Connecting the Dots Across America: Wellington “Duke” Reiter and the Vision of Ten Across I-10 Corridor From LA to Jacksonville
As part of our April STEM leadership series, GlobalMindED is honored to feature Wellington “Duke” Reiter, Executive Director of Ten Across and Senior Advisor to the President at Arizona State University. A nationally respected voice on the future of cities, climate resilience, and civic innovation, Reiter will be among the featured speakers at the GlobalMindED 2025 Conference, taking place June 16–18 in Denver. Join us in person to hear more about his groundbreaking work at the intersection of STEM, equity, and systems change.
Wellington “Duke” Reiter’s career has always lived at the intersection of ideas—architecture and urbanism, civic leadership and design thinking, academia and public innovation. Reiter leads a national initiative that brings together cross-sector leaders to examine the most urgent issues of our time through one powerful lens: the I-10 corridor, stretching from Los Angeles to Jacksonville.
“The I-10 corridor provides the most compelling window on the state of the country,” Reiter has said, “one which presents the challenges of the 21st century in the highest relief.” From climate change and water scarcity to migration, the energy transition, and the future of democracy, this 2,400-mile stretch is both a bellwether and a testbed for America’s future
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That’s the foundation of Ten Across, a bold initiative that treats this region as a living observatory. Through research, storytelling, summits, and multimedia dialogue—including a podcast hosted by Reiter—Ten Across explores how large-scale issues intersect across geography, politics, and culture. “It’s uncanny how this transect reveals the big issues of our time,” he shared in a conversation with ASU News.
Ten Across is not a think tank in the traditional sense. It’s a platform for deep systems thinking and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Reiter often emphasizes that effective planning for the future requires more than insight—it demands leadership, policy change, public will, and “a disregard for conventional boundaries.”
With a background in architecture and urban design, Reiter has always viewed challenges through the lens of structure—both physical and societal. His roles in academia, including as President of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Senior Advisor to the President at Arizona State University, have shaped his belief in education, civic engagement, and design as drivers of resilience.
“Bending the curve of the future will require thinking at scale,” he notes—a perspective that defines the Ten Across vision. Reiter’s philosophy is rooted in collaboration and inclusion, which is why he refers to Ten Across as “a network of networks,” bringing together government, academia, industry, and community voices to imagine and implement solutions across sectors.
His leadership offers a model for how complex problems can be addressed holistically—through inquiry, innovation, and intention. Wellington “Duke” Reiter embodies the kind of systems-based, civic-minded leadership that GlobalMindED is proud to amplify.
By identifying interdependencies across regions and reframing fragmented issues into shared challenges, Reiter and Ten Across are helping to shape a future grounded in equity and connection. His work is a reminder that solving the biggest problems of our time requires not only new ideas—but new ways of working together.
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