Our Board

Daniel Shuchman

Chairman, Co-Founder

Daniel is the former long-term Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the pre-eminent nonprofit dedicated to defending free…

Daniel is the former long-term Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the pre-eminent nonprofit dedicated to defending free speech on Campus. He is also fund manager at MSD Partners, L.P., a New York-based investment firm. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Daniel has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

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Jonathan Haidt

Founding Member

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. His books include The Righteous Mind, The Happiness Hypothesis and, with…

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. His books include The Righteous Mind, The Happiness Hypothesis and, with Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind.

In 2017, Jonathan teamed up with Daniel Shuchman, Lenore Skenazy, and Peter Gray to start a nonprofit promoting childhood independence and resilience. With Skenazy, he co-authored The Fragile Generation, which has garnered over 2,000,000 views.

Haidt is also founder of Heterodox Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring viewpoint diversity on campus. A graduate of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, he has given four TED talks. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.

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Lenore Skenazy

Secretary, Co-Founder

After her newspaper column “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone” landed her on The Today Show, Fox News, NPR, and everywhere in…

After her newspaper column “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone” landed her on The Today Show, Fox News, NPR, and everywhere in between, Lenore went on to write Free-Range Kids,  the book-turned-movement. She has been profiled in The New Yorker, hosted the reality show, “World’s Worst Mom,” and has lectured everywhere from Disney to Microsoft to schools across the country — and the Bulgarian Happiness Festival. It was Lenore who created the annual “Take Our Children to the Park…And Leave Them There Day.” A graduate of Yale, Skenazy lives in New York with her husband and beloved computer. Her kids have flown the coop, which is good for proof-of-concept purposes, but she misses them.

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Peter Gray

Founding Member

Peter Gray is a Research Prof. of Psychology at Boston College. He is author of the textbook  Psychology, now in its 8th edition, and Free to…

Peter Gray is a Research Prof. of Psychology at Boston College. He is author of the textbook  Psychology, now in its 8th edition, and Free to LearnWhy Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. His past research had to do with basic mammalian motivational mechanisms. His current research is on the social-emotional importance of mixed-age play.

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Samantha Boardman

Member

Samantha is a New York based positive psychiatrist, professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, and author of Everyday Vitality. She received a B.A. from Harvard University,…

Samantha is a New York based positive psychiatrist, professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, and author of Everyday Vitality. She received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, completed a 4-year residency program in Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, and earned an additional Master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the founder of Positive Prescription, sharing practical and achievable strategies for life-enhancement and resilience-building, and offering her take on why they matter. She is a frequent contributor to Psychology Today, The Wall Street Journal, and Thrive Global, and a guest on The Today Show and Good Day New York.

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