Tracy Stone-Manning
In September 2021, Tracy Stone-Manning was confirmed as the 19th Director of the Bureau of Land Management. Tracy Stone-Manning has spent her career devoted to public service and conservation, bringing people together to solve the biggest challenges facing our lands and waters. Before coming to the BLM, Stone-Manning served as both a senior advisor for conservation policy and associate vice president of public lands at the National Wildlife Federation.
Before joining the federation, she served as former Montana Governor Steve Bullock’s chief of staff, where she helped broker bipartisan legislation, including delivering healthcare to nearly 100,000 Montanans by expanding Medicaid and passing a water compact with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She also helped launch the state’s first Office of Outdoor Recreation.
Prior to that, Stone-Manning worked as the director of Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality, overseeing the state’s water, air, mining and remediation programs. She served as a senior advisor and regional director to Senator Jon Tester during his first term, where she worked primarily on natural resource issues.
Raised in a big, Navy family, she was guided into public service from childhood. She is an avid backpacker, hunter and singer and holds a M.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and an B.A. from the University of Maryland.
Jean Oelwang
Jean is the founding CEO and President of Virgin Unite. Over the last 17 years, she has worked with partners to lead the incubation and start-up of several global initiatives, including: The Elders, The B Team, The Carbon War Room (successfully merged with the RMI), The Africa Donor Collective, Ocean Unite (now ORRAA), The Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator, and 100% Human at Work. Jean also served as a Partner in the Virgin Group leading their people strategy.
Jean spent seventeen years living and working on six continents to start and help lead mobile phone companies in South Africa, Colombia, Bulgaria, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and the US. She was the joint CEO of Virgin Mobile in Australia prior to starting Virgin Unite.
Jean holds several advisory board roles, including The Elders, Vintro, Vatican Humanity 2.0, and the Sara Blakely Foundation. She is on the boards of RMI, The Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator, AID Live, Unite BVI Foundation, The B Team, Penn State Board of Visitors, and Just Capital. She is also honored to be a B Team leader. She is the author of Partnering and co-founded Plus Wonder to spark more meaningful deep connections and collaborations in the world.
Brenda Myers-Powell
Brenda Myers-Powell has been advocating for victims of sex trafficking since 1997. With 25 years as a teenage and adult prostitute, Ms. Myers-Powell brings the insight and depth to help others change their lives and successfully live their dreams.
In 2020, Brenda was selected to serve on the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. She is the co-founder and executive director of the Dreamcatcher Foundation, and has sat on the board of numerous organizations. Her work with Dreamcatcher and victims was the focus of the Sundance Award–winning documentary Dreamcatcher. Which was directed by Kim Longiretto and released in 2015. The film will be showcased during the Women and Leadership conference.
In June of this year, Brenda released her book co-authored with April Reynolds called “Leaving Breezy Street.” The book is told in an inimitable voice and is the stunning account of Brenda Myers-Powell’s brutal and beautiful life.
Anneliese Satz
Anneliese Satz graduated from Boise State University in 2011, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics. She lived in Amman, Jordan for six months before returning to BSU to complete a Bachelor of Science in Political Science in Spring 2014. Following her Marine Corps commissioning in Fall 2014, Anneliese attended The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia. She then went on to Primary flight training at NAS Pensacola, Florida, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Advanced flight training in Meridian, Mississippi. Anneliese was designated a Naval Aviator in May of 2018 and selected to fly the F-35B.
Prior to joining the Marine Corps she earned her commercial pilots license flying a Robinson R44 Helicopter which she attributes to preparing her for a career in military aviation. Over the last four years, Satz, 31, has completed Aviation Pre-flight Indoctrination in Pensacola, Florida, Primary Flight Training in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she learned to fly the T-6 Texan II, then to Meridian, Mississippi, where she flew the T-45C Goshawk advanced jet training aircraft. Upon completing her initial trainings, she was assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, the “Warlords,” to train on her assigned fleet aircraft: the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, the world’s first supersonic STOVL stealth aircraft. It’s designed to operate from austere, short-field bases and a range of air-capable ships operating near front-line combat zones. Upon earning her wings, Anneliese was assigned to Fleet Replacement Squadron VMFAT-501 at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina. She currently serves with the Green Knights of VMFA-121 at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan. Her operational experience includes three deployments with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and participation in Cobra Gold and Talisman Sabre exercises.
