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Nicolaine M. Lazarre, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, National Urban League
Nicolaine M. Lazarre provides legal counsel and strategic guidance on risk management, compliance, governance, transactions, litigation and intellectual property for the National Urban League. As Senior Vice President, Special Projects, she plans and executes the implementation of special initiatives for the President’s office. Ms. Lazarre has advised and represented companies on transactions, corporate structure and corporate governance since 1999. Prior to joining the National Urban League, she worked for top tier international law firms Sidley Austin LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP. Ms. Lazarre received her Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Houston and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center.
Sara Link, Head of Oath for Good & President, Oath Foundation
Sara Link is head of Oath For Good, and is president of the Oath Foundation.
Oath For Good’s call to action is to build a better world by investing in women and future leaders, strengthening communities around the world and empowering our brands, employees, partners, clients and audiences to make an outstanding impact on the world’s biggest challenges. The Oath Foundation is focused on improving the lives of women, girls and underserved youth around the globe
Before Oath, Sara led the Citizen AOL team and built the AOL Charitable Foundation. She’s led partnerships with game-changing global organizations like Girls Who Code, The Peace Corps, The UN Foundation, and the NYC Foundation for Computer Science (CSNYC).
Prior to AOL, Sara co-founded Little West Group, a philanthropic consulting firm and was head of the Social Impact and Philanthropy practice at Korn Consulting Group.
Before that, she spent more than nine years at Goldman Sachs. Sara holds an M.A. from Columbia University in Organizational Psychology and a B.A. from the University of Maryland in Psychology.
Sara sits on the National Board of Trustees of Step Up. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Eric, their son Dylan, and daughter Sage.
Melissa Kivett, SVP and Chief Marketing & Customer Experience Officer, Individual Solutions Group, Prudential
Melissa Kivett is Senior Vice President and Strategy Officer at Prudential Annuities. As a member of Annuities’ Senior Leadership Team, Melissa leads strategy, business intelligence, communications, program management and space management teams. Leveraging over 20 years of experience in financial services, she has led teams in strategy, consumer research, communications, innovation, foresight and business development to help companies realize profitable growth opportunities. Previously, Melissa was the Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Assurant. She created a strategic investor relations role at Assurant, which was profiled by the Corporate Executive Board as a best practice. Melissa’s work was recognized by Institutional Investor magazine during the financial crisis in 2008 as the second most shareholder friendly company in the non-life insurance sector. Her approach to innovation and strategy has also been recognized by Innovation Leader magazine, as a powerful tool in enabling a new strategy and changing employee behaviors.
Lucia Ferreira, Managing Director, Russell Reynolds Associates
Lucia Ferreira is a Managing Director and head of the non-profit team in New York for Russell Reynolds Associates. She co-heads the firm’s Global Development and Impact Investing Practices and conducts Board and senior executive assignments for domestic and international non-profit organizations with a focus on economic development, social justice, education, and the environment. Lucia is also member of the firm’s Digital Transformation and Leadership and Assessment Practices and has led senior level projects involving succession planning, Board development, and broad organizational assessments.
Lucia has over 20 years of executive recruiting experience and joined Russell Reynolds Associates in 1996. She was previously responsible for assignments in the areas of global banking & markets and private equity and is active in searches that involve innovative funding models that cut across the private and nonprofit sectors.
Lucia was previously based in Russell Reynolds Associates London and Paris offices where she led the firm’s European banking, markets and private equity practice. She also chaired the firm’s Learning and Development Committee, and was a Member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Executive Committee. Prior to executive search, she was in the Corporate Finance Department of Smith, Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc., in New York and London.
Lucia received her A.B. in economics and political science from Yale University and her MBA from Columbia Business School. A dual national of Brazil and the United Kingdom, she is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.
Ursula Wynhoven, ITU Representative to the United Nations, New York
Ursula Wynhoven is an international lawyer with 22 years’ experience. She joined the ITU in September 2017 as its Representative to the UN in NY. Previously, Ursula spent 14 years working for the UN Global Compact, where her last position was Chief, Social Sustainability, Governance & Legal and she was a member of the office’s Executive Committee. Ursula led the UN Global Compact’s social sustainability and governance platforms and workstreams, including on human rights and decent work, gender equality, poverty and inequality, peace, anti-corruption and the rule of law. Ursula also led legal affairs and oversaw policy development and implementation of the UN Global Compact’s integrity measures. Ursula began working with the Global Compact in 2002 and as one of the earliest staff members played an active role in helping to grow the initiative to more than 13,000 signatories in more than 160 countries with a full roster of workstreams advancing virtually all aspects of corporate sustainability. Ursula’s tenure with the UN Global Compact also included a six month loan as Senior Advisor, Business and Human Rights to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Prior to joining the UN, Ursula worked in law firms and government human rights agencies in Australia and the US and for the OECD in Paris on the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Ursula has Masters of Law degrees from Columbia Law School, where she was a Human Rights Fellow, and Monash Law School. She has Bachelor’s degrees in Law, Economics, and Letters. She is admitted to practice in jurisdictions in Australia, the US (California) and the UK and has passed the New York bar exam. Since 2007, Ursula has been an Adjunct Professor in Corporate Sustainability, Business and Human Rights at Fordham Law School and previously taught Business and Human Rights at the Reykjavik University School of Law. Ursula is a Trustee of the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law at Columbia Law School.
Edlynne Laryea, Global Director, Social Media, Johnson and Johnson
Edlynne Laryea is the Global Director, Social Media at Johnson and Johnson where she is the resident new media expert, helping the Consumer Brands understand how to adopt and leverage new platforms to better connect with consumers. A former strategy consultant and a member of the marketing team responsible for the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, she draws on her classical marketing training to help marketers make sense of the changing technology landscape. At J&J she designed and launched their award-winning social listening capability and launched the biggest digital consumer campaign in the company’s history for the 2014 World Cup. She has helped several Fortune 50 brands build out digital ecosystems. Edlynne speaks regularly on topics such as how to build the case for change and how using data can drive better creativity. In her spare time, she likes to try out recipes from Modernist Cuisine at Home.
Mary Kate McGrath, Editor-in-Chief, PureWow
Mary Kate McGrath is the Editor-in-Chief at PureWow and, over the past five years, has been responsible for the brand’s overall content and creative strategy in an omni-channel climate, including the launch of new editions, production of custom content for advertisers, expansion of video series, creation of a separate podcast company adjacent to the brand, and all social platforms. Mary Kate joined PureWow after more than a decade in women’s magazines, spanning from Real Simple, InStyle, Travel & Leisure Golf and the Food Network Magazine. On the pulse of all things fashion, wellness and travel, Mary Kate has appeared as a lifestyle expert on NBC’s TODAY, CBS Good Morning America, Early Show and New York Live, among others.
She recently traded the busy streets of Manhattan’s Upper West Side for the quiet sidewalks of Pelham, NY where she lives with her husband and two sons, Jackson and Charlie.
Emily Kernan Rafferty, President Emerita of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Emily Kernan Rafferty, President Emerita of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, served for 40 years at the Museum, as chief of institutional advancement, Senior Vice President of External Affairs, and as President from 2005 to 2015. As President, she was the Museum’s chief administrative officer, supervising a staff of some 2,000 full- and part-time employees and volunteers. Ms. Rafferty’s global experience in some 50 countries on behalf of the Museum included interactions and negotiations with many senior world leaders. In the U.S., she worked with government and private-sector officials on initiatives involving funding, marketing, and multiple cultural issues.
Ms. Rafferty currently serves as a Board member of the New York Federal Reserve Bank (Chair, 2012-2016); Chair of NYC & Company (the city’s tourism, marketing, and partnering organization); Board member of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum; Senior Adviser for Heritage Protection and Conservation for UNESCO; Board member of PJT Partners; and served as an Advisory Board member of the eight women Bipartisan Congressional Commission for The American Museum of Women’s History in D.C. (May 2015-December 2016), and continues as an advisor to the project.
As principal of Emily K. Rafferty & Associates, she consults for many organizations, including Russell Reynolds Associates in the firm’s nonprofit practice and The Shed, a performing arts center under construction in Hudson Yards. She is an Advisory Director to Carnegie Hall, a member of the Advisory Council of the American University of Beirut, and also a member of the Economic Club and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ms. Rafferty is a frequent speaker on non-profit and board management, fundraising, and cultural heritage and conservation, and has long been actively affiliated with a number of arts and inter-museum organizations. The recipient of many awards and honors, Ms. Rafferty was named by Crain’s New York Business one of New York City’s 100 most influential women from 2009 through 2013, and in Fall 2015 she was elected to their Hall of Fame. In 2012, she received the New York University Lewis Rudin Award for Exemplary Service to New York City.
Katy Gaul-Stigge, President and CEO, Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc.
Katy Gaul-Stigge is the President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc, one of a network of 162 national organizations serving individuals with disabilities and other barriers to employment. She joined the $110 million social enterprise in March 2016. Gaul-Stigge oversees the operations of 57 Goodwill NYNJ programs and more than 40 retail locations in the New York City metropolitan area, Northern New Jersey, Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the capital region of NY. In her tenure she has created a new strategic plan for the organization, Vision 2020, focusing on improving operations with a strategic focus to expand mission impact. Goodwill has opened new integrated wellness center for people working with mental illness and launched career pathways program to upskill retail employees.
A major force in workforce development strategy and policy, Gaul-Stigge gained national and international attention for her development of Mayor de Blasio’s Career Pathways strategy as the Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development. She led key City-wide agencies in the fourteen years of city service prior to joining Goodwill NYNJ. Including as Deputy Commissioner at Human Resources Administration (HRA) for Employment & Contracts workforce program including the Back 2 Work, Jobs-Plus, and subsidized job programs. Gaul-Stigge was also Assistant Commissioner at New York City’s Small Business Services (SBS.) where she led the Training and Advancement team which launched NYC Training Guide and expanded anti-poverty programs for working New Yorkers. Gaul-Stigge is well-known as a workforce development leader and policy voice. She has presented at numerous conferences and think-tank symposiums.
Katy Gaul-Stigge lives in Brooklyn and is a graduate of Columbia School of Social Work and Mt. Holyoke College. She has participated in the Workforce Leaders Academy and is a member of Coro Leadership NY.
Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Frederick P. Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sandra Jackson-Dumont is the Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art— the largest museum in the western hemisphere. Jackson-Dumont is responsible for the vision and management of education, public programs, the live arts/performance, audience development and academic programs. Her work encompasses a wide range of experiences designed for a diverse cross-section of audiences.
She was formerly the Deputy Director for Education + Public Programs and Adjunct Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). She had strategic oversight of programming at SAM’s three sites—Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Olympic Sculpture Park. Prior to her appointment at SAM, Jackson-Dumont worked at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Whitney Museum of American Art among other cultural organizations.
Known for her ability to blur the lines between academia, popular culture and non-traditional art-going communities, Jackson-Dumont is invested in curating experiences that foster dynamic exchanges between art/artists, past/present, public/private and people/places. She has organized numerous exhibitions, lectures, performances, symposia and education initiatives and she has contributed essays to a host of publications and worked with numerous artists.
Past projects have included: Brenna Youngblood: Abstracted Realities in 2015/16; LaToya Ruby Frazier: Born By a River in 2014; machupicchu afterdark, a site specific installation by contemporary Afro- Peruvian artist William Cordova in 2013/14; We Will Blow the Roof Off The Mother, a site-specific installation for the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park in 2013; Theaster Gates: The Listening Room in 2011; Record Store, a roving social practice project initially installed in an urban store front in partnership with Olson Kundig Architects featuring listening parties hosted by a wide cross-section of artists, curators, community/public figures, cultural producers and others in 2011/12; Xenobia Bailey: the aesthetics of funk an exhibition at the Northwest African American Museum in 2011; Titus Kaphar: History in the Making in 2009.
Jackson-Dumont currently serves on the boards of Seattle’s Friends of the Waterfront Project, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ Advisory Commission, the National Guild for Community Arts Education and the Friends of the Highline.
She is the recipient of several awards and honors, including: the 2012 Community Leader of the Year Finalist for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce; a 2012 Women of Color Empowered Award; the 2013 Creative Leadership Award from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award from Sonoma State University; and the 2016 Medal for Distinguished Service from Columbia University’s Teachers College. She was included in Seattle Magazine’s Most Influential People 2010, The Smartest People in Seattle’s Politics 2013, and the Twenty-five Influential Black Women in Business for The Network Journal 2015. She is also an independent curator/writer and programming consultant working across communities, disciplines and sectors. She received her B.A. in art history from Sonoma State University in California and her M.A. in art history from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Cindy F. Golden, Chief Financial Officer, Belfer Management, LLC
Cindy F. Golden is the Chief Financial Officer for Belfer Management, LLC, a family office and investment firm. She started the Belfer’s family office 17 years ago by creating the infrastructure that emphasizes investment, tax, accounting and family management. Prior to joining Belfer Management, LLC, Ms. Golden was the Controller of the Lefrak Organization, Inc., a family Real Estate ownership and management enterprise. Ms. Golden started her career in Public Accounting working with both Kenneth Leventhal & Co. (Ernst & Young, LLP) and David Verdon, LLP. Her time in Public Accounting emphasized Audit, Tax and Advisory services. Ms. Golden received her BA/BS from Queens College in Accounting and Information Systems. She also completed a minor in Business Psychology. Ms. Golden is a Certified Public Accountant and an active member of the NYS Society of CPA’s and the American Institute of CPA’s.
Henry Timms, Executive Director, 92Y
Henry Timms, Executive Director, 92Y and Founder, #GivingTuesday
As Executive Director of 92nd Street Y, Henry creates programs and movements that foster learning, civic responsibility, culture and innovation, both in New York City and around the world. He is the founder of #GivingTuesday, a global philanthropic movement that was awarded a Cannes Lion at the International Festival of Creativity; a PRWeek Global Award for Nonprofit Campaign of the Year; and the inaugural UJA-Federation Riklis Prize in Agency Entrepreneurship.
Henry’s work has been profiled in publications like the Harvard Business Review, and his most recent thinking with Jeremy Heimans on “new power” was featured as the Big Idea in HBR and by CNN as one of the ten top ideas to change the world in 2015. Henry is a Practitioner-in-Residence at the Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, a faculty member of the GovLab Academy and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils. Henry was named the NonProfit Times Influencer of the Year in 2014 and was honored as one of Crain’s New York Business 40 under 40 in 2015.
Whitney W. Donhauser, President, Museum of the City of New York
Whitney W. Donhauser joined the Museum of the City of New York as President and Ronay Menschel Director in January 2016. Her appointment follows a 23-year career in museum management at the Metropolitan Museum of Art including policy and Masterplan development, capital projects such as the Fifth Avenue Plaza and MET Breuer, and fundraising.
At MCNY Donhauser has overseen the final phases of New York at Its Core, a permanent exhibition, that opened on November 18, on the four-century history of New York City with a Future City Lab that explores the city’s ongoing challenges of housing, population growth, embracing diversity, transportation, and climate change. Historic highs in museum and education program attendance and numbers of online followers were recorded in 2016. The first ever multi-lingual advertising campaign aims to draw even more and more diverse visitors.
Ms. Donhauser has a B.A. from Vassar College and a Certificate from the Royal Society of Art in London.
Raoul Bhavnani, Senior Managing Director, Strategic Communications, FTI Consulting
Raoul Bhavnani is a Senior Managing Director in the Strategic Communications segment at FTI Consulting, and is based in New York. He also serves as global head of the segment’s Strategy Consulting & Research practice. For more than 20 years, he has worked at the intersection of communications, finance and government affairs while living in Asia Pacific, EMEA and the United States. Mr. Bhavnani began his career on Wall Street, with several years at Morgan Stanley in India and the United States as an investment banker and fixed-income specialist.
At Morgan Stanley, he advised senior corporate and government leaders on capital markets matters; mergers and acquisitions (M&A); privatization activity; and risk management. He was one of the first employees of Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division in India, where the firm was involved in groundbreaking, capital-raising activities — as well as the development and modernization of India’s financial markets.
Upon returning to the United States, Mr. Bhavnani also spent time in the political and public sectors, helping to manage the campaigns of high-profile candidates, and engaging in public-policy issues facing New York City. For the last decade, he has advised large organizations on communications strategy, first as a partner at Westhill Partners, and then as a senior managing director at FTI Consulting.
His expertise involves the development and application of analytical methods in communications and business strategy, as well as the management of large, global client engagements. Mr. Bhavnani also spent nearly two years of his career with FTI Consulting, in the firm’s London office as part of the group’s EMEA management team. Besides client work, Mr. Bhavnani serves in a leadership capacity for the firm’s diversity & inclusion efforts.
Mr. Bhavnani is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University, and is active in a leadership capacity with a variety of civic and cultural organizations around the world. He is the co-founder and Board President of The India Center Foundation, a non-profit cultural institution and think tank based in New York focused on India and its relationship with the United States. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.
Arielle Tepper Madover, Theater and Film Producer & Board Chair, The Public Theater
Arielle Tepper Madover is The Board Chair at The Public Theater in New York City as well as a Tony Award winning Theater & Film Producer.
Mrs. Madover has had a long-standing relationship with The Donmar Warehouse since 2005. She worked with Artistic Director Michael Grandage from 2005 to 2012 and Josie Rourke starting in 2012.
Mrs. Madover is Executive Producer of the film Genius by John Logan directed by Michael Grandage starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, and Laura Linney.
Mrs. Madover’s theatrical credits include:
Broadway: Les Liaisons Dangereuses starring Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer and directed by Josie Rourke, The Elephant Man starring Bradley Cooper, The Cripple of Inishmaan starring Daniel Radcliffe, directed by Michael Grandage, Lucky Guy, by Nora Ephron, starring Tom Hanks, directed by George C. Wolfe, I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers written by John Logan, starring Bette Midler, Annie directed by James Lapine, Red, the 6 time Tony Award winning Best Play of 2010 starring Alfred Molina, directed by Michael Grandage, the Tony Award winning revival of Hair, Hamlet starring Jude Law, directed by Michael Grandage, Mary Stuart directed by Phyllida Lloyd, starring Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter, Equus, Frost/Nixon, Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, Democracy, A Raisin in the Sun as well as The Royal National Theater’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers, the Tony Award winning Hollywood Arms written by Carol Burnett and her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, directed by Harold Prince, A Class Act, Tony Award winning James Joyce’s The Dead, Sandra Bernhard’s I’m Still Here..Damn It and John Leguizamo’s FREAK.
West End: My Night with Reg, Piaf, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Frost/Nixon and Guys & Dolls both directed by Michael Grandage, Mary Stuart, A Voyage Round My Father and Sunday in the Park with George.
Off- Broadway: De La Guarda “ Villa Villa”, The Last Five Years, written by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Daisy Prince and Olivier Award winning Goodnight Children Everywhere by Richard Nelson, originally produced at The Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Public Theater: in 2016 won 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations, Best Direction, Best Book of A Musical, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Best Performance by and Actor and Actress in a Featured Role, Best Lighting Design, Best Costume Design of a Musical for Hamilton and Best Costume Design of a Play for Eclipsed.
Hamilton 7 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical written and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Fun Home, the 5 time Tony Award winning Best Musical of 2015 starring Michael Cerveris and directed by Sam Gold, Grounded starring Anne Hathaway and directed by Julie Taymor, Josephine & I, the Lortel Award winner for Outstanding Solo Show, starring Cush Jumbo and directed by Phyllida Lloyd, Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) written by Obie Award winner Suzan-Lori Parks and Fortress of Solitude.
She has also produced Bounce by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman directed by Harold Prince at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as the US National Tour of Frost/Nixon and the US National tour and Vegas productions of Monty Python’s Spamalot.
In 2005 Mrs. Madover formed The Living Room for Artists a not for profit 501(c)(3) organization to sustain and support the Summer Play Festival (SPF) which was first presented in 2004. SPF formed an alliance with The Public Theater and had a relationship with the Donmar Warehouse through its creation of the Playwright Residency Program.
In her effort to promote Theater Education, in 2001, she created The Tepper Center for Careers in Theatre, which through The Tepper Semester in New York provides opportunities for college seniors to develop specific strategies for pursuing their career goals in the entertainment industry. In 2005 she initiated a theatre program for kindergarten through third graders at The Dalton School.
Mrs. Madover is on the Board of Governors for The Broadway League and The Board of the Janice and Philip Levin Foundation, an Emeritus member of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees and a past Board member of The Dalton School. Mrs. Madover is also a member of the Juilliard Drama Council and has been listed in Crain’s 40 under 40 and was one of Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Females.
In 2016 Mrs. Madover received the George Arents Award from Syracuse University. It is the highest alumni honor, presented annually to four alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their chosen fields.
Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner, New York City Mayor's Office for International Affairs
Penny Abeywardena is New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs. As head of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, she is leading the City’s effort to build a global platform from which the City is promoting its goals for a more just and accessible society, showcasing the diversity of New Yorkers, and sharing policies and best practice with the world. Since her appointment in September 2014, the International Affairs team has launched a series of initiatives focused on connecting New Yorkers and City agencies to the diplomatic community as well as more effectively serving NYC’s diplomatic corps, which is the largest in the world. Prior to joining Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, Penny was the Director of Girls and Women Integration at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a non-partisan organization that convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
Penny joined CGI in 2009 to develop strategy highlighting and integrating the gender lens throughout the organization’s various platforms. She led the program’s evolution into one of CGI’s most successful efforts. While at CGI, Penny was responsible for the portfolio of CGI commitments focused on empowering girls & women worldwide, developing year-round programming, and integrating the gender lens throughout the CGI platform. During her tenure, she advised multinational corporations, philanthropists, NGOs, and multilateral institutions to increase investments in gender-focused development initiatives; and expanded the community of CGI members who incorporate the gender lens in their work. Before joining the Clinton Global Initiative, Penny worked in both development and programmatic areas for Human Rights Watch, the Funding Exchange and the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.
In 2016 Penny was named by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Board of Directors of the United Nations Development Corporation, New Course, Global Partners, Inc and the Eastside Greenway and Park. On her personal time, Penny serves on the Hillary for America Policy Working Group on Global Women’s Issues, the Innovation Advisory Committee for 92Y and the Founding Member Committee of Lincoln Center’s Global Exchange. She has previously served on the World Bank’s Advisory Council on Gender and Development, the Board of Directors of Sakhi for South Asian Women and Resource Generation. Penny’s a contributing author to “Women in the Global Economy: Leading Social Change,” and in 2012 was recognized by the United Nation’s Decide Now Act (DNA) Summit, as one of 101 Global Innovators for her work to put women’s rights on the global political agenda. She’s a graduate of the University of Southern California and completed her Master of International Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Penny lives on the Upper West Side with her husband. She loves to explore the five boroughs for regional cuisines and jog in Central Park.
Eileen A. Aptman, Chief Investment Officer, Belfer Management LLC
Eileen A. Aptman is the Chief Investment Officer for Belfer Management LLC, a family investment firm that emphasizes energy, real estate, financial services and certain consumer-facing businesses. Prior to joining Belfer Management LLC, Ms. Aptman managed the small and midcap value investment strategy in the Asset Management Division of Goldman Sachs. Ms. Aptman started her investment career as an Equity Analyst for Scott Black at Delphi Management. Ms. Aptman has served on the Boards of Directors of public and private companies including Presidential Financial, American Midstream Partners and Rose Tarlow Melrose House. Ms. Aptman is currently a Director of Del Taco Restaurants and is Chair of the Compensation Committee. As a Trustee for The Town School, a K–8 school in New York City, Ms. Aptman chairs the Finance and Endowment Committees. She is also a Member of The Brookings Council. Ms. Aptman received a BA from Tufts University in Political Science and Asian Studies and is a CFA® charterholder.
Deepali Bagati, Executive Director, Catalyst
Deepali Bagati, PhD, is the Executive Director for Catalyst’s United States region. She is responsible for leading and strengthening Catalyst’s offerings and solutions for the U.S. member companies. Dr. Bagati continues to serve as a resource on diversity and inclusion, and frequently speaks on topics such as women in leadership, organizational change, inclusive leadership, and global diversity and inclusion.
Previously, Dr. Bagati was a Vice President of the Catalyst Inclusive Leadership Initiative, and led curriculum development to transform diversity research, expertise, and advocacy into skill-building leadership programs for emerging leaders. She recently launched Catalyst’s introductory course on Inclusive Leadership Training on the edX platform. Dr. Bagati also led the growth and expansion of Catalyst India, and managed the Catalyst India Advisory Board and developed knowledge products on women in business. Most recently, Dr. Bagati authored Leadership Gap in India Inc.: Myths and Realities and the 2010 India Benchmarking Report.
In her prior role at Catalyst, as a Director of Research, Dr. Bagati led research on workplace challenges for women of color and developed solutions for building more effective and inclusive workplaces. Dr. Bagati co-led the Women of Color in Professional Services series, led the Women of Color Issue Specialty Team, and authored several reports. As a member of the Catalyst Award Evaluation Committee, Dr. Bagati was a strategic adviser for the evaluation of global initiatives, and as a member of Catalyst’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, she was an internal advisor on diversity and inclusion for Catalyst staff.
She received her PhD in Social Work and Social Research from Bryn Mawr College, with her dissertation focusing on the impact of microcredit loans on gender relations at the household level for low-income women in New Delhi. Dr. Bagati earned a MA in Social Work and a BA in Economics, with honors, from Delhi University, New Delhi, India.
Cathie Black, Consultant
Cathie Black is a well-known media and publishing executive having spent the majority of her career as president, then chairman of Hearst Magazines in New York. (Cosmopolitan, O, The Oprah Magazine, Food Network Magazine, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, and Veranda among others). Prior to Hearst, Cathie was president and publisher of USA Today for seven years. She was also the first woman publisher of a consumer weekly, New York Magazine.
