Kathy Calvin is President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation. Her career has spanned work in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.  She is a passionate advocate for multi-sector problem-solving, U.S. leadership on global issues, and the inclusion of women at all levels and in all sectors.

Kathy leads one of the most innovative organizations advocating for the UN and the creation of public-private partnerships.  Her leadership brings together the largest network of supporters of UN issues in the United States and a global network of corporate, civil society and media partners.  The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation advocates for the UN and connects people, ideas, and resources to help the United Nations solve global problems.  As a public charity with many partners, the UN Foundation’s work is focused on decreasing child mortality, empowering women and girls, creating a clean energy future, using mobile technology for development, and improving U.S.-UN relations.

In 2011, Kathy was named one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Rock the World,” and in 2012, she was listed in Fast Company’s “League of Extraordinary Women.”  Her innovative work in the philanthropy and international NGO sector was featured by the New York Times in 2011.  She has received numerous other awards for philanthropy and leadership.

Prior to joining the UN Foundation as Chief Operating Officer in 2003, Kathy served as President of the AOL Time Warner Foundation where she guided AOL Time Warner’s philanthropic activities and was the chief architect of the company’s corporate responsibility initiatives. She joined America Online in 1997 as Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, and was responsible for the company’s brand, social responsibility, and external relations.

Immediately prior to joining AOL, she was a Senior Managing Director at Hill and Knowlton, a global public relations company, where she led the U.S. Media Relations practice. For 12 years before that, she served as Director of Editorial Administration for U.S. News & World Report, overseeing budget, personnel, innovation and strategy.  From 1976 through 1984, Kathy served as Senator Gary Hart’s press secretary in his Senate office and his 1984 Presidential campaign.

She was one of the first women to hold that title in American Presidential campaigns. Throughout her career, Kathy Calvin has taken an active role in a range of philanthropic activities, including the boards of the International Women’s Media Foundation, City Year, Internews, the Newseum, Share Our Strength, the United Nations Association of the United States of America, and the East-West Center.  She is a frequent public speaker and commenter.

Kathy is a graduate of Purdue University.

Stephanie von Friedeburg was appointed World Bank Group Chief Information Officer and Vice President for Information and Technology Solutions in 2012. With over 20 years of investment and development experience within the World Bank Group, von Friedeburg is bridging the gap between the business and technology, transforming the role of IT at the World Bank Group into that of a strategic business partner.

Von Friedeburg is driving an IT strategy that leverages current technology trends, such as cloud computing and mobility, to enable to the organization’s diverse and decentralized workforce to more effectively communicate, collaborate, and connect with each other and with clients.

Von Friedeburg has been with the World Bank Group since 1992, serving in a wide variety of roles including CIO for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Senior Manager for IFC Global Information and Communication Technologies, Manager for IFC General Manufacturing Investments in Russia and the former Soviet republics, and Manager for IFC’s Global Telecommunications Portfolio.

Von Friedeburg is on the Advisory Board of Box.org, an organization helping nonprofits be more productive and collaborative in achieving their mission. She is also an advocate for the advancement of women in information and technology, serving as a leader of the International Finance Institutions Women in IT organization. Von Friedeburg also sits on the board of the Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union.

In addition to an MBA from the Wharton School, von Friedeburg holds a Masters of Arts from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Since 2006 Eddie Bergman has served as Executive Director of the Africa Travel Association (ATA) and was recently appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

He is also Co-CEO of E&E Hospitality Group, which owns and manages two New York City restaurants: E&E Grill House  (Times Square) and Hill and Bay (Murray Hill / Kips Bay).

Eddie co-founded and volunteers as President of the Board of MCW Global, a non-profit organization devoted to empowering youth, primarily through programs of leadership training, community center development and oral healthcare outreach, with a special focus on Africa.

He is also an Adjunct Professor of Tourism at New York University (NYU) and lectures on Social Entrepreneurship at Stony Brook University.

Alexis Bonnell is the Innovation Evangelist in the U.S. Global Development Lab of USAID. Over her career, Alexis has developed and delivered over a billion dollar of humanitarian and development programming in over 25 conflict, post-conflict, and emergency countries, in almost every sector from education to stabilization, for more than 30 International Bi-lateral donors, 10 UN agencies, the military, and private sector.  She has held positions with every side of development including: implementers, donors, policy makers, and beneficiaries and is proud of her “360 degrees” of development experience. Her more than 20 years of experience in management and communications has provided her incredible opportunities to work on/with: Wall Street, “Dot.coms”, Middle East Peace Plan, Afghan and Iraq Elections, Tsunami Response, Pakistan Earthquake, Haiti Earthquake, over 500 construction projects, and major logistics operations.

After years of living and working overseas, Alexis returned to the USA with USAID as the Senior Advisor on Business Transformation and Knowledge Management.  She then served as the Chief of Engagement for the Office of Education at USAID, where she helped shape the strategic communication and execution of the USAID Education Strategy.  In 2013 she joined the leadership team of the new U.S. Global Development Lab of USAID as the Director of Engagement and Communications. Alexis’s is most excited about her new role as the Innovation Evangelist in the U.S. Global Development Lab, and the platform the Lab serves to bring new minds and ideas to the discovery and scale of solutions to humanity’s biggest challenges.  Her focus at the Lab is to help convene and connect people and organizations around the world with the most innovative applications of science, technology, innovation, and partnership to accelerate the end to extreme poverty. Alexis is leading the team around the new Global Innovation Exchange, a industry level platform to share all globally relevant development innovation.

Alexis received a dual major in Advertising and Public Relations from Pepperdine University (where she later returned as a professor), a Global Executive MBA from Kellogg Northwestern, as well as a Masters in Direct and Interactive Media from NYU.  She maintains a  “CFRE” (Certified Fundraising Executive) as well as an “SAPM”  (Advanced Project Management Accreditation) from Stanford University, and a Certificate in Non-profit Management from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Prior to her career in development, Alexis worked as the Director of Marketing for the Internet Trade Association, where her job was to help Wall Street and the corporate world understand the impact that the internet, innovation, and technology would have on business, customer experience, and society; as well as to match-make new innovative technologies to traditional business paradigms creating strategic change management models as well as major supply-chain and distribution reforms.  Alexis is the co-author of the book “Get your Dream Job”. Alexis is an avid horsewoman, scuba diver, home renovator, and lives with her husband in Virginia.

Naila Chowdhury is a global leader specializing in creating self-sustaining programs that empower the economically disadvantaged.

Naila was the first woman director of GrameenPhone Ltd in 1999, and held the Acting CEO position from time to time. She was part of its growth into the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh. The GrameenPhone’s Village Project supported the grassroots women of remote villages as they extended telecom to the rural population. This project earned Professor Muhammad and the Grameen Bank, the Nobel Peace prize in 2006, and allowed her to work closely with Professor Yunus for 17 years.

Naila has been involved in global networking, developing effective teams and providing sustainable technology driven entrepreneurial platforms for young people globally, and empowering individuals by creating opportunities to self-organize and succeed with minimal resources and options.

Naila’s international work spans Bangladesh, Africa, India and the Americas with organizations including but not limited to UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among many others, with more than 1.2 million members globally. Locally, she is also Co-Chair of Alliance4Empowerment in San Diego, which gives Nano-credit to immigrants, and works on several projects to eradicate poverty in San Diego through Social Credit Empowerment. Her focus is to take people from an extremely low income into a sustainable income bracket and thus empower them economically.

Coming soon

Giuseppe’s academic research focused on how changes in the financial markets affect small business lending, and labor migration during periods of economic transition. He later worked in the Equity Research Department of a major investment bank, where he focused on natural resource industries.

At the SBA, Giuseppe advises the Agency on economic trends affecting small businesses, and leads research on economic impact evaluations and strategic planning. He serves as the Chair of the interagency Subcommittee on Evaluating Business Technical Assistance Programs (E-BTAP), a group responsible for developing best practices for implementing economic impact evaluations. He also serves as the U.S. Permanent Delegate to the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship. Giuseppe also works with international organizations such as APEC and ASEAN. He severs on the scientific committees of several academic institutions and publications, and is a frequent speaker on the domestic and international arena.

Before joining the U.S. Small Business Administration, Giuseppe headed the consulting firm, DASSI Corp. His other areas of interest include the construction industries, tourism, information services, and regional economic development. Giuseppe earned a graduate degree in economics from The New School For Social Research. During 1996 to 2001 Giuseppe served as vice president and then president of the SUNY Purchase College Alumni Association., He also served as Alumni Representative to the Purchase College Council, a gubernatorial appointed oversight body.

Zoltan Istvan is a futurist and the 2016 US Presidential candidate of Transhumanist Party, a political organization that aims to put science, health, and technology at the forefront of politics. Istvan also writes three national columns and is a former journalist with the National Geographic Channel. His novel The Transhumanist Wager was a #1 bestseller in Philosophy.

Shahab is a social entrepreneur based in the DC area. He has over a decade of experience starting, scaling, and exiting companies. Shahab was most recently the co-founder and CEO of CoFoundersLab, which merged in 2014 to create Onevest – an equity crowdfunding platform headquartered in NYC. CoFoundersLab has become the largest community of entrepreneurs in the world with more than 75,000 members worldwide. Prior to CoFoundersLab, Shahab co-founded HyperOffice, where he led product and marketing; he operated the startup for over 7 years serving more than 400,000 customers worldwide, prior to its successful successful exit to Atlanta based Company.com. Shahab’s passion is in helping to build and foster the innovation economy, which he’s currently realizing through his efforts as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland teaching International Entrepreneurship, and as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Startup Maryland.

Shahab speaks around the world on the subjects of entrepreneurship, building startup teams, and fundraising. He earned his BA in Economics from University of Maryland, College Park.

Ben is the co-founder of BootstrapLabs, a Venture Investment Company that invests capital, experience and skills into disruptive software companies from around the world and helps their founders relocate to Silicon Valley to build BIG. Born in France and in Silicon Valley for the past 16 years, Ben is a repeat entrepreneur who launched, built and exited two startups in the financial technology space, one to Mergent and another one to SecondMarket. He also helped CEOs raise over $300M of capital from Venture Capitalists and Private Equity Investors and close $5B worth of technology M&A transactions as an investment banker earlier in his career. He is also a frequent speaker on innovation, investing, technology, entrepreneurship and globalization.

Jamie McCourt is a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur, venture capitalist and philanthropist whose proficiency in identifying talent and opportunity has been the foundation for an accomplished career spanning business and baseball. Her investment firm, Jamie Enterprises, principally invests in high-value real estate, biotechnology ventures, and technology start-ups. From 2004 to 2011, Jamie was Co-Owner, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers. She was the highest-ranking woman in baseball and one of the few female executives in all of professional sports. This past fall, Jamie celebrated the first harvest at her vineyard in Rutherford in Napa Valley, where she is committed to producing a world-class hillside Cabernet Sauvignon. Jamie graduated from Georgetown University. She also has a diploma from the Sorbonne in Paris, a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law, and an MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Navneet Singh Narula is an award winning serial entrepreneur and the the CEO of nBrilliance, who focuses on global development, sustainability and innovation. He is also the Chief Leadership Officer at United Sikhs, a United Nations mandated human rights and international development NGO, where he has led many disaster relief and humanitarian aid programs.

Formerly, he was a management executive at Accenture and recognized as one of the “Best Finance Executives” at American Business Awards 2007 and honored by the prestigious Consulting Magazine as the “Top 30 Consultants” in America 2008.

He was also honored by Hillary Clinton as “Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business”, selected Georgia’s “Top 40 under 40” Leaders and recently named as “Top Progressive American Leaders” in the nation by New Leaders Council.

Navneet has dedicated many months rescuing people, providing relief in Asian Tsunami 2004, Hurricane Katrina 2005, Kashmir Earthquake 2006, Haiti earthquake in 2010 and now Japan Tsunami in 2011 to lead and support humanitarian aid projects over $USD 500 million.

Narula was honored by President Obama with the Lifetime Presidential Service medal and selected as Humanitarian of the Year by MIB foundation. He was selected as the prestigious American Marshall Memorial Fellow by German Marshall Fund, Asia21 Fellow, Aspen Institute Socrates Fellow, New Leaders Council Fellow and StartingBloc Fellow to help create solutions for a sustainable world.

As a Global Leadership expert, he is invited frequently to give keynote talks and has inspired thousands including speaking at World Bank, United Nations, German Marshall Fund, UC Berkeley, Emory, Accenture, Home Depot, UPS & others. He has been interviewed by CNN, CBS, NBC & other media.

Navneet has been educated at Stanford School of Business, Georgetown MBA, Cornell, ESADE and Michigan State University. He currently lives in Atlanta and played NCAA Division 1 college tennis.

Specialties:Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Management Consulting, Social Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, IT Outsourcing Advisory Services, International Affairs Expert, Corporate Relations, Community Affairs & Public Relations Leadership, Public Policy, Corporate Citizenship and Community Service Activist

Jean Philbert Nsengimana is the Minister of Youth and ICT of the Republic of Rwanda since 2011. He has spearheaded several initiatives including TransformAfrica Summit in 2013, that is the next generation of ICT4D agenda after Connect Africa. Before joining the Government of Rwanda, Honorable Jean Philbert Nsengimana worked for the Washington D.C-based interactive mobile health services company Voxiva Inc. as a Country Director for Rwanda. During his tenure, Voxiva won several awards and accolades including the African Technology in Government Award (TIGA) for best e-health and e-agriculture solutions. Prior to that, he worked as Regional Coordinator for Africa with the Development Gateway Foundation, advancing the use of modern technology in Aid Management, Public Procurement and Knowledge Sharing.

Jean Philbert Started his career at the National University of Rwanda as Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science. While the University, he initiated and Directed for 5 years the Rwanda Development Gateway, an organization that was instrumental in advancing Rwanda’s Government web presence.

He holds a Global Masters in Business from SP Jain School of Global Management in Singapore and a Masters of Information and Communication Technology from the National University of Rwanda.

Scott Olster is a senior editor at Fortune Magazine, where he oversees Fortune.com’s leadership and finance coverage. He is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and he lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Coming soon

Frank Quintero joined The Yucaipa Companies in 2003. His responsibilities as a Principal in the Firm encompass deal origination, negotiating transactions, investor relations and corporate communications. At the Yucaipa portfolio company level, Frank is tasked with identifying and evaluating potential opportunities and strategic initiatives. Working closely with The Yucaipa Companies’ founder, Frank has actively participated in multiple phases of the investment process since joining the Firm. The Yucaipa Companies has completed mergers and acquisitions valued at more than $35 billion.

Prior to joining The Yucaipa Companies, Frank served as Special Assistant to California Governor Gray Davis. In this position he served as a liaison to labor officials and business groups; as well as local, state, and national elected officials. Frank was also an advisor to Governor Davis on over 300 boards and commission appointments within California State government. Under Governor Davis’ leadership the Appointments Unit placed more women and people of color in appointed positions than any of California’s previous governors.

In 1994, Frank received a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA.

Rao is an entrepreneur, technologist, and executive responsible for innovating and bringing products to market in areas including mobile, digital media, hardware (IOT), and e-Commerce. He has built companies, advised, and managed teams of various sizes including launching intrapreneurial projects at large companies. His involvement has been throughout all phases of a company’s life-cycle – pre-concept, early-stage, venture/angel financing, growth, and exits. Core areas are product, strategy, business modeling, and partnerships.

Jonathan is a Senior Editor running the Contributors Network at TechCrunch. Previously he worked as a senior reporter for Dow Jones & Co. writing for its newswires, The Wall Street Journal, VentureWire and LBO Wire, covering venture capital and private equity investment from New York and Shanghai.

Coming soon

Sangwon Yoon is responsible for Bloomberg’s coverage of political risk in emerging markets. Most recently, Sangwon covered United Nations and the State Department as part of the National Security team that handles U.S. foreign policy and foreign affairs. Ms. Yoon is based in New York.

She has reported on the Arab Spring for Al Jazeera English from Doha, Qatar, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for Reuters from Jerusalem and instability on the Korean peninsula for the Associated Press out of Seoul, South Korea.

Roberta is also a Development Consultant with expertise in Business Development and Fundraising. She aligns investors with government entities and key strategic stakeholders to encourage the ease of doing business in Africa. She is in the process of setting up an impact investment fund and forum for Africa to be launched in 2015.

At RAC, Roberta has been responsible for the expansion of several multinational corporations and small to medium-sized enterprises into Africa and the establishment of foundations for several HNWIs. She has worked on projects valued at $6 million to $200 million. Her work spans across numerous industries from fashion to aviation where she has made a significant contribution. She was instrumental in winning the $25 million grant for Africa 2.0 and Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration to set up the Regional Leadership Center for the Obama Young African Leaders Initiative. Some of her past clients includes President Obasanjo, VistaJet, BNP Baripas, Jordanian Government, EnviroBoard, Vogue Italia, Miss Universe Organizations, StorAfrica Group. Her affinity for fashion in Africa has served as a catalyst for her to create a non-profit organization that is focused on expanding the global footprint of African luxury and premium brands- Frallain, Inc.

She also serves as an advisor for several organizations such as VistaJet, Invest Africa Club, Nexus Africa, Africa 2.0 and Global Luxury Fund. She has been a recipient of several leadership awards and is part of Young Leader Circle from Africa for Milken Institute. Roberta is currently enrolled in the Program For Leadership Development at the Harvard Business School and holds a Masters degree (summa cum laude) in Biotechnology from Georgetown University. She received a Bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Originally from Ghana, West Africa, Roberta has lived and worked on four continents. Her passions include traveling, speaking, reading, and volunteering.

Joe Barnes is a senior executive and successful entrepreneur. He has spent over 22 years developing executive level management and leadership experience while personally starting and building viable service related companies. Joe is the Founder and CEO of BARNES & BARNES LLC, a business consulting company which has provided services since 2003.

Joe is currently the Executive Vice President at Pathology Inc., the premier Women’s Health Laboratory in the United States.

Joe serves on the Board of Directors for Athgo International, an organization that provides constructive entrepreneurship programs to college students and under-served youth from over 80 countries. Joe also serves on the Healthcare Advisory Board for Fremont College.

Inyoung is Consultant at the World Bank, working for Development Economics and Data Group, focusing on economic data analysis and statistical capacity building; and developing innovative way to share and collect big data. Previously she held positions at other global institutions including International Monetary Fund, Office of President of Korea and various think-tanks where she also engaged in direct country support and high-level communication strategy. She travels around the world both personally and via work and enjoys sharing stories of people through writing, painting and conversation. She has been frequent volunteer for mentoring activities since college, and recently managed largest mentoring program at the World Bank. Inyoung holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and Management with Minors in Engineering Studies and Technology Policy; and a Master’s degree in Public Policy Management, both from Carnegie Mellon University. She also is proud Alum and winner of Athgo 2008 scholarship.