Global Health and Development Symposium 2017

PAST EVENT VIDEO

Conference

This symposium built upon the momentum of ongoing global conversations hosted by the G7, G20, and the United Nations, discussing how women’s empowerment can spur inclusive, sustainable global growth.

People on stage during the symposium, with the audience at tables in the foreground.

Event Date

September 22, 2017

About This Event

Gender equality and economic empowerment are at the forefront of the global agenda. Investing in women and girls spurs universal gains, yet today women still earn less, hold fewer leadership positions, and do twice as much unpaid work as men. How are global networks paving the off-ramp, cracking the concrete ceiling and battling gender stereotypes? What solutions are expanding opportunity, creating impactful change and galvanizing action?

About the Speakers

Madonna Badger

Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Badger & Winter

Madonna Badger is the chief creative officer at Badger & Winters, an advertising, branding, and design agency specializing in building brand love with women. For over 20 years, it's worked with brands like Chanel, Cover Girl, Godiva, Nordstrom, Pepsico, P&G, and others. In 2016 it was announced that the agency would no longer create imagery that objectifies women through the #WomenNotObjects campaign.

Deborah Campbell

Author, A Disappearance in Damascus

Deborah Campbell has reported on global issues for Harper's, The Economist, The Guardian, New Scientist, and Foreign Policy, and has won three National Magazine Awards. Deborah Campbell has reported on global issues for Harper's, The Economist, The Guardian, New Scientist, and Foreign Policy, and has won three National Magazine Awards.

Denise Chase

Chief Community Officer, The Mom Project

Denise Chase is devoted to building and fostering The Mom Project Community. In this role, Chase is changing the way work is structured, and is determined to make it easier for more talented women to stay active in the workforce. She has spent many years empowering women across the country to redefine their careers.

Dana Michelle Cook

Cofounder, Freeheart Creative

Dana Michelle Cook is an Emmy and Gracie award-winning producer and documentary filmmaker. She has worked as a field/ story producer and writer on shows like ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and HGTV’s Design on A Dime, producing original content for NBC, Bravo, TLC, the Food Network, Investigation Discovery, and Biography.

Ivo H. Daalder

President Emeritus, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Ivo H. Daalder served as the US ambassador to NATO from 2009 to 2013. He joined the Council as president in 2013, took on the new role of CEO in 2023, and now serves as president emeritus. Previously, he was a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution and served as director for European affairs on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council.

Madeline Di Nonno

CEO, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Madeline Di Nonno leads the Geena Davis Institute's strategic direction, research, education, advocacy, financial, and operational activities. She began her career at ABC, and served as president and CEO of On The Scene Productions, leading the company’s development of video content platforms for clients.

Julie Gichuru

TV Host and Entrepreneur, ARIMUS Media Limited

Julie Gichuru is an entrepreneur and media personality and a fellow and trustee of the Africa Leadership Initiative EA. Her career in media over the past 15 years has seen her work across the fields of broadcast, print, and digital media. Gichuru has also pioneered an impressive number of television shows, from the first Kenyan investigative TV series to various political and current affairs shows at NTV.

Claudia Romo Edelman

Former Nonresident Fellow, Global Migration

Claudia Romo Edelman is a former nonresident fellow for global migration at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She now serves as a special advisor for UNICEF—after serving as UNICEF's global chief of public advocacy for three years—and has been seconded to the executive office of the secretary-general of the United Nations for international migration.

Liz Gray

President, The Equation, The Female Quotient

Liz Gray is currently president of TFQ Strategy at The Female Quotient, where she is responsible for collaborating with forward-thinking brands that are dedicated to equality by providing the tools needed to authentically be part of the conversation. These tools include consumer and cultural insights as well as new metrics of accountability for equality in media and entertainment.

Laura A. Jana

MD, FAAP, Pediatrician, Author, Health Innovator

Laura A. Jana, MD most recently served as a faculty member at Penn State University’s Prevention Research Center who has spent her career addressing the most pressing needs of children, families, and communities. Formerly the director of innovation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, Jana serves as the American Academy of Pediatrics spokesperson.

Niamh King

Nonresident Fellow, Global Cities and Women and Global Development

Niamh King is a nonresident fellow on global cities and women and global development at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. King previously served as the Council's Vice President for Programs and Strategic Content. Prior to joining the Council, she held positions with Intel, the European Commission, FÁS, and the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Matt Krentz

Senior Partner and Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group

Matt Krentz leads The Boston Consulting Group’s Global People Team on the firm’s Executive and Operating Committees. Krentz has focused on a variety of strategy, corporate development, organization, marketing and sales, and pricing issues across a broad range of consumer industries. This includes food and beverage, personal-care products, broadcast and print media, and building products.

Josh Levs

Journalist and Author

Josh Levs is a global expert on modern fathers in the workplace and an award-winning former journalist for NPR and CNN. His work focuses on the intersection between parenthood and work structures. Levs made news by taking legal action against Time Warner for fair parental leave, and as a result corporations around the world took notice and made big changes.

Roqayah Mohammed

Student, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Roqayah Mohammed was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1998. When the war began, her mother was working as a translator for and later ran a humanitarian center until she was kidnapped for ransom in 2005. The family fled to Damascus where her mother opened a school for refugee girls. Mohammed is now a pre-med student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is empowering a new generation of refugee women.

Sherida V. Morrison

Founder and CEO, Demoisselle 2 Femme

Sherida V. Morrison is best described as a motivator, public speaker, and visionary for girls and young women. She is a Chicago native and serves as Founder and CEO of Demoiselle 2 Femme (D2F). Founded in 1994, the mission of D2F is to provide holistic services, education, instruction, and training to assist adolescent females in a successful transition to womanhood.

Alaa Murabit

Founder, Voice of Libyan Women

Dr. Alaa Murabit founded Voice of Libyan Women at age 21 in 2011. Her leadership in peacebuilding and bringing coalitions of faith actors together to challenge the suppression of women's rights perpetuated by religious text interpretations, particularly in conflict and fragile settings, was cited as a “turning point in women’s rights globally” by Human Rights Watch.

Alyse Nelson

President and CEO, Vital Voices

Alyse Nelson is the president and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, a global movement that invests in women leaders who are solving the world's greatest challenges.

Michael J. Nyenhuis

President and CEO, Americares

Michael J. Nyenhuis heads the world’s leading nonprofit provider of donated medicine and medical supplies. For nearly 40 years, Americares has been responding to people affected by poverty or disaster with life-changing health programs, medicine, and medical supplies. Nyenhuis has more than 20 years of experience as a global health professional.

Lilianne Ploumen

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, The Netherlands

H.E Lilianne Ploumen was appointed minister for foreign trade and development cooperation in the Cabinet Rutte-Asscher in 2012. In this capacity, she is responsible for Dutch policy on trade, development cooperation, and foreign aid. She founded Ploumen Projecten, an organization specializing in market research and innovation for commercial and non-profit clients.

Navyn Salem

Founder, Edesia/Global Nutrition Solutions

Navyn Salem is the founder of Edesia Nutrition, a nonprofit food aid manufacturer producing over 8000 metric tons each year of ready-to-use foods for humanitarian agencies. In 2012, Navyn was named New England Business Woman of the Year by Bryant University, received the Roger E. Joseph Prize from Hebrew Union College for being an outstanding humanitarian, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in social sciences from Boston College.

Gayle Smith

President and CEO, ONE Campaign

Gayle E. Smith is one of the world’s leading experts on global development. Previously, she served as special assistant to President Obama and senior director for development and democracy at the National Security Council. She also served as special assistant to President Clinton and senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council.

Roger Thurow

Former Senior Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture

Roger Thurow spent three decades at The Wall Street Journal as a foreign correspondent based in Europe and Africa prior to joining the Council in 2010. His coverage spanned the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, the end of apartheid, and humanitarian crises. He is the author of three books.

Katie Wilkes

Cofounder, Freeheart Creative

Katie Wilkes has spent the past eight years deploying to disaster sites as a national spokesperson and content specialist for the American Red Cross. She has continued engaging in disaster-relief work in her spare time while working at agencies including Ogilvy & Mather and Res Publica Group.