Jeff Sorensen

As a senior at University of Michigan in 2012, Sorenson founded optiMize as a student-led community for students and alumni to work together to create startups and nonprofits that tackle pressing social issues. Michigan later hired him to create and direct the university's first department for Social Innovation, which now works in tandem with the still student-led optiMize. Sorenson has raised $2 million to support 1,200 students and their startups, and companies like The Honest Co have joined as partners. While helping other campuses launch their own optiMize model, he also teaches courses at the college.

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