Alex Smith is the Founder and CEO of The Cares Family, a group of charities bringing older and younger neighbours together to reduce loneliness, generational divides and polarisation and to build connection and community in a disconnected age. In 2018, Alex was appointed one of 20 inaugural Obama Foundation Fellows, selected from 21,000 applicants from around the world, and in 2019 he also became an Encore Public Voices Fellow in the United States. Alex is born and raised in London and was formerly an adviser to Ed Miliband when he was Leader of the Labour Party.