Taproot Foundation

Aaron Hurst is the founder of the Taproot Foundation and is a creative force behind the conception of the national Billion + Change initiative and the Service Enterprise model. He is a featured blogger for the Huffington Post and Stanford Social Innovation Review. Aaron began his career as a social innovator at the University of Michigan, where he designed and led an educational program for local correctional facilities, subsequently becoming the first student to receive the Michigan Campus Compact Award. Upon graduating, he worked in inner-city education in Chicago before landing in Silicon Valley as an early employee at two venture-backed social venture companies. Aaron is a recipient of the Ashoka Foundation fellowship and has also been formally recognized as a leading social innovator by the Aspen Institute, Social Venture Network, Fast Company, Commonwealth Club, the Manhattan Institute, the State of California, and the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.

Lindsay Firestone Gruber became President and CEO in 2018. A widely recognized authority on nonprofit capacity-building, CSR and cross-sector collaboration, Lindsay has dedicated her career to the idea that greater change can be achieved in the world by helping to strengthen the organizations that are tackling some of society’s greatest challenges. Under her leadership, the Taproot Foundation supports organizations by engaging business professionals in pro bono service, ensuring that organizations serving the social good have access to the marketing, HR, IT, strategy and other resources they need to thrive.