21st Century Council Members
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21st Century Council, Board of Directors
Shaukat Aziz has a 30-year career in global finance, encompassing roles in Pakistan, Greece, the U.S., the U.K., Malaysia, the Philippines, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. He headed Citigroup’s global Private Banking Division and progressed to a senior position with the bank in New York. He became Finance Minister in 1999, and was named "Finance Minister of the Year" for 2001 by Euromoney and The Bankers magazines. As Prime Minister, Aziz restored his country’s credibility in the global market; he is renowned for doing what is best, not simply what is politically expedient.
Chairman
Berggruen Holdings has operations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, as well as real estate and financial investments globally. The firm and related entities have made well over 100 direct investments during the last 20 years by committing entirely its own capital across diverse industries, both public and private and focusing on building long-term value. Investments are often socially and culturally driven. The Berggruen Group has offices in New York, Berlin, Istanbul, Tel Aviv and Mumbai.
Through the Berggruen Institute, an independent, non-partisan think tank, he encourages the study and design of systems of good governance suited for the 21st century. Mr. Berggruen is a board director of Zewail City of Science and Technology, Egypt; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy.
Committed to leaving a legacy of art and architecture, he sits on the boards of the Museum Berggruen, Berlin, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and is a member of the International Councils for the Tate Museum, London and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He has collaborated on projects with such renowned architects as Richard Meier, Shigeru Ban and David Adjaye.
Mr. Berggruen was born in Paris, where he studied at l’Ecole Alsacienne before attending Le Rosey in Switzerland. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Finance and International Business from New York University in 1981. Prior to Berggruen Holdings, he worked for Bass Brothers Enterprises on the real estate side of this family-held investment firm, as well as for Jacobson and Co., Inc., a leveraged buyout company. In 1988, Mr. Berggruen co-founded the Alpha Group, a hedge fund operation, which was sold to Safra Bank in 2004. He is a member of the WPO-Angeleno; a board member of Promotora De Informaciones, S.A. (Prisa) and Le Monde.
Mr. Berggruen is co-author with Nathan Gardels of Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century, a Financial Times Book of the Year.
21st Century Council
Explorer of the Year.
At Cameron’s farms in Canada and New Zealand, he is developing new methods for organic, ecological farming, including planting one of the largest permaculture
“food forests” in the world. Cameron Family Farms is one of the largest suppliers of certified organic produce in New Zealand, and is developing innovative technologies for the organic food industry.
21st Century Council
Former President of Brazil for two consecutive terms (1995-2002), Fernando Henrique Cardoso is currently president of the Instituto Fernando Henrique Cardoso (São Paulo, Brazil) and honorary president of the Party of the Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB). He is member of the Board of Directors of the Club of Madrid (Madrid) and of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Dialogue. Member of the Clinton Global Initiative (New York, NY); the World Resources Institute (Washington, D.C); the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies of the Brown University (Providence, RI) and the United Nations Foundation (New York, NY).He was born in Rio de Janeiro, in 1931, and was married to the anthropologist Ruth Cardoso (1930-2008), with whom he had three children. A sociologist trained at the University of São Paulo, he emerged since the late 1960s as one of the most influential figures in the analysis of large-scale social change, international development, dependency and democracy. Cardoso was deeply involved in Brazil's struggle for democracy to overcome the authoritarian military regime (1964-1985). Elected Senator in 1982, he was a founding member of the Party of the Social Democracy (PSDB). He served as Minister of Foreign Relations in 1992-93 and Minister of Finance in 1993-94.Former Full Professor of Political Science, today Professor Emeritus at the University of São Paulo, he was professor at the universities of Santiago de Chile, California American (at Stanford and at Berkeley), of Cambridge (United Kingdom), of Paris-Nanterre, of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and at the Collège de France. President of the International Sociological Association (ISA) (1982-1986). Doctor Honoris Causa from more than 20 of the most famous universities. Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded honours such as the “Prince of Asturias Award of International Cooperation 2000”, the UNDP’s 2002 inaugural “Mahbub ul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development” and the “J. William Fullbright Prize for International Understanding” (2003).His main works in English include The Accidental President of Brazil (2006, with B. Winter), Charting a New Course: The Politics of Globalization and Social Transformation (2001, M. Font editor) and Dependency and Development in Latin America (with E. Faletto, 1979). He is a participating author, among other books, in São Paulo: Growth and Poverty (et allii, 1978), The New Global Economy in the Information Age (with M. Carnoy, M. Castells and S.S. Cohen, 1993).He also published papers and essays in journals such as: International Sociology, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy and others.
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe, Board of Directors
Juan Luis Cebrián is Chairman of the Executive Committee and was founding Editor-in-Chief of El País. He is Honorary Professor at Universidad Iberoamericana of Santo Domingo and Honorary Visitor at the University of La Plata. Cebrián was a founding member of the journal Cuadernos para el dialogo, Editor-in-Chief of the Madrid dailies Pueblo and Informaciones de Madrid, and Director of news services at Television Española. He is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy, the Club of Rome, Chevalier des Arts and des lettres of France and has authored various books.
Advisor, New Leaders
21st Century Council
Jack Dorsey is CEO of Square, Executive Chairman of Twitter, Inc. and co-founder of both companies . He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Dorsey became interested in computers and communications at an early age and began programming while still a student at Bishop DuBourg High School. He was fascinated by the technological challenge of coordinating taxi drivers, delivery vans and other fleets of vehicles that needed to remain in constant, real-time communication with one another. When he was 15, Dorsey wrote dispatch software that is still used by some taxicab companies today.
After a brief stint at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Dorsey transferred to New York University. In the tradition of computer science entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, he dropped out of college before receiving his degree. Instead, Dorsey moved to Oakland, California, and in 2000 started a company offering his dispatch software through the Web. Shortly after starting his company, Dorsey approached then Odeo executive Biz Stone with an idea for a site that would combine the broad reach of dispatch software with the ease of instant messaging. Dorsey, Stone and Odeo co-founder Evan Williams started a new company, called Obvious, which later evolved into Twitter.
Dorsey was recognized as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people, was named an "outstanding innovator under the age of 35" by MIT's Technology Review and named "Innovator of the Year" by the Wall Street Journal for his work in technology.
Dorsey was named Twitter's chief executive officer and later became the company chairman.
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe, Board of Directors
Mohamed El-Erian is the former CEO of PIMCO and now serves as the Chief Economic Adviser of Allianz. He has been widely published on international economics, including a monthly column in Foreign Policy and as contributing editor to the Financial Times. He was ranked among Foreign Policy’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers” from 2009-2012. Before joining PIMCO, El-Erian spent 15 years at the International Monetary Fund and served as Managing Director at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup and President and CEO of Harvard Management Company. He is a board member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the National Bureau for Economic Research, chairs the Microsoft Investment Advisory Committee, and is a member of the Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Dr. El-Erian received a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge University, and an M.Phil and Ph.D. from Oxford University.
21st Century Council, BPCC Advisory Board
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University. He was previously Bernard Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), John Hopkins University, and Hirst Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University. He has worked at the Rand Corporation and as a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the US Department of State.
Francis Fukuyama received his B.A. from Cornell University in classics, and his Ph.D. from Harvard in Political Science. He has written widely on questions concerning democratization and international political economy. His book, The End of History and the Last Man, was published by Free Press in 1992 and has appeared in over twenty foreign editions.
21st Century Council, BPCC Advisory Board
John Gray is an English political philosopher with interests in analytic philosophy and the history of ideas.[1] He retired as School Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Gray contributes regularly to The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and the New Statesman, where he is the lead book reviewer.
Gray has written several influential books, including False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism (1998), Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals (2003), and Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia (2007). False Dawn has been translated into sixteen languages.
21st Century Council
Reid Hoffman is Executive Chairman of LinkedIn Corporation and a Partner at Greylock Partners. In 2003, he co-founded LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional networking service, in his living room. LinkedIn has more than 161 million members in 200 countries and territories around the world. Reid led LinkedIn through its first four years and to profitability as CEO and Chairman.
Reid joined Greylock Partners in 2009. Reid currently serves on the boards of Airbnb, Edmodo, Mozilla (Firefox), Shopkick, Swipely, Wrapp, and Zynga and has co-led investments in Coupons.com, Groupon, and Viki. Reid also leads the Greylock Discovery Fund, which invests in seed stage entrepreneurs and companies. The fund is an extension of Reid’s prior angel investing, which included Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, and Zynga. Reid focuses on the consumer Internet broadly, including marketplaces, networks, and platforms. Prior to LinkedIn and Greylock, Reid served as executive vice president at PayPal, where he was also a founding board member.
Reid believes strongly in the ability for entrepreneurship and technology to improve the world. Reid serves on the boards of Kiva.org, Endeavor.org, DoSomething.org, and StartupAmericaPartnership.org. Reid also co-authored the best-selling book The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. Reid earned a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, as well as a Bachelor’s degree with distinction in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University. Reid is also the recipient of an SD Forum Visionary Award in 2010 and was named both a Henry Crown Fellow by The Aspen Institute and an Endeavor Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011.
21st Century Council
Seok-Hyun HONG is the chairman and CEO of the JoongAng Media Network, the largest media group in Korea, with 26 media outlets spanning in newspapers, broadcasting, publishing, entertainment and digital media. In 1994 Mr. Hong took over the JoongAng Ilbo, Korea’s most-read daily, and since then the group has expanded into a global multimedia powerhouse through a wide range of innovations and reforms.
Having helped transform the media industry, Mr. Hong served as president of the World Association of Newspapers, a position to which he was elected in 2002 and re-elected in June 2004. He became president of the Korea Association of Newspapers from March 2003 to February 2005.
During his career, Mr. Hong has been active in public services. He worked as an economist at the World Bank from 1977 to 1983, primarily on the economies of Turkey and Malaysia. He was a senior fellow at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) from 1985 to 1986, playing a key role in the economic development of Korea through the 1980s. In 1983, he joined the Korean government, first as chief assistant to the minister of finance and then as principal assistant to the chief of staff of the president of the republic. He served as Korean ambassador to the United States in 2005.
Currently, Mr. Hong is the deputy chairman of Asia Pacific Group of the Trilateral Commission, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Asia Foundation, a trustee of the Board of Trustees of Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), chairman of Korea Baduk(Go) Association and president of the organizing committee of the World Culture Open (WCO).
Mr. Hong received his bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Seoul National University, and earned both a master’s in industrial engineering and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.
Mr. Hong and his wife, Yun-Gyun Shin, have two sons and one daughter.
21st Century Council
Dr. Hu is Chairman and founder of Primavera Capital Group, a China-based global investment firm. He was formerly a Partner, Managing Director and Chairman of Greater China at Goldman Sachs and was instrumental in building the firm’s franchise in the region.
He also served as an economist at the I.M.F. in Washington D.C, where he was engaged in macroeconomic research, policy consultations and technical assistance for member country governments including China. He has been co-Director at the National Center for Economic Research and Professor at Tsinghua University since 1996, and is a member of the editorial board for several academic journals and a columnist for China’s leading business magazines.
Dr. Hu has advised the Chinese government on financial and pension reform, SOE restructuring, and macroeconomic policies. He currently sits on Hong Kong Government’s Strategic Development Committee and the Advisory Committee for the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. He is a member of the advisory committees of Harvard China Fund, Stanford Center for International Development, and the Chazen Institute of Columbia Business School. He is also a director of the South China Morning Post Group Limited, a trustee of China Medical Board, and the Co-Chair of the Nature Conservatory’s China Board.
Dr. Hu holds a Master in Engineering Science from Tsinghua University, and a Master and PhD in Economics from Harvard University.
21st Century Council, Board of Directors
Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of thirteen books. She is a frequent guest on television shows such as Charlie Rose, Real Time with Bill Maher, Larry King Live, Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow Show. The Huffington Post has quickly become one of the most widely-read, linked to, and frequently-cited media brands on the Internet. Huffington was listed among Time Magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people in 2011, and to the Financial Times’ list of 50 people who shaped the decade.
21st Century Council
Chad Hurley is Co-Founder & CEO of AVOS Systems, a next generation development platform that runs del.icio.us, Mei.fm and the soon to be released Zeen.com. AVOS has three offices worldwide, located in San Mateo, CA, Dunedin, New Zealand and Beijing, China. The company recently raised Series A funding from NEA and Google Ventures.
In 2005, Hurley and Chen co-founded YouTube, the world’s largest video site, which was acquired by Google 18 months later for $1.76B. Hurley remained CEO of YouTube until November 2010.
Prior to YouTube, Hurley was the first user-interface designer at PayPal and played a fundamental role in its early development. Hurley received a B.A in Fine Art at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
21st Century Council
Dr Mo Ibrahim is a global expert in mobile communications with a distinguished academic and business career.
More recently, he has played a leading advocacy role on issues of African development and governance through his Foundation and through participation in a range of global initiatives.
After a long career in academia, six years as Technical Director for Cellnet of BT, and founding a consultancy and software company, Mobile Systems International. In 1998, Dr Ibrahim founded Celtel International to build and operate mobile networks in Africa. Celtel became one of Africa’s most successful companies with operations covering more than a third of the continent’s population and investing more than $750 million in Africa. The company was sold to MTC Kuwait in 2005 for $3.4billion.
In 2006, Dr Ibrahim established the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to support good governance and great leadership on the African continent. The Foundation focuses on two major initiatives to stimulate debate around, and improve the quality of, governance in Africa. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance provides civil society and governments with a comprehensive and quantifiable tool to assess governance and promote accountability. The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership recognises and celebrates excellence.
Dr Ibrahim is also Founding Chairman of Satya Capital Limited, an investment fund focused on Africa.
Dr Ibrahim was listed by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
He has also received numerous honorary degrees and fellowships from a range of academic institutions. These include honorary doctorates from Imperial College and the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and honorary fellowships at the Royal College of Engineers and Cornell University. Dr Ibrahim is the also the recipient of a number of awards including: The Chairman’s Award for Lifetime Achievement from the GSM Association in 2007; The Economist Innovation Award 2007 for Social & Economic Innovation; Ordre national du Burkina Faso (Officier) and the BNP Paribas Prize for Philanthropy in 2008.
21st Century Council
Walter Isaacson is the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies institute based in Washington, DC. He has been the chairman and CEO of CNN and the editor of TIME magazine.
He is the author of Steve Jobs (2011), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), and Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986).
Isaacson was born on May 20, 1952, in New Orleans. He is a graduate of Harvard College and of Pembroke College of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He began his career at The Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item. He joined TIME in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazine’s 14th editor in 1996. He became chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003.
He is emeritus chair of the board of Teach for America, which recruits recent college graduates to teach in underserved communities. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other international broadcasts of the United States, a position he held until 2012. He is vice-chair of Partners for a New Beginning, a public-private group tasked with forging ties between the United States and the Muslim world. He is on the board of United Airlines, Tulane University, and the Overseers of Harvard University. From 2005-2007, after Hurricane Katrina, he was the vice-chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.
21st Century Council
Born on October 12, 1960 in Dobele, Latvia (USSR).
In 1983 graduated from the Economics Department of the Leningrad State University. In 1988 received the academic degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences.
In 1983-1990 worked at the Institute of Social and Economic Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1990 he began working as the Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Economic Reform of the Executive Committee of Leningrad. In 1993-1996 - Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg, Chairman of the Committee for Economy and Finances.
In August 1996 Alexey Kudrin was appointed Deputy Chief of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, Head of the Control Department.
In March 1997 he was appointed First Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation.
In January-June 1999 worked as the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the "Unified Energy Systems" Company (RAO UES).
In June 1999 reappointed First Deputy Finance Minister. Since May 2000- Deputy Prime-Minister and Finance Minister. Resigned from the Government in September 2011.
Alexey Kudrin was named "Finance Minister of the Year 2004" by the Banker magazine and "Finance Minister of the Year 2010" by the Euromoney magazine. In 2005 was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.
At present Alexey Kudrin is the Dean of the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University.
Professor, author of more than 30 scientific works on economics and finance.
21st Century Council
Mr. Ricardo Lagos President of Chile between 2000 and 2006. Prior to becoming president , Mr. Lagos held position within the government asMinister of Education (1990) and Minister of Public Works (1994).
During the 80’s he led the Democratic Alliance and the Independent Committee for Free Elections. He was the founder and first president of the Party for the Democracy.
Lawyer & Phd in Economics at Duke University, he has also received the Honoris Causa from a large number of prestigious universities in the world, such as the Universidad Autónoma de México, Universidad de Salamanca, amongst many others. He was granted the “Berkeley Medal”, top distinction of the Berkeley University in California.
Former President of the Club de Madrid. Mr. Lagos was one of the United Nations’ Special Envoy on Climate Change. He is also President of the Fundación Democracia y Desarrollo in Chile and teaches at Brown University (United States), amongst others.
Mr. Lagos was born on March 2, 1938. He is married and has 5 children and 7 grandchildren.
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe
Mr. Pascal Lamy is the Honorary President of the Paris-based think tank Notre Europe. Previously, he was Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a post which he held since September 2005.
Mr. Lamy holds degrees from the Paris based Ecole des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC), from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) and from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He began his career in the French civil service at the Inspection Générale des Finances and at the Treasury. He then became an advisor to the Finance Minister Jacques Delors and, subsequently, to Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy. In Brussels from 1985 to 1994, Pascal Lamy was Chief of staff for the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, and his representative as Sherpa in the G7. In November 1994, he joined the team in charge of rescuing Credit Lyonnais, and later became CEO of the bank until its privatization in 1999. Between 1999 and 2004, Pascal Lamy was Commissioner for Trade at the European Commission under Romano Prodi. After his tenure in Brussels, Pascal Lamy spent a short sabbatical period as President of “Notre Europe”, a think tank working on European integration, as associate Professor at the l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and as advisor to Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (President of the European Socialist Party).
21st Century Council
Eric Li is founder and managing director of Chengwei Capital.
Mr. Li serves on the Board of Directors of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai and the board of CEIBS Ghana, the school’s branch in Africa.
Mr. Li is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and serves on the board of trustees of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Mr. Li is a native of Shanghai.
21st Century Council, BPCC Advisory Board
Kishore Mahbubhani is dean and professor in the practice of public policy in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS. A former diplomat with more than 30 years' service, he was included in Foreign Policy's list of Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2010 and 2011. His fourth book, The Great Convergence: Asia, the West and the Logic of One World, will be launched in 2013. He has three children with Anne King Markey
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe
Felipe González Márquez, born in Seville on 5 March 1942. He studied Law at Seville University and started his career as an Attorney specializing in labour.Mr. Gonzalez was the General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, Member of the Parliament from 1977 to 2004; and Vice President of the Socialist International from 1978 to 1999. He chaired the Global Progress Commission for the renewal of the IS. To date, he remains the longest-serving Prime Minister of Spain, after having served four successive mandates from 1982 to 1996, of which, three with absolute majority of votes.On 27 July 2007, the Spanish Government appointed him plenipotentiary and extraordinary Ambassador for the bicentenary celebrations in commemoration of the independence of Latin America. At a summit held in Brussels on 14 December 2007, heads of state and government of European Union member states appointed González Chairman of the think tank, The Reflection Group, on the future of the European Union; the group, consisting of up to nine prestigious personalities commissioned to drawing up a report by June 2010 on the challenges facing the European Union from 2020 to 2030 and will also look at how to achieve a closer understanding between citizens and the Union.
21st Century Council
The Right Honourable Paul Martin was the twenty-first Prime Minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006, Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2002 and he served as the Member of Parliament for LaSalle-Émard in Montréal, Québec from 1988 to 2008.
During his tenure as Minister of Finance, he erased Canada’s deficit which was the worst of the G7, subsequently recording five consecutive budget surpluses while paying down the national debt and setting Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio on a steady downward track. He also introduced the largest tax cuts in Canadian history and the largest increases in the federal government’s support for education, and research and development. In conjunction with his provincial counterparts, he restored the Canada Pension Plan, securing it for future generations. He also strengthened the regulations governing Canada’s financial institutions, with the result that Canada is now viewed as an international model for sound financial regulation. In September 1999, Mr. Martin was named the inaugural chair of the Finance Ministers’ G-20, an international group of finance ministers and central bank governors composed of the G-7 and emerging market nations. As Prime Minister he pushed strongly for its elevation to the Leaders’ level which subsequently occurred in 2008. He is respected internationally in large part for his innovative leadership in working to forge a new global financial order.
During his tenure as Prime Minister, Mr. Martin’s many achievements included setting in place a ten year, forty-one billion dollar plan to improve health care and reduce wait times; signing agreements with the provinces and territories to establish a national early learning and child care program and creating a new financial deal for Canada’s municipalities. Under Mr. Martin’s leadership in November 2005, the Canadian Government reached an historic consensus with Canada's provinces, territories, First Nations, Métis and Inuit leaders that would eliminate the gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians in the areas of health, education, housing and economic opportunity. This agreement became known as the Kelowna Accord. Further, he introduced the Civil Marriage Act which redefined the traditional definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.
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Currently, Mr. Martin co-chairs the two hundred million dollar British-Norwegian poverty alleviation and sustainable development fund for the ten-nation Congo Basin Rainforest. His co-chair up until recently was the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Wangari Maathai. He also sits on the advisory council of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, an initiative that examines the critical issues facing the continent. It is sponsored by the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank. He is also a member of the International Monetary Fund’s Western Hemisphere Regional Advisory Group.
Domestically, he leads the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative which aims at reducing the Aboriginal youth dropout rate and at increasing the number of Aboriginal students attending post-secondary institutions. He also founded, along with his son David, the Capital for Aboriginal Prosperity and Entrepreneurship Fund, whose investments seek to further a culture of economic independence, ownership and entrepreneurship amongst both on and off reserve Aboriginal peoples, through the creation and growth of successful businesses.
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Before entering public life he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The CSL Group Inc, which operates the world’s largest fleet of self-unloading vessels and offshore transshippers. Its acquisition by Mr. Martin in 1981 represented the most important leveraged buyout in Canada at that time.
Mr. Martin graduated in honours philosophy and history from St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the University of Toronto Law School. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1966.
He married Sheila Ann Cowan in 1965. They have three sons: Paul, Jamie and David. They are the proud grandparents of Ethan, Liam and Finn, children of David and his wife Laurence.
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe
Alain Minc was born in Paris on April 15, 1949. Mr. Minc is a graduate of the Ecole des Mines de Paris and of ENA. After serving as Inspecteur des Finances, Mr. Minc joined Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 1979, as Chief Financial Officer.In 1986, Mr. Minc became Vice-Chairman of CIR International (Compagnie Industriali Riunite International) and General Manager of Cerus (Compagnies Européennes Réunies) which were the non-Italian affiliates of Benedetti Group.In 1991, Alain Minc founded its own consultancy firm, AM Conseil.He has been a Board Member of numerous companies and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Le Monde, the leading French newspaper (19/12/94 to 11/02/2008)He is Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur.Alain Minc wrote more than 30 books since 1978, among them some have been best sellers (Rapport sur l’informatisation de la société ; La Machine égalitaire ; La vengeance des Nations ; le Nouveau Moyen âge ; Rapport sur la France de l’an 2000 ; www.capitalisme.fr ; Epître à nos nouveaux maîtres (2003) ; Les Prophètes du bonheur : histoire personnelle de la pensée économique (2004) ; Ce monde qui vient (2004). Le Crépuscule des petits dieux (2006) ; Une sorte de Diable, les vies de John M. Keynes (December 2006). ). The three last ones are published in September 2008, "Une histoire de France"; in April 2009 "Dix jours qui ébranleront le monde" and in September 2010, "Une histoire politique des intellectuels".
21st Century Council
His Excellency was born on 21st August, 1939 at Serowe in the Central District of Botswana. He matriculated at Moeng College and went on to train as an Economist at the Universities of Oxford and Sussex in the United Kingdom.
He took up post as Planning Officer in 1968 and progressed to become Director of Economic Affairs. He was Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning from 1975 to 1976. He became Alternate Governor for Botswana at the International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 1971 to 1976. His Excellency served in various parastatal boards, as, Member of the Board for Water Utilities, Botswana Housing Corporation, Botswana Meat Commission, Botswana Meat Commission (United Kingdom) Holdings, ECCO Cold Stores Limited and Allied Meat Importers Limited. He was also Director, then later Chairman, Botswana Development Corporation, Representative of the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, Director of the De Beers Botswana Mining Company (Pty) Limited (Diamond Mining Company), Botswana RST Limited, Bangwato Concessions Limited (BCL) and Bank of Botswana.
His Excellency served in Washington, DC as Alternate and Executive Director, International Monetary Fund for Anglophone Africa from 1976 to 1980. He then came home to take up the position of Governor of the Bank of Botswana from 1980 to 1981. From 1982 to 1989 His Excellency was Permanent Secretary to the President, Secretary to the Cabinet and Supervisor of Elections.
