Judith Rodin (2014)

I am the President of the Rockefeller Foundation and a former President of the University of Pennsylvania. I am not familiar with this group.

Yes I am a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Their policy work is really strong and I wish I had more time to attend their extraordinary lectures.

No--I don't. I think there is an unbelievable diversity of NGOs and lumping them all together doesn't focus on all of the amazing work that many of them are doing around the world-focusing on poverty, focusing on girls, education, and women's health. As well as focusing on reducing energy poverty in India just to name of a few.

I despair at that and it’s critical that we figure out ways to make it more affordable for more people, especially when we need to figure out ways to regrow our economy and make prosperity more inclusive.

There is no question that a free and expressive civil society promotes more rapid development, it also builds way stronger communities and creates more opportunities for people to feel empowered and to grow better lives and livelihoods, unfortunately however there are lots of people in places around the world that don't live in those kind of societies and we also work and must work to help them lead better lives as well. That is crucial to reducing poverty and vulnerability worldwide.

Absolutely not true. Most foundations spend way less than you would think running the organization, which is why we feel run ragged all of the time, then we do investing our time and our money in helping poor and vulnerable people around the world.

Elon Musk, who founded Tesla, went to UPENN. I'm for lots of things that make UPENN grads more successful.

Thanks for the question. I also worry about systems shutting down because I believe that crisis is the new normal and that disruptions are going to come in all forms. Some intentional and manmade. And some from weather or cyber events. We at Rockefeller actually are trying to make institutions and communities more resilient so that the things we care about won't be gone. That we'll be able to protect them.

Thanks so much for the question. We actually have what we call an innovation pathway at Rockefeller, where we use our funding to promote and identify innovation and we fund social enterprise directly at times, but more importantly we are funding entrepreneurs to have the ecosystem that will enable more social enterprises to grow around the world. We have also been at the forefront of the field of impact investing, which is enabling private investors to put their money where they get a double bottom line return--both social and environmental impact and a financial return. We love this space and have invested a lot of time and energy in social enterprise and impact investing.

I'm sorry I think I'm hopelessly conventional.

The best program officers are those who develop real substantative expertise and are strategic in their grant making. Philanthropy is different from charity and so any experience that helps you understand how to solve problems at their root cause is going to be critical. Our founder John D Rockefeller once said "we don't want to put bandages on weeping wounds", meaning let's solve the problem where it started. there are lots of ways for you to develop that kind of experience, but once you do, it will make you exceptionally successful in having the kind of impact that philanthropy should be having because it's America's tax advantaged risk capital.

The Rockefeller Foundation is a 100 yo global philanthrophy that is working to try and accomplish two goals around the world: to build greater resilience and to build more inclusive prosperity. We have amazing colleagues who care deeply about improving the lives & livelihoods of some of the worlds poorest and most vulnerable people.

Thanks Davie--it has been amazing to lead two great institutions as the first woman each time. But what I have learned is that much more important than being a role model is being a really available mentor for those coming up behind me. My generation felt that the women who succeed before us and there were very few of them--pulled the ladder up after them and I am committed to not doing that.

Thanks Umma! Here are two of my top bucket list hopes: Travel that isn’t for work and writing a novel that gives psychological motivation to a real event for which there is no explanation. Remember I’m a psychologist.

Fantastic question Kiwi-the teams that both are most resilient and build resilience most effectively have complete transparency into what one another is doing, have high levels of trust, in themselves and one another and truly understand and feel committed to a common goal. They also have actively planned and carried out how each is going to work to achieve that goal. Those are the teams I have tried to build and I am still really close to a lot of the people on my team at UPENN, many who have gone on themselves to lead other colleges and universities.

Maybe not the most pleasing designation for a president, but it is true that Penn students have a fantastic time both in and out of the classroom. Students use to stop me on campus just to tell me how much they loved it. Go PENN!

Half caf/half decaf grande is my favorite. Usually drunk on the run. By the way I think Howard Schultz is amazing in his thinking about employee education and lots of other ways that companies can and should be socially responsible. A shout out to him!

Both are critical. We need more market based solutions, ultimately to sustain the effort begun by philanthropy usually in the form of pilots. We believe deeply in the social enterprise space and are trying to urge large corporations to adopt the social enterprise mindset more and more. Unilever is a great example of one that does, working to improve the lives of the farmers they source from, build better enterprises along their supply chains in many parts of the developing world and pay strong attention to their own corporate practices. So all of the elements are important: philanthropy, social enterprise, large enterprise, and the kinds of policies and practices of government.

So this is such an easy one to answer, because I spent so many years in New Haven where fights break out amongst people around that question and around whether Sally's or Pepe's is the best pizza place. My favorite is Pepe's white clam pizza, it's amazing!

I ate oatmeal with fresh blueberries and skim milk. It was wonderful. I also had a half caf/half decaf cappuccino and a half of a banana, because I just read that potassium prevents alzheimers.

I wore glasses when all my friends had braces and I had perfect teeth. I felt like a horrible outsider.