Global Water Challenge Board of Directors
Chairman of the Board, William K. Reilly
William K. Reilly is a Founding Partner of Aqua International Partners, a private equity fund dedicated to investing in companies engaged in water and renewable energy, and a Senior Advisor to TPG, an international investment partnership. Mr. Reilly served as the first Payne Visiting Professor at Stanford University (1993-1994), Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1989-1993), president of the World Wildlife Fund (1985-1989), president of The Conservation Foundation (1973-1989), and director of the Rockefeller Task Force on Land Use and Urban Growth from (1972-1973). He was head of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Earth Summit at Rio in 1992.
Mr. Reilly is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the World Wildlife Fund, Co-Chair of the National Commission on Energy Policy, Chair of the Advisory Board for the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University and a Director of the Packard Foundation, the American Academy in Rome and the National Geographic Society. He also serves on the Board of Directors of DuPont, ConocoPhillips and Royal Caribbean International. In 2007 Mr. Reilly was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds a B.A. degree from Yale, J.D. from Harvard and M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University.
Manuel Arango
Manuel Arango attended Culver Military Academy during high school and studied Economics at Lawrence College in Wisconsin.
In 1957, in partnership with his brothers Jerónimo and Plácido, he founded in Mexico the grocery store chain Aurrerá, which later diversified to include other retail stores and restaurants. He participated with the family company Grupo Cifra as a Board member until the late 1970s. The company was acquired by Wal-Mart almost a decade ago.
In 1970, he began his independent business career and became involved in a variety of activities including corporate aviation, cinematography, publishing and real estate development.
In the early 1980s he founded, and still chairs, Inmobiliaria Parque Reforma, a real estate company that has done important developments in Mexico City, Acapulco and Baja California Sur. In the private sector, he serves as a Board member of Grupo Financiero BBVA-Bancomer, the Mexican branch of the international banking institution BBVA.
His interest in environmental issues, as well as his vision for a more developed culture of citizen participation, has led him during the past Thirty years to dedicate a large part of his time to the promotion of the nonprofit sector in Mexico. In 1983, he established Compartir Fundación Social, a family foundation that supports education, health and community development initiatives through small grants and five annual Compartir Awards. Five years later, he founded the Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía for which he is the Honorary Lifetime Chairman. In addition, he established the Fundación Xochitla , a nonprofit institution dedicated to developing and preserving 150 acres of urban green space for education and recreation purposes; the Fundación Mexicana para la Educación Ambiental which promotes environmental initiatives, particularly in the Sea of Cortez; and Caracol de Plata, a nonprofit organization that gives annual awards for outstanding social and nonprofit advertising in the Spanish speaking world.
Convinced of the talent and potential of the corporation to support social issues, he has taken a leadership role in the promotion of corporate social responsibility in Mexico and Latin America. Specifically, he spearheaded the establishment of the “Socially Responsible Company” award that is given annually by the Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía to corporations with outstanding practices in the areas of ethics, the environment, quality of life in the workplace and community involvement.
In addition to these activities, Mr. Arango is the Honorary Chairman of the Consejo Consultivo del Agua, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Centro Mario Molina, Fundación BBVA-Bancomer, Fundación para las Letras Mexicanas, Transparencia Mexicana, the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas and the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales, as well as on the Advisory Board of the Canal Cultural de los Universitarios.
Internationally, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Water Challenge and he is a member of the International Advisory Board of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University.
Mr. Arango has produced several documentary films including Sentinels of Silence, a film on the pre-colombian monuments of Mexico for which he received two Academy Awards. In 2003, he produced Clipperton, Isla de la Pasión, which tells the story of a remote island that Mexico lost to France in an international arbitration in 1931.
He received the Golden Arch, an honor bestowed by the Royal House of the Netherlands, for his distinguished work in environmental conservation.
Harriet Babbitt
Harriet (Hattie) Babbitt is an attorney in Washington, DC where she provides counsel at the intersection of law, policy, and public interest.
From 1997 to 2001 Babbitt served as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). As the second most senior official for U.S. foreign assistance programs, she oversaw programs in the fields of democratization, humanitarian relief, women’s empowerment, economic growth, education, health, and the environment. Her responsibilities included oversight of USAID efforts to assist post-conflict reconstruction in the Balkans and East Timor.
Babbitt served from 1993 to 1997 as U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS). While in that role she led the U.S. negotiating effort to completion of the world’s first anti-corruption convention and helped strengthen the Inter-American Human Rights system.
Ambassador Babbitt also served as a Senior Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and spent almost 20 years as a litigation attorney in Arizona.
