Vital Voices Founder
The Honorable
HilLary Rodham Clinton
U.S. Secretary of State
Vital Voices Honorary Chairs
The Honorable Nancy Kassebaum Baker
Former United States Senator (R-KS)
The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator (R-TX)
Board of Directors
Susan Ann Davis, board chair of Vital Voices, is chairman of Susan Davis International, a global public affairs and strategic communications agency headquartered in Washington, D.C. with 64 agency partners worldwide. A lifelong advocate for democracy building, social entrepreneurship and leadership development for women, she is recognized for her leadership on Northern Ireland and Irish issues and for womens entrepreneurship. She was the first international president of the International Women’s Forum, the preeminent global leadership organization for women of achievement and recently honored by Irish America Magazine as one the “Top 100 Irish Americans.”
Bobbie Greene McCarthy is a founding member and vice chair of Vital Voices Board of Directors. In her “day job,” she is the director of Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Bobbie previously served as deputy chief of staff to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and helped her create the Save America’s Treasures program. She has over 25 years of nonprofit experience, including 12 years as vice president of people for the American Way. Prior to that she served as the deputy director of the Indochina Refugee Action Center and the Cambodia Crisis Center, working with the Carter administration to ease the Post-Vietnam refugee crisis. Earlier in her career, she spent 10 years as the chief of the oral history program at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
In 1972, Bobbie played a major role in Vice President Joe Biden’s first campaign for the U.S. Senate. A graduate of Syracuse University with a double major in Journalism and Political Science, Bobbie was among the first Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya. She is married with two sons, three bonus daughters and five perfect grandchildren.
Alyse Nelson is President and Chief Executive Officer of Vital Voices Global Partnership. A co-founder of Vital Voices, Alyse has worked for the organization for twelve years, serving as vice president and senior director of programs before assuming her current role. She has worked with women leaders to develop training programs and international forums in over 120 countries and has interviewed more than 200 international leaders. Prior to her work with VVGP, Alyse served as deputy director of the Vital Voices Global Democracy Initiative at the U.S. Department of State. Her position aided former First Lady Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s commitment to promote the advancement of women as a U.S. foreign policy objective. Alyse helped design, coordinate, and implement Vital Voices conferences, projects and initiatives throughout the world. Alyse worked with the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the White House and U.S. Department of State from July 1996 to July 2000. She attended to UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995 and has served as an advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She completed her graduate degree work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and she is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She serves as a board member of Running Start, which helps young women and girls in the United States get involved in politics and their communities. She is also a present member, of the Advisory Committee on the Secretary of State's Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society. In 2006, she was named one of “Ten Women to Watch” by the Washingtonian Magazine and in 2007, she was honored by Emerson College with the Distinguished Leader Award.
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Jaspal Bindra born September 1960. Appointed to the Board in October 2008.
Jaspal is a group executive director of Standard Chartered PLC. He is based in Hong Kong and is chief executive officer, Asia.
Jaspal joined Standard Chartered in 1998 as head, corporate and institutional banking and has held senior positions such as global head of client relationship for wholesale bank and chief executive officer for India.
Before joining Standard Chartered, Jaspal was with UBS Investment Banking. He began his career with Bank of America in 1984 and worked in their Treasury Markets and Consumer Banking in India and Singapore.
Jaspal also chairs the Diversity & Inclusion initiative for Standard Chartered group wide. The focus is to improve diversity on Ethnicity, Gender & Disability; promote work-life balance across the group; and to facilitate adoption of world leading inclusive practices.
He is a member of Visa Asia Pacific Senior Advisory Council.
Beth A. Brooke is Global Vice Chair, Public Policy at Ernst & Young and is a member of the firm’s Global Executive Group Board. Beth has public policy responsibility for the firm’s operations in 140 countries and relations with regulators, policymakers, and capital market stakeholders. During the Clinton Administration, she worked for two years in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where she was responsible for all tax policy matters related to insurance and managed care. She played important roles in the healthcare reform and Superfund reform efforts. Beth was named four years in a row by Forbes Magazine as one of the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” and was named 2009 Woman of the Year by Concern Worldwide.
She is a member of the inaugural class of the Henry Crown Fellows of The Aspen Institute and the Committee of 200. She serves on the boards of Vital Voices, The Committee for Economic Development, The Atlantic Council of the United States, the Partnership for Public Service, TechnoServe, the National Women’s Law Center, and The White House Project. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute, the Women’s Leadership Board of the Kennedy School at Harvard, and the Women’s Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum. Most recently, Beth was asked to serve on the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership (ICWBL) by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
Beth is passionate about using her leadership platform to make a difference in the world. She is a devoted advocate for the advancement of women around the world. Beth served on the US Delegation to the 53rd and 54th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Mr. Charron joined Warburg Pincus, the global private equity firm, in January, 2008 as senior advisor in the areas of consumer products, fashion and retail. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, Mr. Charron was chairman and chief executive officer of Liz Claiborne Inc. from 1995 until his retirement in December, 2006. He joined the board of Campbell Soup Company in 2003, and became chairman in August, 2009.
Mr. Charron has been involved in a number of industry and philanthropic activities, including leadership positions on the boards of the National Retail Federation and the American Apparel and Footwear Association. He is chair of the New York City Investment Fund’s Retail and Tourism Sector. Most recently, he became a member of the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy.
Tia Cudahy is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Hendricks Investment Holdings. Ms. Cudahy is an attorney with extensive general corporate experience, including nine years as an in-house lawyer for Discovery Communications. At Discovery, she managed legal matters for corporate acquisitions and joint ventures, finance, employment, intellectual property and other businesses, such as new media and education.
Ms. Cudahy was an associate in the Communications practice group at Hogan & Hartson from 1993 to 1997. She clerked for the Hon. Joseph Young on the District Court of Maryland following her graduation from University of Chicago Law School in 1992. Ms. Cudahy graduated from Amherst College in 1986 with a BA degree in Russian Studies.
In addition to Vital Voices, for which she provides pro bono legal services and serves on the Board of Directors, Ms. Cudahy participates in volunteer activities for Amherst College and the schools of her three young children.
Debbie Dingell is currently the president of D2 Strategies, and is chair of the Manufacturing Initiative of the American Automotive Policy Council. She recently completed a more than 30 year career at General Motors as a senior executive, where she headed the GM Foundation and public affairs. Mrs. Dingell has both a B.S.F.S. in Foreign Service and an M.S. in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University.
Mrs. Dingell is also a national Democratic strategist, a member of the Democratic National Committee and has chaired numerous political campaigns. As a respected, bi-partisan voice, she is a regular contributor to the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, co-hosts “AM I Right” on the Detroit Public Television station, and is a regular roundtable Panel participant on Detroit’s WDIV’s “Flashpoint” as well as several other media programs in Michigan and Washington, D.C. She is included in Washingtonian’s 2009 100 most influential women in Washington, DC and Detroit Crain’s listing of the 100 most influential women in Michigan.
Mrs. Dingell is married to Congressman John D. Dingell of Michigan.
Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky is Senior Vice President and Global Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Thomson Reuters. She is also an adjunct Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and holds the Distinguished National Security Chair at the U.S. Naval Academy.
From May 2001 to January 2009, she served as Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs; in February 2007, she was appointed the President's Special Envoy to Northern Ireland. Her previous government appointments include: Associate Director for Policy and Programs at the United States Information Agency, 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, and Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council, the White House. From 1997-2001, she served on the Presidentially-appointed U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.
Ambassador Dobriansky also served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington Office of the Council on Foreign Relations and was the Council's first George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies. From 1994-98, she was appointed to George Mason University’s Board of Visitors.
She received a B.S.F.S. summa cum laude in International Politics from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Soviet political/military affairs from Harvard University.
Sonnie Dockser has been actively involved in the mission of Vital Voices to empower women for the past 10 years, and is a member of the Executive Committee. In 2003 she participated in a Vital Voices program in Northern Ireland that included women from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza to discuss and research best practices for conflict resolution, and the importance of women’s role in the negotiating process. In April 2010 the program “Young Women Leaders Building Peace and Prosperity” held its first session in Israel bringing women from Northern Ireland and South Africa to Israel.
In her role as President of the Dockser Family Foundation, she and her husband support education at the secondary school level and university scholarships. The foundation has special interest in programs focused on women’s issues and international study at Harvard University, Yale Law School, and the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Women’s Leadership Board at the Kennedy School at Harvard University.
Sonnie also supports the arts and medicine, including the Katzen Arts Center at American University, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. She has served on Weizmann's American National Board, and for several years on their Governing International Board of Directors.
Mrs. Farouki is the founder and President of HII-Finance Corporation (“HFC”). Since its establishment, she has been responsible for originating and overseeing HFC's diverse investment portfolio and leading numerous U.S. businesses in their growth across national and international markets.
As an executive and active board member, she was instrumental in forming the vision and strategy for the Lab School of Washington DC, a leading school for the learning disabled. Mrs. Farouki is currently a member of the board of trustees for Vital Voices, the King Hussein Foundation, the King Hussein Cancer Center, the World Conference on Religions for Peace, and serves on the board of governors of the Arab American Institute, and the International Committee for the Arts of the Kennedy Center. Over the past 25 years, she has been actively involved and has had successful tenures with the following institutions: Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Middle East University, the Arab American Cultural Foundation, the Virginia-Middle East Peace Commission, the Washington Opera Company, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Along with her husband, she also co-chaired the Middle East strategy group at the Aspen Institute.
Sally Field is a two-time Academy Award winner for performances in Robert Benton’s Places in the Heart, for which she also received a Golden Globe, and Martin Ritt’s Norma Rae, for which she received a Golden Globe, along with the New York Film Critics prize, the National Board of Review Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award, the National Society of Film Critics honor and Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. Ms. Field has also received Golden Globe nominations for her work in Smokey and the Bandit, Absence of Malice, Kiss Me Goodbye, Steel Magnolias and Forrest Gump.
She received Emmy Awards for her title role in the landmark miniseries “Sybil” and for her performance on “ER.” Currently, Ms. Field is co-starring in the ABC series drama “Brothers & Sisters.” For her role as “Nora Walker,” Ms. Field has received a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy Award as well as two Golden Globe nominations.
Ms. Field has served on the board of directors of Vital Voices since 2002. She has served as mistress of ceremony at Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards gala held at The Kennedy Center from 2002 through 2009.
Mary C. Foerster is vice president of Communications and Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. In this role, she oversees global media relations, internal and executive communications, advertising, branding and marketing communications and international communications for the $34 billion business.
Before being named to this assignment in October 2009, Foerster was vice president of Communications and Community Affairs for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (now Boeing Defense, Space and Security). Before joining Boeing, Foerster held senior management positions with two leading global communications agencies, Burson-Marsteller in Europe and Hill & Knowlton in Washington, D.C. Foerster was appointed to the Burson-Marsteller Board of Directors in 1992.
Foerster currently serves on the boards of directors of the D.C. College Access Program and Vital Voices, an international organization founded by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She also serves on the advisory board of the Harvard Public Diplomacy Collaborative. Foerster has served on the boards of The Civic Education Project, funded jointly by the Soros Foundation and Yale University, and the Seattle International Children’s Festival.
Nancy Folger graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1957. She received an A.M.T. from Harvard School of Education in 1958.
Ms. Folger began her career as a teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools. After a brief term in government as assistant to the administrator of EPA, she began working in public relations for Quaker Oats Company from 1973 to 1983. She has been actively involved in Democratic politics on the local level, as well as the national level.
Ms. Folger has had an active career in education, public relations, public service and philanthropy. She has served as a member of the White House Millennium Council, chairman of the board of the White House Endowment Fund. She is a consultant for Special Projects for the Children’s Defense Fund and serves as a member of the board of directors of the following organizations: the National Archives Foundation, Corcoran Gallery of Art Women’s Committee, Arena Stage, The National Symphony, Spoleto Festival USA, the White House Historical Association, and Live It, Learn It, an experiential education program for low income grade school children in the DC Public Schools. She is actively involved in events for many other local and national organizations.
Baroness Goudie has been a Member of the House of Lords since 1998 when she was appointed a life peer. She has held senior positions in the Parliamentary Labour Party in the House of Lords and is a senior member of the British Irish Inter-Parliamentary Committee in the House of Lords and a former member of the Communications Committee, the Procedures Committee and the European Committee on Law and the Constitution.
She is Chair of the Women Leaders’ Council to Fight Human Trafficking at UN.Gift. She launched the global initiative to fight human trafficking in March 2007 and continues to lead the campaign on human trafficking. Since 2000, she has been a patron of the Community Foundation of Northern Ireland which benefits numerous charities, especially those focused on assisting women and children.
She is also actively engaged in numerous philanthropic organizations including her role as a member of the Executive and Board of Directors of Vital Voices Global Partnership. In this role she has been involved in training community and business leaders and parliamentarians. Further she has been very active in raising funds for projects for Vital Voices. She is also a trustee of Piggybankkids and a trustee for Share Gift.
Lorie D. Jackson joined ExxonMobil in 1989 and has taken on a wide variety of responsibilities and challenges within the Corporation's Treasurer's and Public Affairs Departments. Beginning in its Treasury Department, she managed issues related to financial policy, capital markets, international affiliate financing and project financing. In 1998 she joined ExxonMobil's Public Affairs Department where she served in several positions including International Representative for Africa, Middle East and Europe; Representative for the U.S. Senate; and most recently she has taken on the management and development of the Educating Women and Girls Initiative — ExxonMobil Foundation's newest Signature Initiative.
Lorie has a long-standing academic and professional interest in economic development. As such, she is eagerly embracing the opportunity to make ExxonMobil a powerful force in combating poverty through the advancement promoting gender equality in education and empowering women.
Lorie earned a B.A. in Economics from Wellesley College, an M.P.A. from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and M.B.A. from Stanford University.
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Kate James, chief communications officer, serves as the senior communications advisor for the foundation and is a member of the Management Committee. Kate oversees internal and external communications for the foundation, partnering with the advocacy and policy teams in Global Development, Global Health and United States programs to complement and advance the foundation’s strategies and efforts.
Prior to joining the foundation, Kate worked in the financial services industry, where she most recently served as Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Communications for Citibank. She has held senior leadership roles at Standard Chartered Bank and GlaxoSmithKline in the areas of communications, international government relations, strategy and sustainability. Kate is also an active leader in the non-profit community, serving also as a trustee of Trade plus Aid.
COMING SOON
Carol Lancaster is Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is also a professor of politics in the School of Foreign Service with a joint appointment in the Department of Government.
Dr. Lancaster has published numerous books and articles on the politics of foreign aid, the politics of development and development in Africa. Her newest book, George Bush's Foreign Aid: Transformation or Chaos? was published by the Center for Global Development, Washington, DC in 2008. She is currently working on a book entitled Evangelicals and World Poverty.
Dr. Lancaster had an extensive career in government. She was the deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 1993 to 1996. She worked at the U.S. State Department as deputy assistant secretary of state for African Affairs from 1980-81 and for the Policy Planning Staff from 1977-80. In addition, she worked for the Office of Management and Budget and for several members of Congress including David Obey (D-Wisconsin), Chair of the Appropriations Committee.
Marlene Malek is a supporter and board member of Vital Voices. She is widely recognized in Washington as a community activist and patron of the arts. Marlene is president of Friends of Cancer Research, a non-profit that raises awareness and provides public education about cancer research. She is a Washingtonian Magazine, "Washingtonian of the Year" for her work in building support for cancer research.
She serves on the Boards of Duke University Cancer Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and the Cancer Leadership Council at the Mayo Clinic.
Marlene is vice-chairman, Board of Trustees at Marymount University, and serves on the Boards of Best Friends Foundation and Bridges of Understanding.
She is board first vice- president, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Board of Ford's Theatre, and chairman of their National Advisory Board. Marlene resides in McLean, VA with her husband, has two grown children and four grandchildren.
Donna Cochran McLarty is a founding member and board co-chair of the Vital Voices Global Partnership. Currently she serves on the executive committee and as a liaison with the Clinton School of Public Service and the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. As a member of those boards of advisors, Ms. McLarty is facilitating work-study opportunities for students to intern with Vital Voices. She and her husband Thomas F. McLarty III have also endowed a study abroad foreign business and political science scholarship program.
As a trustee of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Ms. McLarty created the multi-year, AmericArtes festival featuring the rich arts and culture of Latin America. She continues to serve as a member of the Kennedy Center’s International Committee on the Arts.
She also serves on the Blair House board of trustees, the World Conference of Religions for Peace, and is a member of the board of governors for Wesley Theological Seminary, where she co-chairs the Global Initiatives Council. Ms. McLarty is also a member of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group.
With nearly 30 years in public accounting, Ms. Molina was a partner with Deloitte & Touche and Ernst & Young. Prior to retiring, she served as Deloitte & Touche’s National Partner in Charge of the Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women where she was an advocate for diversity within a historically male-dominated industry. She led the firm’s strong commitment to advance highly talented women through the development of innovative career planning, mentoring, and leadership training and succession programs. She was recognized as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in the Accounting Profession” by Accounting Today. Since retiring, she has continued to focus on advancing and mentoring women through her participation as the Chair of the Claremont McKenna College’s Berger Institute for Work, Family and Children and as the Finance Chair and Board member of Vital Voices Global Partnership. Ms. Molina currently serves on the board of directors of DTS, Inc, a public digital entertainment company, and Royal Neighbors of America, a 200,000 member fraternal insurance company, specializing in providing insurance to women.
A former Federal Communications Commission member, Susan Ness is the head of Susan Ness Strategies, a communications policy consulting firm, and a Senior Fellow at the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations (Johns Hopkins University). She co-led an Obama Presidential Transition agency review team, and lectures on domestic and global communications policy and on women’s leadership.
During her FCC tenure, Commissioner Ness played a leading role on spectrum policy, competition, and new technologies, and often represented the FCC internationally.
Previously, she was founding CEO of GreenStone Media, LLC, which produced award-winning syndicated talk programming for women, and was Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication (U Penn). She was corporate VP and group head of a national bank and assistant counsel to the Banking Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
She served on the board of two publicly traded companies. Her past civic leadership included Montgomery County Charter Review Commission chair and Commission for Women president. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the FCBA, and Women Corporate Directors.
With a focus on leadership, power and influence, Dr. Karen Otazo is a keen follower and analyzer of current events in government, business and media. She uses her curiosity and continuing research to support leaders worldwide.
After a 20-year career with energy companies ARCO Oil and Gas and Ashland Oil, Karen Otazo spent 15 years in consulting and writing focusing on organizational and talent development. Dr. Karen has been a no-holds-barred, dynamic thinking partner and executive coach for executives in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. She is the author of The Truth About Managing Your Career and The Truth About Being a Leader, Pearson/Prentice Hall – Business Books and I’m Really Listening Even If I’m Not Looking at You: Learn how our brains work with our senses.
Dr. Otazo serves as executive director of Citizens for Affordable Energy, a non-profit formed with her husband, John Hofmeister to educate and advocate for sound energy policies. She is also on the board of the Tahirih Justice Center.
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Dina serves as global head of Corporate Engagement and is the president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. She joined Goldman Sachs as a managing director in 2007.
The Goldman Sachs Foundation seeks to foster economic growth and opportunity globally. In addition, Dina serves as president of Goldman Sachs Gives, a firm-donor advised fund focused on creating jobs and economic growth, building and stabilizing communities, honoring service and veterans, and increasing education opportunities.
Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Dina served as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs and as Deputy Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Prior to being confirmed as Assistant Secretary, Dina served as Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel in the White House.
Dina serves as a member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, a member of the board of trustees at the American University in Cairo, a member of the Vital Voices Global Partnership board of directors and a life-member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She and her husband, Richard, live in New York with their two daughters.
Nancy Prager-Kamel is co-founder and managing partner of Strategic-Expansion Partners, an international firm specializing in business expansion and corporate-government relations. She was the CEO of a U.S.-European Merchant Bank, and headed the Investment Banking business for a global Chinese financial institution.
Mrs. Prager-Kamel is a national commissioner for UNESCO and corporate ambassador for the U.S. State Department-Vital Voices initiative, teaching entrepreneurship. She serves on the steering committee for Tri State Ventures. Mrs. Prager-Kamel also sat on the Board of Directors of Select University Technology, Inc., where she was chairman of the board of four of their nascent companies: Titan Folding Technologies, Inc., AquaCool, Inc., MacVision, and MTU Software, Inc.
Mrs. Prager-Kamel is the main UN representative for Vital Voices Global Partnership. She directed an NGO (World’s Children’s Day) and was Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for UNICEF (U.S. Committee). She has served on the Board of Directors of Vital Voices Global Partnership, the Global Academy, Human Rights Watch, Immigration and Refugee Services of America, the U.S. Committee for Refugees, Georgetown University, the American Italian Cancer Foundation, and the Foreign Press Association. She has received the “Grand Prix Humanitaire” from the French Government.
Victoria P. Sant is the co-founder and president of The Summit Foundation and The Summit Fund of Washington. The Summit Foundation provides support for international adolescent leadership training and reproductive health initiatives and the conservation of the Mesoamerican Reef ecosystem, and The Summit Fund of Washington focuses its efforts on improving the health and sustainability of the Anacostia River and preventing teen pregnancy in the District of Columbia.
Mrs. Sant is president of the National Gallery of Art. She is a member of the board of The Phillips Collection, Vital Voices Global Partnership, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Population Action International, Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), The Brookings Institution, The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and Kakenya Center for Excellence. She is a chair of the Stanford in Washington Council and also serves on the World Wildlife Fund National Council, the National Geographic Council of Advisors, The Woods Institute for the Environment Advisory Council, the International Council of MoMA - Museum of Modern Art and is a member of ArtTable. Mrs. Sant completed her term on the Stanford University Board of Trustees in 2007. She is emeritus member of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region.
Ms. Swig is founder & president of ComCon International, member, Board of Directors of The Swig Company and founder of Roselyne C. Swig Artsource (1978-94). She has devoted decades to philanthropic and community service efforts, at local, national and global level with principal focus on women’s empowerment, social welfare issues, fine art, political advocacy and education. She was appointed Director of the U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program by President William J. Clinton (1994-97). Ms. Swig is founder of SF Partners Ending Domestic Abuse. Additional board memberships include: Mills College, Lifetime Trustee; SF Art Institute; Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives; NPR Foundation; AIPAC; American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee; United Religions Initiative; Jewish Community Federation of SF, Peninsula, Marin & Sonoma Counties (past president, Women’s Division and past president, Board of Directors ’92-’94); SF Museum of Modern Art, and SF Contemporary Jewish Museum, past chairperson. Ms. Swig served the City and County of San Francisco as past president of SF Arts Commission; SF Library Commission and co-chairperson, design committee, SF Holocaust Memorial. Ms. Swig attended UC Berkeley and UCLA; awarded Honorary Degrees from SF Art Institute; University of San Francisco; Mills College and Santa Clara University.
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Kathleen Vaughan is an executive vice president with Wells Fargo & Co and currently leads the national Wholesale Lending business for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the largest mortgage company in the United States. A lawyer, Kathleen has had various leadership roles at Wells Fargo since joining the bank in 1993, including managing the Correspondent Lending Division and leading the Home Equity business for the mortgage company. In addition to her professional responsibilities, she is a mentor in the FORTUNE/US State Department International Mentorship program and has hosted women mentees from Zimbabwe, Kenya, Egypt and Argentina. In 2006, she won the Volunteer Service Award at the bank. Before joining Wells Fargo, she held progressively responsible and challenging roles over a seven-year career at Goldman Sachs.
Kathleen received a bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA and a law degree from Stanford University. Personal interests include independent films and off the beaten track international travel.
Diane von Furstenberg first arrived in the fashion world in 1972 with her iconic wrap dress, the seed of what is today a full fashion house. By 1976, Diane had sold millions of her dresses, coming to symbolize female power and freedom to an entire generation. Today, the DVF collection includes ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags, accessories, eyewear, swim, DVF by H. Stern fine jewelry and watches, rugs, home and luggage.
In 2005, Diane was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) for her impact on fashion, and one year later, was elected the CFDA’s new president, an office she continues to hold. A firm believer in the infinite power of women, Diane sits on the board of Vital Voices, a women’s leadership organization that empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the world. In 2010 she established The DVF Awards with The Diller- von Furstenberg Family Foundation to honor women who have displayed leadership, strength, and courage in their commitment to their causes.
Mary Daley Yerrick is co-founder of Vital Voices Global Partnership which began in 1997 as a US Government initiative and was privatized as an NGO in 1999. She served as co-CEO of Vital Voices from 2005 until 2009. In 2007 she founded Vital Voices Women Artisan Entrepreneurs program that gives thousands of women leaders in the arts and crafts sector the knowledge, tools and ongoing support to grow a small business into a more profitable enterprise.
Until 2007, Ms. Yerrick was owner of Primetime Solutions, a public relations and communications consultancy, specializing in social marketing. Previously, Ms. Yerrick worked for a multi-national communications firm where she advanced to senior management. She has served as president of the Public Relations Society of America’s National Capital Chapter, was named Woman of the Year in 2000 by the Washington Women in Public Relations, and received PRSA-NCC’s Outstanding Personal Achievement Award in 2001. She was voted into their Public Relations Hall of Fame in 2003. She has chaired the board of directors of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington and has served on other social services boards and has served in an advisory capacity to the WomenChangeMakers Foundation, based in Geneva.