For much of her career, Ms. Black has been a “first”, breaking barriers along the way and helping pave the way to create opportunities for the younger generation of female media executives.
She is also an author, having written Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life), a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller and published in 12 countries.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Ms. Black was also a longtime board member of IBM and The Coca-Cola Company, along with being a trustee of The University of Notre Dame. A graduate of Trinity College, Washington, D.C., Ms. Black holds ten honorary degrees.
Now, Cathie lives in the startup world as an advisor, board member or investor in a variety of young companies to include PubMatic, Yieldbot, Bark & Co (Bark Box), and Pinks and Greens, among others.
Katherine Wu Brady, COO, Catchafire
Katherine Brady Kathy is a member of the Catchafire executive team, supporting change makers across the world. Catchafire is an online platform that helps philanthropic organizations provide high-impact capacity building support to large numbers of nonprofits. Most recently she was the EVP of Commerce, Registry & Guest Services at XO Group, best known for the brands The Knot and The Bump. She oversaw national transactional partnerships for couples and their guests during key moments in their lives. Ms. Brady previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Vente-privee USA, the e-commerce venture backed by American Express, where sales doubled in 2013 under her management. She helped launch Vente-privee USA in 2011 as Chief Operating Officer and oversaw sales operations, human resources, as well as product development. Previously, Ms. Brady held senior-level positions at AOL, in strategy and operations, and at NBC Universal, where she was a member of the Hulu launch team and helped transform NBC’s Local Media digital unit into a high growth and profitable business. Ms. Brady started her career in Technology and Health Care investment banking at Morgan Stanley.
Ms. Brady is a graduate of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology at the University of Pennsylvania, earning bachelor’s degrees in Finance from The Wharton School and in Systems Engineering from The School of Engineering and Applied Science. She lives in New York City with her husband, son and daughter.
Jimmie Briggs, Co-founder and Executive Director Emeritus, Man Up Campaign
Jimmie Briggs is a freelance journalist and teacher. A National Magazine Award finalist and recipient of honors from the Open Society Institute, National Association of Black Journalists and the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism, Jimmie Briggs’ book on child soldiers and war-affected children Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War won him accolades in 2005, and took readers into the lives of war-affected children around the world. Further, Briggs has served as an adjunct professor of investigative journalism at the New School for Social Research, and was a George A. Miller Visiting Professor in the Department of African and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois: Champaign-Urbana. He was also the founding director of Man Up Campaign, a global initiative to activate youth to stop violence against women and girls. Briggs’ next book Blood Work, is a meditation on manhood and transformation through the lens of illness. For his work with Man Up Campaign and the issue of violence against women, Briggs was selected as the winner of the 2010 GQ Magazine “Better Men Better World” Search, as well as one of Women’s eNews’ 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, and is the recipient of numerous journalistic awards and fellowships. He is a member of the Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity, (PACH) at New York University. Currently, Jimmie Briggs is executive director of LOVE U.S. (Leave Out Violence). LOVE’s mission is to enable youth who have been affected by violence to create positive change in their lives and become leaders among their peers and in their communities by providing safe settings, media arts training, social and emotional learning, and leadership development opportunities. Youth emerge from LOVE committed to carrying forward messages of non-violence, and ready to engage more fully in the world around them.
Christine Cea, Founder & Principal, Posit Communications
An industry-recognized leader and innovator in the field of marketing communications, Christine Cea has led world-class initiatives and campaigns for some of the world’s most iconic brands. A highly strategic, insightful and creative thinker, she is an accomplished leader of high-performance teams and transformational change.
As Senior Director of Marketing Communications at Unilever for eight years, Christine led Brand Public Relations, Earned Social Media and Health & Wellness marketing for the U.S. portfolio of foods and personal care brands – Dove, Suave, Lipton, Hellmann’s, and Magnum ice cream among dozens of others. She led the launch of Unilever Project Sunlight, the company’s first consumer marketing initiative to foster its sustainable living mission, which received a Cannes PR Lion.
She has held senior management positions at global PR agencies in both New York and London, including tenure as the Global Consumer Brand Marketing Practice Leader. With the emergence of Social Media, Christine became an industry leader who served five years on the Board of Directors of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, delivered keynotes and lectured at The Wharton School of Business.
Christine has been ranked twice on the PR Week Power List, which recognized her as “a champion who helped propel Unilever’s venerable brands into the digital age.” She received the 2014 PR Week Awards Honorable Mention as PR Professional of the Year – In House, which noted her industry thought leadership.
She holds a BA in English from Barnard College and an MA in English from Columbia University.
Margaret Coady, Executive Director, Coach Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility at Coach, Inc.
Margaret Coady is Executive Director, Coach Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility at Coach, Inc., a publicly-traded New York design house of modern luxury accessories and lifestyle collections for women and men employing 17,000 colleagues across locations worldwide.
As Executive Director of The Coach Foundation, Margaret works with the Foundation Board to deploy more than $5 million annually to high-impact non-profit organizations serving communities around the globe. The Coach Foundation’s principal mission is help women to fully realize their potential and to improve educational opportunities for the underserved.
In her role as Executive Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Margaret leads Coach, Inc.’s efforts at the intersection of corporate and community success, and develops opportunities for the company’s worldwide teams to participate in giving back to the communities in which they live and work.
Margaret has had a longstanding career of thought leadership in corporate community engagement, having served as Executive Director of CECP, a coalition of 150 CEOs united in the belief that societal improvement is an essential measure of business performance. At CECP for more than a decade, Margaret was instrumental in establishing the non-profit as the top forum for inspiring and challenging CEOs and corporate philanthropic leaders to align community initiatives with core business strategy.
Margaret graduated with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors from Williams College and was Valedictorian of her class at Columbia Business School. In 2013, she was one of 6 national finalists for the American Express NGen Leadership Award honoring nonprofit leaders age 40 or under who have demonstrated significant impact in addressing society’s critical needs.
Lori Conkling, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, NBCUniversal
Lori Conkling was named Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development of NBCUniversal in February 2013. As such, she is responsible for developing progressive business strategies for NBCU’s new and existing digital businesses, driving innovation and monetizing cross-platform content.
Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Conkling was EVP, Distribution, at A+E Networks (AEN), having joined from Lifetime Networks when it was acquired by AEN in 2009.
For the past five years Conkling has been named one of CableFAX’s Most Powerful Women in Cable and was inducted into Multichannel News’ Wonder Women Class of 2011. She has served time on the Board of Directors for Women in Cable and Telecommunications, the Alliance for Women in Media and the Fuqua School of Business Alumni Council.
Conkling received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Duke University.
Aria Finger, CEO & Chief Old Person, DoSomething.org; President, TMI
As CEO and Chief Old Person of DoSomething.org, the largest organization for young people and social change in the world, Aria Finger uses her expertise on all things young people and tech to lead a diverse, impact-driven team. She has been an instrumental part of scaling DoSomething.org from less than 100,000 members to over 4.6 million members in 125 countries today. Starting at DoSomething.org as an associate 10 years ago, Aria created their Teens for Jeans campaign which has clothed over 5 million homeless teenagers to date.
With her cause-related marketing experience, Finger has spearheaded partnerships with top brands including Johnson & Johnson, H&M, Sprint and American Express.
In 2013, Aria founded and became President of TMI, a subsidiary agency that uses DoSomething.org’s 20+ years of experience to help clients reach young people and fuel positive impact in the world.
She graduated magna cum laude in economics and political science from Washington University in St. Louis, and completed the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Aria currently serves on the board of the NYC-based not-for-profit Care for the Homeless, was one of the first ten World Economic Forum Global Shapers and is an adjunct professor at New York University. She has been highlighted in the New York Times, Fast Company and was named to the 2012 Crain’s New York Business list of “40 Under Forty” and featured on the cover.
When she is not running DoSomething.org or desperately trying to improve her Spanish, Aria can be found reading The New Jim Crow for the thousandth time, or relearning her ABCs with the newest addition to the DS family, her adorable son Luke.
Fran Hauser, Startup Investor & Former President, Digital at Time Inc.
Fran Hauser is an early stage investor, long-time media executive and a vocal advocate for women across the globe. Best known for her role building PEOPLE.com – one of the biggest media brands online – Hauser made the leap to early stage investing in 2014, funding and advising consumer-focused companies such as HelloGiggles, Levo, Mogul, The Wing and Gem&Bolt. Thirteen of the fifteen companies in Hauser’s portfolio are founded by women, highlighting her broader commitment to increasing the representation of female founders and investors.
Hauser previously spent 15 years in the digital media space, holding President and General Manager positions at Time Inc., AOL and Moviefone. She played an integral role in the $400mm sale of Moviefone to AOL and in building PEOPLE.com into one of the most successful women’s websites.
Hauser speaks frequently about topics such as career building, digital media and investing in and by women. She recently received the Fairy Godmother Award from Girl Be Heard and the W Award from the YWCA of the City of New York, both of which honor change makers who advocate for women and girls around the world. In 2014, Forty Over 40 selected Hauser as one of 40 Women to Watch Over 40, a distinction that honors women who are reinventing, disrupting and making an impact. That same year, she was also named one of the Six Most Powerful Women in New York City’s Tech Scene by Refinery29 and was honored as a Global Champion of Women on International Women’s Day.
A passionate advocate of women around the globe, Hauser is an advisory board member of 92Y Women inPower, Rent the Runway’s Project Entrepreneur, WomenOne and TIA Girl Club; on the board of directors of GlobalGiving; and a mentor to hundreds of young women. A summa cum laude graduate of Pace University, Hauser lives in Bedford, New York with her husband and two darling boys.
Anna Holmes, Founder, Jezebel.com
Anna Holmes has written and edited for numerous publications, including the New York Times,Washington Post, Newsweek, InStyle and The New Yorker online. She is the founder of the popular website Jezebel.com and the 2012 recipient of a Mirror Award for Best Commentary. In 2013 her Twitter account was named one of the top 140 Twitter feeds by Time Magazine, at which point she became incredibly self-conscious and stopped tweeting as much. She is the editor of two books, including theBook of Jezebel, and works as a columnist for the New York Times Book Review and as an editor of Digital Voices at Fusion. She lives in New York.
Maz Kessler, Founder, Catapult
Maz Kessler is a designer, artist and serial entrepreneur with roots in the music industry. After more than a decade as a successful songwriter and producer, Maz migrated to Silicon Valley and the tech sector to work on pioneering voice interfaces for major clients. In 2006 Maz joined Advocacy International as Creative Director. By 2012, she had teamed up with Women Deliver to launch Catapult. She designed and built Catapult to channel her passion for girls’ and women’s rights, and to take action for equality
Gillian Lester, Dean Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Gillian Lester is Dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. She joined the Law School in 2015 as its 15th dean.
Lester began her teaching career in 1994 at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, where she later became a full professor in 1999. In 2006, Lester joined the Berkeley Law faculty, where—in addition to serving as acting dean from 2012 to 2014—she was the Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of Law and the Werner and Mimi Wolfen Research Professor. Lester also co-directed the Berkeley Center for Health, Economic and Family Security and was the Associate Dean for the J.D. Program and Curricular Planning.
Lester has held external appointments at Harvard Law School as the Sidley Austin Visiting Professor and at the Georgetown University Law Center as a Sloan Fellow and visiting professor. She also held short-term visiting appointments at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, University of Chicago Law School, and Radzyner School of Law Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel.
Lester serves on the Executive Board for the International Society of Labor Law & Social Security and the Board of Directors for the Legal Aid Society of New York.
Lester received a J.S.D. from Stanford Law School, an LL.B. from the University of Toronto and a B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia.
Terri McCullough, Consultant, Gender Equity and Nonprofit Strategy
Terri McCullough is a consultant for gender equity and nonprofit strategy. She was formerly director of No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project, a Clinton Foundation initiative led by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton. No Ceilings is a Clinton Foundation initiative that brings together partner organizations to evaluate and share the progress girls and women have made in the 20 years since the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and chart the path forward for full participation in political, civil, economic and cultural life for girls and women in the 21st century. Terri joined the Foundation from the Tory Burch Foundation, which works to support women entrepreneurs in the U.S. through small loans, mentoring and entrepreneurial education. She previously served as chief of staff, advisor on women’s issues and in a number of other roles in the office of Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Her non-profit experience includes positions at NARAL Pro-Choice America, PENCIL (Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning), and Anna Deavere Smith’s Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. She has a B.A. in politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz and lives in New York City with her husband, daughter, and son.
Tim Maleeny, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Havas
Tim Maleeny leads an eclectic group of strategic planners, communications architects, digital experts, and analysts who collaborate on building meaningful and effective brand platforms for our clients.
Tim is known as a pioneer in reshaping the industry’s approach to strategic planning, hiring hybrid talent, and building dynamic teams that can be reconfigured as client needs change. He is a hybrid himself, having worked as a copywriter, producer, account director, and strategic planner since his career began over two decades ago.
Tim has degrees from Dartmouth College and Columbia University, and he is a best-selling author of numerous short stories and four award-winning novels.
