Catalyze Magazine Spring 2021

CATALYZE. 

B Y I D E A G E N Spring 2021 

10 L E A D E R S W H O 

A R E C R E A T I N G 

D Y N A M I C A L L Y 

R E S I L I E N T 

O R G A N I Z A T I O N S 

This Spring each cover 

reflects the adaptability and 

creativity of every leader on 

our list, each one profiled by 

an equally luminous voice 

PLUS 

An Exclusive 

Interview with 

Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 

Into The Global 

Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 

2021 

G R E T C H E N O ' H A R A - M I C R O S O F T V P U . S . A I & S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y 

S T R A T E G Y & P A R T N E R S H I P

CATALYZE. 












An Exclusive 


Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 


Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

PLUS 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 


T O N I T O W N E S - W H I T L E Y - P R E S I D E N T , U S R E G U L A T E D I N D U S T R I E S A T 

M I C R O S O F T

CATALYZE. 












PLUS 

An Exclusive 


Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 


Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 


C H A N T A L L I N E C A R P E N T I E R - C H I E F , N E W Y O R K U N C T A D O F F I C E

CATALYZE. 












PLUS 

An Exclusive 


Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 


Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 


D R . K E N N E T H M O R I T S U G U - F O R M E R A C T I N G U S S U R G E O N G E N E R A L

CATALYZE. 












PLUS 

An Exclusive 


Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 


Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 


B J M O O R E - E X E C U T I V E V I C E P R E S I D E N T A N D C I O A T P R O V I D E N C E

CATALYZE. 












PLUS 

An Exclusive 


Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 


Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 


D R . S I D H A N T G U P T A - D I R E C T O R , P R O D U C T I N C U B A T I O N A T M I C R O S O F T

CATALYZE. 












PLUS 

An Exclusive 


Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 


Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 


K I M S M I T H - G L O B A L V I C E P R E S I D E N T , C L O U D I N N O V A T I O N , I B M

CATALYZE. 












An Exclusive 


Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 


Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

PLUS 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 


D R . R O D H O C H M A N - P R E S I D E N T A N D C E O A T P R O V I D E N C E , C H A I R - E L E C T 

A M E R I C A N H O S P I T A L A S S O C I A T I O N

CATALYZE. 












PLUS 

An Exclusive 


Kate Johnson 

President 

Microsoft US 

Key Insights 


Pandemic With 

Dr. Kenneth 

Moritsugu 

Ideagen Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

The Power 50 

List- The 

Most 

Dynamically 

Resilient 

Companies 

and Orgs of 


S T A V R O S L A M B R I N I D I S - E U A M B A S S A D O R T O T H E U S

1.27.21 

Ideagen 

® 

Dynamic Resiliency Summit 

Dynamic Resiliency: An 

organization with a 

demonstrated, dedicated 

ethos focused on fostering 

partnerships across sectors 

resulting in surviving, 

recovering and reimagining 

operations after the most 

challenging circumstances. 

:The ability to see around 

corners, to reimagine. – 

Ideagen® 2020 

See how some of the worlds 

largest organizations are 

surviving, recovering, and 

reimagining operations after 

the most challenging 

circumstances 

CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 1

K A T E J O H N S O N 

P R E S I D E N T O F M I C R O S O F T U S 

K E Y N O T E S P E A K E R : 

E M P O W E R I N G W O M E N & G I R L S 

S U M M I T 

George Sifakis: Kate, you have been at 

Microsoft for three years now. That's a 

relatively short time, but you've made 

such a global impact already. What drew 

you to Microsoft, and what appealed to 

you about the company? 

Kate Johnson: I've had a career 

where I've had the opportunity to 

work for a bunch of different 

companies doing lots of different 

jobs. I've been in sales, operations, 

technology, and services. The 

common thread across all of those 

roles, looking back, is change 

leadership. Then the opportunity at 

Microsoft presented itself. Here we 

have the CEO Satya Nadella, who's 

got this crystal clear mission to 

empower every person and 

organization on the planet to 

achieve more. 

For more information about the event, please 

visit: https://www.ideagensummits.com/ CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 2

E X C E R P T S F R O M K A T E J O H N S O N 

P R E S I D E N T O F M I C R O S O F T U S , K E Y N O T E 

C O N T I N U E D . . . 