He was appointed Minister of Finance and Development Planning in 1989 and became Vice President in 1992, until 31st March, 1998 when he became the Third President of the Republic of Botswana. He was Chairman of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers from 1992 until 1996. By virtue of his position as Vice President, he was also Leader of the House for Botswana National Assembly. In 1994, he contested in the general elections and won a seat for the Palapye Constituency. He was an active member of the Botswana Democratic Party and served in various committees of the party including, Member of the Botswana Democratic Party Central Committee and Chairman of its Finance and Economic Committee, and Member of the Central Committee responsible for Letswapo Region from 1992 to 1995.
He was also Member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action based in New York and the Global Coalition for Africa based in Washington D.C.
His Excellency was Governor for Botswana for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Member of the Joint Development Committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on the transfer of real resources to developing countries, Washington DC from 1989 to 1990.
He was also involved in community oriented organisations which include Kalahari Conservation Society, Botswana Society (Research Organisation) of which he is President, Lions Club of Palapye, President of the Botswana Society for the Deaf as well as being Patron of the Junior Achievement Botswana. He is also Chairman of the National AIDS Council (launched 30 March 2000).
Mr Mogae serves on the boards of several international organisations involved in leadership, governance and the fight against HIV and AIDS. These include his leadership of the Champions for an HIV-Free Generation group of some former African leaders such as First President of Zambia Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Former President of Mozambique Chissano, Former President of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa and Archibishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. He is also Chairperson of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), and a board member of the MasterCard Foundation. He is also a member of the Commission on HIV Prevention of UNAIDS and Commission on HIV and the Law of UNDP.
His Excellency was awarded the highest honour of the Republic of Botswana, Naledi Ya Botswana – Gaborone (30th September 2003) and the Presidential Order of Honour of Botswana (1989). He was also awarded the Officier de I’Order Nationale D’e Cote d’Ivoire (1979); I’Order Nationale du Mali and the HATAB’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Botswana’s Tourism Industry (1997); Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws – University of Botswana (September 1998); the Global Marketplace Award by the Corporate Council on Africa - Houston, USA (May 1999); an Honorary Fellowship of the Botswana Institute of Bankers – Gaborone, Botswana (July 1999); the Distinguished Achievement Award for AIDS Leadership in Southern Africa by the Medunsa Trust - Washington DC, USA (June 2000); the AIDS Leadership Award by Harvard AIDS Institute – Gaborone (December 2001); the 2002 Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference Weekend Chairman’s Award – Washington D.C., USA (September 2002); the Africa-America Institute National Leadership Award – New York, USA (September 2002); the Honorary Fellow – University College Oxford (2003); The Knight Commander of the Most Courteous Order of the Kingdom of Lesotho – Maseru, Lesotho (April 2004); the Golden Plate Award by the Academy of Achievement - New York, USA (June 2005); the Grand Croix - Highest award in Madagascar grated to dignitaries of the Nation) Antananarivo, Madagascar (June 2006), the Pan African Tsetse and Tryponofomiasis (PATTEC) by the African Union – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (January 2007), Doctorate of Humanity by the University of Limkokwing, Gaborone Botswana (January 2008) and The Commander of the Legion d’Honneur Grand Croix of the Republic of France (March 2008); Taylor and Francis Award for significant contribution to women’s development and welfare – Gaborone, Botswana (July 2008); the Honorary Life Membership Award by the Botswana Branch of the Southern African HIV/AIDS during term of Office as President – Gaborone, Botswana (September 2008); He was appointed United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change (September 2008-December 2009); He is the winner of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African leadership for ensuring “stability and prosperity” – Alexandria, Egypt (November 2008); He was the 2nd Botswana Retired President to be appointed “The Balfour African President-in-Residence” by the African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC) at Boston University – USA, (March-May 2009) The Former President was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Howard – Washington DC, USA (May 2009); Recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree, University of Sussex in recognition of services to economic development and governance in Southern Africa - Brighton, United Kingdom (July 2009); Awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Southern California for distinguished achievements, - Los Angeles, USA (May 2010); He was a Visiting Public Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, USA (August-October 2010).
Former President’s tenure office ended on 31st March 2008 and was succeed by his former Vice President Lt. General Seretse Khama Ian Khama as the 4th President of the Republic of Botswana.
His Excellency is married with three daughters born between 1969 and 1987 and a grand-daughter.
21st Century Council
Dambisa Moyo is the CEO and founder of the Mildstorm Group. Mildstorm is a boutique firm that analyzes the global macroeconomy, world financial markets, and works with clients to devise investment strategies.
Dr. Moyo examines the risks and opportunities across the global landscape, including developed, emerging (BRICs), and the frontier economies in Asia, South America, Africa and the Middle East.
She has travelled to nearly 60 countries over the past decade, during which time she has developed a unique knowledge base on the political, economic, and financial workings of the global economy.
Ms. Moyo serves on the boards of Barclays Bank, the financial services group, SABMiller, the global brewer, and Barrick Gold, the global miner. She was an economist at Goldman Sachs, where she worked for nearly a decade, and was a consultant to the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
She is the author of 3 New York Times bestsellers: Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa; How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly and the Stark Choices Ahead, and Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and what it Means for the World.
In 2013, Dr. Moyo was awarded the Hayek Lifetime Achievement Award named for the Nobel Prize winner and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Friedrich Hayek.
She was named by TIME Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” and to the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders Forum.
Dr. Moyo is a contributing editor to CNBC, the business and finance news network. Her writing regularly appears in economic and finance-related publications such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.
She completed a PhD in economics at Oxford University and holds a Masters degree from Harvard University. She completed an undergraduate degree in chemistry and an MBA in finance at American University in Washington, D.C.
21st Century Council
Elon Musk is the CEO and Product Architect of Tesla Motors and the CEO/CTO of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).
At SpaceX, Elon is the chief designer, overseeing development of rockets and spacecraft for missions to Earth orbit and ultimately to other planets. In 2008, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft won the NASA contract to provide a commercial replacement for the cargo transport function of the Space Shuttle, which retires in 2011. The SpaceX Falcon 1 was the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach orbit. In 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company to successfully recover a spacecraft from Earth orbit with its Dragon spacecraft.
At Tesla, Elon has overseen product development and design from the beginning, including the all electric Tesla Roadster and Model S sedan. Transitioning to a sustainable energy economy, in which electric vehicles play a pivotal role, has been one of his central interests for almost two decades, stemming from his time as a physics student working on ultracapacitors in Silicon Valley.
In addition, Elon is the non-executive chairman and principal shareholder of SolarCity, which he helped create. SolarCity is now the leading provider of solar power systems in the United States.
Prior to SpaceX, Elon co-founded PayPal, the world's leading Internet payment system, and served as the company's Chairman and CEO. Before PayPal, Mr. Musk co-founded Zip2, a provider of Internet software to the media industry.
In 2007, Musk was recognized for his work by Research and Development Magazine’s, receiving their Innovator of the Year Award. He received the 2007/2008 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics award for the greatest contribution to the field of space transportation. In 2008, Musk was named as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire magazine and received the Aviation Week 2008 Laureate for the most significant achievement worldwide in the space industry.
In 2009, the National Space Society awarded Musk their Von Braun Trophy, given for leadership of the most significant achievement in space. In 2010, Musk was the youngest recipient of the Auto Executive of the Year Innovator Award for his work at Tesla Motors. Most recently, he was named to the Time 100 for 2010.
He has a physics degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a business degree from Wharton.
21st Century Council
Pierre Omidyar is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who is best known as the founder of eBay. Starting from the premise that people are basically good, Pierre Omidyar created eBay in 1995 - an online platform that gives people equal access to information, opportunity, and tools to pursue their goals. Today Pierre is Chairman of eBay, which enables more than 90 million buyers and sellers to connect and prosper over shared interests. In addition, buyers and sellers can send and receive funds through eBay's global payment engine, PayPal, which operates in 190 markets and 24 currencies.
Pierre and his wife Pam are active philanthropists who believe that every person has the power to make a difference. They have contributed more than $1 billion to programs spanning a range of causes, from poverty alleviation to human rights to disaster relief. To fulfill their mission Pierre and Pam created four organizations, where they remain actively involved today: Omidyar Network, Humanity United, HopeLab, and Ulupono Initiative. While each organization has a specific focus, they are united in that they all aim to create opportunities for people to improve their quality of life.
Through his board role and ongoing involvement, Pierre provides the vision and strategic direction for Omidyar Network, and helps shape the investment initiatives. Omidyar Network invests in and supports organizations around the world in areas such as microfinance, property rights, and government transparency.
Pierre serves as a trustee of Santa Fe Institute, Punahou School, and as a commissioner for President Barack Obama’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Pierre is also CEO and Publisher of Honolulu Civil Beat, a local news service in Hawaii that encourages greater civic participation through media.
