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Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Warby Parker
Neil Blumenthal is Co-founder and Co-CEO of Warby Parker, a direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand focused on vision for all. Since day one, over fifteen million pairs of glasses have been distributed through the company’s Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program.
Neil was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. He serves on the board of directors of Allbirds, Sweetgreen, the Warby Parker Impact Foundation, Tech:NYC, and the Partnership Fund for New York City. Neil also serves on the board of advisors for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and Responsible Innovation Labs. Neil also sits on the leadership council of Robin Hood and serves as a General Partner of Good Friends LLC, an early stage venture capital firm.
A native of New York City, Neil received his BA from Tufts University and his MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Neil lives in Greenwich Village with his wife, Rachel, the founder of Rockets of Awesome, and their two children.
Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Warby Parker
Dave Gilboa is a co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, a transformative lifestyle brand offering designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses. In 2015, Fast Company named Warby Parker the most innovative company in the world.
Prior to launching Warby Parker in 2010, Dave worked at merchant bank Allen & Company and strategy consulting firm Bain & Company. Dave has worked extensively with non-profit organizations and serves as a founding member of the Entrepreneur Board of Venture for America, an organization dedicated to mobilizing graduates as entrepreneurs in low-cost cities. He is a Henry Crown Fellow through the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In 2018, he was named a McNulty Laureate by the McNulty Foundation. He also received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and was recognized as part of “The Next Establishment” by Vanity Fair.
Born in Sweden and raised in San Diego, Dave graduated with a BS in Bioengineering with Honors from UC Berkeley and holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Vice President for Government Affairs at New York Medical College (NYMC) and Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice
Robert W. Amler, MD, MBA, FAAP, FACPM is Vice President for Government Affairs at New York Medical College (NYMC) and Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice. Previously, he served as Regional Health Administrator of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Commanding Officer of federal emergency response assets in the Northeast and Caribbean Region.
At NYMC he launched the Institute of Public Health with interdisciplinary centers of excellence in Disability and Health, Long-Term Care, Disaster Medicine, and Children’s Environmental Health. He is a practicing pediatrician at Boston Children’s Health Physicians in Westchester and serves on the Boards of Directors of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, the Business Council of Westchester, and Westchester County Association.
Founder and President of Bryant Park Corporation, 34th Street Partnership, and Biederman Redevelopment Ventures Corporation
Daniel A. Biederman is the founder and President of Bryant Park Corporation, 34th Street Partnership, and Biederman Redevelopment Ventures Corporation. He also founded and managed Grand Central Partnership for 14 years, and Chelsea Improvement Company for 7 years.
During his career, through these entities, he has turned around or created 12 privately-funded and managed urban parks and seven troubled neighborhoods, cutting thousands of annual crimes, creating 2,500 direct jobs and over $15 billion in real estate value.
In 1980, he began the restoration of Bryant Park. Starting in 1989, Biederman set up the 34th Street Partnership, a Business Improvement District covering 31 key blocks in midtown Manhattan. Using methods honed at Bryant Park, 34SP was instrumental in the dramatic revival that has made 34th Street one of NYC’s most vibrant neighborhoods and transformed the downtrodden Herald and Greeley Squares.
Mr. Biederman graduated from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs, magna cum laude, in 1975, and from Harvard Business School with distinction in 1977.
