Judith Rodin is president of The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the world’s leading philanthropic organizations. She was previously president of the University of Pennsylvania, and provost of Yale University. Since joining the Foundation in 2005, Dr. Rodin has recalibrated its focus to meet the challenges of the 21st century and today the Foundation supports and shapes innovations to strengthen resilience to risks and ensure more equitable growth around the world. The Foundation accomplishes these goals through initiatives to address climate change in poor communities, strengthen global health systems, catalyze the field of impact investing, mobilize an agricultural revolution in Africa and shape smart, sustainable transportation policies in the United States.

A widely recognized international leader in academia, science and development issues, Dr. Rodin has actively participated in influential global forums, including the World Economic Forum, the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton Global Initiative and the United Nations General Assembly. Dr. Rodin is also a member of the African Development Bank’s High Level Panel, a Board member of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (co-created by The Rockefeller Foundation). In November 2012 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo named Dr. Rodin to co-chair the NYS 2100 Commission on long-term resilience following Superstorm Sandy.

A pioneer and innovator throughout her career, Dr. Rodin was the first woman named to lead an Ivy League Institution and is the first woman to serve as The Rockefeller Foundation’s president in its nearly 100-year history. A research psychologist by training, she was one of the pioneers of the behavioral medicine and health psychology movements.

Dr. Rodin is the author of more than 200 academic articles and has written or co-written 12 books. She has received 18 honorary doctorate degrees and has been named one of Crain’s 50 Most Powerful Women in New York three years in a row. She has also been recognized as one of Forbes Magazine’s World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Dr. Rodin serves as a member of the board for several leading corporations and non-profits including Citigroup, AMR Corporation, Comcast and the White House Council for Community Solutions. Dr. Rodin is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University.

Jonathan Fanton is a Franklin D. Roosevelt Visiting Fellow at Hunter College and was President of The MacArthur Foundation from 1999-2009. Mr. Fanton holds a Ph.D in American History from Yale University where he taught and was Chief of Staff to President Kingman Brewster. He was Vice President of Planning at The University of Chicago and for 17 years was President of The New School for Social Research.

He is author of Foundations and Civil Society, Volume I and II (2008), and The University and Civil Society, Volume I and II (1995, 2002).

Dr. Fanton currently serves as Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College which is dedicated to innovative approaches to teaching, research, and public programming. Located in the heart of New York City, the Institute provides a platform from which high quality scholarship effectively informs and influences public debate and public life. The mission of Roosevelt House is three-fold: to educate students in public policy and human rights, to support faculty research, and to foster creative dialogue.