She chairs the American Bar Association Latin America and Caribbean Law Initiative (ABA-LAC), and serves on the Boards of the World Resources Institute (WRI), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University (ISD), and Population Action International (PAI). She is also a member of the member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Steven L. Barker
Steve has over 25 years of experience in international and domestic financial management with both for-profit and non-profit organizations, spanning a variety of industries and missions.
Steve joined WRI in June 2005. The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. He plans to use his experience with growing international companies to help WRI achieve its growth objectives. Since joining WRI, Steve has renegotiated WRI’s lease, saving over $1M over the remaining lease term and enabling the organization to take on additional space for growth. He has initiated a quarterly budget and forecast review process, improving the organization’s forecasting accuracy by 5%. He recently served as acting COO while WRI conducted a search.
As CFO for the Air Force Aid Society (2001-2005), Steve was responsible for leading the finance/investments ($170M portfolio), accounting, and information systems functions for the organization. Air Force Aid is a private non-profit (501-c3) that provides emergency financial and tuition assistance to Air Force Families.
Prior to AFAS, Steve consulted with NatureServe, a spin-off from The Nature Conservancy, as their Chief Financial Advisor.
As the VP of Finance for Thomson Prometric (1994-2001), Steve planned and built the infrastructure for more than 375 computer-based testing sites in 180 different countries, ramping up from four to nearly 400 employees in four years.
Before joining Thomson Prometric, Steve held other finance leadership roles, including the role of Assistant Vice President – Finance for a division of GE Capital (1988-1994).
Steve completed the Executive MBA program at The College of William and Mary in 2006, which included international study at Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey and the European Business School, Frankfurt, Germany. He was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society, the highest recognition business students throughout the world can receive. He received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from San Diego State University with a minor in Mechanical Engineering. Steve is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified Financial Manager (CFM), and member of the Institute of Management Accountants.
On a personal note, Steve was born in Springfield, Oregon and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. He has been married to his best friend, Jacquie, since 1985. Jacquie grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and is an author and software engineer/instructor; she also is the founder of Pets Bring Joy, a charitable organization devoted to pet rescue.
Peter D. Bell
Peter D. Bell is a senior research fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard. He also co-chairs the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS and chairs the facilitation group for the NGO Leaders Forum. Before joining the Hauser Center in September, he was a visiting fellow at the Carter Center in Atlanta. Previously, he served for ten years as president of CARE, one of the world’s leading private relief and development organizations. From 1988 until 1995, he had been a member of CARE’s Board of Directors, including five years as its chair.
Mr. Bell has a long-standing commitment to fighting poverty, advancing human rights and preventing violent conflict. As president of The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation for nine years, he sought to improve conditions for people who are poor and disadvantaged, primarily in the United States. Mr. Bell was a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1984 to 1986, and president of the Inter-American Foundation, which supports grassroots development in Latin America and the Caribbean, from 1980 to 1983. He served as Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare during the Carter Administration and oversaw the program for the resettlement of Indochinese refugees in the U.S. Earlier, he worked for the Ford Foundation for 12 years, including ten with its Latin American program.
Mr. Bell’s volunteer positions include being vice-chair of the Inter-American Dialogue, vice chair of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, and a trustee of the World Peace Foundation. He was formerly chair of the ONE Campaign, co-chair of the Inter-American Dialogue, a trustee of Human Rights Watch, chair of the Refugee Policy Group and chair of the advisory council of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton.
Mr. Bell has published articles on international affairs in major newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Christian Science Monitor, and in various journals and books. He is also author of Fulfilling the Public Trust: Ten Ways to Help Nonprofit Boards Maintain Accountability.
A native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Mr. Bell is a graduate of Yale College, and obtained a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese, and has lived in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Ivory Coast and Japan.
Alexandra Cousteau
Alexandra Cousteau is dedicated to advocating the importance of conservation and sustainable management of water resources for a healthy planet and productive societies. Her work as an environmental advocate extends across continents and finds her equally at home on oceanic expeditions, developing environmental initiatives for local communities, and speaking to heads of state and media on issues of social environmental importance.
Alexandra is part of the third generation of Cousteau to devote their lives to exploring and explaining the natural world. She first went on expedition with her father Philippe Cousteau when she was four months old, learned to scuba dive with her grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau when she was seven, and grew up traveling the globe, inheriting her passion for adventure and learning firsthand the value of conserving the natural world.
Devoted to inspiring concern and commitment for the environment in today's youth, Alexandra co-founded EarthEcho International with her brother Philippe to further her family's legacy in science, advocacy, and education. Using dynamic and interactive media platforms and compelling storytelling, EarthEcho empowers people to take individual action for more sustainable lifestyles. Alexandra's focus on the broader issues of water conservation, management and restoration, both marine and freshwater, were inspired by her father and grandfather's concerns for our water planet as well as her own experiences traveling and living in different parts of the world.
Currently, Alexandra has joined forces with leaders in global water issues to educate the public and create consensus amongst diverse stakeholders about the importance of these issues for the benefit of human communities, wildlife and the continued ecological balance of critical marine and freshwater areas. Her newest initiative, WaterQuest, will galvanize global public support and participation in water conservation initiatives around the world through adventure and exploration, dynamic media platforms, educational initiatives, inclusive community campaigns, science and advocacy.
Alexandra speaks English, French and Spanish fluently and has spoken to audiences at the United Nations, UNESCO, Harvard University, Smithsonian Institution and Sea Rovers, among numerous other institutions, film festivals, and other events internationally. Alexandra is also a published author and is currently writing a monthly environmental column for Elle magazine in Spain. She sits on the Board of Directors of EarthEcho International and of the Global Water Challenge, the International Advisory Council of Counterpart International, and the steering committee of the Shark Alliance. She holds a degree in Political Science from Georgetown University in Washington DC.
E. Neville Isdell
Neville Isdell was elected chairman, Board of Directors, and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company on June 1, 2004. Mr. Isdell is the 12th chairman of the Board in the history of the Company.
A native of Ireland, Mr. Isdell joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1966 with the local bottling company in Zambia. In 1972, he became general manager of Coca-Cola Bottling of Johannesburg, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Africa. Mr. Isdell was named region manager for Australia in 1980, and in 1981 he became president of the bottling joint venture between The Coca-Cola Company and San Miguel Corporation in the Philippines, where he oversaw the turnaround and renewal of the Coca-Cola business in that key country.
Mr. Isdell moved to Germany as president of the Company's Central European Division in 1985. In 1989, he was elected senior vice president of the Company and appointed president of the Northeast Europe/Africa Group (renamed the Northeast Europe/Middle East Group in 1992) and led the Company's entry into new markets in India, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In 1995, he was named president of the Greater Europe Group.
From July 1998 to September 2000, Mr. Isdell served as chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Beverages Plc in Great Britain, where he oversaw that company's merger with Hellenic Bottling to form the world's second largest Coca-Cola bottler at the time, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC). He retired as vice chairman of Coca-Cola HBC in December 2001. From January 2002 to May 2004, Mr. Isdell was an international consultant to The Coca-Cola Company and headed his own investment company in Barbados.
Mr. Isdell is chairman of the U.S.-Russia Business Council and chairman of the board of trustees of the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF). He is a member of the board of trustees of the United States Council for International Business and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also a member of the Corporate Advisory Board of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS. In Atlanta, Mr. Isdell serves on the board of directors of SunTrust Banks, Inc. and the Commerce Club and as a trustee of Emory University. He is a lifetime trustee of Pace Academy.
Mr. Isdell received a bachelor's degree in social sciences from the University of Cape Town and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Program for Management Development.
Andrew N. Liveris
Andrew N. Liveris is President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of The Dow Chemical Company, a $49 billion global chemical and plastics manufacturer based in Midland, Michigan.
Liveris' 30-year Dow career has spanned manufacturing, sales, marketing, new business development and management. He has spent the bulk of his career in Asia, where he was general manager for the company's operations in Thailand, and later head of all Asia-Pacific operations. He began his Dow career in 1976 in Australia.
He has been a member of Dow's Board of Directors since February 2004 and was elected as Chairman of the Board effective April 1, 2006.
Liveris was born in Darwin, Australia and later lived in Brisbane, where he attended the University of Queensland, graduating with a bachelor's degree (first-class honors) in Chemical Engineering. He recently was awarded an honorary doctorate in science by his alma mater as well as being named Alumnus of the Year for 2005. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of The Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Liveris serves on the board of directors of Citigroup, the world’s leading financial services company; and the United States Climate Action Partnership, a group of businesses and leading environmental organizations. He is the chairman of the board of the American Chemistry Council and of the International Council of Chemical Associations. Liveris is a member of the following organizations: the American Australian Association, the Business Council, the Business Roundtable, the Detroit Economic Club, the New York Economic Club, the International Business Council, the National Petroleum Council, the Société de Chimie Industrielle, the U.S.-China Business Council, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Liveris is also a trustee of Tufts University.
Liveris resides in Midland, Michigan, where he serves on the Board of Trustees of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation. He and his wife Paula have three children.