Jessica Peltz-Zatulove, Principal, kbs+ Ventures
Jessica Peltz-Zatulove is the Principal at kbs+ Ventures. Prior to joining kbs+, she specialized in helping connect marketers with emerging technology and spent 10+ years working with Fortune 500 brands including Verizon Wireless, Kraft Foods, and H&M. At Evol8tion she brokered numerous first to market startup and brand partnerships, and as a VP at Zenith Media was recognized an industry pioneer in the mobile space; her cutting edge collaborations were often featured in Mashable, Adage, Mobile Marketer, and Mediapost. Jessica has a global footprint with strategic relationships at over 250+ startup organizations across 20+ countries worldwide; she’s been named one of NYC’s 100 Most Influential People in Tech, and has been featured on CNBC, Fox Business, and popular podcast ThePitchDeck. Jessica has a BA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, with a double concentration in Marketing and International Relations.
Adam Quinton, Founder/CEO, Lucas Point Venture
As the Founder/CEO of Lucas Point Ventures, Adam Quinton invests in and advises early stage companies. His focus is supporting diverse management teams and his investments include The Muse, Glassbreakers, Venuebook, Pinks and Greens, Snaps, Rapt Media, EpiEP, Hire an Esquire, Tactile Finance, Validately, Consensus Point and LawGo.
He serves as an Advisory to Hire an Esquire, Tactile Finance and San Francisco based SwoopTalent as well as Chicago based techweek. In H1 2014 he served as Chief Financial Officer of leading NYC based cybersecurity company NopSec, another of his investees.
He Chairs the East Coast Advisory Board of Astia as well being a Founding Astia Angel. He is an Advisor for San Francisco based Women’s StartUp Lab and a mentor for the Boulder based accelerator MergeLane. He is also an advisor/mentor to 37 Angels and The Vinetta Project.
In 2014 he was named by AlleyWatch one of “25 Angel Investors in New York You Need to Know” and also one the “100 NYC Tech Influencers You Need to Know”. In 2015 tech.co named him “One of 8 VCs making waves.”
In the not-for-profit space, Quinton is on the Board at International House New York, and a member of the Executive Committee. He is also a Board member at the Center for Talent Innovation.
Adam has over 25 years of investing and management experience, most recently at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was most recently Managing Director and head of Global Macro Research.
He has been a top ranked sell-side investment analyst in the UK, Asia, and the US.
Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he is a Capstone workshop advisor and member of the Management and Gender & Policy faculties.
Quinton holds a MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from Cass Business School, London.
JJ Ramberg, Founder & Managing Director, Goodshop; Host, Your Business, MSNBC
JJ Ramberg is the co-founder of Goodshop, host of the MSNBC program Your Business and author of the bestselling book It’s Your Business.
Now in its tenth season, Your Business is the only program on television dedicated to helping small business owners solve the issues they face every day. JJ has travelled across the country, interviewing thousands of small business owners, investors and advisors – as well as cabinet members and members of Congress — to learn what works and what doesn’t.
JJ is a leader in the space of social entrepreneurship. Through its innovative online platform, her company Goodshop has forged a connection between retail savings and non-profit and school fundraising—by creating coupons that give back. Not only does it provide the best coupons and deals at thousands of stores including Target, Kohl’s, Old Navy, and Macy’s, but if you select a nonprofit or school to support, it donates a percentage of the purchase from many of these stores back to that organization. Launched in 2006, the Goodshop family of sites has raised nearly $12 million for its participating causes as well as saved people more than $100 million.
JJ has been honored for her work with Goodshop as well as with MSNBC by organizations including the American Women’s Business Association, Self Magazine, The Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Executives, Small Business Influencers and the New York Enterprise Report. In addition, as an entrepreneur herself as well as a journalist who covers small business, JJ is often called to speak to organizations including the Small Business Administration, National Women Business Owners Corporation, National Association of Women Business Owners, American Express CEO Bootcamp, and many others.
JJ holds her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and three children.
Rachel Sklar, co-founder, Change the Ratio and TheLi.st
Rachel Sklar is a writer, entrepreneur and feminist based in New York. She is the co-founder of Change The Ratio, which increases visibility and opportunity for women in tech & new media, and TheLi.st, a network & media platform for awesome women. A former lawyer who writes about media, politics, culture & technology, Rachel was a founding editor atMediaite and the Huffington Post.
Adaora Udoji, Managing Director of The Boshia Group
Adaora Udoji is an award winning journalist. She is a mentor for WIM, Women Innovate Mobile and an advisor to several start-up companies. She serves on the board of the Montclair Film Festival and is a member of the advisory board for Women at NBC Universal. Udoji founded The Boshia Group, a network of content and operational strategists, producers and storytellers.
An award winning journalist, Udoji is a graduate of UCLA School of Law. She is among a small group of journalists who have worked in network and cable news, as well as public radio. She’s lived on three continents including Africa, Europe and North America; and holds dual American & Irish citizenship.
Jenifer Willig, Founder, Motive and former CEO of (RED)
Jenifer Willig is the Founder of Motive and former CEO of (RED). Partnering with iconic brands including Nike, Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Starbucks Jenifer most recently led (RED), the organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to fight AIDS in Africa, to momentous growth over her four year tenure. Through her leadership (RED) raised $185 million and became a global brand with a social following of over 2.5 million active people who advocate on behalf of (RED).
Prior to joining (RED), Jenifer spent her career in advertising on global brands including AT&T, Levi Strauss & Co, British Airways, The Financial Times, ran the New York office of M&C Saatchi and developed the dot com business at TBWA/Chiat/Day SF during the tech boom of the late 1990′s.
She has recently been named one of the 10 Most Generous Marketing Geniuses by Catch a Fire’s Generosity Series featured on Fast Company and recognized as one of the 40 women over 40 to watch.
Jenifer is also the co-founder of WHOLE WORLD Water, a social enterprise raising money to provided access to clean and safe water around the world.
Kristy Wallace, CEO, Ellevate Network
Kristy Wallace is the CEO of Ellevate Network, and is responsible for executing Ellevate Network’s mission to close the gender achievement gap in business by providing professional women with a global community to lean on and learn from. She directs the Network’s staff, is responsible for business growth and strategy, and works closely with Ellevate’s Chapter Leaders, Business Partners, and Champions to further Ellevate’s impact.
Kristy is host of the Ellevate Podcast: Conversations with Women Changing the Face of Business and is also a regular speaker and thought leader on Leadership, Diversity, Social Entrepreneurship, Networking, and Entrepreneurialism. Most recently, Kristy was recognized as a Woman of Influence by the New York Business Journal.
Kristy strives to support women and girls in achieving their dreams. She is an Angel Investor with Pipeline Angels, and organization creating capital for women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs; a Member of the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change; an Advisor for the 92Y Women in Power Fellowship for Rising Female Leaders; on the Advisory Council for the Villanova University Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship Institute; Co-Chair of the Leadership Advisory Board for the Girl Scouts of Greater NYC; and a Board Member at Workforce Professionals Training Institute.
Prior to joining Ellevate, Kristy was a founding team member of Zeel.com, where she oversaw operations, business modeling, brand development, partnerships, and fundraising. Prior to Zeel, Kristy served as VP of North America Ad Sales and then GM of International Operations at Vault.com.
Kristy obtained her BA in English/Sociology from Villanova University and began her career as a financial analyst at KeyBank. A passionate runner, reader and world traveler, Kristy lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with her husband and three wonderful children.
Jennefer Witter, CEO and Founder of The Boreland Group
Jennefer Witter is the CEO/Founder of The Boreland Group Inc., a boutique public relations agency headquartered in New York City. The twelve-year old firm was named by TheStreet.com as one of five black owned businesses in the US “making a buzz.” The agency specializes in corporate visibility, getting their clients their “unfair share” of business-building attention via customized, results-driven PR programs.
A 30+ year PR veteran, Jennefer was ranked as one the nation’s top ten black CEOs and entrepreneurs by Madame Noire Magazine (the only other female on the list was Ursula Burns, the CEO/chairman of Xerox). Jennefer is the author of “The Little Book of Big PR: 100+ Tips to Get Your Small Business Noticed” (AMACOM, 2014) . She has presented at the 92nd St Y, American University, The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, GlobalWIN, Women’s Presidents Educational OrganizationWomen’s Presidents Educational Organizationthe Women’s Presidents Educational Organization, The Communication Exchange and Ellevate Network. The former PR expert for Inc.com TV, Jennefer has been featured in the Associated Press, TheStreet.com, Crain’s New York Business, and MarketWatch Radio Network. She has been profiled in the Huffington Post and the Amsterdam News.
Barri Rafferty, Senior Partner and CEO, North America, Ketchum
Barri Rafferty is the Senior Partner and CEO, North America at Ketchum. In her current role, Barri Friedman Rafferty leads Ketchum’s nine offices in North America as well as Ketchum Digital and Ketchum Sports and Entertainment (KSE).
In addition, she oversees the complementary businesses, Access | Emanate Communications, Interfuse, Capstrat and Harrison & Shriftman. She is also part of the eight-member Worldwide Executive Committee, which focuses on guiding the strategy, client service and performance of the agency.
During her tenure at Ketchum, Rafferty has held several different roles to support the agency’s overall business goals, including overseeing the global brand marketing practice and running the New York, Atlanta and Dallas offices. She also oversaw specialty units such as digital, entertainment, sports, and multicultural.
Rafferty has a legacy of client service and continues to advise many of the agency’s largest clients, including Gillette, P&G, Frito-Lay, Ikea, and Chase. As a counselor, she specializes in integrated marketing, brand reputation and corporate reputation and has helped countless clients with award-winning campaigns, including “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl” for Frito Lay, Kodak’s Inkjet Launch and Maxwell House’s “Build a Home America.”
Outside of Ketchum, Rafferty participates in a number of groups, such as the sustainability taskforce for the World Economic Forum and is a member of Arthur W. Page Society Page Up program. Barri also sits on the executive board of StepUp, an organization with the mission of empowering girls from under-resourced communities to become confident, college-bound, and career focused. She is also active in the Public Relations Society of America New York Chapter and is a former chapter president. She is a 2015 recipient of the Plank Center’s Milestones in Mentoring Award. In 2012, she received the President’s Award for her many contributions. In addition, she is a Capstone advisor and former adjunct professor in the Master’s program in public relations at New York University, as well as an advisory member of the Branding and Integrated Communications program for the City College of New York.
Rafferty has a passion for developing up-and-coming talent, and is particularly interested in the topic of women’s leadership. She is a member of the governing body of OmniWomen, Omnicom’s Leading Women’s Network, for which she holds quarterly panel discussions featuring prominent women within the marketing and communications industry who share their own experiences and offer advice to women.
Prior to Ketchum, Rafferty had a senior role at Lippe Taylor, where she worked on such prestigious brands as Maybelline, Matrix, Escada Beaute and J.F. Lazartigue. She also worked at Slim-Fast Foods Company, Burson-Marsteller and Cone Communications. She received a master’s degree in corporate communications from Boston University and an undergraduate degree in communications from Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University.
Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs & Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Doron Weber runs the program for the Public Understanding of Science and Technology for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He also directs the Foundation’s efforts to promote Universal Access to Knowledge through the Digital Information Technology program, which seeks to utilize emerging developments in information technology to make the benefits of human knowledge and human culture accessible to people everywhere. A fledgling program in International Science Engagement will focus on South Asia and seek to bring scientists and engineers in conflict regions together to collaborate on subjects and projects of mutual interest.
Mr. Weber has primary responsibility for the Foundation’s efforts to educate and engage the public through books, radio, public and commercial television and film, theater, opera, the Internet, and new media. He also supports selected scientific events of national concern and targeted public policy initiatives.
In 2004, the Foundation received the National Science Board’s Public Service Award, citing Mr. Weber’s program “for its innovative use of traditional media—books, radio, public television–and its pioneering efforts in theater and commercial television and films to advance public understanding of science and technology.” On behalf of the Foundation, in 2007, Mr. Weber received the PBS Leadership Award for over a decade of support, in 2009 the Nielsen Impact Award from the Hollywood Reporter, and, in 2011, the Communicator Award for a documentary about the Foundation’s history, “Sloan at 75.” Mr. Weber’s work at Sloan has been profiled in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Fortune, and The American Way.
Prior to joining Sloan in 1995, Mr. Weber served as Director of Communications at The Rockefeller University (1991-1995), and Director of Communications for the Society for the Right to Die (1989-91). Earlier, he worked as a senior editor for The Reader’s Catalog, a speechwriter for the United Jewish Appeal, and a screenwriter for both television and film. He has also been a teacher, tutor, taxi driver, romance novelist, busboy and boxer.
In February 2012, Mr. Weber published a critically acclaimed book, Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir (Simon & Schuster), that was widely reviewed, including reviews by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and People. Mr. Weber has previously coauthored three nonfiction trade books: Safe Blood: Purifying the Nation’s Blood Supply in the Age of AIDS (Free Press, 1990), The Complete Guide to Living Wills(Bantam Books, 1991), and Final Passages: Positive Choices for the Dying and their Loved One (Simon & Schuster, 1992, Fireside, 1993). His articles and reviews have appeared in, among other places, The New York Times, USA Today, Barron’s, The Baltimore Sun, The Village Voice Literary Supplement, and the Boston Review. His first novel, The Deserters, was excerpted in the fall 2003 issue of Kinder-Link.
Mr. Weber was educated at Brown University (BA, 1977), the Sorbonne, and Oxford University (MA, 1981), where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He also received a Fulbright. He served for ten years (1995-2005) as secretary of the New York State Committee for the Rhodes Scholarships and currently serves as President of The Writers Room Board of Trustees,Vice Chair of the Digital Public Library of America Steering Committee, Advisory Board Member of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, and Board Visitor of the Wikimedia Foundation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, U.S.A. Triathlon, and the Century Club.
Stacey Hadash, Managing Director and Metro New York Market Executive for Global Commercial Banking, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Stacey Hadash is managing director and the Metro New York Market Executive for Global Commercial Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She oversees banking teams that cover New York City and Long Island, providing a full range of solutions to companies with revenues of $50 million to $2 billion.
Stacey is responsible for delivering the entire enterprise to clients, including investment banking and capital markets, credit, syndications, global treasury services, leasing, risk management, global markets and wealth management.
Previously, she was chief operating officer for the firm’s Global Capital Markets business, which includes equity capital markets, investment grade capital markets, leveraged finance, and derivatives & foreign exchange origination.
Stacey joined the firm in 2005 from The New York Stock Exchange, where she was managing director and head of Financial Planning. Prior to that, she worked with former Texas Governor Ann Richards at Public Strategies, a communications consulting firm.
Stacey began her finance career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. She later worked for the mergers and acquisitions group at Goldman Sachs in both New York and London.
Earlier in her career, Stacey worked on economic policy in the 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign. Following the election, she was appointed as a Special Assistant in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Stacey holds a BA from Smith College and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is a 2003 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Stacey sits on the board of the Ann Richards School Foundation.
Laura A. Clayton McDonnell, Vice President, New York Region, Microsoft
Laura A. Clayton McDonnell is Vice President, New York Region at Microsoft. In this capacity, she provides executive leadership and management of the Microsoft New York Region, with a team of over 230 industry sales, technical and business professionals. She manages executive relationships at the world’s largest companies for Microsoft and represents the company in community initiatives with private and public organizations.
Laura is an executive with extensive sales management and legal experience in the information technology industry. Prior to Microsoft, she was Senior Vice President, North America Sales at Aspect Software. Prior to that role, she was Vice President of Strategic Services at IBM and closed the first $200M+, 5 year long term services transformational deal with a leading insurer/healthcare provider in Spanish South America.
She also was Vice President, Public Sector, West IMT, North America Group leading a $2.2B sales organization which supported the State and Local Government, Education, Healthcare and Life Sciences industries. In that capacity, she generated 11 out of 13 quarters of positive growth, holding or taking market share in all quarters except one. She also led the Smarter Cities/Smarter Planet and the North America Healthcare Growth Initiatives.
Laura’s prior IBM positions included Vice President, Services Business Development, S&D Communications Sector, Director & Senior Client Solutions Executive for Global Technology Services, and Director of Contracts & Negotiations for Global Business Development. Before joining IBM, she was Vice President of Business Development at Rational Software. Prior to Rational, Laura was at Sun Microsystems, Inc. where she held a variety of executive-level positions including Senior Director of Market Development and Strategic Planning, and General Counsel of the Consumer and Embedded Software Division. Prior to joining Sun, she was Managing Attorney for North American Sales at Cisco Systems, Inc. and a Senior Counsel at Apple Computer, Inc. Prior to Apple, Laura was in private corporate and securities law practice at a law firm in San Francisco.
Laura received her Bachelor of Science degree “with distinction” in International Business Administration at San Jose State University, her Masters in Business Administration degree from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley in Finance and International Business Administration, and her Juris Doctorate from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. At Boalt, she was awarded “Best Oral Argument” for First Year Moot Court, and served as Articles Editor for the International Tax and Business Lawyer Journal. She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the State of California.
Laura has held leadership positions in community and business professional organizations. She has served as President of the Barristers Section of the Santa Clara County Bar Association, and President of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Black MBA Association. Laura has been a member of the Development Council for the Haas School of Business, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Boalt Hall School of Law Alumni Association. She is a recipient of the 2008 YWCA of Silicon Valley Tribute to Women Award (TWIN). Laura is a member of the Women’s Forum of New York and an Advisory Committee Member of the Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact of the 92Y.
Kim Pendergast, Managing Partner, Pendergast Partners, LLC
Kim Pendergast is Managing Partner of Pendergast Partners, LLC, a private equity management company that invests in technology driven performance automotive aftermarket companies, more specifically power-train related companies, which are in a position to benefit from active management.
Kim is a serial entrepreneur. She was founder and CEO of five companies before starting Pendergast Partners. Pendergast Logistics Services, was a dedicated freight management company for a $5 billion publicly traded company with over $100 million in freight. Client Distribution Services, was created with the assets of a division of Random House and grew to a run rate of $70 million dollars annually before it was sold. She also founded an environmental consulting company based in Denver, a strategy and investment banking company whose client list included AT&T and ABB, and a leasing company.
Currently, Ms. Pendergast is CEO and Chairman of the Board of Magnuson Products, LLC, a portfolio company located in Ventura, California.
Kim graduated from Indiana University with honors, B.A., M.B.A. and was selected as a Henry Crown Fellow, Aspen Institute. She helped found the Learning Spring Academy, a school for Children with Asperger’s Syndrome in NYC, and the National Art Museum of Sport and supports The Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Indiana. She speaks both German and Spanish.
Katie Bisbee, Chief Marketing Officer & EVP, Partnerships, DonorsChoose
Katie Bisbee leads the marketing and partnership team, engaging 2.5 million citizen donors and 500 corporate and foundation partners in supporting public school classrooms. Prior to joining DonorsChoose.org, Katie launched a customer acquisition business at Red Ventures, a company ranked on the Inc. 500 list as one of the nation’s top 20 fastest growing companies. She also conducted market research and political polling for corporate and media clients.
Katie earned her M.B.A. from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, where the faculty awarded her the Hyde Fellowship for her contributions to the school. In 2016, she was named to Direct Marketing News’ “Marketing Hall of Femme”.
Asha Curran, Chief Innovation Officer & Director of the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact, 92nd Street Y
Asha Curran is Chief Innovation Officer and Director of the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact at the 92nd Street Y, which was recently named one of the 10 Most Innovative Nonprofits by Fast Company. She leads #GivingTuesday, the annual day of giving following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as a portfolio of global, digitally-driven initiatives including 7 Days of Genius, the Social Good Summit, the Ben Franklin Circles, and the Women inPower Fellowship. She is the recipient of the 2015 Social Capital Hero Award, named a 2016 Woman of Influence by New York Business Journals, and is a Forty over 40 Women to Watch honoree. Asha serves on the board of directors of TheGuardian.org, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing civil discourse and issues-driven journalism, and she is a non-resident Fellow at Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab.
Emily Kernan Rafferty, President Emerita of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Emily Kernan Rafferty, President Emerita of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, served for 40 years at the Museum, as chief of institutional advancement, Senior Vice President of External Affairs, and as President from 2005 to 2015. As President, she was the Museum’s chief administrative officer, supervising a staff of some 2,000 full- and part-time employees and volunteers. Ms. Rafferty’s global experience in some 50 countries on behalf of the Museum included interactions and negotiations with many senior world leaders. In the U.S., she worked with government and private-sector officials on initiatives involving funding, marketing, and multiple cultural issues.
Ms. Rafferty currently serves as a Board member of the New York Federal Reserve Bank (Chair, 2012-2016); Chair of NYC & Company (the city’s tourism, marketing, and partnering organization); Board member of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum; Senior Adviser for Heritage Protection and Conservation for UNESCO; Board member of PJT Partners; and served as an Advisory Board member of the eight women Bipartisan Congressional Commission for The American Museum of Women’s History in D.C. (May 2015-December 2016), and continues as an advisor to the project.
As principal of Emily K. Rafferty & Associates, she consults for many organizations, including Russell Reynolds Associates in the firm’s nonprofit practice and The Shed, a performing arts center under construction in Hudson Yards. She is an Advisory Director to Carnegie Hall, a member of the Advisory Council of the American University of Beirut, and also a member of the Economic Club and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ms. Rafferty is a frequent speaker on non-profit and board management, fundraising, and cultural heritage and conservation, and has long been actively affiliated with a number of arts and inter-museum organizations. The recipient of many awards and honors, Ms. Rafferty was named by Crain’s New York Business one of New York City’s 100 most influential women from 2009 through 2013, and in Fall 2015 she was elected to their Hall of Fame. In 2012, she received the New York University Lewis Rudin Award for Exemplary Service to New York City.
Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Frederick P. Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sandra Jackson-Dumont is the Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art— the largest museum in the western hemisphere. Jackson-Dumont is responsible for the vision and management of education, public programs, the live arts/performance, audience development and academic programs. Her work encompasses a wide range of experiences designed for a diverse cross-section of audiences.
She was formerly the Deputy Director for Education + Public Programs and Adjunct Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). She had strategic oversight of programming at SAM’s three sites—Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Olympic Sculpture Park. Prior to her appointment at SAM, Jackson-Dumont worked at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Whitney Museum of American Art among other cultural organizations.
Known for her ability to blur the lines between academia, popular culture and non-traditional art-going communities, Jackson-Dumont is invested in curating experiences that foster dynamic exchanges between art/artists, past/present, public/private and people/places. She has organized numerous exhibitions, lectures, performances, symposia and education initiatives and she has contributed essays to a host of publications and worked with numerous artists.
Past projects have included: Brenna Youngblood: Abstracted Realities in 2015/16; LaToya Ruby Frazier: Born By a River in 2014; machupicchu afterdark, a site specific installation by contemporary Afro- Peruvian artist William Cordova in 2013/14; We Will Blow the Roof Off The Mother, a site-specific installation for the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park in 2013; Theaster Gates: The Listening Room in 2011; Record Store, a roving social practice project initially installed in an urban store front in partnership with Olson Kundig Architects featuring listening parties hosted by a wide cross-section of artists, curators, community/public figures, cultural producers and others in 2011/12; Xenobia Bailey: the aesthetics of funk an exhibition at the Northwest African American Museum in 2011; Titus Kaphar: History in the Making in 2009.
Jackson-Dumont currently serves on the boards of Seattle’s Friends of the Waterfront Project, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ Advisory Commission, the National Guild for Community Arts Education and the Friends of the Highline.
She is the recipient of several awards and honors, including: the 2012 Community Leader of the Year Finalist for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce; a 2012 Women of Color Empowered Award; the 2013 Creative Leadership Award from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award from Sonoma State University; and the 2016 Medal for Distinguished Service from Columbia University’s Teachers College. She was included in Seattle Magazine’s Most Influential People 2010, The Smartest People in Seattle’s Politics 2013, and the Twenty-five Influential Black Women in Business for The Network Journal 2015. She is also an independent curator/writer and programming consultant working across communities, disciplines and sectors. She received her B.A. in art history from Sonoma State University in California and her M.A. in art history from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Cindy F. Golden, Chief Financial Officer, Belfer Management, LLC
Cindy F. Golden is the Chief Financial Officer for Belfer Management, LLC, a family office and investment firm. She started the Belfer’s family office 17 years ago by creating the infrastructure that emphasizes investment, tax, accounting and family management. Prior to joining Belfer Management, LLC, Ms. Golden was the Controller of the Lefrak Organization, Inc., a family Real Estate ownership and management enterprise. Ms. Golden started her career in Public Accounting working with both Kenneth Leventhal & Co. (Ernst & Young, LLP) and David Verdon, LLP. Her time in Public Accounting emphasized Audit, Tax and Advisory services. Ms. Golden received her BA/BS from Queens College in Accounting and Information Systems. She also completed a minor in Business Psychology. Ms. Golden is a Certified Public Accountant and an active member of the NYS Society of CPA’s and the American Institute of CPA’s.
Henry Timms, Executive Director, 92Y
Henry Timms, Executive Director, 92Y and Founder, #GivingTuesday
As Executive Director of 92nd Street Y, Henry creates programs and movements that foster learning, civic responsibility, culture and innovation, both in New York City and around the world. He is the founder of #GivingTuesday, a global philanthropic movement that was awarded a Cannes Lion at the International Festival of Creativity; a PRWeek Global Award for Nonprofit Campaign of the Year; and the inaugural UJA-Federation Riklis Prize in Agency Entrepreneurship.
Henry’s work has been profiled in publications like the Harvard Business Review, and his most recent thinking with Jeremy Heimans on “new power” was featured as the Big Idea in HBR and by CNN as one of the ten top ideas to change the world in 2015. Henry is a Practitioner-in-Residence at the Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, a faculty member of the GovLab Academy and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils. Henry was named the NonProfit Times Influencer of the Year in 2014 and was honored as one of Crain’s New York Business 40 under 40 in 2015.
