Building Successful Corporate Partnerships for Sustainable Development
The General Electric Foundation and Partners for Democratic Change have joined efforts on a new global initiative, Partners for Sustainable Development, to scale up the creation of new local Centers for Change and Conflict Management throughout the world. Together with USAID’s Global Development Alliance, Partners and representatives of General Electric lead a participatory discussion on effective corporate partnerships for sustainable development, the role of bi-lateral donor agencies like USAID in convening corporate participation and how to incentivize civil society organizations to garner and leverage private sector investment.
Panelists:
Gastón Luken, President and Director General, GE Capital
Mr. Gaston Luken is the Chairman of GE Capital Mexico, S.A. (a subsidiary of the General Electric Corporation), Proxima, S.A. and Proxima Gas, S.A. (infrastructure development and investment) and is a board member with numerous Mexican corporations. He graduated (C.P.A.) from the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). Since 1958, Mr. Luken has been active in the Mexican financial, business and civic sectors. He is also the vice chairman of Mexico's largest conservation organization, Pronatura, A.C., and is the chairman of the Pronatura Peninsula de Baja California chapter.
Frank Mantero, Director, Corporate Citizenship Programs, GE Corporation
Mr. Mantero is the Director, Corporate Citizenship Programs, for GE Corporation. Frank is responsible for coordinating the company's global citizenship efforts, developing and managing the company's Citizenship Report, monitoring the company's engagement with the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and being the lead communicator for GE-sponsored disaster relief efforts. Before taking on his present role, Frank was the Marketing Communications Leader at GE Transportation (Rail Services) in Chicago, Illinois, where he developed integrated internal and external marketing and communications plans to support the business's growth strategy.
Before joining GE, Frank held a various leadership positions at CIGNA Healthcare and BellSouth, including managing brand communications, community relations and investor relations for the companies. Frank started his career working at several public relations and communications consultancies. He received his M.A. in International Relations from the University in Kentucky and his B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from the University of Georgia. He is a native of Madrid, Spain, and is based at GE's corporate headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Business Marketing Association and Youth Outreach Services, a non-profit youth advocacy and social services organization.
Raymond Shonholtz, J.D., President, Partners for Democratic Change
Mr. Shonholtz founded Partners for Democratic Change in 1989, establishing the first of Partners national Centers for Change and Conflict Management. In Fall 2008, Mr. Shonholtz served as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, D.C., working on foreign assistance recommendations for the incoming Obama administration. In 1976, Mr. Shonholtz established and served as President of the Community Boards Program, one of the first community and school mediation initiatives that brought conflict resolution skills and processes into neighborhoods and schools throughout the U.S. and internationally. Mr. Shonholtz is educated as a lawyer and has an extensive background in legal practice, education, and policy. He serves on several boards of directors and editorial boards, and has written and lectured extensively on the subject of mediating systems, conflict resolution models, and the positive function of conflict in democratic society.
Jene Thomas, Democracy and Governance Officer, USAID
Since June 2008, Jene Thomas has served as the Director of the Office of Democracy & Human Rights with USAID/Colombia. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Thomas served two tours with USAID in Afghanistan as the Deputy Director of the USAID Democracy & Governance Office and then as the manager of the USAID/Afghanistan Capacity Development Program, a $218 million five-year initiative to strengthen the capacity of the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. From 1997 to 2006, Mr. Thomas was the Director of the Democracy & Governance Program with USAID/Mexico where he focused on Public Administration Reform and Justice Sector Reform. Mr. Thomas joined the USAID Foreign Service in 2005.
Prior to USAID, Mr. Thomas worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Germany; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC; the U.S. Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa; and the Texas Water Commission and an environmental consulting firm in his hometown, Austin, Texas. Mr. Thomas earned a B.A. in Geology from the University of Texas at Austin. He also pursued a Masters in Public Administration at the University of Maryland and completed a Graduate Certificate in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development at the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City.
Moderator:
Michael Gadbaw, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Georgetown University Law Center
Mr. Gadbaw is currently a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of International Economic Law at Georgetown Law School, Senior Advisor to the US-ASEAN Business Council and serves as Co-Chair of the US-China Legal Cooperation Fund (USCLCF). He is also a Board member of the National Bureau of Asia Research, Partners for Democratic Change (PDC) and the European Institute.
In February 2008, Mr. Gadbaw retired after seventeen years as Vice President and Senior Counsel for General Electric’s International Law & Policy group. In that position, he was responsible for supporting the global operations of GE’s businesses, particularly in the areas of public policy, transaction advocacy, regulatory reform, global funding and compliance. Mr. Gadbaw served as Chairman of GE's International Practice Group and was the internal champion for GE policies on Improper Payments and International Trade Controls.
Before coming to GE, Mr. Gadbaw was in private practice (1980-1990), initially as a partner is Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand and then as a partner at Dewey Ballantine where he helped form that firm’s international trade group. Mr. Gadbaw began his legal career as Counsel in the General Counsel’s office in the U.S. Treasury Department and later served as Assistant and then Deputy General Counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Mr. Gadbaw completed his undergraduate work at Fordham University in 1969 (Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa), earned a Master’s Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (1970), completed a year of graduate work at the Institut de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva and received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan in 1974.
Preparatory Documents:
Public/Private Alliances Transform Aid
Leaders in Democracy and Governance Alliances
USAID GDA Private Sector 1-Pager
