Kimberly is an operations executive in the technology industry specializing in remote workforces, change management and business operations. From 2015-2017 she was the President/COO of the World Future Society, the leading global authority in future studies since 1966. For the past decade, Kimberly has worked as an advisor, mentor & judge to startup incubators, companies and entrepreneurship community programs including Techstars’ Startup Weekend, Startup Health, Startup Chile, Parallel 18, the Central American Entrepreneurship Forum and Chicago Innovation. Kimberly spent from 2007-2014 in Latin America where she worked with private equity and family offices to manage investments and partnership identification. She also co-founded Kalu Yala, a community development in the Panamanian rainforest pursuing the mission of world’s most sustainable town. Kimberly graduated Cum Laude from Vanderbilt University in Economics.
What do you think some of the most pressing problems we face are?
There is a deeply engrossing book by historian Yuval Noah Harai entitled 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. I could never summarize the challenges humanity faces better than Harai does (and if you have not read his book, it is an absolute must), but I will highlight two of the problems I am most passionate about and I hope to bring to my work over the next several decades:
- Truth – Harari shares the idea that truth has become “defined by the top results of the Google search.” At Impact, the core of our work seeks to actively understand issues and systems, past the hype and media headlines, from a 360-degree view.
- Healthcare – While Harai champions the ideas of free and universal healthcare, and that is certainly one possible option, I am interested in exploring the roots of our challenges in optimizing public health and creating resilient systems to respond to health crises.
An impact event/article I recommend is…
Impact has tackled so many important topics over the years – education, immigration, elections, climate – and there is so much more to explore in these arenas. We are thrilled to be able to build new knowledge platforms to do just that such as the Impact Podcast, Save the World in the 30 Minutes. We hope the stories and conversations with our Impact Experts inspire those who do want to make their mark on the world. While marking our mark may take longer than 30 minutes, we are all in this together.
If you could make one improvement in the world what would it be?
An idea I find fascinating is understanding what it would really take for the human species to be at peace with itself. We teach our children history, math, science, literature. Some children are even lucky enough to study art, music, and creativity, but we often miss a piece of training so valuable, it would fundamentally change the world as we know it, and that is teaching emotional intelligence in our schools. Individually, EQ training can lead to increased personal well-being, decreased stress responses and stronger leadership. Collectively, children armed with the tools of empathy, thoughtfulness, and self-awareness can become wise citizens. Citizens who vote conscientiously. Citizens who know when emotion and passion serves their cause and when it can hinder progress. Citizens who know how to manage conflict with others whom they do not agree with and work together towards resolution.
