Our Advisory Council

Najat Vallaud Belkacem is the CEO Global Affairs at the IPSOS Group, a global market and opinion research company. She also directs a research collection within Fayard, a French large publishing house.

Previously, Vallaud Belkacem served as the French Minister for National Education, Higher Education, and Research from 2014 to 2017. She has also served as the French Minister for Women’s Affairs, the government spokesperson, and the Minister for Urban Planning, Youth and Sports. Prior to that, she was involved in local politics for ten years – she served as Regional Councillor for Rhône-Alpes, Deputy Mayor of Lyon, and General Councillor of Rhône.

Dr. Rohini Anand is Global SVP Corporate Responsibility and Global Chief Diversity Officer for Sodexo. She is responsible for the strategic direction, implementation and alignment of Sodexo’s integrated global diversity and inclusion initiatives, as well as Sodexo’s corporate social responsibility and wellness strategies. Operating in 72 countries, Sodexo’s 460,000 employees serve 100 million customers each day.

Widely considered a leading expert on organizational change and diversity and inclusion, Dr. Anand has been featured in articles for CNBC, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and the Washington Postand has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg and National Public Radio. Dr. Anand has been the recipient of many accolades including the Mosaic Woman Leadership Award, Ascend’s inaugural Excellence in Diversity & InclusionAward,and the Diversity Leadership Star Awardby Diversity Woman.

Dr. Anand received her PhD from the University of Michigan. She chairs the Catalyst Board of Advisors and serves on the boards of several organizations including the Galt Foundation, Community Wealth Partners, the National Organization on Disabilities (NOD) and Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation. She also serves on the Charter Communications External Diversity and Inclusion Council.

Jay Collins is Citi’s Vice Chairman of Corporate and Investment Banking, serving as the bank’s senior banker for governments.

Collins has covered clients around the world in a wide variety of sectors and run transactions across the full product spectrum of Citi. He has advised governments and corporations on large scale financings and mergers and acquisitions on every continent. Over the course of his career, Jay has advised 54 different governments on privatizations, liability management and funding solutions, infrastructure finance, market solutions, structured products and derivatives, and electronic banking services, including a wide range of digital solutions. He has been a Senior Credit Officer of the Firm since 2006. Prior to joining Citi in 1997, Jay held roles at Merrill Lynch and CSIS.

Joe Gebbia is the co-founder and CPO of Airbnb. He serves on the company’s Board of Directors and Executive staff and also leads Samara, Airbnb’s in-house design and innovation studio.

Airbnb’s groundbreaking service began in Gebbia’s San Francisco apartment and has since spread to nearly 5 million listings across more than 191 countries, creating a new economy for thousands of people around the world. Gebbia is involved in crafting the company culture, shaping its design aesthetic, and innovating future growth opportunities. He has spoken globally about both entrepreneurship and design and has received numerous distinctions, such as being included in the Inc 30 under 30 and Fortune 40 under 40. Gebbia serves on the Rhode Island School of Design’s Board of Trustees, Malala Fund Leadership Council, and USA for UNHCR Advisory Council.

Carlos Gutierrez is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Empath, Inc..

Mr. Gutierrez served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2009 under President George W. Bush, where he worked with foreign government and business leaders to advance economic relationships, enhance trade, and promote U.S. exports. He also served as Chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group.

Mr. Gutierrez spent nearly thirty years with Kellogg Company. After assignments in Latin America, Canada, Asia, and the U.S., he became President and CEO of Kellogg in 1999 − the youngest CEO in the company’s hundred-year history. In April 2000, he was named Chairman of the Board of Kellogg Company.

Mr. Gutierrez was born in Havana, Cuba and arrived in the U.S. as a refugee. He is married to Edilia and has three grown children.

General Michael Hayden is currently a principal at The Chertoff Group.

Hayden is a retired four-star general who served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. As head of the premier intelligence agencies in the United States, he was on the frontline of global change, the war on terrorism, and the growing cyber security challenge. General Hayden has also served in numerous other senior roles at the Pentagon, U.S. European Command, the National Security Council, and more. He serves on a variety of boards and consultancies and is the founder of the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy and International Security and a distinguished visiting professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

Per Heggenes is the CEO of IKEA Foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of Stichting INGKA Foundation and the owner of the Swedish home furnishings company IKEA.

As CEO, Heggenes sets and drives the Foundation’s funding and innovation strategies and is a tireless advocate for children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since becoming the Foundation’s first CEO in 2009, he has presided over the Foundation’s evolution into a global, grant-making philanthropic organization that funds programs in more than 45 countries. Heggenes also serves as an Advisory Group member of the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute, a Councilor for the World Refugee Council, and a member of the World Commission for Forced Displacement.

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean is the 27th Governor General, Commander-in-Chief of Canada. Mme. Jean is a former refugee from Haiti, and in 2010 was asked to serve as UNESCO Special Envoy to Haiti to support reconstruction efforts in the country following the devastating earthquake. From 2011 to 2014, Mme. Jean served as Chancellor of the University of Ottawa and in 2014, she became the 3rd Secretary General of the International Organization of la Francophonie at the 15th Summit of Heads of State and Government in Dakar, a position which she held from January 2015 to 2019. Presently, Mme. Jean serves as Chancellor of St. Paul’s University College at the University of Waterloo.

Together with her husband, filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond, she founded and chairs the Michaëlle Jean Foundation, whose programs support civic initiatives through art and culture for some of the most vulnerable and disenfranchised young people in Canada.

