Ricky Martin, artist and philanthropist.
The five time Grammy winner has established the Ricky Martin Foundation to advocate for the well-being of children in critical areas such as social justice, education, and health. In 2004 he launched People for Children - the Foundation's flagship project, to provide education and support for international efforts seeking the elimination of human trafficking, with special emphasis on children. That same year, Martin addressed the United Nations in New York, to publicly condemn international child-sex tourism. In 2005, Martin received the International Humanitarian Award by the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The State Department also included Martin as an International Hero in its Annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2005. That summer he became the first Latin American to participate as an Honorary Speaker at the 24th Arab Children Congress in Jordan. Martin addressed the U.S. Congress' House International Relations Committee in 2006 and encouraged all of the world's countries to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and enforce a strong birth-registration policy, among other standards. That same year, the Ricky Martin Foundation joined forces with the IDB and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to launch Call and Live -- the first regional campaign to combat human trafficking in the Americas. Already operating in Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, the campaign has saved dozens of lives through hot lines that have received over 55,000 phone calls and fostered 60 investigations. This year, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama and the Latino community in D.C. will unite.
Juanes, President, Mi Sangre Foundation
Juanes established the Mi Sangre Foundation to help victims of anti-personnel mines and develop early childhood development program in his native Medellin, Colombia. In 2005, he was honored at the annual benefit gala for Sir Paul McCartney's Adopt-A-Minefield for his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for United for Colombia, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about the impact of land mines within Colombia. In 2006, Juanes performed before the European Parliament, as part of a campaign to increase awareness against the use of land mines around the world, including in his native Colombia. He was first singer to perform in the hemicycle where the European Parliament holds its plenary sessions. .
Juan Luis Guerra, President, Juan Luis Guerra Foundation
Juan Luis Guerra created his own foundation in 1991 under the name "440 Foundation" with the intention to join forces and resources in helping the people in need from his native Dominican Republic. In the beginning the foundation focused its efforts in the areas of health, sports, and education. Nowadays, under the direction of Mr. Guerra, the organization continues with the goal of helping young children, disadvantaged people, and all people really in need, even working together with other non-profit organizations or independent people that work toward the same objective of the organization. On April 2005, Juan Luis Guerra received the Billboard’s Spirit of Hope Award for the dedicated work he has done to helping causes leading the Juan Luis Guerra Foundation.
Pierluigi Gazzolo, President, MTV Networks Latin America.
Mr. Gazzolo is responsible for MTVN Latin America's content-distribution strategy through pay TV, broadcast, cable, wireless cable and direct-to-home. As President he leads business and creative development across all of the MTVN Latin America brands -- MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon Latin America, as well as Nickelodeon Brazil and the MTV Networks Digital Suite -- which are seen throughout Latin America in more than 20 countries.
Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director of Community Affairs, Microsoft.
Akhtar Badshah manages the company's global community investment and employee programs. Badshah brings more than 22 years of experience as an internationally recognized development expert. Mr. Badshah manages Microsoft' Unlimited Potential, one of Microsoft's global initiatives to promote digital inclusion and increased access to technology skills training in underserved communities. Drawing on his extensive background in information and communication technologies (ICT) for development, Badshah works closely with nonprofit organizations, governments and businesses in the United States and around the world to administer the program. Badshah also oversees programs aimed at helping nonprofit organizations improve their effectiveness through increased technology capacity. This includes Microsoft's signature relationships with organizations such as NPower and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Before joining Microsoft, Badshah was the CEO and president of Digital Partners Foundation, a Seattle-area nonprofit organization whose mission is to utilize the digital economy to benefit the poor. At Digital Partners, he established the organization's core programs in India, Africa and Latin America. His work includes development of the Digital Partners Social Venture Fund, designed to support the expansion of IT-based anti-poverty efforts around the world, and the Digital Partners Social Enterprise Laboratory (SEL), an initiative that provides mentorship and seed money to entrepreneurs whose vision and business models use ICT to empower the poor and their underserved communities.
Gretchen Zucker, Executive Director, Youth Venture
Gretchen Zucker is the Executive Director of Youth Venture, overseeing the growth of Youth Venture in the US and globally, working together with Youth Venture's sister organization, Ashoka. Prior to joining Youth Venture, Gretchen led the Innovative Learning Initiative at Ashoka. Previously, she was a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. in its New York, Amsterdam, and Washington, DC offices. She began her career in the Africa Bureau of the US Agency for International Development, primarily focusing on trade and development in East and Southern Africa regions. Additionally, she has worked for the Ethiopian government, both as the information officer in its embassy in Washington, DC and as a consultant in the Ethiopian Investment Authority, based in Addis Ababa. Gretchen also helped launch the Washington office of the Tigray Development Association, a development institution headquartered in Tigray, Ethiopia. She was one of the founders of Her House, a project of DC Habitat for Humanity, which designed, financed and built houses by women for single mothers in DC and raised awareness about issues related to women and housing. Gretchen received a BA from Ohio State University, a Masters of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Gretchen serves on the Global Transition Board of the United Way.
Mario Cader-Frech, Vice President Public Affairs & Corporate Social Responsibility for MTV Networks Latin America.
Mario was born in El Salvador and completed his graduate studies in International Affairs at Georgetown University. He worked as assistant Director of U.S. Hispanic Marketing and Advertising at MCI Telecommunications, then moving on to become the Regional Marketing and Advertising Manager for Sprint International for Latin America. Mario left Corporate America to create a line of Aromatherapy skin care, and after seven years, he sold his business and decided to spend his time in humanitarian causes, creating the Latin American Cultural Space in Washington, DC and becoming Minister of Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of El Salvador. Mario serves on numerous boards including the Museum of Contemporary Art of Miami, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and the Many Hats Institute and serves on the official Welcome Committee for Art Basel Miami Beach. Mario currently serves as Honorary Consul of El Salvador in the United States and has received prestigious awards such as Distinguished Salvadoran and a Ten Year recognition from the National Gallery of Art.
Eugenio Ravinet, Secretary General, Iberoamerican Organization of Youth
Secretary Ravinet is currently the Secretary General of the Iberoamerican Organization of Youth (Organización Iberoamericana de Juventud) Before being elected as the Secretary General he was the Director General of the National Institute of Youth of Chile. The Iberoamerican Youth Organization is an international inter-governmental organization created to promote dialogue and international cooperation between the Iberoamerican countries. The Iberoamerican Organization of Youth is based in Madrid, Spain.
Adrian Talbot, Co-Founder, Generation Engage
GenerationEngage is a nonpartisan youth-civic-engagement initiative that connects young Americans to political leaders, to other civic organizations, and to meaningful debate about the future they will inherit. GenerationEngage is built on three principles: Young people suffer not from a lack of interest, but from a lack of access; Our democracy should be a dialogue, not a monologue; The best investment we can make in the future of our democracy in young leaders at the local level.
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