Influential Global Business and Policy Leaders Join New Melton Foundation Advisory Board

The Melton Foundation is convening a select group of influential global business and policy leaders through its Advisory Board. The Melton Foundation actively promotes global citizenship as a way for individuals and organizations to work together across boundaries of place and identity to address global challenges. We accomplish this through a portfolio of hands-on projects and activities that involve a growing network of Melton Fellows, universities, and partners in diverse world regions who share our commitment to promoting global citizenship.

Our Advisory Board members will help us move towards this vision and enable the scaling of the Foundation’s capacity to model and advocate for global citizenship to address today’s global challenges.

Through bi-annual meetings and periodic ad hoc consultation by the Executive Director, members will counsel the Foundation on strategies for expansion of its impact and influence. This role will entail advice on strategic partnerships, foresight into the Foundation’s thought leadership, and assistance in fundraising such as facilitating access to potential donors. Members can expect quarterly updates from the Foundation’s Executive Director or Board Chair and opportunities for substantive interaction with peers on the Advisory Board. If they wish, members are also welcome to engage in Melton Foundation events.

Learn more about our Board of Advisors and their accomplishments below.

Akwasi Aidoo, Senior Fellow at Humanity United; Chair of the Board of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, and the Fund for Global Human Rights

​Akwasi Aidoo is the former executive director of TrustAfrica, a foundation dedicated to advancing equitable development and democratic governance in Africa. His previous roles include head of Canadian International Development Research Center’s health and equity program for West and Central Africa, head of the Ford Foundation’s office for West Africa, and director of the Ford Foundation’s Special Initiative for Africa. He previously served as a trustee for several international organizations, including OXFAM America and Resource Alliance.

Also a poet, Akwasi has taught at universities in Ghana, Tanzania, and the United States, and received a PhD in medical sociology from the University of Connecticut. 

Mary Gordon, Founder, Roots of Empathy

Mary Gordon is recognized internationally as an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator, author, child advocate and parenting expert who has created programs informed by the power of empathy. In 1996 Mary outlined the initial curriculum of Roots of Empathy and began piloting the program in Toronto. In 2000 she established it as a national and international organization. Roots of Empathy now offers programs in every province of Canada, and in New Zealand, the USA, the Isle of Man, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, and Germany.

In 2002, Mary was named the first female Canadian Ashoka Fellow, and she is a Member of the Order of Canada. She is also the founder of Canada's first and largest school-based Parenting and Family Literacy Centres. She speaks and consults to governments, educational organizations, and public institutions, and her book, Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Child by Child, is a Canadian bestseller.

Mariana Cristen Jakob, Founder, Social Entrepreneurship Initiative & Foundation (seif); Lecturer, Lucerne University

Mariana Cristen Jakob is a lecturer at Lucerne University and head of research projects in the fields of corporate social responsibility, with a focus on corporate partnership, social innovation and social impact measurement. She is also the program director of the CAS Corporate Social Responsibility program and is in charge of building a business network in central Switzerland. In 2010 Mariana founded the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative (sei), supported by the Confederation’s innovation promotion agency, Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI), the Gebert Rüf Foundation and Suva Insurance. Based on its first successful pilot year, Mariana turned over the initiative as founder in the Social Entrepreneurship Foundation (SEF-Swiss) under the umbrella of the Fondation de Fondateur. 

Henriette Kolb, Head, Gender Secretariat, International Finance Corporation

Henriette Kolb is the Head of the Gender Secretariat at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. She serves as an advocate for gender equality issues in the private sector and leads a team that works with IFC’s clients to include both women and men as entrepreneurs, employees, consumers, community stakeholders and leaders. Before joining IFC in September 2013, Henriette was the CEO of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, where she remains involved as a senior advisor. Henriette also serves as a member of Secretary Hillary Clinton's International Council on Women's Business Leadership. Earlier in her career, Henriette was the UN representative in the Middle East Quartet team advising Tony Blair in Jerusalem. She also worked for the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO). Read more.

 

Peder Michael Pruzan-Jorgensen, Vice President, Europe, Middle East, Africa, BSR - Business for Social Responsibility

Peder Michael Pruzan-Jorgensen leads BSR’s activities in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as well as the organization’s global Research and Partnership Development teams. A member of BSR’s executive team, he also leads BSR’s Program Committee, which sets the organization’s programmatic priorities. 

An experienced sustainability executive, Peder Michael works with the world’s leading companies in consumer, financial services, transportation, health care, and energy sectors on business strategy and operations to help them manage sustainability risks and opportunities. He is a member of several sustainability advisory boards, including the Kingfisher Net-Positive Advisory Board and the Melton Foundation Advisory Board, and he is a member of the UN Women/UNGC Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Group. Read more.

Rory Stear, Chairman, Flambard Holdings; Co-Founder, Lifeline Energy (formerly Freeplay Foundation)

Rory Stear is the Executive Chairman of Flambard Holdings, a privately held international investment company, and Lifeline Technology, a micro-energy social enterprise focused on the aid and development sector. Rory co-founded Freeplay Energy, an award winning micro-energy company that pioneered renewable energy products for use in the developing world, as well as founding Lifeline Energy (formally the Freeplay Foundation) in 1998. Lifeline Energy is a multi-award winning charity registered in the US and South Africa.

Rory is chairman of the advisory board at the Business School at Nelson Mandela University. He was a member of the Renewable Energy Council for the Global Agenda at the World Economic Forum from 2009 to 2011 and a fellow of the Schwab Foundation at the World Economic Forum from 2002 to 2010. Read more.