CORI STERN

The creation of The Strongheart Fellowship Program has been Cori's long-time passion and goal. A writer and social entreprenuer - as well as a former television executive at Saban Entertainment and Fox Family Channel - Cori's involvement in global issues intensified during the civil war in Cote d’Ivoire when she learned of Centre SAS, an orphan-care center caught behind rebel lines in Bouake. Over 1,000 children were trapped without food or medicine, cared for by a handful of workers. Moved by their situation, Cori raised enough funds privately to purchase $100,000 worth of medicine and coordinated a convoy with UNAIDS and the Red Cross to transport her shipment in to the children. Since that time, Cori has coordinated numerous international relief and assistance efforts including a major vaccination campaign in Northern Nigeria, building a self-sustaining primary school in a refugee settlement in Ghana, and an education sponsorship program for former street and slave children in The Gambia.  Together with Dr. Arthur Ammann, she created Cradle of Life, a global effort to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV through training village birth attendants in HIV testing and administration of Nevirapine.  Her additional projects include co-founding The Next Right Thing, offering free medical treatment and transport for critically ill or injured children from developing nations, as well as The Name Campaign, a major awareness campaign to help end the LRA atrocities in Northern Uganda. Her work has been covered by NPR, BBC, ABC World News, the Oprah Winfrey Show, and National Geographic.

ZOE ADAMS
Zoe Adams serves as the Executive Director of The Strongheart Group. A serial social entrepreneur, she is known for her visionary leadership and ability to build solid organizational infrastructure around forward-thinking people, projects and concepts. For over fifteen years, Zoe has led and supported both non-profit and for-profit corporations in their establishment from seed stage through growth. An internationally-known speaker and youth activist at the age of nineteen, she founded Earth Dwellers, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating youth on the world's interconnectedness, instilling environmental and social responsibility and inspiring community activism. She was awarded the National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation for leadership in environmental causes and was the keynote speaker at the National Youth Environmental Summit, a conference for global leaders of environmental youth organizations from around the world. Zoe moved on to an exceptional career in media, technology, public policy and economic development - becoming a key team member and senior executive for Saban Entertainment, Fox Family Worldwide, Fox Kids Europe, and the American Electronics Association (AeA). As innovations in thought and technology accelerate our global culture, Zoe views the world to be at a critical crossroads. She awakens everyday honored to be running The Strongheart Group, commited to the mission of bringing projects, people and resources together to radically transform individual lives and strengthen the fabric of humanity.

TRACEY DURNING

Tracey Durning is a producer and global activist who uses the power of media, film, and dynamic convening, to facilitate a deeper exchange of ideas and call to action to support innovators looking to change the global landscape. Over the past few years, Tracey developed and executive produced the Paramount/MTV Film Freedom Writers starring Hilary Swank. The film is based on a story she produced for ABC News Primetime Live in 1998 and chronicles the incredible journey of first-time teacher Erin Gruwell and her classroom of racially diverse students in Long Beach, California following the LA race riots. During that time, Tracey also traveled extensively throughout Africa with Millennium Promise's Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, documenting the work being done in several millennium villages to combat global poverty and producing the organization's first advocacy film. She then put her producing skills to work coordinating two high-level events which brought Dr. Sachs together with leaders in philanthropy, business, media and entertainment. Today she sits on Millennium Promise's Board of Directors continuing to raise funds and awareness. In 2005-2006 The Wealth and Giving Forum (WGF) recruited her to help produce their annual event of high net-worth philanthropists and she also received a fellowship from Globalegacy, a network of business, nonprofit and development practitioners developing new ways to use market-based enterprise to address global poverty and sustainability issues. That fellowship took her throughout India, where she now consults on a social enterprise which gives poor women the unprecendented opportunity to own and franchise their own businesses. Tracey consulted for NFTE (The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship) which looks to empower urban youth in the US. Her career began in broadcast journalism and documentaries where over the course of 12 years her credits include ABC News Primetime Live, World News, Nightline, 20/20 and Good Morning America, CBS News Newspath and Day and Date, and a variety of news and entertainment programs on CNN and MTV.

KRISTI MANNING

For more than fifteen years,Kristi Manning has worked as a consultant, project director, and international event organizer for a variety of nonprofit organizations. She has built a career providing ongoing strategic and tactical support for nonprofit initiatives with a focus on improved quality of life for youth both in the United States and abroad. In 1996, Kristi worked with the Olympic Games, where she was involved with managing all elements of planning and operations including accreditation, transportation, administration, asset management, communications, logistics, security, and venue management.  She also worked with Starbright Foundation, where she directed the expansion and implementation of a private online network in 95 hospitals across North America and Canada designed to improve the lives of seriously ill children. Most recently, her work includes Development Manager for the Painted Turtle Camp and co-founder of The Next Right Thing, offering free medical treatment and transport for critically ill or injured children from developing nations.  Most recently, Kristi worked in Dubai for DUBAI CARES, an initiative that raised approximately 1 billion dollars for primary education in developing countries in support of the Milennium Goals. Recognizing that the increasing globalization of the world economy creates the need for greater cross-cultural connections and strong compassionate leadership, Kristi is excited to contribute to the success and sustainability of Strongheart.

ADVISORS

DR. ARTHUR AMMANN

A world renown pediatric immunologist and global public health activist, Dr. Ammann was the first doctor in the world to diagnose a pediatric AIDS case. Among his many awards and honors, Dr. Ammann has received the United States Surgeon General Award for Research, the United States Public Health Service Fellowship Award, recognition by POZ Magazine as an one of the 50 Most Innovative AIDS Researchers, and Heroes in Medicine Award by the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care.  As past president of AmFar and founder of Global Strategies for HIV Prevention, Dr. Ammann is not only a leading scientist but also a dedicated humanitarian crusader in the fight against HIV/AIDS. His focus is the advocacy and implementation of HIV prevention programs in resource poor areas throughout the world, in particular, meeting the needs of women and children most affected by the HIV epidemic. The programs supported by Global Strategies for HIV Prevention have provided life saving antiretrovirals to over 66,000 women and infants, conducted workshops and conferences in over 21 countries, and provided education and training for thousands of health care workers, individuals and organizations in 102 countries.

ALEXIS HEFLEY

Alexis Hefley founded the Uganda Children's Charity Foundation in 1995 after living and working with AIDS orphans and other disadvantaged children in Kampala, Uganda for 18 months. Through fundraising tours of the internationally acclaimed Children of Uganda dance troupe, UCCF provides education and living expenses for 700 orphans in Uganda. Additionally, UCCF has a US-based residency scholarship program for exceptional Ugandan young people chosen from the orphanage. The first graduate of the program, a young woman Alexis met on her first visit to Uganda, has just graduated with her Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, specializing in International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. She is now working at the United Nations Office of Children and Armed Conflict in conflict prevention and peace building in Africa. As she recently wrote, "My aspirations would have been snuffed out long ago without the generosity of individuals and organizations like UCCF willing to answer the need to empower others to change the course of their country’s destiny. "

DR. FIDELIA BODE THOMAS

Dr. Bode Thomas is the Executive Director of Heart Aid Trust, an NGO based in Jos, Nigeria that focuses on pediatric cardiac care in West Africa. In addition to securing life-saving surgery and medical evacuation to more developed countries for scores of children, Dr. Bode Thomas is heading the creation of the first pediatric cardiac surgery unit in West Africa, to be based at National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria.

JOEL BARAL

Joel Baral is the founder of Modern Earth, an affiliate of Concierge Financial Services, Inc., a boutique real estate & finance company. A pioneer in green commercial development, Joel is one of the first lenders to be accredited by the US Green Building Council as a LEED™ Green Building Professional, working with fellow green building professionals on the impending shift of developing real estate and real estate funding toward sustainability and environmental living.

KATHY ELDON

Kathy Eldon is the founder of the Creative Visions Foundation, the US-based parent organization of Strongheart Fellowship. An internationally-known writer, speaker, and producer, Kathy was the Executive Producer of the Emmy nominated documentary "Dying to Tell the Story" about journalists who risk their lives to do their jobs. Additionally, Kathy exec-produced the CNN documentary, "Soldiers of Peace : A Children's Crusade" about the Colombian children's peace movement, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Kathy is currently producing a feature film about her son, artist and Reuters photographer Dan Eldon, who was stoned to death at the age of 22 in Somalia. In 1997, Kathy edited "The Journey is the Destination", a collection of Dan's journal pages which was published by Chronicle Books.

AMY ELDON

Amy Eldon is the Executive Director of OneGlobalTribe, a program that connects young people around the world through meaningful service projects, providing them with concrete opportunities to create lasting change on a global scale. In addition, Amy is an established writer, producer and presenter. Her past projects include "Dying to Tell the Story," "Global Trek: In Search of New Lebanon," and "Soldiers of Peace: A Children's Crusade." Most recently Amy hosted and co-produced the PBS series "GlobalTribe," a show looking at people across the globe who are finding solutions to the challenges they face in their communities.