Alaina Bloodworth has served as the Executive Director of the Black Public Defender Association (BPDA) since 2022, where she has led the launch of 15 community engagement projects nationwide and solidified the organization’s commitment to supporting Black defenders and enhancing defense in low-income communities. Mrs. Bloodworth began her legal career as a public defender in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She served as Director of Students at the East Baton Rouge Office of the Public Defender and the Social Justice Chair for her local NAACP branch, and in 2021 assumed the critical position of Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, leading collaborative efforts with the community that resulted in the dismissal of 700 cases due to police corruption. (Click here for full bio.)

Kuntrell Jackson is an outspoken activist, author, and highly sought-out speaker who addresses audiences regarding children in America who are deeply affected by abuse, neglect, domestic and community violence, and poverty leading to mass incarceration. His purpose is driven by first-hand experience with these conditions, having been wrongfully convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at age 14. With the involvement of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), Mr. Jackson became one of the plaintiffs in a 2012 case challenging his sentence, in which the Supreme Court issued a historic ruling, holding that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for children are unconstitutional. He is now strategically involved in the fight for prison and sentencing reform and the fight against stringent parole conditions and the lack of support for those re-entering communities, which lead to high recidivism rates. (Click here for full bio.)

Maha Jweied is the CEO of the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ). She is an international expert on access to justice and has dedicated her career to advancing legal and policy reform to improve systems of justice. Prior to joining RBIJ, Ms. Jweied worked with several organizations that partner with the business community to advance access to justice policy and practice in the United States, Europe, and across the globe, including the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, Kids in Need of Defense, and the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies. She also spent nearly a dozen years in the federal Executive Branch and led the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Access to Justice and served as the Executive Director of the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable. Ms. Jweied also served as the U.S. Government’s Subject-Matter Expert for UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 indicator identification and development.

Susan Liao has a mission to make the future of foundership inclusive and accessible to all. She is an experienced equity-centered startup advisor, coach and facilitator who works at the intersection of digital innovation, social entrepreneurship, non-profit impact strategy, and for-profit business strategy. Susan has coached over 60 first-time founders through her ventures, Startups for All and Leaders Like Us LLC, which serve to help purpose-driven founders, knowledge workers, and social entrepreneurs from underrepresented populations clarify their NorthStar purpose and achieve measurable social change.

Alisa Malone is a member-at-large of the QSIDE Board of Directors, to which she brings decades of experience leading non-profit and mission-driven organizations to the . She previously served as the Chief Executive Officer at Persevere, as well as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for IDS with responsibilities that include strategic planning, operations management and client relations. As an executive, her areas of focus included: organizational change management, fiscal stewardship, strategic management, staff development, accountability, positive outcomes, and public policy.

Rev. Jon Middendorf has been on the ministry team at Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene since 1990, serving as Lead Pastor since August of 2007. In recent years he has helped to launch three non-profit organizations designed to address literacy deficits among children in Oklahoma City, chronic poverty in Zambia, Africa, and systemic injustice in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, and the state. Rev. Middendorf moonlights with the ONE campaign, lobbying elected officials to support efforts to alleviate and eliminate poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. He and his wife Kelly enjoy life with their daughter Taylor (and husband Brady) and son Drew.

Jude Higdon. Ed.D. currently serves as the Chief Operations Officer for the QSIDE Institute. As the co-founder of the QSIDE Institute, Jude has helped to develop programs to promote and further the use of cutting edge quantitative methods to understand and address historical oppression and marginalization. He has also developed online learning environments for several major not-for-profit organizations including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Red Cross, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.