Meet the Committee

Jonathan Mooney is a dyslexic neurodivergent writer, speaker, and social entrepreneur who did not learn to read until he was twelve years old. He holds an honors degree from Brown University in English Literature (a word he still can’t spell), is a Harry S. Truman Scholar for Public Service, and was a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship.  He is the author of three books, Learning Outside the Lines (Simon and Schuster, 2000), The Short Bus (Henry Holt and Co., 2007), and the subtlety titled Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines (Henry Holt and Co., 2019). 

A lifelong social entrepreneur, Jonathan has created and co-founded a number of social ventures including, in MOCHAMP’s basement and with the support of the amazing Barrett Hazeltine, Eye-To-Eye National, a movement-building organization for students with learning and attention differences. He is currently the co-founder of The Divergent Fund, a venture philanthropy investing in high-impact social ventures that support and empower neurodivergent individuals and their families and speaks across the nation about neurodiversity and disability justice advocating for change.

Graduating in the Brown University Class of 2020 with a degree in engineering, Akash has cross-industry experience in product development and program management, spanning tech, healthcare, and non-profits. He is the Chair of the Community & Belonging Committee on the Brown Alumni Association Board of Governors, Chair-Elect of the Disability and Neurodivergence Alumni Collective (DNAC), and a member of the President's Advisory Council on Diversity. In his time at Brown, Akash found community with the Brown Center for Students of Color, South Asian Students Association, Meiklejohn Peer Advising Program, and Minority Peer Counselors.

Ollie is a physician advocate committed to advancing health and disability justice by tackling the intersections of ableism, systemic trauma, and DEI in healthcare and medical education. In their free time, they find joy in making art, practicing Aikido, and tending to a growing family of houseplants.

Lia Sifuentes Davis is the Director and Professor of the Civil Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law where she, along with student attorneys, litigates a diverse range of civil rights cases. The Clinic’s docket includes cases involving abusive law enforcement practices, prisoners’ rights, housing justice, the unlawful detention of immigrants, worker’s rights, and disability discrimination.

Prior to her career in academia, Lia was a Senior Litigation Attorney at Disability Rights Texas where she spent over a decade representing clients with disabilities in the areas of employment discrimination, accessibility, and voting. Her work focused on the Americans with Disabilities Act and she led the voting rights team in its litigation and amicus practice. She has presented in Texas and nationally on various areas of disability rights.

At the core of her teaching and practice is a deep commitment to community. Lia works closely with grassroots organizations to shape advocacy campaigns, often with a focus on disability justice and local action. Because she believes in the power of collaborative work to challenge injustice, she hopes to build community with anyone who seeks to create a more just world.

Lia believes that imagining a better world is a daily practice and that dreaming of a better future is just as vital as fighting current harms. By encouraging her students to envision their community rooted in justice, she cultivates not only competent lawyers but also creative, resilient advocates.

Arenal Haut (she/her) graduated from Brown in 2024 with an Honors degree with dual concentrations in Public Health and in Science, Technology, and Society (STS). Brown was the place where Arenal first got introduced to disability justice, and during her time as a student, she was deeply involved in this work. Arenal’s community building, student organizing, and advocacy efforts included co-founding Disability Justice as Public Health (DJAPH), a student group at the School of Public Health and serving as an executive board member for the student group Disability Justice at Brown (DJAB). In terms of academic disability studies, she took as many disability-related courses as possible; worked as a Teaching Assistant for the course Pathology to Power: Disability, Health, and Community (PHP1680); received university funding via the University Teaching and Research Awards (UTRA) program to develop and present on a new course called Constructing Illness: Critical Perspectives on the Medical Model of Disability; and wrote her thesis on the social impacts of disability and chronic illness among young adults. Together, Arenal’s disability justice advocacy and disability-related academic pursuits earned her the 2023 Student Accessibility Services (SAS) Catherine J. Axe Advocacy Award, given annually to a student who effectively advocated “for greater awareness and understanding of students with disabilities.”

During her time at Brown, Arenal was also involved in a cappella with the Alef Beats, public health research at the Center for Digital Health, community outreach with Connect for Health, and educational advocacy with Students for Educational Equity.

Caroline Mailloux, ‘07 is a people-first business strategist, organization and culture designer, and diversity, equity, and belonging practitioner. Her specialty is transformation-level change initiatives, inclusive of technology and culture and she serves both nonprofits and corporate entities. Currently she serves as the Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Sarepta, a biotech serving the rare disease community. She is passionate about convening people to work through hard conversations, whether it be shifting perspectives on death and dying or disability inclusion at work. She is a graduate of Brown University’s Development Studies program and has completed fellowships at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and Harvard’s Kennedy School. She currently resides in greater Providence, RI, with her partner, two kids, two cats, and a dog. For fun, she enjoys the exploration of places and possibilities; she is currently learning how to sail with the long-term dream of working from a sailboat. 

Frances Mejia is a corporate lawyer turned volunteer disability rights advocate, expert in adaptive technology, and mentor to Latine students. Frances worked in the Latin American and Litigation practices of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP until a previously undiagnosed genetic disorder, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, caught up to her and devastated her ability to work. Frances reinvented herself by tapping into her lifelong commitment to volunteerism. Most recently, Frances has returned to her roots at Brown, volunteering as the Vice President of Regional Engagement for Brown University’s Latino Alumni Council and as a Delegate for DNAC.

Prior to working at Cleary, Frances was a television reporter for an NBC affiliate, taught college journalism, and worked in a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. Also, in her former life, Frances was a competitive bicyclist. She competed in two Junior Olympic Festivals.

