The Opportunity Nation Leadership Council is a network of influential Americans leading the conversation about how to revitalize the American Dream and raise awareness about the growing opportunity gap in our country. The following are Leadership Council members through 2017.
Leadership Council Chair: Robert Denson – President, Des Moines Area Community College
A. Barry Rand – CEO, AARP
Andrea Levere – President, Corporation for Enterprise Development
Angela Glover Blackwell – Founder and CEO, PolicyLink
Anne Kress – President, Monroe Community College
Anthony Marx – President and CEO, New York Public Library
Arianna Huffington – President and Editor-in-Chief, AOL Huffington Post Media Group
Artur Davis – Attorney; Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives (2003 – 2011)
Bobbi Silten – Senior Vice President, Global Responsibility, Gap Inc.; President, Gap Foundation
Brian Gallagher – President and CEO, United Way Worldwide
Charles Kolb – President, The French-American Foundation
Christopher Graves – Global CEO, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Dan Carroll – Former Partner, TPG Capital
Dennis Van Roekel – President, National Education Association
Dr. Alicia Munnell – Peter F. Drucker Professor of Management Sciences, Boston College’s Carroll School of Management; Director, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
Dr. Curtis L. Ivery – Chancellor, Wayne County Community College District
Dr. Diana Natalicio – President, The University of Texas at El Paso
Dr. Eduardo Padrón – President, Miami Dade College
Dr. Eugene J. Cornacchia – President, Saint Peter’s College
Dr. Fareed Zakaria – Editor-At-Large, TIME; Host of CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria
Dr. Harry Williams – President, Delaware State University
Dr. Isabel Sawhill – Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, Brookings Institution; Co-Director, Center on Children and Families and the Budgeting for National Priorities Project, Brookings Institution
Dr. Jill Wakefield – Chancellor, Seattle Community Colleges
Dr. Judith Rodin – President, The Rockefeller Foundation
Dr. Kathy Krendl – President, Otterbein University
Dr. Kenneth Peacock – Chancellor, Appalachian State University
Dr. Mil Duncan – Research Director, AGree
Dr. Paula Johnson – MD, MPH, Executive Director of the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology; Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Rick Warren – Pastor, Saddleback Church
Dr. Robert Ross – President and CEO, The California Endowment
Dr. Ronald Ferguson – Senior Lecturer in Education and Public Policy, Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School
Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter – Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; Author
Dr. Scott Cowen – President, Tulane University
Dr. Willarda V. Edwards – MD, MBA, Managing Partner and Internist at Edwards & Stephens; 110th President, National Medical Association
Dr. Xavier de Souza Briggs – Associate Professor of Sociology and Planning, MIT Department of Urban Studies & Planning; Former Associate Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, President Barack Obama; Former Senior Policy Official at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, President Bill Clinton
Fr. Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B. – President, Saint Anselm College
George Nethercutt – Founder and Chairman of the Nethercutt Foundation; Former Member of U.S. House of Representatives (1995 – 2010)
Howard H. Stevenson – Sarofim-Rock Baker Foundation Professor, Senior Associate Dean, Director of Publishing and Chair of the Harvard Business Publishing Company Board, Harvard Business School
Hubie Jones – Senior Advisor and Social Justice Entrepreneur in Residence, City Year, Inc.
Hugh Price – Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, Brookings Institution; Former John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor, The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; Former President and CEO, National Urban League
Irv Katz – President and CEO, National Human Services Assembly
J. Barry Griswell – Former CEO, Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines; Former Chairman and CEO, Principal Financial Group
Jacob Harold – President and CEO, Guidestar
James Catanzaro – President, Chattanooga State Community College
James Gutierrez – Founder and Former Chairman and CEO, Progreso Financiero
Jim Wallis – President and CEO, Sojourners
Jo Ann Jenkins – Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, AARP Foundation
John Coatsworth – Provost and Professor of International and Public Affairs and History, Columbia University
Jon Schnur – Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, America Achieves
Jonathan Lavine – Co-Managing Partner, Bain Capital & Chief Investment Officer, Bain Capital Credit
Jordin Sparks – Musician, Actress, Philanthropist
Joshua Bekenstein – Managing Director, Bain Capital, LLC
Judy Vredenburgh – President and CEO, Girls Inc.
Kat Graham – Actress on the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, Singer
Kimberly Kelleher – Board of Directors, Say Media; Former President, Say Media
Lisa Nicole Wilkerson – Broadway Actress
Luis Ubiñas – Former President, Ford Foundation
Major General Albert Zapanta (Ret.) – President and CEO, U.S. Mexico Chamber of Commerce
Marguerite W. Kondracke – Senior Advisor, America’s Promise Alliance
Margy Waller – Senior Fellow, Topos Partnership; Former White House Senior Advisor on Working Families, President Bill Clinton
Mark Rodgers – Principal, The Clapham Group; Managing Director, Wedgwood Circle
Mark Wildman – Vice President, Group Publisher of The Parenting Group
Max Stier – President and CEO, Partnership for Public Service
Meredith DeWitt – Principal, Meredith J. DeWitt Consulting
Michael E. Porter – Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School
Michael J. Gerson – Journalist, Washington Post; Former Chief Speechwriter, Senior Advisor and Member of the White House Iraq Group, President George W. Bush
Michael Lynton – CEO, Sony Entertainment, Chairman; CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Michael Miles – Advisory Director, Berkshire Partners; Former President and COO, Staples, Inc.
Michael R. Eisenson – Co-Founder, Managing Director and CEO, Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC
Michelle Nunn – Currently running for the U.S. Senate to represent the State of Georgia; Former CEO, Points of Light
Mickey Edwards – Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives (1977 – 1993)
Naila Bolus – President and CEO, Jumpstart
Neera Tanden – President, Center for American Progress
Nick Cannon – Actor, Comedian, Musician, Writer and Executive Producer
Noel Castellanos – CEO, Christian Community Development Association
Patrick McCarthy – President and CEO, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Paul Grogan – President and CEO, The Boston Foundation
Rick Stengel – Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, President Barack Obama; Former Managing Editor, TIME
Robert Atchinson – Co-Founder, Adage Capital Management, L.P.
Robert Reich – Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Roger Brown – President, Berklee College of Music
Romanita Hairston – Vice President, U.S. Programs, World Vision
Ron Haskins – Co-Director, Brookings Center on Children and Families and Budgeting for National Priorities Project; Former White House Senior Advisor for Welfare Policy, President George W. Bush
Russell Simmons – CEO, RUSH Communications
Salam Al-Marayati – Executive Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council
Stanley Litow – Vice President, Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs; President, IBM International Foundation
Stuart Thorn – President and CEO, Southwire
The Honorable Deval L. Patrick – Governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
The Honorable Harris Wofford – Former U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania
The Honorable John Bridgeland – CEO, Civic Enterprises; Former Assistant to the President and Director of White House Domestic Policy Council and USA Freedom Council, President George W. Bush
The Honorable John J. Dilulio, Jr. – Frederic Fox Leadership Professor, University of Pennsylvania; Faculty Director & Co-Chair of the Director’s Advisory Group, Robert A. Fox Leadership Program; Former Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, President George W. Bush
The Honorable Melody Barnes – CEO, Melody Barnes Solutions, LLC; Former Assistant to the President and Director of White House Domestic Policy Council, President Barack Obama
The Honorable Michael Bloomberg (Co-Chair) – 108th Mayor, New York City
The Honorable Ted Strickland – Former Governor of Ohio
The Honorable Tony Hall – Executive Director, The Alliance to End Hunger; Former U.S. Ambassador, United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture; Former U.S. Congressman, Ohio
The Rev. Dr. Serene Jones – President, Union Theological Seminary
The Reverend Luis Cortés, Jr. – President, Esperanza
Tiffany Dufu – Chief Leadership Officer, Levo League; Former President, The White House Project
Wayne Ford – Iowa State Representative, 65th District
will.i.am – Musician/Producer, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist
Woody Hunt – Chairman and CEO, Hunt Companies, Inc.
