AnnMaura Connolly

Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President; City Year

AnnMaura Connolly joined City Year as Chief of Staff in 2000 and since then has held progressively senior positions, including Senior Vice President for Global Initiatives and Strategic Partnerships and Chief External Affairs Officer. She currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President. As CSO/EVP, AnnMaura directs City Year’s public policy, public affairs, communications, and international work. She also manages relationships with national and international leaders and organizational partners, works closely with the CEO on a wide range of policy and strategic advancement issues, and serves as a member of City Year’s Executive Management Team. In addition, AnnMaura serves as President of Voices for National Service, a coalition of hundreds of service organizations that work together to advance citizen service policy.

Amy Hilliard

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The ComfortCake® Company

Amy is a former senior marketing executive with leading Fortune 500 corporations and entrepreneurial firms including Bloomingdale’s, Gillette, Pillsbury, L’Oreal and Burrell Communications Group. Amy also owns The Hilliard Group, a strategic marketing consulting, product development and speaking firm. Amy was named a Business Leader of Color by Chicago United, was selected for the Clinton Foundation’s Entrepreneur Mentoring Program, and is a graduate of the Chicago Urban League’s nextONE program. Amy is from Detroit and graduated from both Howard University and Harvard Business School.

Amitabh Desai

Director of Foreign Policy, Clinton Foundation

As President Clinton's Director of Foreign Policy, Ami Desai works on a wide range of international issues and programs, including Haiti, the Clinton Climate Initiative, and relations with foreign governments and Heads of State.

Before joining the Clinton Foundation in January 2007, Ami served as Legislative Aide to then-U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, with responsibility for various foreign policy issues including Africa, humanitarian crises, and international trade. Ami also has significant professional experience in finance and in health care.

Ami holds a master’s degree in foreign policy from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Austin Ngwira

Director of Agriculture, Clinton Development Initiative

Austin Ngwira join the Clinton Foundation in 2007 and is currently the Director of Agriculture in Malawi for the Clinton Development Initiative (CDI). As Director of Agriculture, Austin manages CDI’s Anchor Farm Project in Malawi, which is a CDI-operated 1,000 hectare commercial farm that provides neighboring farmers with access to inputs, training, and market access. Previously to joining the Clinton Foundation, Austin managed a USAID Land O’Lakes diary project for seven years.

Andrea Williamson-English

Healthy Schools Program Champion; The Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Andrea Williamson-English is a school nurse at the Creative School of Inquiry at Chestnut Mountain Elementary School in Flowery Branch, Ga.

Keeping her staff updated through “State of the Wellness Initiative” addresses, Williamson-English has helped lead her school through what she describes as a “beautiful metamorphosis.” With help from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation—an organization founded by the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity—and its Healthy Schools Program, the Chestnut Mountain wellness council succeeded in taking action that will result in sustainable healthy changes around campus.

For instance, Williamson-English worked to increase time for physical and health education. She applied for grants to bring new resources to the school and partnered with community organizations such as the YMCA to help supplement the school’s nutrition education program. She has built a strong and diverse wellness council, and even invited a Spanish-language interpreter to join the meetings to ensure open communication between families and the school.

Caroline Sada

Philanthropist and Owner,Le Daily Cafe and Ayiti Natives Co

Caroline Sada graduated from Emmanuel College in Boston with a degree in Sociology and International Relations. She further extended her studies and now holds a MBA in International Business, PR & Marketing from the American Intercontinental University in London, England. Before returning to Haïti to help in the rebuilding process after the earthquake, Caroline worked for Estée Lauder Co. as a Manager of Retail Operations for M.A.C. cosmetics, where she managed 15 locations between the Caribbean, Cancún, Toronto and North America. She was highly praised by the Group President of Estée Lauder Co. for exceeding all sales goals for her region and launching and ensuring that the M.A.C brand remains the #1 make up brand in all of her locations. Caroline currently own 2 businesses in Haiti: Le Daily Cafe and Ayiti Natives Co which is a natural beauty line. She is an active Philanthropist who seats on the board of 3 organisations: We Advance, Hand in Hand for Haiti, Foundation to Support Education, and PRODEV.

Chelsea Clinton

Board Member, Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative Special Correspondent, NBC News

Chelsea Clinton has worked at McKinsey & Company and Avenue Capital and studied at Stanford, Oxford and Columbia Universities. She is currently pursuing a doctorate at Oxford, working at New York University and working with the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative and is a special correspondent for NBC News. Chelsea currently serves on the boards of the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, the School of American Ballet, Common Sense Media and the Weill Cornell Medical College. She and her husband, Marc, live in New York City.

Christopher Ruddy

CEO and President of Newsmax Media

Christopher Ruddy is a noted journalist and entrepreneur. He currently serves as CEO and President of Newsmax Media, one of the nation's leading online news media companies. In 1998, Chris founded Newsmax Media, a multimedia publishing company that publishes online and offline content in the fields of news, politics, health and finance. Newsmax.com is consistently ranked as one of the country's most trafficked news websites.

David Sheff

David Sheff is the author of several books, including the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Beautiful Boy, an account of his struggle to save his son Nic from addiction. Sheff’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Playboy, Fortune, Rolling Stone, Outside, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and elsewhere. His ongoing research and reporting on the science of addiction earned him a place on Time magazine’s list of the world’s most influential people. Sheff and his family live in Inverness, California.

David Crane

President and Chief Executive Officer, NRG Energy, Inc.

