Maxim Thorne, CEO of Civic Influencers, and Rohan Preston, Theater Critic at the Star Tribune will join on on Tuesday, June 6th at 12pm ET. Civic Influencers gives young voters on-the-ground data and winning strategies on campuses and in communities to boost civic power and impact elections.
Read Thorne’s latest Washington Post Op-Ed article here on the Right’s effort to silence young voters.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:
“I know what it is like to feel the entire continuum of being young, marginalized and disenfranchised to becoming whole, empowered and American. Now more than ever, we need to reimagine, protect and strengthen the pillars of our democracy. We have to turbocharge and make real an intersectional and holistic democracy movement building on the centrality of the rich diversity of youth. Every innovation and tried and true is on the table, be it texting, digital organizing, short films, dorm storming, student panels, marches and more.” – Maxim Thorne
Maxim Thorne earned a B.A. (cum laude honors) in Economics and Political Science from Yale College and a J.D. from the Yale Law School. Maxim has served as the Managing Director of The Andrew Goodman Foundation, Senior Vice President and Chief Communications and Development Officer of NAACP, the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Human Rights Campaign and HRC Foundation and the Executive Director of NJ Head Start Association. As a dedicated leader and advocate, Maxim has served on the Board of Directors of many organizations as well, including the founding Board of Yale Black Alumni Association, Chaired the 40th Anniversary of the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale, Honorary Co-Chair of the 50th Anniversary of the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale, the Board of Governors of Yale University, Executive Committee of the Yale Law School, GLAAD, the North Star Fund, Amistad Research Center, Barnert Hospital Foundation and Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey. He also serves on the Yale Alumni Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Rohan Preston has been lead theater critic at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis since 1998, helping to shape the ecology of one of the nation’s most dynamic arts meccas but one that also is ground zero for the nation’s post-George Floyd racial reckoning. He has interviewed and written on Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks and a host of other luminary arts leaders. He led a Star Tribune team that won an Emmy for a documentary on the historic 2008 elections and has twice served on the Pulitzer jury for drama. Mr. Preston previously wrote for the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. Also a poet, playwright and composer, he was reared in New York and educated at Yale.
