In this episode of Per Capita, Joe Waters speaks with Nils Gilman, Senior Advisor at the Berggruen Institute, about how to think systematically about the future in a moment of institutional rupture and geopolitical instability. Drawing on his intellectual journey—from Berkeley in the aftermath of the Cold War to Silicon Valley and his work in scenario planning—Nils explains the importance of interrogating assumptions, analyzing intersecting technological, demographic, political, and ecological trends, and challenging the “official future” narratives that shape collective expectations. He reflects on how historical change often emerges either from centers of power or from the periphery, and situates today’s disruptions within a broader pattern of punctuated equilibrium.

Nils discusses the concept of the “planetary,” developed in his book Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises, and its ethical commitment to multispecies flourishing. He argues that existing institutions are ill-equipped to manage planetary-scale challenges. Rather than advocating world government Nils proposes “planetary subsidiarity”: narrowly tailored institutions that address specific transboundary problems while preserving local democratic agency. 

Addressing America’s current political trajectory, democratic fragility, and the retreat from international institutions, Nils urges us to learn from other countries' experiences with authoritarianism and to strengthen civil society, scientific capacity, and participatory governance as foundations for a more resilient and ecologically grounded future.

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In this episode of Per Capita, Joe Waters speaks with Blessing Adesiyan, Founder and Chief Care Officer of Caring Africa, about how rapid population growth, urbanization, and changing family structures are creating an urgent care crisis in Nigeria. With nearly half of the country’s population under 15 and a growing elderly population, families and workers are increasingly overstretched by care responsibilities in systems that remain largely informal and unregulated.

Blessing argues that care must be treated as essential infrastructure, not a private family matter. She describes how the absence of professionalized, affordable care limits women’s participation in the workforce, reduces productivity, and increases inequality.

The lack of existing policy and regulation is a unique opportunity to design modern, inclusive care systems from the ground up. From public policy to private investment, building a robust care economy is not only a social imperative, but also a foundation for long-term economic growth across the African continent.

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In this episode of Per Capita, Joe Waters speaks with Joseph Asunka, CEO of Afrobarometer, about what Africans across more than 40 countries say their governments should prioritize—from the recent rise of health as a top concern to ongoing challenges around unemployment, security, and economic opportunity.

The conversation explores how current global transformations are influencing migration, religion, and the role Africa will play in the global workforce, as well as what it will take to build cities and systems that serve families and their communities. Joseph also discusses the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence for the continent, and why African data, talent, and infrastructure must be part of shaping the technologies that will define the future.

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In this episode of Per Capita, Joe Waters speaks with Ron Ivey, Founder & CEO of Noēsis Collaborative, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping family life, work, and education. They explore why many parents fear AI will undermine economic stability, how rapid technological change is outpacing governance, and why education must focus less on tool use and more on developing moral, relational, and human capacities. 

The conversation argues for a new framework for AI policy and design which is centered on human and family flourishing rather than economic growth.

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In this new episode of Per Capita, Joe Waters is joined by Marshall Kosloff, Senior Fellow and Director of Special Projects at the Niskanen Center, and host of The Realignment, one of the most insightful podcasts on how economic and cultural shifts are remaking politics in the U.S. and beyond.

The conversation focuses on how today’s realignment is reshaping the right, what it means for the center-left, how families and their communities are feeling these pressures, and why structural economic change matters as much as cultural identity.

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Housing, health care, caregiving, paid leave, economic uncertainty are just some of the relentless forces reshaping family life in the U.S. today. In the midst of these overlapping pressures, a deeper question emerges: who do we believe ourselves to be? Are we independent, self-reliant individuals? Or are we fundamentally dependent, interconnected, and relational beings?

How we answer that profoundly impacts how we view our responsibilities, our communities, and the role of public policy in shaping family life.

In this episode of Per Capita, Joe Waters, Capita’s Co-Founder and CEO, speaks with Jessica Grose, opinion writer at The New York Times, about the challenges families face and what government is doing—and could do—to support family flourishing. They also explore broader social trends, including declining workforce participation among women, the limits of policy in influencing birth rates, and the role of recreation and community spaces.

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We are grateful to the Aspen Institute for allowing us to use the podcast studio on the Aspen Meadows campus to record this conversation on July 29, 2025.

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Katie King is the Senior Director of Strategic Engagement for KnowledgeWorks. Katie manages externally facing strategic foresight projects and partnerships, co-designs and delivers workshops and contributes to KnowledgeWorks publications about the future of learning. Katie leads foresight strategy in state supports for personalized, competency-based learning, supports the management of foresight operations and strategic execution, and manages strategic foresight projects focused on sensemaking and strategy development.

Katie has previously served as a consulting futurist for various nonprofit organizations and taught middle school English in Texas and California. She holds a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Southern California and a master’s in foresight from the University of Houston. She is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists and co-author of The Futures Thinking Playbook.

Caroline Cassidy directs overall strategy for Capita, which includes public engagement, communications, and organizational development.

For two decades, Caroline has been a leader in the think tank, global development and not-for-profit sectors where she has orchestrated initiatives aimed at shaping a more just and humane world. She is a strong advocate for embedding a deeper approach to communications throughout an organization or project- from language, relationships, and framing to deep listening, behaviour change, and values. 

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Isabelle Hau is executive director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, an initiative of Stanford's Long-Range Vision that seeks to accelerate solutions to the most pressing challenges facing learners. She was a founding partner at Imaginable Futures, the philanthropic investment firm of eBay founder where she led the U.S. education initiative. She has worked with a broad and deep network of educators, edu-preneurs, innovators, funders, researchers, community and system leaders – and partnered with Sesame Street, Harvard Center on the Developing Child, LEGO, Head Start, Khan Academy, Ascend at the Aspen Institute, edtech and philanthropic funders, the federal and local governments, and other esteemed organizations to scale innovations in education that have reached millions of learners.

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. Since starting Capita in 2018, Joe has developed an array of initiatives to explore the major transformations of our time—social, demographic, cultural, technological, environmental, and economic—and anticipate their potential impacts on families and their communities worldwide.

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Rep. Becca Balint is a mom, teacher, and progressive leader who comes to Washington ready to fight for working families. Becca is the first woman and openly LGBTQ person to represent her home state of Vermont. As the daughter of a working-class mother and immigrant father, Becca is deeply committed to defending American democracy and protecting vulnerable communities. This Congress, Becca serves as Congressional Progressive Caucus Vice Chair for New Members and as a Co-Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. She is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, and the Budget Committee. 

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. Since starting Capita in 2018, Joe has developed an array of initiatives to explore the major transformations of our time—social, demographic, cultural, technological, environmental, and economic—and anticipate their potential impacts on families and their communities worldwide.

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Dele Olojede is the founder and host of Africa In the World. A writer, publisher and editor over four decades, he has been a correspondent stationed in various global centers, including New York, Johannesburg and Beijing, mainly for New York Newsday. During his career he reported from more than 75 countries spread across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and North America. He also published an investigative newspaper in Lagos. Dele is a moderator of the Aspen Institute leadership seminars for the Aspen Global Leadership Network, of which he is also a fellow. He serves on various boards, including of EARTH University, in Costa Rica, Edesia Nutrition, in Rhode Island, and on the selection board of the Aurora Prize, which awards $1 million every year to a person or organization doing exceptional humanitarian work worldwide. Dele was the first African-born winner of the Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s highest honor, for his writing on the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. He is a frequent writer and commentator on public affairs. He commutes between Stellenbosch and New York City.

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. Since starting Capita in 2018, Joe has developed an array of initiatives to explore the major transformations of our time—social, demographic, cultural, technological, environmental, and economic—and anticipate their potential impacts on families and their communities worldwide.

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Deb Chachra is the author of HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS (Riverhead/Torva, 2023), and she writes, thinks, speaks, builds and collaborates widely on themes of technology and society. As one of the earliest faculty at Olin College, Dr. Chachra has been deeply engaged in all aspects of undergraduate engineering education, including the design of learning experiences and programs, as well as educational research. Her research interests include design and design education, the built environment, materials science, and the intersection of all the above with the arts and humanities.

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. Since starting Capita in 2018, Joe has developed an array of initiatives to explore the major transformations of our time—social, demographic, cultural, technological, environmental, and economic—and anticipate their potential impacts on families and their communities worldwide.

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Jon Baron is a government reformer who has played a pivotal role in advancing evidence-based policymaking throughout government for over 20 years. He recently relaunched the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy – the nonpartisan organization he founded and led from 2001-2015 – and serves as the Coalition’s President, CEO, and Chairman.

From 2015-2021, Jon served as Vice President of Evidence-Based Policy at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (now Arnold Ventures), where he designed and led a major research funding portfolio that has successfully grown the body of proven-effective social programs. He left Arnold Ventures in 2021 and was a candidate for Maryland governor in the 2022 election.

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. Since starting Capita in 2018, Joe has developed an array of initiatives to explore the major transformations of our time—social, demographic, cultural, technological, environmental, and economic—and anticipate their potential impacts on families and their communities worldwide.

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Jane Gilbert is Arsht-Rock’s Chief Heat Officer in Miami-Dade County, US. Gilbert works across departments and partners to address the increasing risks to human health, lives and livelihoods associated with extreme heat. She has over 30 years experience in public private partnerships, climate mitigation and adaptation, and urban resilience.

Before joining the County, she served as the City of Miami’s first Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) for four years. In this role, Gilbert led the climate and urban resilience strategy development and implementation for the City of Miami. She developed and implemented a city-level response to the impacts of sea level rise and climate change.

Prior to public service, Gilbert led three nonprofits and managed Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) work for large corporations. She holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from Barnard College and Master’s from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Ankita Chachra is committed to creating sustainable, just, and vibrant cities for young children and families. She has over ten years of global experience working on her mission through partnerships with city agencies, and the private, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors.
Ankita previously worked at Bernard Van Leer Foundation as the Knowledge for Policy Director. She found her passion for prioritizing the needs of children and caregivers in urban environments while leading the Streets for Kids Program at NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), where her team published the guide on Designing Streets for Kids. She worked under Bloomberg’s Initiative for Global Road Safety, primarily in Latin America and Asia. Ankita was also part of the core team that developed the Global Street Design Guide , the first-ever worldwide guideline for designing city streets.

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Dr. Erin M. Cline

Professor Cline specializes in Chinese philosophy, Chinese religions, and comparative philosophy and theology.  The author of five books, she is especially interested in how the virtues, values, and rituals that classical Chinese philosophers emphasized can help us to live better lives today.  Her latest book, The Analects: A Guide (Oxford University Press, 2021), offers an argument that the Confucian Analectsis a sacred text, exploring its often-neglected religious and spiritual dimensions. Her last book, Little Sprouts and the Dao of Parenting: Ancient Chinese Philosophy and the Art of Raising Mindful, Resilient, and Compassionate Kids (W.W. Norton, 2020), shows how the wisdom of Chinese philosophy can enrich the lives of families today in a variety of surprising ways.  Inspired by her own experiences as the mother of three children, the book explores wide-ranging topics, from the role of daily rituals and mindfulness practices to ways of nurturing a love of nature and a love of learning, to how we respond to disabilities and challenges. Professor Cline recently completed a new translation of the Confucian Analects (under contract with W.W. Norton).

In addition to her work in the field of Chinese philosophy, Prof. Cline also works on Ignatian spirituality in relation to different religious and cultural traditions; her book, A World on Fire: Sharing the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises with Other Religions(The Catholic University of America Press, 2018), puts the Ignatian tradition into conversation with Asian traditions (including Confucianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism), showing how and why the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises—though they are rooted in the Christian tradition—might be adapted for people from traditions other than Christianity who are interested in Ignatian spirituality.

Joe Waters

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. Since starting Capita in 2018, Joe has developed an array of initiatives to explore the major transformations of our time—social, demographic, cultural, technological, environmental, and economic—and anticipate their potential impacts on families and their communities worldwide.

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Brendan Ballou

Brendan Ballou is the author of Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America.  He served as Special Counsel for Private Equity in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  Previously, he worked in private practice, and before that, in the National Security Division of the Justice Department.  His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the Nation.

Elliot Haspel

Elliot--Senior Fellow at Capita--is a child & family policy expert and commentator. He specializes in early childhood & education issues and the intersection between early childhood development and climate change. He most recently served as the Senior Program Officer for Early Childhood Education at the Robins Foundation.

Among other accomplishments, Elliot conceived of and helped raise over $7 million for the Child Care NEXT philanthropic initiative, and helped spearhead the launch of the 100-member strong Virginia Funders Network.

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Elliot Haspel

Elliot--Senior Fellow at Capita--is a child & family policy expert and commentator. He specializes in early childhood & education issues and the intersection between early childhood development and climate change. He most recently served as the Senior Program Officer for Early Childhood Education at the Robins Foundation.

Among other accomplishments, Elliot conceived of and helped raise over $7 million for the Child Care NEXT philanthropic initiative, and helped spearhead the launch of the 100-member strong Virginia Funders Network.

Abby Jitendra

Abby is a Principal Policy Adviser at JRF and is working on developing a new programme of work on care, family and relationships. Her areas of expertise include energy policy and regulation, destitution, household debt and social security. Abby previously worked at Citizens Advice, leading a team of policy researchers and campaigners to stand up for consumers as energy companies failed and costs increased. Before that, she had oversight of policy and research at anti-poverty charity the Trussell Trust. She is a trustee of Quaker Social Action.

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Elliot Haspel

Elliot--Senior Fellow at Capita--is a child & family policy expert and commentator. He specializes in early childhood & education issues and the intersection between early childhood development and climate change. He most recently served as the Senior Program Officer for Early Childhood Education at the Robins Foundation.

Among other accomplishments, Elliot conceived of and helped raise over $7 million for the Child Care NEXT philanthropic initiative, and helped spearhead the launch of the 100-member strong Virginia Funders Network.

Chiara Rosselli

Chiara is a process designer and political dialogue curator, designing fit-for-purpose processes for better dialogue and collaboration, for the political sector & beyond.

She is Executive Director and Co-Founder of the APROPOS Group, where they specialize in Political Process Design. She has been a political dialogue curator for over 7 years, designing political conversations with a purpose for Europe's first policymakers' dialogue platform and OECD best practice for cross-border innovation & collaboration - the Open European Dialogue.

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Ian Marcus Corbin

Ian is a Senior Fellow at Capita. He is also a philosopher on the Neurology faculty at Brigham and Women's Hospital / Harvard Medical School, where he co-directs the Human Network Initiative. He serves on the ethics committee at Brigham and Women's, and helps to direct the Trust and Belonging Initiative at Harvard's Human Flourishing Program. He has studied politics, religion and philosophy at Gordon College, Oxford University, Yale University and Boston College, with an eye to the ways that deep human values function in the formation and evolution of human communities.

At Harvard Medical School, he studies intersubjectivity, cognition and human flourishing. He is currently writing a book on belonging and world-making for Yale University Press. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities in the Boston area and published widely in venues such as the Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, The Point and Plough. In a former life he founded and ran a contemporary art gallery in Boston's South End. 

Jennifer Banks

Publishing professional with a wide range of experience, from foreign rights and marketing to editorial. Since 2007, as an editor at Yale University Press, Jennifer has built up a diverse, interdisciplinary list in the humanities that has emphasized non-fiction books on religion. She has edited many New York Times best-selling and Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, MacArthur Genius Grant, and Grawemeyer Award-winning authors.

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Capita envisions a future in which children and families can flourish. So often, they are excluded from how we shape our political, economic, and social systems. Yet by prioritizing our youngest children, their families and their communities we have the potential to radically transform the fabric of our societies for the long term. 

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Joe Waters

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. An independent, nonpartisan think tank with a global focus, Capita works to build a future in which children and families can realize their full potential in a just, peaceful, prosperous society on a healthier, cleaner, and safer planet.

Since starting Capita in 2018, Joe has developed forward-leaning initiatives exploring how the great cultural, planetary and social transformations of our day affect our youngest children (0-8 years old) and our communities. From the impacts of climate change to parental loneliness and social disconnection, Capita’s work catalyzes creative new ideas and solutions to some of the most pressing global challenges impacting families.

Jesús Gerena

Jesús Gerena is CEO of UpTogether (previously Family Independence Initiative), a national organization with a bold mission of changing policies, systems, and underlying beliefs so that all people in the United States are seen and invested in for their strengths and are able to build power, reinforce their autonomy, and drive their own economic and social mobility.

Under Jesús’ leadership, UpTogether has developed a model for systemic change through philanthropic and government partnerships to support the broad adoption of UpTogether’s strength based approach of centering community, cash and choice. Over the past three years, UpTogether has grown its work and organizational capacity to expand its reach to all 50 states and Puerto Rico, distributing $190 million dollars in support of its mission.

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Caroline Cassidy

Caroline directs overall strategy for Capita, which includes public engagement, communications, and organizational development.

For two decades, Caroline has been a leader in the think tank, global development and not-for-profit sectors where she has orchestrated initiatives aimed at shaping a more just and humane world. She is a strong advocate for embedding a deeper approach to communications throughout an organization or project- from language, relationships, and framing to deep listening, behaviour change, and values. 

Caroline previously set up and led the strategic communications team for the UK-based think tank ODI, with a focus on policy engagement. As a consultant, she has provided strategic council to a diverse range of clients including the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, the OECD Early Childhood Education & Care team, Oxford Policy Management, Rodeemos el Diálogo, the World Health Organization, On Think Tanks and Open Society Foundations. She has also created and implemented a major and individual donor strategy for the media organization tve and worked in TV production at the BBC.

LaDon Love

LaDon Love is the Executive Director of SPACEs In Action. SIA is a multi-ethnic membership based community organization that focuses in the District of Columbia in wards 7 and 8, as well as, Maryland in Montgomery County. In 2019, SIA was a lead organization in the campaign that secured $15.8 million in the DC budget for childcare and health services for DC families raising children from birth to three.

Love has over two decades of experience in community, leadership and organizational development.  She uses grassroots organizing to engage in local, state and national campaigns to affect public policy.  She works with local leaders to identify issues and develop solutions to improve the lives of low and moderate income families and their community.  

She is also a published photographer who uses her photography skills to tell the story of those directly impacted, bringing her subject’s personality to the photography experience.  

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Caroline Cassidy

Caroline directs overall strategy for Capita, which includes public engagement, communications, and organizational development.

For two decades, Caroline has been a leader in the think tank, global development and not-for-profit sectors where she has orchestrated initiatives aimed at shaping a more just and humane world. She is a strong advocate for embedding a deeper approach to communications throughout an organization or project- from language, relationships, and framing to deep listening, behaviour change, and values. 

Caroline previously set up and led the strategic communications team for the UK-based think tank ODI, with a focus on policy engagement. As a consultant, she has provided strategic council to a diverse range of clients including the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, the OECD Early Childhood Education & Care team, Oxford Policy Management, Rodeemos el Diálogo, the World Health Organization, On Think Tanks and Open Society Foundations. She has also created and implemented a major and individual donor strategy for the media organization tve and worked in TV production at the BBC.

Rongedzayi Fambasayi

Rongedzayi is a child's rights scholar and former managing director of Play Africa.

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Ian Marcus Corbin

Ian is a Senior Fellow at Capita. He is also a philosopher on the Neurology faculty at Brigham and Women's Hospital / Harvard Medical School, where he co-directs the Human Network Initiative. He serves on the ethics committee at Brigham and Women's, and helps to direct the Trust and Belonging Initiative at Harvard's Human Flourishing Program. He has studied politics, religion and philosophy at Gordon College, Oxford University, Yale University and Boston College, with an eye to the ways that deep human values function in the formation and evolution of human communities.

At Harvard Medical School, he studies intersubjectivity, cognition and human flourishing. He is currently writing a book on belonging and world-making for Yale University Press. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities in the Boston area and published widely in venues such as the Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, The Point and Plough. In a former life he founded and ran a contemporary art gallery in Boston's South End. 

Pete Davis

Pete Davis is a writer and civic advocate from Falls Church, Virginia.

He works on civic projects aimed at deepening American democracy and solidarity. Pete is the co-founder of the Democracy Policy Network, a state policy organization focused on raising up ideas that deepen democracy, and is currently co-producing a documentary on the life and work of civic guru Robert Putnam. In 2015, he cofounded Getaway, a company that provides simple, unplugged escapes to tiny cabins outside of major cities. His Harvard Law School graduation speech, “A Counterculture of Commitment,” has been viewed more than 30 million times — and was recently expanded into a book: Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in An Age of Infinite Browsing.

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