G(irls)20 Summit Delegate Selection Committee
Penny Abeywardena
Penny Abeywardena, Senior Manager at the Clinton Global Initiative, manages both the Girls and Women and Education portfolios. Prior to joining CGI, she was the Director of Strategic Relations for the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, a progressive policy think tank, where she was responsible for developing and executing the organization's annual plan for strategic partnerships and fundraising. She has worked in both development and programmatic areas for Human Rights Watch, the Fund for Global Human Rights, UNICEF-Jordan and the Funding Exchange. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in Political Science and minor in Business Administration and completed her Master of International Affairs at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, where she studied economic and political development and non-profit management. Penny currently serves on the Board of Directors of Harlem Success Academy 5, the Advisory Board of Blue Engine, and is a member of the New York Women's Foundation's Grants Allocation Committee. She has previously served on the Boards of Sakhi for South Asian Women and Resource Generation.
Richard Florida, Author and Thought-Leader
Richard Florida is author of the global best-seller The Rise of the Creative Class and Who's Your City? a national and international best seller and amazon.com book of the month. His new book, The Great Reset explains how new ways of living and working will drive post-crash prosperity.
He is author of The Flight of the Creative Class and Cities and the Creative Class. His previous books, especially The Breakthrough Illusion and Beyond Mass Production, paved the way for his provocative looks at how creativity is revolutionizing the global economy.
Florida is a regular correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and a regular columnist for The Globe and Mail. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Economist, and The Harvard Business Review. He has been featured as an expert on MSNBC, CNN, BBC, NPR and CBS, to name just a few.
Richard has also been appointed to the Business Innovation Factory's Research Advisory Council and recently named European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation.
Florida’s ideas on the “creative class,” commercial innovation, and regional development have been featured in major ad campaigns from BMW and Apple, and are being used globally to change the way regions and nations do business and transform their economies.
Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation. International diplomats, government leaders, filmmakers, economic development organizations and leading Fortune 100 businesses have benefited from his global approach to problem-solving and strategy development.
He is one of the world's most sought after speakers on global trends, economics, prosperity, competitiveness and growth. Combining in-depth analysis, cutting-edge trends, a fascinating personal story, and just a touch of self-deprecating humor, it’s no wonder Florida was recently named one of Esquire Magazine’s Best and Brightest, alongside luminaries such as Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Sachs.
Researcher
Florida is Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and Professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Previously, Florida has held professorships at George Mason University and Carnegie Mellon University and taught as a visiting professor at Harvard and MIT. Florida earned his Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. His research provides unique, data-driven insight into the social, economic and demographic factors that drive the 21st century world economy.
Linda Frum
Senator Linda Frum was appointed to Canada’s Upper Chamber by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in September 2009. She serves on the Senate’s Energy Committee and Transportation and Communication Committee. From 1998-2007 she was a feature columnist with the National Post newspaper. As a writer for that newspaper she interviewed hundreds of notable world figures and celebrities including: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elton John and The Duchess of York. She is also a past contributing editor to Maclean’s Magazine, the author of two books, and a Gemini-Award winning documentary producer. Linda is an active member of the Toronto community. She is Vice Chair of the board of Upper Canada College and a member of the board of the Bishop Strachen School. She is a past recipient of the Humanitarian Award from the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. In May she will receive the Golda Meir Leadership Award from the State of Israel Bonds and in June she will receive an honourary degree from New York's Yeshiva University. Together with her husband, Howard Sokolowski, she is the mother and step-mother to five children.
Sabrina Geremia, Head of Agency Relations, Google Canada
Sabrina is an international marketer, sales leader, and integrated communications specialist. She began her career in marketing in 1995 in brand management at Procter & Gamble Italy, working on laundry and cosmetic brands. In 2001, Sabrina entered the Interactive world as Marketing Manager at the search engine ask.co.uk. She then combined her Internet & CPG Marketing skills as Global Internet and Integrated Communications Director at Reckitt Benckiser, a leading global consumer goods and healthcare company based in London.
Sabrina joined Google EMEA in 2006 to set up the UK Consumer Products and Healthcare sales team. She returned to Canada in 2007 to work with a wider range of customers spanning from CPG to Finance to Media and Entertainment. In 2009 Sabrina built the Canadian Agency Relations strategy and team. This team works with large media and creative agencies to help them make the most out of their relationship with Google.
Sabrina is Italian-Canadian-British and went to school at Wilfred Laurier University, Canada and the University of Pavia, Italy. Outside of work, Sabrina is actively involved in the non profit arena and dabbles in writing. She has published on various topics from profile pieces to Canada and Globalization.
Beverley Hammond - President, CEO & Partner Veritas Communications
A veteran of both communications and politics, Beverley Hammond leads a team of multi-disciplinary specialists who develop breakthrough communications campaigns for some of the country’s best known brands and organizations.
Beverley joined Veritas in 2001 as President of the Business Communications division. In 2002 she became President of Veritas in its entirety and has since transformed it into a leading Public Relations and Public Affairs agency with offices in both Toronto and New York.
In 2006 Beverley launched a social media division – one of the first in the country – which has evolved into an integrated Influencer Marketing practice under the brand, commotion. In 2007 Veritas merged with Integrated Healthcare Communications to add Continuing Health Education (CHE) to the company’s offerings. Today Veritas provides services to consumer brands and national organizations in three areas: Corporate and Public Affairs; Influencer Marketing; and Health Education.
Prior to joining Veritas Beverley was President of think.ink Communiqué PR and Director of Public Relations at Grey Canada, part of the Grey Worldwide Group of companies. Beverley combines her agency experience with a decade as a political communications advisor. She has been senior advisor to the federal Minister of Small Business, Tourism and International Trade, as well as Legislative Assistant, Press Secretary and Communications Director to Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance, and Executive Assistant to the Government House Leader. She includes the writing of the 2002 Ontario Throne Speech and five Ontario Budget speeches in her extensive portfolio.
Beverley is Vice-Chair of the National Board of Directors for Special Olympics Canada and sits on the Board of Leadership Sinai at Mount Sinai Hospital. She is also a member of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF). Beverley has held numerous other directorships including having been the youngest Director of the Board of the LCBO.
Beverley is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario.
George Roter
George Roter has been recognized as one of Canada’s leaders in the non-profit sector and believes that Canadians are passionate about driving social change. George co-founded Engineers Without Borders (EWB) along with Parker Mitchell as a movement of engineers driven to create meaningful and lasting opportunities for Africans by tackling the root causes of why poverty persists. EWB envisions a world where the next generation of Africans will have the same opportunities as Canadians today. George continues to serve as co-CEO and EWB has earned its place as one of Canada’s most respected international development organizations.
EWB has created an approach to building capacity for bottom-up innovation in African organizations, which allows these institutions to prototype, pilot and scale impactful programs. EWB has had over 500 staff and volunteers working on agriculture, rural infrastructure and water and sanitation, focusing on 4 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The organization works with 20 organisations which serve over 2.5 million community members.
In Canada, EWB engages 50,000 members and 3,000 active volunteers at 35 chapters who, with their actions and voices, work to promote the idea that lasting change in Africa will stem not from charity, but from helping foster opportunity. Since 2000, EWBers have spoken to 1,000,000 Canadians in-person, delivered workshops to 125,000 high school students, successfully pushed an aid effectiveness agenda that the government has now adopted, and have raised over $10million for international development. EWB designed global engineering curriculum is running at 20 Universities, reaching 50% of all Canadian undergraduate engineering students.
George is a frequent speaker at conferences and events across North America. He was has been awarded the Young Leaders Award from the Public Policy Forum (2007) and has been named as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (2005). He was awarded a prestigious Action Canada Fellowship (2004) on public policy, in addition to other EWB related awards from the Canadian Bureau for International Education (2002), and the University of Waterloo (2000). He has been featured by Time magazine as one of Canada’s next generation of social leaders (2001), and has appeared on television, radio and in numerous print publications across the country.
George holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Waterloo (1999) and a Bachelor of Applied Studies (Honorary) from Seneca College (2009).
When he is only indirectly creating social change, George spends time with his amazing wife Sari Stillman and golden retriever Coel, and would like to think they can all be found paddling their Old Towne canoe down the French River.
Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO of Women For Women International
Zainab Salbi is co-founder and CEO of Women for Women International, a grassroots international humanitarian and development organization helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives, families and communities. Since 1993, the organization has helped 250,000 women survivors of war access social and economic opportunities through a program of rights awareness training, vocational skills education and access to income generating opportunities, thereby ultimately contributing to the political and economic health of their societies. Women for Women International programs worldwide have also engaged community leaders to advance women's rights and socioeconomic opportunities, and have impacted more than 800,000 family and community members. In its 17-year history, the organization has distributed more than $79 million in direct aid, micro credit loans, and other program services.
Salbi has been honored by Former President Bill Clinton for her work in Bosnia and Herzegovina, named Time Magazine's "Innovator of the Month" and received Forbes' Trailblazer Award. Salbi is a World Economic Forum young global leader and is a member of the International Women's Forum and a member at the Council of Foreign Relations. She is also currently serving as a member of WITNESS board of Directors and as member of a UN civil society advisory group formed in the spirit of Security Council Resolution 1325 to advise on greater integration of women in peace and security efforts. She was also recently awarded the 2010 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award for her work in helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. Her work has been featured in major media outlets, including 8 appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" as well as CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Salbi is the author (with Laurie Becklund) of the national best selling book "Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam," that is an account of life in Iraq and the hold that Saddam Hussein had over her family. She documents the stories of women survivors of wars in her second book "The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope."
She has a master's degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and BA in Sociology and Women's Studies from George Mason University. She is a blogger for Marie Claire Magazine and the Huffington Post and documents her travels and encounters with women worldwide on Twitter.
Belinda Stronach, Founder of The Belinda Stronach Foundation and Executive Vice Chair, Magna International
Belinda Stronach is a business and public leader who cares deeply about issues of quality of life both in Canada and abroad. In 2002, she was ranked #2 by Fortune Magazine in its list of the world’s most powerful women in business. In 2004, TIME Magazine ranked Belinda as one of the world’s 100 most influential people and in 2005 the World Economic Forum named her a member of its network of Young Global Leaders.
From 2004 to 2008, Belinda was Member of Parliament for Newmarket-Aurora (Ontario), representing the community where she has lived most of her life. In 2005 at the invitation of the Prime Minister, she joined the Cabinet and assumed responsibility for two separate and senior portfolios as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal.
Belinda is Executive Vice-Chairman of Magna International Inc., one of the largest global suppliers of automotive systems and components in the world with 72,000 employees in 23 countries. Under her earlier corporate leadership as the former President and CEO of Magna, the company had record sales and profits in each year and its stock price nearly doubled in value.
In 2006, Belinda co-founded Spread the Net, a Canadian campaign with Rick Mercer, an award-winning satirist, playwright and television personality. Inspired by the devastating effects of malaria observed on a trip to Africa in 2005, Belinda and Rick launched Spread the Net in partnership with UNICEF Canada to raise awareness and funds to combat death from malaria.
Belinda is a Director of the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C. and a Director of Millennium Promise Canada, where she is involved in supporting the work of Professor Jeffrey Sachs with Millennium Villages as a model of integrated international development.
Based on her personal experience with breast cancer in spring 2007, she is also patron of the Belinda Stronach Chair in Breast Cancer Reconstructive Surgery at the Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation. The Chair provides guaranteed funding for a program to ensure that the important option of reconstructive surgery for women who have undergone mastectomies is more widely available.
Belinda recently founded The Belinda Stronach Foundation, which focuses on three main pillars, Girls and Women, Aboriginal Youth and Global Initiatives and will focus its efforts on partnerships, programming, fundraising and awareness building and advocacy to support these pillars.