Paul van Zyl, Founder, Maiyet
“If ordinary people feel their interests have been neglected, then a peace deal drawn up by elites will quickly unravel.” Vision: Using the power of markets and entrepreneurship to build peace and reconciliation in the aftermath of conflict. Action: Building peace involved promoting employment and higher profitability in countries with conflict. By founding luxury fashion brand Maiyet, […]
Wendy Kopp, CEO, Teach For All
“Invest in educational development as a long-term force for change.” Vision: To channel the energy of her generation for educational equality. Action: Recruited 11,000 Teach For America corps members—all outstanding college graduates and professionals of all academic disciplines— for a two-year teaching commitment in the nation’s highest- need urban and rural regions www.TeachForAll.org
Dennis Overton, CEO, Aquascot
“I’m better at what I do in Scotland because of my work in Africa.” Vision: Long-term business sustainability and a deeper understanding of true profits are key. Action: Realizing that farming practices around the world basically require the same skills, regardless of the produce, Overton combined salmon farming practice in Scotland with plant oil farming in […]
Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
“Hope is like a path. At first there is no path, but as more people walk back and forth, a path appears.” – Lu Xun Vision: To galvanize everyone to use their talents and insights to improve the world as part of their daily lives. Action: Coauthored the book A Path Appears, showing that ordinary people can […]
Rebecca Masisak, CEO, TechSoup Global
“Managing technology is managing change. Leadership can come from any place.” Vision: A world where technology is a powerful enabler for social change. Action: Leading a worldwide network of individuals and organizations that share a conviction to work together to develop and exchange new solutions to our most urgent social challenges. Masisak believes NGOs and nonprofits […]
Derek Handley, Serial entrepreneur
“It’s less about planetary issues and more about the human issues that cause it.” Vision: A world where profit is put alongside people and planet. Action: Helped establish the B Team, a global group of leaders chosen for the work they’re doing to advance the cause of better business. Seeing the bigger picture of business and its […]
Jane Elliot, Schoolteacher
“Keep me from ever judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.” Vision: Eliminating racial discrimination by showing similarities rather than differences. Action: In 1968, Elliot needed to explain Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination to her class. Her innovative approach to highlight different racial perspectives made her pupils feel what it […]
David Goswick, CEO, HOUZE
“Promote the energy sustainability sector as a whole, as this promotes energy security and helps avoid global conflicts over oil.” Vision: To create the most affordable and cleanest energy house in the world. Action: Created a zero energy house that guarantees no energy bills for 10 years. Goswick has engaged NASA scientists to create new technologies that change […]
Shari Arison, Businesswoman, philanthropist
“If there’s no planet, there’s no bottom line.” Vision: To be a catalyst for bringing about positive change to people, society and the planet. Action: The Arison Group operates two channels, business and philanthropy, as complementary platforms for doing good. Arison’s wide circle of businesses and organizations have created a large footprint to inspire change. […]
Nancy Lublin, CEO, Do Something
“I am not a charity. I run a charity. These are different things. If we want the best minds solving the biggest problems, it’s time we learned the difference.” Vision: Being more honest about failure in the nonprofit sector. Action: One of the largest organizations for young people and social change, their 3.4 million members create […]