Pierre was born in Paris, France, and moved to the U.S. during grade school. He graduated with a computer science degree from Tufts University in 1988. Pierre lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, with his wife and three children.
21st Century Council
Raghuram Rajan is the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Previously, he was the Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Dr. Rajan is also currently an economic advisor to the Prime Minister of India. Prior to resuming teaching in 2007, Dr. Rajan was the Economic Counselor and Director of Research (in plain English, the Chief Economist) at the International Monetary Fund (from 2003). Since then, he has chaired the Indian government’s Committee on Financial Sector Reforms, which submitted its report in September 2008.
Dr. Rajan’s research interests are in banking, corporate finance, and economic development, especially the role finance plays in it. His papers have been published in all the top economics and finance journals, and he has served on the editorial boards of the American Economic Review and the Journal of Finance. His recent book, Fault Lines: How Hidden Cracks Still Threaten the World Economy, won the Financial Times Business Book of the Year award in 2010. He also has an earlier book co-authored with Luigi Zingales entitled Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists
Dr. Rajan is a senior advisor to BDT Capital, Booz and Co, and is on the international advisory board of Bank Itau-Unibanco. He is a director of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and on the Comptroller General of the United State’s Advisory Council as well as an advisory council to the FDIC. Dr. Rajan is President of the American Finance Association and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In January 2003, the American Finance Association awarded Dr. Rajan the inaugural Fischer Black Prize, given every two years to the financial economist under age 40 who has made the most significant contribution to the theory and practice of finance.
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe
Nouriel Roubini is the co-Founder and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics, an innovative economic and geo-strategic information service and consultancy named one of the best economics websites by Business Week, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and The Economist. He is also a professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Dr. Roubini has extensive policy experience as well as broad academic credentials. From 1998-2000, he served as the Senior Economist for International Affairs at the White House Council of Economic Advisors and then the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, helping to resolve the Asian and global financial crises among other issues. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and numerous other prominent public and private institutions have drawn upon his consulting expertise.He has published over 70 theoretical empirical and policy papers on international macroeconomic issues and co-authored the books Political Cycles: Theory and Evidence (M.I.T. Press, 1997) and Bailouts or Bail-ins?, Responding to Financial Crises in Emerging Markets (Institute for International Economics, 2004), and Crisis Economics – A Crash Course in the Future of Finance (Penguin Press, 2010). Dr. Roubini’s views on global economics issues are widely cited by the media, and he is a frequent commentator on various business news programs. He has been the subject of extended profiles in the New York Times Magazine and other leading current-affairs publications. The Financial Times has also provided extensive coverage of Dr. Roubini’s viewpoints.Dr. Roubini received an undergraduate degree at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy and a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University. Prior to joining Stern, he was on the faculty of Yale University’s department of economics.
BPCC Advisory Board, 21st Century Council
Kevin Rudd served as Australia’s 26th Prime Minister (2007-2010, 2013) and as Foreign Minister (2010- 2012). He led Australia’s response during the GFC – the only major developed economy not to go into recession – and helped found the G20. A Senior Fellow with Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, he is undertaking a major research project on US China Relations. Mr Rudd is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Chatham House. He is a Distinguished Statesman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and was recently appointed to the Concordia Leadership Council. Mr Rudd is proficient in Mandarin Chinese and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University. He co-authored a report of the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel on Global Sustainability and chairs the WEF's Global Agenda Council on Fragile States.
21st Century Council
Nicolas Sarkozy served as the President of the French Republic from 2007 to 2012, a position which culminated from years spent dedicating his life to a highly esteemed and richly diverse political career in France.
Prior to his presidency, Sarkozy was appointed as Minister of State, Minister of the Interior and Spatial Planning under Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (2005). Previously, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin appointed Sarkozy to Minister of the Interior, Internal Security and Local Freedoms (2002-2004), followed by an appointment to Minister of State, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (April-November 2004). Shortly after his second appointment under Raffarin, Sarkozy resigned after being elected president of the French political party, Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), with 85.1% of the vote (November 2004).
Earlier in his career, Sarkozy held a wide variety of political positions. He was elected president of the General Council of Hauts-de-Seine in 2004, prior to which he served as president of the Departmental Committee for the Rally for the Republic political party (RPR) of Hauts-de-Seine (2000-2004). He held a number of other positions for RPR including acting chairman (1999), general secretary (1998), coordinator and spokesman for the transition team (1997), member of the Political Bureau (1993), deputy secretary general (1992-1993) and co-director of the union list for the European elections (1989). In 1988, he was the national secretary of the RPR, responsible for youth and training, and served in a similar role the following year with the additional responsibility of animation.
Other political positions have included: member of the Hauts-de-Seine 6th constituency (1988-2002), vice-chairman of the General Council of Hauts-de-Seine, in charge of education and culture (1986-1988), mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1983-2002) and councilor of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1977).
The recipient of numerous honors and accolades, Sarkozy’s decorations include the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Charles III (Spain), Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (United Kingdom), Knight of the Golden Fleece (Spain), Tolerance Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center (2003), the Humanitarian Award from the Elie Wiesel Foundation (2008) and the World Statesman Award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (2008).
A prolific writer, Sarkozy is the author of the following: Georges Mandel, The Monk Policy (1994); After the Passion, Balance: Interview with Michel Denisot (1995); Free (2001); The Republic, Religions, Hope (2004); Testimony (2006) and Together (2007).
After completing his undergraduate education in political science at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, Sarkozy completed his master’s degree in private law (1978) and his certificate to practice law (1981).
Born in Paris on January 28, 1955, Sarkozy is married and has four children. Prior to his political career, he worked as a lawyer and was a member of the Paris Bar Association.
21st Century Council, Think Long Committee for California
Eric E. Schmidt serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Google Inc. since July 2001. Dr. Schmidt has a 20-year record of achievement as an Internet strategist, entrepreneur, and developer of great technologies. From April 1997 to July 2001, Dr. Schmidt served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board at Novell Inc. Mr. Schmidt also worked at Novell Cambridge Technology Partners. From 1983 to March 1997, he held various positions at Sun Microsystems Inc., including ... Chief Technology Officer from February 1994 to March 1997; a Corporate Executive Officer; the President of Sun Technology Enterprises from February 1991 to February 1994; a Vice President of General Systems Group; and a Vice President and General Manager of Software Products Division. At Sun, Dr. Schmidt led the development of Java and defined Sun's Internet software strategy. Prior to joining Sun Microsystems Inc. in 1983, he was a member of the research staff at the Computer Science Lab at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Dr. Schmidt also held positions at Bell Laboratories and Zilog, Inc. He has been a Director at Siebel Systems Inc. since May 1996. Dr. Schmidt serves as a Director at Google Inc. and has been the Chairman of the Executive Committee since April 2004. He serves as a Member of Executive Council and Executive Committee at TechNet. He is a Member of Advisory Board of GTI Group LLC. Dr. Schmidt served as the Chairman of Board at Google Inc. from March 2001 until April 2004. He served as a Member Executive of Advisory Board at InSight Venture Partners. Dr. Schmidt also serves as a Trustee of Menlo School. He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Princeton University.
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe
Gerhard Schröder, born in Mossenberg (North Rhine-Westfalia) on 7 April 1944, is a former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. He studied at University of Göttingen where he graduated in Law with post-graduate Judicial Clerkship at the regional Court of Hanover from 1972 to 1976.He is currently an Independent Director of Anglo-Russian oil company TNK-BP and Member of the Board of Directors; Chairman of the shareholders’ committee of the European-Russian pipeline company Nord Stream AG; Member of the European Advisory Council of the Rothschild Group since 2006. And since 2005, he has been a freelance lawyer in Hanover; and an advisor to Swiss publishing company, Ringier.Mr. Schröder served as Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1999 to 2004. Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1998 to 2005.He has been a Member of the German Bundestag from 1980 to 1986 and 1998 to 2005. In 1986, Schröder was elected to the parliament of Lower Saxony and became leader of the SPD group. After the SPD won the state elections in June 1990, he became Prime Minister of Lower Saxony as head of an SPD-Greens coalition; in this position, he also won the 1994 and 1998 state elections.
21st Century Council
Peter Schwartz is co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network, a Monitor Group company, and a partner of the Monitor Group, a family of professional services firms devoted to enhancing client competitiveness. He is also Senior Vice President of Global Government Relations and Strategic Planning at Salesforce.com. An internationally renowned futurist and business strategist, Peter specializes in scenario planning, working with corporations, governments, and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world. His current research and scenario work is particularly focused on climate change and national security issues, and also encompasses energy resources and the environment, technology, telecommunications and aerospace. He creates private discontinuity committees to help senior advisors and policy makers avoid strategic surprise by identifying relevant threats and opportunities and designing creative strategies for avoiding or embracing them as appropriate.
Peter is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council, the World Affairs Council and, in Singapore, the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. He also sits on the boards of The Long Now Foundation, The Center for New American Security, and the Center for Strategic Studies.
From 1982 to 1986, Peter headed scenario planning for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies in London. His team conducted comprehensive analyses of the global business and political environment and worked with senior management to create successful strategies. Before joining Royal Dutch/Shell, Peter directed the Strategic Environment Center at SRI International. The Center researched the business milieu, lifestyles, and consumer values, and conducted scenario planning for corporate and government clients. Peter is the author of Inevitable Surprises (Gotham, 2003), a provocative look at the dynamic forces at play in the world today and their implications for business and society. His first book, The Art of the Long View (Doubleday Currency, 1991; audio tape, 1995; paperback, 1996), is considered a seminal publication on scenario planning and has been translated into multiple languages. He is also the co-author of The Long Boom (Perseus, 1999), a vision for the world characterized by global openness, prosperity, and discovery; When Good Companies Do Bad Things (Wiley, 1999), an examination of, and argument for, corporate social responsibility; and China's Futures (Jossey-Bass, 2001), which describes very different scenarios for China and their international implications. He publishes and lectures widely and served as a script consultant on the films "The Minority Report," "Deep Impact," "Sneakers," and "War Games." Peter received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
21st Century Council
Stephen A. Schwarzman is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone. Mr. Schwarzman has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its founding in 1985. The firm is a leading global asset manager with $284 billion Assets Under Management (as of September 30, 2014).
Mr. Schwarzman is an active philanthropist with a history of supporting education and schools. Whether in business or in philanthropy, he has always attempted to tackle big problems and find transformative solutions. In 2013, he founded an international scholarship program, "Schwarzman Scholars," at Tsinghua University in Beijing to educate future leaders about China. At $350 million, the program is modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship and is the single largest philanthropic effort in China’s history coming largely from international donors. In 2007, Mr. Schwarzman donated $100 million to the New York Public Library on whose board he serves.
Mr. Schwarzman is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, The International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, and the Berggruen Institute on Governance’s 21st Century Council. He serves on the boards of The Asia Society, The Board of Directors of The New York City Partnership and The Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is a Trustee of The Frick Collection in New York City and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2007, Mr. Schwarzman was included in TIME’s "100 Most Influential People." Mr. Schwarzman was awarded the Légion d'Honneur of France in 2007 and promoted to Officier in 2010.
Mr. Schwarzman holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management and on the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors. In 2012, he was awarded an Honorary Degree from Quinnipiac University.
21st Century Council, BPCC Advisory Board
Amartya Sen is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University and was until 2004 the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is also Senior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Earlier on he was Professor of Economics at Jadavpur University Calcutta, the Delhi School of Economics, and the London School of Economics, and Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University.
Amartya Sen has served as President of the Econometric Society, the American Economic Association, the Indian Economic Association, and the International Economic Association. He was formerly Honorary President of OXFAM and is now its Honorary Advisor. His research has ranged over social choice theory, economic theory, ethics and political philosophy, welfare economics, theory of measurement, decision theory, development economics, public health, and gender studies. Amartya Sen’s books have been translated into more than thirty languages, and include Choice of Techniques (1960), Growth Economics (1970), Collective Choice and Social Welfare (1970), Choice, Welfare and Measurement (1982), Commodities and Capabilities (1987), The Standard of Living (1987), Development as Freedom (1999), Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (2006), The Idea of Justice (2009), and (jointly with Jean Dreze) An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions (2013).
Amartya Sen’s awards include Bharat Ratna (India); Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur (France); the National Humanities Medal (USA); Ordem do Merito Cientifico (Brazil); Honorary Companion of Honour (UK); Aztec Eagle (Mexico); Edinburgh Medal (UK); the George Marshall Award (USA); the Eisenhauer Medal (USA); and the Nobel Prize in Economics.
21st Century Council, L.A. Committee
Jeff Skoll is a philanthropist and social entrepreneur. As founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation, Participant Media and the Skoll Global Threats Fund, he is bringing life to his vision of a sustainable, peaceful and prosperous world. Jeff was the first President of eBay, developing the company’s inaugural business plan and leading its successful initial public offering. He also pioneered creation of the eBay Foundation through the allocation of pre-IPO shares.
In 1999, Jeff launched the Skoll Foundation - the world’s leading foundation for social entrepreneurship – and in 2004 he founded Participant Media. Participant’s films are accompanied by social action and advocacy campaigns to engage the public, and its 43
films to date have collectively received a total of 7 Academy Awards® and 35 nominations. Some of the films include, Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth, The Kite Runner,The Cove, Countdown to Zero, Waiting for Superman, and Food, Inc.
In 2009, Skoll founded the Skoll Global Threats Fund. Its initial focus will be on five global issues that, if unchecked, could bring the world to its knees: climate change, water scarcity, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict.Jeff holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
21st Century Council
Dr. Soon-Shiong serves as Chairman of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation; Chairman and CEO of the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Advanced Health (the CSS Institute); the Healthcare Transformation Institute; National LambdaRail; and NantWorks,LLC. Dr. Soon-Shiong performed the world’s first encapsulated human islet transplant and the first pig to man islet cell transplant in diabetic patients. He invented and developed Abraxane, the nation’s first FDA approved protein nanoparticle albumin-bound delivery technology for the treatment of cancer, doubling the response rate in patients. A physician, surgeon and scientist, he has pioneered treatments for both diabetes and cancer, published over 100 scientific papers, and holds 50 US patents on groundbreaking advancements across myriad fields.
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe
Michael Spence has served as the Chairman of an Independent Commission on Growth and Development, with a focus on growth in emerging economies (2006 to 2010). He is Professor of Economics in the Stern of Business at New York University and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford. In 2001, Spence received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for work on markets with incomplete and asymmetric information.Mr. Spence serves on the boards of Genpact and Merca-dolibre, and a number of private companies. He is a member of the board of the Stanford Management Company, and the International Chamber of Commerce Research Foundation. He is a Senior Advisor to Oak Hill Investment Management and a consultant to PIMCO.Mr. Spence was awarded the John Kenneth Galbraith Prize for excellence in teaching and the John Bates Clark medal, awarded to economists under 40 years of age for a "significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge."He served as dean of the Stanford Business School from 1990 to 1999. From 1984 to 1990, Spence served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, overseeing Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Division of Continuing Education.Mr. Spence earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Princeton summa cum laude and was selected for a Rhodes Scholarship. He was awarded a B.S.-M.A. from Oxford in mathematics and earned his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard. He lives in Milan and New York with his wife and two younger children. He writes regularly on emerging market and global economy issues for leading publications and for Project Syndicate.
21st Century Council, L.A. Committee
21st Century Council, Council for the Future of Europe
Joseph E. Stiglitz was born in Gary, Indiana in 1943. A graduate of Amherst College, he received his PHD from MIT in 1967, became a full professor at Yale in 1970, and in 1979 was awarded the John Bates Clark Award, given biennially by the American Economic Association to the economist under 40 who has made the most significant contribution to the field. He has taught at Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and was the Drummond Professor and a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He is now University Professor at Columbia University in New York and Chair of Columbia University's Committee on Global Thought. He is also the co-President of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information, and he was a lead author of the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Stiglitz was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1993-95, during the Clinton administration, and served as CEA chairman from 1995-97. He then became Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 1997-2000. In 2008, he was appointed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to chair a Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Economic Progress. He is also chair of the Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System.Stiglitz holds a part-time appointment at the University of Manchester as Chair of the Management Board and Director of Graduate Summer Programs at the Brooks World Poverty Institute. He serves on numerous other boards, including Amherst College's Board of Trustees and Resources for the Future. Stiglitz helped create a new branch of economics, "The Economics of Information," exploring the consequences of information asymmetries and pioneering such pivotal concepts as adverse selection and moral hazard, which have now become standard tools not only of theorists, but of policy analysts. He has made major contributions to macro-economics and monetary theory, to development economics and trade theory, to public and corporate finance, to the theories of industrial organization and rural organization, and to the theories of welfare economics and of income and wealth distribution. In the 1980s, he helped revive interest in the economics of R&D.; His work has helped explain the circumstances in which markets do not work well, and how selective government intervention can improve their performance. Recognized around the world as a leading economic educator, he has written textbooks that have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He founded one of the leading economics journals, The Journal of Economic Perspectives. His book Globalization and Its Discontents (W.W. Norton June 2001) has been translated into 35 languages, besides at least two pirated editions, and in the non-pirated editions has sold more than one million copies worldwide. Other recent books include The Roaring Nineties (W.W. Norton), Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics (Cambridge University Press) with Bruce Greenwald, Fair Trade for All (Oxford University Press), with Andrew Charlton, and Making Globalization Work, (WW Norton and Penguin/ Allen Lane, September 2006). His most recent book, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, with Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, was published in March 2008 by WW Norton and Penguin/ Allen Lane. He is currently working on a book entitled, Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy, to be published January 2010 by WW Norton and Penguin/ Allen Lane.
