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Watch recordings of the 2023 Summit today. Sessions | Keynotes

Michele Leaman

Michele Leaman

Co-founder, Violence Prevention Network - US

Eradicate Hate:
2022, 2023

Michèle is co-founder of Violence Prevention Network US and draws on a decade worth of start-up, program design, and managerial experience, and 20 years of professional experience in for-profit, non-profit, and academic sectors in the US and Europe.

Joining Violence Prevention Network in Germany in 2016, she led the European Commission funded project “WayOut – Integrated Exit Program” which aimed to implement and improve desistance and rehabilitation programs for offenders of ideologically motivated crimes in prisons and during probation across Europe.

In 2017, she co-founded modus|zad in Berlin, Germany: a new, social impact non-profit organization to counter the rapid evolution of extremism by better leveraging academic research and insights from business innovation practices. Under Michèle’s leadership the modus|zad team has grown to 12 staff members and Michèle continues in the role of managing director, overseeing organizational strategy, growth and operations.

Previously, she designed and implemented an accreditation process for universities developing social innovation programs at Ashoka, the leading global organization for social entrepreneurship, headquartered in Washington, DC. There she advised dozens of institutions—ranging from Cornell and Brown University to Singapore Management University—across four continents.

Prior to her time at Ashoka, she managed a US-wide initiative on advancing personal and social responsibility with college students at the Association of American Colleges and Universities in Washington, DC.

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The catalytic power of this Summit in bringing together those who are devoting their lives to pushing back and working to confront, understand and work towards solutions around hate in our society is a noble and difficult task. The Summit not only energized those who attended but led to connecting the dots in a global network of those doing this work. The stories of the victims of hate were painful to witness but their courage in coming forward was inspirational. Those who attended left energized with the hope that by working together solutions can be forged.

Robert Rosenthal Board Member, Executive Producer, Acting CEO, The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR)