Ben Decter is among other things, a father whose daughter began having seizures at 17 months. His response? He wrote a musical about epilepsy and empathy. Ben is an Emmy Award-winning composer and songwriter who has created a diverse body of music for television, theater, and Ben’s Emmy resulted from his score for the Academy Award-nominated film Operation Homecoming. He scored Netflix’s worldwide hit, Lucifer. Other projects include Bless This Mess (ABC), Lethal Weapon (FOX), Shadowhunters (Freeform), and Shut Eye (HULU).
Ben’s writing has been featured in Hippocampus, HuffPost, Months to Years
and Kaleidoscope magazines. Another Big Day, Ben’s much-loved children’s CD (a collaboration with Dave Nachmanoff) received national recognition and critical praise. Ben also records as Paley Jones and as one-half of emalazarus, a folk-electronica duo. Ben's musical, It’s All Your Fault, Tyler Price! is currently running at the Hudson Theater in Hollywood through December 15th.

Mieko Hester Perez is an Advocate for families who have members with special needs. In 2009, she decided to go public with her son's success with medical cannabis and since then she has become a source of inspiration and information for families looking to explore alternative and holistic treatment options within the autism spectrum. The combination of 20 years of legal experience and over 17 years of special education knowledge, make Mieko a modern-day “warrior mom”. She has received special recognition from the United States Congress for her many hours of community service and dedication. Ms. Perez also received the Lifetime Advocate Award at the Chalice Festival for her efforts within the cannabis industry. Her son Joey was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in late 2011 in addition to his autism and passed away in April 2018 at the age of just 19 years old. Since that time Ms Perez has dedicated her life to serving families. This is just part of her story.

Chris Male is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Autism Impact Fund, where he oversees the firm, leads its Tech- and Data-Enabled Services practice, and serves on the boards of auticon, Cortica, Joshin, and SpectrumAi. Prior to AIF, Chris was Managing Director of RBG Capital LLC.
Motivated by personal experiences, Chris founded AIF to invest in companies that disrupt the status quo in diagnosing, treating, and living with autism and other complex chronic conditions. As a result, AIF's innovative work has been regularly featured in Forbes, The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, and TechCrunch.
Chris holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Strategy from Case Western University's Weatherhead School of Management and a B.A. in History and Economics from Denison University.