Frances holds a JD from Yale Law School, an MA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California, and an AB in Economics and English Literature with Honors from Brown. Frances was a Fulbright Fellow in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. She is a member of the New York Bar and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

IZETTA AUTUMN MOBLEY, Ph.D. (She/Her) is a native Washingtonian, scholar, facilitator, and museum educator. Her academic work focuses on public history, slavery, material and visual culture, gender, race, medicine, and disability. Her research explores how race, slavery, and disability are enmeshed in the Atlantic world. She has worked with the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, Humanities D.C., the Office of Historic Alexandria, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Dr. Mobley served as the Director of Interpretation, Collections, and Education at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. Currently, she is an independent curator and scholar focusing on museums, public history, trauma-informed approaches to interpretation, and disability access. 

Resourceful, creative, and results-driven management and marketing executive with extensive experience in leading the development and execution of cohesive marketing plans that propel customer acquisition and business growth for both startups and leading corporations. Proven track record of building a strong brand presence across platforms, increasing revenue, digitizing marketing strategies, and leveraging passion for technology to drive continuous innovation while making a positive impact in the community. An expert in all areas of marketing, including business-to-business marketing (B2B), business-to-customer marketing (B2C), and public relations (PR). A methodical, data-driven leader adept at defining business metrics, setting content and marketing KPIs, and utilizing data and analytics to launch successful marketing campaigns in a fast-paced environment. An analytical storyteller with the ability to translate a brand’s value proposition into a compelling narrative to engage wider audiences.

Taylor Rust (he/him) is Director of Strategic Partnerships at Joshin, an employer benefit that provides comprehensive support for disability and neurodivergence in workplaces through coaching, personalized navigation, and digital resources/training for employees, caregivers, managers, and teams. Before joining Joshin, Taylor was an HR consultant for over 10 years, advising large employers on the intersection of Total Rewards, Wellbeing, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.\

Taylor received his Executive MBA from Brown University and IE University in 2024, where he completed a capstone project focused on improving neurodivergent representation in film and television. Taylor is autistic and ADHD, which drives his passion for neuro-inclusion.

Doug Ulman is a three-time cancer survivor and serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors at Pelotonia, which was established in 2008 with the objective to fund lifesaving cancer research. Doug is also a seasoned investor and entrepreneur, and he founded ORLI Partners in 2022 to shine a light on our biggest societal problems and the entrepreneurial talent arriving to solve them. Through his work with the ORLI Foundation, Doug identifies and connects the brightest social entrepreneurs with the resources they need to succeed.  

Social entrepreneurship and cancer advocacy have defined Doug’s professional trajectory since he overcame chondrosarcoma during his sophomore year of college, followed by two subsequent diagnoses of malignant melanoma. As a young cancer survivor, Doug and his family founded the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults to ensure that all young adults impacted by cancer have a voice and the necessary resources to thrive. With funding from an Echoing Green Fellowship, Doug served as Executive Director of the organization for four years before joining the LIVESTRONG Foundation in 2001 as Director of Survivorship. He went on to lead LIVESTRONG as President and Chief Executive Officer, establishing the organization as the global leader in cancer survivorship.  

Doug recently served as a Hauser Leader at Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership and speaks frequently at some of the nation’s most acclaimed festivals and conferences, including the Social Good Summit, the Inc. 500|5000 Conference, the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Clinton Global Initiative University, TEDxAustin, SXSW Interactive and YPO Chapters across the country. Doug has also spoken to and consulted with numerous Fortune 100 companies and fast-growing startups. Doug’s personal story and his leadership accomplishments have been featured in major media outlets, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, NBC News, ABC News, and MSNBC, among many others. Doug has been honored with many accolades, including twice being named on the Non-Profit Times’ Power and Influence Top 50 Non-Profit Executives list, an honor bestowed on the top non-profit leaders in the United States. Doug was also named CEO of the Year: Large Non-Profit by Columbus CEO Magazine in 2017 and the PR Professional of the Year by the Public Relations Society of America in 2013. 

Doug currently holds numerous board positions for organizations such as the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, Athletes for Hope, ROOT Insurance, and Signal Ohio. He is also an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and The Columbus Partnership. Doug served for four years on the National Cancer Institute Director’s Consumer Liaison Group and has served on the Board of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, as well as many other philanthropic, healthcare, and entrepreneurial ventures. 

Doug lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Amy Grace, and their two children, Clara and Sam. Follow him on Twitter (@dougulman) and Instagram (dougulman) and connect with him on Facebook (Doug Ulman). 

As a queer, mentally ill, AuDHD, and disabled Chinese-Burmese Buddhist woman and child of immigrants, Yema (she/they) is a manifestation of communal love. Because of various communities that have brought her up—most notably, the Burmese Buddhist community in the Bay Area in California and disabled community at Brown—Yema has been able to become a mental health and disability justice scholar-activist-poet dedicated to working toward collective refuge, love, and liberation, particularly for Myanmar women.

Yema graduated from Brown University in 2019 with a B.A. in their independent concentration, Critical Mental Health Studies, which investigated the medical and social models of mental illness and how both could be navigated for social justice in mental health. During her time at Brown, Yema became co-coordinator of Project LETS at Brown and then in 2019, alongside Malana Krongelb ‘19, she co-founded and led Disability Justice at Brown (DJAB). Some of DJAB’s most notable triumphs have been launching Brown’s first disability study space and building the Disability Justice Student Initiative (DJSI), which still runs today. To continue this work, Yema has worked in the mental health / disability nonprofit sector and graduated in 2023 from York University with a Master of Arts in Critical Disability Studies.

To hone their praxis in non-Western disability, Yema is currently based in Bangkok, Thailand, with their partner to focus on and practice critical disability work around women in Myanmar and Southeast Asia.