NEW YORK, NY— Today Student Voice announced the appointment of Alexis Glick, Nicholas Ferroni, Ryan Orbuch, Ritankar Das and Nikki Adeli as members of the nonprofit’s new Board of Directors, effective immediately. The announcement came alongside the organization’s reveal of its new partnership with SXSWedu at the finale of the second annual Student Voice Live! education summit on Sept. 20, 2014 in New York City.

Student Voice Co-founder and Executive Director Zak Malamed selected the board with counseling from his team members and the Student Voice Advisory Committee.

“The wealth of perspective from each of our board members will add invaluable expertise to our work moving forward,” Malamed said. “We are grateful for their commitment to serve as our directors and look forward to benefitting from their counsel as we make strides to grow our organization and impact.”

Alexis Glick is CEO of the GENYOUth Foundation and a veteran media personality turned strategic advisor for a wide range of corporations and philanthropies. Glick recently helped launch the Fox Business Network, where she served as Vice President of Business News and anchored “Money for Breakfast” and “The Opening Bell.” She is also a former Senior Fellow for the Kauffman Foundation, the largest charitable body dedicated to education and entrepreneurship in America.

Nicholas Ferroni is a revered educator and historian who was recently named one of the 100 most influential people in America. He is known for his commitment to education reform as well as for developing a “Teach the Truth” campaign to incorporate more minority figures and groups into the high school social studies curriculum.

Ryan Orbuch is the Founder of Basil Ltd. as well as the Co-Creator and Lead Designer of the best-selling application Finish for iPhone, which received an Apple Design Award in 2013. Orbuch was also the first high school student hired at Techstars Boulder, one of the world’s top accelerators providing seed funding and intensive mentorship to selective startups.

Ritankar Das is the founder and CEO of See Your Future, an education NGO reaching 75 million people worldwide. At 18, he was the youngest University Medalist among more than 6000 graduates from UC Berkeley and serves as youth chair on the advisory board of the USA Science and Engineering Festival.

Nikki Adeli is a high school senior at the Science Leadership Academy as well as a TEDx speaker and Youth Commissioner to Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia. Adeli advises on decisions impacting youth and is frequently called to testify at public hearings on issues regarding children and teenagers.

In addition to serving as the outside, non-partisan body of individuals that will help Student Voice reach and exceed its goals, the Board will assist in the short and long term program planning for the organization, advise Malamed and the executive board in the hiring process of director positions, approve organizational policies and changes, and advise Student Voice on best practices to achieve its mission and vision for the future.

“As an educator, I know that the only people more qualified than teachers to improve education are students,” Ferroni said. “I truly look forward to joining the Student Voice Board of Directors and will do everything in my power to provide students with an incredible platform for their voices to be heard.”

For more information on Student Voice Live! visit www.stuvoice.org.

‍