Bradley Tusk is a venture capitalist and political strategist—he served as the campaign manager for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s successful 2009 re-election bid, as Deputy Governor of Illinois, and as Communications Director for US Senator Chuck Schumer—and as an early political advisor to Uber. He is the founder and CEO of Tusk Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on investing in early-stage startups in regulated industries. But perhaps most interesting, Solving Hunger, an initiative under Bradley’s foundation, Tusk Philanthropies, runs and funds anti-hunger campaigns that have led to the creation of anti-hunger policies and programs—including universal school breakfast programs—in 20 different states, helping to feed nearly 13 million people.
Bradley believes, as we all should, that food is a right. He’s volunteered at food kitchens, weekly, for the last 30 years, but also realizes that food banks wouldn’t be as necessary if we could actually solve the problem of hunger in America. He sees a nation with 40 million hungry people—and more than 34,000 of its citizens who are worth more than $100 million. He knows that with $6 million, we have fed almost 13 million people. This is a solvable problem. No one should be hungry in America.
Mark and I had a terrific discussion with Bradley—I learned a lot, and left with some optimism.
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