2021 Virtual Global Institute & Visionary Awards Celebration

The Women Corporate Directors (WCD) Foundation is pleased to announce our flagship event, the 2021 Virtual Global Institute & Visionary Awards Celebration. The theme for this year’s event is, Agile Leadership in the Boardroom: Prioritizing People, Purpose & Profitability.

Over the course of four days, corporate directors from around the world will gather to discuss the latest issues in the boardroom including: global health, the global economy, ESG, corporate purpose, risk management, big tech, diversity, inclusion & equity, and much more.


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For more information, contact info@womencorporatedirectors.org

Featured Speakers


Opening Address

Susan C. Keating

CEO, Women Corporate Directors Foundation (United States)

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Susan C. Keating is chief executive officer of the Women Corporate Directors Foundation (WCD).

Prior to joining WCD, Susan was president and chief executive officer of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), the largest and longest-serving nonprofit credit counseling organization in the United States. Under her leadership NFCC members improved the financial well-being of 26 million people with the support of $88 million in funding for housing programs and $36 million for other programs promoting financial wellness and stability.

Susan spent 29 years in financial services before moving into the nonprofit sector, serving as president and chief executive of Allfirst Financial, Inc., the 43rd largest U.S. bank, and the largest U.S. holding of Allied Irish Banks plc (AIB Group). Her additional experience includes executive positions with NationsBank, MNC Financial and First Bank System.

Adena T. Friedman

President and Chief Executive Officer, Nasdaq, Inc.; Director, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, FCLTGlobal, and Vanderbilt University Board of Trust (United States)

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Adena Friedman became President and Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq on January 1, 2017, and is a member of the Board of Directors. She brings more than 20 years of industry leadership and expertise, and is credited with significantly shaping Nasdaq’s transformation into a leading global exchange and technology solutions company with operations across six continents.

Prior to being named CEO, Adena served as President and Chief Operating Officer throughout 2016 and was responsible for overseeing all of the company’s business segments with a focus on driving efficiency, product development, growth and expansion.

She rejoined Nasdaq in 2014, after serving as Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group from March 2011 to June 2014 and playing a critical role in taking the company public in May 2012.

Before Carlyle, Adena was a key member of Nasdaq’s management team for over a decade, serving in a variety of roles, including head of the company’s data products business, head of corporate strategy and Chief Financial Officer. She played an instrumental role in Nasdaq’s acquisition strategy, overseeing the acquisitions of INET, OMX, and the Philadelphia and Boston Exchanges. She originally joined Nasdaq in 1993 as an intern.

Since December 2018, Adena has served as a Class B director to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She was elected to the Board of Directors of FCLTGlobal, a non-profit organization that researches tools to encourage long-term investing, in January 2020. Adena began her term as a member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust on July 1, 2020.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Williams College in Massachusetts and a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

Culture, Collaboration and Transformation: Global Health and Human Capital


Keynote Conversation
Paul Knopp

Chair and CEO, KPMG LLP (United States)

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LTG (ret) Dr. Nadja Y. West

Director, Johnson & Johnson, Nucor, Tenet Healthcare, AmeriCares, National Recreation Foundation, Bob Woodruff Foundation, and Mount St. Mary's University; Member, WCD Washington, D.C. (United States)

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Panel Discussion
Jane Halton

Adj. Professor, University of Sydney; Director, ANZ Bank, Crown Resorts, Clayton Utz, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and the Australian Council on the Ageing (Australia)

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Jane Halton is a member of the board of the ANZ, Crown Resorts, Clayton Utz, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and the U.S. Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Jane is a member of the Australian National Covid Coordination advisory committee. She is the Chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Vault Cloud and the Australian Council on the Ageing.

Her 33-year career within the Australian public service, included nearly 15 years as Secretary of the Departments of Finance and Health (and Ageing). Previously, she was Executive Coordinator (Deputy Secretary) of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

She has extensive experience in the delivery of the Australian Government budget and the management and performance of Australian Government agencies. She has also held a number of significant roles in Global Health Governance.

Susan Salka

Chief Executive Officer, AMN Healthcare; Director, AMN Healthcare and McKesson Corporation (United States)

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Susan Salka is the Chief Executive Officer of AMN Healthcare Services, Inc., (AMN). Under her leadership, AMN has become known as the innovator in healthcare workforce solutions and the largest and most diversified healthcare staffing company in the nation.

Ms. Salka is an active industry spokesperson in the healthcare and investment community, and has been one of the driving forces behind the company’s strategic and operational success since joining the company in 1990. Ms. Salka is passionate and actively involved in the areas of corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and gender equality. She personally participates in many of the company’s community initiatives, including the annual medical and community development mission trip to the most rural and impoverished regions of Guatemala.

Before becoming CEO, Ms. Salka served in several other executive positions at AMN, including CFO, COO, and Senior Vice President of Business Development. Ms. Salka currently serves on the board of directors of McKesson, including as chair of its Corporate Governance Committee and a member of its Compensation Committee. She also serves on the editorial advisory board of Directors & Boards magazine, a quarterly journal dedicated to the topics of leadership and corporate governance. She has previously served on other public company boards, including Beckman Coulter and Playtex Products.

Ms. Salka takes an active role helping others achieve their personal and professional goals and is a voice for the value of diverse representation. A member of Women Business Leaders and Women Corporate Directors Foundation, Ms. Salka is a proponent of promoting women in leadership. She has prioritized gender equality since joining AMN, and in 2021 the company achieved top ranking in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index and Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate Equality Index. Ms. Salka also joined more than 500 CEOs in pledging her commitment to diversity and inclusion within the workplace through the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion project.

Ms. Salka has been recognized for her positive impact to elevate and evolve the industry with several recognitions by the American Staffing Association and Staffing Industry Analysts, including their Hall of Fame and Global Power 150 Women in Staffing lists. In 2020, Ms. Salka was recognized as one of Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People. As an alumna of Chadron State University, Ms. Salka has been honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award. She was also awarded the Monty Award for accomplished alumni by San Diego State University, where she received her master’s degree in finance. In 2016, Ms. Salka was honored by San Diego State University with the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the college of business administration.

Izumi Kobayashi

Chair of the Board, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.; Director, ANA Holdings, Inc., Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and OMRON Corp.; Member, WCD Japan

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Izumi Kobayashi was the former CEO and Executive Vice President of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA, the political risk insurance arm of the World Bank Group) from 2008 to 2013. Kobayashi participated in MIGA from Merrill Lynch in Tokyo where she was President and Representative Director. She joined Merrill Lynch in 1985, and subsequently held a number of high-level global leadership roles. From 2013, she engaged in various private and public organizations as an advisor or an independent director. She also served on The Osaka Securities Exchange as a Non-Executive Board Member from 2002 to 2008. From 2006 to 2008 and from 2015 to 2019, she was Vice Chairman of Keizai Doyukai.

Dr. Susan Sandlund

Managing Director-Veritas Partners, Pearl Meyer; Director, Peckham Industries (United States)

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Dr. Susan Sandlund is a managing director and practice leader of Veritas Partners, a Pearl Meyer consulting practice focused on leadership and organization effectiveness. Veritas Partners was acquired by Pearl Meyer in 2020 to expand the firm’s ability to provide human capital management consulting expertise to boards and management teams.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Sandlund has worked with boards, CEOs, and multiple levels of management on planned organizational changes at public and private companies and not-for-profit entities across numerous industries. As an organization psychologist, her work includes initiating and leading large-scale change to drive new business strategies, culture change, clarifying governance and decision-making, board and executive team effectiveness and coaching, organization design, executive assessment and development, and CEO succession planning processes.

Prior to joining Pearl Meyer, Susan was co-founder and partner of Veritas Partners, a leadership development and organization change consulting firm. Prior to launching Veritas, Susan was a partner with Oliver Wyman, formerly known as Mercer Delta Consulting (MDC) Group, working with CEOs and c-suite leaders on business transformation. Susan also served on the MDC board of directors.

Prior to Mercer-Delta, Susan was a Senior Consultant with the Hay Group where she led leadership development initiatives for a wide array of clients. She served five years as an adjunct full professor at Columbia University and served on the board of trustees of Bon Secours Health System, Inc. (BSHSI) for 10 years, chairing the compensation and human resources committees. She is currently a director and the compensation committee chair for Peckham Industries.

Susan is a frequent speaker at board and industry conferences on the topics of CEO succession, board development, and organization change. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and is certified in Hogan Assessments. She received her BA from Marquette University and her PhD from George Washington University.


Principle and Purpose


Keynote Conversation
Phyllis Campbell

Chair, Pacific Northwest, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Director, Air Transport Services Group, SanMar, Allen Institute, and U.S.-Japan Council; Member, WCD Seattle (United States)

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Phyllis Campbell is the Chairman, Pacific Northwest for JPMorgan Chase & Co. She is the firm's senior executive in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho across businesses, representing JPMorgan Chase & Co. at the most senior level to clients.

Previously, Phyllis served as the President/CEO of The Seattle Foundation, the largest community foundation in Washington. During her tenure, the Foundation doubled in charitable assets, to $600 million. Prior to that, Phyllis was the President/CEO of the U.S. Bank of Washington for over six years. Under her leadership, the Bank doubled in size, through customer-focused growth initiatives and acquisitions. Phyllis has an extensive career of board service, both in the for profit and not-for-profit sectors.

She was elected to ATSG (NASDAQ) in January 2021 as an independent cardmember. She has served as an independent director for Alaska Air Group from 2003-2020. She previously served on the Nordstrom board of directors from 2005-2016 and chaired the Audit Committee for seven years. She currently serves on the Diversity Advisory Board (DAB) of Toyota and is a board member of SanMar and the Allen Institute. Phyllis is on the board of the U.S.-Japan Council and is the immediate past board chair.

Her awards have included the following: In 2016, she was recognized as the “First Citizen” of Seattle/King County. In 2015, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Seattle Business Magazine and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Vision from the Mountaintop Award. She also was the Pinnacle Award recipient of the 2015 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Awards. In 2014, she was recognized by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as a “Top 100” Director, as chosen by a committee of her peers and The Ascend/Deloitte Inspirational Award. She was the inaugural NACD Director of the Year Award from the Pacific Northwest chapter, Top Women in Finance Award from Women of Color Magazine in 2010 and Woman Who Makes A Difference Award from the International Women’s Forum. She was also awarded the 36th Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award from Washington State University.

Phyllis holds an M.B.A. from the University of Washington's Executive MBA Program, a B.A.in Business Administration from Washington State University, and is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington, as well as Stanford University’s Executive Management Program. Phyllis also holds honorary doctorates from Whitworth University and Gonzaga University.

Jamie Dimon

Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Director, Business Roundtable, Bank Policy Institute, and Harvard Business School; Board of Trustees, Business Council and the Partnership for New York City (United States)

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Jamie Dimon is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., a global financial services firm with assets of $3.2 trillion and operations worldwide. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management.

Dimon became CEO on January 1, 2006 and one year later also became Chairman of the Board. He was named President and Chief Operating Officer upon the company’s merger with Bank One Corporation on July 1, 2004. Dimon joined Bank One as Chairman and CEO in 2000.

Dimon began his career at American Express Company. Next, he served as Chief Financial Officer and then President Commercial Credit, which made numerous acquisitions and divestitures, including acquiring Primerica Corporation in 1987 and The Travelers Corporation in 1993. Dimon served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Travelers from 1990 through 1998 while concurrently serving as Chief Operating Officer of its Smith Barney Inc. subsidiary before becoming co-Chairman and co-CEO of the combined brokerage following the 1997 merger of Smith Barney and Salomon Brothers.

In 1998, Dimon was named President of Citigroup Inc., the global financial services company formed by the combination of Travelers Group and Citicorp. Dimon earned his bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He serves on the boards of directors of a number of non-profit institutions including the Business Roundtable, Bank Policy Institute and Harvard Business School. Additionally, he serves on the executive committee of the Business Council and the Partnership for New York City, and is a member of the Financial Services Forum and Council on Foreign Relations.


Global Environmental Governance: Action & Accountability


Keynote Conversation
Andrew Liveris

Former CEO and Chairman of The Dow Chemical Company; Director, Saudi Aramco, IBM, Salesforce Advisory Board, Public Investment Fund, Lucid Motors, Minderoo Foundation, Novonix, Worley, and The Hellenic Initiative (United States)

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Andrew N. Liveris is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Dow Chemical Company and former Executive Chairman of DowDuPont. A recognised global business leader with more than 42 years at Dow and experience in manufacturing, engineering, sales, marketing, and business and general management.

Andrew advocates the criticality of manufacturing worldwide. He is the author of ‘Make It in America’ and was tapped by the current U.S. administration to help identify new ways to spur innovation, revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector and drive economic growth and prosperity. In that regard, as chair of the manufacturing council and a member of the apprenticeship of the future task force. Previously he served as Co-Chair of U.S. President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership steering committee and a member of the U.S. President’s Export Council. Andrew was the Special Advisor to the Australian National COVID-19 Coordination Commission and Chair of its Manufacturing Taskforce. He is the Co-Chair of the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission, advising on how to accelerate the Territory’s economic rebound and growth. He is an Independent Member of the Australian government’s Industry Growth Centres Advisory Committee providing advice on the Industry Growth Centres initiative.

Andrew is a Director at IBM, Saudi Aramco, Worley (Deputy Chairman), Lucid Motors (Chairman), NOVONIX and the Minderoo Foundation. He is on the advisory board of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Teneo (a global CEO consulting and advisory firm), and NEOM (an initiative driven by Saudi Vision 2030). He is Chairman of the BlackRock Long Term Private Capital Fund and a Special Advisor to the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Andrew serves as a Trustee for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and is a member of the Concordia Leadership Council. In 2012, Andrew co-founded and Chair of The Hellenic Initiative (THI) which supports economic renewal in Greece through entrepreneurship, business development and investment. Andrew is Patron of the Andrew N Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership at The University of Queensland. He is the past Vice Chair of the Business Roundtable, an Executive Committee Member, and past Chairman of the U.S. Business Council.

Andrew is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, as well as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (now Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering). He earned a Bachelor's degree (first class honours) in Chemical Engineering from The University of Queensland and was awarded the University Medal for that year. In 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in science by his alma mater as well as being named Alumnus of the Year.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2014 for his services to international business and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in engineering from Michigan State University in 2015. Andrew and his wife, Paula, both natives to Australia, have three adult children, Nicholas (wife Jemima), Alexandra and Anthony.

Halla Tomasdottir

CEO, The B Team; Director, We Mean Business; Chair, WCD Iceland (Iceland)

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Halla Tómasdóttir is the CEO of The B Team, a group of courageous business and civil society leaders working together to transform business for a better world. Halla started her leadership career in corporate America working for Mars and Pepsi Cola. She was on the founding team of Reykjavík University where she established the Executive Education Department, founded and led a successful women’s entrepreneurship and empowerment initiative and was an assistant professor at the Business School. She was the first female CEO of the Iceland Chamber of Commerce and later went on to co-found an investment firm with the vision to incorporate feminine values into finance. The company successfully survived the infamous economic meltdown in Iceland. In 2016 Halla was an independent candidate for the President of Iceland. She entered a crowded field of candidates and finished as the runner-up with nearly 30 percent of the vote.

Halla has served on for-profit and non-profit boards in education, healthcare, finance and consumer products. An active change catalyst, Halla was a founding member of the National Assembly held in Iceland in the wake of its financial collapse, where a random sample of the Icelandic nation discussed its values and vision for the future. She also founded and chaired WE 2015, a global dialogue on closing the gender gap. Her work has led her to the TED stage twice and she has delivered keynotes and participated in dialogues around purpose-driven and principled leadership for companies and conferences around the world. In 2011, Newsweek named her to a list of 150 women who shake the world and following Iceland’s Presidential Elections in 2016, The New Yorker called her A Living Emoji of Sincerity.

Halla holds an international MBA degree from Thunderbird.


Panel Discussion
Sonia Consiglio Favaretto

Sustainability Specialist; SDG Pioneer by the UN Global Compact; Chairperson of the Advisory Board, GRI-Global Reporting Initiative Brazil; Vice Chair of the Technical Committee, CDP LA; Director, The Brazilian Development Bank and Ekos Brasil Institute Technical Committee; Member, WCD Brazil (Brazil)

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Sonia is recognized as one of the world’s ten “2016 Local SDG Pioneers” by the U.N. Global Compact for advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

She is a member of Petrobras’s Health, Safety & Environment Committee, an advisory body to the Board of Directors. Sonia was a member of Brazilian Delegations to following U.N. Climate Change Conferences: Copenhagen (2009), Cancun (2010), Doha (2012), Warsaw (2013) and Paris (2015), representing B3.

Michele Hooper

President and CEO, The Directors’ Council; Director, United Airlines Holdings, Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Inc.; Member, WCD Chicago (United States)

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Michele Hooper is President and CEO of The Directors’ Council which consults with major companies on board effectiveness and corporate board of director recruitment, focused primarily on diverse candidates.

With over 30 years of corporate board experience, Ms. Hooper is an audit committee financial expert with over 25 years of experience chairing the audit committees of several major companies, a highly regarded governance expert and business leader. Ms. Hooper was selected as the 2017 Director of the Year by the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Ms. Hooper serves on the corporate boards of directors of UnitedHealth Group (Chair, Nominating and Governance) and United Airlines Holding (Chair, Audit Committee). Ms. Hooper formerly served on the boards of PPG Industries (Chair, Audit Committee), AstraZeneca PLC (Senior Independent Director and Chair, Audit Committee), Warner Music Group (Senior Independent Director and Chair, Audit Committee), Target Corporation (Chair, Audit Committee), Seagram Company, and DaVita Corporation.

Ms. Hooper is retired from the National board of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and as President of NACD Chicago. She was a commissioner on ten NACD Blue Ribbon Commissions on governance including Strategy Oversight, Board-Shareholder Communications, Audit Committees and Risk Oversight. Ms. Hooper served as co-chair of the NACD Blue Ribbon Commission on Audit Committees.

Ms. Hooper retired as a board member and former Vice Chair of the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), a public policy advocacy organization serving public company auditors, investors, and capital markets. She was Chair of the CAQ Working Group focused on Deterring and Detecting Financial Reporting Fraud.

Previously, Ms. Hooper served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Voyager Expanded Learning and of Stadtlander Drug Company, Inc. Prior to joining Stadtlander, Ms. Hooper was Corporate Vice President, Caremark International Inc, and President of the International Business Group, responsible for the expansion of Caremark into Europe, Canada and Japan. Ms. Hooper began her career at Baxter International and from 1988 to 1992, as President of Baxter Canada, Ms. Hooper led Canada’s largest health care and laboratory supplies company.

Ms. Hooper is a member of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Board as well as a member of The Economic Club of Chicago, The Commercial Club of Chicago, the World Presidents’ Organization (WPO), The Committee of 200, and The Chicago Network.

Ms. Hooper earned an MBA in Finance and Accounting at the University of Chicago and a BA in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.


Global Economics: Catalysts for Financial Recovery

Constance Hunter

Chief Economist, KPMG LLP; Director, GallopNYC; Member, WCD New York (United States)

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As the Chief Economist for KPMG, Constance Hunter is responsible for macroeconomic analysis and forecasting at the firm. She also serves on the Growth and Strategy leadership team and is on the advisory board of KPMG’s pension committee. Constance’s expertise in macroeconomic and industry analysis allows her to provide an insightful perspective on the constantly evolving economic landscape and the impact it has on the firm audit clients.

Because Constance has a unique ability to make economic data understandable, user friendly, and actionable, she is a sought-after speaker on a wide variety of macroeconomic topics at conferences and by KPMG’s C-Suite clients. She regularly appears on broadcast media such as Bloomberg TV, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, and Fox Business, and is frequently quoted in marquee print media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Known for correctly identifying economic turning points, in January 2019 Constance was cited in the Wall Street Journal as one of the first economists to officially forecast the Fed rate cuts that year. She was also one of the first economists to begin forecasting the extensive economic impacts of COVID-19 on the U.S. and Chinese economies in early February 2020.

Previously, Constance called the Russian currency devaluation in 1998, the Dotcom bubble’s burst in 2001, the real estate and credit crisis in 2007-2008, the recovery of the housing market and persistent low bond yields in 2012 and beyond. Prior to joining KPMG in 2013, Constance held high-level positions in the asset management industry for nearly two decades. She served in the capacity of Chief Investment Officer or ChiefEconomist for over a decade before joining KPMG. Most recently, she served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer at AXA Investment Managers, where she helped to manage over $500 billion in fixed income assets.

Constance is the Past President of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE),has been honored asa NABE Fellow, and she currently serves as a NABE board member where she is a champion of diversity and inclusion. Constance has an extensive cadre of high-level,international economists, policymakers, business and trade experts with whom she regularly consults with and advises. She is passionate about her community and serves on the board of GallopNYC, a nonprofit organization that changes the lives of disabled New Yorkers by offering therapeutic horsemanship programs.

Constance holds a B.A. in Economics and Sociology from New York University, and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). She also holds the Certified Business Economist designation.

Jean Pierre Lacombe

Director, International Finance Corporation (United States)

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Jean Pierre Lacombe is the Director of IFC’s Global Macro, Market and Portfolio Research Department in Washington DC, providing to IFC’s management, operational departments and external clients with applied macroeconomics research, sector/country risk evaluations and strategic asset allocation recommendations on emerging markets and global industries. His team also conducts empirical and fundamental economic research to gain insight on long term trends affecting investments. In addition, his team works hand in hand with the Corporate Portfolio Department to provide a risk-based approach to understanding portfolio trends, to quantify the impact of current and projected country/market developments on the portfolio as well as to build an asset allocation framework.

Previously at IFC, he worked at Corporate Portfolio Management Department, and Central Equity Department as well as the Corporate Strategy Department. Prior to joining IFC, Jean Pierre spent 15 years in the private sector, working for Johnson & Johnson, Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital in New York, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and London. During his investment banking career, he headed institutional and proprietary trading in foreign exchange, fixed income, equities and derivatives for Latin and Asian emerging markets. Jean Pierre has degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Operations Research from Cornell University and Finance from MIT.

Dr. Iyabo Masha

Economic Advisor and Member, Presidential Economic Advisory Council; Director, Association for the Advancement of African Women Economists and Centre for Public Policy Transformation (Nigeria)

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Dr. Iyabo Masha is a global economist and the only female member of Nigeria’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council. She has been on the staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C. since 2003 and was the immediate past IMF Resident Representative and Head of mission in Sierra Leone. Prior to that, she led IMF negotiating teams in a variety of African and Asian countries, assisting countries to develop economic programs and policies for macroeconomic stabilization, growth and poverty reduction, and to access private market and development financing. Dr. Masha has also worked at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja and the World Bank, Washington, D.C.

Dr. Masha has published a wide range of academic and policy research on macroeconomic stabilization, sovereign debt management, fiscal, monetary, and financial sector policies and inclusive, sustainable economic growth. Dr. Masha served on the G20 2020 Development Working Group, and she was recently appointed as a member of a study group developing a global framework for Financing Sustainable Development. She was a panelist on the UNDP Africa Beyond Covid-19 Economic Conference.

Ellen Zentner

Managing Director & Chief U.S. Economist, Morgan Stanley; Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, Economic Advisory Panel for the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Chair of SIFMA's Economic Advisory Roundtable, and American Bankers Association Economic Advisory Committee (United States)

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Ellen Zentner is Chief U.S. Economist and a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley. Ellen serves on the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC), the Economic Advisory Panel for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as well as the American Bankers’ Association, and is Chair of SIFMA’s Economic Advisory Roundtable. She is a Director of the National Association for Business Economics and is a past president of NYABE. In 2018 and 2020, Ellen’s team received the Lawrence R. Klein Award for the most accurate economic forecasts over the past four years. Ms. Zentner holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Colorado.


WCD Visionary Awards Celebration Keynote

Mellody Hobson

Co-CEO & President, Ariel Investments; Director, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Starbucks Corporation, George Lucas Education Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Center for Strategic & International Studies, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Ariel Investment Trust; Member, WCD Chicago (United States)

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As Co-CEO, Mellody is responsible for management, strategic planning and growth for all areas of Ariel Investments outside of research and portfolio management. Additionally, she serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ariel Investment Trust—the company’s publicly traded mutual funds. Prior to being named Co-CEO, Mellody spent nearly two decades as the firm’s President. Outside of Ariel, Mellody is a nationally recognized voice on financial literacy. Her leadership has also been invaluable to corporate boardrooms across the nation. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Starbucks Corporation, and is the incoming Chairman of Starbucks, effective March 2021. She is also a director of JPMorgan Chase.

She previously served as Chairman of the Board of DreamWorks Animation until the company’s sale and was also a long-standing board member of the Estée Lauder Companies. Mellody’s community outreach includes her role as Chairman of After School Matters, a Chicago non-profit that provides area teens with high-quality after school and summer programs. Additionally, she is vice chair of World Business Chicago; co-chair of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art; and a board member of the George Lucas Education Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

She also serves on the board of trustees of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, and of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Mellody is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Rockefeller Foundation Board of Trustees, and serves on the executive committee of the Investment Company Institute. Mellody earned her AB from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy. In 2019, she was awarded the University’s highest honor, the Woodrow Wilson Award, presented annually to a Princeton graduate whose career embodies a commitment to national service. She has also received honorary doctorate degrees from Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, St. Mary’s College, and the University of Southern California. In 2015, Time Magazine named her one of the “100 Most Influential People” in the world.


Diversity, Equity and Inclusion


Keynote Conversation
Debra L. Lee

Co-Founder, The Monarchs Collective; Director, AT&T, Marriott International, Procter & Gamble, Burberry, Cedars Sinai, American Film Institute, and The Paley Center for Media (United States)

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With a trailblazing career spanning over three decades, Debra L. Lee is one of the most influential female voices in the entertainment industry. Up until May 2018,Lee served as the Chairman & CEO of BET Networks, the leading provider of entertainment for the African-American audience and consumers of Black culture globally.

During her tenure, Lee helmed BET’s reinvigorated approach to incorporate philanthropy & authentic programming that led to hits such as The New Edition Story, Being Mary Jane, The BET Awards, Black Girls Rock!, BET Honors and many more. In September 2009, Lee managed the launch of Centric, a 24-hour music and entertainment network. Under her guidance, Centric was rebranded in 2014 as the first network designed for Black women. She also oversees the company’s current growth initiatives, including international distribution of the brand in Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, France, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to her being named Chairman and CEO, Lee was President and COO of BET Networks for almost 10 years, during which she guided the company to consistent increases in viewership, revenue, and earnings. She first joined BET as Vice President and General Counsel in 1986 after serving more than five years as an attorney with Steptoe & Johnson, a Washington D. C.-based corporate law firm. Prior to that, she served as a law clerk to the late Honorable Barrington Parker of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Named one of The Hollywood Reporter’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment and Billboard’s Power 100, Lee’s achievements in her 30+ year career in the industry have earned her numerous accolades from across the cable industry, as well as recognition as one of this country’s most respected business executives. Lee was honored with the Distinguished Leadership Vanguard Award by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.

In February 2017, the GRAMMY Organization recognized Lee with the Salute To Industry Icons Award, on behalf of her major contributions to American music and culture. Lee is currently the first and only woman to receive the distinguished honor. Lee is a committed philanthropist, a Brown University Trustee emeritus; and sits on the Board of Trustees for the American Film Institute, The Paley Center for Media, and The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

In 2011, Debra was appointed by President Obama to the White House Management Advisory Board during his tenure. Lee also currently sits on the Board of Directors for corporations like AT&T, Burberry, Marriott, Procter & Gamble, and Cedars-Sinai. Lee earned her Juris doctorate at Harvard Law School, while simultaneously earning a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. She graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in Asian politics. In 2014, she was awarded with a Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from Brown University.


Panel Discussion
David Chun

Founder and CEO, Equilar (United States)

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David has led Equilar since its inception to become one of the most trusted names in the corporate governance community. David has been recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Players in Corporate Governance” by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the Disruptor Award by 2020 Women on Boards and Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business. David speaks publicly on corporate governance and board diversity matters, including events hosted by The Conference Board, Deloitte, EY, HR Policy Association, KPMG, NACD, NASDAQ, NYSE, The Society for Corporate Governance and Stanford’s Directors’ College.

David is a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development (CED) and serves on the boards of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) and the Asian Pacific Fund Community Foundation of San Francisco. He is on Catalyst’s Women on Board Advisory Council, the Silicon Valley Advisory Council of the Commonwealth Club of California, the Women on Boards Advisory Council of the California Partners Project and the Advisory Council of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. David is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Past Chair of the SF Bay Chapter, a founding member of the Council of Korean Americans (CKA) and a former advisory board member of the Wharton Center for Entrepreneurship.

Prior to founding Equilar, David was a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, a global investment bank that has since merged with Credit Suisse. Prior to DLJ, David was a management consultant with Bain & Company and also Kenan Systems, a telecom software developer acquired by Lucent Technologies.

David earned his M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelors of Science with Honors in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Wanda Felton

Senior Advisor-North American Board Practice, Spencer Stuart; Director, The Greenbrier Companies (United States)

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Wanda Felton is a senior adviser to the firm’s North American Board Practice. Wanda has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, including six years serving in the Obama Administration as vice chair of the board and first vice president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

She currently serves as an independent director of The Greenbrier Companies and as a trustee to the Oversight Board Trust. She previously served as an independent director on the board of LogiCorp, the largest Black- and Latino-owned trucking company in the U.S.


Crisis & Risk: Assessing and Mitigating Liabilities in the New Normal

Chris Burt

Principal, Halex Consulting Limited; Director, Risk Coalition Research Company Limited (United Kingdom)

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Chris Burt is the principal of Halex Consulting and a co-founder of the Risk Coalition, thought leaders in risk governance and publishers of the acclaimed risk guidance Raising the Bar. He focuses on working with boards and executive management, and has over 25 years’ experience delivering governance, risk management and assurance consultancy to leading UK and European businesses. Chris is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and holds a degree in Industrial Economics from the University of Nottingham and a masters in secure e-commerce from Royal Holloway, University of London. Chris qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG where he specialised in technology risk and information security (cyber) consulting, later extending his expertise into enterprise risk management and internal audit consulting with Deloitte. He then worked for several years with a highly regarded London-based boutique governance consultancy, first as a senior associate and then as a partner.

Nicole Reich

CEO, BNP PARIBAS Cardif; Director, COBIS Corp., Diesco, and Gentera y Compartamos; Member, WCD Mexico (Mexico)

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Nicole Reich is an executive with over 30 years in the financial sector both in Mexico and Latin America. Currently, she is Chief Executive Officer for BNP-Paribas Cardif Mexico since 2014. She is also an independent board member in a few companies in Mexico and abroad. Previous to her current role, Nicole served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Grupo Financiero Scotia bank Inverlat S.A. de C.V. from 2007 to September 2012 and Vice President of the National Banks association in Mexico. She was an Executive Vice President of Scotia bank Since April 2010.

She joined Scotia bank in 2005 after a long tenure at Citigroup where she held various senior roles in several Latin American countries, including General Manager and CEO for Peru, Chile and Dominican Republic. She has a Master in Business Administration degree from Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico and a bachelor degree in Computer Science from The Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. She is also a graduate of the Executive Program at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and The Corporate leader program at Harvard School of business.

Jan Elizabeth Tighe

Vice Admiral, U.S Navy (Retired); Director, Goldman Sachs Group, Progressive Corporation, Huntsman Corporation, IronNet, MITRE, and US Naval Academy Foundation; Member, WCD South Florida (United States)

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Jan Tighe currently serves on the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs, the Huntsman Corporation, Progressive Insurance, IronNet Cybersecurity and serves as a Trustee for the MITRE Corporation. Jan retired from the US Navy in August 2018 as a Vice Admiral serving as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and as the 66th Director of Naval Intelligence. Previously, she served as the Commander of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet where she was the first woman to command a numbered Fleet. A career cryptologist, she served around the globe in leadership positions for both the Navy and the National Security Agency, specializing in Signals Intelligence and Cyber Operations. She earned Naval Aviation Observer Wings and supported Operation DESERT STORM in the EP-3E aircraft. Jan is a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and master of science in Applied Mathematics from the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey CA. Jan is also a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD)Governance Fellow.


Board Opportunity Briefing with IFC

Marie-Laurence Guy

Senior Program Manager–IFC Nominee Director Support Center (United States)

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Marie-Laurence Guy has over 17 years of private sector development experience including 14 years with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) - the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. She currently leads IFC’s Nominee Director Support Center which harnesses expertise across IFC to pro-actively, strategically, and systematically support IFC nominees and investment teams in adding value to client companies’ operations and creating shareholder value consistent with IFC’s development mandate and core values.

She has extensive expertise in corporate governance, leadership development, human resources, program management and business administration. Prior to joining IFC, she worked in the French Ministry of Economy and for the OECD. She has authored a number of publications including on Building Director Training Organizations, Developing Corporate Governance Codes of Best Practice, and Resolving Corporate Governance Disputes. She has led work related to women on corporate boards and interviewed directors from around the world on the presence and absence of women in the boardroom. She is a certified mediator and accredited IFC trust fund manager.

Jakob Rusinek

Sourcing, Onboarding and Knowledge Management Coordinator (United States)

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Jakob is a Change Manager and Organizational Development Team Leader with expertise in organization effectiveness, team dynamics, and project coordination, who applies program management tools and behavioral science to unlock barriers and produce transformational change for people, products and organizations. He has 14 years of understanding and improving how people make decisions and driving ideas and interventions for international organizations.

As team leader, he manages and motivates cross-functional teams to assess project needs and develop solutions. In his role as change manager, he diagnoses project barriers and design behavioral interventions to move initiatives forward. Jakob leads workstreams and implements incentives for knowledge sharing improvement and conducts need and gap analyses, advising executive leadership on solutions to address gaps. He advises World Bank leadership on talent management reform initiatives and other matters.

Jakob has an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and an I.B.B.A. in Economics from the Europa University Viadrina.


Closing Address

Larry Fink

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock, Inc. (United States)

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Laurence D. Fink is Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock. He and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988, and under his leadership, the firm has grown into a global leader in investment and technology solutions. BlackRock’s mission is to help investors build better financial futures and the firm is trusted to manage more money than any other investment company in the world. Mr. Fink has been named one of the "World's Greatest Leaders" by Fortune, and Barron's has named him one of the "World's Best CEOs" for 14 consecutive years.

Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, Mr. Fink was a member of the Management Committee and a Managing Director of The First Boston Corporation. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of New York University (NYU) and the World Economic Forum, and is Co-Chairman of the NYU Langone Medical Center Board of Trustees. In addition, he serves on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art, the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Rescue Committee. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing and on the Executive Committee of the Partnership for New York City.

Mr. Fink earned an MBA with a concentration in real estate from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1976 and a BA in political science from UCLA in 1974.

Reasons to Attend:

Countless opportunities to connect with your peers in a virtual setting

New interactive, off the record,
pre-Institute peer exchanges

Insights from leading executives and directors

Enriching discussions on global boardroom issues

Breakout sessions focused on industries

Pricing

Early bird price through May 3, 2021
Members $395
Non-members $695
Pricing after May 3, 2021
Members $495
Non-members $795

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Refund Policy: Because of the virtual nature of the event, and the fact that on demand replays will be available, there will be no refunds issued.

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