MICROSOFT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director, Human Resources
- Markle Staff Member
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- Program Director, Engagement and Distribution
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- Facilities Manager
- Markle Staff Member
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- Markle Staff Member
- Manager, Delivery Partners
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- Markle Staff Member
- Acting President at Markle
- Acting President of the Markle Foundation
- Acting President, Markle Foundation
Beth Cobert is Acting President of the Markle Foundation. In this role, Beth leads Markle's Rework America Alliance, a unique partnership of civil rights organizations, nonprofits, private sector employers, labor unions, educators, and others working to open opportunities for millions of people from low-wage roles to move into good jobs with opportunities for career advancement. The focus of the Alliance is to provide help for people who have built capabilities through experience but do not have a bachelor's degree - particularly people of color and others facing systemic barriers in the labor market.
As Acting President at Markle, Beth employs her extensive experience in talent management and partnership development, as well as her acumen for harnessing the constructive potential of new technologies. Prior to joining Markle, Beth honed her leadership skills as Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) under President Obama. Before her time at OPM, Beth served as the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Beth began her career at McKinsey & Company, where she became Senior Partner, and worked with clients across a range of sectors, including financial services, healthcare, real estate, telecommunications, and philanthropy. Beth is a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration. She is a member of the Board of Directors of CBRE Group, Inc. and serves on the Princeton University Board of Trustees. Beth received a bachelor's degree in economics from Princeton University and a master's in business administration from Stanford University.
Beth F. Cobert, Acting President of the Markle Foundation leads Markle's Rework America Alliance, a unique partnership of civil rights organizations, nonprofits, private sector employers, labor unions, educators, and others working to open opportunities for millions of people from low-wage roles to move into good jobs with opportunities for career advancement. The focus of the Alliance is to provide help for people who have built capabilities through experience but do not have a bachelor's degree - particularly people of color and others facing systemic barriers in the labor market.
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Director, Strategic Communications
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Co - Founder and Board Chair Greater NY / Member, Markle Board of Directors
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- Administrative Manager and Assistant Corporate Secretary
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- Markle Staff Member
- Associate, Programs
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- Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, ASU Public Enterprise / Member, Markle Board of Directors
- Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the ASU Public Enterprise
Dr. Chris Howard is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the ASU Public Enterprise. Howard works closely with President Crow and the other executive vice presidents to coordinate enterprise-wide initiatives and advancement, oversee ASU Enterprise affiliates, advance new enterprise relationships and opportunities, and integrate ASU Enterprise planning and strategy.
He is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and earned a doctorate from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He also earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Howard's military career included service as a helicopter pilot and an intelligence officer, and he was awarded a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan.
Previously, Howard served as the eighth president of Robert Morris University in suburban Pittsburgh beginning on February 1, 2016. Under Howard's leadership, RMU became a preferred strategic partner for corporations, organizations, and professionals in the Pittsburgh region and beyond. RMU also completed the largest capital project and comprehensive campaign in the university's 100 year history. In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked RMU No. 48 on the magazine's list of Best Value Schools, a reflection of RMU's high academic quality and affordable price. Before serving at RMU, Howard was President of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. During Howard's tenure at Hampden-Sydney College, the college grew enrollment, improved diversity, boosted retention, and raised its endowment.
Previously, he served as a vice president at the University of Oklahoma, and also had a successful corporate career with GE and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Howard is also a former member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. His wife, Barbara Noble Howard, serves as an Arizona State University Fellow for nonprofit leadership and hails from Johannesburg, South Africa. The Howards have two adult sons, Cohen (graduate of The University of the South) and Joshua (graduate of Middlebury College).
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Technology and Society, Google / Member, Markle Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Policy Analyst
George Whitney was a banker and financier who took up the reins as Markle's president after the death of Thomas Lamont. He further refined the Foundation's mission to support advancements in medicine by instituting programs that focused more specifically on cultivating a new generation of leaders in academic medicine. He enjoyed his hands-on role in the selection of Markle Scholars, engaging with the nominees personally and fostering the spirit of collaboration that would become a hallmark of the Markle tradition. Whitney served as president of Markle from 1948 to 1959, and as chairman from 1960 to 1963. (b. 1885 - 1963)
Job Titles:
- Member of the Markle Task Force
- Partner at Alsop Louie Partners
- Partner, Alsop Louie Partners / Member, Markle Board of Directors
Gilman Louie is a Partner at Alsop Louie Partners. He is the former CEO of In-Q-Tel, a strategic venture fund created to help enhance national security by connecting the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. intelligence community with venture-backed entrepreneurial companies.
Previously Louie built a career as a pioneer in the interactive entertainment industry, with accomplishments that include the design and development of the Falcon F-16 flight simulator as well as being the person who licensed Tetris, the world's most popular computer game, from its developers in the Soviet Union. During that career, Louie founded and ran a company called Spectrum Holobyte, which ultimately was acquired by Hasbro Corporation. He served as chief creative officer of Hasbro Interactive and general manager of the Games.com group.
Louie has been a Member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age since its inception in 2002. He has contributed to the following reports produced by the Task Force: Protecting America's Freedom in the Information Age in 2002, Creating a Trusted Network for Homeland Security in 2003, Implementing a Trusted Information Sharing Environment in 2006, Mobilizing Information to Prevent Terrorism in 2006, and Nation at Risk in 2009.
Job Titles:
- Manager, Delivery Partners
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- Markle Staff Member
- Associate, Communications
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- Executive Vice Chair, Board of Trustees, New York - Presbyterian Hospital / Member Emeritus, Markle Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Markle Staff Member
Job Titles:
- Program Director, Delivery Partnerships
Job Titles:
- Chief Communications Officer
- Markle Staff Member
- Senior Advisor
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Senior Manager, Communications
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- Manager, Grants and Contracts
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- Senior Manager, State Partnerships
John Markle was an inventor, industrialist, and financier who established the John and Mary Markle Foundation in 1927 with an initial endowment of $3 million "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge awho has funds beyond those needed for living becomes "a trustee for his fellow man and should so use those funds." He served as president and treasurer of the Foundation until his death in 1933. John Markle's total financial contribution to the Foundation exceeded $17 million. (b. 1858 - 1933)
John McFarlane Russell became Markle's first executive director in 1946, serving under the presidencies of Thomas Lamont and George Whitney. In 1948, Russell launched the Markle Scholars-in-Medicine Program, through which 506 gifted practitioners from 91 medical schools around the country received more than $16 million in grants to encourage growth and strengthen the field of academic medicine. Russell was appointed president of Markle in 1960, and served in this capacity until 1969. (b. 1903 - 1986)
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Program Director, Workforce Capabilities
JP Morgan Jr. whose family's great wealth was as legendary as their long tradition of philanthropic service, was a member of the very first Markle board of directors. He succeeded John Markle as president in 1933. Soon after, Morgan began sharpening the focus of Markle's original vision of "advancing the diffusion of knowledge," leading the Foundation to provide financial support to individuals and institutions dedicated to serving the general good of mankind through their work in the field of medicine. Morgan served as president until 1942. (b. 1867 - 1943)
Lloyd N. Morrisett sought a new direction for John and Mary Markle's original vision of "promoting the advancement and diffusion of knowledge," and found it at the dawn of the Information Age. As a former vice president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and one of the founding members of the Children's Television Workshop, which revolutionized educational programming with such milestone creations as Sesame Street, he began his tenure at Markle by initiating a program to advance the use of communications technologies to promote early childhood education, lifelong learning, and the ongoing cultivation of an informed citizenry. Morrisett served as president of the Foundation from 1969 to 1998. (b. 1929 - 2023)
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Financial Manager
- Markle Staff Member
Mary R. Markle established the Markle Foundation in 1927 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge among people of the United States, and to promote the general good of mankind." Our mission has evolved over the past century to our present day focus on working to realize the potential of information technology to address previously intractable public problems, for the health and security of all Americans.
