Who is doing this work.
A small team, and a wider circle of advisors, working where AI and technology meet human flourishing, civic life, and storytelling.
Co-founders
Cory Smith
Cory Smith is an experienced entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology, innovation, and social impact. In 2013, he co-founded Wisdom Labs and led the Wise@Work platform for workplace resilience, delivering baselines and improvements to hundreds of major employers. Today, he leads Human Aligned Ventures, a venture studio creating AI-native companies for human flourishing in safe, trusted environments. He previously served as CEO of Impact Hub San Francisco, CEO of the Social Capital Markets Conference, and the first Innovation Fellow for the City of San Francisco under Mayor Ed Lee. Earlier, he was CEO of Webcast Solutions and co-founder of MediaCast, the first on-location webcast company. He holds the wider civic frame for humanaligned.org and the founding direction of Human Aligned Ventures.
Elana Yonah
Elana architects strategic partnerships at the intersection of technology, human dignity, and institutional transformation. She translates complex realities into actionable wisdom for leaders shaping humanity's relationship with AI. A former KQED-TV producer and a writer for the Center for Investigative Reporting, she co-created EDUTOPIA at the George Lucas Educational Foundation. She founded Just Think and later merged it with One Economy, and together they secured $51.1M in federal and corporate funding to open offices in 17 countries. Her global partnerships span Cisco's $10M Sub-Saharan commitment to Community Knowledge Centers, including collaborations with Pope Francis to eradicate modern-day slavery. She orchestrated the National Association for Media Literacy Education's Core Principles, establishing the foundational framework for curriculum nationwide. Emmy-nominated and a Jefferson Award recipient for public service.
Andy Patrick
Andy is an entrepreneur with forty years of experience at the intersection of visual storytelling, technology, and design. He founded and led FiftyCrows Foundation and its International Fund for Documentary Photography, the National Geographic All Roads Photography & Film Awards for Indigenous storytellers, LiveBooks portfolio websites for over 15,000 storytellers, and Roam Media creating episodic, social-first stories of adventure around the world. He has served on boards for Mother Jones magazine, Richard Gere's Foundation for preserving Tibetan culture, and the Kinsey Institute. His executive producing of photojournalistic work on war crimes in Iraq with VII Photo, where he was the CEO, aired for three straight nights on ABC Nightly News.
Senior advisor
Lynn Luckow
Lynn served as President and CEO of Craigslist Foundation, Northern California Grantmakers, Jossey-Bass Publishers, and LikeMinded, Inc. Over four decades he has acquired expertise in organization leadership, strategy, change, governance, philanthropy, nonprofit effectiveness, partnership building, and youth and adult development. Lynn has served on or consulted to over 50 nonprofit boards, including chairing the national boards of Chanticleer, the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, Project Open Hand, and National 4-H Council, for which the National Assembly of Health and Human Service Organizations honored him as the nation's top nonprofit board chair in 2000. He sits closely with the co-founders as senior advisor on partnerships, governance, and field-building strategy.
Advisory board
The advisory board spans people building and studying AI, researchers in mental health and human flourishing, leaders in the future of work and education, and voices from civic life, journalism, and storytelling.