Shaping the - Milken Institute

p a n e l i s t s
Douglas Becker is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Laureate Education Inc., a global operator of international
universities. The company provides a university experience for traditional and working-adult students through
its international network of accredited universities spanning 20 countries and enrolling nearly 500,000 students
worldwide. Becker previously served as the CEO of Sylvan Learning Systems, which he built into the largest tutoring
company in North America with more than 1,000 centers. Becker demonstrates his commitment to community as
chairman of the International Youth Foundation, a global charity focusing on youth employment, education and civic
engagement, and as the founding chairman of Port Discovery Children’s Museum in Baltimore. He is also a director of
Constellation Energy Group Inc., a Fortune-100 leading energy firm in the United States.
Gary Becker, recipient of the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, is the University Professor of
Economics and Sociology at the University of Chicago. He is also a professor at the university’s Booth School of Business
and the Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute. He was awarded the Presidential Medal
of Freedom in 2007, the National Medal of Science in 2000, the John Bates Clark Medal of the American Economic
Association in 1967 and many other awards. The author of numerous books and professional articles, Becker was a
featured monthly columnist for BusinessWeek for almost 20 years. He is recognized for his expertise in human capital,
economic incentives, economics of the family, and economic analysis of crime, discrimination and population. Becker
taught at Columbia University for 12 years before returning to the University of Chicago, where he earned his Ph.D.
William Bennett is a former U.S. Secretary of Education and the current Washington Fellow at the Claremont
Institute in Claremont, Calif. He also hosts the weekday radio program “Morning in America,” has written for leading
newspapers and magazines, and provides political commentary on CNN. An advocate of education reform, Bennett
served as President Reagan’s secretary of education and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and
President George H.W. Bush’s “drug czar.” He has written and edited numerous books, including two volumes of America:
The Last Best Hope and The American Patriot’s Almanac. Bennett has taught at Boston University, the University of Texas
and Harvard; he also founded and served as the first chairman of K12 Inc., an online education company. He received a
bachelor’s degree from Williams College, a Ph.D. from the University of Texas and a J.D. from Harvard University.
Seth Berkley is President, CEO and Founder of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a not-for-profit
organization dedicated to ensuring the development of safe and accessible HIV vaccines worldwide. IAVI is currently
operational in 24 countries. Berkley is a medical doctor specializing in infectious disease epidemiology and international
health. Prior to founding IAVI in 1996, he was an officer of the Health Sciences Division at The Rockefeller Foundation. He
has worked for the Center for Infectious Diseases of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the Massachusetts Department
of Public Health and the Carter Center, where he was assigned as an epidemiologist to the Ministry of Health in Uganda
to help develop its national AIDS control programs. Berkley is an adjunct professor at Columbia and Brown universities
and has authored more than 85 publications. He received undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University
and trained in internal medicine at Harvard University.
Scott Berns is a Co-Founder of The Progeria Research Foundation Inc. and chairs its board of directors. He has worked
at the March of Dimes national office since 2001 and is currently Senior Vice President of Chapter Programs. He also
serves on the executive committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Perinatal Pediatrics. In 2001, Berns
completed a one-year White House Fellowship as a special assistant to the U.S. secretary of transportation. He is a pediatric
emergency physician and was medical director of pediatric trauma at Hasbro Children’s Hospital for seven years. Berns
received a bachelor’s degree and an M.D. from Boston University, and an M.P.H. from the Harvard University School of
Public Health. He is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
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p a n e l i s t s
Gina Bianchini is CEO and Co-Founder of Palo Alto–based Ning, a service that enables anyone to create a personal
social network around any theme or purpose. Prior to co-founding Ning (with Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen)
in 2004, she was co-founder and president of Harmonic Communications, which was acquired by the Japanese
advertising agency Dentsu. She has also held positions at CKS Group and Goldman, Sachs & Co. Bianchini holds a
bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an M.B.A from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Leon Black is a Founding Partner of Apollo Advisors LP. He founded Apollo Advisors and Lion Advisors LP in 1990
to manage investment capital on behalf of a group of institutional investors, focusing on corporate restructuring,
leveraged buyouts and taking minority positions in growth-oriented companies. Black also co-founded Apollo Real
Estate Advisors LP. He previously worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert as managing director, head of the Mergers and
Acquisitions Group and co-head of the Corporate Finance Department. He is a trustee of Dartmouth College, the
Museum of Modern Art, Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Asia Society. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,
the National Advisory Board of JPMorgan Chase and the board of FasterCures. Black received a bachelor’s degree from
Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Jonathan Bloch is Senior Managing Director and Managing Partner of GKM Newport, a private equity fund-offunds
and advisory firm that he co-founded. Currently GKM Newport has investments and committed capital in more
than 55 private equity funds and co-investments representing approximately $1 billion. He also manages a late-stage
venture capital fund. Bloch leads investments in expansion-stage technology funds and direct investments located in
the United States. A significant area of the firm’s focus is on clean-tech investing; GKM Newport has committed capital
to approximately 12 clean-tech funds that have investments in more than 90 portfolio companies. Previously, Bloch
was a managing director at Gerard Klauer and Mattison; prior to that, he was managing director of the Technology
Group at Chanin Capital Partners. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D.
from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Richard Blum is Chairman of The Regents of the University of California. He is also chairman of Blum Capital Partners
LP, a private equity firm he founded in 1975. Blum currently serves as chairman of the board of CB Richard Ellis and is on
the board of three portfolio companies: Fairmont Raffles Holdings International Ltd., Current Media LLC and Myer Pty
Ltd. (Australia). He is also co-chairman for Asia with TPG Capital and co-founder of Newbridge Capital (now part of TPG
Capital). Blum is the founder and chairman of the American Himalayan Foundation and honorary consul to Mongolia
and Nepal. In 2006 he funded the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley. He
is also a trustee and member of the Executive Committee of The Carter Center, founded by former President Jimmy
Carter. Blum received a bachelor’s degree and an M.B.A. from UC Berkeley.
George Blumenthal is President and CEO of Park Avenue Medical Data Systems. Over the past 30 years, he has
been involved in communications technologies and financing medical-device and health information technology
companies. He was founder and chairman of Cellular Communications Inc. and founder and chairman of International
CableTel (now Virgin Media), the only cable television company servicing all of the United Kingdom. In 1994 he
founded TeraMed to develop devices for repairing aortic aneurysms; the company was later acquired by Johnson &
Johnson. During the past three years, Blumenthal has worked to create a suite of electronic health-care record-keeping
products known as eHealthMadeEasy. Its underlying IT platform facilitates 25 million outpatient visits annually in Israel
for approximately 40 percent of that country’s population. Blumenthal is also a member of the Screen Actors Guild and
has appeared in nine movies, including “Wall Street,” “Traffic,” “The Perfect Murder” and “The Flamingo Kid.”
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