JENNIFER BUFFETT
President & Co-Chair
NoVo Foundation

Jennifer Buffett is the Co-Chair of the NoVo Foundation with her husband musician and composer Peter Buffett.

NoVo (Latin for “to change, alter, invent”) is a philanthropic organization focused primarily on the empowerment of women and girls.Jennifer is responsible for the strategic direction of NoVo and chairs its Grants Committee.NoVo is based in New York, and its 2009 granting will exceed $40 million. NoVo’s vision is to support a paradigm shift in global society from a culture of domination and exploitation to partnership and collaboration.

In September 2008, Jennifer and Peter Buffett received the Clinton Global Citizen Award for their “visionary leadership and sustainable, scalable work in solving pressing global challenges.”Presenting the award to the Buffetts, Former President Bill Clinton said, “The Buffetts are leading an inspirational campaign to improve the status of women and girls across the globe. Their innovative approach to philanthropy has leveraged the capacity of existing organizations to affect real, positive change.”

Among various investments Ms. Buffett has guided at NoVo are a $30 million, five-year program with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to help rebuild educational systems and address root causes and end violence against women and girls in post-conflict West Africa.NoVo has also partnered with the Nike Foundation on a $100 million granting partnership entitled “The Girl Effect,” which is focused on ambitious goals to advance the economic empowerment and well-being of adolescent girls in the developing world to break the cycle of poverty.

Ms. Buffett’s other efforts at NoVo include a capacity building program for Women for Women International, a recipient of the Conrad Hilton Prize for Humanitarian Organizations that helps women in war-torn countries rebuild their lives and their communities. The NoVo Foundation is also working on an initiative to advance the science and practice of social emotional learning for all children K -12 in schools in the United States.

She travels around the world on behalf of the foundation and serves on the board of the Nike Foundation, the advisory councils of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), the Women’s Media Center, and BRAC USA.
Jennifer’s work in philanthropy began in 1997 when her in-laws, Susan and Warren Buffett, placed Jennifer and Peter in charge of a charitable fund.Their early work was focused primarily on the environment, arts, and social services in Wisconsin.During this time, Jennifer helped launch the Wisconsin Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Association to advance practice and policy around healthy social emotional development for young children.In 2006, Warren Buffett sparked a major increase in the foundation’s assets with a pledge of more than $1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock, and the Buffetts commenced a strategic planning process that led to a new focus on empowering women and girls.

Jennifer completed her undergraduate studies in journalism and communications at the University of Wisconsin and earned her own way through college.

JACKI ZEHNER
Media Commentator,
Blog Author of Purse Pundit
Founding Partner,
Circle Financial Group
Former Partner, Goldman Sachs (Youngest woman to be invited into the partnership at Goldman)

In 1996, Jacki Zehner was the youngest woman, and first female trader, to be invited into the partnership of Goldman Sachs. After leaving the firm in 2002, she became a Founding Partner of Circle Financial Group, a private wealth management operation consisting of a small group of women committed to effectively managing their families’ assets and philanthropic activities. She is an active member of Golden Seeds, an angel investing network that invests in women-led ventures, and an Advisory Board Member of the philanthropic voice of New York, Contribute magazine. An impassioned philanthropic visionary committed to the economic empowerment of women, she serves on the boards of The Women’s Funding Network, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Center for Work Life Policy, her alma mater The University of British Columbia, and is President of The Jacquelyn and Gregory Zehner Foundation. She is a frequent media commentator on women’s success in the workplace, women and wealth, investing, current market events, and high-impact philanthropy.

Throughout her fourteen-year career at Goldman Sachs, she remained one of very few senior women traders on Wall Street and actively participated in numerous recruiting and mentoring activities aimed at both attracting and retaining women professionals. In 1999 Ms. Zehner left her role as manager of the mortgage-backed trading desk for an executive office appointment in which she assumed a broad human capital management role. She assumed responsibilities in the areas of leadership development, diversity, performance evaluation, promotion, succession planning and recruitment. She served on multiple internal committees including the firm’s Partnership Committee, Diversity Committee, Compliance and Control Committee, and Pine Street, Goldman’s Leadership Development Initiative. Her vision of creating community among high-impact women led to the creation and launch of Goldman’s ASCEND Initiative, a Leadership Exchange which connects, educates, and empowers the firm’s most influential women clients.

Ms. Zehner has been recognized as a “Wall Street Trailblazer”; a “next-generation role model” for women navigating the complex constellation of work, family, and civic service; and is the recipient of multiple leadership awards. Her work continues to be informed by her own journey from humble beginnings to Wall Street success. She learned early on the power of the dollar working as a cashier in her father’s grocery store. Twenty-five years later the journey continues at Circle Financial Group, where eighteen high net worth women work together to thoughtfully direct their time, treasure and talent to make a difference in the world. The group also serves as a think-tank, attracting diverse thought leaders on matters of investing, current affairs, and social responsibility.

Through multiple platforms, Ms. Zehner leverages her unique access and expertise by bridging knowledge and resources across the corporate, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors. Her strong belief in women’s need to individually and collectively assert their economic clout fuels her ongoing engagement across these realms.

She lives in Connecticut with her husband, Greg Zehner, and two young children. Greg - a retired Goldman Sachs Partner, recent Yale Divinity Graduate and now acting pastor - shares his wife’s commitment to social activism.

MAYA AJMERA
CEO & Founder
Global Fund for Children

Maya Ajmera is the founder and president of the Global Fund for Children. Maya’s vision for the Global Fund for Children and its books was influenced by her personal experience as a South Asian American girl growing up in eastern North Carolina.

Reflecting on her upbringing, Maya said, “I have always considered myself to be a global citizen. I am an American but also South Asian. I was raised in Greenville, North Carolina. I had the incredible opportunity to visit my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins in India when I was a young girl. I spoke English and Hindi. I grew up eating French fries and pizza and puris [fried bread] and chicken curry. . . . Most of the time I would wear blue jeans and dresses, but on special occasions I would dress in a salwar kameez [a long shirt and long baggy pants worn with a colorful scarf]. The two very different experiences made me develop a strong curiosity about other people and cultures.”

Maya received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Bryn Mawr College and a master’s degree in public policy from the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. She also studied and traveled in Southeast Asia as a Rotary scholar. Her previous professional positions include special assistant to the president of the Population Institute and consultant for Family Health International.

She serves on the boards of directors of Echoing Green, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Washington Area Women's Foundation, and on the advisory boards of Youth Philanthropy Worldwide, Whole Child Initiative, Global Philanthropy Forum, the American India Foundation, and the Emerging Markets Foundation.

WILLIAM GOODLOE
President
Sponsors for Educational Opportunity

William Goodloe is President & CEO of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a nonprofit organization based in New York City, with offices in London, England. William has gained national recognition for creating and expanding comprehensive programs that prepare young people of color for leadership roles in society.

Founded in 1963, SEO programs serve over 1,000 young people each year. The SEO Scholars Program prepares high potential NYC public high school students to earn entry and excel at the nation's most selective colleges and universities. The SEO Career Program recruits and trains college students for summer internships that lead to full-time jobs with participating investment banks, law firms and other top companies.

Since William joined SEO in 2001, the number of students served annually has tripled, the endowment has quadrupled, and annual revenues have increased more than 75%. William also directed the launch of a capital campaign, which allowed SEO to fully fund the purchase of a permanent headquarters, consolidating three NYC offices into one location.

From 1996 through 2001 William was Executive Director of Inner-City Scholarship Fund, which raises funds to assist Catholic schools serving children from low-income families. During his tenure, annual revenues increased by 70% and an endowment campaign raised an additional $68 million, leading to significant increases in student scholarships and capital repairs to schools.

William also served as Vice President of the Center for Youth Development after beginning his career in advertising and sales management, including positions with Procter & Gamble and Corning Inc.

In 2006, William was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to serve on the NYC Commission for Economic Opportunity. He is currently a trustee of the Altman Foundation and a board member of the National Center for Black Philanthropy. Other volunteer activities include serving on the advisory boards of the Foundation Center and the Columbia University M.S. Program in Fundraising Management. William is also former board President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater New York Chapter.

William received his MBA from Columbia Business School and his undergraduate degree from American University.

DEAN KAMEN
Inventor; Founder, DEKA
Awarded National Medal of Technology by President Bill Clinton

As an inventor and physicist, Dean Kamen has dedicated his life to developing technologies that help people lead better lives. As an inventor, he holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. While still a college undergraduate, he invented the automatic, self-contained, ambulatory pump designed to deliver precise doses of medication to patients with a variety of medical conditions. In 1976 he founded AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. At age 30, he sold that company to Baxter International Corporation. By then, he had added a number of other infusion devices, including the first wearable insulin pump for diabetics. Following the sale of AutoSyringe, Inc., he founded DEKA Research & Development Corp. to develop internally generated inventions as well as to provide R&D for major corporate clients.

The array of products and technologies invented and developed by Mr. Kamen and the engineering team at DEKA is extremely broad.Two notable breakthrough medical devices invented and developed by DEKA are the HomeChoice™ portable dialysis machine, marketed by Baxter Healthcare, and the iBOT™ Mobility System, a sophisticated mobility aid developed for Johnson & Johnson. With the Segway™ Human Transporter, Mr. Kamen aspired to improve upon the most basic form of transportation, walking, by allowing people to go farther, move more quickly, and carry more without separating them from their everyday walking environment. DEKA’s other projects include: a DARPA-funded robotic arm project intended to restore functionality for individuals with upper extremity amputations; a new and improved Stirling engine intended to convert almost any fuel into electrical power and clean heat as part of a system that is clean, quiet, easy to use, and easy to maintain with a long operating life; new water purification technology intended to convert almost any source water into safe drinking water; and many others.

Among Mr. Kamen’s proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology. In 2009, its flagship program, the FIRST Robotics Competition, will reach more than 42,000 high-school students on close to 1,700 teams in 40 regional competitions, seven district competitions, and one national championship. The FIRST Robotics Competition teams professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. In 1998, the FIRST LEGO League was created for children ages 9-14. Similar to the FIRST Robotics Competition, these young participants build a robot and compete in a friendly event designed for their age group. In the 2008/09 season, over 137,000 children are participating in 42 countries. FIRST also offers the Junior FIRST LEGO League for 6 to 9 year-olds and the FIRST Tech Challenge, which provides high-school-aged students with the traditional challenge of the FIRST Robotics Competition, but with a more accessible and affordable robotics kit.

Mr. Kamen has received numerous awards and accolades including the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment in 1998, the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 2000, the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002 for Invention and Innovation, the United Nations Association of the USA Global Humanitarian Action Award in 2006 and honorary degrees from more than 25 colleges and universities. Mr. Kamen was inducted into The National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005.

CAROL JENKINS
President
Women's Media Center

Carol Jenkins is President of the Women's Media Center and a Founding Member of its Board of Directors. An Emmy award-winning former news anchor and correspondent who covered presidential politics as well as international issues, Ms. Jenkins leads the Women’s Media Center’s online publication and its advocacy initiatives.

She is a national spokeswoman for women and the media, arguing the case for inclusion of women throughout the media: in ownership positions, at the highest levels of management and creativity, as well as the telling of women's stories in television and film, radio, print, and online.

As president of the Women’s Media Center, Ms. Jenkins has testified before Congress and the FCC, and written about what she calls The Invisible Majority—the 51 percent of the population (women) who occupy only 3 percent of "clout" positions in media.

As a media and political analyst, she has appeared as a guest and in debates at top national outlets. Her commentary, written for www.womensmediacenter.com, has appeared in The Nation.com, The Huffington Post, Television Week, and other print and online sources. A frequently sought speaker and moderator, she also conducts media training seminars and private sessions for women across the country.

Ms. Jenkins enjoyed a 30-year, award-winning tenure with several New York City news departments, including 23 years at WNBC-TV, where she co-anchored the pivotal 6 p.m. newscast. She was most identified with her reporting of national political stories, including from the floor of Democratic and Republican national conventions that yielded Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. From South Africa she reported on the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison, and anchored and co-produced an Emmy-nominated prime time special on apartheid. She hosted her own daily talk show, Carol Jenkins Live, on WNYW-TV.

Carol Jenkins is the author, with her daughter Elizabeth Gardner Hines, of Black Titan, A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire. The life story of Ms Jenkins' uncle, it was selected by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association as one of the best non-fiction books of 2004. She is an executive producer of the PBS documentary, What I Want My Words To Do To You, which won the Freedom of Expression Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003.
Among Ms. Jenkins' interests is promoting the cause of the women and children of war ravaged Africa. She serves on the USA board of AMREF, the African Medical and Research Foundation. Founded 50 years ago as The Flying Doctors, AMREF is the largest African health organization working on the continent. Ms Jenkins has visited AMREF projects in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and has written about the former girl soldiers of Uganda.

Ms. Jenkins, a second-generation journalist, is working on her next family memoir, a historical look at women and people of color in the media. She has written articles for More, Ms, and Opportunity Journal and her essay, “Standing By: Women in Broadcast Journalism” appeared in Sisterhood is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium. She has served on the boards of the Ms. Foundation for Women and the Feminist Press, among others.

Carol Jenkins has been honored by the Association of Black Journalists/New York Chapter with Lifetime Achievement and International Reporting Awards, UPI, The Feminist Press, The Daily News’ Front Page Award, YWCA, Girl Scouts of America, Save the Children, Single Parents' Association, United Negro College Fund, Hale House, National Mothers Day Committee as Mother of the Year, the Police Athletic League as Woman of the Year, Abbot House as Humanitarian of the Year, and as Distinguished Alumna of New York University, among many others. She holds honorary doctorates from The College of New Rochelle and Marymount Manhattan College.

FRED MEDNICK
Founder, Executive Director, Teachers Without Borders

After more than 20 years as a teacher and principal, Dr. Fred Mednick founded Teachers Without Borders (TWB) in 2000, a nonprofit organization that provides professional training for teachers worldwide and helps them to play a more vital role in their communities.

Believing that a commitment to global education is a universal responsibility, Dr. Mednick has traveled extensively throughout the world and lent his time, skills, and training to onsite development forums, most recently in Dujiangyan, China-the region of the May 2008 earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people. Convinced that education and international development go hand in hand, the key and ultimate vision behind the creation of TWB is to care for the caretakers.

Dr. Mednick received his undergraduate degree at the University of California, his master’s degree at the Claremont Colleges, and his doctorate degree¬¬ at Seattle University. He wrote his dissertation on: “The Qualities of an Educated Teen for the 21st Century,” which extends a U.N.E.S.C.O. report into the realm of implementation. Up to the founding of TWB, he served as the head of two prominent schools in the United States, both with extensive programs recognizing individual learning strengths, strengthening faculty professional development, community service, and global education. He is the author of Rebel Without A Car: A Principal’s Guide to Adolescence , which has been published throughout the United States and Europe, and was excerpted in a compilation called: “Parent School: The Best Parenting Books of our Time.” The book provided him the unique opportunity to work with the late Dr. Benjamin Spock.

Fred's work with Teachers Without Borders has led his invitation to the prestigious Global Creative Leadership Summit (100 of the world's promising leaders) and was Cisco Systems' guest at the Nobel Prize summit in 2006.