21st Century Council
Lawrence H. Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus of Harvard University. During the past two decades, he has served in a series of senior policy positions in Washington, D.C., including the 71st Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton and Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama.
Mr. Summers received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and after completing his dissertation, “An Asset-Price Approach to Capital Income Taxation,” he was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1982. He then went to Washington, D.C. as a domestic policy economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. In 1983, he returned to Harvard as a professor of economics, and became one of the youngest individuals in recent history to be named as a tenured member of the University’s faculty.
In 1987, Mr. Summers became the first social scientist ever to receive the annual Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation (NSF), established by Congress to honor an exceptional young U.S. scientist or engineer whose work demonstrates originality, innovation, and a significant impact within one’s field. In 1993, Mr. Summers was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40. Mr. Summers took leave from Harvard in 1991 as Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy to return to Washington as Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank.
In 1993, Mr. Summers was named as the nation’s Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. He had broad responsibility for assisting then Secretary Lloyd M. Bentsen in formulating and executing international economic policies. In 1995, then Secretary Robert E. Rubin promoted Mr. Summers to the department’s number two post, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, in which he played a central role in a broad array of economic, financial, and tax matters, both international and domestic.
On July 2, 1999, the United States Senate confirmed Mr. Summers as Secretary of the Treasury. In that capacity, he served as the principal economic adviser to the President and as the chief financial officer of the U.S. government, presiding over a federal department comprising some two dozen distinct bureaus and offices, with a civilian workforce of nearly 150,000 employees. Mr. Summers was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Medal, the Treasury Department’s highest honor. After leaving the Treasury Department in January 2001, Mr. Summers served as the Arthur Okun Distinguished Fellow in Economics, Globalization, and Governance at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
On July 1, 2001, Mr. Summers took office as the 27th President of Harvard University. During his tenure as Harvard’s President, Mr. Summers focused on laying the foundations for the University in the 21st century. His ambitious plans encompassed significant growth in the faculties, the further internationalization of the Harvard experience, expanded efforts in and enhanced commitment to the sciences, and improved efforts to attract the strongest students, regardless of financial circumstance, with the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative.
In 2002, Mr. Summers was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. In 2006, Mr. Summers served as one of five Co-Chairs to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Mr. Summers was appointed to serve as the Director of the National Economic Council for the Obama Administration in 2009. As Director of the White House National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, Mr. Summers served as a key economic decision-maker in the Obama administration. The Economist magazine referred to the “Summers Doctrine” of massive active response to economic downturn combined with respect for markets in the basic allocation of resources as defining the recent approach to economic policy. Mr. Summers was the Chief White House Advisor to the President on the Development and Implementation of Economic Policy; he led the President’s daily economic briefing and was a frequent public spokesman for the Administration’s policies.
He returned to Harvard in early 2011 as the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and the Weil Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Mr. Summers is a member of the boards of Square, the Brookings Institution, the Broad Foundation, Teach for America, ONE, the Center on Global Development, the Institute for International Economics, and the Partnership for Public Service. He is a Senior Advisor to Andreessen Horowitz in San Francisco. He holds membership in the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Bretton Woods Committee, Group of Thirty, the Council on Competitiveness, and the UNCTAD Panel of Eminent Persons. Mr. Summers writes a regular column for the Financial Times, the Washington Post and Reuters. Additionally, he is a frequent commentator on CNN, CNBC, BBC, NPR and the Charlie Rose show.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, on November 30, 1954, Mr. Summers spent most of his childhood in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, and was educated in the Lower Merion public schools. He and his wife Elisa New, a professor of English at Harvard, reside in Brookline with their six children.
21st Century Council
HRH Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud is the seventh son of the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, and Former Governor of Riyadh. His Royal Highness is currently Chief Executive Officer of the King Abdullah Foundation for Charitable and Humanitarian Activities, one of the world's largest philanthropic organizations, both by endowment and proposed disbursements.
The Prince is a main board director of the International Finance Forum, a Beijing headquartered non-profit international and independent think tank founded in 2003 and working to promote global financial dialogue at the highest levels.
Prior to government office, the Prince was a fighter pilot flying the F15 Strike Eagle, and participated in a number of the world's most notable multi-national air combat exercises, including in 2010 leading the Royal Saudi Air Force contingent to Red Flag-4 and Green Flag at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, USA.
HRH Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz is a graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the Joint Services Command and Staff College of the Defense Academy of the United Kingdom, and holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wales, specializing in strategic planning.
21st Century Council, Think Long Committee for California
Laura D. Tyson is Professor, Business Administration and Economics at the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, and formerly Dean of London Business School, and Dean of the Haas School of Business, at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr Tyson served in the Clinton Administration and was the Chair of The Council of Economic Advisers between 1993 and 1995, and the President’s National Economic Adviser between 1995 and 1996. She has published books and articles on industrial competitiveness and trade and on the economies of Central Europe and their transition to market systems. An Economic Viewpoint columnist for BusinessWeek magazine, Tyson writes regularly about domestic and international economic policy matters in The Washington Post, The New York Times and other nationally and internationally syndicated newspapers and magazines. Dr. Tyson is a member of the Boards of the Brookings Institution, the Peter G. Peterson Institute of International Economics, Bruegel, Eastman Kodak Company, Morgan Stanley Company, AT&T;, Inc., and 24/7 Customer.
21st Century Council
Park Won-soon is the Mayor of Seoul, Korea. Park was born in a village in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, on March 26, 1956. He graduated from Kyunggi High School in 1974 and entered Seoul National University in 1975. Shortly after entering university, he was arrested for participating in a student rally against the militant dictatorship of President Park Chung Hee and imprisoned for 4 months and expelled from university. Later, he entered Dankook University and earned a bachelor’s degree in history.
Park passed the state bar examinations in 1980, and worked as a public prosecutor in the Daegu District Court in Gyeongsang Province from 1982 to 1983. Returning to Seoul from Daegu, he launched into private law practice. He worked as a human rights lawyer and defended many political activists in the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1991, Park traveled with his family to London and earned a diploma in international law at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the University of London in 1992. In 1993, he went to the US to take up a position as visiting research fellow in the Human Rights Program of the School of Law in Harvard University.
Back in South Korea, in 1994, Park founded the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a non-profit, non-partisan civic organization formed with the purpose of promoting participatory democracy and securing human rights in South Korea.
In 2000, Park founded the Beautiful Foundation, with the aim of promoting a culture of philanthropy in South Korea. And in 2002, he founded the Beautiful Store, a second-hand store aiming to spread the culture of giving and sharing with others.
In 2006, Park founded the Hope Institute, a think-tank with the goal of applying policy alternatives based on the ideas of ordinary citizens.
Park was elected as Mayor of Seoul, South Korea on October 26, 2011. He was elected as an independent candidate, with the support of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Labor Party. He joined the Democratic United Party on February 23, 2012.
In the June 4 local elections in 2014, Park ran for Mayor again, and was re-elected. His new four-year term officially began on July 1, 2014.
21st Century Council, BPCC Advisory Board
Ambassador Wu served as Executive Vice Chairman of China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, Special Researchers of Counselor’ s office of the State Council, Member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Committee of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Member and Vice President of the European Academy of Sciences and Honorary President of the International Bureau of Exhibitions (BIE).
From 2003-2008, Ambassador Wu served as President of China Foreign Affairs University, Executive Vice President of China National Association for International Studies, Vice Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee and Spokesman of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Earlier, he served as China’s Ambassador to France (1998-2003); to the United Nations Office in Geneva and to other international organizations in Switzerland (1996-98); and to the Netherlands (1994-95). Before that, he was Director General of the Information Department and Spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry (1991-1994), deputy chief at China’s embassy in Belgium and its mission to the European Community in Brussels (1989-90) and Counselor at China’s mission to the United Nations in New York (1985-89).
From 2003-2007, Ambassador Wu served as President of International Bureau of Expositions (BIE), making him the first Asian to take up the post.
Ambassador Wu was born in 1939. He graduated from the Department of French at Beijing Foreign Studies University and from 1965 to 1971 interpreted many times for Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. In 1971, he became a member of China's first delegation to the United Nations.
He was awarded by French President Jacques Chirac the honor of Grand Officier of the French Legion of Honor in 2003.
21st Century Council
Tadashi Yanai, is the Chairman, President, and CEO of FAST RETAILING CO., LTD., of which UNIQLO is a subsidiary. Since opening the first UNIQLO store in Hiroshima, Japan in 1984, the brand has become a global retailer with flagship stores from New York to Hong Kong. As the leader of UNIQLO Yanai‐san, oversees the business operations from designs, production to sales of his products. Tadashi Yanai’s philosophy of “changing conventional wisdom to change the world” and Japanese traditions has become UNIQLO’s central image.
Tadashi Yanai received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Politics from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. In 1984, he had taken over his father’s suite shop and transformed it into UNIQLO. Yanai‐san has since turned UNIQLO into a household name throughout Japan and Asia. Currently UNIQLO operates 1,020 retail outlets all over Asia, Europe, and North America. At 62 years old, Yanai‐san is ranked one of the wealthiest men in Japan and manages to maintain an altruistic side. He donated $12.2 million out of his personal fortune towards relief efforts for Japan after the 2011 tsunami. Yanai‐san also established a strong sense of corporate responsibility within his company; creating programs such has the Grameen Project, and All‐Product Recycling.
Over the years with him as president of Fast Retailing, the company has successfully acquired smaller foreign brands including France’s Comptoir des Cotonniers for women’s wear and Princesse Tam‐Tam lingerie, as well as America’s Theory. Yanai‐san’s has strong control over UNIQLO, with power to finalize all decisions, down to approving samples and colors, while keeping the consumers’ needs in mind.
21st Century Council, BPCC Advisory Board
Fareed Zakaria is host of CNN’s flagship international affairs program—Fareed Zakaria GPS, a Washington Post columnist, and a New York Times bestselling author. He was described in 1999 by Esquire Magazine as “the most influential foreign policy adviser of his generation.” In 2010, Foreign Policy named him one of the top 100 global thinkers.Since 2008, he has hosted Fareed Zakaria GPS, which airs Sundays worldwide on CNN. Dr. Zakaria’s in-depth interviews with the Dalai Lama, heads of state including Barack Obama, Manmohan Singh, King Abdullah II, Dmitry Medvedev, Moammar Gadhafi and Lula da Silva, as well as countless intellectuals, business leaders, politicians and journalists have been broadcast in more than 200 million homes around the world. Within its first year, GPS garnered an Emmy nomination for an interview with Premier Wen Jaibao.Dr. Zakaria was introduced as TIME Editor at Large in October 2010 after spending 10 years overseeing all of Newsweek’s editions abroad. His cover stories and columns—on subjects from globalization and emerging markets to the Middle East and America’s role in the world—reach more than 25 million readers weekly. While his columns have received many awards including a 2010 National Magazine Award, his October 2001 Newsweek cover story, “Why They Hate Us,” remains the most decorated. Before joining Newsweek in October 2000, he spent eight years as managing editor of Foreign Affairs, a post he was appointed to at only 28 years old.The Post-American World, which is Dr. Zakaria’s most recent book, was heralded in the New York Times book review as “…a relentlessly intelligent book” and The Economist called it “…a powerful guide” to facing global challenges. Like The Post-American World, his previous book, The Future of Freedom, was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into over 20 languages.
Born in India on January 20, 1964, Dr. Zakaria went on to receive a B.A. from Yale College and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has received honorary degrees from numerous universities including Brown, the University of Miami, and Oberlin College. He lives in New York City with his wife, son and two daughters.
Photo:James Kegley
21st Century Council (President), Board of Directors
Since leaving office, Ernesto Zedillo has been a leading voice on globalization and a strong advocate of multilateralism. He is Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and Professor of International Economics and Politics. He was with the Central Bank of Mexico for a decade, then served in a number of distinguished roles with the Government of Mexico. He was Chairman of the Global Development Network, the Oversight Board of the Natural Resource Charter, and the High Level Commission on Modernization of World Bank Group Governance, and remains a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.
21st Century Council
Dr. Zewail was the Linus Pauling Chair professor of chemistry and professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Director of the Moore Foundation’s Center for Physical Biology at Caltech. He received his early education in Egypt and completed a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and a postdoctoral (IBM) fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the faculty at Caltech.
On April 27, 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and in November of the same year, he was named the first United States Science Envoy to the Middle East.
In 1999, Dr. Zewail was awarded the Nobel Prize for his pioneering developments in femtoscience, making possible observations of atomic motions during molecular transformations in femtosecond, a millionth of a billionth of a second. More recently, he and his group have developed the field of four-dimensional (4D) electron microscopy for the direct visualization of matter’s behavior, from atoms to biological cells, in the four dimensions of space and time. He was the author and coauthor of over 500 articles and treatises.
Besides his academic leadership Dr. Zewail was also renowned for his efforts in promoting knowledge-based development and global peace. For decades, he was involved in establishing a strategic base for education and economic development in his native country, Egypt, and in the Arab world. His public lectures were televised to millions in the Middle East and he authored editorials on governance, education, and development in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Times, and the International Herald Tribune, among others.
For his contributions to science and public life he garnered, besides the Nobel Prize, other honors from around the globe: Forty Honorary Degrees in the sciences, arts, philosophy, law, medicine, and humane letters; Orders of State and Merit; commemorative postage stamps; and more than 100 international awards, including the Albert Einstein World Award, Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Leonardo da Vinci Award, the King Faisal Prize, and the Priestley Medal. In his name, international prizes have been established, and the Ahmed Zewail Foundation provides support for the dissemination of knowledge and for merit awards in arts and sciences. He was an elected member of academies and learned societies, including the American Philosophical Society, National Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of London, French Academy, Russian Academy, Chinese Academy, and the Swedish Academy.
21st Century Council, BPCC Advisory Board
Mr. Zhang is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Hillhouse Capital Management Group, Ltd. Hillhouse manages over fourteen billion U.S. dollars for leading endowments, foundations, sovereign funds, and family offices. Hillhouse takes a long-term fundamental research approach and invests in both public and private opportunities across a variety of sectors.
Mr. Zhang earned an MBA and M.A. in International Relations from Yale University and a B.A. in Economics from Renmin University of China, where he is the Vice Chairman and Trustee of the Board. In addition, he serves on the University Council at Yale University and is the Chairman of Yale Asia Development Council. Mr. Zhang is a Trustee of the Yale-NUS College, a newly formed liberal arts institute of higher education that is a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore. Prior to founding Hillhouse in 2005, Mr. Zhang worked with the Yale Endowment and an emerging market fund covering South Africa and Southeast Asia.
Mr. Zhang served on the board of several of Asia’s leading companies, including JD.com, China’s largest Internet retailer; Qunar, China’s largest online travel vertical; Blue Moon, a leading Chinese household personal care company; and MNC Global Mediacom, Indonesia’s largest media/ TV/ Pay TV conglomerate.
Mr. Zhang is a Trustee of the Brookings Institution. He is also a Governing Board Member of the China-United States Exchange Foundation, a non-profit organization established with the purpose of further improving communications and enhancing understanding between the peoples of China and the United States.
Mr. Zhang devotes substantial time to education issues. He is a board member of BN Vocational School, China’s largest non‐profit organization dedicated to the education of underprivileged children, and a founding board member of the United World College (UWC) of Southeast Asia Foundation. In addition, he established the Gaoli Academy at Renmin University with the purpose of expanding the role of liberal arts education in Chinese universities.
21st Century Council, BPCC Advisory Board
Mr. Zheng Bijian is a well known theorist and strategist in China. He served as Executive Vice Minister of Publicity Department of CPC Central Committee and Executive Vice President of CPC Central Party School, and was a member of the central committee of the fourteenth and fifteenth CPC Congress. Now he is Director of the Academic Committee of the Central Party School, Dean of the College of Humanities of the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chairman of China Sciences and Humanities Forum, Senior Advisor to the China Institute for International Strategic Studies, and Senior Advisor to the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs.