FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY – Co-founded by Caroline Mehl and renowned social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) announced today the appointment of two board members to serve a two-year term on its board of directors. New members Rajiv Vinnakota, president of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, and Derek Kaufman, founder and CEO of the Inclusive Abundance Initiative (IAI), will support CDI’s mission to equip the next generation of Americans with the skills to bridge divides.
"In the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war, CDI has been experiencing tremendous demand from colleges and universities looking to improve discourse on their campuses," said Caroline Mehl, Co-Founder and Executive Director of CDI. "We are poised to have a tremendous impact in higher education in advance of the 2024 election. I'm grateful to have Raj and Derek as partners in leading CDI through this critical growth period."
Rajiv Vinnakota is the seventh president of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation). Prior to joining Citizens & Scholars in July 2019, Raj served as the Executive Vice President of the Youth & Engagement division at the Aspen Institute, a new venture focusing on youth leadership development, civic engagement, and opportunity. Before working at the Aspen Institute, he was the co-founder and CEO of The SEED Foundation, the nation’s first network of public, college-preparatory boarding schools for underserved children. Raj remains on the board of The SEED Foundation.
A graduate and former trustee of Princeton University, Raj has dedicated his career to educating, empowering, and supporting America’s youth, particularly those from disadvantaged communities. His work as a social entrepreneur and non-profit leader has earned him national recognition in the form of prestigious fellowships from Echoing Green, The Ashoka Foundation and the Aspen Institute, as well as awards such as Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award, Harvard University’s Innovation in American Government Award, and Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life award.
Raj is a board director for two public companies, Enovis Corporation and ESAB, and serves as chair of the nominating & governance committee for each of these boards. In addition to being a former trustee and executive committee member for Princeton University, Raj is the former national chair of its annual giving committee and former executive committee member for its Aspire capital campaign. Raj was previously a founding board member of Path Forward, an advisory committee member for the College Board, and a board director for The Meyer Foundation. Raj also serves on the advisory committee for Citizen Data.
At Princeton, Raj majored in molecular biology and also earned a certificate of studies from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs & Public Policy. He and his family live in Maine.
Derek Kaufman is Founder and CEO of the Inclusive Abundance Initiative (IAI), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization building a dynamic community of notable policy thinkers, think tanks, and advocacy groups to shape America’s future through an abundance-focused agenda. IAI builds on Mr. Kaufman’s previous policy work in areas ranging from the Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan to the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs in the CHIPS and Science Act. His prior career in finance included serving as Head of Global Fixed Income at the hedge fund Citadel and as Global Head of Fixed Income in the Proprietary Positioning Business at JPMorgan Chase. He was a member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee and the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets. He is currently on the Boards of Third Way and the Folger Shakespeare Library, on the Advisory Council of the Sadie Collective, and on the Leadership Council of the Robin Hood Foundation. Mr. Kaufman received a bachelor’s degree in Applied Math/Economics from Harvard College.
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About the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI)
Co-founded in 2017 by psychologist Jonathan Haidt and Caroline Mehl, the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) is a non-profit organization that builds educational tools to equip Americans with the skills to communicate and collaborate across differences. To accomplish this goal, CDI translates the latest behavioral science research into educational resources that are evidence-based, practical, and scalable for institutions, educators, students, and communities.