Mary Estelle Robinson Markle was a generous supporter of several New York City charities, in particular those whose work benefitted impoverished women. She was widely recognized as John Markle's inspiration for the establishment of the Foundation, the first American institution of its kind to name both husband and wife as partners. This move, considered revolutionary for their times, affirmed the Markles' belief that the integration of a couple's financial and social interests can impel the important societal changes needed to serve the greater good. (b. 1853 - 1927)
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff, Senior Manager, Evaluation
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- Markle Staff Member
- Manager, Employer Initiatives and Skills Based Practices
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- Markle Staff Member
- Senior Manager, Workforce Policy and Research
Job Titles:
- Associate, Human Resources
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Associate, Programs
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- Markle Staff Member
- Chief Distribution and Development Officer
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- Markle Staff Member
- Director, Accounting and Finance
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Receptionist / Admnistrative Support
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- President
- Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Institute of Public Policy Service
- Senior Advisor, Allen and Company, LLC / Member, Markle Board of Directors
Stanley S. Shuman has been an active participant in the principal investment and investment advisory industry around the world for over 45 years. He has also worked extensively in the media industry, serving currently as a Director Emeritus of News Corporation.
Shuman was appointed by President Clinton to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and served for 19 years as a member of the Financial Control Board for the City of New York. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; the Economic Club of New York and a member of the Executive Committee of the Committee on University Resources at Harvard. He is also a Charter Trustee of Phillips Academy, Andover.
Shuman has served as Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Institute of Public Policy Service and Public Affairs at Duke University.
Shuman serves on numerous civic and nonprofit boards, including Carnegie Hall, WNET/Channel 13, the Museum of Television and Radio, The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., SESAC and is Chairman of the Center for New York City Law. He is a Board Member of the Markle Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Senior Advisor
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Associate, Programs
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Chairman Emeritus of General Atlantic LLC / Member, Markle Board of Directors
- Member of the Board of Directors of College Advising Corps
Steven A. Denning is the Chairman Emeritus of General Atlantic LLC, a firm he joined in 1980 and has helped build into a leading global growth equity firm with almost $80 billion in assets under management.
Mr. Denning joined GA after working with McKinsey & Company. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1978. Prior to business school, Mr. Denning served for six years in the U.S. Navy, where he also earned an M.S. degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He received a B.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1970, and an honorary doctorate in 2019.
Mr. Denning is a member of the Board of Directors of College Advising Corps, the New York Regional Plan Association, the Markle Foundation, Blue Meridian Partners, Inc., the Rocky Mountain Institute and the National Park Foundation, as well as a member of its Executive Committee, and is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bridgespan Group, and a member of the Starr Companies Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Columbia Climate Board of Advisors, and a member of its Executive Committee. Mr. Denning is Vice Chair of the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council, Chair of the Global Advisory Council to the President and the Natural Capital Advisory Council, all at Stanford University, and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Freeman Spogli Institute, the Knight-Hennessy Scholar Program Advisory Board and the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute Advisory Council.
Mr. Denning is former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University and former Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). He is Emeritus Chairman of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council, and a lifelong Trustee of The Brookings Institution, the American Museum of Natural History and the Georgia Tech Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer / Acting Managing Director
Sue Roberson hails from Virginia and she graduated from UVA with a BA in English. She received her MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Sue was lured to New York after business school and she spent two decades in a variety of finance, operations and marketing leadership roles at Time Inc. (which published Time, Sports Illustrated and People). In her most recent role at Time Inc, she served as SVP and General Manager of Time Inc.'s Consumer Marketing and Revenue Division, overseeing the financials and operations of the company's consumer magazine, books, products, and subscription services businesses. Sue left Time Inc. at the end of 2016. Determined to change gears and forge a more mission-oriented path, Sue accepted a role as Chief Financial Officer of Blue School, a not-for-profit, independent school in downtown Manhattan. Sue has served on the Board of Directors and as Annual Fund President for the Hotchkiss School, and on the Boards of Next Issue Media, the Alliance for Audited Media, and JobPath. She also taught as an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Center for Publishing. Sue lives in Manhattan with her husband, Dave and her two sons, Spencer and Angus.
