Leadership Programs

2006 Great Xpectations Class

Olivier Brousse

Olivier Brousse, Chief Executive Officer, SAUR, Cedex, France. Olivier is the CEO of SAUR in Cedex, France. Previously, Olivier was appointed Executive VP of Veolia Transport's operations in North America and France. Prior to that he served as chairman, president and CEO of Véolia Transportation Inc (formerly Connex North America), overseeing the company's North American division with primary responsibility for over 15,000 employees and $850 million in annual revenue. Véolia Transportation is a division of Véolia Environment, a $30 billion revenue group specializing in water, waster, energy and transportation throughout the world. He also serves as a committee member of the Véolia Ethics Committee and as chairman of the Veolia Knowledge-Management process. Prior to this, he was CEO of Connex UK. Olivier began his career in 1990 as managing director of Unic Systèmes in France. He then joined the Vivendi Group, working for the group CEO and undertaking major projects for the Transport and Waste Management divisions. He was appointed managing director of CFTA, Vivendi’s French rail subsidiary in 1995. Olivier graduated from the École Polytechnique and École des Ponts et Chaussées in France. He and his wife and two children moved back to France in Nov. 2006. Olivier is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

David Carmel

David Carmel, Co-Founder, Carmel Asset Management, New York, NY. David is the Co-Founder of Carmel Asset Management, an investment fund managed similarly to the top university endowments. Previously, he was the Vice President of Business Development for StemCyte, Inc.—the leading cord blood stem cell company. Prior to that he spent a year working on Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell and Cures Initiative, for which voters approved $3 billion in research funds. While still in college, David co-founded Jumpstart, a national service program that pairs college students one-on-one with preschoolers needing individual attention. A decade later, Jumpstart employs 80 full time staff and deployed 1,400 college students in 17 cities across the nation, and had become the largest part-time AmeriCorp program in the country. David left Jumpstart in 2000, to enter the MBA program at Stanford and began to cultivate an interest in biotechnology and healthcare, interning at Johnson & Johnson, and completing extra coursework for certification in Stanford’s Public Management Program. After graduation, David was selected to join the 2002-03 class of White House Fellows, and was awarded the Secretary’s Honor Award in 2003. He then served as manager of Planning and Business Development for Pfizer, Inc., from 2003 to 2004. In 2003, he was named one of Esquire Magazine’s “Best and Brightest”. He is a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as a board member for the Alliance for Stem Cell Research, the New York Spinal Cord Injury Research Board, and The East Harlem School. David earned his BA, magna cum laude in Sociology from Harvard University in 1995. He earned an MBA with a Certificate in Health Care Policy from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2002. He, his wife and children live in New York City. David is is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Marie Charles

Marie Charles, MD, Chair & CEO: Global Medic Force/Force Mondiale des Médecins, New York, NY.  Dr. Marie Charles is a physician with a background in international relations and is widely regarded as one of the key innovators in the global healthcare industry. She is credited with having saved millions of lives throughout the developing world through her international healthcare system building, private equity and clinic optimization programs. Marie was initially groomed to run one of the world's largest Pharmaceutical companies nationally in Europe, however she chose instead to found a series of her own international healthcare organizations.  All of Marie's healthcare start-ups have gone on to become global leaders in their respective fields, collectively in over 42 countries.  She is a frequent key note speaker at international healthcare conferences for institutions such as the World Health Organization, the UK Parliament House of Commons, Oxford University, Johns Hopkins University,  the Geneva Health Forum, the Health Work Force Alliance, Duke University, Brown University, UCSF, UCLA, Columbia University, etc. She also has extensive professional international publications in the medical industry to her name.  Marie received her MD degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) and her Masters in International Relations (MIA) from Columbia University in New York City, where she also served as an Associate Professor. Marie is fluent in 6 languages and is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.  

William A. Chen

William A. Chen, Managing Partner, DT Capital Partners, Shanghai, China. Will Chen currently serves as Managing Partner of DT Capital Partners in Shanghai, China. Will also founded Accelergy Corporation in late 2003 which is a materials development company that formulates advanced materials for a variety of industries with operations in both the U.S. and China. Prior to this, Will founded and ran OnePage, Inc. an enterprise software company, until it was acquired by Sybase, Inc. in 2002. He also founded Billpoint, Inc., which pioneered the concept of online person-to-person payments, until it was acquired by eBay in 1999 as a payment solution for their online auction marketplace. Will has also served in management positions for Excite, Classifieds2000, Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), and IBM. He is chairman of the Asia America MultiTechnology Association (AAMA), serves on the board of advisors for the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Florida College of Business, and the board of directors of the Harvard Business School 4A Club and the Phillips Brooks School. In 2003, he received the Clark Butler Entrepreneur of the Year award from the University of Florida. Will has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Business Administration with high honors from University of Florida. He and his family moved to Shanghai, China in Nov. 2006.  Will is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Cheryl Dorsey

Cheryl Dorsey, MD, President, Echoing Green, New York, NY. Dr. Cheryl Dorsey serves as president of Echoing Green, a global social venture fund providing seed capital and technical assistance to emerging social entrepreneurs. Cheryl’s experience with Echoing Green began as a student at Harvard Medical School, when she received an Echoing Green Fellowship to launch The Family Van, a community-based mobile health unit providing basic medical, referral and advocacy services, education and outreach to at-risk residents of inner-city Boston neighborhoods. Since its beginnings in 1992, The Family Van has served over 50,000 clients. From 1997-1998, she was a White House Fellow serving as a special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Labor, and was later named special assistant to the director of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor. Before that she was a resident in pediatric medicine at Children’s National Medical Center. Cheryl has received numerous awards for her commitment to public service, including the Pfizer Roerig History of Medicine Award, the Robert Kennedy Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Manuel C. Carballo Memorial Prize. She is a board member of the Coro New York Leadership Center and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. She is also an advisory member of the Action Tank for Social Entrepreneurs and is on the visiting committee at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Cheryl graduated Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges in 1985 with a BA magna cum laude with highest honors in History and Science, and received her MD in 1992 from Harvard Medical School and her MPP from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Cheryl currently lives in Washington, DC with her dog Josie.  She is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Janet Echelman

Janet Echelman, Artist and President, Janet Echelman, Inc., Brookline, MA. Through her art, Janet Echelman reshapes urban airspace with monumental public sculptures that respond to environmental forces including wind, water, and sunlight. This year, the artist inaugurates two major art commissions in North America: a new civic icon for Phoenix, Arizona—a 145-foot-tall sculpture that makes the pattern of desert winds visible to the human eye and casts intricate shadow drawings onto the ground, a second work for the Richmond Olympic Ice Oval—an official venue for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Janet's work has received the IFAI International Achievement Award and her team won the Hoboken September 11th Memorial competition, which will result in construction of a new freestanding island in the Hudson River.  Exhibitions of her painting, prints, and sculpture have been held in Venice, Madrid, Bombay, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Kyoto, and New York City.  Recipient of the Harvard GSD Loeb Fellowship, the Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellowship, and a Fulbright Lectureship, she currently serves on the national board of the Fulbright Association, and the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Awards. Janet is currently Visiting Fellow at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. After graduating from Harvard College in 1987 with Highest Honors in Visual Studies, she received graduate degrees in painting and in psychology.  From 1988-1993, Janet lived as an artist on the island of Bali, Indonesia, before moving to New York City.  She now lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with her husband and their two children.   

Michael W. Ferro

Michael W. Ferro, Jr., Chairman & CEO, Merrick Ventures, LLC, Chicago, IL. Michael Ferro founded Merrick Ventures, a Chicago-based technology holding company, in 2006. Prior to that he founded and served as chairman and CEO of Click Commerce, Inc., the leading provider of on-demand supply chain management solutions. Under Michael’s leadership, Click Commerce posted 14 consecutive quarters of growth and profitability and acquired and integrated nine companies. During this time, the company’s stock value increased 900 percent. Because of Click Commerce’s industry reputation and proven ability to deliver results, Illinois Tool Works, a multi-billion dollar Fortune 150 company, acquired the company in October 2006 to serve as the platform to launch their software and technology group. Michael has won numerous awards, including the KPMG Illinois High-Tech Award, and was named 2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Technology, the CEO National Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and the Humanitarian of the Year from the Holocaust Memorial Foundation. He has been listed as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” by Crain’s Chicago Business. He currently serves as a director on the board of trustees of The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, The Field Museum of Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also serves on the boards of Children’s Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Foundation, Big Shoulders Foundation, and AfterSchool Matters. In addition, he is the chairman of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, a board member of the Economics Club of Chicago, and a director of The Executive’s Club of Chicago, and is a member of YPO and the Commercial Club of Chicago. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois. He and his family make their home in Chicago.  Michael is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Kathryn (Kate) Frucher

Kate Frucher, General Manager, ideelACCESS, Ideeli,  New York, NY. Kate Frucher is General Manager for ideelACCESS at Ideeli, a leading members-only retail site.  She was previously General Manager of Axiom Legal, a new kind of legal services firm made up of experienced attorneys who provide integrated legal services to leading corporate clients.  She was also a Senior Fellow in the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  After September 11, 2001, Kate served as Senior Aide to the New York City Fire Commissioner where she helped assess the FDNY's response on 9/11 and established the FDNY's Terrorism Preparedness Taskforce.  Kate started her career in the White House Office of National Service, where she helped found and launch the Americorps National Service Program.  Later, she served as co-founder of Link Research; as a Skadden Fellow founded the Family Court Education Project; and was on the founding team of Stand For Children.  She serves on the board of the Hetrick Martin Institute and is a Term Member with the Council on Foreign Relations.  Kate is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School.  She lives in New York City. Kate is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

György Habsburg

György Habsburg, President, Hungarian Red Cross, Budapest, Hungary. György Habsburg is president of the Hungarian Red Cross, Hungary’s largest organization, in addition to serving as an ambassador at large for the Hungarian Prime Minister's office. He is also Head of the Office of Dr. Otto von Habsburg, building up the Pan European Movement, the most important Hungarian Movement for European Integration, and acts as a Senator of the Technical University of Budapest. From 1993-97 György was the director of MTM Communications, the largest film producer and distributor company of Central Europe. During this time he was co-author of the project paper for private television in Central Europe, which led to the Hungarian Media Law and later MTM won the first license for private television in Hungary. György was previously a producer of religious and political documentaries with Markus Film in Munich and served as a free-lance journalist for several European newspapers. He is the president of the Supervisory Board of the Messer Group of Central Europe, managing director of EUTOP Budapest, and a member of the International Council of the Instituto de Empresa. György has also the diploma from the Sociedad Cervantina in Madrid in 1985 and has studied at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich. He and his wife and three children live in Soskut, Hungary.  György is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Maryana F. Iskander

Maryana F. Iskander, Former Chief Operating Officer, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Johannesburg, South Africa. Maryana Iskander was most recently the COO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the nation's largest provider of and advocate for reproductive healthcare services. She joined Planned Parenthood after two years as advisor to President David W. Leebron at Rice University in Houston, TX, where she worked on a wide range of strategic and organizational issues. Maryana previously served as clerk to Judge Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  She was also an associate at McKinsey & Co., a strategy consultant at W.L. Gore & Associates; and a law clerk at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, Vinson & Elkins in Houston, and the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. In 1996, Maryana was named a Harry S. Truman Scholar, and in 2002 was awarded the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, given to the thirty most outstanding naturalized citizens in the United States. Maryana earned a BA in Sociology, magna cum laude, from Rice University in 1997. She earned an MSc in Comparative Social Policy in 1999 from Oxford University (while a Rhodes scholar), and a JD from Yale Law School in 2003. Maryana is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

  

Dale LeFebvre

Dale LeFebvre, Managing Partner, OSON VI, LLC, Washington DC. Dale LeFebvre is currently the Managing Partner of OSON VI, LLC.  OSON is an asset manager and investment advisory firm. Dale has directed almost $2 billion in transactions, with ~ $1 billion of the transactions occurring in the Caribbean and other areas outside of the United States.  Dale previously held the position of Managing Partner with the largest minority private equity firm whose funds total over $500 million. He developed significant experience in strategy, pricing and corporate restructuring turnarounds as a consultant at McKinsey & Company. In addition, he spent time at bulge bracket Wall Street Firms in Private Equity and Mergers and Acquisitions. He began his career as a Bell Laboratories researcher.  Dale has served on numerous corporate boards, including: emeritus Chairman of Converge Global Trading, the world’s largest electronic components exchange; emeritus Board Member of Columbus International, a major media and telecommunications company in the Bahamas, Trinidad, Grenada, Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean; and Board member of Sonneborn Holdings, a large specialty chemicals company. Dale founded and is the Executive Director of AdvocateFor, an organization which leverages private sector finance and business experience to provide entrepreneurship and mentorship opportunities to underserved areas and people by bringing the relationships, experiences and capital to individuals and institutions that desire to grow and start small businesses but lack access to appropriate resources to do so.  Dale has also been honored by Black Enterprise Magazine on numerous occasion: in 2005 as a top 40 under 40; in 2004 as Managing Partner of the 4th largest Investment Bank/Private Equity Firm; in 2005 as Managing Partner of the 2nd largest Investment Bank/Private Equity Firm.  Dale holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a JD from Harvard Law School, where he is a Harvard Law School Traphagen Distinguished Alumnus.  He is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

H. John Livingston

H. John Livingston, Director, McKinsey & Co., Chicago, IL. John is a Director in McKinsey & Co.’s Chicago office and head of the firm’s Americas wireless communications practice. John joined McKinsey in 1993 and has helped the firm open offices in South Africa (1994-95) and Southeast Asia (1999-2002). In addition to living abroad during these times, he has served global companies from the Chicago office on their most critical strategic and operational issues. John’s client work at McKinsey focuses on communications companies, but he is also responsible for McKinsey’s recruiting efforts at Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. John is the founder of Partners of Misericordia, a group of young leaders he brought together to support a home for children and young adults with disabilities. He is also the founder of Friends of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, and a board member of Civic Consulting Alliance which supports city departments with strategic and operational issues. John earned an AB with honors in Economics in 1989 from Princeton University, as well as an MBA and JD in 1993 from Kellogg Graduate School of Management/Northwestern University School of Law. John makes his home in Winnetka, IL with his wife and two boys.  He is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Phyllis Lockett

Phyllis Lockett, President and CEO, The Renaissance Schools Fund, Chicago, IL. Phyllis Lockett spearheaded the launch of The Renaissance Schools Fund, a public/private partnership established by Chicagoland business leaders, Mayor Richard M. Daley and Chicago Public Schools to support the creation of 100 new public schools in underserved communities. Prior to that, she was executive director of the Civic Consulting Alliance, a pro bono consultancy that leads strategic planning initiatives, process improvements and program development projects for the City of Chicago. In this role, Phyllis provided the strategic framework for some of the largest government initiatives in the City of Chicago, the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Housing Authority. She also served as a special projects manager on the Cermak Gateway Redevelopment Project with both the Public Building Commission and the Mayor’s office. She spent more than ten years in marketing and business development with IBM, Kraft Foods and General Mills. Phyllis serves on the boards of City Year Chicago, the Civic Consulting Alliance and the Irving B. Harris Public Policy School visiting committee, and is a member of the Economic Club and The Chicago Network. She holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Phyllis makes her home in Chicago.  She is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

 


Christopher Michel

Christopher Michel, Managing Director, Nautilus Ventures,San Francisco, CA. Christopher Michel is a photographer, investor & entrepreneur.  He is most well known as the founder of Affinity Labs and Military.com and currently runs Nautilus Ventures, a seed venture fund. He is also an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School.  In 1999, he founded Military.com, an online portal for service members, veterans and their families. In 2006, Michel founded Affinity Labs, which builds web sites that aim to become online focal points for various professions. In January 2008, the company was purchased by Monster Worldwide.  Chris serves as a Director of International Data Group, Dale Carnegie, Casual Collective and Castlight Health. He is also a Governor on the USO World Board. He is also an advisor to a variety of companies including Ooga Labs, Affinity Circles, etc.  Prior to his business career, Chris served as a Naval Flight Officer in the United States Navy. He is currently an advisor to the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), the nation's oldest nonprofit investigative news organization, and the Oxford Internet Institute (oii) at the University of Oxford.  In 2005, Chris' The Military Advantage: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Military & Veterans Benefits was published by Simon & Schuster. Chris graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was selected as the distinguished naval graduate. He also holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Chris was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute in 2006 and serves as a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Dena M. Minning

Dena M. Minning, Founder, MedExpert Consulting, San Francisco, CA.  Dena Minning is the Founder of a new biotechnical consulting company – MedExpert Consulting.  She is formerly the Vice President-Translational Sciences for 3-V Biosciences in Palo Alto, CA. She joined 3-V Biosciences, a biotech company that developes antiviral drugs to fight influenza virus, respiratory syncitial virus, and rhinovirus, in April 2008. Prior to that she served as Director of Medical Sciences—Early Clinical Development and clinical scientist for new drug product candidates in hematology and cardiovascular medicine for Amgen. She was previously Amgen's Associate Director of licensing, where she was responsible for evaluation and in-licensing of pre-clinical and clinical product opportunities in multiple therapeutic areas. From 2002-03, Dena was an engagement manager at MEDA Corp in Boston, and before that served as a consultant in the Vascular Medicine program at the Los Angeles Orthopedic Hospital in UCLA’s Hematology/Oncology Division. Dena is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha, American Society of Hematology, International Association for the Study of Pain, and American Medical Women’s Association. Previously, she served as an advisory board member for Triad Semiconductor, providing expertise in biomedical applications. In 1992, Dena received a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Florida. She earned an MD and PhD in Molecular Cell Biology and Biochemistry in 2000 from Washington University School of Medicine and subsequently completed a medical internship at University of California, San Francisco. Dena lives in the California Bay Area.  She is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Deven Parekh

Deven Parekh, Managing Director and Partner, Insight Venture Partners, New York, NY.  Deven Parekhis a managing director and partner at Insight Venture Partners, a leading private equity firm with over $3 billion under management that focuses on global software, technology-enabled services and Internet companies.  At Insight, Deven’s primary focus is internet services and application software businesses. Deven serves on the boards of Chegg, eCommerce Industries, eVestment Alliance, Hayneedle, Kony Solutions, Newegg.com, Seevast and Syncsort.  Deven’s additional investments are currently BuddyMedia, Epic Media Group, Tumblr and Twitter.  He also spearheads the firm’s recruiting program. He earned a BS magna cum laude in Economics with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.  Deven serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Publicolor, an organization that helps bring private sector financing to inner-city public school infrastructure.  He also serves on the Advisory Board of US Export-Import Bank and the Technical Advisory Board of the FCC.  Deven is a 2006 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. 

Bryan Roberts

Bryan Roberts, Ph.D, Managing General Partner, Venrock Associates, Menlo Park, CA. Bryan joined Venrock in 1997 through the Kauffman Fellowship, a two-year post-graduate program sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation to promote entrepreneurialism in the U.S. He is now a general partner in the firm, focusing on early stage healthcare ventures, primarily in biotechnology. While a doctoral student at Harvard, Bryan conducted his graduate research in synthetic organic chemistry under the guidance of Professor E.J. Corey (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1990). Prior to that, he served as an investment banking analyst at Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc. Bryan currently serves on the boards of two public companies, Xenoport and Sirna Therapeutics as well as several private companies. Bryan received his PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University and graduated from Dartmouth College, where he obtained a BA in Chemistry. Bryan lives in Portola Valley, CA with his wife and two children.  He is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Marília Rocca

Marília Rocca, Director Partner, Mãe Terra, São Paulo, Brazil. Marília is managing partner at Mãe Terra, a natural foods company based in São Paulo, awarded by Greenbest "most Sustainable Food Company" in Brazil in 2011.  Prior to that she co-founded and managed Endeavor Brazil, the most successful NGO supporting innovative entrepreneurship in the country.  Endeavor Brazil supported entrepreneurs have created 18,000 jobs since 2000, and their companies are presently valued at US $478 million. In 2000, she also co-founded Fundação Brava, a family foundation focused on transferring management tools to the public sector and NGOs in Brazil to boost their effectiveness.  From 1995-98, Marília worked for Wal Mart as one of the organization's first female managers in Brazil.  She is currently a member of the board of Totvs (the largest Brazilian ERP company) listed at BMFBOVESPA. From 2004-05 she hosted a radio talk show on entrepreneurship at Radio Band AM in Brazil.  Marilia earned a BA in Business Administration in 1994 from EAESP/Fundação Getúlio Vargas and an MBA in Management from Columbia University in 2000, attending on the Fundação Estudar Scholarship.  Marília and her family live in São Paulo. She is a 2006 Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Hemant Shah

Hemant Shah, President and CEO, Risk Management Solutions, Newark, CA. Hemant Shah is co-founder, president and CEO of Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the world’s leading provider of research and model-based services to the insurance and financial services industry for the quantification and management of catastrophe risks. He also serves as a trustee of the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado and is on the board of overseers of the RAND Corporation’s Center for the Study of Terrorism and Risk Management Policy and their Institute for Civil Justice. In addition, he serves on the boards of St. John’s School of Risk Management and Actuarial Science; as well as the advisory board of Institutional Investors’ Journal of Risk Finance. Hemant has been named one of the “Leaders of the Future” by Global Reinsurance; one of “35 Rising Stars” by Business Insurance; and one of the “100 Insurance Industry Most Powerful–North America” by Insurance Newscast. He graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Civil Engineering (with honors) in 1988 and an MS in Engineering Management in 1989. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children.  Hemant is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Sonal Shah

Sonal Shah, Former Director, Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, White House, Washington DC. Sonal served as head of the White House Domestic Policy Council's Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation from April 2009-July 2011.  She also served on President Obama's Transition Board overseeing the Technology, Innovation, Government Reform working group. Before joining the White House, Sonal managed and implemented two of Google.org's global development initiatives in transparency and small business financing. Sonal was previously VP at Goldman Sachs, Inc., where she developed and implemented the firm's environmental strategy.  She also co-founded a nonprofit, Indicorps, which offers fellowships for Indian-Americans to work on development projects in India.  Prior to that, she worked at the Center for American Progress on trade, outsourcing and post conflict issues. She also developed and managed policy and advocacy programs for the Center for Global Development.  From 1995 to 2002, Sonal was an economist at the Department of Treasury. Sonal received her MA in economics from Duke University and BA in economics from the University of Chicago.  She is a 2006 Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Peggy Smyth

Margaret M. (Peggy) Smyth, Former Chief Financial Officer and VP, Finance, Hamilton Sundstrand, Hartford, CT. Peggy Smyth served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Finance for Hamilton Sundstrand from 2010-2011. She was formerly the Vice President Controller of United Technologies Corporation. In that role, she oversaw many of the global finance functions for this $50+ billion, Dow 30 diversified company that provides high technology products and services to the building and aerospace industries. Prior to that, Peggy was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of 3M and a senior partner at two leading global accounting and professional services firms in New York City. Peggy earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Fordham University, and her master's degree in accounting from NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business, graduating summa cum laude from both. She is also a 2006 alumna of the Aspen Institute's Henry Crown Fellows Program. Peggy serves as a Director for Concern Worldwide (U.S.) and Fordham University. She is also a member of International Accounting Standards Board Interpretations Committee and Business Executives for National Security, as well as on the Board of Directors of Mutual of America Investment Corporation. Smyth, who resides in West Hartford, CT with her husband and two sons, has a second home in County Roscommon, Ireland and maintains dual citizenship.

Leo E. Strine, Jr.

Leo E. Strine, Jr., Chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery, Wilmington, DE. On June 22, 2011, the Honorable Leo E. Strine, Jr. became Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, where he has served as Vice Chancellor since November 1998.  This court is nationally renowned, as litigants seek resolution to problems involving corporate and fiduciary matters, trusts, land sales, real estate and commercial and contractual matters, before a judge and without a jury.  From 1993-1998, Leo was Counsel to Governor Thomas R. Carper, and prior to that served as a corporate litigator for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and as law clerk to Judge Walter K. Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Chief Judge John F. Gerry of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.  Leo has written numerous opinions, particularly in the area of corporation law and speaks frequently on the topic. He has also authored several articles on business law in publications including the Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, and University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania Law Reviews.  Leo holds adjunct teaching positions in the Law School at Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt and UCLA School of Law.  He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Delaware in 1985 and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. While at UD, he was awarded a Harry S Truman Scholarship. In 1988, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and was selected as a member of the Order of Coif.  He and his family live in Hockessin, DE.  Leo is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Shane Tedjarati

Shane Tedjarati, President & CEO, Honeywell China & India, Shanghai, China. Since 2004 when Shane joined Honeywell in China, he has been responsible for their entire business portfolio in China, one of the company’s most strategic markets and now he is also head of India. Shane was previously with Deloitte Consulting, where he was regional managing director for Greater China. In that role, he worked with Chinese state-owned enterprises and multi-national corporations to help them formulate and execute strategies for sustainable growth in China and abroad. Prior, he was managing director for China at James Martin & Co., a global consultancy and IT services provider. Shane has also held management positions at Unisys, Oracle, Air Canada and others, and is currently working on a book on the social and cultural ramifications of the sweeping changes taking place in Chinese society. He graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, with a BS in Computer Science and Mathematics, and earned an MBA from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. He speaks six languages, including Mandarin.  Shane is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Vishal Vasishth

Vishal Vasishth, Founder and Managing Director, Song Investment Advisors, Hyderabad, India.  Vishal is the Founder and current Managing Director of SONG, an investment firm targeting the SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) space in India.  Previously, Vishal was the CEO of Clean Partners, a business advisory/consulting and investment firm he founded targeted towards innovative consumer facing businesses. Vishal has also served as Vice President of Revolution Living, part of the $500 million investment fund started by Steve Case with a charter to invest in health and wellness/clean-tech space and led the operations and senior management team of Flexcar, one of the portfolio companies managed by Revolution Living. Prior to this, Vishal was chief strategy officer for Patagonia, Inc., assisting the CEO in developing the company's strategic direction, restructuring and overseeing operations. He also directed their Capilene P&L, increasing division sales by $15 million, and helped launch a number of successful product brands generating in excess of $40 million and receiving numerous awards and recognition for the company. In his time at Patagonia, sales grew from $150 to $265 million while consistently being ranked as one of the best places to work in the U.S. Vishal has worked as a consultant for Investor's Circle-an angel investor forum targeted towards the clean-tech space. He also developed a business plan to promote organic food in India for the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, a non-profit based in Uttar Pradesh, India. He serves on the board of directors for Coalition of Clean Air and is a member of the Association of Strategic Planning and American Economic Association. Vishal earned a B. Tech degree in India, a Master's degree in Sciences from North Carolina State University and an MBA from UCLA's Anderson School of Management. He and his family make their home in Hyderabad, India.  He is a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.