Born in
Washington, United States

Living in
New York, United States

Working in
Kasungu, Malawi

Languages
English
French

Tom Rielly is the Community Director for the TED Conferences, which includes the management of the membership, book club, and the international TED Fellows Program. For his true vocation at TED, Tom hijacks the final session of the TED Conference for a whip-smart satire of all that year's speakers.

Rielly produced the Moving Windmills short film with producer Ben Nabors and studio m ss g p eces. Moving Windmills won Participant Media's North American Filmmaker's Award at the Pangea Day worldwide film festival. He writes occasionally for I.D. Magazine and other publications and websites.

With Karen Wickre, he contributed to Out in All Directions: A Gay and Lesbian Almanac (Warner Books). Rielly has founded or co-founded four NGO's: most recently Moving Windmills to work on projects in Africa (Executive Director, 2008-), Digital Queers (1990-1995), a seminal gay and lesbian rights group in Silicon Valley, New Media Centers (1992-) and the Yale Macintosh Users Group (1984-).

Rielly's interests include gadgets, mentoring, film making, photography, politics, lesbian and gay civil rights, comedy, public speaking, traveling and most recently rural economic development in Africa, particularly in Malawi.

Moving Windmills Project supports Malawian-run rural economic development and education projects in Malawi, with the goals of community economic independence and self-sustainability; food, water and health security; and educational success. Our motto is, African Solutions to African Problems. Rather than invest in top-down, externally imposed agendas, Moving Windmills works with local leaders to determine, organize and implement the appropriate solutions. We are inspired by the story of William Kamkwamba, and through our documentary film, spread the message of his extraordinary accomplishments.

Source:
http://britdoc.org/real_films/puma_awards_directory/moving_windmills_the_william_kamkwamba_story

http://fellows.ted.com/profiles/tom-rielly