Kate Johnson: It starts with the mission 

and, we're lucky to have one that's still 

aligned with such lofty goals, right? I think 

they're perfectly in line with the UN's goals 

about innovation and change, where we're 

trying to solve problems with people on the 

planet. We're also understanding that all 

change starts with people, it's really not 

about the technology. And that recognition 

is helping us create the conditions to drive 

true transformation for our company, as 

well as the marketplace. And what change 

lover would pass up that opportunity? I just 

couldn’t. 

George Sifakis: That's certainly an 

incredible perspective. And the trajectory 

that you've had is simply remarkable. It 

does seem that Microsoft has gotten some 

momentum in the change game. We're 

seeing this response in the market, press, 

and in employee interactions. Why is that? 

And what is Satya doing that's different, 

other than clearly articulating a lofty 

mission? 

Kate Johnson:That's a great question. I 

think while everything is anchored in this 

mission, it's the recognition that we had to 

be just as precise about the culture change 

that we want him to drive. Satiya took his 

leadership team and spent a lot of time 

making sure that he could find exactly what 

our cultural aspirations truly were. 

Kate Johnson: It starts with having a 

growth mindset for everything that we do. 

It's about moving from being the know-it-alls 

to the learn-it-alls. That's very different. 

That's embedding yourself in curiosity and 

having the courage and vulnerability to show 

up, not knowing the answer all the time. The 

second piece is we want to become obsessed 

with customer problems and solving them 

rather than being obsessed with our own 

products and services. We want to operate as 

one team, we call it one Microsoft. So it's 

melting down all the silos between the 

product teams, melting down the silos 

between engineering, services, sales, and 

operations, so that we can work together to 

obsess collectively about our customer's 

challenges. Also, it's creating a diverse and 

inclusive environment, one in which we 

represent the markets into which we want to 

sell, and where we create an inclusive 

environment so that we can truly harness the 

brainpower of every human being that shows 

up for work at Microsoft. All of that rests 

upon our value system, which is based on 

respect, accountability, and integrity. Those 

are all very clear attributes of culture. And 

one in which a change leader like me can 

anchor herself in to and say, okay, let's make 

that real in our business. 


I N T E R V I E W W I T H D R . S I D H A N T G U P T A A N D 

N I C O L A S V I L L A R F R O M M I C R O S O F T D U R I N G 

T H E D Y N A M I C R E S I L I E N C Y S U M M I T 

Dr. Sidhant Gupta: 

These kids who are visually impaired were building circuits and they had the tactical field to 

do that. They came up with some really creative ideas. Can you tell us more about that? 

Nicolas Villar: 

Exactly. They were coming out with all these great ideas, on what they wanted to do. You 

know this is a really great invention. For example, they created a light sensor. And this allows 

one to know whether there's a window in the room. Like, I want to know whether there is a 

window in this room and I can use this light sensor to know whether it is giving me some 

feedback or not. Furthermore, with a little glue logic, they could feel through the breadboard 

that the delicate fiscal operations worked perfectly, but even more so it was giving it the little 

bit of intuitive intelligence that glued it all together, and that really was a big chasm. Looking 

back, it became apparent that the tech education problem was really widespread In the UK, 

over the last few years, computer science has become part of the curriculum, which is really 

exciting. It means that the role of these children that were being excluded from participating 

has expanded, because of the same thing that we experienced in the workshop, they were 

experiencing in a neck at a nationwide level. There just weren't any tools to teach kids with 

disabilities things about programming, because a lot of the metaphors and tools that we use are 

very visual. When teaching someone programming there are tools like ‘scratch’, where you 

look on screen, you drag and drop blocks, and each block you are reading a line of code or a 

statement, and you click them together like a Lego piece. 

It's a very visual metaphor. Or, even when we are talking about text-based coding, it is very, 

visual, you know, indentation is meaningful, the way that things align. It's also important to 

address the graphical nature of things like screen readers that don't really work. Something like 

a screen reader is already so abstract when you're trying to convey code. Without aim, and 

simplifications in these abstract visual examples, it's very cartoon to build up the fundamentals 

of programming and computer science to create an amazing career, for someone that is visually 

impaired. I've worked with some incredible, program workers at Microsoft that have little or no 

vision. It's really incredible how they got there because of learning how to code. It's just so 

hard.You need to be a really extraordinary individual. If you want to be able to overcome those 

hurdles. 


Inside the Summit! 

Key Lessons From Toni Townes-Whitley

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Excerpts from Gretchen O'Hara Vice 

President, AI and Sustainability at Microsoft 

My name is Gretchen O’Hara, and I am the VP of AI and Sustainability Strategy at Microsoft 

US. It is great to be joining you at the Ideagen Dynamic Resiliency summit. We see the concept 

of resilience in business as more critical than ever. A key component of resilience and recovery 

is skilling for the future, so today I’d love to discuss our accelerate program, why we are making 

this investment in skilling, what is the initiative, and how our approach is unique in the market. 

First, let’s set the stage of why we launched the accelerate program. The rapid acceleration of 

emerging technology and its impact on the US market and society is redefining our landscape 

today. This acceleration is only further fueled by the COVID 19 crisis. In fact, 79% of CIOs 

agree that the COVID 19 pandemic will act as a forcing function to make them digitally 

transform and move to the public cloud even faster than originally planned. This massive shift is 

impacting what skills are needed in the future. However, not all of society is benefitting from this 

digital transformation as 37% of rural Americans don’t have access to broadband at home. As a 

result, many of us are experiencing uncertainty. More than 8 in 10 Americans, 83%, say that the 

future of our nation is a significant source of stress. And so, the situation and resulting issues 

create a growing need for empathy. 


Excerpts from Gretchen O'Hara Vice 

President, AI and Sustainability at Microsoft 

Continued... 

We are facing some unprecedented times. In this global pandemic, we have had to address some incredible 

problems that range from how we come out from this global economic crisis to the skills that we are going to 

have to need to collectively use in the recovery of how we serve every individual on the planet. Ensuring that 

we have an inclusive and diverse workforce of the future and that the technology and innovation that we must 

provide to get out of this global pandemic doesn’t actually create a larger digital divide. We now need to bring 

more people together as we focus on underserved and underrepresented communities so that everyone can 

flourish in this recovery today. 

We see digitization as a massive opportunity, creating benefits for both industry and society. The World 

Economic Forum estimates that the opportunity could be as big as 100 trillion over the next ten years. It’s just 

simply massive. However, this opportunity comes with significant challenges as digitization is accelerating the 

need for new jobs and new tech skills. It is projected by the next year, 27% of roles will be net new due to 

technology and 54% of employees will require reskilling or upskilling. Women, in particular, may be at risk of 

changing their jobs due to automation. Up to 24% of total women employed globally will need to change jobs 

due to automation. 

This virtual world post-pandemic is also increasing the digital divide leaving underserved communities further, 

and further behind. According to Deutsche Bank research, 76% of Blacks and 62% of Hispanics get shut out 

completely or will be underprepared for the 86% of jobs in the US due to lack of connectivity and technology 

access. The digitization trend combined with COVID has led to the unprecedented growth of virtual and remote 

education. However, access to broadband and access to the quality and content of remote instruction is vastly 

different depending on location and community. Those demographics and factors can result in a learning loss. 

How much learning students lose during school closures vary significantly, and, in some cases, students are not 

getting any instruction at all, while others may opt of school altogether. This loss will be greatest among our 

low-income, Black, and Hispanic students. In particular, 86% of Black students are currently receiving lowquality 

or no remote education with a possibility of losing over ten months of learning during this pandemic. 

Compounding learning loss in underserved communities is job loss, and overall women are impacted as 

women’s jobs are 1.8x times more vulnerable in this crisis than men’s jobs. Together we can leverage this 

forum to act. The struggle of underserved communities in a world that is rapidly digitizing as well as the 

increasing disparity of opportunity for them is further compounded by systemic injustice. In the past year, there 

have been national protests regarding current inequities in the US at a systemic level that spanned racial, 

economic, gender identity, and ability bias. Empathy in action was developed as a national platform, executed 

through our local community engagement to the level the playing field across policing, criminal justice, 

healthcare education skilling, and access: access to opportunity and access to capital. Addressing the need to 

build sustainable, systemic, and symbolic change across our community’s cities and citizens can empower 

every individual and organization to achieve more. We also achieve these goals through the initiative to close 

the skills gap and leverage our Microsoft platform to drive change in the markets that we serve every day. 


Excerpts from Toni Townes- Whitley 

President, US Regulated Industries at Microsoft 

George Sifakis: What are the obvious 

and maybe even the unexpected benefits 

that companies can realize through their 

engagements with social impact selling? 

Toni Townes: Well, it's interesting when 

we think about this, we've been talking 

about resiliency for the last 10 months 

and we've sort of almost decompressed it 

to, leadership resiliency, and mission 

resiliency, this idea that the mission has 

continuity. And as you talked about tech 

resiliency, the underlying word tech is 

there. And when you start to bring these 

together, they create, if you will, a much 

stronger fabric for social resiliency, for 

our societal issues to be addressed with 

the grit and the grace that's needed, if you 

will, to keep moving forward. 

Toni Townes: And how does that help a 

company? Well, we feel particularly that 

it's helped our brand. As you've 

mentioned, Microsoft is becoming 

known for our work in sustainability, our 

work in accessibility, and our work with 

various audiences, for digital skilling. 

We also know that about 75% of the 

employees who are thriving in so many 

of these research studies that have come 

out recently have indicated that 

employees connect mission and social 

impact with their own employee 

experience, that they believe that 

purpose-driven technology is what sort of 

motivates them, retains them in the 

industry and allows them to progress 

their careers. 


Excerpts from Toni Townes- Whitley 

President, US Regulated Industries at Microsoft 

Continued... 

Toni Townes: So, what we feel like 

we're doing for society is also a benefit 

for our own employees. I think it was a 

2016 study that found that about 57% of 

US workers consider their company's 

societal and environmental commitments 

when they decide where they're going to 

work, where they decide they're going to 

stay and build a career, when it comes to 

millennials, that number jumps to 76%, 

which is not that surprising to us who 

have raised some of those millennials, 

that purpose driven work drives 

employee satisfaction. And that's another 

sort of outcome of making these 

decisions. You know, when we just 

double click on some of the statistics, we 

realized that it's not just about the brand 

of the company and the satisfaction of 

employees. It's also about growing a 

company and there's so much research 

that indicates doing good, actually is 

quite profitable. You can grow markets 

and build, and grow, share, even in doing 

things that have the deepest and most 

substantive societal impacts. So we think 

there are many benefits for companies in 

our industry and across industries to 

engage more and more, not only in social 

impact selling, but what I'll call the sort 

of broader definition of civic technology. 


K E N M O R I T S U G U 

R E T I R E D U S S U R G E O N G E N E R A L 

I D E A G E N D Y N A M I C R E S I L I E N C Y 

2 0 2 1 S U M M I T 

George Sifakis: How is this moment different 

than any other that you've seen. And are you 

optimistic about the future health of our nation 

and the planet when it comes to future health 

challenges, including future pandemics, 

Dr. Moritsugu: Frankly, what we are facing 

right now in a COVID 19 pandemic is not 

unique. We have faced challenges of this sort 

before, the Spanish flu, ebola, et cetera. What 

we are facing, however, is an order of 

magnitude that we have not seen for decades, 

if not centuries. That, I think has a great 

impact on individuals and on systems. And as 

I have said earlier, we've got to remember that 

we are individuals who exist within a 

community and that the community exists to 

support the individual. Coming out of COVID 

19, as we see the advent of vaccines that imply 

we're ready to turn the corner. We've got to 

remember that we've got both elements. The 

individual and the community that have got to 

work in concstent. Again, connecting the dots, 

the community, whether it be your local 

government, the state government, or the 

national government can provide guidance, 

can provide access and resources to vaccines, 

to health professionals. But then at the same 

time, we as individuals have got to understand 

we've got a responsibility as well. 

Dr. Moritsugu: We're fortunately sitting six feet 

apart. We were wearing masks before we sat at this 

table. We are engaged in socially distancing. We 

don't go to restaurants or to meetings in small 

closed and enclosed areas or have gatherings of 

large numbers. All of these are individual 

responsibilities that we as individuals can act on or 

not act on, and therein lies the solution, the real 

solution, the individual behaving in the community 

and the community supporting the individual. 



CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 11 

IDEAGEN MEMBERSHIP 

EXCLUSIVE OFFERINGS 

Ideagen's newest branch of our streaming services is 

Ideagen Radio. Streaming on over 16 platforms, Ideagen 

takes all the great content you have come to love with 

Ideagen TV, now in a convenient podcast form! Each day 

as we release Ideagen TV Content at 12 PM Noon ET, 

Ideagen Radio will release the corresponding interview in 

podcast form to all of the above streaming platforms at 3 

PM ET. Whether you're on the go, prefer audio to video, or 

just want a new way to consume Ideagen content, Ideagen 

Radio provides an even more convenient way to hear from 

some of the world's most influential global leaders and 

luminaries.

I D E A G E N G L O B A L 

Ideagen's Black 

History Month 

Initiatives 

In recognition of Black History Month and in honor of our late 

Hon. Chairman Louis Stokes, Ideagen launched the Ideagen 

Chairman Series during the month of February. 

Featured 

Content 

Toni Townes-Whitley 

Viola Davis 

Dr. Robert J. Brown 

Ideagen Board Chairman Emeritus - The Late Hon. Louis 

Stokes (February 23, 1925 – August 18, 2015) was an American 

attorney, civil rights pioneer and politician. He served 15 terms 

in the United States House of Representatives – representing the 

east side of Cleveland – and was the first African American 

congressman elected in the state of Ohio. He was one of the 

Cold War-era chairmen of the House Intelligence Committee, 

headed the Congressional Black Caucus, and was the first 

African American on the House Appropriations 

Mary Milben 

David Casey 

The late Hon. Louis Stokes: “Ideagen is one of the most 

unique, necessary and powerful crosssector collaboration 

platforms today, it is indeed time to facilitate cross -sector 

collaboration to address many of the world’s most pressing 

challenges”. -Ideagen Quote 2014 


Excerpts from Ideagen's Interview 

with Viola Davis, Julius Tennon, 

and Steven Tingus 

Steven Tingus: Tell me your feelings about the underrepresentation situation [in 

Hollywood], and what you would like to see changed, to not really just talk about 

diversity inclusion. That's all nice, but I'm very strategic in my work. What would 

you like to see done right now? 

Julius Tennon: Well, obviously, you know, it's always one of those things where 

you have to be the change you want to see. And obviously, Steve, I’ve known you 

for these last six years, and I know that those stats about, actors who are disabled 

are true. And I think you have to, you know, we have, to continue to have those 

conversations with the people who run the studios, also with independent producers 

and make them become more sensitive to the fact that if we can have a someone 

with a disability do the work that actor should be given the job because, you know, 

if you're going to have somebody who's disabled do that job and have that 

disability, they actually have to be able to perform. So that worry of a producer, if 

you actually get an actual disabled person, you're not going to be able to do the job 

well, we have to dispel that. Being able to put people in front of them who could 

actually do the job who could actually write a script, could actually, you know, be 

pulling cohorts and doing different things. Because just because they're disabled 

doesn't mean that they don't have the ability and that they aren't able to do it. So I 

just think we have to start having these real serious conversations with the folks at 

the top and talk about these things and say, let's make a roadway, let's build a real 

roadway instead of kind of talking around it let's really in a substantive way. 


"That role (Annalise Keating) absolutely defined my 

career only because of the role that, a woman who 

looked like me who would not necessarily be 

considered for that role. She was cool... she's a 

leading lady on network television" -Viola Davis 


E X C E R P T S F R O M I D E A G E N ' S 

I N T E R V I E W W I T H V I O L A D A V I S , 

J U L I U S T E N N O N , A N D S T E V E N 

T I N G U S C O N T I N U E D . . . 

Steven Tingus: Exactly, as you all know, I've been an advocate or activist. I've 

had a business perspective, obviously because of my late parents who ever 

treated me as a pity project, they treated me like my other two siblings. And I 

think that it's made me stronger to get things done correctly. So with that, I 

want to ask Viola and yourself, what characters have you played that you feel 

really sent a message about the issues that we face and what we need to do, to 

affect and change perceptions of people that are underrepresented. 

Viola Davis: Well, that would have to be how to get away with murder and 

Shondaland. That role absolutely defined my career only because of the role that, a 

woman who looked like me would not necessarily be considered for that role. She 

was cool. She was described as sexual, as complicated, she's a leading lady on 

network television. You know, usually women are cute, they're blonde, they're petite. 

And because those roles are not usually cast with an actress who looks like me, there 

was a part of me that didn't believe it too. And I think that's sad until I accepted it and 

I had to believe it. Okay. Because I had to play her and I had to make the audience 

buy it. Right? So for me, it was a huge growth experience for Viola, the person, the 

woman, the woman of color, the dark skin woman of color with thick lips and a wide 

nose. It also helped redefine in my opinion, how you saw a leading lady, but 

Shondaland in and of itself really cares about the broad spectrum of humanity. We 

have had disabled actors. We have had the LGBTQ community represented, but 

that's because we care, we do want the change. But a lot of people don't care. They 

keep the status quo out of fear, you know, but I got into acting for me, I got into 

acting because I knew what acting does is it makes people feel less alone. When you 

look at characters, I don't want characters that don't look like me and don't look like 

the world that I live in. So I would have to say how to get away with murder. 


G E O R G E S I F A K I S , C E O A N D 

F O U N D E R , I D E A G E N T A L K S 

A B O U T 1 7 D A Y S O F 

S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y 

In today’s world, as we 

experience what I term as 1918, 

1929 and 1968 all wrapped up 

into one, I believe there is one 

silver lining: we have the 

opportunity — and shared 

imperative — to all work 

together and make the world a 

better place. I have attended 

Ideagen events in the past and 

see Ideagen as a true ‘galvanizer 

of good’. I recently heard about 

of 17 days of Sustainability and 

thought you, as CEOs, would 

want to know more about it. So 

I recently ‘sat down’ with 

Ideagen CEO and Founder, 

George Sifakis. 

Article originally published in Forbes Magazine 

Contributer: Robert Reiss 



G E O R G E S I F A K I S , C E O A N D F O U N D E R , 

I D E A G E N T A L K S A B O U T 1 7 D A Y S O F 

S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y C O N T I N U E D . . . 

Robert Reiss: Talk about the original 

Ideagen concept. 

George Sifakis: Ideagen’s mission is to 

provide a global platform to foster crosssector 

collaboration by the world’s leading 

Brands, Companies, NGOs and Public 

Sector to create innovative solutions via 

collaboration at scale while creating 

awareness of the 17 United Nations 

Sustainable Development Goals. 

Reiss: And how specifically are you 

creating that awareness these days? 

Sifakis: In early 2020 we launched the 

Ideagen TV Network to expand upon our 

global summit reach. In doing so, we have 

drastically increased our reach to tens of 

millions of people. With this incredible 

platform we are currently finalizing plans to 

broadcast Ideagen’s 17 days of 

Sustainability, 17 days of content to 

correspond to one of the UN SDG’s. Each 

day Ideagen brings global leaders and 

innovators together to discuss. We Believe 

that through education and awareness society 

can help to bring the goals to fruition. 

Sifakis: We are inspired by the unanimous 

agreement by the 193 member states of the 

United Nations who adopted the 17 Global 

Goals as a universal call to action to end 

poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all 

people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. 

Ideagen is committed to serving as a catalyst 

to achieve these goals. 

Reiss: Talk about your major TV initiative. 

Reiss: Share more about the specifics of the 

17 Days of Sustainability. 

Sifakis: During Ideagen’s “17 Days of 

Sustainability”, highlighting one goal per 

day, Ideagen will showcase how the world’s 

leading organizations are addressing the 

global goals. Achieving the Global Goals is 

only possible through the education, 

awareness, and collaboration of individuals 

and organizations who strive for a better 

society and planet. 



visit: https://www.ideagensummits.com/ CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 18 

Sifakis: A key highlight during the 17 Days 

of Sustainability will include a spotlight on 

Global Goal 5, Gender Equality, during 

Ideagen’s Annual Empowering Women & 

Girls Summit on October 8, and Goal 17, 

Partnerships for the Goals, during our 

Annual Ideagen Global Partnerships Summit 

on October 9. Ideagen’s 17 Days of 

Sustainability, 17 Global Goals including 

over 100 Speakers, Leaders and Luminaries, 

from across sectors sharing insights, 

perspectives and partnerships to achieve the 

Global Goals by 2030. We are excited to 

announce that Kate Johnson, President of 

Microsoft US, will be the keynote speaker 

for the Empowering Women and Girls 

Summit on October 8th. Other companies 

participating include ACS Athens, KPMG, 

World Human Forum, Opportunity 

International, IBM, Summer Discovery, 

AARP, Providence St. Joseph Health, 

Women in Cloud, and many more … 

Sifakis: Our audience and reach is quite 

broad, as it consists of people around the 

globe. All past Ideagen summit attendees and 

interviewees, our digital audience —- 

consisting of over a million website visitors a 

month, thousands of members in our online 

platform, our digital following, and our 

targeted promotion and marketing— as well 

as our affiliate audiences. We plan to 

generate awareness for the 17 days of 

Sustainability through a targeted approach, 

utilizing our digital audience, digital 

marketing and promotions, as well as a joint 

effort with all summit speakers. 

Reiss: I just want commend you on putting 

together such an important initiative — 

especially significant during these times. 

Sifakis: Thank you, Robert. It was an honor 

to join you for this interview. 

Reiss: Truly inspiring, George. How about 

the audience? 

Article originally published in Forbes Magazine 

Contributer: Robert Reiss

I D E A G E N 2 0 2 1 

10 

P O W E R L I S T 

Amy Hopkins 

Senior Director- Boeing Phantom Works 

Bill Gates 

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 

Elon Musk 

CEO - Tesla 

Gretchen O'Hara 

VP AI and Sustainability - Microsoft 

Jo Ann Jenkins 

CEO - AARP 


I D E A G E N 2 0 2 0 

10 

P O W E R L I S T 

Dr. Rod Hochman 

CEO/President- Providence Health 

Kim Smith 

Global Vice President- IBM 

Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier 

CHIEF - UNCTAD, NEW YORK OFFICE 

Alex Gorsky 

CEO - Johnson & Johnson 

Amb. Stavros Lambrinidis 

EU AMBASSADOR TO THE US 


Editor's Note 

Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

2020 was one of the most challenging years in human history with 

the global pandemic. Despite this global challenge, Ideagen made a 

renewed effort and commitment to convene the world's greatest 

minds from the world's leading companies, ngo's and public sector to 

address the world's most vexing issues. Ideagen TV reached over 

90 Million People in 2020 across the planet with inspiring 

interviews and custom programming. On November 2, 2020 

Ideagen Radio Launched with a focus on a similar ubiquitous 

content distribution model beginning with our platform, 

IdeagenGlobal.com "Powered by Azure". 

2021 is already shaping up to be #Epic, as we convene and prepare 

for the world wide release of over 21 High-Impact Summits 

beginning with the Dynamic Resiliency Summit on January 27/28, 

2021, and most recently with the Annual Global Leadership Summit 

on March 23 - 25. Stay tuned for new programming! 

GEORGE SIFAKIS 

GEORGE SIFAKIS 

Editor-in-Chief & CEO 

-Ideagen 

CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 20 

COOPER HENDERSON 

Publication Editor 

JOHN MULBERGER 

Publication Co-Editor 

Pictured Top to Bottom 

Kate Johnson, Microsoft 

Dr. Rhonda Medows, Providence 

George Sifakis with Robert Reiss

COVER 

PHOTO 

CREDITS 

Toni Townes-Whitley 

Credit: The CEO Forum Group, and Microsoft News 

https://theceoforumgroup.com/radio-toni-townes-whitleypresident-microsoft-regulated-industries/ 

https://news.microsoft.com/digitaldifferenceaustralia/photos/ 

toni-townes-whitley/ 

Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu 

Credit: From Bio 

https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/about/index.html#biosg 

Stavros Lambrinidis 

Credit: From Bio 

https://twitter.com/euambus 

Gretchen O'Hara 

Credit: Photo Provided by Microsoft

Catalyze Magazine Spring 2021

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