is widely recognized as one of the leading hope scholars in the world. He is a professor at the University of Oklahoma and Director of The Hope Research Center and has published over 80 research studies. Chan was one of five invited workshops for Jane Goodall’s Activating Hope Summit in 2021. Chan’s work was featured as a main stage presentation at the 2023 American Psychological Association convention. Chan is the co-author of the award-winning book Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life. Chan has Co-Founded Hope Rising Oklahoma along with First Lady Sarah Stitt in their effort to make Oklahoma a hope-centered state. 

is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on education and upward mobility, family formation, and adoption. He is the cofounder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a network of virtue-based International Baccalaureate high schools inaugurated in the Bronx in 2022; the chairman of the board of Spence-Chapin, a nonprofit adoption services organization; and the cofounder of the National Summer School Initiative. Ian is the auther of Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for All Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power. He concurrently serves as a senior visiting fellow at the Woodson Center and a writer for the 1776 Unites Campaign.

is the President & CEO of Ascend, a national non-profit organization that equips & unites the national Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) field to help youth make healthy choices about sex, relationships, and marriage. She is a co-developer of Ascend’s nationally recognized Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) Certification Course, credentialing over 3,000 SRA educators across the US and Canada to date. She is the author of Making Your Message Matter, a popular communication seminar, and is the co-author of The War on Intimacy. As a recognized thought leader and public speaker, Mary Anne is dedicated to advocating for SRA education to ensure youth have the protective assets they need to reach optimal health and life success.