Aarti Tandon 

​Aarti Tandon is a lawyer, human rights advocate, film producer, and smart cities expert. She is the CEO of Citizen Eight LLC, a firm working to build sustainable and equitable twenty-first century communities. Under this umbrella, she serves as CEO of Smart City Expo USA – the country’s leading event for cities. Previously, Aarti spent a decade as an entertainment, technology, and criminal justice reform lawyer. She represented Grammy-nominated and top Bollywood artists, worked with celebrities on issues of race, sustainability, and innovation, and produced feature documentaries including “Catching the Sun” (Netflix), a film on solar energy and equity executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, and “The Uncondemned” about the first conviction of rape as a crime of war. Aarti is one of a handful of lawyers to have successfully campaigned for a Presidential Commutation – in 2008, George W. Bush granted the early release of her client who was serving 14 years in federal prison (one of only 11 commutations granted during President Bush’s eight years in office). Aarti is a Fellow of the third class of the Civil Society Fellowship, a Partnership of ADL and The Aspen Institute, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.