Betty Liu is Chair & CEO at D and Z Media Acquisition Corp. Prior to this, she served as Executive Vice Chairman for NYSE Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE). In this role Liu oversaw the NYSE marketing strategy, including customer-centric messaging, brand, digital, and events consistent with Intercontinental Exchange’s growth strategy.

Prior to joining the NYSE in 2018, Liu was an award-winning business journalist. She most recently anchored the Bloomberg Television “Daybreak Asia” program. She also co-created and anchored “In the Loop” for eight years on Bloomberg. Prior to the NYSE acquisition, Liu served as founder and CEO of Radiate, a content platform that aims to empower leaders with expert advice. Before joining Bloomberg Television, Liu was an anchor for CNBC Asia, the Atlanta bureau chief for the Financial Times and the Taiwan bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires.

Rebecca Marmot is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Unilever.

Rebecca is responsible for driving through advocacy and partnerships, transformational change on priority areas of Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan: climate change and eliminating deforestation; sustainable agriculture & smallholder farmers; water, sanitation and hygiene; and opportunities for women.

Prior to this role, Rebecca was Global Vice President of Sustainability at Unilever where she led the global advocacy, policy and partnerships team, heading engagement with external stakeholders and building the optimal enabling environment to drive sustainable business. Before joining Unilever, Rebecca served as Global External Affairs Director at L’Oréal and in External Affairs at the UK Department for Trade & Industry. Rebecca is also a Non-Executive Director at WSUP – Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor.

Anne is a 30-year veteran of Xerox and led the company through a massive transformation – reinventing Xerox into an innovative technology and services enterprise during her time as Chair and CEO (2001-2010). Ms. Mulcahy and her management team were responsible for an aggressive, multibillion-dollar turnaround plan that returned Xerox to profitability through relentless focus on helping businesses deploy smarter document management strategies that deliver better ways to work. Her Xerox career began as a field sales representative in 1976 and she assumed increasingly responsible sales and senior management positions. She became chief staff officer in 1997 and corporate senior vice president in 1998.

She currently serves as a lead director for Johnson & Johnson and is an active board member for Williams-Sonoma, Graham Holdings, LPL Financial, and on the Board of Trustees for Save the Children. In addition, she is currently an Executive in Residence at Harvard University.

June Sarpong has enjoyed a 20-year career which has seen her become one of the most recognizable faces of British television. She has interviewed politicians, celebrities and members of the public and hosted notable events including 2005’s major Make Poverty History event in London’s Trafalgar Square, and Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday celebration in London’s Hyde Park.

Ms. Sarpong has worked with the Prince’s Trust – Prince Charles’s youth charity that helps young people get into jobs, education and training – for two decades, as well as on campaigns for The One, Product (RED) and the United Nations. She was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) on the Queen’s 2007 New Year’s Honours List for her services to broadcasting and charity.

Ms. Sarpong is the co-founder of the Women:Inspiration & Enterprise, an influential women’s leadership network that provides professional women with the motivation and learning to succeed in their careers.

She is co-host of Sky News’s flagship weekly current affairs show “The Pledge” and is the author of “Diversify” and “Power of Women” both published by Harper Collins and currently out on nationwide release. Her new book “Power of Privilege – How White People Can Challenge Racism” will be released in Oct 2020.

In November 2019 June was appointed as the BBC’s first Director of Creative Diversity, and was made an OBE (Order of the British Empire) on the Queen’s 2020 New Year’s Honours List.

Mehmet Şimşek is Turkey’s former Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs.

Şimşek previously served as Turkey’s Minister of Finance and Minister of Economy. He was elected to Parliament for three terms, representing the AK Party. Before entering politics, he worked for Merrill Lynch in London, initially as an economist and strategist, and later as the head of Fixed Income Strategy and Macro Economic Research for the emerging EMEA region. He was named as one of the 500 most powerful people on the planet by Foreign Policy in 2013, and awarded as the “Finance Minister of the Year for Emerging Europe 2013” by Emerging Markets magazine.

Ofra Strauss is Chairperson of the Strauss Group.

Strauss Group is Israel’s second largest Food and Beverage Company, and operates in over 20 countries with around 14,000 employees worldwide. Strauss Group is comprised of four core business units: Strauss Israel, Strauss Coffee, Sabra‐Obela Fresh Dips and Spreads, and Strauss Water.

Prior to assuming the Chairperson role in 2001, Ms. Strauss served in several executive positions in the Group. She also held positions in Estée Lauder International and on the Supervisory Board of Royal Numico.

For decades Ms. Strauss has taken an active role in social affairs. In recent years, she has focused on corporate governance, diversity and inclusion and highlighting women’s empowerment. Ms. Strauss served as Chairwoman of the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce until June 2018 and up until late 2017 she also chaired Jasmine, an association of Arab and Jewish female entrepreneurs. Ms. Strauss has been a member of the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership, she founded Catalyst Israel an organization focused on promoting women in business, and chaired the Maala organization which promotes corporate citizenship and social responsibility.

Wendy Woods is a Senior Partner and Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Global Leader of the firm’s Social Impact practice.

Woods is responsible for BCG’s work addressing global health, development, education, environment and climate, humanitarian response, impact investing, and total societal impact. She works with businesses, governments, and social sector organizations, helping clients rethink business’s role in society, create inclusive strategies, improve effectiveness, develop public-private partnerships, and drive change. She has given two TED talks, “Collective cooperation in the social sector” and “The business benefits of doing good,” and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Centre for Public Impact, a BCG foundation dedicated to improving the positive impact of governments.