Event Overview

On January 23, Devex and Verizon hosted an action-oriented conversation exploring ways in which we can create more and better synergies between the global development community and the private sector to drive progress on the SDGs. We answered complex but important questions, such as how to ensure private sector engagement leads to systemic change and how corporations can integrate the SDGs in to their core business identity to ensure promises are translated into sustainable impact.

Join the online conversation using #LeadingSDGs

Speakers

Jenni Cardamone

Director of Partnerships, Devex

Jenni Cardamone is a Director of Partnerships at Devex, the media platform for the global development community. She works with corporations, NGOs, universities, and foundations to design digital campaigns to meet their strategic communications needs. Whether she is helping establish thought leadership, promoting a graduate program, celebrating an important milestone or building brand awareness, Ms. Cardamone serves as a trusted advisor in guiding advertising and outreach efforts among the humanitarian and global development community. Previously she was Senior Manager of Partnerships & Communications at Devex, leading digital communications partnerships with premiere development organizations and global corporations through special initiatives, content exchanges, and events.

Guru Gowrappan

Executive Vice President & Group CEO, Verizon Media

Guru Gowrappan serves as executive vice president & CEO of Verizon Media Group, a division of Verizon creating what’s next in content, advertising and technology. Verizon Media brands like Yahoo, TechCrunch and HuffPost help people stay informed and entertained, communicate and transact, while creating new ways for advertisers and partners to connect. Guru has an impressive track record of scaling mobile product and business operations during his more than 15 years in the internet industry. He brings a borderless, global mindset to his mission of accelerating growth for Verizon Media. Prior to joining Verizon Media, Guru was the Global Managing Director at the Alibaba Group, where he focused on international expansion for key consumer and enterprise products across commerce, entertainment & media, local services, payments and the company’s entire commerce-enabling stack. Before his time as one of Alibaba’s foremost senior executives, Guru was COO at Quixey, where he led the Product, Business, and Marketing organizations. He was also previously COO for Growth and Emerging Initiatives at Zynga and shepherded the company through its IPO process with the management team while serving as Head of Zynga Japan. Earlier in his career, Guru worked at Overture, where he helped define the multi-billion-dollar search marketing industry. As part of Yahoo, he held several leadership roles, including Global Head of Product, Program Management, and Operations.

Per Heggenes

CEO, IKEA Foundation

Per Heggenes is the CEO of IKEA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Stichting INGKA Foundation, the owner of the Swedish home furnishings company IKEA. As CEO, Heggenes sets and drives the Foundation’s funding and innovation strategies, and is a tireless advocate for children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since becoming the Foundation’s first CEO in 2009, Heggenes has presided over the Foundation’s evolution into a global, grant-making philanthropy that funds programs in more than 45 countries. He serves on numerous advisory boards for humanitarian and development organizations and has taken a special interest in helping reform the way the global community works to embrace the rights of refugees and migrants – aimed at positive integration that leads to economic independence and self-reliance. Previously, Heggenes held global and regional leadership roles for the shipping and logistics company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics and global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, based in London and New York. Heggenes served in the Norwegian Air Force and graduated from the University of Augsburg in Germany with a “Diplom Oekonom”.

Raj Kumar

President and Editor-in-Chief, Devex

Raj Kumar leads a global team of over 100 Devexers and serves a community of 1 million global development professionals. His personal experience in over 50 countries, including a childhood partly spent in rural India, informs his work.

Jemilah Mahmood

Under Secretary General, Partnerships, IFRC

Dr. Jemilah Mahmood began her mandate as Under Secretary General for Partnerships at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in January 2016. Before joining the IFRC, Dr. Mahmood was the Chief of the World Humanitarian Summit secretariat at the United Nations in New York. She is well known as the founder of MERCY Malaysia, which she led from 1999-2009, and her previous appointments include Chief of the Humanitarian Response Branch at UNFPA; Senior Fellow at Khazanah Nasional Berhad in Malaysia’s Khazanah Research and Investment Strategy Division, and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Humanitarian Futures Programme at Kings College in London. In 2006, she was one of 16 members appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Advisory Group of the Central Emergency Response Fund.

Rima Qureshi

Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Verizon

Rima Qureshi is executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Verizon. She is responsible for development and implementation of Verizon's overall corporate strategy, business development, partnerships, strategic investments and acquisitions. Before joining Verizon in November 2017, Qureshi was president and CEO of Ericsson North America. She has extensive experience in successfully managing various business segments, including sales, product management, operations and research and development. She also has extensive experience in acquisitions and integration. Before becoming president and CEO of Ericsson North America in 2016, she was Ericsson's chief strategy officer and head of mergers and acquisitions. Her more than two decades of leadership experience in the mobile communications industry include more than 15 years of global experience.

Shamina Singh

Executive Vice President of Sustainability & President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

Shamina Singh has spent her career building partnerships across the public, private and non-profit sectors to support positive social and economic impact. As Executive Vice President of Sustainability and President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, she is responsible for advancing equitable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. Previously, she was Mastercard’s Global Director of Government Services and Solutions, where she worked to digitize social subsidy programs in over 40 countries. In 2015, Shamina Singh was appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a six-year term to the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency responsible for engaging more than five million citizens in community service. She is also a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Public-Private Partnerships, an advisory body to the U.S. Government on policies, proposals and strategies for developing public-private partnerships that promote shared value with the private sector worldwide.

Deirdre White

President & CEO, PYXERA Global

Deirdre White is a globally recognized leader in building multi-sector partnerships to address the world’s most pressing challenges. Since joining PYXERA Global as CEO in 2002, the organization has transformed into the leading organization for convening and maximizing social impact through strong and strategic partnerships. Widely cited as a thought leader at the intersection of international development and corporate citizenship, Deirdre has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Fast Company, The Huffington Post, and Forbes among others. She has contributed to MarketWatch, the Council on Foreign Relations Development Channel, TriplePundit, and Stanford Social Innovation Review as well as being a featured speaker at the Shared Value Leadership Summit, Wharton Africa Business Forum, Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network, and US Department of Commerce’s Discover Global Markets. Deirdre is a member of the Board of Directors for IMPACT2030 and has served as a member of MIT Ideas Global Challenge Advisory Board, Bretton Woods Committee, Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA), and the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy (now a signature initiative of PYXERA Global.).

Leading the SDGs:

How corporate leaders can accelerate change

Date

January 23, 8:30 - 10 a.m. CET

Location

Online

Hosted by: