Board of Advisors

H.E. Iván Duque Márquez is a recognized global leader and expert on climate action, international development, and geopolitical analysis. He is a Transformational Leadership Fellow at the Oxford University Blavatnik School of Government, a Distinguished Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and an International Leadership Fellow at the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom at Florida International University.

Duque Márquez served as President of Colombia from 2018 to 2022, during which time he led Colombia to achieve its highest historical economic growth and the most ambitious climate action policy framework in the Americas. Amid the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic, he led the country in creating the most robust social safety net in its history and becoming the leading country in Latin America in COVID-19 management.

Duque Márquez is a decorated leader and recipient of multiple international awards including the National Geographic Planetary Leadership Award, the Theodore Roosevelt Global Conservation Award, the Concordia Leadership Award, and the Council of the Americas Global Leadership Award. He is also the Chairman of the Concordia Amazon Initiative, whose objective is to raise awareness around the intricate link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet, and the kinds of commitments the private sector can make to preserve the rainforest.

He is recognized as one of the most impactful speakers and leaders in Latin America. He is the author of more than 12 books and serves on a number of boards.

Duque Márquez is married to María Juliana Ruiz, with whom he shares three children. He holds a Master in Policy Management from Georgetown University, a Master in International Legal Studies from American University, a JD in Universidad Sergio Arboleda with a Major in Philosophy. He also holds an honorary Doctorate in Economics from Yonsei University in South Korea.

She is the former CEO of MetricStream, a Silicon Valley-based governance, risk, and compliance software company that enables corporations to improve their business operations through better risk management across the enterprise. Shellye built the company into a global market leader with over 1,200 employees. Under her leadership, MetricStream was recognized for growth and innovation over the years and was named in the top 10 of the “Deloitte Technology Fast 50” and named a global leader in GRC by leading independent analyst firms for 9 consecutive years.

Shellye has over 30 years of experience in technology leading organizations focused
on business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer. She is a recognized expert in
marketing and co-authored, “Marketing That Works: How Entrepreneurial Marketing Can Add Sustainable Profits to Any Sized Company.” She held EVP of Sales and Chief Marketing Officer roles for two public companies and as President of Blockbuster.com, launched the entertainment retailer’s first online presence.

She is the author of “Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers and Create Success on Your Own Terms,” a book that will help professionals achieve their aspirations and create the life they want. She is also the protagonist of the Harvard Business School Case Study: Becoming a CEO.

Shellye is also a sought-after speaker on governance, risk and compliance as well as entrepreneurship and leadership. She has guest lectured at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and The Wharton School of Business. She has been featured or referenced in major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Financial Times.

Ann Marie Fudge served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Young & Rubicam Brands at WPP Group PLC from May 2003 to December 2006. Prior to that, she served in various leadership positions at Kraft Foods from 1986 to 2001, including president of Beverages, Desserts and Post Divisions and president of Maxwell House Coffee and Kraft General Foods, making her the first African American woman to head a major corporate division. As president, she went on to run a successful campaign to rebrand Maxwell House. From 1977 to 1986, Fudge held a variety of marketing positions at General Mills where she was part of the marketing team around Honey Nut Cheerios cereal and then promoted to marketing director.

Throughout her career, Fudge served on several organization’s board of directors. She was a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation, museum council member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, director of Novartis, chair of the advisory panel of the Gates Foundation, vice-chairman of Unilever, chair of the board of trustees of WGBH Public Media, and a director of Northrup Grumman. In 2008, Fudge joined President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign finance committee; and, in 2010, she became a member of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. In 2011, she was inducted into the National Association of Corporate Directors Hall of Fame. Fudge has received achievement awards from Ebony, the Executive Leadership Council, and the Harvard Alumni Association. She was also inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. She is deeply involved with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Fudge is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies.

She graduated from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts with her B.A. in management. She earned her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Fudge and her husband live in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They have two sons and five grandchildren.

José María Aznar is the former Prime Minister of Spain and the Executive President of The Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis (FAES). Aznar is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies.

Aznar began his political career in 1979. He was elected Head of the Regional Government of Castile-Leon between 1987 and 1989. In 1989 he was chosen as the Partido Popular’s candidate for President in the general elections of 1989. The following year he was elected Chairman of the Party. Between 1989 and 1996 he was the Leader of the Opposition. He became Prime Minister of Spain in 1996, following the electoral victory of the Partido Popular.

With the party’s subsequent electoral victory in the year 2000, this time with an absolute majority, Aznar led the country again until the elections of 2004, when he voluntarily chose not to run for office again. Throughout his two terms as Prime Minister of the Government he led an important process of economic and social reform.

He is a Member of the Board of Directors of New News Corp; Distinguished Fellow of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University; Member of the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold Corporation; Chairman of the Friends of Israel Initiative; Member of the International Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council of the United States and Senior Advisor to the Global Board of DLA Piper. He is the Honorary Chairman of the Partido Popular.

One of Aznar’s most serious concerns is the battle against terrorism. He is a strong supporter of the Atlantic Relationship and the European Union’s commitment to freedoms and economic reform.

He has written several books and has been awarded honorary doctorates by different Universities, as the Florida International University (1998) and Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

Aznar is married to Ana Botella with whom he has three children. He graduated in law and qualified as an Inspector of State Finances in 1975. He was a Distinguished Scholar at the University of Georgetown from 2004 to 2011.

Gina Diez Barroso has been a pioneer in the fields of arts and education for over 20 years. In 1990, she created and launched Grupo Diarq, a holding company with eight subsidiaries currently employing over 600 people. One of the most prestigious real estate development and design firms in Latin America, DIARQ has completed over 850 residential and hospitality projects to date.

In 2004, Mrs. Diez Barroso founded CENTRO, the first university in Mexico City specialized in creative studies with a strong emphasis in business and entrepreneurship. CENTRO currently offers seven undergraduate degrees and six master’s programs, as well as a broad range of graduate studies and continuing education courses in related disciplines. In just 12 years since opening, the university has grown rapidly to its present student enrollment of 2,500 and is recognized as Mexico’s best university in its field.

Mrs. Diez Barroso has given lectures in business schools in the United States, Latin America and Europe.

In 1992, she founded Fundacion Diarq, a non-profit organization that works towards eradicating domestic violence and preventing bullying in schools. In 2004, she founded Fundacion Pro-Educacion Centro, a non-profit organization granting merit-based scholarships to deserving students pursuing degrees in creative studies.

In 2016, Mrs. Diez Barroso founded Dalia Empower, an initiative created to empower women under a unique educational methodology, enabling their hard and soft skills. DALIA is the first international integrated platform with a global network.

Mrs. Diez Barroso sits on several international boards and is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies. She is the only Mexican belonging to C200 (200 Women Business Leaders of the World) and represents Mexico in W20, the women initiative from G20.

David G. Bradley is the Chairman and Owner of the Atlantic Media Company, which owns and operates several prominent media companies and services including The Atlantic and National Journal.

Before entering media, David founded and owned two (now public) research companies – The Advisory Board Company and The Corporate Executive Board Company. With 50,000 applicants each year, the enterprises are the largest employers of young professional talent in the Washington, D.C., area.

During his early 20s, David was a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines. In addition to publishing, Bradley works with the CityBridge Foundation (formerly the Advisory Board Foundation) which participates in education projects in the Philippines. Bradley has also established the Child Protection Unit (CPU) at the Philippine General Hospital and was a professor at the University of the City of Manila.

He is the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from Harvard Business School and the Fulbright Association. Bradley is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His board memberships include the Council on Foreign Relations, the New America Foundation, KIPP DC, Bridges of Understanding, and the Manila-based Child Protection Network. David is also a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies.

He graduated from Swarthmore College, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a J.D. from Georgetown University, and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Swarthmore.

A truly versatile commercial litigator, Dane has developed insight and experience in numerous sectors at the heart of the global economy. Dane’s experience in the financial services sector includes defending financial institutions, directors, officers, and countries in civil and criminal litigation involving securitizations, hedge funds, bond and mortgage markets, investment vehicle structuring, and corporate governance. He also defends corporations, directors and officers in actions arising under securities laws, deceptive trade practice statutes, RICO, ERISA, and the Clayton and Sherman Acts, as well as in grand jury investigations.

Dane’s diverse experience also includes defending corporations and individuals in product liability actions, including pharmaceutical companies in trials such as the Nexium, Baycol, Vioxx, and Seroquel litigations; in medical malpractice trials; and in the most significant defamation case to go to trial in many years.

In other sectors, Dane has defended companies in the food, telecommunications, technology, and power industries in commercial litigation throughout the United States as well as in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Recently, Dane served as outside counsel and then General Counsel to Elon Musk and Tesla, Inc. Dane also has a significant track record representing corporations in domestic and international arbitrations before the AAA and the ICC.

Dane joined the firm in 1989. He served on the firm’s Hiring Committee from 1992-2004 and two terms on the firm’s Executive Committee.  He was appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court to serve on the faculty of the Virginia State Bar Professionalism Course (2004-2007).

Dane is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and Benchmark Litigation identified Dane as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America. Dane is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies.

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky is a foreign policy expert and former diplomat specializing in national security affairs.  She is a Senior Fellow in the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard University’s JFK Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and is Vice Chair of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security (Atlantic Council).

From 2010 – 2012, Ambassador Dobriansky was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Thomson Reuters. In this position, she was responsible for designing and implementing a corporate approach for engagement in Washington, D.C. and other key capitals around the globe.  During this time, she was also appointed the Distinguished National Security Chair at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Ambassador Dobriansky served as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs from 2001 to 2009.  Among her primary accomplishments, she established and led the U.S.-India, U.S.-China, and U.S.- Brazil Global Issues Fora — which advanced crucial work and international cooperation on environment, energy, health, development, and humanitarian issues.  Additionally, she was head of delegation and lead negotiator on U.S. climate change policy. 

In February 2007, as the President’s Envoy to Northern Ireland, Ambassador Dobriansky received the Secretary of State’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, for her contribution to the historic devolution of power in Belfast. During her more than 25 years in national security affairs, Ambassador Dobriansky has held many Senate-confirmed and senior level positions in the U.S. Government including Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council, the Reagan White House, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Deputy Head of the U.S. Delegation to the 1990 Copenhagen Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and Associate Director for Policy and Programs at the United States Information Agency.

From 1997- 2001, Ambassador Dobriansky served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington Office of the Council on Foreign Relations and was the first George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies.  During this time, she also served on the Presidentially-appointed U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy, Ambassador Dobriansky serves on the Naval War College Foundation, Middle East Institute and the Atlantic Council.  She is a Trustee of the Trilateral Commission and on the Advisory Board of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.  Previous boards include the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, Smith Richardson Foundation, National Endowment for Democracy (Vice Chair), George Mason University Board of Visitors and the World Affairs Councils of America as Chairman of the National Board. 

She received a B.S.F.S. summa cum laude in International Politics from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Soviet political/military affairs from Harvard University.  She is a Fulbright-Hays scholar, Ford and Rotary Foundation Fellow, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a recipient of various honors such as the Foreign Policy Association Medal for her service to country and leadership of the World Affairs Councils of America and the International Republican Institute’s Women’s Democracy Network Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Award (2008).  She has received other high-level international recognition including the Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of Poland, Poland’s Highest Medal of Merit, Grand Cross of Commander of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, National Order “Star of Romania”, Hungary’s Commander’s Cross Order of Merit and Ukraine’s Order of Merit.  She has also received three Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters, one Honorary Doctorate of Laws and one Honorary Doctorate of International Affairs.

Bertil is a Senior Partner Emeritus in McKinsey’s Silicon Valley office where he lead the global Sales and Channel Management Practice. He was also a long-standing leader in the firm’s High Tech, Telecommunications, and Media & Entertainment Practices where he served many leading companies across the enterprise-IT landscape, including software, hardware, and service providers.

Bertil helps leading companies to drive performance, with a focus on go-to-market initiatives. He has led several major, multiyear corporate transformations, including some of the largest sales transformations in the high-tech industry. He has deep expertise and experience in all aspects of go-to-market strategy, organization, and operations, and served as an interim sales strategy and operations executive at a major high-tech company.

His experience includes driving a multiyear B2B sales-productivity-improvement effort, including coverage strategy, capability building, the implementation of leading-edge sales-planning tools, new channels, and a revamped performance-management system; designing the cloud sales model for a major enterprise-IT player as well as a major telecommunications company; helping to build a new global commercial-operations function for a major industry player

Bertil is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies and is a thought leader and frequent author who regularly speaks at industry forums.

José Antonio Alonso Espinosa sits on the board of Becle, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Becle”)(BMV: CUERVO), an internationally renowned spirits company and the largest tequila company in the world. Becle’s unique portfolio includes over 30 iconic spirits brands, such as the Jose Cuervo® family of brands. The company’s various brands are marketed and distributed in over 85 countries throughout the world. José is also a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies.

Rick Little, Founder Emeritus of IYF, served as its president from 1990 through 2002. He is also founder of the ImagineNations Group, and was founding CEO of Silatech (2008-2011), where he currently serves as Chairman of its Executive Committee and a member of its Board of Trustees.

In 1996, Mr. Little was chosen as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, and in 1997 received the Robert W. Scrivner Award from the Council on Foundations. He was co-chair of the United Nations’ High Level Panel of the Youth Employment Network.

He received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Anderson University and was named an International Fellow in Applied Developmental Science at Tufts University in 2001. Mr. Little serves on several boards and international advisory councils, including Mercy Corps, Nike Foundation, and the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies.

Edward J. Mathias is a Senior Advisor with The Carlyle Group.

Prior to joining Carlyle in January 1994, Mr. Mathias was a long-time member of the Management Committee and Board of Directors at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., a major investment management organization. He was instrumental in the founding of The Carlyle Group and assisted in raising the firm’s initial capital. Mr. Mathias serves as an advisor to senior management and is a member of the Investment Committees for Carlyle Growth, Asia Growth, European Technology, and Sub-Saharan Africa Funds. Additionally, he is actively involved with Carlyle’s broad-based investment strategy and serves in an advisory role for the firm’s Global Credit Funds. 

Mr. Mathias holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania where he currently serves as a Trustee Emeritus. He is a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, The Council on Foreign Relations, and The Trustees’ Council at The National Gallery of Art.

Rachel Garbow Monroe is president and CEO of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, a $3.3 billion international private foundation focused on supporting individuals experiencing poverty. Monroe joined the Foundation in 2005 as its first-ever COO and was promoted to president and CEO in 2010. With offices in Baltimore, Maryland, and Honolulu, Hawaii, the Foundation distributes more than $150 million in grants each year across the US and in Israel. 

During her tenure, Monroe has grown the Foundation’s staff to more than 70 professionals and built the Foundation’s first internal investment team and investment advisory committee. She chairs the program (grants) committee, monitors all legal matters with outside counsel, and manages board governance and succession efforts. Monroe also launched diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the Foundation and is credited with successfully rebranding the Foundation over the past decade. She travels to Israel frequently and is passionate about leading an annual mission to Israel for roughly 30 influential leaders from communities throughout the United States. 

Monroe is on the board of Baltimore Gas & Electric, a subsidiary of Exelon, the nation’s leading utility company with more than 10 million customers. She was also selected to serve as a Steering Committee Member of Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s Transition Team. Monroe is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies and she is on the board of the Kolker-Saxon-Hallock Family Foundation. She is also on the President’s Advisory Council of the Greater Baltimore Committee and was a founding co-chair for Viewpoints at the Center Club, a program designed especially for professional women. Prior board roles include Leading Edge, Baltimore’s Promise, the Center Club of Baltimore, the Greater Baltimore Committee, and Ronald McDonald House of Maryland. 

Monroe’s most recent accolades include: Maryland Daily Record’s Power 100 (2023, 2021); the City & State New York Philanthropy Power 50 list (2020); Baltimore Business Journal’s Power 10 CEOs (2019); Maryland Daily Record’s Influential Marylanders (2019); JPRO Network’s Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award (2017); and SmartCEO Magazine’s CEO of the Year (2016). 

Prior to joining the Weinberg Foundation, Monroe was COO for The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore; the worldwide director of marketing for the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and marketing manager for the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago. Monroe was also an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University where she taught a graduate nonprofit marketing course at the Institute for Policy Studies. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University and a Master of Management from its J.L. Kellogg School of Management. 

Monroe is married, and together she and her husband Joel have three adult children and a timid rescue dog. 

Moisés Naím is an internationally-syndicated columnist and best-selling author of influential books including The End of Power, a startling examination of how power is changing across all sectors of society, and Illicit, a detailed exposé on modern criminal networks. In 2011, he launched Efecto Naím, an innovative weekly television program highlighting surprising world trends with visually-striking videos, graphics and interviews with world leaders which is widely watched in Latin America today. Dr. Naím gained international recognition with the successful re-launch of the prominent journal Foreign Policy and, over his fourteen years (1996-2010) as editor, turned the magazine into a modern, award-winning publication on global politics and economics.

His prize-winning work is highly influential in the world of international politics, economics and business. In 2005, Illicit was selected by the Washington Post as one of the best nonfiction books of the year; it was published in 18 languages and is the basis of an Emmy award-winning National Geographic documentary. Of his 2013 book, The End of Power, former US president Bill Clinton said it “will change the way you read the news, the way you think about politics, and the way you look at the world.” Arianna Huffington, president of the Huffington Post, said it is, “a compelling and original perspective on the surprising new ways power is acquired, used and lost – and how these changes affect our daily lives.”

Dr. Naím’s columns and media commentary have a worldwide audience. He is the chief international columnist and “Global Observer” for El País and La Repubblica, the largest daily newspapers in Spain and Italy. His columns are also carried by all leading newspapers in Latin America, and have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Business Week, Newsweek, Time, Le Monde, El Estadão and Berliner Zeitung. In 2011, he was honored to receive the Ortega y Gasset prize, the most prestigious award for journalism in the Spanish language. In 2013, Naím was named one of the world’s leading thinkers by the British magazine Prospect and from 2014-2017, Dr. Naím has been ranked among the top 100 most influential global thought leaders by GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.

Dr. Naím is a Distinguished Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. He is the founder and Chairman of the Board of the Group of Fifty (G50), which brings together top-flight progressive Latin American business leaders, and is a member of the board of directors of several global companies. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Naím served as Venezuela’s Minister of Trade and Industry, as director of Venezuela’s Central Bank, and as executive director of the World Bank. He was previously professor of business and economics and dean of IESA, Venezuela’s leading business school.  Dr. Naím holds MSc and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In April 2020, he was named an Honorary Member of the Venezuelan Academy of Economic Sciences.

Morris W. Offit, is Chairman of Offit Capital, a wealth management advisory firm in New York. Prior to that time, he was founder and CEO of OFFITBANK, a wealth management private bank, which merged into Wachovia Bank in 1999.

Mr. Offit began his career in investment research in 1960 at Mercantile Safe Deposit and Trust Company in Baltimore. He joined Salomon Brothers in 1969 and for 10 years was a general partner, establishing the Stock Research Department with subsequent responsibility for fixed income and equity sales.

Mr. Offit received a bachelor of arts from Johns Hopkins University in 1957 and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. He was the recipient of an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters from Johns Hopkins University in 1996. In 1983, he served as an adjunct professor of finance at the Columbia Graduate School of Business, lecturing on the secondary capital markets.

Primary affiliations in the non-profit sector include serving as President and Chairman of UJA-Federation of New York (2001−2007), Chairman of the Board of Johns Hopkins University (1990−1996), Trustee Emeritus of Johns Hopkins Medicine and Chairman of the Board of the Jewish Museum (1987−1990). Other current trusteeships are WNET (Public Broadcasting) and The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. He is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies. Mr. Offit served as a Director of the AIG Board (Chairman of Finance and Risk Management Committee) from 2007-2014.

R. Todd Ruppert is the founder and CEO of Ruppert International, a firm with diversified interests globally in various fields including education, financial services, disruptive technologies, publishing, arts and entertainment, and strategy consulting. He is chairman of several firms, president of London’s Royal Parks Foundation, a global ambassador for the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, and a board member of INSEAD Business School and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He is a venture partner at Greenspring Associates, a US based venture capital firm with over $10 billion under management. He is also an advisor to a number of firms including Motive Partners, an investment firm focused on technology businesses in the financial services sector, Antler, a global early-stage VC & the world’s largest technology company builder, FinVC, a fintech focused VC, SenaHill, a FinTech merchant bank, & Access Holdings, a buy and build mid-market private equity firm.

Todd has 40 years of experience in the financial services industry. He retired from T. Rowe Price, the global asset management firm with over $1.0 trillion under management, where he was CEO and president of T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services, co-president, T. Rowe Price International, and a member of the operating steering committee of the T. Rowe Price Group.

Todd serves on numerous board and advisory board roles for organizations located around the globe in sectors including education, financial services, disruptive technologies, publishing, arts and entertainment, nonprofits, and strategy consulting. He is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies. Todd is the executive producer of three documentary films – A Year in Burgundy, A Year in Champagne, A Year in Port, and one feature film – Looking for the Jackalope. He was co-producer of the musical, Happy Days.​​

Ian H. Solomon is dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, where he leads a multidisciplinary faculty of scholars and practitioners who are committed to creating new knowledge, developing ethical and effective leaders, and advancing solutions to humanity’s greatest policy challenges.

Trained as a lawyer, Solomon is a devoted student and teacher of both negotiation and conflict resolution. Over the course of his career, he has dedicated himself to improving the lives of people across the globe by integrating insights from his experiences in higher education, government, the private sector, and international organizations.  

For four years, Solomon served in the U.S. Senate as legislative counsel to then-Senator Barack Obama. Later, under the Obama administration, he was confirmed unanimously by Congress as the U.S. executive director for the World Bank Group, where he championed private-sector development in Africa and negotiated a range of multi-stakeholder agreements. Solomon has also been a consultant with McKinsey & Company, an associate dean and visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, and a vice president and lecturer in law at the University of Chicago. Before joining the Batten School, he led his own international consulting practice focused on conflict and collaboration. Now, as Batten’s dean, he aims to cultivate the kind of effective leadership the world needs: curious, evidence-based, empathetic, and equipped to serve our diverse and rapidly changing world.

Originally from New York City, Solomon earned his AB from Harvard University and his JD from Yale Law School. He is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has traveled and worked extensively in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Today, he lives with his family on the Grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Christopher M. Schroeder is a Washington D.C. and New York City based entrepreneur and venture investor. He co-founded HealthCentral.com, one of the nation’s largest social and content platforms in health and wellness, backed by Sequoia Capital, Polaris Ventures, The Carlyle Group, Allen & Company and IAC Corporation. The company was sold to the health media publisher, Remedy Health, in January 2012 where Schroeder remained a board advisor. 

Previously he was CEO of WashingtonPost.Newsweek interactive and LegiSlate.com, the b2b interactive platform on US and state legislation and regulation that he sold in 2000. He currently is an active investor in and advisor to top US venture capital funds and over a dozen consumer-facing social/media startups. He has had a career in finance and served in President George HW Bush’s White House and Department of State on the staffs of James A. Baker, III and Robert B. Zoellick.

Schroeder was invited to speak and mentor at the Celebration of Entrepreneurship in Dubai in 2010, one of the first major gathering of tech startups in the Middle East, and it began his journey that became Startup Rising. In thirteen subsequent trips to the region, interviewing over 150 entrepreneurs, investors and global tech leaders, he has written extensively about startups and technology in emerging growth markets for The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, Pando Daily, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider among other publications. He speaks regularly around the globe and sits on the board of advisors of The American University of Cairo School of Business, the Jordanian incubator Oasis500, the Middle East online entrepreneur information platform and network wamda.com. He was named one of LinkedIn top 50 Influencers.

Schroeder is also on the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies, the Board of Directors of the American Council on Germany, the Dean’s Board of the American University School of International Service, and member of the French American Foundation and Council on Foreign Relations. He graduated with honors from The Harvard Business School, and magna cum laude from Harvard College. Schroeder is married to Alexandra Coburn and has three children.

Ambassador Josette Sheeran is President of Canoo Technologies Inc. and is a member of the Board of Directors. Canoo is an American high tech mobility leader, selected by NASA for its first EV astronaut vehicles, the Army for its EV demonstration vehicle, and has launched a major partnership with Walmart in innovating sustainable last mile delivery.

She is an international leader, decorated diplomat, humanitarian and has led U.S. negotiations on trade, intellectual property, supply chains, technology, labor and the environment across the world. In 2011, she was recognized by Forbes as the 30th most powerful woman in the world.

As head of the World Food Program, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, she led the world’s biggest humanitarian supply chains, with more than 15,000 staff and logistics serving more than 90 nations faced with disasters and wars. She has raised financial support for public and private partnerships worth more than $6b to stabilize conflict zones, address malnutrition and starvation, and bring innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

She serves on the board of the McCain Institute for International Leadership. Previously, Josette served as Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum; UN Special Envoy, leading a successful effort to end a cholera epidemic in Haiti; Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program; United States Under Secretary for Economic, Energy, Transportation and Agricultural Affairs for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and Ambassador covering 86 nations in Asia and Africa, and also globally for the areas of manufacturing, labor, environment, intellectual property, and trade capacity building.

She also served as the President and CEO of the Asia Society, a global Rockefeller institution focused on policy, sustainability, conflict resolution, culture, and education and as a fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. She has been awarded 3 honorary PhDs and has been decorated by the governments of France and Brazil.

Jeff is a Co-Founder and Partner of The Raine Group. Prior to founding Raine, Jeff was Vice Chairman and Global Head of Technology, Media & Telecom Investment Banking at UBS Investment Bank. He joined UBS in April 2001 and was named a board member in 2003. Prior to that, Jeff was Global Head of Media Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley. Jeff’s clients have included many of the leading global media, technology and communications companies, including Viacom, Google, Time Warner, News Corporation, Sony, Bertelsmann, Comcast, Cox Communications, Thomson, Softbank, Microsoft, AT&T, Disney and many others. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Jeff was an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and London.

Jeff is a current or past board member of Laurel Strategies, The Manhattan Theatre Club, The International Radio and Television Society, The Museum of Television and Radio Media Center, National Public Radio (NPR), The USC Annenberg School of Communication/Law Center Joint Venture, ITHAKA, Educational Testing Service and American University. He has also produced many plays and musicals over the past two decades on Broadway and in London’s West End and is a three-time Tony Award Winner.

Jeff serves on the boards of Margaritaville, Blackbird, and Reigning Champs, all Raine portfolio companies. Jeff has a B.A. from American University and a J.D. from the University of Southern California.

Sheel is the Founder & CEO of Amplo, a global venture capital firm helping build companies that matter. Amplo portfolio companies include Robinhood (democratizing access to financial services), Parsley Health (reinventing functional medicine), and 1Concern (artificial intelligence for disaster response). 

He is a member of the Board of Directors for Andela, most recently named the #1 most innovative company in Africa by Fast Company. As an angel investor, Sheel has invested in the seed or Series A of Casper, Flutterwave, Robinhood, and The Wing. Sheel graduated from Stanford University in three years, at the age of 19. He is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and was on the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2013. 

He holds a JD from Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies, the Board of Directors for the Greater Houston Partnership, the Board of Directors for the JFK Presidential Library. In 2016, upon invitation of the White House, Sheel was part of the US delegation with President Obama on his historic visit to Cuba.

Adam Wolfensohn is Co-Managing Partner of Encourage Capital, an asset management company formed by the recent merger of Wolfensohn Fund Management and EKO Asset Management. A unique partnership of disciplined investors and creative problem-solvers, the new firm is already working with major asset owners to deploy investment capital to solve problems like global ecosystem decline, climate change, and bringing financial services to the world’s poor. Previously, Adam was managing director at Wolfensohn Fund Management and also managed the Wolfensohn family office cleantech and environmental markets strategies.

From 2003 to 2006, he produced the climate change documentary Everything’s Cool that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. From 2002 to 2003, he worked with Conservation International to create a market for carbon credits from avoided deforestation projects.

Prior to 2002, Adam composed music for numerous films, television commercials, and theater productions, as founder and CEO of “Red Ramona,” an award-winning music and sound design studio in New York City.  He is a trustee of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Yad Hanadiv, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Bang on a Can. He is a member of the Board of Advisors at Laurel Strategies and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Adam earned a B.A. from Princeton University and a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.