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A Bit About The Founders

Deborah and Frank spent six years abroad consulting American companies on how to develop productive and sustainable workforce in the emerging market in India, South Asia and Central America.

As workforce development consultants they were often witness to marginalization and productivity limiters caused by disintegrated access to resources and mentorship. They designed programs and technology to successfully bridge these gaps. Upon returning to the US in 2012, they were equally disturbed by how underserved populations who could be highly productive, were allowed to fail in a resource rich country like America. Their hypothesis: economic disparity was a result of relationship poverty.

They embarked on a research mission through technical grants from the National Mentor Resource Center. The findings were clear: building a human-centered media technology community for peer mentorship and career technical education (CTE) would result in reliable predictive models for sustainable, productive and employable people. Just like it did overseas. They hired a tech development team to build a media technology platform that communicates the way the world does.

In 2019 HeroBridge was launched as a white label subscription enterprise software product, available on Apple and Google stores, and now connects mentors and mentees to each other, life readiness media resources, career technical education (CTE) and social enrichment programs for businesses, organizations and communities.

In their personal lives, Frank and Deborah live in LA. Their son (pictured, and now a high school senior) enjoys tennis, sailing, writing music and over COVID launched his own tech-for-good platform, Anavo.

 
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Deborah Connelly, President & CEO

Deborah is a graduate of William & Mary, where she received a department honorable mention for her thesis Technology: Key to a Better America. After law school, she became a policy lawyer and during her decade long tenure on Capitol Hill, was instrumental in passing and funding critical legislation that invested in education, equity, technology and bridging the DIGITAL DIVIDE.

As a Legislative Assistant and Of Counsel to three United States Senators, and senior L.A. on the Education and Judicial subcommittees, Deborah gained valuable insight into how to build innovative coalitions and develop stakeholder solutions.

As a lawyer, Deborah brings to Hero Bridge the executive know-how required to keep Hero Bridge a vibrant and successful organization.

Deborah is currently enrolled in the AI Implications for Business Strategy and AI Business Integration Short Courses at MIT Sloan Executive Education.

Deborah is also a Spiritual Services Minister at UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital and a Lector Minister.

 
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Frank Connelly, CTO/CXO

Frank, a former public interest and business risk lawyer determined that oversea business start-ups could benefit from investment in mentorship programs as a means of sustainable productivity and equitable workforce development. In 2009, with three engineers from India Institute of Technology (IIT) he developed a simple IOT SMS technology that provided 24/7 access to resource-building and economic support for rural farmers. HeroBridge was born from this project and has improved over the years as a human-centered digital media technology.

As a risk management lawyer, Frank worked overseas for a decade assisting organizations create healthy, equitable and sustainable workforces. It was here that he learned stakeholder engagement, communications and how mentorship technology could be used as trusted tools for change. As a communicator, Frank has and remains at the cutting edge Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and the partnerships. Today he produces Social Impact Entertainment (SIE) to amplify these programs and partnerships.

Frank also sits on the Faith Coalition Board of Directors ( and swings a hammer for) Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, focusing on fundraising; and is a Board of Directors Member for the Social Impact Entertainment Society, and is head of CSR for the Society.

Frank holds a Juris Doctor degree, as well as bachelors in Behavioral Psychology and Political Science.

  • Dan Brown

    Dan is the head of our community technology development team. Daniel worked at IBM as a Customer Experience Business Support & Best Practices Consultant providing global B2B support and guidance to clients. Dan is the Senior Customer Success Team Leader at Disciple Media UK and responsible for informing HeroBridge design, updates and UX/UI.

  • Ila Kumar

    Ila is a research assistant and PhD student in the Affective Computing group at MIT Media Lab. Her work focuses on designing technology to support holistic well-being and collective care, especially for communities that are marginalized by mainstream tech and mental healthcare systems. Ila is working on her PhD in human-centered machine learning with our flagship community Stepping Forward.

  • Alberto Garcia

    Alberto is a full stack developer that has been there from the start at Stepping Forward LA’s HeroBridge community to deliver the day-to-day pre- and post-production editing for the thousands of media assets, graphics, daily social media posts, design guide and platform administration tasks that hold the community together and keep it healthy. He is also the lead vocational train-the-trainer.

OUR ADVISOR PANEL

To do anything big takes partners. An African Proverb says ‘if you want to go fast, go alone - if you want to go far, go together. We’ve made such progress since 2018. It’s time to go far. Stay tuned for more details about our amazing advisors.

  • Jeff is the Vice President of Finance at Digital Domain and on the executive board of the Social Impact Entertainment Society as head of finance. Jeff brings to Hero Bridge strategic development and scaling expertise in emerging media and technology. His deep experience in managing complex projects and development funds has made him an invaluable asset to the development of Hero Bridge and Hero Give’s unique closed circuit model of impact.

  • Jim brings decades of legal experience and emerging media business strategy to Hero Bridge. Jim is also legal counsel to a network of nonprofit boards and philanthropists who serve the same populations Hero Bridge seeks to impact. Jim started his legal career at International Creative Management (ICM) and has more than 20 years of television, entertainment, intellectual property, business and legal affairs experience.

  • Beth Ryan is the Executive Director of Stepping Forward LA, a mentorship 501c3 that works with foster youth aging out of the foster care system with no hope of getting adopted or returning to their biological families. Hero Bridge built the ‘digital family’ for Beth’s community of foster youth. Beth’s insights through our research phase and year long beta was invaluable thanks to her critical feedback and decades of experience addressing the divides and gaps we sought to bridge.

  • At the heart of solution-making around the veteran homeless crisis, you will find Tess Banko. Former head of the UCLA/VA Family Wellness Center she recently dove in as the project director of the first and only VA supportive housing program that will house thousands in West LA and will be integrated with VPAN. She is also the VA Veteran’s Advisory Commissioner to the 3d District CA. Having Tess on our advisory for the ReCivy build has been incredible as her knowledge of the nuanced issues faced by veterans and her trailblazing approach to paths to resources is unparalleled. Tess is also a social impact producer on our film Those Who Serve.