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Board of Directors, Markle Foundation / Chair, Board of Directors, Intuit, Inc
Suzanne N. Johnson is former Vice Chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Chairman of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs. While at Goldman Sachs, Johnson served as a Member of the firm's Management Committee responsible for the Global Investment Research Division; Head of the Global Healthcare Business; and founded the firm's Latin American business. She also chaired the Pine Street/Goldman Sachs University Board and served as a Board Member on the Goldman Sachs Foundation. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 1985, Johnson was an attorney with Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett and worked as a law clerk on the US Court of Appeals.
Johnson currently serves on the Boards of the American International Group, Inc., Intuit Inc., Pfizer Inc.; Visa Inc.; the American Red Cross, the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Children NOW, Council for Excellence in Government, TechnoServe, the University of Southern California, and Women's World Banking. She also serves on advisory boards at Harvard Medical School (Departments of Cell Biology and Pathology); RAND Health and the Initiative on Financial Security at the Aspen Institute.
Johnson also chairs the Global Agenda Council on Systemic Financial Risk for the World Economic Forum and is a member of the Partnership for the Americas Commission. She is the former Chairman of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs. She is a Board Member of the Markle Foundation.
Thomas William Lamont was a banker, diplomat, and philanthropist who was a presidential advisor to Woodrow Wilson during World War I and to Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression. He succeeded JP Morgan Jr. as president of Markle in 1942, and served in this capacity until 1947. He continued the work and vision of his predecessors by overseeing grant-making efforts that helped to promote advancement in medical science through research and academic excellence. (b. 1870 - 1948)
Job Titles:
- Director, Computer and Information Systems
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- Senior Manager, Career Navigation
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- Manager, Workforce Equity
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Markle Staff Member
- Program Officer
Job Titles:
- Markle Staff Member
- CEO and President of the Markle Foundation
- Member of the Board of the New York City Ballet
Zoë Baird is the former CEO and President of the Markle Foundation, joining as its President in 1998 after a diverse career as a prominent lawyer and business executive. In October 2022 she stepped down from her role at Markle to join the Department of Commerce as Senior Counselor to Secretary Gina Raimondo.
In this role, Baird will focus on expanding employer-based training and apprenticeship programs throughout the country. She will also help advance U.S. competitiveness in key technologies and ensure broadly shared economic benefit from new technologies, including by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Under Baird's leadership, Markle formed the Rework America Alliance, a nationwide partnership of civil rights groups, nonprofits, private sector employers, labor unions, educators, and others, working to get people who have not completed college into better-paying jobs with opportunities for career growth.
Baird served as Senior Vice President & General Counsel at Aetna Life & Casualty Company (1990-1996). During this time, Baird was President Clinton's initial nominee for United States Attorney General (1993). Following her tenure at Aetna, she was Senior Research Associate & Senior Visiting Scholar at Yale Law School working on global cooperation to prevent terrorism (1997).
Baird is currently a member of the Board of the New York City Ballet; Aspen Strategy Group; Aspen Philanthropy Group. She served on the Advisory Board for the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, Kennedy School, Harvard University (2021-2022); and was a senior trustee of the Brookings Institution (2007- 2022).
Zoë Baird, CEO and President of the Markle Foundation, has had a diverse career in law, government, technology, and business. At Markle since 1998, she has led broad collaborations to drive transformative change for the economic security, health, and national security of all Americans. She currently leads Rework America, the Markle Economic Future Initiative that is pursuing opportunities for all Americans to participate in the economy of the future. Previously, she directed Markle's efforts to use information technology to reform the intelligence community to meet current threats, and to drive improvements in the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care, work that led to passage of major federal laws and transformation of business practice. (b. 1952 - Present)