AI4ALL Appoints New Board Members, Secures Funding from Major Corporations
Dami Osunsanya and Tess Posner Join AI4ALL Board of Directors, Additional Funds Power Nonprofit’s Efforts to Make Professional Roles in AI More Accessible to Historically Excluded Talent
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — AI4ALL, a national nonprofit that is transforming the pipeline of AI practitioners and creating a more inclusive, human-centered discipline, announced it has appointed Dami Osunsanya and Tess Posner to the Board of Directors. Both will support and advise the organization as it continues to build corporate and academic partnerships, as well as mentorship and training programs that will empower the next generation of AI professionals. Additionally, AI4ALL has secured new and follow-on funding from major corporations that will support its mission. New funding comes from Atlassian and Alan Eustace, and renewal funding comes from General Motors, Nielsen, Motorola Solutions Foundation, and Capital One. Renewed, previously committed funding for the calendar year comes from SoftBank, Pivotal Ventures, Reboot Representation and AIM-AHEAD. This funding and support that AI4ALL’s sponsors provide is critical to support the organization’s mission of establishing the next generation of AI Changemakers that humanity needs by equipping diverse, emerging talent with the responsible AI skills and social capital needed for collective success.
“Dami and Tess make outstanding additions to the Board of Directors,” said Emily Reid, CEO of AI4ALL. “We have relied on their guidance and leadership for a number of years with Dami as an Advisor and Tess as founding CEO. They join an impressive group of board members who are passionate about and integral to the changes we want to see in the AI field.”
Reid continued: “We are enormously grateful for grants and other financial support provided by organizations that are creating the future of technology. They all understand the importance of fostering the next generation of talent — especially in AI — and our work would not be possible without them.”
Osunsanya, who has served as an advisor to AI4ALL for more than two years, is partner, co-head of the Open Opportunity Fund founded by SoftBank Group, where she launched and manages a $100M-plus early stage and growth stage vehicle for tech enabled companies in the U.S. The Fund has invested in over 80 tech companies since 2020.
Osunsanya also serves on the Boards of Welcome Tech and Heru, and on the Operators Council Board of f7 Ventures. Prior to her role with the Open Opportunity Fund founded by SoftBank Group, Osunsanya was an investment director at SoftBank Investment Advisers, and held roles in corporate finance and strategy with Intel Corporation, The Kraft Heinz Company and Sprint. Osunsanya holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a bachelor of business administration, Finance, Chinese from Emory University — Goizueta Business School.
Posner is an award-winning social entrepreneur and musician focused on inclusion, equity and empowerment. She served as founding CEO of AI4ALL from 2017 through 2021, and grew it to over 20 AI education partner sites and to become an award-winning and internationally recognized organization. Prior to AI4ALL, she was managing director of TechHire at Opportunity@Work, a national initiative launched out of the White House to increase diversity in the tech economy. Prior to that, Posner built and led Samaschool, an educational initiative to build technical skills and confidence for the future of work that she scaled across the U.S. and internationally.
Posner’s social impact work has earned recognition including her selection as the winner of the VentureBeat Women in AI Award and one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics in 2020. A co-author of “The People Centered Economy: The New Ecosystem For Work,” Posner has been featured by numerous media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Entrepreneur, Fast Company and more. Her work has been funded by top national foundations and influencers including Melinda Gates, Jensen Huang, Google.org, Microsoft, Capital One Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Autodesk and the Robin Hood Foundation. She holds a master’s degree from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in liberal arts from St. John’s College.
AI4ALL empowers students to be AI Changemakers by cultivating an environment where they develop skills in critical thinking and relationship-building, and expertise in responsible AI. AI4ALL champions the diverse next generation of AI changemakers through education, ethics, and relationship-driven networks. The organization focuses specifically on serving Black, Hispanic and Latinx, and Indigenous students; and women and non-binary students.
To learn more about AI4ALL, as well as its leadership, board members and advisors, visit: https://ai-4-all.org/about/our-team/. Organizations interested in sponsoring AI4ALL can contact the organization here: https://ai-4-all.org/contact/.
