our team

The History Co:Lab is a systems-change initiative with a bold vision for the future. We envision a world in which all young people can engage to advance civic well-being for themselves, society and the planet.

We know that such an endeavor requires a collaborative approach, with a fluid, open team that includes and engages anyone with the same vision of world.

We are a small core team that sees all change as a collaborative team sport. We seek to work with any organization and individual interested in using history to empower young people to make our community better. 

co-leads

Fernande Raine

Fernande is led by a lifelong conviction that history can be fuel for a new, inclusive democratic culture. She obtained her History Ph.D. from Yale, and early in her career worked as a consultant with McKinsey and Innosight. She ran the Human Rights Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and launched and led the “Measurement in Human Rights” project. She launched several programs during 11 years as an intrapreneur at Ashoka and co-led the research effort into systems change leadership. Fernande learned history in a German high school in the 1980s as if the future of civilization depended on it.

Susan Rivers

Susan has had a long career of championing adolescent wellbeing, most recently through her leadership of iThrive Games, where she merges her psychology expertise with innovative game design to support teen mental health. After co-founding the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, she came to iThrive to combine research with designing learning tools that foster teens' social and emotional growth, underpinned by her belief in the untapped potential of young minds.

Susan has continued her love for research as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Games, Self, and Society and is an alum of the Billions Institute's Leadership Fellowship.

team leads

Tess Duncan
Learning Ecosystems

Jane Lee
Product Development

Michelle Bertoli
Learning Design

Emma Haseley
Systems Design

Alec Lai
Finance

youth partners

Cameron Jones
Pittsburg Mapping Lead

Jay Gorrepathi
Teen Toolkit Lead

Victor Ye
UnTextbooked Founder, Ambassador & Marketing

Sidney Clarke
UnTextbooked Producer Ambassador

board of directors

Victor Ye

#SocialEntrepreneur #StudentUSC #Founder #InnovaYouth #AshokaChangemaker #UnTextbookedPodcaster

Meredith Kellner

#StrategicAdvisor #ImpactDriven
#Collaborator

Dina Buchbinder

#AshokaFellow #Founder #EducationForSharing

Jane Wei Skillern

#MasterWeaver #Networks #CollectiveImpact

Nick Pineda

#Changemaker #Inclusive

Libby and Aaron Albright
Scott Anthony
Todd Bourell and Brooke Bailey
Bill Drayton
Yelena Dudochkina
Jeff and Christa Hawkins
Meredith and Peter Kellner

generous donors

George and Bicky Kellner
William Kelly
Ginna Martin
Nina and Nick von Moltke
Steve and Marianne Noll
Matt Ogden
Elizabeth Planet

Amanda Pustilnik
JC de Swaan
Eckhard Waelzholz
Matt and Covie Weinzierl
Francis Wilmerding
Brian Trelstad
Anonymous, Munich