Whitney W. Donhauser, President, Museum of the City of New York
Whitney W. Donhauser joined the Museum of the City of New York as President and Ronay Menschel Director in January 2016. Her appointment follows a 23-year career in museum management at the Metropolitan Museum of Art including policy and Masterplan development, capital projects such as the Fifth Avenue Plaza and MET Breuer, and fundraising.
At MCNY Donhauser has overseen the final phases of New York at Its Core, a permanent exhibition, that opened on November 18, on the four-century history of New York City with a Future City Lab that explores the city’s ongoing challenges of housing, population growth, embracing diversity, transportation, and climate change. Historic highs in museum and education program attendance and numbers of online followers were recorded in 2016. The first ever multi-lingual advertising campaign aims to draw even more and more diverse visitors.
Ms. Donhauser has a B.A. from Vassar College and a Certificate from the Royal Society of Art in London.
Raoul Bhavnani, Senior Managing Director, Strategic Communications, FTI Consulting
Raoul Bhavnani is a Senior Managing Director in the Strategic Communications segment at FTI Consulting, and is based in New York. He also serves as global head of the segment’s Strategy Consulting & Research practice. For more than 20 years, he has worked at the intersection of communications, finance and government affairs while living in Asia Pacific, EMEA and the United States. Mr. Bhavnani began his career on Wall Street, with several years at Morgan Stanley in India and the United States as an investment banker and fixed-income specialist.
At Morgan Stanley, he advised senior corporate and government leaders on capital markets matters; mergers and acquisitions (M&A); privatization activity; and risk management. He was one of the first employees of Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division in India, where the firm was involved in groundbreaking, capital-raising activities — as well as the development and modernization of India’s financial markets.
Upon returning to the United States, Mr. Bhavnani also spent time in the political and public sectors, helping to manage the campaigns of high-profile candidates, and engaging in public-policy issues facing New York City. For the last decade, he has advised large organizations on communications strategy, first as a partner at Westhill Partners, and then as a senior managing director at FTI Consulting.
His expertise involves the development and application of analytical methods in communications and business strategy, as well as the management of large, global client engagements. Mr. Bhavnani also spent nearly two years of his career with FTI Consulting, in the firm’s London office as part of the group’s EMEA management team. Besides client work, Mr. Bhavnani serves in a leadership capacity for the firm’s diversity & inclusion efforts.
Mr. Bhavnani is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University, and is active in a leadership capacity with a variety of civic and cultural organizations around the world. He is the co-founder and Board President of The India Center Foundation, a non-profit cultural institution and think tank based in New York focused on India and its relationship with the United States. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.
Arielle Tepper Madover, Theater and Film Producer & Board Chair, The Public Theater
Arielle Tepper Madover is The Board Chair at The Public Theater in New York City as well as a Tony Award winning Theater & Film Producer.
Mrs. Madover has had a long-standing relationship with The Donmar Warehouse since 2005. She worked with Artistic Director Michael Grandage from 2005 to 2012 and Josie Rourke starting in 2012.
Mrs. Madover is Executive Producer of the film Genius by John Logan directed by Michael Grandage starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, and Laura Linney.
Mrs. Madover’s theatrical credits include:
Broadway: Les Liaisons Dangereuses starring Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer and directed by Josie Rourke, The Elephant Man starring Bradley Cooper, The Cripple of Inishmaan starring Daniel Radcliffe, directed by Michael Grandage, Lucky Guy, by Nora Ephron, starring Tom Hanks, directed by George C. Wolfe, I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers written by John Logan, starring Bette Midler, Annie directed by James Lapine, Red, the 6 time Tony Award winning Best Play of 2010 starring Alfred Molina, directed by Michael Grandage, the Tony Award winning revival of Hair, Hamlet starring Jude Law, directed by Michael Grandage, Mary Stuart directed by Phyllida Lloyd, starring Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter, Equus, Frost/Nixon, Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, Democracy, A Raisin in the Sun as well as The Royal National Theater’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers, the Tony Award winning Hollywood Arms written by Carol Burnett and her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, directed by Harold Prince, A Class Act, Tony Award winning James Joyce’s The Dead, Sandra Bernhard’s I’m Still Here..Damn It and John Leguizamo’s FREAK.
West End: My Night with Reg, Piaf, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Frost/Nixon and Guys & Dolls both directed by Michael Grandage, Mary Stuart, A Voyage Round My Father and Sunday in the Park with George.
Off- Broadway: De La Guarda “ Villa Villa”, The Last Five Years, written by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Daisy Prince and Olivier Award winning Goodnight Children Everywhere by Richard Nelson, originally produced at The Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Public Theater: in 2016 won 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations, Best Direction, Best Book of A Musical, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Best Performance by and Actor and Actress in a Featured Role, Best Lighting Design, Best Costume Design of a Musical for Hamilton and Best Costume Design of a Play for Eclipsed.
Hamilton 7 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical written and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Fun Home, the 5 time Tony Award winning Best Musical of 2015 starring Michael Cerveris and directed by Sam Gold, Grounded starring Anne Hathaway and directed by Julie Taymor, Josephine & I, the Lortel Award winner for Outstanding Solo Show, starring Cush Jumbo and directed by Phyllida Lloyd, Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) written by Obie Award winner Suzan-Lori Parks and Fortress of Solitude.
She has also produced Bounce by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman directed by Harold Prince at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as the US National Tour of Frost/Nixon and the US National tour and Vegas productions of Monty Python’s Spamalot.
In 2005 Mrs. Madover formed The Living Room for Artists a not for profit 501(c)(3) organization to sustain and support the Summer Play Festival (SPF) which was first presented in 2004. SPF formed an alliance with The Public Theater and had a relationship with the Donmar Warehouse through its creation of the Playwright Residency Program.
In her effort to promote Theater Education, in 2001, she created The Tepper Center for Careers in Theatre, which through The Tepper Semester in New York provides opportunities for college seniors to develop specific strategies for pursuing their career goals in the entertainment industry. In 2005 she initiated a theatre program for kindergarten through third graders at The Dalton School.
Mrs. Madover is on the Board of Governors for The Broadway League and The Board of the Janice and Philip Levin Foundation, an Emeritus member of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees and a past Board member of The Dalton School. Mrs. Madover is also a member of the Juilliard Drama Council and has been listed in Crain’s 40 under 40 and was one of Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Females.
In 2016 Mrs. Madover received the George Arents Award from Syracuse University. It is the highest alumni honor, presented annually to four alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their chosen fields.
Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner, New York City Mayor's Office for International Affairs
Penny Abeywardena is New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs. As head of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, she is leading the City’s effort to build a global platform from which the City is promoting its goals for a more just and accessible society, showcasing the diversity of New Yorkers, and sharing policies and best practice with the world. Since her appointment in September 2014, the International Affairs team has launched a series of initiatives focused on connecting New Yorkers and City agencies to the diplomatic community as well as more effectively serving NYC’s diplomatic corps, which is the largest in the world. Prior to joining Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, Penny was the Director of Girls and Women Integration at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a non-partisan organization that convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
Penny joined CGI in 2009 to develop strategy highlighting and integrating the gender lens throughout the organization’s various platforms. She led the program’s evolution into one of CGI’s most successful efforts. While at CGI, Penny was responsible for the portfolio of CGI commitments focused on empowering girls & women worldwide, developing year-round programming, and integrating the gender lens throughout the CGI platform. During her tenure, she advised multinational corporations, philanthropists, NGOs, and multilateral institutions to increase investments in gender-focused development initiatives; and expanded the community of CGI members who incorporate the gender lens in their work. Before joining the Clinton Global Initiative, Penny worked in both development and programmatic areas for Human Rights Watch, the Funding Exchange and the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.
In 2016 Penny was named by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Board of Directors of the United Nations Development Corporation, New Course, Global Partners, Inc and the Eastside Greenway and Park. On her personal time, Penny serves on the Hillary for America Policy Working Group on Global Women’s Issues, the Innovation Advisory Committee for 92Y and the Founding Member Committee of Lincoln Center’s Global Exchange. She has previously served on the World Bank’s Advisory Council on Gender and Development, the Board of Directors of Sakhi for South Asian Women and Resource Generation. Penny’s a contributing author to “Women in the Global Economy: Leading Social Change,” and in 2012 was recognized by the United Nation’s Decide Now Act (DNA) Summit, as one of 101 Global Innovators for her work to put women’s rights on the global political agenda. She’s a graduate of the University of Southern California and completed her Master of International Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Penny lives on the Upper West Side with her husband. She loves to explore the five boroughs for regional cuisines and jog in Central Park.
Eileen A. Aptman, Chief Investment Officer, Belfer Management LLC
Eileen A. Aptman is the Chief Investment Officer for Belfer Management LLC, a family investment firm that emphasizes energy, real estate, financial services and certain consumer-facing businesses. Prior to joining Belfer Management LLC, Ms. Aptman managed the small and midcap value investment strategy in the Asset Management Division of Goldman Sachs. Ms. Aptman started her investment career as an Equity Analyst for Scott Black at Delphi Management. Ms. Aptman has served on the Boards of Directors of public and private companies including Presidential Financial, American Midstream Partners and Rose Tarlow Melrose House. Ms. Aptman is currently a Director of Del Taco Restaurants and is Chair of the Compensation Committee. As a Trustee for The Town School, a K–8 school in New York City, Ms. Aptman chairs the Finance and Endowment Committees. She is also a Member of The Brookings Council. Ms. Aptman received a BA from Tufts University in Political Science and Asian Studies and is a CFA® charterholder.
Deepali Bagati, Executive Director, Catalyst
Deepali Bagati, PhD, is the Executive Director for Catalyst’s United States region. She is responsible for leading and strengthening Catalyst’s offerings and solutions for the U.S. member companies. Dr. Bagati continues to serve as a resource on diversity and inclusion, and frequently speaks on topics such as women in leadership, organizational change, inclusive leadership, and global diversity and inclusion.
Previously, Dr. Bagati was a Vice President of the Catalyst Inclusive Leadership Initiative, and led curriculum development to transform diversity research, expertise, and advocacy into skill-building leadership programs for emerging leaders. She recently launched Catalyst’s introductory course on Inclusive Leadership Training on the edX platform. Dr. Bagati also led the growth and expansion of Catalyst India, and managed the Catalyst India Advisory Board and developed knowledge products on women in business. Most recently, Dr. Bagati authored Leadership Gap in India Inc.: Myths and Realities and the 2010 India Benchmarking Report.
In her prior role at Catalyst, as a Director of Research, Dr. Bagati led research on workplace challenges for women of color and developed solutions for building more effective and inclusive workplaces. Dr. Bagati co-led the Women of Color in Professional Services series, led the Women of Color Issue Specialty Team, and authored several reports. As a member of the Catalyst Award Evaluation Committee, Dr. Bagati was a strategic adviser for the evaluation of global initiatives, and as a member of Catalyst’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, she was an internal advisor on diversity and inclusion for Catalyst staff.
She received her PhD in Social Work and Social Research from Bryn Mawr College, with her dissertation focusing on the impact of microcredit loans on gender relations at the household level for low-income women in New Delhi. Dr. Bagati earned a MA in Social Work and a BA in Economics, with honors, from Delhi University, New Delhi, India.
Jimmie Briggs, Co-founder and Executive Director Emeritus, Man Up Campaign
Jimmie Briggs is a freelance journalist and teacher. A National Magazine Award finalist and recipient of honors from the Open Society Institute, National Association of Black Journalists and the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism, Jimmie Briggs’ book on child soldiers and war-affected children Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War won him accolades in 2005, and took readers into the lives of war-affected children around the world. Further, Briggs has served as an adjunct professor of investigative journalism at the New School for Social Research, and was a George A. Miller Visiting Professor in the Department of African and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois: Champaign-Urbana. He was also the founding director of Man Up Campaign, a global initiative to activate youth to stop violence against women and girls. Briggs’ next book Blood Work, is a meditation on manhood and transformation through the lens of illness. For his work with Man Up Campaign and the issue of violence against women, Briggs was selected as the winner of the 2010 GQ Magazine “Better Men Better World” Search, as well as one of Women’s eNews’ 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, and is the recipient of numerous journalistic awards and fellowships. He is a member of the Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity, (PACH) at New York University. Currently, Jimmie Briggs is executive director of LOVE U.S. (Leave Out Violence). LOVE’s mission is to enable youth who have been affected by violence to create positive change in their lives and become leaders among their peers and in their communities by providing safe settings, media arts training, social and emotional learning, and leadership development opportunities. Youth emerge from LOVE committed to carrying forward messages of non-violence, and ready to engage more fully in the world around them.
Christine Cea, Founder & Principal, Posit Communications
An industry-recognized leader and innovator in the field of marketing communications, Christine Cea has led world-class initiatives and campaigns for some of the world’s most iconic brands. A highly strategic, insightful and creative thinker, she is an accomplished leader of high-performance teams and transformational change.
