Title Founder Company Playworks Bio Jill Vialet has worked for more than 30 years in the nonprofit sector. In 1996, Vialet launched Playworks in Berkeley, CA. With a staff of 700, this year Playworks will ensure 900,000 students in 1,800 schools experience safe and healthy play through on-site coaches, professional training, and consultative partnerships with schools and youth-serving organizations. A Harvard graduate and rugby player, Jill has received many awards, including the Ashoka Fellowship in 2004. In 2009, Vialet and Playworks were selected as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. In 2011, Vialet was named by Forbes magazine as one of the top 30 leading social entrepreneurs and recognized by the Women’s Sports Foundation as one of 40 Women Leaders in honor of the anniversary of Title IX. In 2013, Vialet was awarded the James Irvine Leadership Award and in 2014, Vialet received the Pahara Aspen Education Fellowship. Jill is a frequent public speaker and has given talks at TEDMED, TEDxSanFrancisco, TEDxABQ, and keynotes at national conferences. Jill also writes extensively on play and social entrepreneurship and has contributed to publications including the Huffington Post, Edutopia, and Forbes.com. During the 2015-16 school year, Jill was an Education Fellow at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (better known as the d.school) where she launched a new project called Substantial, re-designing the way we recruit, train, and support substitute teachers.