Celebrating 2022 highlights and three recent promotions.

2022 was a big year at Luminary Labs. A few highlights:

• Growing our team and nurturing our culture. We welcomed nine new employees to our company. We revisited our values, and leaned into them to make decisions. We also collaboratively defined equity at Luminary Labs and formed a diversity, equity, and inclusion working group. We offered an inside look at how we work by hosting “ask me anything” conversations with CEO Sara Holoubek and President Janna Gilbert, as well as a panel discussion with Senior Associates.
• Investing in sustainable growth. We doubled down on our commitment to four focus areas: the future of work and education, the future of health, scientific discovery, and infrastructure. Over the course of the year, we helped our clients solidify their visions and place big bets across multiple problem spaces. Internally, we continued to build out the core functions for continued stability and sustainable growth.
• Taking open innovation to new heights. We launched six open innovation challenges representing more than $40 million in potential cash incentives: the Neuromod Prize, the LymeX Diagnostics Prize, Mission Daybreak, two IES Learning Acceleration Challenges, and the Future Finder Challenge. (Mission Daybreak, a $20 million grand challenge to reduce Veteran suicides, is one of the largest cash prize purses in federal history.) Before the end of the year, we released a major update to Luminary Lightbox™, our proprietary open innovation management platform.
• Connecting people and ideas. We hosted visitors and convenings at our New York City office for the first time since early 2020, and our team attended conferences — from HLTH and Health Datapalooza to COABE and AIGA’s Design Leadership and Advocacy Conference — across a wide range of industries and focus areas. We published 47 issues of our weekly newsletter, the Lab Report, and shared more than 345 jobs and opportunities on behalf of our extended network.

Behind all of this important work is a team of smart, thoughtful people who are committed to solving problems that matter for the world’s most visionary clients. This week, we’re thrilled to celebrate three recent promotions:

• Eden Baker joined Luminary Labs in 2019 and has been promoted to Director. Eden has led teams in the development and execution of highly innovative programs, including the Rethink Adult Ed Challenge, KidneyX COVID-19 Kidney Care Challenge, IES Learning Acceleration Challenges, and Future Finder Challenge. In her new role, Eden will oversee the design and delivery of groundbreaking strategies in our future of work and education focus area, including the Middle Grades CTE Accelerator.
• Mercedes de Guardiola joined Luminary Labs in 2019 and has been promoted to Communications Manager. Mercedes has shepherded large-scale communications efforts across our open innovation portfolio, including Mission Daybreak, LymeX Diagnostics Prize, KidneyX Artificial Kidney Prize, and CTE Mission: CubeSat. In her new role, Mercedes will manage the development and execution of communications strategies across our focus areas, including scientific discovery and the future of work and education.
• Logan Cummings joined Luminary Labs in 2021 and has been promoted to Engagement Manager. Logan has led engagements and workstreams for projects shaping the future of school and learning, as well as advancing community-driven infrastructure. In his new role, Logan will engage with private-sector and public-sector leaders at the forefront of innovation and lead multidisciplinary teams to accelerate solutions to pressing problems.

In 2023, we’re working on a number of initiatives with world-changing potential. ​​If you’re inspired by our people and our work — and enjoy connecting dots between different spaces — check out several new opportunities to be part of our growing team.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash.