Shaping the - Milken Institute

p a n e l i s t s
L. Gordon Crovitz is a Columnist and the former Publisher of The Wall Street Journal. He was also executive vice
president of Dow Jones & Company. In his 25-year career at Dow Jones, he was a columnist, magazine publisher
and founder of Factiva. Under his leadership, “The Wall Street Journal Online” grew to more than 1 million paying
subscribers, making it the largest subscription news site on the Web. He led numerous acquisitions, including those
of MarketWatch.com, Private Equity Analyst and VentureOne. Crovitz serves on the boards of ProQuest and Blurb, and
is an adviser to several technology and media companies in California and New York. He received a bachelor’s degree
from the University of Chicago and law degrees from the University of Oxford and Yale Law School.
Michael Crow is President of Arizona State University (ASU), where he is guiding the transformation of ASU into a
leading public metropolitan research university that combines academic excellence with demographic inclusiveness
for maximum societal impact. During Crow’s tenure, ASU has established major interdisciplinary research initiatives,
such as the Biodesign Institute, the Global Institute of Sustainability and many new interdisciplinary schools. It has
also witnessed an unprecedented expansion in research infrastructure and expenditures. Prior to joining ASU, Crow
was executive vice provost of Columbia University, where he oversaw Columbia’s research enterprise and technology
transfer operations. A fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations, he has written books and articles analyzing research organizations and science and technology policy. Crow
received a Ph.D. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Jason Cummins is Head of Economic Research at Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, a position he has held
since 2004. Before joining Brevan Howard, Cummins was a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Board, where he
led the macro forecasting team. He started his career as an assistant professor of economics at New York University.
Cummins holds a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in economics and political
science from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.
Mark Cutis is Chief Investment Officer, Special Situations, for the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. He previously
worked in Tokyo with Shinsei Bank as chief investment officer of bank portfolios, and as CEO of Japan for HVB, the
Munich-headquartered German Bank (now Unicredito). Cutis’s core expertise is proprietary trading, ALM and asset
allocation. His experience is both in direct hands-on management of risk and risk takers, as well as allocating to external
managers in alternatives, and he has worked on both the buy side and the sell side. Cutis received a bachelor’s degree
in economics from Emory University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He
speaks French and Greek, has a working knowledge of German, and is currently studying Japanese and Spanish.
Amir Dajani is Deputy Managing Director of Bayti Real Estate Investment Company, where he oversees the Rawabi
project, the first Palestinian planned community. Dajani directs all technical and business development operations of
the Rawabi project and oversees and coordinates donor community participation. Prior to joining Bayti, he worked in
the Private Enterprise Office of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) West Bank and Gaza Mission in
Tel Aviv. In this capacity, he oversaw the design, implementation and monitoring of multimillion-dollar institutions and
capacity-building programs, along with trade facilitation and loan guarantee programs. Dajani formerly worked on a
European Commission-funded program as the small- and medium-size enterprise (SME) technical assistance specialist in
Jerusalem, gaining extensive experience in private-sector sustainable growth and sustainability. He received a bachelor’s
degree from Trinity College (Dublin) and a master’s degree from Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom.
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p a n e l i s t s
Robert Damon is President, North America, for executive search consultant Korn/Ferry International. He has
worked in the executive and management recruiting field for more than 25 years. His expertise extends to specialty
practice areas, including retail and consumer products, restaurants, hospitality, sports and entertainment. Damon has
had successful CEO placements in many Fortune 100 companies. He spends a significant amount of time recruiting
leadership talent for private equity-backed companies. Damon has held high-level posts at two other executive search
firms before joining Korn/Ferry. Earlier in his career, Damon was a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, and he began
his career with a series of management positions at Arcata Corp. Damon serves on the board of the Special Operations
Military Fund and the Advisory Board for UST Global, an IT outsourcing services company. He earned his bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in industrial management from Purdue University.
Timothy Dattels is a Partner at TPG Capital. Prior to joining TPG, he was a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he
was head of investment banking for all Asian countries outside Japan. Dattels is a director of Sing Tao News Corporation
Ltd.; Shangri-La Asia Ltd., one of Asia’s leading hotel brands; and Parkway Holdings, the largest private hospital provider
in Southeast Asia. He is on the dean’s advisory board of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto,
and is a founder and member of the Asia-Pacific Council of The Nature Conservancy. Dattels received an M.B.A. from
Harvard Business School.
Jeffrey Davidow is President of the Institute of the Americas, based on the campus of the University of California,
San Diego. The Institute promotes dialogue between governments and businesses throughout the Western
Hemisphere aimed at improving policies regarding investment, trade, regulation and social services. Davidow served
in the U.S. State Department for 34 years, eventually retiring as one of America’s highest-ranking diplomats. During his
foreign service career, he served as ambassador to Venezuela (1993–1996), assistant secretary of state (1996–1998) and
ambassador to Mexico (1998–2002). He later became a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of
Government and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. Davidow received a bachelor’s degree from
the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota; he also did postgraduate work
in India on a Fulbright travel grant and holds an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Massachusetts.
Jim Davidson is Co-Founder and Chairman of Silver Lake, a global private investment firm. He has extensive
merger, acquisition and financing experience in the technology sector. From 1997 to 1998, Davidson was head of the
Technology Investment Banking business at Hambrecht & Quist (now part of JPMorgan Chase), and from 1996 to 1997,
he was head of that firm’s Systems and Semiconductor Investment Banking business. Davidson headed or co-headed
the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions business from 1990 to 1996. He serves on the boards of Flextronics International
Ltd. and Avago Technologies Ltd. as well as a number of nonprofit organizations. Previously he was a director of Seagate
Technology and Network General Corp. Davidson holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska and a J.D.
from the University of Michigan.
David Davis is a Member of the British Parliament, representing Haltemprice and Howden since 1997. He was
previously MP for Boothferry from 1987 until 1997. Davis has written numerous articles and two books (How to Turn
Round a Company and The BBC Viewers’ Guide to Parliament). He has served as parliamentary secretary at the Office
of Public Service and Science, minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, chairman of the House of
Commons Public Accounts Committee, chairman of the Conservative Party and shadow secretary of state for the Office
of the Deputy Prime Minister. From 2003 to 2008, Davis was the shadow home secretary. He received a bachelor’s
degree in molecular and computer science from Warwick University and an M.B.A. from London Business School; he
also completed the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.
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