Timothy Shriver

Tim Shriver is husband, father, educator, best-selling author, Chairman of the Special Olympics, Chairman of UNITE, and CEO of the Bigger Picture Media.

As Chairman of Special Olympics, he has driven the largest expansion of the organization in its history—growing the movement from one million athletes to over six million athletes in 193 countries around the world.

As he passed the CEO torch in the past few years, he began asking questions like, “How could the example and spirit of the athletes of Special Olympics provide a model for a divided world?” and “How could SEL skills like empathy, self-awareness, and perspective-taking help our whole nation?” Hundreds of young people, faith leaders, educators, philosophers, scientists, activists and political figures have joined the conversation. Together, they concluded that in spite of the divides, the world is hungry to be reminded of its common humanity.

That led Shriver to put his heart into launching Bigger Picture Media as its founding CEO, the Golisano-backed media platform on a mission to tell stories across podcasts, television, and film that reveal the hope in our common humanity.

As Chairman of UNITE, a non-profit that also emerged from this exploration, he has helped to pioneer the Dignity Index—a new tool to help Americans disagree without demonizing each other—and catalyze dozens of moonshots that unite Americans in common purpose to tackle our country’s most intractable challenges.

Shriver earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University, a Master's degree from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut. Before joining Special Olympics in 1996, Shriver co-founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading school reform organization in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL).

Shriver also has a record of harnessing the power of Hollywood to spread hope and connection across differences as the executive producer of several films — including “Amistad,” “The Loretta Claiborne Story,” “The Ringer,” “Front of the Class,” and “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” He is the author of the NYT bestseller “Fully Alive – Discovering What Matters Most,” and co-editor of “The Call to Unite: Voices of Hope and Awakening.”