When not at work Anneliese enjoys skiing, scuba diving, reading, traveling, and giving back to the community.
Dr. Lise Van Susteren
Dr. Lise Van Susteren is a general and forensic psychiatrist in Washington, DC, and an expert on the physical and psychological impacts of climate change. In 2011 she co-authored “The Psychological Effects of Global Warming on the U.S. – Why the US Mental Health System Is Not Prepared.” Van Susteren is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University and has been a consultant to the Executive Branch of the US government profiling world leaders.
After receiving her medical degree from the University of Paris she practiced medicine in West Africa, at community health centers and homeless shelters in the metropolitan Washington DC. In addition to community organizing on climate issues, Van Susteren serves on the Boards of Earth Day Network, Physicians for Social Responsibility and is a co-founder of “Climate Psychiatry Alliance,” and of “Climate Psychology Alliance – North America “, professional groups dedicated to promoting awareness and action on climate from a mental health perspective. Van Susteren is the expert witness on the psychological damages to young people from inaction on climate in Juliana v US Government, in Held v Montana and in the European Court of Human Rights.
She is a frequent contributor on television, radio and in the print media. In 2006 Dr. Van Susteren sought the Democratic nomination to the US Senate from Maryland. Her book, “Emotional Inflammation – Discover Your Triggers and Reclaim Your Equilibrium During Anxious Times” was published in April 2020.
Nandita Bakhshi
Nandita Bakhshi is a transformational leader and demonstrates how banks can build a better, more equitable future through sustainability, diversity, and with a global reach.
As President and CEO of Bank of the West and co-CEO of BNP Paribas USA Inc., Nandita serves on the Board of Directors of Bank of the West and BNP Paribas USA and is a member of Bank of the West’s and BNP Paribas USA’s Executive Management Committees.
As BNP Paribas USA’s largest affiliate, Bank of the West is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with a team of nearly 10,000 employees and community banking roots dating back more than 140 years. Through digital channels and more than 500 branches and offices across 24 states, the bank offers customers retail, wealth, corporate, commercial, and business banking products and services. Bank of the West is a financially strong, well-capitalized, and prudently-managed FDIC-insured bank with nearly $100 billion in assets as of December 31, 2020.
In her more than 30 year career in banking, Nandita has worked in roles from teller to CEO and advanced through corporate leadership positions with TD Bank, Washington Mutual (now JP Morgan Chase), FleetBoston (now Bank of America), and First Data (now Fiserv).
Nandita has a proven record of innovative thought leadership on Environmental, Social and Governance issues. In fact, Bank of the West is one of the few U.S. banks to restrict the financing of activities deemed harmful to the planet. It has the strongest environmental policies of any major U.S. bank and uses its financial strength to support growth that protects the planet and contributes to a more equitable society. The bank has also been named one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality and Women by Forbes’.
Nandita’s leadership has been constantly recognized and she has been named on Barron’s list of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. finance, Forbes’ 50 Over 50 list, and American Banker’s Most Powerful Women in Banking.
Nandita is also making an impact by partnering with like-minded organizations. In 2021, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco appointed her to represent the 12th District on the Federal Advisory Council. She serves on the Board of Directors of Grameen America, the U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI), and the Pacific Bankers Management Institute at the Pacific Coast Banking School (PCBS), and is a member of the Supervisory Board of The Clearing House, the Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board (CED), and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Nandita grew up in India, earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calcutta, a Master of Arts degree in international relations from Jadavpur University, and currently lives with her family in San Francisco.