As Senior Director of Marketing Communications at Unilever for eight years, Christine led Brand Public Relations, Earned Social Media and Health & Wellness marketing for the U.S. portfolio of foods and personal care brands – Dove, Suave, Lipton, Hellmann’s, and Magnum ice cream among dozens of others. She led the launch of Unilever Project Sunlight, the company’s first consumer marketing initiative to foster its sustainable living mission, which received a Cannes PR Lion.
She has held senior management positions at global PR agencies in both New York and London, including tenure as the Global Consumer Brand Marketing Practice Leader. With the emergence of Social Media, Christine became an industry leader who served five years on the Board of Directors of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, delivered keynotes and lectured at The Wharton School of Business.
Christine has been ranked twice on the PR Week Power List, which recognized her as “a champion who helped propel Unilever’s venerable brands into the digital age.” She received the 2014 PR Week Awards Honorable Mention as PR Professional of the Year – In House, which noted her industry thought leadership.
She holds a BA in English from Barnard College and an MA in English from Columbia University.
Margaret Coady, Executive Director, Coach Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility at Coach, Inc.
Margaret Coady is Executive Director, Coach Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility at Coach, Inc., a publicly-traded New York design house of modern luxury accessories and lifestyle collections for women and men employing 17,000 colleagues across locations worldwide.
As Executive Director of The Coach Foundation, Margaret works with the Foundation Board to deploy more than $5 million annually to high-impact non-profit organizations serving communities around the globe. The Coach Foundation’s principal mission is help women to fully realize their potential and to improve educational opportunities for the underserved.
In her role as Executive Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Margaret leads Coach, Inc.’s efforts at the intersection of corporate and community success, and develops opportunities for the company’s worldwide teams to participate in giving back to the communities in which they live and work.
Margaret has had a longstanding career of thought leadership in corporate community engagement, having served as Executive Director of CECP, a coalition of 150 CEOs united in the belief that societal improvement is an essential measure of business performance. At CECP for more than a decade, Margaret was instrumental in establishing the non-profit as the top forum for inspiring and challenging CEOs and corporate philanthropic leaders to align community initiatives with core business strategy.
Margaret graduated with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors from Williams College and was Valedictorian of her class at Columbia Business School. In 2013, she was one of 6 national finalists for the American Express NGen Leadership Award honoring nonprofit leaders age 40 or under who have demonstrated significant impact in addressing society’s critical needs.
Lori Conkling, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, NBCUniversal
Lori Conkling was named Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development of NBCUniversal in February 2013. As such, she is responsible for developing progressive business strategies for NBCU’s new and existing digital businesses, driving innovation and monetizing cross-platform content.
Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Conkling was EVP, Distribution, at A+E Networks (AEN), having joined from Lifetime Networks when it was acquired by AEN in 2009.
For the past five years Conkling has been named one of CableFAX’s Most Powerful Women in Cable and was inducted into Multichannel News’ Wonder Women Class of 2011. She has served time on the Board of Directors for Women in Cable and Telecommunications, the Alliance for Women in Media and the Fuqua School of Business Alumni Council.
Conkling received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Duke University.
Aria Finger, CEO & Chief Old Person, DoSomething.org; President, TMI
As CEO and Chief Old Person of DoSomething.org, the largest organization for young people and social change in the world, Aria Finger uses her expertise on all things young people and tech to lead a diverse, impact-driven team. She has been an instrumental part of scaling DoSomething.org from less than 100,000 members to over 4.6 million members in 125 countries today. Starting at DoSomething.org as an associate 10 years ago, Aria created their Teens for Jeans campaign which has clothed over 5 million homeless teenagers to date.
With her cause-related marketing experience, Finger has spearheaded partnerships with top brands including Johnson & Johnson, H&M, Sprint and American Express.
In 2013, Aria founded and became President of TMI, a subsidiary agency that uses DoSomething.org’s 20+ years of experience to help clients reach young people and fuel positive impact in the world.
She graduated magna cum laude in economics and political science from Washington University in St. Louis, and completed the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Aria currently serves on the board of the NYC-based not-for-profit Care for the Homeless, was one of the first ten World Economic Forum Global Shapers and is an adjunct professor at New York University. She has been highlighted in the New York Times, Fast Company and was named to the 2012 Crain’s New York Business list of “40 Under Forty” and featured on the cover.
When she is not running DoSomething.org or desperately trying to improve her Spanish, Aria can be found reading The New Jim Crow for the thousandth time, or relearning her ABCs with the newest addition to the DS family, her adorable son Luke.
Fran Hauser, Startup Investor & Former President, Digital at Time Inc.
Fran Hauser is an early stage investor, long-time media executive and a vocal advocate for women across the globe. Best known for her role building PEOPLE.com – one of the biggest media brands online – Hauser made the leap to early stage investing in 2014, funding and advising consumer-focused companies such as HelloGiggles, Levo, Mogul, The Wing and Gem&Bolt. Thirteen of the fifteen companies in Hauser’s portfolio are founded by women, highlighting her broader commitment to increasing the representation of female founders and investors.
Hauser previously spent 15 years in the digital media space, holding President and General Manager positions at Time Inc., AOL and Moviefone. She played an integral role in the $400mm sale of Moviefone to AOL and in building PEOPLE.com into one of the most successful women’s websites.
Hauser speaks frequently about topics such as career building, digital media and investing in and by women. She recently received the Fairy Godmother Award from Girl Be Heard and the W Award from the YWCA of the City of New York, both of which honor change makers who advocate for women and girls around the world. In 2014, Forty Over 40 selected Hauser as one of 40 Women to Watch Over 40, a distinction that honors women who are reinventing, disrupting and making an impact. That same year, she was also named one of the Six Most Powerful Women in New York City’s Tech Scene by Refinery29 and was honored as a Global Champion of Women on International Women’s Day.
A passionate advocate of women around the globe, Hauser is an advisory board member of 92Y Women inPower, Rent the Runway’s Project Entrepreneur, WomenOne and TIA Girl Club; on the board of directors of GlobalGiving; and a mentor to hundreds of young women. A summa cum laude graduate of Pace University, Hauser lives in Bedford, New York with her husband and two darling boys.
Anna Holmes, Founder, Jezebel.com
Anna Holmes has written and edited for numerous publications, including the New York Times,Washington Post, Newsweek, InStyle and The New Yorker online. She is the founder of the popular website Jezebel.com and the 2012 recipient of a Mirror Award for Best Commentary. In 2013 her Twitter account was named one of the top 140 Twitter feeds by Time Magazine, at which point she became incredibly self-conscious and stopped tweeting as much. She is the editor of two books, including theBook of Jezebel, and works as a columnist for the New York Times Book Review and as an editor of Digital Voices at Fusion. She lives in New York.
Maz Kessler, Founder, Catapult
Maz Kessler is a designer, artist and serial entrepreneur with roots in the music industry. After more than a decade as a successful songwriter and producer, Maz migrated to Silicon Valley and the tech sector to work on pioneering voice interfaces for major clients. In 2006 Maz joined Advocacy International as Creative Director. By 2012, she had teamed up with Women Deliver to launch Catapult. She designed and built Catapult to channel her passion for girls’ and women’s rights, and to take action for equality
Gillian Lester, Dean Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Gillian Lester is Dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. She joined the Law School in 2015 as its 15th dean.
Lester began her teaching career in 1994 at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, where she later became a full professor in 1999. In 2006, Lester joined the Berkeley Law faculty, where—in addition to serving as acting dean from 2012 to 2014—she was the Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of Law and the Werner and Mimi Wolfen Research Professor. Lester also co-directed the Berkeley Center for Health, Economic and Family Security and was the Associate Dean for the J.D. Program and Curricular Planning.
Lester has held external appointments at Harvard Law School as the Sidley Austin Visiting Professor and at the Georgetown University Law Center as a Sloan Fellow and visiting professor. She also held short-term visiting appointments at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, University of Chicago Law School, and Radzyner School of Law Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel.
Lester serves on the Executive Board for the International Society of Labor Law & Social Security and the Board of Directors for the Legal Aid Society of New York.
Lester received a J.S.D. from Stanford Law School, an LL.B. from the University of Toronto and a B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia.
Jessica Peltz-Zatulove, Principal, kbs+ Ventures
Jessica Peltz-Zatulove is the Principal at kbs+ Ventures. Prior to joining kbs+, she specialized in helping connect marketers with emerging technology and spent 10+ years working with Fortune 500 brands including Verizon Wireless, Kraft Foods, and H&M. At Evol8tion she brokered numerous first to market startup and brand partnerships, and as a VP at Zenith Media was recognized an industry pioneer in the mobile space; her cutting edge collaborations were often featured in Mashable, Adage, Mobile Marketer, and Mediapost. Jessica has a global footprint with strategic relationships at over 250+ startup organizations across 20+ countries worldwide; she’s been named one of NYC’s 100 Most Influential People in Tech, and has been featured on CNBC, Fox Business, and popular podcast ThePitchDeck. Jessica has a BA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, with a double concentration in Marketing and International Relations.
Adam Quinton, Founder/CEO, Lucas Point Venture
As the Founder/CEO of Lucas Point Ventures, Adam Quinton invests in and advises early stage companies. His focus is supporting diverse management teams and his investments include The Muse, Glassbreakers, Venuebook, Pinks and Greens, Snaps, Rapt Media, EpiEP, Hire an Esquire, Tactile Finance, Validately, Consensus Point and LawGo.
He serves as an Advisory to Hire an Esquire, Tactile Finance and San Francisco based SwoopTalent as well as Chicago based techweek. In H1 2014 he served as Chief Financial Officer of leading NYC based cybersecurity company NopSec, another of his investees.
He Chairs the East Coast Advisory Board of Astia as well being a Founding Astia Angel. He is an Advisor for San Francisco based Women’s StartUp Lab and a mentor for the Boulder based accelerator MergeLane. He is also an advisor/mentor to 37 Angels and The Vinetta Project.
In 2014 he was named by AlleyWatch one of “25 Angel Investors in New York You Need to Know” and also one the “100 NYC Tech Influencers You Need to Know”. In 2015 tech.co named him “One of 8 VCs making waves.”
In the not-for-profit space, Quinton is on the Board at International House New York, and a member of the Executive Committee. He is also a Board member at the Center for Talent Innovation.
Adam has over 25 years of investing and management experience, most recently at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was most recently Managing Director and head of Global Macro Research.
He has been a top ranked sell-side investment analyst in the UK, Asia, and the US.
Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he is a Capstone workshop advisor and member of the Management and Gender & Policy faculties.
Quinton holds a MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from Cass Business School, London.
JJ Ramberg, Founder & Managing Director, Goodshop; Host, Your Business, MSNBC
JJ Ramberg is the co-founder of Goodshop, host of the MSNBC program Your Business and author of the bestselling book It’s Your Business.
Now in its tenth season, Your Business is the only program on television dedicated to helping small business owners solve the issues they face every day. JJ has travelled across the country, interviewing thousands of small business owners, investors and advisors – as well as cabinet members and members of Congress — to learn what works and what doesn’t.
JJ is a leader in the space of social entrepreneurship. Through its innovative online platform, her company Goodshop has forged a connection between retail savings and non-profit and school fundraising—by creating coupons that give back. Not only does it provide the best coupons and deals at thousands of stores including Target, Kohl’s, Old Navy, and Macy’s, but if you select a nonprofit or school to support, it donates a percentage of the purchase from many of these stores back to that organization. Launched in 2006, the Goodshop family of sites has raised nearly $12 million for its participating causes as well as saved people more than $100 million.
JJ has been honored for her work with Goodshop as well as with MSNBC by organizations including the American Women’s Business Association, Self Magazine, The Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Executives, Small Business Influencers and the New York Enterprise Report. In addition, as an entrepreneur herself as well as a journalist who covers small business, JJ is often called to speak to organizations including the Small Business Administration, National Women Business Owners Corporation, National Association of Women Business Owners, American Express CEO Bootcamp, and many others.
JJ holds her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and three children.
Rachel Sklar, co-founder, Change the Ratio and TheLi.st
Rachel Sklar is a writer, entrepreneur and feminist based in New York. She is the co-founder of Change The Ratio, which increases visibility and opportunity for women in tech & new media, and TheLi.st, a network & media platform for awesome women. A former lawyer who writes about media, politics, culture & technology, Rachel was a founding editor atMediaite and the Huffington Post.
Jenifer Willig, Founder, Motive and former CEO of (RED)
Jenifer Willig is the Founder of Motive and former CEO of (RED). Partnering with iconic brands including Nike, Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Starbucks Jenifer most recently led (RED), the organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to fight AIDS in Africa, to momentous growth over her four year tenure. Through her leadership (RED) raised $185 million and became a global brand with a social following of over 2.5 million active people who advocate on behalf of (RED).
Prior to joining (RED), Jenifer spent her career in advertising on global brands including AT&T, Levi Strauss & Co, British Airways, The Financial Times, ran the New York office of M&C Saatchi and developed the dot com business at TBWA/Chiat/Day SF during the tech boom of the late 1990′s.
She has recently been named one of the 10 Most Generous Marketing Geniuses by Catch a Fire’s Generosity Series featured on Fast Company and recognized as one of the 40 women over 40 to watch.
Jenifer is also the co-founder of WHOLE WORLD Water, a social enterprise raising money to provided access to clean and safe water around the world.
Jennefer Witter, CEO and Founder of The Boreland Group
Jennefer Witter is the CEO/Founder of The Boreland Group Inc., a boutique public relations agency headquartered in New York City. The twelve-year old firm was named by TheStreet.com as one of five black owned businesses in the US “making a buzz.” The agency specializes in corporate visibility, getting their clients their “unfair share” of business-building attention via customized, results-driven PR programs.
A 30+ year PR veteran, Jennefer was ranked as one the nation’s top ten black CEOs and entrepreneurs by Madame Noire Magazine (the only other female on the list was Ursula Burns, the CEO/chairman of Xerox). Jennefer is the author of “The Little Book of Big PR: 100+ Tips to Get Your Small Business Noticed” (AMACOM, 2014) . She has presented at the 92nd St Y, American University, The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, GlobalWIN, Women’s Presidents Educational OrganizationWomen’s Presidents Educational Organizationthe Women’s Presidents Educational Organization, The Communication Exchange and Ellevate Network. The former PR expert for Inc.com TV, Jennefer has been featured in the Associated Press, TheStreet.com, Crain’s New York Business, and MarketWatch Radio Network. She has been profiled in the Huffington Post and the Amsterdam News.
Ravi Karkara, Senior Advisor on Strategic Partnerships and Advocacy to the Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director, UN Women
Ravi Karkara is Senior Advisor on Strategic Partnerships and Advocacy to the Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director, UN Women.
With over 20 years of experience, Ravi is an acknowledged expert in various development related fields. He has been driving innovation and advocacy as well as building strategic partnerships in the areas of human rights, participation, inclusion and gender equality, accountability, and social justice. Recently, Ravi developed a partnership between UN Women and the City of New York and organized a unique gender equality march with over 20,000 participants from the UN Headquarters to Times Square. Ravi has built UN Women’s Strategy on youth and gender equality and established and co-ordinates the Working Group on Youth and Gender Equality for the UN Interagency Network on Youth and Development.
He developed and led the youth outreach of the UN Secretary General’s MyWorld Survey to deliver votes from more than 6 million youth from 193 nations. Ravi has been the recipient of the prestigious NOVUS Award – that unites global leaders from around the world to tackle today’s big challenges via actionable change. He has also been appointed as honorary Global Ambassador by the prestigious Junior Chamber International.
Inspired by the outcomes of the Beijing Conference in 1995, Ravi is a feminist and has been advocating for gender equality and girls/women’s empowerment throughout his career. He has worked on programs for strengthening women’s political participation in local governance and economic empowerment in South Asia and also served as a pioneering Male Trainer for gender sensitization at the Centre for Social Research’s Gender Equality Training Institute, India. He has been a founding member of the Men-Engage Alliance and was instrumental in forming their South Asian network. As Save the Children’s Sweden Regional Program Manager Ravi worked to mainstream gender and action to end violence against women and children in South Asia and promoted cross-regional programmatic collaboration. He also served on Save the Children’s Global Gender Task Force.
Ravi’s publications have been fundamental in forming policy at the United Nations in youth-related areas. Representative publications include: Youth 21: Building the Architecture of Youth Engagement in the UN System”, which contributed to the creation of the United Nations Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth. In addition, he has been the co-chair of World We Want 2015— the largest UN & civil society post-2015 data-curation-visualization big data platform to further engage global populations on Sustainable Development Goals with over 1,000,000 perspectives on sustainable development goals harvested.
Additionally, Ravi has worked with other UN agencies and governments. He served as Global Advisor on Youth with UN-HABITAT and has represented UN-HABITAT as the co-chair of the UN Interagency Network on Youth Development. Ravi also served as the Global Strategic Advisor on Partnership with the UN Millennium Campaign. He has also worked for UNICEF at HQ and the Regional office for South Asia on child and adolescent participation, gender equality and child protection. He also served as Child and Adolescent Participation Advisor to the UN Study on ending Violence against Children in Geneva. He has written more than 80 publications.
Barri Rafferty, Senior Partner and CEO, North America, Ketchum
Barri Rafferty is the Senior Partner and CEO, North America at Ketchum. In her current role, Barri Friedman Rafferty leads Ketchum’s nine offices in North America as well as Ketchum Digital and Ketchum Sports and Entertainment (KSE).
In addition, she oversees the complementary businesses, Access | Emanate Communications, Interfuse, Capstrat and Harrison & Shriftman. She is also part of the eight-member Worldwide Executive Committee, which focuses on guiding the strategy, client service and performance of the agency.
During her tenure at Ketchum, Rafferty has held several different roles to support the agency’s overall business goals, including overseeing the global brand marketing practice and running the New York, Atlanta and Dallas offices. She also oversaw specialty units such as digital, entertainment, sports, and multicultural.
Rafferty has a legacy of client service and continues to advise many of the agency’s largest clients, including Gillette, P&G, Frito-Lay, Ikea, and Chase. As a counselor, she specializes in integrated marketing, brand reputation and corporate reputation and has helped countless clients with award-winning campaigns, including “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl” for Frito Lay, Kodak’s Inkjet Launch and Maxwell House’s “Build a Home America.”
Outside of Ketchum, Rafferty participates in a number of groups, such as the sustainability taskforce for the World Economic Forum and is a member of Arthur W. Page Society Page Up program. Barri also sits on the executive board of StepUp, an organization with the mission of empowering girls from under-resourced communities to become confident, college-bound, and career focused. She is also active in the Public Relations Society of America New York Chapter and is a former chapter president. She is a 2015 recipient of the Plank Center’s Milestones in Mentoring Award. In 2012, she received the President’s Award for her many contributions. In addition, she is a Capstone advisor and former adjunct professor in the Master’s program in public relations at New York University, as well as an advisory member of the Branding and Integrated Communications program for the City College of New York.
Rafferty has a passion for developing up-and-coming talent, and is particularly interested in the topic of women’s leadership. She is a member of the governing body of OmniWomen, Omnicom’s Leading Women’s Network, for which she holds quarterly panel discussions featuring prominent women within the marketing and communications industry who share their own experiences and offer advice to women.
Prior to Ketchum, Rafferty had a senior role at Lippe Taylor, where she worked on such prestigious brands as Maybelline, Matrix, Escada Beaute and J.F. Lazartigue. She also worked at Slim-Fast Foods Company, Burson-Marsteller and Cone Communications. She received a master’s degree in corporate communications from Boston University and an undergraduate degree in communications from Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University.
Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs & Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Doron Weber runs the program for the Public Understanding of Science and Technology for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He also directs the Foundation’s efforts to promote Universal Access to Knowledge through the Digital Information Technology program, which seeks to utilize emerging developments in information technology to make the benefits of human knowledge and human culture accessible to people everywhere. A fledgling program in International Science Engagement will focus on South Asia and seek to bring scientists and engineers in conflict regions together to collaborate on subjects and projects of mutual interest.
Mr. Weber has primary responsibility for the Foundation’s efforts to educate and engage the public through books, radio, public and commercial television and film, theater, opera, the Internet, and new media. He also supports selected scientific events of national concern and targeted public policy initiatives.
In 2004, the Foundation received the National Science Board’s Public Service Award, citing Mr. Weber’s program “for its innovative use of traditional media—books, radio, public television–and its pioneering efforts in theater and commercial television and films to advance public understanding of science and technology.” On behalf of the Foundation, in 2007, Mr. Weber received the PBS Leadership Award for over a decade of support, in 2009 the Nielsen Impact Award from the Hollywood Reporter, and, in 2011, the Communicator Award for a documentary about the Foundation’s history, “Sloan at 75.” Mr. Weber’s work at Sloan has been profiled in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Fortune, and The American Way.
Prior to joining Sloan in 1995, Mr. Weber served as Director of Communications at The Rockefeller University (1991-1995), and Director of Communications for the Society for the Right to Die (1989-91). Earlier, he worked as a senior editor for The Reader’s Catalog, a speechwriter for the United Jewish Appeal, and a screenwriter for both television and film. He has also been a teacher, tutor, taxi driver, romance novelist, busboy and boxer.
In February 2012, Mr. Weber published a critically acclaimed book, Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir (Simon & Schuster), that was widely reviewed, including reviews by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and People. Mr. Weber has previously coauthored three nonfiction trade books: Safe Blood: Purifying the Nation’s Blood Supply in the Age of AIDS (Free Press, 1990), The Complete Guide to Living Wills(Bantam Books, 1991), and Final Passages: Positive Choices for the Dying and their Loved One (Simon & Schuster, 1992, Fireside, 1993). His articles and reviews have appeared in, among other places, The New York Times, USA Today, Barron’s, The Baltimore Sun, The Village Voice Literary Supplement, and the Boston Review. His first novel, The Deserters, was excerpted in the fall 2003 issue of Kinder-Link.
Mr. Weber was educated at Brown University (BA, 1977), the Sorbonne, and Oxford University (MA, 1981), where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He also received a Fulbright. He served for ten years (1995-2005) as secretary of the New York State Committee for the Rhodes Scholarships and currently serves as President of The Writers Room Board of Trustees,Vice Chair of the Digital Public Library of America Steering Committee, Advisory Board Member of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, and Board Visitor of the Wikimedia Foundation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, U.S.A. Triathlon, and the Century Club.
Stacey Hadash, Managing Director and Metro New York Market Executive for Global Commercial Banking, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Stacey Hadash is managing director and the Metro New York Market Executive for Global Commercial Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She oversees banking teams that cover New York City and Long Island, providing a full range of solutions to companies with revenues of $50 million to $2 billion.
Stacey is responsible for delivering the entire enterprise to clients, including investment banking and capital markets, credit, syndications, global treasury services, leasing, risk management, global markets and wealth management.
Previously, she was chief operating officer for the firm’s Global Capital Markets business, which includes equity capital markets, investment grade capital markets, leveraged finance, and derivatives & foreign exchange origination.
Stacey joined the firm in 2005 from The New York Stock Exchange, where she was managing director and head of Financial Planning. Prior to that, she worked with former Texas Governor Ann Richards at Public Strategies, a communications consulting firm.
Stacey began her finance career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. She later worked for the mergers and acquisitions group at Goldman Sachs in both New York and London.
Earlier in her career, Stacey worked on economic policy in the 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign. Following the election, she was appointed as a Special Assistant in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Stacey holds a BA from Smith College and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is a 2003 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Stacey sits on the board of the Ann Richards School Foundation.
Kim Pendergast, Managing Partner, Pendergast Partners, LLC
Kim Pendergast is Managing Partner of Pendergast Partners, LLC, a private equity management company that invests in technology driven performance automotive aftermarket companies, more specifically power-train related companies, which are in a position to benefit from active management.
Kim is a serial entrepreneur. She was founder and CEO of five companies before starting Pendergast Partners. Pendergast Logistics Services, was a dedicated freight management company for a $5 billion publicly traded company with over $100 million in freight. Client Distribution Services, was created with the assets of a division of Random House and grew to a run rate of $70 million dollars annually before it was sold. She also founded an environmental consulting company based in Denver, a strategy and investment banking company whose client list included AT&T and ABB, and a leasing company.
Currently, Ms. Pendergast is CEO and Chairman of the Board of Magnuson Products, LLC, a portfolio company located in Ventura, California.
Kim graduated from Indiana University with honors, B.A., M.B.A. and was selected as a Henry Crown Fellow, Aspen Institute. She helped found the Learning Spring Academy, a school for Children with Asperger’s Syndrome in NYC, and the National Art Museum of Sport and supports The Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Indiana. She speaks both German and Spanish.
Katie Bisbee, Chief Marketing Officer & EVP, Partnerships, DonorsChoose
Katie Bisbee leads the marketing and partnership team, engaging 2.5 million citizen donors and 500 corporate and foundation partners in supporting public school classrooms. Prior to joining DonorsChoose.org, Katie launched a customer acquisition business at Red Ventures, a company ranked on the Inc. 500 list as one of the nation’s top 20 fastest growing companies. She also conducted market research and political polling for corporate and media clients.
Katie earned her M.B.A. from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, where the faculty awarded her the Hyde Fellowship for her contributions to the school. In 2016, she was named to Direct Marketing News’ “Marketing Hall of Femme”.
Asha Curran, Chief Innovation Officer & Director of the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact, 92nd Street Y
Asha Curran is Chief Innovation Officer and Director of the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact at the 92nd Street Y, which was recently named one of the 10 Most Innovative Nonprofits by Fast Company. She leads #GivingTuesday, the annual day of giving following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as a portfolio of global, digitally-driven initiatives including 7 Days of Genius, the Social Good Summit, the Ben Franklin Circles, and the Women inPower Fellowship. She is the recipient of the 2015 Social Capital Hero Award, named a 2016 Woman of Influence by New York Business Journals, and is a Forty over 40 Women to Watch honoree. Asha serves on the board of directors of TheGuardian.org, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing civil discourse and issues-driven journalism, and she is a non-resident Fellow at Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab.