Opening Plenary

Speakers

• Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars

  Performer

  Performers, Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars

  Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars have risen like a phoenix out of the ashes of war and enflamed the passions of fans across the globe with their uplifting songs of hope, faith and joy. The band is a potent example of the redeeming power of music and the ability of the human spirit to persevere through unimaginable hardship and emerge with optimism intact. From their humble beginnings in West African refugee camps, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars have performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages and matured into one of Africa’s top touring and recording bands. They also now play an important diplomatic role as spokespersons and for the ever-increasing millions of refugees worldwide.

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• Don Henley

  Speaker

  Eight-time GRAMMY Winner; Founder, Walden Woods Project

  Best known as a founder of the legendary rock band, the Eagles, as well as an influential solo artist, Don Henley has maintained an extraordinary commitment to music and to various philanthropic efforts throughout his career, including a dedication to environmental issues and artists’ rights. As a solo artist and as a member of the Eagles, Henley has received myriad accolades, numerous gold and platinum records and performed sold-out concert tours worldwide. Henley has been a tireless champion of land conservation. Since 1990, he has focused on protecting the historic woods around Walden Pond in Massachusetts, site of the seminal work of author and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. Henley is the founder of the Walden Woods Project--a nonprofit organization leading the effort to preserve this iconic landscape for future generations. The Walden Woods Project’s conservation work and its acclaimed education programs introduce Thoreau’s influential philosophies on natural resource conservation and social reform to students and educators across the globe. In 1992, Henley also founded the Caddo Lake Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to wetlands science education in conjunction with the preservation of Caddo Lake, a 27,000-acre maze of flooded Bald Cypress forests, bayous, sloughs and backwaters located on the Texas-Louisiana border. Due to the efforts of the Caddo Lake Institute, Caddo Lake was designated as a “Wetland of International Importance” under the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. On October 23, 1993, Caddo Lake became the thirteenth Ramsar Site in the United States.

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• Winnie Byanyima

  Speaker

  Executive Director, Oxfam International

  Winnie is a grass-roots activist, human rights advocate, senior international public servant, and world recognized expert on women’s rights. She is currently Executive Director of Oxfam International. Born in Uganda, Ms. Byanyima was elected for three terms and served eleven years in the Ugandan Parliament. She founded the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), a leading NGO in Uganda and has served at the African Union Commission and at the United Nations Development Programme as Director of Gender and Development. Ms. Byanyima is a signatory to her country’s 1985 peace agreement and has helped to broker and support women’s participation in peace processes in several African countries. As part of her drive to bring women’s perspectives into core development issues, she co-founded the Global Gender and Climate Alliance and chaired UN-wide task forces on gender aspects of the Millennium Development Goals and climate change. Ms. Byanyima has served on numerous global boards and commissions and is currently a member of the Executive Board of the International Centre for Research on Women. She holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in Energy Conservation and the Environment (University of Cranfield, UK), and a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering (University of Manchester, UK).

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• Jim Yong Kim

  Speaker

  President, World Bank Group

  Jim Yong Kim, M.D., Ph.D., is the 12th President of the World Bank Group. Soon after he assumed his position in July 2012, the organization established goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to boost shared prosperity. In September 2016, the World Bank Group Board unanimously reappointed Kim to a second five-year term as President, beginning July 2017. Kim’s career has revolved around health, education, and delivering services to the poor. Before joining the World Bank Group, Kim, a physician and anthropologist, served as the President of Dartmouth College and held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. From 2003 to 2005, as director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department, he led the “3 by 5” initiative, the first-ever global goal for AIDS treatment, which greatly to expand access to antiretroviral medication in developing countries. In 1987, Kim co-founded Partners In Health, a non-profit medical organization that now works in poor communities on four continents. Kim has received a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, was recognized as one of America’s “25 Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report, and was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”.

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• Hamdi Ulukaya

  Speaker

  Founder and CEO, Chobani

  Hamdi Ulukaya is founder, Chairman and CEO of Chobani, LLC, one of the fastest growing food companies in the last decade and a pioneer for the natural food movement. Raised in a dairy-farming family in a small village in eastern Turkey, Ulukaya launched Chobani in 2007 with the mission and vision of making better food more accessible. In less than five years, Chobani became the No. 1–selling Greek Yogurt brand in the U.S. with more than a billion dollars in annual sales. Earlier this year, Chobani was named by Fast Company as one of the 10 most innovative companies in the world, and number one in its Food and Social Good categories. Ulukaya has always made helping people and having a positive impact on communities a priority for Chobani. From the beginning, the company has donated a portion of its profits to charitable causes, many of them in Idaho and New York where its products are made. A champion of reducing income and wealth inequality nationwide, Ulukaya advocated in support of a proposal to increase the minimum wage in New York that ultimately became law. In addition, last year Ulukaya announced a groundbreaking profit-sharing program for company’s 2,000 employees. He also took the rare step in manufacturing of instituting a six week, fully paid parental leave program for all of the company’s mothers and fathers. In 2016, Ulukaya launched the Chobani Food Incubator to mentor and support socially responsible food entrepreneurs and further deliver on the company’s mission to provide better food for more people. A devoted philanthropist, Ulukaya founded the Tent Foundation to bring entrepreneurial approaches and creative solutions to help end the global refugee crisis. He also signed the Giving Pledge and committed the majority of his personal wealth to the cause. For these efforts, he was named an Eminent Advocate by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and received the United Nations Foundation Global Leadership Award, among other recognitions. Ulukaya sits on the board of the International Board of Special Olympics, the Pathfinder Village, and The American Turkish Council. A big fan of independent films and the Turkish soccer team Fenerbahce., Ulukaya lives in New Berlin, N.Y.

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• Stephan Chambers

  Moderator

  Director, The Marshall Institute, London School of Economics

  Stephan Chambers is the inaugural director of the Marshall Institute at LSE and Director of the 100x Impact Accelerator. He serves on the steering groups for the Just Transition Finance Lab and the LSE Grantham Research Institute. At LSE he also sits on the governing board for the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity and is Professor in Practice at the Department of Management and Course Director for the Executive Masters in Social Business and Entrepreneurship. Before joining the Marshall Institute Stephan Chambers was the Co-Founder of the Skoll World Forum. From 2000 to 2014 he directed the University of Oxford’s MBA and was the founding Director of Oxford University's Executive MBA programme.

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• Jess Search

  Moderator

  Chief Executive, Doc Society

  Jess is a founder of Doc Society, which has funded and championed the work of independent documentary filmmakers around the world since 2005. Writing with Fire, I Am Softie, The Edge of Democracy, CITIZENFOUR, The Territory, The Square, Virunga etc Currently obsessed with Climate and Democracy narratives and protecting the space for independent storytelling. Jess is also a trustee of MSI Reproductive Choices, the world's most effective family planning and abortion provider in 37 countries. Jess is also chair of UK think tank IPPR and a board member of crowdfunding innovator Kickstarter. Jess is a big fan of the Skoll World Forum.

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• Jeff Skoll

  Speaker

  Founder & Chairman, Jeff Skoll Group

  Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Skoll Foundation Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Participant Media Founder of Capricorn Investment Group Co-founder and GP of the RISE Fund First fulltime employee and President of eBay

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• Atul Gawande

  Speaker

  Director, Ariadne Labs

  Atul Gawande MD, MPH is a surgeon, professor, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and is professor in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. In addition, he is Executive Director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation. Dr. Gawande is also Founder and Chairman of the Lifebox Foundation, a nonprofit reducing deaths in surgery globally. He is also a staff writer at the New Yorker magazine, and author of four bestselling books, most recently Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.

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