FPA Centennial Panel: The Critical Role of Women in Social and Economic Development

H.E. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka - Panelist
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women

H.E. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. She was sworn into office on 19 August 2013 and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this position, having devoted her career to issues of human rights, equality and social justice. Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka has worked in government and civil society, and with the private sector, and was actively involved in the struggle to end apartheid in her home country of South Africa.

From 2005 to 2008, she served as Deputy President of South Africa, overseeing programmes to combat poverty and bring the advantages of a growing economy to the poor, with a particular focus on women. Prior to this, she served as Minister of Minerals and Energy from 1999 to 2005 and Deputy Minister in the Department of Trade and Industry from 1996 to 1999. She was a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 1996 as part of South Africa’s first democratic government.

Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka began her career as a teacher and gained international experience as a coordinator at the World YWCA in Geneva, where she established a global programme for young women. She is the founder of the Umlambo Foundation, which supports leadership and education. A longtime champion of women’s rights, she is affiliated with several organizations devoted to education, women’s empowerment and gender equality.

She has completed her PhD on education and technology at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.

Mary R. - Panelist
Director, Foreign Policy Association

Mary "Nina" Henderson is a director of CNO Financial Group (Bankers Life & Casualty, Washington National, and Colonial Penn insurance companies), where she serves on the Audit/Risk and Investment Committees, and a director of Walter Energy Inc.

She was formerly a director of AXA Financial, Inc. and of The Equitable Companies, where she was a member of the Audit, Investment, and Finance/Risk Committees.  She was a lead director and chairman of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee of Del Monte Foods Company, which sold to KKR.  In addition, she was a director and member of the Audit Committee of Pactiv Corporation, which sold to Reynolds Holdings; a director of Royal Dutch Shell plc and it’s predecessor company The Shell Transport and Trading Company, p.l.c., where she was a member of the Audit, Remuneration, and Corporation Social Responsibility Committees; and director of Hunt Manufacturing Company, where she was a member of the Audit and Compensation Committee.

She is a trustee of Drexel University, a director of Visiting Nurse Service of New York, a director of the Foreign Policy Association, and a commissioner of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Blue Ribbon Commission of Executive Talent Development.  The commission is comprised of experienced corporate directors and leading governance professionals who convene to formulate strategies supporting Boards in the oversight of talent development programs.

Nina Henderson speaks frequently on business strategy and corporate governance for McKinsey & Company, RAND Corporation, NACD, KPMG, Deloitte, PWC, Conference Board, Practicing Law Institute, and NYSE/Euronext.  She received her Bachelor’s degree from Drexel University and attended New York University Graduate School of Business Administration. 

Ambassador Isobel Coleman - Panelist
former U.S. Ambassador for Management, Reform and Special Political Affairs to the United Nations

Ambassador Isobel Coleman

Ambassador Isobel Coleman is a foreign policy expert, author, commentator and diplomat. She

served from 2014-2017 as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Management, Reform and Special Political Affairs.

During her time representing the United States at the United Nations, Coleman led negotiations on peacekeeping operations and budgetary matters in the General Assembly.  She also led U.S. efforts to combat sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers, and was the administration’s chief spokesperson on these issues, testifying several times before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  During 2016 and early 2017, Ambassador Coleman represented the United States in the UN Security Council, with responsibility for Africa and Asia. In that capacity, she negotiated Security Council resolutions on South Sudan, Darfur, The Gambia, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and North Korea. She was also the lead negotiator on UN Security Council Resolution 2320 for stronger cooperation between the UN and the African Union.

From 2002-2014, Dr. Coleman was a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York where she founded and directed two signature CFR programs: the Civil Society, Markets, & Democracy program and the Women and Foreign Policy program. During her years at CFR, she wrote extensively about the economic development of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, and also about women’s rights, civil society, and democratization for publications such as the The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The New York Times and the Washington Post.  Dr. Coleman is the author and coauthor of, and contributor to, numerous books including the critically acclaimed Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East (Random House, 2010). She is a frequent speaker at academic, business, and policy conferences, including delivering a well-received TED Talk in 2013. In 2010 and 2011, she worked as an advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative. In 2011, Newsweek named her as one of "150 Women Who Shake the World."

Prior to CFR, Coleman was CEO of a healthcare start-up and also a partner with McKinsey & Co. where she worked with major financial institutions. She graduated from Princeton University with a BA in public policy from the Woodrow Wilson School and in East Asian Studies. She attended Oxford University on a Marshall Scholarship where she earned MPhil and DPhil degrees in International Relations. She has served on multiple non-profit boards including Plan USA, Student Sponsor Partners, American Corporate Partners, and the National Outdoor Leadership School. She lives in New York with her husband and children.

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