Jane Wales

President & CEO of the World Affairs Council of Northern California; President & Co-Founder of the Global Philanthropy Forum; Vice President, Philanthropy and Society, and Director of the Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation at The Aspen Institute.

Expertise in International Security, Nuclear arms control, sustainable economic development, conflict resolution & global philanthropy

Phone: + 1.415.293.4610

Biography

Jane Wales is the President & CEO of the World Affairs Council of Northern California; host of the nationally-syndicated National Public Radio interview show It's Your World;  and Co-Founder of the Global Philanthropy Forum. Jane also serves as Vice President, Philanthropy and Society, and Director of the Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation at the Aspen Institute. From 2007 to 2008, Jane served as Acting CEO of The Elders, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and in 2008, she was Chair of the Poverty Alleviation Track for the Clinton Global Initiative.

Previously, Jane served in the Clinton Administration as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of the National Security Council. She simultaneously served as Associate Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where her office was responsible both for advancing sustainable economic development, through science and technology cooperation, and for developing policy for securing advanced weapons materials in the former Soviet Union.  In the Carter Administration, Jane served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and as Coordinator, Public Liaison, at the White House.

In the philanthropic sector, Jane chaired the international security programs at the Carnegie Corporation of and the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and she directed the Project on World Security at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She is the former National Executive Director of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, which shared in the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize during her tenure.

Watch video clips of Jane speaking

Listen to Jane moderate It’s Your World,  an NPR weekly radio show

Recent Media Appearances

"How Obama can Partner with Philanthropy," Jane Wales, Op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, Jan 6, 2009
"Bill Clinton Agrees to Limit Nonprofit Work,"Ian Wilhelm, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Nov 19, 2008
"Honoring those who Provide for the Poor," Jane Wales, Op-Ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, Nov 7, 2008
"An Expert in Philanthropy Takes Think Tank Job,"Kristine Henry, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, June 12, 2008
“A New Breed of Billionaire,”Landon Thomas Jr, the NY Times, Dec 14, 2007
“Finding Reason for Hope in Central Africa,”Jane Wales, Op-Ed in the SJ Mercury News, Oct 11, 2007
“Darfur and the Elders,” KQED Forum Interview, Oct 8, 2007

- Spoke in conversation with Professor Muhammad Yunus in San Francisco, November 2008
- Spoke at the Packard Foundation conference on Women's Health, September 2008
- Spoke and moderated at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, September 2008
- Spoke at the Freedom Awards for Free the Slaves in Los Angeles, September 2008
- Interviewed former President William J. Clinton, Aspen Ideas Festival, July 2008
- Gave remarks at the Global Health Meeting at the Carter Center to brief UNSG Ban Ki-moon, May 2008
- Spoke at the Council on Foundations Summit, May 2008
- Spoke in conversation with former Under Secretary of State Ambassador Nicholas Burns, May 2008
- Spoke in conversation with Sir Richard Branson at the Global Philanthropy Forum, April 2008
- Moderated a GPF panel with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Gareth Evans, and Helene Gayle, April 2008
- Moderated a discussion with Hans Blix and George Shultz, April 2008
- Spoke in conversation with Jan Egeland, UN USG for Humanitarian Affairs, March 2008
- Spoke in conversation with David Ignatius columnist at The Washington Post, February 2008
- Spoke in conversation with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, January 2008
- Moderated a panel at the International Women Leaders Global Security Summit, Nov 2007
- Spoke at the Philanthropy Roundtable Conference, Nov 2007