David Crane has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and on the Board of Directors of NRG since December 2003. Crane leads NRG’s transformation into the nation’s premier energy company positioned for a sustainable energy future—developing new solar, wind, high efficiency gas and other generation sources while growing NRG’s retail, carbon capture and electric vehicle service businesses. Crane has been recognized for exemplary leadership, receiving such awards as Ernst & Young’s 2010 Transformational Achievement award, EnergyBiz’s 2010 CEO of the Year and Institutional Investor’s 2011 top CEO in the electric utility sector. Prior to joining NRG, Crane served as CEO of International Power plc, a U.K.-based wholesale power generation company, from January to November 2003; and as Chief Operating Officer from March 2000 through December 2002. Crane was Senior Vice President, Global Power, New York at Lehman Brothers Inc. from January 1999 to February 2000; and Senior Vice President, Global Power Group, Asia from June 1996 to January 1999. Crane serves on the board of El Paso Corp. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Danyel Johnson

Youth Advisory Board Member, The Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Danyel is a hard working, inspiring 11-year-old Native American from the Navajo Reservation of the Sanostee and Tohatchi area. She is Many Hogan’s (Hooghanlani) born for the Water-Flow-Together clan (Tó’aheedlínii) and Bitter Water (Tódích’íii’hii), and her maternal grandfathers are Salt People (Ashįį’); her paternal clan, the Zuni Clan (Naasht’ézhí Din’e’é). An avid learner by nature, she excels in reading, math, science, and the Navajo language, and still makes time to keep herself living healthy and maintains physical activity by participating in running, baseball (catcher for the Gallup Pirates), and basketball.

As a part of her work Danyel, over the past year, was able to spread awareness to her peers by helping with a school field day showcasing a variety of Navajo related activities to get kids up and moving. Danyel was the president of her student council at Tohatchi Elementary School, a member of the wellness program at her school and president of the Diné Club. Combining both her love for her Navajo culture and her go-healthy lifestyle, Danyel practices her traditional dances and singing as part of modeling a healthy lifestyle for her peers and for the young and old in her community. She is passionate about keeping her language alive and restoring harmony and healthy lives in the Navajo youth.

Donna Karan

Founder, Donna Karan International

Donna Karan, founder of Donna Karan Intl. seeks not only to dress people, but to address them, mind, body and spirit. In 2007, she founded the Urban Zen Foundation, dedicated to three interconnected objectives: Preservation of Culture (The Past), Integrative Healthcare (The Present) and the Empowerment of Children (The Future.) Urban Zen stores marry philanthropy and commerce, selling Urban Zen lifestyle as well as global artisan treasures, while the Urban Zen Center is site to numerous exhibits, lectures and forums. Urban Zen's Integrative Therapy (UZIT) is a groundbreaking program that integrates Western medicine with Eastern healing techniques with over 50 Urban Zen-certified therapists practicing today. In 2010, Urban Zen launched Hope, Help & Relief Haiti by collaborating with leaders in music, fashion, film, finance and art to help Haiti after the earthquake. Currently, Karan is working with The Clinton Global Initiative to develop and support Haitian business opportunities for US consumerism.

Daniel Muller

Youth Advisory Board Member; The Alliance For A Healthier Generation

Daniel Muller is a 17-year-old high school senior from Weston, Connecticut. He is actively involved in his community, demonstrated by his weekly volunteer work at Whittingham Cancer Center and his service for the past three years as his temple youth group’s Social Action Vice President and Programming Vice President. In that role, Daniel organized trips to New York City to provide necessities to the homeless and incorporated social action into almost every youth group event. Now, he is the President of his temple youth group. Daniel is also an avid trombone-player; he has been selected three times for the Western Connecticut Regional Music Festival and twice as a Connecticut All-State trombonist. He plays in the nearby Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestra, which performed in Germany and Austria this summer, and his high school’s jazz band. Daniel loves to read, and would one day love to specialize in global health.

As a Youth Advisory Board member, Daniel has taught a program in a kindergarten class to empower kids with healthy habits by focusing on the advantages of an active and nutritious lifestyle. In addition, Daniel has worked with food-service providers to improve the quality of school lunches and encourage kids to make healthier choices. Since swapping cookies with fruit around cash registers, kids are consuming a noticeably greater quantity of fruits. At Weston’s Relay for Life cancer walk, Daniel operated a booth that distributed information about living healthy lifestyles to event participants. Daniel has also developed his role on the Health and Wellness Committee at his high school by taking part in the Nutrition Subcommittee that facilitates district-wide improvements.

Dr. Mphu Ramatlapeng

Executive Vice President HIV/AIDS, Clinton Health Access Initiative

Dr. Mphu Keneiloe Ramatlapeng is currently an Executive Vice-President at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, as well as the Vice-Chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. She is a highly experienced African leader who brings to her role a broad range of domestic and international health and management experiences in the public and private sectors.

Dr. Ramatlapeng served as Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Lesotho between 2007 and mid 2012, carrying responsibility for the overall clinical, technical, and financial management for the Ministry. In this role, Dr. Ramatlapeng has been a champion in Lesotho’s significant achievements in reducing the transmission of HIV to children from their parents. Under her leadership, the Ministry introduced a 2010 innovative package to support mothers who cannot return to clinics to receive the basic package of care services they need to stay healthy and give birth to HIV-negative children.

Over 2005 – 2006, Dr. Ramatlapeng served as Country Director of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Lesotho – bringing to that role extensive experience in pharmaceutical supply and management.

Born in Lesotho, Dr. Ramatlapeng studied medicine at Kharkov Medical School in Ukraine, and later obtained a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. After completing her education, she returned to Lesotho and worked in a number of roles across the public and private sectors before moving into her successive roles with CHAI and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

Dr. Ramatlapeng has held a number of Board Member positions over her career, including membership on the Roll Back Malaria Partnership Board and the StopTB Partnership Board. Dr. Ramatlapeng currently serves as a Board Member of the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND). Across her career, she has also been a leading advocate for women in business, including serving as founding Board Member of Women in Business in Lesotho.

Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz

Director, Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center; Director, Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center; Women's Guild Chair in Women's Health

C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, holds the Women’s Guild Endowed Chair in Women’s Health, and is director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center in the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute where she is a professor of medicine. Dr. Bairey Merz’s research interests include women and heart disease, mental stress and heart disease, the role of exercise and stress management in reversing disease, and the role of nutrition in heart disease. Dr. Bairey Merz has appeared frequently in the media, recognized as an authority on the subject of heart disease and stress. Her television appearances have includedGood Morning America, NBC Dateline, and 20/20. She has also been interviewed for articles published in the New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, US News & World Report, and Working Woman Magazine, to name a few.

Dana Robbins Schneider

Senior Vice President & Program Manager, East Region, Energy and Sustainability Services, Jones Lang LaSalle

Dana Robbins Schneider leads Jones Lang LaSalle’s (JLL) Energy and Sustainability Services division in a region anchored by New York City, Boston and Washington DC. Her focus is on energy optimization as well as the development and implementation of energy and sustainability programs for new and existing clients. Additionally, she specializes in energy and sustainability performance and LEED certification for new and existing buildings and portfolios as well as commercial interiors. Ms. Schneider joined JLL in 2002.

Ms. Schneider leads teams currently implementing a whole-building energy retrofit of the Empire State Building and that recently achieved LEED EBOM Gold certification for the most famous office building in the world in 2011. This major initiative uses a groundbreaking analytical model for maximizing energy and environmental value per dollar spent, which she was instrumental in developing. Ms. Schneider is now replicating this energy optimization process in over 30 buildings across the U.S. In addition to her work at the Empire State Building, she manages energy and sustainability aspects of mission critical facilities across the country and has led energy and sustainability assignments at over 24 million square feet of properties in the Northeast.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Schneider has overseen projects for corporate, investor and institutional clients such as HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Diageo, Barclays Capital, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Malkin Holdings, Grand Central Terminal and BBC. Prior to joining JLL, she worked as a mechanical engineer at Flack + Kurtz Consulting Engineers, where she managed engineering analysis, design and project management aspects of sustainable design and architectural engineering projects. Ms. Schneider is a LEED Accredited Professional and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia.

Erneus Kaijage

CCI Forestry Program Manager for Tanzania

Erneus Kaijage is a Program Manager for the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) in Tanzania, where his role includes assisting the government with designing and establishing a credible and robust national Monitoring, Reporting and Verification system for REDD+. He is also involved in national dialogues and processes for implementation of the Social and Environmental safeguards for REDD+ programs.

Erneus is a member of the Tanzanian national technical mirror committee on carbon footprints of products, an effort led by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards in collaboration with the International Standards Organization (ISO14000 Series). At the international level, he is a member of the African group of experts on gender and climate change.

Prior to CCI, Erneus served as a consultant in a number of local and international organizations including World Wildlife Fund, New Zealand’s CarbonZero program, and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiative (ICLEI). He holds a master’s of science degree in environmental studies with a specialization on community forestry management and sustainable development.

Mayor Eduardo Paes

Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Eduardo Paes started his political career as the head of the Barra da Tijuca and Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro. He then became a city councilman, a congressman, the Municipal Secretary for Environment and State Government’s Secretary for Sports and Tourism in 2007. Paes was empowered by the Governor of Rio, Sérgio Cabral, to bring the preparations for the Pan American Games that would begin just seven months later back on track. In 2008, Eduardo Paes was elected Mayor of Rio de Janeiro.

Paes says that his mission as mayor is to ensure that Rio’s renaissance thanks to the Brazilian economic boom, the effective pacification policy developed by the State Government and the successful bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games creates a positive legacy for all Rio’s citizens.

He has created programmes such as Porto Maravilha (revitalisation of the port area), Morar Carioca (urbanisation of all the favelas), UPP Social (development of social programmes in pacified favelas), the Rio Operations Centre (a nerve centre that monitors all municipal logistics), and the establishment of the BRT system (four express corridors for articulated buses that will connect the whole city).

Ember Reichgott Junge

Author and Former Minnesota State Senator

Former Minnesota State Senator Ember Reichgott Junge is author of Minnesota’s first-in-nation chartered school law, and author of "Zero Chance of Passage: The Pioneering Charter School Story," copublished by Charter Schools Development Corporation. She can be reached at ember@visi.com or www.ZeroChanceOfPassage.com. 

Eugene Ubalijoro

Managing Director Caribbean and Americas Export, HEINEKEN

Eugene Ubalijoro is Managing Director Caribbean and Americas Export at HEINEKEN, a position in which he oversees and manages all HEINEKEN operating companies in the region, including Haiti and Panama, as well as all export activities within Latin America. As such, Eugene was the driving force behind the full acquisition of our Haitian BRANA brewery last year.

Eugene originates from Rwanda and was one of HEINEKEN's first African trainees, in 1990. He has continued to work with HEINEKEN ever since, with commercial positions in Rwanda, the US, and the Netherlands, and with regional roles in Africa. His last role was General Manager of the Heineken subsidiary on the island of La Reunion.

He has a wealth of experience operating in emerging and mature markets, which is imperative in his shaping our strategic actions in Haiti.

Eugene graduated from Georgetown University in Washington DC. Additionally, he holds a MBA from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada.

Emily Wurgaft

Emily came to the Clinton Foundation in 2011 after 12 years in the political and nonprofit fundraising world. As the Director of the Millennium Network she looks for ways to inspire and engage the next generation of leaders and philanthropists. Before joining the Foundation, she was serving as the Tri-State Regional Finance Director for EMILY’s List. She began her career on the fundraising team for Bill Bradley’s presidential bid and then went on to work for a multitude of political campaigns and non-profits, including the National Jewish Democratic Council, Gov. Howard Dean’s Presidential campaign, Grassroots Democrats, and Former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury’s bid for US Senate in Oregon. In 2009 she founded Charlton Street Consulting, to help candidates, committees, and nonprofits with their fundraising, major donor solicitation, event planning, grant-writing, infrastructure training, and more. A native of New Jersey, Emily graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in Public Relations.

Frantz Fanfan and Kevin Adair

Frantz Fanfan, General Manager, Fuego del Sol

Frantz Fanfan, General Manager, speaks Spanish, English, Haitian Creole and French and he has worked in Fuego del Sol (FdS) management since its inception in 2005. Frantz grew up in the Dominican Republic where his career spanned farming, construction, and tourism. He was Recycling Director for the FdS Punta Cana waste management project. Currently Frantz oversees all aspects of Fuego del Sol operations. Frantz has led operations for FdS and associated organizations, including coordinating the construction of an orphanage in Port-a-Prince that was built from recycled and donated materials.

Kevin Adair, President, Fuego del Sol

Kevin Adair, President of Fuego del Sol, has, since 2005, dedicated his life to connecting the people and cultures of Haiti and the DR with social services, ecological technology, and global visitors. Kevin researched and designed the briquettes themselves, and the high production, manual, industrial briquette press. Kevin is now working with a combustion engineer to design and produce the most efficient briquette stoves, made from materials available in Haiti. Kevin assembled the project team and coordinates FdS in Haiti and internationally through promotion and development of Fuego del Sol.

Ginny Ehrlich

Chief Executive Officer, Alliance for a Healthier Generation and Clinton Health Matters Initiative

Ginny Ehrlich is the Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a nonprofit founded by the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation, and of the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, a new initiative to promote health and well-being in the United States. Previously, Ginny served as a consultant at RMC Health where she worked with national and state education and health organizations on strategic planning, program development and evaluation. Prior to that, Ginny founded Oregon’s Healthy Kids Learn Better Partnership, a public-private partnership to address Oregon students’ health needs. Ginny holds a doctoral degree in education policy and master’s degrees in both public health and special education.

Joel Berg

Executive Director, NYCCAH

Joel Berg is a nationally recognized leader, and media spokesperson in the fields of domestic hunger, food insecurity, obesity, poverty, food-related economic development, national service, and volunteerism. He is executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is also author of All You Can Eat: How Hungry Is America?, the definitive and most well-reviewed book on American hunger of the last decade. Since 2001, Berg has led the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, which represents the more than 1,100 nonprofit soup kitchens and food pantries in New York City and the nearly 1.5 million low-income New Yorkers who live in households that cannot afford enough food. The Coalition works not only to meet these residents’ immediate food needs but also to enact innovative solutions to help society move “beyond the soup kitchen” to self-sufficiency. The Coalition recently launched pilot national service projects in 17 states from coast to coast, making the work of the organization national in scope.

Prior to his work with the Coalition, Berg served for eight years in the Clinton Administration in senior executive service positions at USDA. For two years, he acted as USDA Coordinator of Community Food Security, a new position in which he created and implemented the first-ever federal initiative to better enable faith-based and other nonprofit groups to fight hunger, bolster food security, and help low-income Americans move out of poverty. Berg has published widely on the topics of hunger, national and community service, and grassroots community partnerships, including recent papers on childhood hunger and poverty, obesity, and practical solutions to end hunger as a Visiting Fellow for the Center for American Progress. He has also recently published papers on creating food jobs and other topics for the Progressive Policy Institute. A native of Rockland County, NY, and a graduate of Columbia University, Berg now resides in Brooklyn. He is the past winner of the US Secretary of Agriculture’s Honor Award for Superior Service (one of the Department’s highest honors) and the Congressional Hunger Center’s Mickey Leland National Hunger Fighter Award.

Jean Chatzky

Author, Finance Editor; NBC's "Today Show"

Jean Chatzky is a best-selling author, award-winning personal finance journalist, the finance editor for NBC's "Today Show", and the host of "Cash Call with Jean Chatzky" on RLTV. Jean believes knowing how to manage our money is one of the most important life skills for people of all ages and has made it her mission to help simplify money matters, increasing financial literacy both now and for the future. Her newest book, Money Rules: The Simple Path to Lifelong Security was released in spring 2012.

Jeffrey Wright

Founder/Chairman, Taia Lion Resources/Taia Peace Foundation

A critically acclaimed actor and winner of Tony, AFI, Emmy, and Golden Globe awards, Jeffrey has appeared on Broadway in such plays as Angels in America,Topdog/Underdog, and A Free Man of Color, and in such films as Basquiat, Angels in America, Syriana, Shaft, Broken Flowers, Casino Royale, and Ides of March. Later this year, he’ll be seen on film in Broken City and A Single Shot. He is founder and Vice Chairman of Taia Lion Resources, a mineral exploration company currently operating in Sierra Leone, and co-founder and Chairman of Taia Peace Foundation, Taia Lion Resources’ not-for-profit social development arm, which focuses on building a replicable model for extractives that focuses equally on mineral rights and human rights. Jeffrey earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Amherst College in 1987 and, in 2004, received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from his alma mater. He serves on the board of directors of Resolve, the Tribeca Film Institute and on the Governing Board of St. Albans School for Boys. He is also a member of the advisory board to the United Nations Democracy Fund for 2012-2013, and, in 2011, he was made an honorary Paramount Chief of Penguia Chiefdom, Sierra Leone.

Jonathan Orszag

Senior Managing Director, Compass Lexecon, LLC

Jonathan Orszag is a senior managing director and member of the Executive Committee of Compass Lexecon, LLC, an economic consulting firm. Prior to entering the private sector, Jon served as the Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning and as an Economic Policy Advisor on President Clinton’s National Economic Council. He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a Fellow at the University of Southern California’s Center for Communication Law & Policy. He is a member of the board of directors of JMP Group, Inc.; a member of the board of governors of the Tiger Woods Foundation; and a member of the Ambassadors Council for Grassroots Soccer, which uses soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV. Jon received a Master of Science degree from Oxford University, which he attended as a Marshall Scholar. He graduated summa cum laude in economics from Princeton University.

Joanna Spilker

Founder; J. Spilker & Associates, Host Committee Member; Clinton Foundation Millennium Network

Joanna has worked extensively in development with large and small organizations. Before founding J. Spilker & Associates, Joanna most recently served as Foundation and Corporate Relations Manager at the William J. Clinton Foundation. There, she was responsible for a multi-million dollar portfolio of organizational and individual donors, along with one of the largest sponsorships for the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative. Joanna represented the Foundation at the 2008 International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, the 2006 Slate 60 Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas and the 2008 Women's Forum on Economy and Society in Deauville, France. She also helped facilitate the Foundation's bi-annual trustee gatherings.

Prior lo law school, Joanna served as a Constituent Liaison in the New York Office of then-U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Joanna managed Senator Clinton's casework related to children and families, social services, and consumer issues. After September 11, 2001, her casework focused primarily on victims' families and employment issues related lo 9/11.

Originally from Southern California, Joanna earned a B.A. from Barnard College and then a J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School. She is a current member of the California Bar Association. Joanna currently splits her time between New York and Los Angeles.

Dr. Joe Thompson

Surgeon General for the State of Arkansas; Director, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement

Dr. Joe Thompson’s work is centered at the intersection of clinical care, public health and health policy. He is responsible for developing health policy, research activities and collaborative programs that promote better health and health care in Arkansas. Dr. Thompson works closely with the Governor’s office, the Arkansas legislature and public and private organizations across the state on relevant health policy topics.

Dr. Thompson has led vanguard efforts in planning and implementing health care financing reform, tobacco- and obesity-related health promotion and disease prevention programs. He was the lead architect of the Tobacco Settlement Act of 2000 and instituted the Arkansas Health Insurance Roundtable. Under his leadership, ACHI helped pass the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006, documented the state’s success in halting progress of the childhood obesity epidemic, and helped implement ARHealthNetworks, Arkansas’s health care benefits waiver for low-income workers.

Dr. Thompson has been at the forefront of both Arkansas’s leading-edge efforts against childhood obesity and in national efforts to reverse childhood obesity as the former Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity. He currently serves on the Arkansas Board of Health and is past President of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Nationally, Dr. Thompson serves on the board of the Campaign to End Obesity and of AcademyHealth, as well as serving on Institute of Medicine’s standing committee on childhood obesity. He is author of numerous articles and publications that reflect his research interests in the areas of health and health care including access, quality and finance.

Julie Wang

Director, Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative

Julie Wang is the director of the Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative, where she oversees the Clinton Foundation’s portfolio of domestic-based entrepreneurship programs. Previously, Julie held strategic development roles within Citigroup’s consumer lending group. Prior to that, she was involved in efforts to address the financial needs of small and mid-size businesses at American Express. Julie also previously led the education program at the Urban Business Assistance Corporation, an NYU-sponsored student-run organization providing business consulting and financial education to minority small business owners in New York City. Julie received her M.B.A. from the NYU Stern School of Business and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mayor Kasim Reed

Mayor, City of Atlanta

Kasim Reed was inaugurated as the 59th Mayor of the City of Atlanta on January 4, 2010. Since then, he has hired more than 525 police officers, re-opened all of the city’s recreation centers as safe havens for young people and improved core city services such as fire-rescue response times and sanitation operations. Working with the Atlanta City Council and the city’s employee unions, he successfully initiated a series of sweeping reforms to address the city’s $1.5 billion unfunded pension liability. Mayor Reed began his term facing a $48 million budget shortfall; under his leadership, the city has had three years of balanced budgets with no property tax increases, and its cash reserves have grown from $7.4 million to more than $94 million.

Mayor Reed is Chairman of the Transportation and Communications Committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Chairman of the Regional Transit Committee of the Atlanta Regional Commission. He is a member of the Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowship Class of 2007, Leadership Georgia Class of 2000 and Leadership Atlanta Class of 1998. He served as a Board Member of both the National Black Arts Festival and Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund.

Mayor Reed has received numerous accolades since taking office. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington D.C. honored him in May 2012 with the Louis E. Martin Great American Award, saying he “heralds a new and creative approach to leadership.” Governing Magazine named Mayor Reed as one of the top state and local government officials of the year in November 2011.

Mayor Reed's civic leadership and service also have been nationally recognized on programs such as Meet the Press, The Charlie Rose Show, The Kudlow Report and Andrea Mitchell Reports. He has been featured in publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post and Black Enterprise. Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer-Prize winning New York Times columnist, called Reed “inspiring” and labeled him as “one of the best of this new breed of leaders.” He has been a guest speaker and panelist at numerous national and international conferences, including the Aspen Ideas Festival, Chicago Ideas Week, New York Ideas, New Cities Summit, Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) America, and the Gathering of Leaders.

Prior to his election, Mayor Reed established a track record of leadership during his 11 years as a member of the Georgia General Assembly. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1998 and served two terms. From 2002 to 2009, he served in the Georgia State Senate, where he was Vice Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. He is a former partner of Holland and Knight LLP, an international law firm.

Mayor Reed grew up in the Cascade community of Southwest Atlanta, where he attended Utoy Springs Elementary School and Westwood High School (now Westlake High School). He is a graduate of Howard University in Washington D.C., where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees and an honorary Doctor of Laws. As an undergraduate member of Howard University's Board of Trustees, he created a fundraising program that has contributed more than $10 million to the school’s endowment since its inception. Mayor Reed was appointed as Howard University's youngest General Trustee in June 2002 and remains a dedicated member of the Board of Trustees.

Luke Disney

Executive Director, North Star Alliance

Luke Disney is the executive director of North Star Alliance. He joined North Star in 2007 as director fundraising and communications and became the organization’s first executive director in 2008. Prior to North Star, Luke worked at TNT Express on the Moving the World initiative, a groundbreaking partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme praised by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as “an excellent example of the way private corporations can cooperate with United Nations agencies to do vital life-saving work.”

North Star Alliance works at the crossroads of disease and mobility to ensure that highly mobile populations, especially truck drivers and their direct and indirect contacts have access to quality health and safety services. North Star is strengthening national health systems by expanding their reach and plugging the gaps through a network of “Roadside Wellness Centres” (RWCs) located at hotspots along major transport corridors in sub-Saharan Africa. North Star’s unique approach unites the transport and public health sectors in a common response to high-impact diseases. You can learn more about our work online by visiting: www.northstar-alliance.org

Mandeep Minhas

Student, University of Texas at Arlington, and Co-Founder and Chair, Global Amity

Mandeep Minhas is a student at the University of Texas at Arlington who is deeply committed to educational opportunity and student empowerment. He is the co-founder and chair of Global Amity, an organization that empowers people to improve the literacy rate in Rwanda. In 2012, Mandeep was selected to attend the Clinton Global Initiative University, where he received recognition for his work abroad. Mandeep has also worked as a legislative aide for Texas State Representative Diane Patrick, serving on her education team. He was the lead staffer for Patrick's higher-education policy summits, which promoted community awareness of Texas’ multi-billion dollar deficit Texas from the recession. He is currently a scholar with Opportunity Nation, a national leadership program identifying promising young activists and entrepreneurs striving to promote their vision of the American Dream by increasing opportunity on their campuses and in their communities.

Mayor Steve Pougnet

Mayor of Palm Springs, California

Steve Pougnet was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. A graduate of Michigan State University, Pougnet is a former Vice President of the Colorado School of Mines and held the position of Associate Director, National Corporate Leadership Program for the United Way of America in Alexandria, Virginia.

He was first elected to the Palm Springs City Council in 2003 and was elected Mayor in 2007. Mayor Pougnet has spearheaded the Downtown Revitalization Plan and other important programs that have led to the city’s renaissance over the past five years, including a Sustainability Master Plan.

Pougnet is married to Christopher Green and they are the parents of 6-year-old twins. An avid marathon runner and proponent of fitness and healthy living, Pougnet founded of the hugely successful “Mayor’s Healthy Planet, Healthy You, 1K, 5K, 7 mile Race and Wellness Festival to Fight Childhood Obesity, now in its second year.

Maryse Pénette-Kedar

President, PRODEV Schools

Maryse Pénette-Kedar is president of PRODEV: Progress and Development Through the Youth of Haiti, and is Senior Consultant to Royal Caribbean and President of SOLANO, its affiliate in Haiti.

Miranda Rosen

Youth Advisory Board Member, Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Miranda Rosen is a 17-year-old who attends Coronado High School where she is recognized as being in the top five percent of her class. Miranda loves public speaking; she is the secretary of her Speech and Debate Team at school, Forensics, and has placed 27 times in Speech and Debate competitions in the last two years. Within these competitions, Miranda has won first place eight times and has been County Tournament champion for the last two consecutive years. In addition, she made it to elimination rounds in competitions like the Berkeley State Competition and even placed in the top 36 in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the national tournament this year. She also won the “Novice Forensic Competitor of the Year” and the “Best LD debater” at her school. With her background in public speaking, Miranda recently decided that she would like to use her skill set to make a difference in her community. This led to her involvement in the National Charity League and her advising role for the Henderson Blue Ribbon Commission for Youth and Education. Miranda plans to use her experience in public speaking to further focus her attention to childhood obesity.

Nancy Green and Rich Cosgrove

Owners of Whole Hog Cafe; North Little Rock, AR.

Nancy Green and Rich Cosgrove were born and raised in Arkansas. Nancy was playing competitive tennis at age 5. Rich has always been an athlete, excelling in football, basketball and track since age 7. Nancy and Rich were the first couple married on the new “Big Dam Bridge” which was built to encourage healthy lifestyles. Their daughter is a Registered Dietician who serves at St. Vincent Hospital in Little Rock, previously at New York Presbyterian in New York. She is also on staff part-time at our restaurant. They own the Whole Hog Cafe in North Little Rock, and through their restaurant they support numerous schools, charities and other non-profit organizations.

Paul Glastris

Editor in Chief, Washington Monthly

Paul Glastris is editor in chief of the Washington Monthly. He was a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton from September 1998 to January 2001.

President Bill Clinton

Founder, William J. Clinton Foundation 42nd President of the United States

William Jefferson Clinton, the first Democratic president in six decades to be elected twice, led the U.S. to the longest economic expansion in American history, including the creation of more than 22 million jobs.

After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote healthier childhoods, and protect the environment by fostering partnerships among governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private citizens to turn good intentions into measurable results. Today the Foundation has staff and volunteers around the world working to improve lives through several initiatives, including the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which is helping 4.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS access lifesaving drugs. The Clinton Climate Initiative, the Clinton Development Initiative, and the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative – are applying a business-oriented approach to fight climate change worldwide and to promote sustainable economic growth in Africa and Latin America. In the U.S., the Foundation is working to combat the alarming rise in childhood obesity through the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, and is helping individuals and families succeed and to increase small business growth in underserved communities through the Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative. Established in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative brings together global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. So far, more than 2,100 Clinton Global Initiative commitments have improved the lives of 400 million people in 180 nations.

In addition to his Foundation work, President Clinton has joined with former President George H.W. Bush three times – after the 2004 tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008, and with President George W. Bush in Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. The Clinton Foundation also supports economic growth, job creation, and sustainability in Haiti.

President Clinton was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. He and his wife Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton have one daughter, Chelsea, and live in Chappaqua, New York.

Randi Weingarten

President, American Federation of Teachers

Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers(AFT). The AFT represents 1.5 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.

Dr. Robert Lewis

Director of nutrition services for the El Monte City School District; El Monte, CA. Healthy Schools Program Champion, The Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Dr. Robert Lewis is the director of nutrition services for the El Monte City School District located in El Monte, California.

Lewis and his department have worked hard to improve the school meals offered to students in the district. Each school provides students with several salad choices every week in addition to fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks. Students frequently give input on the meals service through taste tests that then determine school menus and Lewis also works with teachers to help them incorporate nutrition lessons into their standard curriculum. By working with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation—an organization founded by the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity—Lewis also spearheaded initiatives that reached the school’s extended community. He holds monthly nutrition seminars for parents and actively promotes his “Bring Your Parent to Breakfast” program.

Over the past year, Lewis continued to roll out wellness initiatives with the support of the Alliance’s Healthy Schools Program. Now the cafeteria meals served in all 14 of his district’s schools are compliant with nutritional guidelines set by the Alliance. He has also visited more than 20 health food vendors in an effort to provide his students and faculty with the freshest possible ingredients. In 2010, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation honored seven El Monte schools with Bronze National Recognition Awards and three with Silver National Recognition Awards. In 2011, the district’s Rio Hondo K-8 school earned the National Gold Recognition Award, one of only three schools in the country to earn such an accolade.

Robert S. Marshall

President and CEO, Earth Networks

Robert Marshall is the president and CEO of Earth Networks, which operates the largest and most comprehensive weather observation, lightning detection, and greenhouse gas monitoring networks in the world. Earth Networks is also launching a boundary layer network to capture atmospheric observations that are influenced by the Earth’s surface. These global networks, combined with innovative technology and solutions, provide advanced intelligence, alerting and decision-support and enable societies to better manage, adapt to, and mitigate climate change.

In 1992, Marshall co-founded AWS Convergence Technologies, the company that would become Earth Networks, by pioneering the networking of weather sensors and cameras using the Internet. Since then, the company has fostered partnerships with NWS, NOAA, NIST, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and many other government entities. Earth Networks provides its proprietary solutions to governments at the local, state and federal levels, and to enterprises across industries that include agriculture, energy, transportation, sports and recreation, education and others. The company also owns and operates the WeatherBug brand that informs and alerts millions of consumers to changing and severe weather.

Samer Kurdi

Samer Kurdi, Global Chairman of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and Group Deputy General Manager of Sunbulah Group

Samer Kurdi currently serves as partner and deputy general manager of Sunbulah Group, a leading food manufacturing and distribution company in the Middle East, where he has held numerous positions since 1999. He has been a member of the Al-Aghar Group, Saudi Arabia's most prominent think tank, since 2003, and has participated in numerous government delegations and served on the Jeddah Youth Business Committee. He is a member of the board of directors and a graduate of Dar Al-Fikr Schools, a leading non-profit educational institution in Saudi Arabia, and received a bachelor's degree in business and management from American University.

Tobin Bickley

Chief Operating Officer, La Colombe Coffee Roasters

A former banker by trade, Tobin joined La Colombe in January 2006. During his tenure, La Colombe has more than tripled in size with operations in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Seoul. La Colombe has established itself as the premier coffee roaster in the United States, setting benchmarks for product quality and corporate social responsibility.

With a client list that includes the most celebrated chefs in the world, high- end global resorts and retailers, the La Colombe brand is quickly becoming a household name.

Combined with the visionary leadership of Todd Carmichael and Jean Philippe Iberti as well as strong philanthropic partnerships including the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, the Clinton Foundation and the Leslois Shaw Foundation, La Colombe is well positioned for continued success.

Tobin Graduated from University of Delaware with a degree in International Relations and then completed his MBA at Temple University with a concentration in finance.

Tobin has two children, is married and lives in Media, PA. He is also a Board Member and Finance Committee member of Northern Home for Children and is a member of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Timote Georges

Co-Founder, Smallholder Farmers Alliance

Timote Georges was born in Haiti in 1978. He studied Natural Resources and Peace at the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. While studying there he worked with an association of coffee producers in the community of El Rodeo and at the nurseries of the Compana Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL), which was focused on carbon sequestration. While at the University for Peace, Timote was co-author of “The Fabric of Community” with the Earth Charter staff members. In 2002, Timote joined the Haiti presidential program called “Alfa-Economic” which brought a literacy campaign that aims at alleviating socio-economic deprivation in the rural areas of Gonaives. Since 2008, Timote’s focus has been environmental rehabilitation, natural resource management and development capacity building at the community level. In 2010 he co-founded a Haitian community based, grass-roots organization called the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA), or “Alyans Ti-plantè Ayiti” in Creole. In 2012, SFA became an independent NGO. Timote lives with his wife and son in Haiti. His aim is to pursue the dream of sustainability for an ecologically safer world.

Tyler Spencer

Founder and Director; The Grassroot Project

A 2010 Rhodes Scholar, Tyler Spencer is currently serving as Founder and Director of The Grassroot Project (TGP). He first conceived of the idea for TGP after spending two summers in South Africa volunteering to set up HIV prevention programs in DeBeers/Grassroot Soccer diamond mining communities. Realizing that HIV was a pressing problem in DC, that the curriculum he used in South Africa could be adapted to fit DC, and that athletes had the potential to change lives and have their own lives changed in the process, he created TGP. To date, the organization has trained more than 400 NCAA athletes to implement HIV prevention education to more than 3,000 at-risk youth in Washington D.C.

For his work with TGP, Tyler was named a 2011 Skoll Associate Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship, a 2011 World Economic Forum Young Global Shaper, and a 2011 CDC Young Innovator in HIV Prevention.

Tim Whitley

Founder & CEO of Carbon Offsets To Alleviate Poverty

Tim Whitley is founder and CEO of Carbon Offsets To Alleviate Poverty (www.COTAP.org), a 501(c)3 nonprofit startup and crowdfunding platform based in Oakland, CA. COTAP empowers individuals and organizations to address both climate change and global poverty by connecting their unavoidable carbon footprints with accredited forestry projects in least developed countries which create life-changing income for the world’s poorest people. COTAP’s initial project portfolio in Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and Nicaragua is poised to generate over $1M for participating rural communities, an amount COTAP seeks to scale to $30M annually by 2015.

Tim’s inspiration to launch COTAP occurred while he was in the MBA program at The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School focusing on Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Enterprise. Prior to UNC, Tim held various roles in consulting, marketing, and grants management at the Sierra Club and California Affordable Housing Initiatives. Tim is an avid wilderness backpacker, cyclist, and microbrew aficionado and resides in Oakland with his wife Valerie and son Graham.

Valerie Alexander

Director of Marketing and Communications

Valerie Alexander joined the Clinton Foundation in 2008 and is currently the Director of Marketing and Communications. Prior to joining the Clinton Foundation, she was an Executive Vice President at Edelman Public Relations for three years, where she built Marketing communication campaigns for Fortune 100 companies. She took a leave of absence from Edelman to serve as a spokesperson and Senior Communications Advisor for Secretary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008. Early in her career she worked for Senator Durbin (D-IL), ultimately as his chief of staff. After leaving the senator’s office, she joined a lobbying firm– representing clients on Capitol Hill - focusing on renewable energy legislative issues. Valerie is a graduate of Purdue University with a B.A. in Communications. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two children.

Vanessa Upegui

ACSM Certified Fitness Profesional; New York, NY

Vanessa was born in Colombia, she moved to the USA when she was 12. After many adventures her passion for sport and fitness led her to study to become a fitness professional at the Fitness Institute of South Florida, afterwards being certified by the ACSM.

Fluent in English, Spanish and with an eye for fashion, it was inevitable that she would end up in New York City. A fixture of the West Village, Vanessa is always smiling and can often be found drinking strong coffee, walking her dog Milo or showing up the guys with how much she can lift in the local gym.

Vanessa trains her clients all around NYC and specializes in prenatal and postnatal training, weight management, and nutrition. Her philosophy is to build core strength and use corrective exercise to improve injuries without the need for surgery. She is also a wonderful chef who can make almost any meal healthy, try her vegan pancakes!

Witney Schneidman

Witney Schneidman is president of Schneidman & Associates International, a Washington-based consulting firm that works with companies and NGOs in Africa. He is also a Nonresident Fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and author of “The African Growth and Opportunity Act: Looking Back, Looking Forward,” published by Brookings in June 2012. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs in the Clinton Administration, where he was responsible for commercial and economic issues in Sub-Saharan Africa.