INNOVATION
Slideshow

Keynotes

OPENING KEYNOTE: Scaling Social Innovation:
A Thought Leadership Discussion with Cheryl Dorsey and Matthew Klein, Moderated by Nancy Barry

Nancy Barry

President, Enterprise Solutions to Poverty

Ms. Barry, founder and president of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, is recognized as a global leader in building enterprise and financial systems that work for the majority. She was President of Women's World Banking from 1990 to August 2006. With Nancy’s leadership, WWB network members dramatically increased outreach of financial services to low income women and households, with more than 23 million clients served in 2006. WWB shaped the microfinance industry, mobilizing other key actors to build new paradigms, policies and performance standards, globally and in the major emerging markets of Asia, Latin America and Africa. WWB also mobilized mainstream financial institutions to provide financial services for the majority.

Prior to joining WWB, Ms. Barry spent 15 years with the World Bank, where she pioneered the Bank's small enterprise programs, led the World Bank’s work on industry, trade and finance, and managed several Bank-wide initiatives. She chaired the Donor’s Committee on Small and Medium Enterprises, and was a founding member of the CGAP Policy Advisory Group. Ms. Barry has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ms. Barry has received a number of awards including the Forbes Trailblazer Award in 2002, the Kellogg-McKinsey Award for Distinguished Leadership in 2004, the Harvard Business School Achievement Award in 2005, the Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World in 2004 and 2005, and US News and World Report’s America’s Twenty Best Leaders Award in 2006. She serves on several boards, including the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, the China Mobile Advisory Board for Strategy Development, the Harvard Business School Visiting Committee and HBS Social Enterprise Initiative, and the Strauss Foundation.

Cheryl Dorsey

President, Echoing Green

Cheryl Dorsey is president of Echoing Green, a pioneer in the social entrepreneurship movement. The mission of Echoing Green is to unleash next generation talent to solve the world’s biggest problems. Its signature program, the Echoing Green Fellowship, provides seed capital and support to the most promising social entrepreneurs with bold ideas for change. Dorsey also serves on several boards including the Harvard Board of Overseers and is the vice chair for the President's Commission on White House Fellowships.

Matthew Klein

Executive Director, Blue Ridge Foundation

Matthew Klein is the executive director and first staff person of Blue Ridge Foundation New York. Matt is also an adjunct professor at NYU Stern School of Business, where he teaches courses on venture philanthropy and the nonprofit capital market. Matt's experience prior to Blue Ridge includes work in nonprofit management and civil rights law. He helped co-found Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), a Connecticut-based youth development agency; he performed legal work with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and with the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice; and served as a law clerk in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York for the Honorable Robert L. Carter, one of the principal litigating attorneys in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit. Matt currently serves on several boards, including Groundwork, Inc. (founding Chair), iMentor (founding member), Single Stop USA (founding President), The Yale Law School Executive Committee, and Campaign for Community Change. Matt has been a fellow of the Echoing Green Foundation and the Next Generation Leadership program of the Rockefeller Foundation, and he is a member of the bar in New York and Massachusetts. Matt attended the Boston public schools, Yale College, and Yale Law School.

AFTERNOON KEYNOTE: Leymah Gbowee in Conversation with Harold Evans

Due to an unexpect injury, Tina Brown will no longer be able to deliver the Afternoon Keynote address with Leymah Gbowee. Replacing Ms. Brown will be legendary editor and journalist, Harold Evans.

Leymah Gbowee

Founder and Executive Director, The Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN–Africa)

Liberian peace and women’s-rights activist Leymah Gbowee is Africa columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Her part helping oust Liberian ruler Charles Taylor was featured in the 2008 documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell. She has received numerous honors for her work, including the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation Women’s Rights Prize, and African Women’s Development Fund Woman of Substance Award. Gbowee is a single mother of six, including one adopted daughter, and is based in Accra, Ghana, where she is executive director of the Women Peace and Security Network–Africa and member of the African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning (AWLN).

Her book, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, was released in September.

Join us for a pre-conference film screening on Oct. 6 of Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which features Leymah Gbowee and the Liberian women's peace movement. Find out more about the event and registration information.

Harold Evans

Editor at Large, Thomson Reuters

Harold Evans has just been appointed Editor at Large of Thomson Reuters, the world’s largest international multimedia news provider. Evans is an editor and author of two critically acclaimed best-selling histories of America: The American Century and They Made America. His most recent book is his memoir, My Paper Chase, which covers his early life, his years as a leader in Britain's newspaper industry — editor of the Sunday Times and Times of London — and his "second act" in America. In 2001, British journalists voted him the greatest all time British newspaper editor, and he was honored as one of 50 World Press Heroes on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Press Institute. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Evans is married to Tina Brown, editor of Newsweek.

Michael Chen

President, NBC News' Strategic Initiatives Group, and Education Nation

Michael Chen is president of NBC News’ Strategic Initiatives Group & Education Nation. In this capacity, he is responsible for identifying growth opportunities for NBC News and oversees several key news division properties, including NBC Learn. In addition, Michael Chen sits on the Board of Directors for Weather Channel.

Michael started his career in 1985 as a financial analyst for IBM. After several different roles in finance, he moved over to IBM Credit Corporation in 1990. He held management positions in sales, finance, and risk management before joining GE in 1994 as vice president of risk management for GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). After spending five years in various leadership roles, he was named senior vice president and general manager, North America for GECAS in 1999, where his team was responsible for providing aircraft leases and loans to the aviation industry for the US and Canada. He was also named as an Officer of GE Capital. During the eight years in this role, he led GECAS growth in North America and helped GECAS become the leading financing company to the aviation industry. In 2007, Michael was promoted to president of Media, Communications, and Entertainment for GE Capital, and was named a vice president and officer of GE at the same time. In this role, he oversaw GE’s debt and equity financing to these three sectors, with a portfolio of over $8 billion. In addition, he founded the Peacock Equity Fund, a highly successful venture capital JV between GE Capital and NBCUniversal focused on digital media properties. He assumed his current position in January 2011, and moved over to the new Comcast/NBCUniversal business after the merger was completed on January 28, 2011.

Michael serves on the Advisory Board for Sodexo Corporation (Paris: SW.PA) and the Board of Directors for the Norwalk Community College Foundation. In addition, he sits on the Advisory Council for the Johnson School at Cornell University. Michael was named as one of the nation’s top sales and customer relationship individuals in the book Secrets of Great Rainmakers by best-selling author Jeffrey Fox, and he was awarded “Dealmaker of the Year” in 2008 by the New York based organization, The Executive Council. Michael has been featured on The Wall Street Journal Online and the syndicated radio program The CEO Show. Michael is also a guest lecturer on the topic “Developing Success in Life Through Personal Branding” at various corporate and leadership conferences. In addition, he received the Distinguished Service Award at the 2010 Commencement for Norwalk Community College.

Michael was born in New York City. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester in 1983 and an MBA in finance from the Johnson School at Cornell University in 1985.