential through the use of arts and aesthetics. This generative framework applies a new scientific method to arts and aesthetics research, with a focus on how findings can be scaled, disseminated, and evaluated for real-world impact.

Susan also serves as co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint project, a joint initiative with the Aspen Institute that seeks to establish the field of Neuroarts, where arts and aesthetics are fully integrated into medicine and public health.

She is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, written for the general public.

Dr. Upali Nanda is EVP and Global Sector Director for Innovation at HKS, an international architectural firm where she oversees a range of innovation practices that work within, through and beyond the built environment for meaningful impact. Prior to her current role she served as the global research director for the firm and as the Executive Director for the non-profit Center for Advanced Design Research and Education. Dr. Nanda teaches as Professor of Practice at the Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning at University of Michigan and serves on the board of the Academy for Neuroscience for Architecture. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, M.A. from National University of Singapore, and PhD in Architecture from Texas A&M University.

Dr. Nanda led the research arm of HKS from 2013- 2023 to bring evidence-based and culturally responsive approaches to building environments that support innovation, creative thinking, and brain health on an international scale. In addition to her book, Sensthetics: A Crossmodal Approach to Designing for the Senses, Dr. Nanda has published her work on designing sensory environments that support brain health and creative thinking extensively in peer-reviewed journals. In particular, her recent work has investigated the contributions of enriched environments to promoting creativity and brain health in an aging population. She has also examined the power of bringing art into healthcare spaces (particularly in the context of patient anxiety and waiting room behaviors) and creating “cocoon” spaces for individuals with sensory processing needs in otherwise-chaotic environments.

Dr. Nanda’s research has been awarded the AIA Upjohn Grant, European Healthcare Design Research Award, and Journal of Interior Design Scholarship Excellence award. Recently, Dr. Nanda was recognized with Architectural Record’s 2018 Women in Architecture Innovator Award and in a 2021 book of “The Women Who Changed Architecture” for her research on designing spaces that promote healthy behaviors.

Mason is a trusted leader in the formation and stewardship of innovation districts, research parks, and mission-driven real estate developments. With 20 years’ experience working with higher education institutions, governments and industry, Mason has a track record of converging real estate, academia, and business to advance communities of innovation. In his role as President and Chief Executive Officer of Rowen, Mason is responsible for the real estate development, public-private-university partnerships, and investment activities of the 2,000-acre multi-use knowledge community ultimately comprising over 50 million square feet of space and housing over 80,000 employees. 

Prior to leading Rowen, Mason served as the Vice President of Operations at The University Financing Foundation (TUFF), a non-profit financing organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, where he advised on a wide variety of local and international university projects managing assets in excess of $1.5 billion which include innovation districts such as Georgia Tech’s Tech Square in Midtown Atlanta and healthcare networks such as Northwell Health in Manhattan New York. 

Prior to TUFF, Mason was the Chief Operating Officer at the Research Triangle Park Foundation (RTP) and led the organization’s business development, marketing, real estate, and partnership strategies. Responsible for leading the convergence of higher education institutions including three R1 universities, Historically Black College and University (HBCU), and two community colleges, Mason championed the redevelopment of RTP as an accessible research and innovation destination for North Carolina. 

Mason is the Past President of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), Co-Chairman of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) University Development & Innovation Council, Board Member of the University of Utah Research Foundation, Young Life International Partner, and Eisenhower Fellow to Sweden and Saudi Arabia.  

Sachin Shailendra is known for his integrity, honesty and commitment to client satisfaction. As President of SG Contracting, Inc., he governs the company’s activities, smoothly and efficiently matching people and projects to deliver successful outcomes. His extensive portfolio of construction experience and his ability to problem-solve and effectively communicate plans and processes make him a valuable leader to assist owners, subcontractors, architects and designers. Shailendra is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and an alumnus of Woodward Academy, where he has also served as a former President of the Alumni Association and Member of the Advisory Council. He is currently the Chairman of the Rowen Foundation, a Trustee of the Atlanta History Center and The Georgia Research Alliance, a Member of the Carter Center Board of Councilors, Rotary Club of Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Foundation, Atlanta Speech School, and the former Chair of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. 

As Artistic Director of the Tony Award winning Alliance Theatre, he produces shows bound for Broadway and shows built for babies– all fueled by the belief that theatre can be a tool for education, healing, and connection. Christopher Moses has been working in professional theatre for 20 years and became the Alliance Theatre’s Jennings Hertz Artistic Director in 2023.  He was awarded the Governor’s Award for Arts in Humanities for his body of work and named one of the most influential leaders in Atlanta by Atlanta Magazine and Georgia Trend in 2024. Prior to being named Artistic Director, Chris led the Education efforts at the Alliance Theatre, overseeing the Alliance Theatre Institute (twice recognized as an Arts Model by the Federal Department of Education), Theatre for Youth & Families, and the Acting Program. Since taking over this position, Chris has expanded the reach and impact by making the Alliance Theatre Education department a vital resource for advancing the civic agenda of Atlanta. This work is accomplished through deep and sustained partnerships with social service organizations throughout the city. Under his leadership, the Alliance launched its Kathy & Ken Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young program, which provides fully interactive professional theater experiences for children of all abilities from ages newborn through 5 years old, the Alliance Teen Ensemble, which performs world premier plays commissioned for and about teens, and Alliance@work, a professional development program designed for the business sector—the latest offering of which uses theatre practice to create a culture of civility in the workplace. During his tenure in this position, the Alliance has produced dozens of world premiere plays, including Water for Elephants and Maybe Happy Ending (Tony Award winner for Best Musical in 2025), Pancakes, Pancakes by Ken Lin, The Dancing Granny by Jireh Breon Holder, Max Makes a Million by Liz Diamond, and The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Madhuri Shekar.  The Alliance serves over 150,000 people annually through its productions and extensive educational offerings.

Hala Moddelmog is the President & CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center and has over 30 years of leadership experience as President and CEO, as well as serving on boards of several NYSE companies and a Carlyle Group portfolio company. She became the first female President and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, representing major corporations in one of the country’s largest metro areas. Prior to that, she held top executive roles at Arby’s Restaurant Group, Susan G. Komen for the Cure—where she led the organization to its first Four-Star Charity Navigator rating—and Church’s Chicken, where she became the first female president of an international quick-service restaurant chain.

A longtime Atlanta leader, Moddelmog has been deeply involved in the city’s arts and nonprofit communities. She has served on the Woodruff Arts Center’s Governing Board since 2017 and its Board of Trustees since 2011, as well as the Alliance Theatre Board from 2011 to 2020, including two years as Co-Chair. She currently serves on the boards of Corpay (NYSE: CPAY), Lamb Weston (NYSE: LW), Midtown Alliance, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where she chairs the Quality Committee.

Moddelmog holds a Master of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgia Southern University, which awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in 2007. She has completed executive education at Harvard Business School and Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Atlanta’s Ansley Park with her husband, Steve, and enjoys time with their two adult children, two sons-in-law, and three grandchildren.

Dr. Tim Denning became GRA’s fifth president and CEO in November 2023 after serving as vice president of research and economic development at Georgia State University. At Georgia State, he led a period of historic research growth, achieving a record $225 million in R&D expenditures and overseeing more than 70 research centers, including five focused on critical health issues like cardiovascular disease, brain health, and infectious disease. He promoted interdisciplinary research, innovation, and partnerships across academia, industry, and the scientific community, while also developing programs to give students private-sector research experience. 

Tim joined Georgia State in 2013 from Emory University, where he worked as a postdoctoral researcher and later joined the Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine as an assistant professor.  

He has served as a grant reviewer for NIH, been active in scientific societies, and served on editorial boards for key journals. In 2020, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Texas Medical Branch. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Chamber and the Executive Advisory Council for Rowen. 

Dr. David Wolf is the Division Chief of Neurology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and serves as Marcus Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Wolf also serves as the Director of the Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Clinic and the Director of the Comprehensive Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Clinic, both in the Judson L. Hawk Jr., MD, Clinic for Children. 

In addition to his academic role, he is also involved in numerous clinical trials for children with neurofibromatosis and tuberous sclerosis. He is the site primary investigator for the nationwide, multicenter U.S. Department of Defense Neurofibromatosis Clinical Trial Consortium. 

As a pediatric neurologist, Dr. Wolf cares for children and adolescents with neurological conditions in the inpatient and outpatient setting. He sees general pediatric neurology patients at the Center for Advanced Pediatrics. Through his joint appointment with the Division of Hematology/Oncology, he also sees patients within the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s. Dr. Wolf is also committed to medical student, resident and fellow education. He has served as the Associate Program Director of the General Pediatrics Residency Program and Program Director of the Child Neurology Residency Program. 

Dr. Sam Sober is a Winship Distinguished Research Professor at Emory University and the director of CAMBER, a nonprofit that provides advanced neuroscience technologies to the global neuroscience community. His research examines how the brain controls the body to master complex skills. Dr. Sober’s research has examined skill learning across many species, including vocal learning in songbirds and manual skill learning in humans, revealing how the nervous system performs the complex mathematical calculations necessary to perform skilled behaviors. 

In addition to his work on skill learning, Dr. Sober also develops cutting-edge biosensor technology. As the Director of CAMBER (the Center for Advance BioEngineering and Research, headquartered at Emory University), Dr. Sober has overseen the development, fabrication, and distribution of a novel class of biosensor for recording the tiny electrical signals that the spinal cord uses to activate the muscles. This technology is currently used in over 200 research labs worldwide and is in development as a biomedical device for clinical use. 

Dr. Sober is alco committed to communicating scientific discovery through the arts. He has worked with a sound artist to adapt his songbird research into an interactive exhibit (“Tune/Reward”) shown at the inaugural exhibition at Science Gallery Atlanta and organized a presentation at the Atlanta Science Festival featuring performances from a Canadian group that creates dance/circus pieces centering the experiences of people living with neurological diseases. Dr. Sober also has a longstanding interest in using food to communicate topics in neuroscience, including using chocolate tasting (partnering with Xocolatl, a local chocolatier) to illustrate how the brain combines sweet, bitter, and salty flavors. 

Dr. Christopher J. Rozell is a researcher and educator advancing the understanding of brain function in health and disease, as well as the design of therapeutic neurotechnologies. His interdisciplinary research spans neuroscience, data science, neuroengineering, and cognitive science, with clinical collaborations focused on developing scalable brain stimulation therapies for psychiatric disorders such as treatment-resistant depression. In addition to his technical work, Dr. Rozell explores the societal impacts of neurotechnology and amplifies the voices of those living with neurologic conditions. 

He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Julian T. Hightower Chaired Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Dr. Rozell serves on advisory boards for Motif Neurotech, the Institute of Neuroethics, and the Community for Rigor. A first-generation scholar, he co-founded Neuromatch, Inc., a nonprofit fostering a global community of collaborative computational researchers. He holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Music from the University of Michigan, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Rice University, followed by postdoctoral work at the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at UC Berkeley. 

Dr. Rozell’s research has earned numerous honors, including the James S. McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Science Initiative Award, the NSF CAREER Award, election as Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and a Congressional briefing marking the 10th anniversary of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. His teaching and mentorship have also been recognized with awards such as the Howard Ector Outstanding Teacher Award and the Neuro – Irv and Helga Cooper Foundation Open Science International Prize. His mentees have received prestigious fellowships and now hold leadership roles across academia, industry, and public policy. 

Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Georgia and Director of its Atmospheric Sciences Program. He is the Associate Dean for Research, Scholarship and Partnerships in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at UGA. In 2022, he was selected SEC Professor of the Year. In 2021, Dr. Shepherd was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Shepherd is also the host of the Weather Channel’s podcast Weather Geeks and a Senior Contributor to Forbes. He is an internationally recognized weather and climate scholar who routinely advises Congress, the White House, and other stakeholders. He has over a 100 scholarly publications and has attracted millions of dollars in research funding from Department of Energy, NASA, NSF, NOAA, USFS, and the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. 

As the founder of Patchwork City Farms—established in 2010 and positioned amid 3.75 acres inside the city—Jamila operates her regenerative farm year-round and promotes sustainable agriculture and lifestyles within urban regions. She is the current manager and founder of the South West Atlanta Growers Cooperative (SWAG Coop) – a cooperative centered around Black urban farmers in Atlanta’s robust urban agriculture community. 

Beyond the farm, Jamila is the host of multi-Emmy-nominated “Homegrown” on the Magnolia Network, where she assists families in transforming their outdoor spaces into functional farms and gardens, fostering a deeper connection to food and nature. 

Before pivoting to farming, Jamila spent a decade as an environmental engineer for the State of Georgia protecting its natural resources. She is a proud mother to three sons and daughter of Caribbean parents. 

Stacy Funderburke is Vice President, Central Southeast Region and Georgia and Alabama State Director for The Conservation Fund.  He works on land conservation efforts in Georgia and Alabama, including parks, greenspace and trails within the metro Atlanta area.  Stacy has worked on a number of key conservation projects in Atlanta, including the Atlanta Beltline and the Chattahoochee Brick Company site. He also led recent TCF efforts to protect the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from a nearby mining threat. 

Stacy launched the national Farms Fund program for The Conservation Fund and continues to support strategic expansion and capital raise efforts for that program.  He serves on Atlanta Mayor Dickens’s Greenspace Advisory Board and the Board of Directors of the Freedom Park Conservancy. 

Prior to joining The Conservation Fund, Stacy worked as in house securities counsel for Mirant Corporation and as a corporate and securities attorney for Troutman Sanders, LLP.  Stacy has a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Georgia and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. 

Stacy lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Helaine and their two daughters, Alden and McKinley.  They spend much of their free time traveling and hiking when not on the soccer field.