About Us

We founded the High Resolves Group because we believe that the increasingly complex challenges of our world require a generation of young people to have the intention, skills, vision, creativity and confidence to accomplish what previous generations have failed to do: act in the long-term collective interest of humanity. Two decades on, our dream seems more relevant and important than ever before.

Founders’ Statement

Our world is marked by growing division, inequality and fear. Mere intentions and good deeds will no longer suffice. We need new capacities and unprecedented creativity, born from years of disciplined training. We must inoculate today’s young people against the blind imitation of hateful and divisive ideologies like racism.

But how do we do this? When we speak with people who see themselves as global citizens, they frequently refer to some peak experience during their youth that transformed the way they think about the world. We designed our curriculum to offer such peak experiences, which are then reinforced through repeated practice and real world application. We eschew the very notion of trying to “teach” these skills to young people; our learning experiences are designed to be immersive and interactive, allowing the specific learning to take place naturally.

We can be as systematic about citizenship education as we are about the maths or science curriculum. And, given the state of the world, we have no choice but to do just that.

Mehrdad & Roya Baghai

Co-founders, High Resolves Group

Our Group Office

  • Mehrdad Baghai

    CO-FOUNDER, CHARIMAN & GROUP CEO

    As Group CEO of the High Resolves Group, Mehrdad has focused on the global expansion of the program and the transition of the group into a not-for-profit holding company. Mehrdad is Chairman of Alchemy Growth, a boutique strategy advisory firm. Mehrdad has degrees from Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School and Princeton University. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

  • Roya Baghai

    CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER

    Roya has a graduate degree in architecture but has also worked in many other experiential design fields. Throughout all her work, she has been passionate about creating transformative experiences that have personal or social impact. She is also the Founder of Videos for Change: a powerful global platform that is enabling and amplifying the voice of young people to creatively engage with social issues and catalyse positive change in the world.

  • Paul Kelsey

    GROUP CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

    Paul Kelsey was the inaugural CEO for High Resolves for ten years in Australia and is now the Group Chief Operating Officer. Paul ensures deep connectivity and collaboration to ensure the group acts as one. Prior to the High Resolves Group, Paul was in various senior management positions in financial services for over 20 years.

  • Michael Hunter

    CHIEF INVESTMENT & IMPACT OFFICER

    Michael is the Chief Investment and Impact Officer for the High Resolves Group. Michael is also currently a Founding Partner of Future Secure AI, and an investor and on the Boards of a number of global Venture Capital backed technology companies. Michael is an entrepreneur in the EdTech space, former investment banker at Macquarie Capital and worked extensively in private equity and M&A at L.E.K. Consulting. Michael has a Bachelor of Commerce, with Honours in Finance from the Australian National University and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM).

  • Karen Murphy

    CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER

    Karen Murphy is the Chief Learning Officer for the High Resolves Group and the inaugural CEO of the Human Responsibility Accelerator. She is the former Director of International Strategy for Facing History and Ourselves, and has worked in countries around the world. Karen holds a PhD in American Studies, has researched and written about adolescent civic development in divided societies, including the US, has extensive experience training educators, educational and civil society leaders and is an expert on the role of education in transitional justice processes.

  • Nays Baghai

    DIRECTOR, FILM & PHOTOGRAPHY OPERATIONS

    Nays Baghai is an independent filmmaker based in Sydney, Australia. Originally an alumnus of the High Resolves program in its early years, Nays has been the official on-site videographer and photographer for the High Resolves Group since 2015. He is also the Creative Director of Running Cloud Productions, and directed the company’s award-winning documentary feature films Descent and Diving Into The Darkness. Some of Running Cloud’s past clients include Sony, Rolex, Amazon, Tourism Australia, CBA among others.

Our Global Board

  • Mehrdad Baghai

    Mehrdad is the Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the High Resolves Group. He is also the Chairman of Alchemy Growth, a boutique strategy advisory firm. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, and winner of the McNulty Prize for social innovation. He was also awarded Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation, sister organisation to the World Economic Forum.

  • Roya Baghai

    Roya is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of the High Resolves Group. She has a degree in architecture but has worked in many different design fields, from graphic and object design to typography. Throughout all her work, she has been passionate about creating transformative experiences through design. She was awarded Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation.

  • David Gordon

    David Gordon is the founder of Lexicon Partners Pty Limited, a boutique advisory and investment firm. He is Chairman of multiple organisations, including the Accent Group, NIB Health and Genesis Capital. He is a former chairman of Network TEN. Prior to founding Lexicon, David was an M&A Partner of Freehills law firm.

  • Greg Hayes

    Greg was formerly the CFO of Brambles, an ASX-listed provider of supply chain solutions and information management through its two businesses CHEP and Recall. Previously, Greg was Group Managing Director and CEO of the Tenix Group, the CFO and interim CEO of AGL He chairs the Audit Committee for the Board of the High Resolves Group.

  • Vernon Lobo

    Vernon is a Managing Director of Mosaic Capital Partners, a Canadian-based private investment firm. With over 20 years of experience in the investment industry, Vernon helped build several companies from start-up to acquisition or public listing, seven of which achieved valuations in excess of $100 million. Vernon sits on the boards of several public and private companies.

  • Dena Trujillo

    Dena’s has over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of nonprofit and for-profit organizations and tech systems, including as Director of Human Capital and Investments at Omidyar Network and on the board for FUSE Corps. Dena currently serves as the CEO of Crisis Text Line.

  • Eduardo Wurzmann

    Eduardo is the co-founder of Grupo Ibmec Educacional S.A, one of the most prestigious post-secondary education institutions in Brazil, with annual revenues of $70 million. Ibmec was sold to DeVry in 2015. Eduardo was Ibmec’s CEO for 11 years. Prior to that he was Managing Director of Unext.com in Sao Paulo, one of the largest and leading e-learning companies.