Filmmaker George Lucas' devotion to timeless storytelling and cutting-edge innovation has resulted in some of the most successful and beloved films of all time, including the Star Wars Saga and the Indiana Jones franchise, while also pioneering new digital standards for sophistication in film visuals and sound and inspiring generations of young people to follow their imagination and dreams.
Taking a philanthropic leadership role in applying his technical and storytelling expertise to the classroom, Lucas founded the George Lucas Educational Foundation (Edutopia.org) in 1991 to highlight proven strategies, tools and resources for creating lifelong learners.
Lucas also serves on the board of directors of the Film Foundation, the USC School of Cinematic Arts Board of Councilors and is building the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, emphasizing American illustrative, digital, comic, cinematic and animation art as an avenue for the exploration of the great storytelling history, populist works and artistic innovation of the past 150 years.
Steve Arnold is co-founder and vice chairman of the board of directors of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. He also serves on the boards of a number of other non-profit organizations focused on improving education and human development. He chairs the board of Healthy Minds Innovations, which is developing products and services to support wellbeing and human flourishing. He also serves on the boards of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the Learning Policy Institute, and the New Mexico School for the Arts.
He is a co-founder and partner emeritus at Polaris Partners, a venture capital and growth equity investment firm. Prior to starting Polaris, Steve spent more than 15 years in executive positions in software companies and the digital media industry. He served as vice president of Broadband Media Applications at Microsoft and as president and CEO of Continuum Productions (which became Corbis), a company founded by Bill Gates to pioneer the creation of large digital libraries. Before joining Continuum, Steve served as vice president and general manager of LucasArts Games and Learning divisions, and as vice president of the New Media Group at Lucasfilm Ltd.
Robert Bradley is currently retired. Prior to retirement, Mr. Bradley spent 30 years handling the tax, investment and financial matters for wealthy families.
Most recently, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Ekahi Aloha LLC, a single-family office headquartered in the San Francisco bay area. Prior to his work at Ekahi Aloha LLC, Mr. Bradley was the Chief Operating Officer for Skywalker Properties Ltd LLC, a commercial real estate company based in San Francisco. Mr. Bradley also worked for many years as a Partner at Howson & Simon LLP, a boutique multi-family office accounting practice. Mr. Bradley began his career in the tax practice at Price Waterhouse.
Mr. Bradley serves on the Advisory Boards for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory. He also serves as a board member for the Community Foundation of South Puget Sound and the Capitol Land Trust. Mr. Bradley is a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in California (currently inactive). He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from University of California, Irvine and a Masters of Business Administration from University of California, Davis.
As Co-CEO, Mellody is responsible for management, strategic planning and growth for all areas of Ariel Investments outside of research and portfolio management. Additionally, she serves as chairman of the board of trustees of Ariel Investment Trust—the company’s publicly traded mutual funds. Prior to being named Co-CEO, Mellody spent nearly two decades as the firm’s President. Additionally in 2021, Mellody co-founded Ariel Alternatives LLC, a new asset management enterprise offering a patient, focused and non-consensus approach to private equity. Its initial strategic initiative, Project Black, has a mission to scale sustainable minority-owned business enterprises to serve as Tier 1 suppliers to Fortune 500 companies—driving economic growth and equality from the entry level to the boardroom.
Outside of Ariel, Mellody is a nationally recognized voice on financial literacy. Her leadership has been invaluable to corporate boardrooms across the nation. She currently serves as chairman of the board of Starbucks Corporation. She is also a director of JPMorgan Chase. She previously served as chairman of the board of DreamWorks Animation until the company’s sale and was a long-standing board member of the Estée Lauder Companies. Mellody’s community outreach includes her role as chairman of After School Matters, a Chicago non-profit that provides area teens with high-quality after-school and summer programs. Additionally, she is co-chair of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and a board member of the George Lucas Educational Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies. She also serves on the board of trustees of the Center for Strategic & International Studies and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Mellody is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Rockefeller Foundation board of trustees and serves on the executive committee of the Investment Company Institute.
Mellody earned her AB from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy. In 2019, she was awarded the University’s highest honor, the Woodrow Wilson Award, presented annually to a Princeton graduate whose career embodies a commitment to national service. She has also received honorary doctorate degrees from Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, St. Mary’s College, and the University of Southern California. In 2015, Time Magazine named her one of the “100 Most Influential People” in the world.