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Christine Lagarde

President, European Central Bank

Since November 2019, Christine Lagarde has been the President of the European Central Bank. Between 2011 and 2019, she served as the eleventh Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to that she served as French Economic Finance Minister from 2007 to 2011 after having been Trade Secretary from 2005 to 2007. A lawyer by background, she practiced for 20 years with the international law firm Baker McKenzie, of which she became global chairman in 1999. In all such positions, she was the first woman to serve.

Darren Walker

President, Ford Foundation

Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, a $13 billion international social justice philanthropy. Under his leadership, the Ford Foundation recently became the first nonprofit foundation in US history to issue a $1 billion social bond in the US taxable bond market to increase grant making to stabilize and strengthen nonprofit organizations in the wake of COVID-19. He is a member of Governor Cuomo’s Reimagining New York Commission and co-chair of NYC Census 2020. He also chaired the philanthropy committee that brought a resolution to the city of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy.

Before joining Ford, Darren was vice president at Rockefeller Foundation, overseeing global and domestic programs. In the 1990s, he was COO of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, Harlem’s largest community development organization.

Darren co-chairs New York City’s Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, and has served on the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform and the UN International Labour Organization Global Commission on the Future of Work. He co-founded both the US Impact Investing Alliance and the Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy. He serves on many boards, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the National Gallery of Art, Carnegie Hall, the High Line, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. In the summer of 2020, he was appointed to the boards of Square and Ralph Lauren. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is the recipient of 16 honorary degrees and university awards, including Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Medal.

Educated exclusively in public schools, Darren was a member of the first Head Start class in 1965 and received BA, BS, and JD degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He has been included on numerous leadership lists: Time’s annual 100 Most Influential People, Rolling Stone’s 25 People Shaping the Future, Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, Ebony's Power 100, and Out magazine’s Power 50.

Kristin Peck

Chief Executive Officer, Zoetis

Kristin Peck was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Zoetis in January 2020. In this role, she leads the world’s leading animal health company, a Fortune 500 organization with approximately $6 billion in annual revenue and 10,000 employees worldwide. Ms. Peck is also a member of the Zoetis Board of Directors.

Prior to becoming CEO, Ms. Peck was executive vice president and group president, U.S. Operations, Business Development and Strategy at Zoetis.  Ms. Peck helped usher Zoetis through its Initial Public Offering in 2013 and has been a driving force of change in many roles at the company including Global Manufacturing and Supply, Global Poultry, Global Diagnostics, Corporate Development, and New Product Marketing and Global Market Research.  

Before joining Zoetis, Ms. Peck served as executive vice president, Worldwide Business Development and Innovation at Pfizer Inc. and as a member of Pfizer's Executive Leadership Team. In this role, she was responsible for the evaluation of strategic alternatives for Pfizer's Animal Health and Nutrition businesses – paving the way for a public animal health company and attractive investment opportunity.  

Prior to joining Pfizer, Ms. Peck held roles at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as well as in private equity and real estate finance at The Prudential Realty Group, The O'Connor Group and J.P. Morgan.  

Ms. Peck is a member of the Business Roundtable, and also serves on the Advisory Board for the Deming Center for Quality, Productivity and Competitiveness at Columbia Business School. She previously served as a member of the Thomson Reuters’ Board of Directors. As a recipient of the 2019 Feather in Her Cap Award, Ms. Peck has been recognized for her leadership and contributions to the animal health industry, and her work in mentoring women and helping them advance their careers in animal health. 

Ms. Peck holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Michael Wirth

Chief Executive Officer, Chevron

Michael K. (Mike) Wirth, 60, is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Chevron Corporation. He was elected to these positions by Chevron’s board of directors in September 2017 and assumed the roles on February 1, 2018.

Prior to his current role, Wirth served as vice chairman of the board in 2017 and executive vice president of Midstream & Development for Chevron Corporation from 2016 – 2018. In that role, he was responsible for supply and trading, shipping, pipeline and power operating units, as well as corporate strategy; business development; and policy, government and public affairs.

Sandeep Mathrani

Chief Executive Officer, WeWork

Sandeep Mathrani is the Chief Executive Officer of WeWork, where he also serves as a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to WeWork, Sandeep most recently served as CEO of Brookfield Properties Retail Group and as Vice Chairman, Brookfield Properties. Prior to that, he served as CEO of GGP Inc. for eight years, during which the company was recapitalized in November 2010, experienced eight years of growth, and in August 2018 was sold to Brookfield Property Partners. Prior to joining GGP in 2010, Sandeep was President of Retail for Vornado Realty Trust, where he oversaw the firm’s U.S. retail real estate division and operations in India comprised principally of office properties. Before that, he spent nearly a decade as Executive Vice President at Forest City Ratner, where he was tasked with starting and growing a new platform of retail properties across the five boroughs of New York City. Sandeep holds a Master of Engineering, Master of Management Science and Bachelor of Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Waad al-Kateab

Filmmaker, Activist & Founder, Action For Sama

Waad al-Kateab is a Syrian activist and award-winning filmmaker. She became a citizen journalist in 2011, after protests broke out across Syria against the Assad regime, and in January 2016 she began documenting the horrors of Aleppo for Channel 4 News in a series titled, “Inside Aleppo.” which received an International Emmy for breaking news coverage.

Waad’s first feature documentary, For Sama, documented her life over five years in Aleppo. The film, directed with Edward Watts, received worldwide critical acclaim, winning numerous awards, including the Prix L'Œil d'or for best documentary at Cannes Film Festival, Best Documentary at the BAFTAs and a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 2020 Academy Awards. Waad has also received several personal recognitions for her work as an activist and filmmaker, including the IDA Courage Under Fire Award and a place in the 2020 Time100 List of Most Influential People.

December 2016, Waad, her husband, and their two daughters now reside in London, United Kingdom. Waad continues to work with Channel 4 News, is a mentor for the Marie Colvin Journalist Network and the International Center for Journalists, and dedicates time to her advocacy campaign, Action For Sama

Dr. Reza Baqir

Governor, State Bank Pakistan

Dr. Reza Baqir was appointed as the Governor of Pakistan's central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan, by the President of Pakistan on May 04, 2019. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Baqir had eighteen years of experience with the IMF and two years of experience with the World Bank. He was the Head of the IMF's Office in Egypt and Senior Resident Representative since August 2017. He has also held positions as IMF’s Mission Chief for Romania and Bulgaria, Division Chief of the IMF's Debt Policy Division overseeing IMF’s work on debt relief and sovereign debt restructuring, Head of the IMF delegation to the Paris Club, Deputy Division Chief of the IMF's Emerging Markets Division overseeing IMF’s loans and policies in emerging markets, IMF Resident Representative to the Philippines, and numerous other positions.

Dr. Baqir's academic research has been published in top journals of the economics profession, including the Journal of Political Economy and the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Dr. Baqir holds a Ph.D in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and an A.B. (Magna cum Laude) in Economics from Harvard University.

Shan Weijian

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PAG Group

Weijian Shan is chairman and CEO of PAG, a leading Asia-focused private equity firm. Prior to PAG, he was a partner of the private equity firm TPG, and co-managing partner of TPG Asia (formerly known as Newbridge Capital). Over two decades, Weijian Shan has led a number of landmark transactions that have returned billions of dollars in profit to his firms' investors. Previously, Shan was a managing director of JP Morgan, and an assistant professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In his youth, he spent several years working as a laborer in the Gobi Desert of China. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco. Shan is the author of "Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea's Most Iconic Bank" (2020) and "Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America" (2019). His articles and commentary have been published in the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs and many other publications.

Alessandra Galloni

Global Managing Editor, Reuters

Alessandra Galloni is Global Managing Editor of Reuters, overseeing journalists in Reuters’ 200 locations around the world.

She joined Reuters in September 2013 as Editor of the Southern Europe bureau, after spending 13 years at The Wall Street Journal in various positions as correspondent, economics and business writer and editor in New York, London, Paris and Rome.

Alessandra is the recipient of an Overseas Press Club Award in the U.S. and a UK Business Journalist of the Year Award. She is co-author of “From the End of the Earth to Rome,” an e-book on Pope Francis. Alessandra, an Italian national, is a graduate of Harvard University and has a Masters degree from the London School of Economics.

Sebastian Thrun

Founder, President & Executive Chairman, Udacity

Sebastian Thrun is a scientist, educator, inventor, and entrepreneur. As the Founder, President, and Executive Chairman of Udacity, Sebastian’s mission is to democratize education by providing lifelong learning to millions of students worldwide. He is also the founder of Google X, where he led projects including the Self-Driving Car, Google Glass, and more.

Previously, he led the Stanford Racing Team whose robot “Stanley” won the DARPA Grand Challenge. Sebastian has been named the 5th Most Creative Person in Business (Fast Company), among the 50 Smartest People in Tech (Fortune), and highlighted in 50 Best Inventions of 2010 (Time). He is the first recipient of the inaugural Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for Education, and is also featured in the recent film Lo & Behold: Reveries of the Connected World by award-winning writer and director Werner Herzog.